Hello ladies and gentlemen,


My name is TROLLing1999 and I'd like to welcome you to my 7th guide on Mobafire presenting Vayne, the Night Hunter. This is my second Vayne Guide. The 1st one was a quick guide focusing on the very basic stuff. Here I want to give a more in-depth perspective with more detailed explanations, better tips, more alternatives and other stuff.


If you already had a look to the cheatsheet, you must have noticed that the guide incluedes builds. Both of them are pure Marksman/ADC guides for bottom lane. This is the most common and most effective way to play Vayne and of course I am going to prioritize that aspect.

So I can not do anything else but wish you an enjoyable read!

-TROLLing1999

Vayne is a ranged marksman with raw DPS and the ability to reposition herself constantly. These make her a huge threat late game, who due to her insane damage output and her mobility, can make significant plays and carry the team to victory.
On the other hand, Vayne has a very weak laning phase. Despite being able to last hit easily Vayne struggles against champions with longer AA range or strong harass abilities, which is something she completely lacks. As a sequence her trades are not so impressive during early game. The rest of her disadvantages come from her nature as an AD Carry.
To make a long story short, Vayne's strenghts and weaknesses are listed below.

So briefly Vayne's strenghts are:

• Her high dueling potential thanks to the tue %Health Damage from Silver Bolts
• The mobility she has due to repositioning herself constantly with Tumble
• The hard CC(knockback/stun) she has from Condemn
• The easy last hits with Tumble
• The free bonuses from Final Hour
• Auto Attack reset with Tumble
• Her awesome chasing potential with Night Hunter and Final Hour

And now Vayne's weaknesses:

• Squishy
• Requires good positioning
• Average to low AA range
• No escape mechansim
• No harass mechanism
• Low trading potential during laning phase
• Exposed to hard CC and especially weak against casters

Picking the right champion in the right team composition is vital for your performance. Although, Vayne is quite flexible with that stuff, there are some team compositions that can have a huge impact on Vayne's performance.


Vayne's role as a Marksman is to take advantage of the chaos happening around you, focus this out of position targets and do them as much sustained damage as possible, without putting yourself into danger of course.
So you need an ally that can create this chaos due to AoE Crowd Control Effects. Galio(mid), Orianna(mid), Malphite(top), Zac(jungle), Thresh(support) and Amumu(jungle) are the first who come in mind.

Major thing for Vayne when a teamfights takes place is to stay safe, while being able to deal damage. Beside from some tactics like kiting or cancelling animations, there are some tanky champions that can potect their carries from enemy assasins who want to reach a team's backline. Renekton(top), Nasus(top/jungle), Shen(top), Jarvan IV(jungle), Lee Sin(top/jungle) are some of the many champs that can fill this role.

What Vayne can't do in most cases is reaching the enemy ADC. Taking down the enemy's main damage source is vital in a fight. This the assasins' or the bruisers' job. Talon Zed, Riven, Fizz, Akali, Elise, Udyr and some more are appropriate for this role.

And finally the supports...What I can tell you already is that Vayne is a bit flexible with the support choice. All-in supps like Thresh or Blitzcrank can secure Vayne some early kills, which is kind of luxury. Babysiters will guarantee Vayne a safe laning phase and will help her scale nicely into late game through farm. In teamfights, I prefer supporters that can protect me due to sustain, shields, buffs and CC like Janna, Lulu, Sona and Soraka.

Before procceeding to the pure guide part I would like to refer at a couple of advanced skills people should have when they want to push their game as a Marksman to another level. Most of the things mentioned below are already used by most players. They are there for beginners(especially pre-30) that want to learn something more

1)Smartacast

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When using an Ability you normally press the adequate button and then you choose your target by clicking(usually). Smartacast or Quick Cast cancel this clicking-proccess. After activating an ability it will immediately go to the target/direction your cursor illustrates. This saves some you some time, which is really important.

Setting it up is easy. You just press ingame the "esc" key for the LoL menu and then you choose "Hotkeys" and "Quick Cast All".

2)Cancelling Animations

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Cancelling Animations is a way for adcs to perform more actions in less time making them more efficient this way. There are many things involved in cancelling animations: Orbwalking or Sutter Stepping, Attack Move(Click) that allow you to pull out a lot of stuff between AA or just excecute them faster and more properly improving this way your chasing potential and your positioning. There is a huge learning curve for this tricks but once you've learned them and you have some creativity you will understand how much better you have become.

Below there is a video I found on YouTube, explaining the most important aspects of cancelling animations. The key bindings setup is a bit outdated but still...the video is quite helpful. Thanks to Ciderhelm for the video.

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage(9):// Attack Damage will increase your damage dealt with Auto Attacks and with Tumble and Condemn. This will allow you to trade more efficiently, while you will be able to last hit much better.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor(9):// Armor Seals are the one and only choice for most champions in the game. The 13 early armor will help you resist against enemy ADCs and junglers, who will be ganking your lane.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist(9):// Most marksmen have a source of magic damae(like Graves' Smoke Screen), while the majority of supports deal absolutely magic damage. The early magic resistance will increase your surviveability. You can also go for Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist, if you are not afraid of magic damage early on.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage(1):// Although 2,25 AD does not seem much, it will indeed help you last hit more easily and trade more efficiently.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Life Steal(2):// The 4% life steal boosts your sustain in lane and it allows you to start with Doran's Blade. After buying Vampiric Scepter the HP regained on hit will be ridiculous and it will guarantee your presence in lane.

// This is probably the best possible rune page for Vayne and generally for all adcs who want to be passive early game and go all-in late game. Other mastery points like Feast, Double-Edged Sword , Expose Weakness , Spell Weaving and Blade Weaving are sub-optimal and thay are more suitable for caster-ish Marksmen who want an aggressive early game.

// So in Offense you take anything that can increase your damage output, especially due to Auto Attacks. The Armor Penetration is also notable and it can help you face tankier enemies both in lane( Graves, Leona) and later in the game. The offense tree will help you both during laning phase but also later in the game.

// Unfortunately, in Defense you can't get the early free resistances from Hardiness and Resistance any more but the tree is still good. Enchanted Armor is quite good, as you tale Armor Seals and Magic Resist Glyphs and a defensive item later in the game. Unyielding and Block slightly reduce incoming damage, while Veteran Scars and Juggernaut are a nice boost in your hp early(when you buy Doran's Blade) and later as well, especially if you buy some HP.

Flash is mandatpty. Despite having high mobility, Vayne lacks the pure escaping method. Flash can help you escape from sticky situations by Flashing over walls or it can be used aggressively-> to get a good position for a better combat.

Barrier is a great defensive spell. It absorbs tons of damage and it will save your life many times especially early game. The shield can also help you duel and turn a tide in your favour. You can also use it, while you're getting into the fight in order not be hurt early and get an early advantage over the enemy.

Cleanse is awesome if you are quick enough to use it within these 1-2 seconds, while you're affected by CC. Otherwise, you'd better go for Barrier. I always get it against support Fiddlesticks, Taric etc. You can also grasp an early Quicksilver Sash or rush Tenacity Items.

This is a good passive for an adc. Whenever facing an enemy you gain 30 Movement Speed. This increases your chasing potential and allows you catch fleeing enemies, who would escape otherwise.

Tumble is an ability that can be used in various ways. You can use it in order to last hit, to dodge skillshots, to reposition yourself, to chase, to escape and some more. It is also an AA reset. When playing AD Vayne tumble is your main damage source at least early-mid game and should be maxed first.

Silver Bolts is one of the main reasons Vayne is a beast. Every third attack on the same target consecutively will deal base+ max HP % true damage to the target, which means that it is not affected by armor. This allows Vayne to duel both against squishy and tanky targets.

Condemn is a nice ability. It knockbacks/stuns enemy depending on whether they are going to hit a wall or not. It can be used to secure a kill or for self peeling/escaping especially against enemies who have wasted their gapcloser/ Flash. It might take some time to get the hang of and understand when you should use it.

Final Hour is my personal favourite ultimate ability. It provides you with massive bonus AD, makes you invisible when using Tumble and triples the MS from Night Hunter. This will help you chase much better, duel better(when critting, the 55 ad gets multiplied by 2.5 -> 137.5 extra damage), while it will be impossible for enemies to catch you, unless they have a pink ward.

1)ATTACK SPEED BUILD

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In a build, where you rush Blade of the Ruined King and Phantom Dancer as fast as possible, you will proc Silver Bolts really quickly so it is legitimate to max them first for maximum damage output with basic attacks. Tumble must be maximized second since it is your secondary damage ability. Furthermore, Tumble's cooldown is reduced every time you get a point in it, so at level 13 it will deal a lot of damage and it will allow you to reposition yourself frequently. Condemn is an ultility spell, so you get an early point to secure kills but since it doesn't deal much damage it shouldn't be maxed before level 18. Get Final Hour whenever possible.

2)ATTACK DAMAGE BUILD

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If you build Bloodthirster for your first item, then Tumble will beat Silver Bolts in terms of damage output since it scales with AD and you won't have enough early AS to proc Silver Bolts very often. So you should max Tumble at level 9. At level 13, when you must have bought your Phantom Dancer(or at least parts of it) and enemies will start stacking HP, it is worth maxing Silver Bolts for more mid-late game damage. Again, there is no point in taking more than one early point in Condemn, since it does not boost your damage output as much as the other abilities. Final Hour must be taken at levels 6, 11, 16, as always.

Early Game- Sustain in Lane

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Stealth Ward is the obvious choice when being a Marksman. It will help your support with warding the river for safety or the lane brushes in order to zone the enemy. At level 9 it will be upgraded into Greater Totem. Late game you can spend gold to turn it into Greater Stealth Totem, which is actually a normal ward.

Doran's Blade is the one and only choice for most marksmen including Vayne. The 80 bonus health along with Veteran Scars and Juggernaut will make you slightly tankier, so that you don't get forced out of lane. The bonus AD is nice for trading and last hitting, while the sustain on hit in companion with Life Steal Quints will allow you to stay in lane for a long time.

This is really the only boots choice for marksmen since it boost your AA frequency with the bonus AS. At your first back you want to have Boots. The upgrade into Berserker's Greaves should take place later in the game; they will help you when trading.

Vampiric Scepter is a must have early in the game even if you have Greater Quintessence of Life Steal. The 10% Life Steal along with the 10 AD and some Health Potions will provide you with a lot of sustain. Additionally, with Vampiric Scepter you can be more competetive in trades.

Mid Game- Core Damage Items

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Even after the nerfs Blade of the Ruined King is still very popular on Vayne because it gives her everything she needs. Lifesteal for sustain, Attack Speed to proc Silver Bolts faster and a bunch of AD for spells and Auto Attacks. Furthermore, it deals % current HP physical damage which cooperates well with Silver Bolts' % max health true damage. Finally, the active makes you even better at dueling not only because of the health steal but also because the enemy won't be able to escape. The active can be used in order to escape from enemies as well.

Bloodthirster is great on Vayne even if it is not as popular as Blade of the Ruined King. It gives the most AD and the most life steal in the game at full stacks, which allows you to trade very effectively. Additionally, getting an early Bloodthirster will grant you a slight advantage over enemies that are planning to rush a quick Infinity Edge or have bought Blade of the Ruined King. Bloodthirster gives more mid game power than BotRK, so I recommend you to buy it against champions that are full early/mid game like Graves or Urgot.

Phantom Dancer is my personal favourite attack speed item because it boosts your single target DPS a lot and allows you duel really really well. It is also an all-in late game item. The ignorance of unit collision makes you an even better hunter, especially if it combined with Blade of the Ruined King, Night Hunter and Final Hour. It synergizes well with Infinity Edge.

Statikk Shiv allows you to clear minion waves very quickly as the passive proc Crit. This means that it works well with Infinity Edge. In addition to this, Statikk Shiv gives more MS than PD and this can help you kite with efficiency. Since the two major stats, AS and Crit Chance are less than the ones that PD provides you with, I only buy Statikk Shiv when I want to split push mid game and/or I want to finish the rest of my build faster.

Last Whisper is by far the best choice for Vayne in regard to your ArP item. It is really cost efficient as it gives 40 AD and 35% Armor Penetration for only 2300 gold. I buy it in every game to counter the enemies' armor. If they haven't got over 100 armor late mid-game then grab Infinity Edge first for more pain.

Late Game- Defense and IE

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Guardian Angel is a fantastic defensive item. It gives both Armor and Magic Resist ,which means that you have an all-round protection against enemies. It also rebirths you on death, which is great if you're team is coordinated correctly and does not run away at the first place. Anyways, the passive itself is a reason for enemies not to focus you and an extra protection.

If you're forcing teams that have unavoidable damage abilities like Karthus's Requiem or CC that is not easily removed by Cleanse like Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab, then Banshee's Veil is the right choice. The spell shield will help you against these abilities, while the MR is awesome against heavy AP teams. The Health along with the Health Regeneration after having taken damage add some bonus surviveability.

Mercurial Scimitar is the upgrade of Quicksilver Sash. Take it when you are forcing teams with super strong CC like suppressions or fears or long lasting stuns. It is also the only defensive item that gives you so much AD. You can buy a quick Quicksilver Sash early/mid game( if you need it of course) and upgraded into Mercurial Scimitar later in the game.

This is the item you should buy to round off your build. It gives tons of damage, lots of Crit Chance and it also has an amazing passive that makes your Critical Strikes deal 50% more damage. You can build it earlier if you are far ahead. The other options to round off is a second defensive item( which is not that great) or one more lifesteal item, which is sub optimal. I do not recommend double Phantom Dancer/ Statikk Shiv or Black Cleaver.

Vayne is widely known for having a bad early game. Compared to other AD carries she looks weak indeed but I think that things are not that serious if you set the right priorities and you're able to complete your goals.

Your main goal during laning phase is to reach the cap of 125 at least CS at minute 20.00, which is an ok creep score. The best way to do this is to last hit all the time. Last hitting means that you wait for the enemy minions to reach low health and then you make only the killing blow. This way you get the gold and XP without pushing the lane to the enemy's turret, which would expose you to ganks. If the enemy marksman is not last hitting then do not get paniced. This is a great chance for you to pull the wave to your turret and last hit under it. Melee minions need 3 turret hits to die and caster minions 2. So use attacks before and after the turret hit to earn the gold and the experience, while your enemy won't be able to harm you.

When it comes to trading, most marksmen use AA followed up by a spell. You want to achieve 3 or more spells/auto attacks to proc silver bolts. An easy way to do this is AA, then Tumble forwards and attack the enemy and then Condemn them away. If you have a support with a stun, you can also try to stun enemies to walls and secure kills. Another good technic is the brush AA harass. Unless there is an enemy(ward) in the brush, you can freely head in them, then go quickly out, auto attack the enemy marksman and then go again in the brush for safety. The most reliable method, though, is to attack the enemy just at the time he is going to last hit a minion. In this case, he will either choose to take the minion or to attack you back. In both cases you have won, because he will either have lost farm or taken more damage than you have.

Another tactic many people like to use is zoning. Zoning means ruling the enemy's safe zone, near to their tower. Zoning as Vayne is quite dangerous since you don't have much damage or a sure escaping mechanism. Anyways, i'll explain how to do this. If you have warded and ruled the brushes(your support should do this) then you have kind of zoned the enemy. Your job is to deny the enemy's farm and experience and make sure that you do not push a lot. You can do this by last hitting behind the enemy minions. Trying to zone in an even lane is very difficult and not highly recommended especially as Vayne. Zoning your enemy is easier to happen when you already have a considerable advantage in farm and/or KDA ratio. Tanky killing supports like Leona, Thresh etc. can help you zone the enemy.

Finally, I want to refer to "lane freezing". Freezing a lane means that you keep the minions near to your turret but outside of the turret's radious. This is done by last hitting at the very last moment and keeping this way less allied minions and more enemy ones. This is another way to secure easy farm and deny it to the enemy. You should always try to keep the balance because if you start last hitting slightly faster you will push the lane and if you loose some creeps then you will pull your wave withing the turret's range. "Lane freezing" can be done to balance things after you have pushed a little bit for more experience or if you have destroyed the enemy outer turret/the enemies have destroyed your outer turret. "Lane freezing" requires some practice.


Extra Tip: Since getting golems when heading to bottom is not viable anymore, the best way to get a quick level 2 is to push the lane quickly. After you have got level 2(or 3 in some particular cases), you should back off and try to freeze the lane for a while or just last hit normally once again. This can be done if the enemies are missing from the lane in the very beginning and your jungler does not need your help for his first buff.

During mid-game your team should be grouping up in order to take objectives(dragon and mainly turrets). As Vayne you can deal some damage at these early teamfights but you're still not 100% ready. Without your Last Whisper top lane tanks and junglers with a build of Ninja Tabi and Sunfire Aegis won't feel pain from your basic attacks. Additionally, you lack siege power to take down turrets quickly, unless you activate Final Hour. So being all the time with your team is not the best viable choice.

On the other hand, Vayne excels at dueling, especially if you have finished Blade of the Ruined King/ Bloodthirster and Phantom Dancer/ Statikk Shiv. In addition to this, Vayne can be a very good farmer with above-average wave clears. So what you can do mid game is split-pushing bottom lane. Split-pushing means to push as fast and as much as possible a lane in order to secure farm and get objectives for your team. When spli-pushing you should not last hit the minions but auto-attack, always trying to get the gold though. At this stage of the game 2 Auto Attacks and 1 Tumble secure you caster/melee minions. Major think when split-pushing a lane is warding. Provided that your team has warded dragon, you only need to put your trinket in the tribush(for purple team) and in the bush that leads to the blue buff and the new camp(for blue team). If an enemy ganks you, then you are highly likely to kill him if you duel properly. If it's more than one then, run to safety. It is vital not to die.

Of course, if your team is not causing pressure and is not able to take objectives( in other words when you're behind or your team is playing passively), split pushing is a bad idea. If you try to split push a lane under these circumstances then it really possible that more than 1 or 2 enemies will gank you. If your team is having the attitude explained above, then you'd better stay with them and defend your own objectives rather than try to force things. Remeber that as Vayne you always have chances to make a comeback late game.

Late game is Vayne's bread and butter. Unless you had a really hard time earlier, now you should be a MONSTER!.

Here all comes up to right choices. If you face an enemy team with lots of AoE damage and CC then you and your team should continue split pushing, backdooring, and going for objectives to ensure a lead that will allow you to face the enemies. If the teams are equialvient(or you have a better teamfight composition) then you should go for these big fights to ensure the victory. That's what I'll be explaining here.

So your first priority as an AD Carry is to stay alive, because otherwise you won't be able to deal any damage. This is quite difficult to manage since you'll be a priority target for the enemies but it can be done with good positioning. The ideal position is behind your tanks, close to your support and able to deal as much damage as possible to the enemies. You should never be caught in bad positioning cuz assasins will burst you down in a matter of seconds. You should not try to reach the enemy carries, there is no such thing as "bad focus" and stuff. Attack the closest, kill the closest and make sure you stay alive at any cost. If nevertheless somebody manages to reach you use Condemn on them and start repositioning yourself using Tumble+ Final Hour. It will be very difficult for enemies to catch you this way(especially if you cancel your animations and stuff), while you should still be able to deal lots of damage. If you have Blade of the Ruined King don't forget to use the active.

But TROLLing199 I don't think every single teamfight ends up like this?
Well that's true. This how the general overview of an average and correct teamfight is. It is obvious, that if your team has a strong initiator like Amumu then things become much easier. In this case, take advantage of the chaos around you and attack squishier enemies, always without overextending and seting your life in danger.

And what if I see any enemy squishies out of position?
Then you can get a good position by Tumble'ing and stun them with Condemn. One or more allies will assist you and soon your team will have gotten an early advantage. This is a bit risky of course and not worth trying if you feel the enemy might be saved by his allies.

Is there a way to know when a teamfight will start?
The short answer is no. A teamfight can start from a player's mistake(bad position), from an unsuccessfull way to harass or from an initiaton. You can't really predict these things. Of course, you must be able to realise that a team that wants to force a teamfight is starting to go a little bit more aggressive or too defensive and that very simply if more than 8 players overall are in a small area then the fight will occur sooner or later. Don't go in teamfights if they have engaged you hard or you are less than theam or you don't have vision.

Extra Tip:At the very first stages before a teamfight takes place. Kiting means poking the enemy with Auto Attacks while staying at a safe distance. This is particularly effective against melee champions who don't have gapclosers. If they take too much damage and their allies are not there then you can go in with Tumble take them down. Do not overdo it with kiting and dueling. It might be proved danagerous!

This is it so far. Hope it helps! Lane matchups and synergies will be added from time to time.

Thanks for reading. This is TROLLing1999 signing out...