Talon rework vs Old Talon.

Anyone think that Talon's rework was actually a slight nerf? I wanna start with the Pro's of the rework first, because yes there are some nice parts too his new kit as well as bad ones.

First off he has great early damage (if he can proc his passive) and great Single target assassination potential, which is nice for killing the pesky ADC's in the ADC meta we're currently in. He isn't just a farm till 6 then dominate the lane he has kill potential starting at level 2 but with 2 points into his Rake at level 3 he is very dangerous.

Second his assassin's path is a great escape tool for a champion who had to use his Escape tool to go in (formerly Cut Throat and Shadow Assault were his escape tools as well as damage tools) But it offers nothing in Lane so i Don't end up getting it till level 4 because its pretty useless in lane.

Third his new Q has a Forced Melee Crit which is great for melee match ups and gives him quite a bit of power early.

My problems with Talon are with his new Gap closer. It is extremely slow and Predictable and actually makes laning vs Mages mid harder than it used to be. Before hand you could use Cut throat to dodge skills because it was a blink, and if you dodge a spell with the Blink you were in great position to make a good trade. Vs any mage with CC its actually pretty hard for Talon to get in on them Because the Q has such a Slow animation and is not a Dash which can easily be Stopped by a Charm, a Scatter the Weak, or a Tectonic Disruption. Also While Trying to gap close on the ADC it is very easy to get Stopped by a support, So while yes single target damage is up, you are much less likely to get it off do to the predictability of his Kit.

A lot of people may say Cut throat was a very predictable skill as well it always blinked you behind them, so a good player would hold off on CC until Cut throat was used, then use it behind them. The counter to that point was if you were a good Talon you can hold Cut Throat Walk up to them and Rake, Shadow assault, do your damage and if you needed to Kill Pounce with Cut Throat. At any point in time you could Use his old E as a Dodge, while yes it was a sorta Difficult play to do, if you dodged a CC with Cut throat chances are you got your kill. (I understand the first version of Cut Throat had a Silence and I agree that was way to OP and left very little counter play if maxed because the Silence Duration was too long for anyone to make a move.)

His old Rake had very limited range and did less damage early on but applied it's slow on this first hit as well as the second hit and had a much Faster Travel time. Currently Rake is slightly Further in Range but Doesn't come back Right away and the Missile speed had been toned down quite a bit. The slow also Only applies on the way back and is Very easy to dodge because of the timing it takes to return to Talon. His R missile Speed has also been slowed down, but it has and interesting Trade off of being easier to control the Damage, so while yes it has had an AoE damage nerf it got a single Target damage buff so Overall i think the New Shadow Assault is better.

I think many of the New Talon changes made him a Worse Mid laner, But a better Top laner depending on the match ups (he does much better vs melee than ranged) But over all I think he is harder to play vs Ranged Champions and not actually a viable pick into Most Mid match ups. I still Enjoy both versions of the Champion, but started to realize as you climb to plat or higher Talon becomes less and less viable in the Mid lane He is better early which is great for Snowballing, but is worse late game, so if you don't end the game ASAP you start to drop off and it is a very hard Drop off. So I was just curious too Talon players out there, do you like the New Talon or the Old Talon better?