Talon Jungle Build Guides, Runes, Items, and Abilities

Talon is an AD Assassin that can be played in the Mid Lane or Jungle. Talon's strength comes from his roaming capabilities, especially with Assassin's Path. Being able to jump over walls is one of the craziest but strongest abilities in the game. This allows him to get to places and escape like no one else can. However, Talon can struggle in the early game as a melee champion. Making sure you play safe and farm minions until level 5 will be crucial to your success.

Talon can also be played in the Jungle; make sure to check the alternative build at the top of the page. The build with Talon in the jungle is the same. Just make sure you take Smite. As for the playstyle, playing Talon in the jungle eliminates that weak early game that Talon has and gives him the free reign to roam anywhere on the map.

1. Strengths

• High AD damage dealer, single target + AoE
• Stealth threat - use wisely
• Weaker early but high potential mid game, decent late
• Never OOM therefore able to stay on the map a lot longer
• Flexible runes and builds, utility items as last resort
• Fast mid-game farming, both camps and waves
• Decent comeback potential early/mid
• Fast movement on the map
• Easily punish over-extending enemies
• Fairly fast solo Dragon and Herald (avoid solo Dragon if 1st Herald is an option)
• Independent and team-oriented playstyle are both effective
• Lots of combos & very fun once you get the hang of Talon.

2. Weaknesses

• Squishy early/mid game therefore loses a lot of matchups
• Very reliant on his R to minimise risks and maximise kill potential
• Resource-greedy playstyle can throw harder or tilt teammates
• This is however very good to learn how to carry, being the liability
• Difficult team fighting late game
• A lot of Support champs counter him
• Zhonyas and Exhaust exist
• Damage is conditional (usually need passive proc)
• Clunky / awkward / buggy kit.

Some of these aren't Talon specific but should help you to climb.

• Do not let your team bait you into bad ideas. If your decision turns out to be a mistake, you learn from it.
• Do not rely on your expectation of how your teammates should play. Solo Queue is extremely RNG so be flexible.
• Believe in your ability to carry. You locked in a carry champ so take on the role and carry the team. Take the resources you need and try your best to deliver the team the victory.
• Remain as calm as you can and keep trying to identify ways to win throughout the game.
• Take note of players who are playing emotionally if you can. Exploit them or manipulate them to play poorly. They are a lot more predictable when emotional.
• Dodge idiots and lost drafts in CS.
• Focus on yourself. Ignore the factors you can't control and you are bound to improve.

• W + Q + AA: Use your W then Q & AA to finish.
• W + AA + Q + AA: Use your W, then AA, Q and AA to finish.
• W + R + Q + AA: Use your W, then R, then Q and AA to finish.
• W + Q + R + AA: Use your W, then Q to your target, R and finish with an AA.
• W + Q + AA + AA + R + AA + Q + AA: Use Your W, then Q, AA, AA then R, AA, Q and AA to finish.
• W + FLASH + Q + R + AA: Use your W and instantly Flash, then use Q, RR and AA to finish.

2. Advanced Tricks and Combos

Melee Q Buffer against CC

• Even against displacement CC, Talon can buffer his mQ. Early game this is not always the best idea as your Q has a high CD. Good for clutch kills before they can get away or if you have high CDR anyway.

Dash AA Buffer against Stun

• You can also buffer your AA after ranged Q when stunned. I’m not exactly sure what the condition is. Maybe you need 3 stacks of Passive for some reason or you need to be in Attack Range at the point of which you are stunned but I’ve seen it before.

Parkour Animation Cancel - E → Q buffer

• You can shorten the animation of E right before you land with a rQ input buffer on an enemy target that is within range of your E landing destination. I would only use this if you are chasing someone and cannot secure a Standard Ranged combo from the point of landing. You can follow up with the rest of a Leap combo.

E Sleep Buffer

• When Zoe or Lillia makes you tired, sleepy, whatever it’s called before you fall ASLEEP, you can use E to buffer the WHOLE of E animation, 720 backflipping with your eyes closed and having a wet dream. This allows you to slightly zone them with a W just before you press fall asleep mid-E and forces them to come deeper afterwards if they want to follow-up. The cool thing about this is your E will actually continue until you're at the original destination, however you will often visually be airborne. Your E skill is actually considered to be complete despite the frame being frozen (unless you don't input any commands) by the time ASLEEP is finished therefore you are able to use abilities as if on the ground.

E Buffer against CC Animation Cancel + AA Buffer

• If an enemy is within Talon’s Attack Range (125) of your E destination, you can actually buffer AAs! I’m not sure when this became a thing or if it was like this from the start, but this can be useful in very specific cases. You do not need to be CC’d to buffer the AA but it still works the same - even when ASLEEP!

I'll add some time later.

In short... Priority target identification; find out who is most important to kill THAT IS ALSO KILLABLE Evaluation of both teams; find out what your role is in the fight by seeing what is strong and weak in both teams Patience; do not be hasty because one CC can lose you the fight and perhaps the game Good execution; practice your combos so good decision is rewarded.

1. Early Game

Talon’s ganks are very awkward Pre-6. All it can take is a dash or flash and they escape or turn the fight since most of your damage is now lost. Even I feel bad ganking sometimes because I know there is a good chance it is just a waste of time and reveals your position on the map. Generally speaking, these are the steps you should take for a gank as Talon that will give you a solid chance of success.

1Use your E to path to the lane you want to gank to avoid vision. Try to track the enemy jungler or else you may put a piece of terrain on cooldown and ruin any chance of escaping if they are stronger.

Identify if you need to use a side hop or just walk up to them/the path they take to escape. Often you will prefer to wait for your teammate(s) to initiate a trade just before you appear to put enemies in a more killable state and have their abilities on cooldown.

Throw your Rake first just a little below max range so they can't simply out-run it. You should be either from the side or diagonally behind them for a good W angle. You will usually opt for a Standard Ranged combo as you have little damage anyway if they flash your W2. If the target can heal or is about to enter a brush, use Ignite for anti-heal +/ vision unless they are definitely dead. If the enemy uses a dash or flash while you are airborne, there is a good chance your W will hit them as your Q dash will usually follow them to their destination, pulling your W at the same time. Be careful with following up on a ranged Q if you cannot guarantee 3 stacks.

For dives, you prefer someone else to tank as you are melee and have no flash. You should wait for ally CC set-up or whatever they have to engage. W either right after or predict just before when they will do so (as some CC don’t last long), Ignite if needed, and then Q → AA. You could also just use a Flower combo.

When executing extremely low-HP targets, you can go for E → Q → AA (Ignite) → W to minimise their chance of reacting. This is usually used on very - VERY - low targets recalling or greedily staying for a wave.

2. Mid game

Summary: soak resources when possible, dominate sidelanes and rotate or catch vulnerable people who respond to or are rotating to respond to your side-lane pressure. Don't take meaningless fights - always prepare them properly using your fast wave-clear and map mobility. Do not hesitate to completely take over a lane if your laner is more useful elsewhere.

Mid game is often where Talon shines because he has the items to be an oppressive Assassin, quickly going to where he wants to be. At this point Talon has the damage to duel or one shot people so make the best use of it while you can.

At 15-20 minutes, Your target cs/min:

• 6 cs/min and under ONLY IF early was rough and you were trying to get out of it by retaliation kills.
• 6cs/min to 7cs/min if you're applying good presure or under pressure yourself, for example support roaming.
• 7 cs/min to 8 cs/min if you are balancing ganks well without losing out on camps much. You should be applying some good pressure but make a judgement whether you should begin to farm more and focus on objectives or continue making plays.
• 8 cs/min and above is usually when you are ahead and can delete both camps and waves. You are putting a lot of resources on yourself so do not throw. This farming pace is very good if you want to cherry-pick your fights and minimise any chance of throwing by only showing where you are strong with R up.

For the first 10 minutes of a game, going 4-6 cs/min is not unusual because some games can be really chaotic or you had a bad start. Just keep in mind you will need to accelerate the farming rate sooner or later.

3. Late game

Closing the game is something a lot of players struggle on, especially in lower elos and when playing assassins. As every draft is different, I can’t really tell you a magic trick to close out games.

While you still can, you should be pressuring side lanes and trying to make picks there. If they are too strong or tanky at this point, avoid them and start targeting someone else or elsewhere. Identify the weak points in their team comp and team members in the current state of the game and try to abuse it. Despite your R being 30-45 seconds at this stage, try to make only meaningful picks as this is still a considerable window of vulnerability.

If your team lacks engage power, sometimes you will have to go first. Just make sure your team is not too far and be aware the enemies will ward potential flanks.

Usually what I like to do late game is purely split push. You must create an opening to be able to find one, and that is by pressuring a side of the map to drag at least 1 enemy to you. When you know where everybody is on the map, it is a lot easier to make decisions and you can use this for split-second decision making such as immediately pathing to force a fight with a man advantage, clearing vision in the jungle or river and finding a spot and waiting to ambush anyone passing by.

When there is a 40 second timer before Baron or soul point Dragon, this is an extremely valuable window to make a pick due to long death timers. In other words, you should be looking for an assassination, moving and preparing for it at no later than 1 minute.

When enemies are taking Baron, it can be quite hard to team fight as the invading team unless you are ahead. If there is little to lose from attempting a potential Baron steal, you usually want to detour and evade vision; one blind spot is just behind the wall to the right of top tri-brush. Activate Ghostblade for E speed and hope for the best with a Ranged Q, R and Smite, timing it simultaneously as fast as you can for the best chance of stealing it. With R, this is approximately 1.2k-1.3k damage so you usually want to E in when Baron is 1.5k-1.8k or so as it takes a second to land in the pit and be able to use abilities.

When you have the ability to win and kill most - hopefully all - of the enemy team doing baron, if your team can't move in head-on then detour and look for a flank - your Baron smite steal is not the best so, unless heavily disadvantaged, go and try to win the fight instead.

If enemies have taken Baron already, the best thing to do is to IMMEDIATELY LOOK FOR A PICK while their guard is down after they reset, no matter how deep in their jungle or lane. You want to create a numbers advantage ASAP to waste their Baron buff time, though remember to play by your R CD so don't group too early if you don't need to. Making a pick is absolutely tilting for the enemy team as you have turned the tides of map pressure and stalled their Baron siege.

Overall, Talon is a more straightforward champion to play than other assassins. Being able to jump over terrain freely is one of the most satisfying things you'll do in Wild Rift. Once you get a feel for Talon's abilities and combos, he'll feel amazing.

Thanks for Reading! If you want to gain more in-depth knowledge about LOL, check out many helpful articles here!

Good luck to you! – Cheng