Talon is a extraordinary burst champion excelling at counter acting squishy AP heroes during the early game phase. Subsequently his ability to eat hp is second to none. But to utilise his skills, a deep knowledge is required in both item synergies as well as playstyle.
Recently, Talon took some hard nerfs in the mana department since he was an incredibly spammy hero. Talon could no longer sustain himself within lane without either not having high creep kills or just being outlaned in general. This guide hopefully rectifies that problem not. So sit back and spend some quality time with talon
Recently, Talon took some hard nerfs in the mana department since he was an incredibly spammy hero. Talon could no longer sustain himself within lane without either not having high creep kills or just being outlaned in general. This guide hopefully rectifies that problem not. So sit back and spend some quality time with talon
Pros/Cons
Pros
 +Good early-mid game +Good chaser; can "stick" to enemies +CD efficient abilities |       |
Cons
 -Squishy -Susceptible to focus fire -Mana inefficient hero whom requires spamming of abilities. -Scaling into lategame depends wholly on itemization |
Laning prowess
Solo top - 7/10 Great
Solo mid - 9/10 Outstanding
Duo Bot - 5/10 Decent (there are more suitable champions)
Jungling - 2/10 Mediocre
Abilities
Mercy+10% damage if target is under CC, decent passive
A decent passive, nothing too great but better than alot. A mistake that people do, is to build specifically to utilise this passive. Its not worth it, 10% is chump. Think of it as a nice bonus, nothing more.
Noxian DiplomacyNuke and applies bleed. Good nuke, use after initiate.
An incredibly nice nuke since it resets the attack timer which is core in this crit based build. The bleed is a nice bonus, but the revealing of the enemy champion can enable another ally to cut the retreat path of fleeing enemy to finish him off. Very nice.
* Bread and butter skill late game, main source of burst.
* Use this before cutthroating to an enemy for maximum burst.
* High cooldown so its usage is fairly limited. Use this to initiate along with a charged Noxian diplomacy for maximum burst.
RakeAOE slow and damage. Bread and butter skill early, use to prevent fleeing
Similar to Sivir’s throw, though does significantly less damage and range. Generally the bread and butter skill, since it provides a nuke but also most importantly, a slow enabling you to get close to unleash more crits and abilities (most notably Noxian Diplomacy)
* A staple ability to efficiently farm, especially against a tough lane enemy
* Post nerf talon is unable to spam this without running out of mana. Use sparingly and only to ensure creep kills or harass.
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CutthroatBlink towards enemy causing silence and amping subsequent attacks/ability. Initiate with this
Good skill to initiate with because of its silence which prevents immediate reactions; meaning a very short time to land some pot shots. You can also use this defensively. For example blinking to an enemy creep behind you, or using neutrals to juke and jive around shrubs.
* The ability does no damage itself however does briefly silence the target.
* Also resets attack timer.
* Use this ability creatively. When an enemy chamption comes to gank, cutthroat to them which silences them and puts you in a favorable position to escape.
click image to enlarge
Shadow AssaultUltimate, on low CD, sick damage and speed boost. Use this as the killing blow.
Self explanatory, though the stealth does offer some utility in escaping messy situations. It also does do AOE damage, so if you place yourself correctly you can get some sick damage. The cooldown is rather low, so don’t be afraid to use it to clear creep waves to save a tower for example.
* Be careful of popping ultimate since the blades do fan out resulting in the potential loss of surprise
* Generally, use this ability as the killing blow so that you have the choice of either diving or fleeing; its a good escape tool
* If you get CC'ed while stealthed, the blades will not come back to you. Essentially it will only do half damage so be weary of oracles or wards during team fights.
click image to enlarge
Phreak can explain the general concept of Talon's abilities quite well. Also gives good insight about the basics of how to use each spell
Ability Sequence
Shadow Assault > Rake > Noxian Diplomacy > Cutthroat
As always the ultimate is leveled first whenever possible.
Rake takes precedence over noxian diplomacy because if offers farming ability needed in solo top. It also offers decent harassment potential. Noxian Diplomacy takes thrid precedence because it is the main source of single targeted damage. Cutthroat takes the lowest priority, however is taken at level 2 for its utility.
Solo Mid
Shadow Assault > Noxian Diplomacy > Rake > Cutthroat
Again the ultimate is taken whenever possible however, noxian diplomacy takes seconds precedence due to its exorbitant single damage output. Rake takes thrid precedence and cutthroat again takes last priority, however one rank is taken early on due to its utility.
Basic Combos
Q-E-W-R
Charge Q before initiation then E to the enemy so that the auto attack timer does instant burst. Also Q's effect stacks with E for maximum burst.
W to slow and keep in melee range whereby Q should be close for another use. Otherwise make the choice whether to use R to secure a kill or to keep it for the potential need to escape.
The rake slows the AD enemy to minimise damage by getting away ASAP after harassment.
W-Q-E-R
Works in a similar fashion. Instead of jumping immediately, a rake is used as the initiator and the Q-E combo is used for burst. The silence offers escape from offensive spells during harassment.
Masteries
| MASTERIES | |||||||||||||||||
1/1
 |
3/3
 |
4/4
 |
4/4
 |
1/1
 |
1/1
 |
3/3
 |
3/3
 |
1/1
 |
2/3
 |
1/1
 |
3/3
 |
3/3
 | |||||
Masteries are generally very straight forward. I opt for 21/2/7.
Offensive masteries are a given and should be self explanatory. They all emphasize Talon's burst damage and ability to push and destory towers quickly.
Within the utility tree masteries improving mana regeneration are taken. To cope with Talon's mana usage (without implementing a philosopher's stone early game) they are needed. Summoner's insight is taken for utility.
The last two points are spent within the defensive tree. While i have taken additional armour, an equally good alternative would be more magic resist. Take either depending who you know you'll be laning with.
Runes
| RUNES | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Desolation
Armour penetration emphasises Talon's prowess early-mid game. Gives him a much needed damage boost against champions especially tanky ones.
Greater Seal of Replenishment
Additional mana regeneration is taken to assist Talon's early game
Greater Glyph of Replenishment
Additional mana regeneration is taken to assist Talon's early game
Greater Quintessence of Desolation
Armour penetration emphasises Talon's prowess early-mid game. Gives him a much needed damage boost against champions especially tanky ones.
Alternatives
Greater Glyph of Shielding
If mana is not a problem, then take these if you know you are laning mid against an AP carry.
Greater Seal of Resilience
If mana is not a problem, then take these if you know you are laning top/bottom against an AD based champion.
Summoner Spells
FlashHighly recommended
Gets you in good position or gets you out of tough situations. Definitely a good summoner spell, especially when you flash over a wall and deny enemies a kill muhahaha. Highly recommended.
IgniteHighly Recommended
good for getting kills you might otherwise won't. General usage in a standard game is pretty often so this is immensely useful. If playing draft pick try to predict who you will be laning with. Generally its quite easy to tell.
CleanseHighly recommended; situational
If you don't like getting mercury's treads or find that the enemy team is stacking CC, this is the spell to get. It literally is a free quicksilver sash, so its great.
ExhaustRecommended
The ultimate chasing spell but sacrificing survivability. Also makes use of your passive. Not bad
GhostDecent - aimed at survivability
The opposite of exhaust. Good for escaping, but offensively its not as great as exhaust. Recommended.
TeleportIf you have a Teemo/ward *****
This is great if you have a good Teemo or a ward *****. Nonetheless, using this defensively is not great, but if in the event that you can use this offensively, its great
Core items
BootsIf you’ve noticed, I didn’t really specify what boots to get. However in the cheat sheet above I did opt for the Ionian boots purely for the CD reduction. However, that’s not to say other boots are complete rubbish, but rather quite the contrary. I’ll go further into this in the next section.
But in a nutshell, boots provide mobility…Duh obviously.
B. F. SwordBF sword gives Talon that extra AD boost when the brutalizer stops cutting it. The reason this item is within the core items is that its preps the build to deviate in a number of items depending on personal playstyle. Either opt to rush bloodthirster or infinity’s edge. Must item for increase in damage boost.
Optional Items
The BrutalizerAn important item in Talon’s repertoire early game. Provides AD, armour penetration, and cooldown reduction. This item simply excels for early game Talon which depends heavily on his spells rather than straight AD. Eventually, the item will build into a Youmuu’s Ghostblade, which is a great item on Talon mid game.
Doran’s Blade x2Provides health and damage. Unlike the BF Sword which is pretty expensive during the early game, Doran's blade provides a quick fix of damage along with some life steal and health. A good alternative if you find yourself underfarmed or struggling in lane.
Wriggle's LanternAnother alternate, where not only does it provide a ward for the laning phase (especially those in solo top) it gives decent AD as well as the coveted life steal which adds to Talon's sustainability in lane. Also it adds armour that Talon lacks especially those who do opt for mana regeneration runes instead of armour runes. This item is geared for sustainability, survivability and team utility.
Philosopher's StoneFor those who either are not yet level 30, not runed for increased MP5 or just want to play more defensively. This item allows for a much easier (and newb friendly) laning phase. Instead of going 21/2/7 mastery, go 21/6/3.
Boots
Get the type of boots according to your playstyle and enemy team.
Boots on Talon are very subjective to personal preference. Although all boots vary in their properties, they are actually all very useful for Talon. Here is a brief low down.
Boots on Talon are very subjective to personal preference. Although all boots vary in their properties, they are actually all very useful for Talon. Here is a brief low down.
Ionian Boots of lucidity
The boots offers 15% CD reduction which is my personal choice, since I personally play using Talon’s spells extensively. These are boots to buy where you find you are in a upper hand, or find yourself with a decent start. Buy these boots if you need more cooldown reduction (where you lack shurelia's reverie or Ghostblade tandem)
Boots of Swiftness
Boots of speed offers an additional point of speed sacrificing other stats. These boots are great if you’re a early to mid game roamer. Great for roaming since the speed is amazing and you can switch lanes for ganks fast before enemies’ notice you are missing. These boots are the way to go IF you have the Ghostblade and Shurelia's reverie combo for the source of Cooldown reduction.
Boots of Mobility
THE boots if you play Talon as a roamer. Its passive gives you some amazing gank/roaming power hence potentially giving your team map control and to an extent awareness. Downside is that the passive turns off after combat, so not great at running away nor chasing, however you can initiate a lot of potential ganks in the early to mid game in hopes that you can indeed snowball to victory. Great map presence on these boots.
Mercury's Treads
The most expensive boots, but offers the sought after stat, tenacity. I find that these boots are very situational but if you’re in a situation where every enemy champion ****s a heavy CC then these boots is the way to go. The thing with Talon is that he is an assassin hero which inadvertently means that he is squishy. When the enemy team sees you, they will nuke you. It’s important that you’re a phantom; get in and get out. These boots will help you get out alive. These boots will prove to be the best boots in ELO games, or games against coordinated players, since they will decide to stun your *** first. Focus fire is Talon’s weakness, hence these boots will go a long way.
Items
Items are generally subjective to your personal play style and you position within the game. Although this guide does provide a cheat sheet, you should always build according to the enemy. Getting your *** under CC? Get some tenacity and so on. Remember, the cheat sheet provides the best scenario, contoured to my personal play style. Look to it as a guideline of which items to get in which in rough order, then buy according to the enemy.
Situational Items - Defensive
Doran’s BladeStack these bad boys
This is the fallback item to go if you are struggling. Why? It offers health, life steal and extra damage. Usually, when you are struggling you should buy two of these then continue with your regular build.
| _________ | iThis item gives you a buffer and scales nicely all the way into mid to early late game phase. Great item for what its worth. |
Mercury’s TreadsTenacity is good
If you’re getting owned you need to limit your loses; in other words stop dying. These boots will give you much needed tenacity for extra survivability. Good for high ELO or late game, where enemies will nuke the largest threat; either you or the hard carry.
Banshee’s Veil/Quicksilver SashF**K you malzahar, ammumu and everything that stuns
Find yourself getting focused with CC? These items will help you get out of stick situations. Personally, I prefer quicksilver sash purely because you determine when to pop the active and counter’s DoTs and channelled spells (malz anyone).
Guardian AngelGood all round survivability item. Personal thumbs up
Affordable, great active, and great stats. This is actually a great item on Talon and given Talon's low CD's he can either escape with cutthroat or unleash a can of whoop *** after the active procs. Nice.
HexdrinkerGot AP nuker's?
Pretty self explanatory, it gives a shield upon taking an AP spell that brings you under 30% of maximum health. This is really good especially with heavy AP nukers like
Annie and 
LeBlanc. On top of that it gives attack damage and is relatively cheap.| _________ | iA must if versing AP heavy teams. |
Cloak and DaggerWooooo T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y
Yes thats right. Tenacity item that has relevant stats for talon. Really cheap, gives attack damage and crit. A really nice item during the early and mid game phase however is mediocre during the late game. Sell it then
Philosopher's StoneDefensive item that has MP5, HP5
A potentially useful item for getting back into the game after an abysmal lane phase. It allows for increased HP5 which allows you to take harrasment and MP5 for more spamming especailly those who don't have/run MP5 runes. Also builds into shurelya's reverie.
Key Items
Last Whisper Got amour stackers?
This item counteracts their armour. Also it adds 40 damage so it’s a rather worthwhile item. Only use this item when at least 3 enemies are super armour heavy. Remember that this item offers a percentage buff, not straight armour penetration. Implement this during the mid-lategame.
BloodthirsterBest damage item in game, that is all
A great item on Talon since it offers straight damage and lifesteal. Also, Talon is quite good at farming creeps, so bloodthirster should be easily stacked. Bloodthirster also offers the most straight damage of any item meaning that your abilities will benefit greatly from this item.
Shurelya's ReverieGreat active and CD reduction
CD reduction, MP5 and HP5. WHOA. Talon got hit with the nerf stick in the mana department so grabbing a philospher's stone was necessary for lane sustainability. Unfortunately, that hunger for mana is still there late game so this good item builds from a philo stone.
| _________ | iIt also adds health and a great team active. What this item does is that it does insane synergy with Ghostblade and boots of mobility since you are a chasing machine and the ultimate roamer. |
Youmuu’s GhostbladeGreat active and CD reduction
Sick item on talon once you get the core items done. Offers +dmg, crit, CD reduction and amour penetration. Builds from brutalizer and does its active does sick damage in conjunction with the BF sword.
Trinity ForceStart building it ONLY in the lategame
A very expensive item but can offer a lot of utility to Talon. This was a very tough item to justify a serious thought about buying since it’s ridiculously expensive while offering very average stats for Talon. That being said, it offers everything that would be very beneficial for Talon.
| _________ | iGenerally, the best part of this item is its 150% buff on auto attack after using an ability. Is it really worth it? Well to be honest, this should be the last item you should get, but then again, you could get another stacked bloodthirster. Your choice. |
Overrated Items - Don't use them
There’s always items that people use because they think its good on Talon, but in hindsight its actually a waste of gold. Although they are okay, they are just not worth the gold in the early to mid game. By the lategame however they are completely viable, but this section here encourages that there are much better items for the gold.
Infinity EdgeYou cannot rely on crits as burst AD champion.
Talon's damage output relies on casting his abilities not auto attacking. Infinity edge is useful for those who are auto attack champions (i.e. AD carries). Despite this, many Talon's like to buy this because the number look big. If you must have another damage item, then opt for another
| _________ | ibloodthirster. The only other viable item of similar cost is Trinity Force.So lets assume 100 base damage. Damage is added up, whilst damage from critical hits is multiplied by its chance for a more realistic scenario.
So on average the trinity force does slightly more burst damage, however factor in its scaling with Noxian Diplomacy and Rake then the infinity edge will overall do more sustained damage. But Trinity Force also offers other bonuses including increased movement speed, chance to slow among others bonuses.By creating an ideal scenario where there is a guaranteed critical strike. (doesn't include passive proc)
Here the infinity edge does 45 more damage not including the additional +40AD advantage it has over the trinity force for ability scaling. The minimum damage each item will do can also be calculated.
With no critical strikes, the trinity force will do an additional 145 extra damage. So for an extra 240 gold the trinity force offers a better reliable burst damage, movement speed, chance to slow, HP and mana whilst only sacrificing a potential extra 40 damage. |
Phage/Frozen Mallet+10% damage is chump, trust me. Still viable but buy it in one go
Many will jump to the conclusion that by buying a Phage or Frozen Mallet, you utilise your passive which would result in a great item. Let me reiterate this for you. +10% damage is chump, go use the money to by a bloodthirster.
| _________ | iTo utilise the passive, you need the opponent to be under CC effects, whether that may be slowed etc. Phage only procs 35% but since Talon at the early game mark is a spell spammer, his attack speed is non existent. So there’s no guarantee that the slow will proc. The frozen mallet however is a 100% chance to slow the enemy. Yes, that’s great but you have to buy a phage beforehand to get a frozen mallet. Yeah, not so wise. Yeah but it offers health to give Talon survivability If you need health to stay alive, you’re not playing Talon as an assassin. Talon relies on his abilities and summoner spells to get out of sticky situations. Not health. Health would be justified under cir****tances where you find yourself to be under heavy CC. If you believe you must get this, then attain it as a luxury item and grab it in one go. Having a phage taking up an inventory slot is somewhat wasteful. |
Sword of the OccultNot worth it, play safely imo.
As a general rule I dislike to get snowball items unless your LeBlanc or Annie since they steamroll **** like butter. Its does offer awesome damage once stacked, but its stacked passive is pretty mediocre. +15% movespeed? Really?
| _________ | iIt’s better to work on getting a bloodthirster or building other items quicker because if you screw up, this item is useless. Also, this item puts a very negative mindset teamwork wise;
“I shouldn’t get involved in that team fight because I’m scared to lose all my hard worked stacks”.
|
Warmog’s/Atma’s comboAre you serious?
Why o’ why. You’re Talon, you are the master of kill stealing and GTFO outta’ there. Believe or not, but I’ve seen this predicament more times than you think. No, just no.
Hell, Atma’s a no go in general.
| _________ | iSeriously, I don’t understand why anyone would get this on an assassin or carry for that matter. *sigh* /end rant |
Item Sequence
Early game
Farm Phase, rush the core items
These starting items emphasises on Talons mobility and enables lane endurance provided you use the mobility to dodge the majority of attacks. Utilise the staple Q-E-W combo for harrasment. If you find yourself struggling use rake to last hit and harass without taking damage.
Mid game
Transition period. Focus on attaining straight AD items.
The longer the game goes, the less damage you are going to do when spamming spells (sustained dps that is). Try to maximise burst output with straight AD items.
The goal here is to get enough farm (through creep kills or ganking) to complete the core items. After the all important boots what do you build after? Aim to at least finish one items below (if all goes well; if you’re in deep **** then you’re going to have to build situational) and attempting to start working for another one by the end of the mid game.
Bloodthirster
the safe option, Talon’s ability scaling is sexy and with a fully ranked rake, you can stack this bad boy in no time. Reasonably priced sonsidering the BF sword is a core component
Ghostblade
Maximises CD reduction hence really emphasises ability spam. Good active which makes up for Talon’s lack of attack speed and damage in between cooldown’s. Sacrifices pure damage for more spell spammage.
the safe option, Talon’s ability scaling is sexy and with a fully ranked rake, you can stack this bad boy in no time. Reasonably priced sonsidering the BF sword is a core component
Ghostblade
Maximises CD reduction hence really emphasises ability spam. Good active which makes up for Talon’s lack of attack speed and damage in between cooldown’s. Sacrifices pure damage for more spell spammage.
Late Game
Survival items and more straight AD items.
LoL is a game that rewards not dying, especially in the lategame. Get some survivability items and continue to pump some more damage.
SURIVABILITY
Banshee's Viel
Good for AP heavy teams or just alot of hard CC in general.
Quicksilver Sash
If you don't opt for [cleanse] than this will do. Pesky suppresses, stuns and slows are essentially negated.
Guardian Angel
MR and Armour; good all round defense item and the active is really quite nice. Very affordable as well.
Hexdrinker
Another great item for AP heavy teams. Goodbye ryze, leblanc, annie and xerath.
Shurelya's Reverie
Again maximises CD reduction and provides the extra MP5 for ability spam as well as HP5 and health. A good item that builds off the philosopher's stone.
Good for AP heavy teams or just alot of hard CC in general.
Quicksilver Sash
If you don't opt for [cleanse] than this will do. Pesky suppresses, stuns and slows are essentially negated.
Guardian Angel
MR and Armour; good all round defense item and the active is really quite nice. Very affordable as well.
Hexdrinker
Another great item for AP heavy teams. Goodbye ryze, leblanc, annie and xerath.
Shurelya's Reverie
Again maximises CD reduction and provides the extra MP5 for ability spam as well as HP5 and health. A good item that builds off the philosopher's stone.
DAMAGE
Bloodthirster
Straight damage output. Abilities will nuke quite hard. However forgoes extra crit chance which is important at this stage.
Last Whisper
Completely destroy armour stackers with this. Tanks beware.
Trinity Force
Offers a little bit of everything but the passive is of note. +150% extra damage on next auto attack after using an ability. Doesn't offer a lot of straight AD but if you know your job is just to completely annihilate a single target than the passive could prove useful especially with noxian diplomacy..
Straight damage output. Abilities will nuke quite hard. However forgoes extra crit chance which is important at this stage.
Last Whisper
Completely destroy armour stackers with this. Tanks beware.
Trinity Force
Offers a little bit of everything but the passive is of note. +150% extra damage on next auto attack after using an ability. Doesn't offer a lot of straight AD but if you know your job is just to completely annihilate a single target than the passive could prove useful especially with noxian diplomacy..
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