Talon - General Tips and Tricks

Right, so I know it's been a while since someone actually complained about Talon's nerf, but I know some people are still sore about it and I'll be bluntly honest as a Talon main: I can't blame you. Ever since his nerf, he has been crippled and it's a lot more dangerous to use Talon now considering how many champions now counter him while Talon can't respond nearly effectively. Still, I managed to find some workarounds for Talon and I figure I might as well share them with everyone. If you guys don't agree or you have something you wish to add, by all means, feel free to add on to this topic.

General

What I discovered in particular about Talon is that he's really not like other assassins. Most assassins use hit-and-run style attacks - coming in out of nowhere, bursting, getting the f*** out. While you can play Talon like this, doing so the entire time is not even the closest way to use his full effectiveness. See, this is Talon's biggest strengths and weaknesses:

Pros

• Ridiculously high damage when bursting
• Good roaming
• Nigh-instantaneous burst when executed properly

Cons

• Squishy as all hell
• No easy escapes
• Weak early game, needs to be fed to snowball

In order to balance these out and make the most out of Talon's damage, what one needs to do is not hit-and-run tactics, but C&C - Counter and Capitalize. Talon's burst is extremely damaging and pulled off correctly, gives one extremely little time to react. However, it's very easy to interrupt or escape from, especially without his silence. But still, it's not the end of the world. There are still ways to do extremely good with him if you're careful. For Talon, it's all about the subtleties.

Wait for them to make a mistake

When it comes to Talon, it's easy to stop his burst. But what happens when his burst isn't stopped? When it isn't stopped, people die by the droves. With his nigh-instantaneous burst, he's built around exploiting even the tiniest mistake the enemy makes. Here's a few examples of some mistakes Talon can capitalize on.

1. Target uses CC or escape head of time
2. Nobody peels for the ADC or squishy
3. Squishy is roaming in a lane somewhere by themselves
4. Low-health target trying to Recall in the open
5. They're sitting next to an unwarded brush.
6. Enemy team is distracted, leaving their flank wide open

That being said, although Talon is geared towards exploiting every little crack in the enemy's offense or defense, he in turn has extremely little in the way of forgiveness - miscalculate and you will die. Therefore, the objective of a Talon player should be to find any opening the enemy team makes and pull every single opportunity you can from it while minimizing your own mistakes. This can be done by simply warding brushes, map awareness, pings from your teammates - basically, common sense. It takes a bit of practice and a watchful eye to know when to go in and when not to, but it pays off dividends, not only with Talon, but with other champions as well. A few tips:

• NEVER, EVER turret dive unless you know for sure their escape/CC is gone and their health is low enough for you to finish them!
• Roam. A lot. If you're ahead, roam. If you're not, roam. Look for any and all opportunities to roam and kill.
• Crit chance and armor pen are your best friends. Use them.
• Use your ult carefully - it's simultaneously your burst, escape, and initiate tool, and a huge part of your killing potential. It has a low CD, but be careful.
• Don't directly approach your targets - do whatever you can to go around and hit where they're unprotected, be it their sides, back, or simply around their tanks.

Mid Opponents

I'm not gonna talk about all the mids Talon has to go through - that would be far too long and redundant since most of what I would say is already said above. But here are some common mids that I have trouble with now without that silence.

When it comes to Zed, it's a skill matchup. With or without the silence, those that can calculate when and when not to go in wins lane. Harass with W and Q early in lane, avoid his Qs and shadows and reach level 6 ASAP. If he tries to burst you with his ult, use your ult to avoid most of his burst, wait until his ult finishes, then counter burst him. Talon's ult's CD is shorter than Zed's - make the most of it.

This GODDAMN FISH. Your hugest problem will be his E, aka the Trollpole, as with any other mid. Do what you can to lure it out - by scaring him, taunting him, baiting him, whatever. Try not to get stuck in the middle of your minions, as his W goes through other minions to get to you whereas you don't have such a luxury. If necessary, use your E on an nearby enemy or minion to get away from him. Once his E is down, he's pretty much wide open.

This one is... odd, to say the least. Sometimes I end up feeding him, sometimes he ends up feeding me. Without silence, Kass is perfectly free to either Riftwalk away or use it to begin his counter burst. Your best bet would be to shut him down in lane before he hits 6 - harrass with your W and your Q and keep him from farming. If you can land a kill on him, great. If you can't, just make sure he's starved. Ask your jungler for CC if necessary if he tries to escape. Get an early Hexdrinker if you deem it necessary - a bit of MR and the extra damage goes a long way.

There's really no way for me to sugarcoat this, so I won't: Katarina now counters Talon in every single way. You try to burst her, she counter bursts you or simply Shunpos away. You try to ult to get away from her, her ult ignores stealth. Nor can you E her anymore to stop her - try it and you'll eat her Death Lotus while she merrily spins. Your best bet would be to just farm under tower, stay the hell away when her Q debuff is on you, and call on your jungler to camp mid. And of course, roam. Roam a lot.

That's all I got for now. Feel free to respond however you like.