Given the meta changes brought by Seasons 11, both in normal and competitive play, Assassin champions have once again become massively popular, not only on Mid but also in the Jungle. Season 12 has further emphasized the prominence of Assassins, as it brought a couple of important changes to the itemization options, allowing some already powerful picks to thrive even more.
Among those champions who’ve transitioned from Mid to Jungle, we find Talon, The Blade’s Shadow, one of the most iconic AD Assassins, often associated with real-life mercenaries. His kit yells “sudden death”, as this champion can appear from seemingly anywhere, deleting his target near instantly before making his escape.
Talon Jungle operates on the same rule of thought as Zed, relying heavily on ganks and kills instead of taking the slow farming approach. This is possible thanks to his E ability, which allows him to cross all forms of terrain, taking enemies by surprise for angles other Junglers cannot attack.
These being said, when played in the Jungle, Talon still needs to grind up to his early power spike through efficient pathing and well-timed ganks, which may pose difficulties to certain players who aren’t used to running Assassin mechanics in the Jungle.
For that very reason, we bring you this in-depth pathing guide for Talon Jungle, alongside a few useful tips and tricks to dominate the role with!
Summoner Spells
Ignite + Smite
For most champions, Flash is the go-to Summoner Spell, as its versatility is rarely matched by any other option. Truthfully, many Junglers can give up on Flash in favor of a more offensive Summoner’s, especially when talking about Assassins.
With Talon, however, the go-to Summoner Spell is going to be Ignite, as his kit already provides plenty of mobility and escape tools, given his E’s parkour mechanics and the large window of invisibility granted by his Ultimate ability.
This added kill pressure is one of the subtleties which makes Talon such a dangerous opponent to face in the early to mid-game.
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The Best Talon Runes
Characteristic to most Assassins, Talon will find his ideal Runes in the Domination tree, where his most potent options are Electrocute and Dark Harvest. For the most part, the decision is purely up to each player’s personal preference, but if we had to choose sides, Dark Harvest would probably be the winning option.
For obvious reasons, players also want to run Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection, and Ingenious Hunter.
For the secondary Runes, as tempting as it would to take Triumph and Coup de Grace, we need to raise awareness surrounding the importance of getting an early gold lead when running those Runes. Assassins need to earn an advantage early on, in order to reach their rather expensive items as soon as possible, to maintain their one-shot potential.
This is why we find Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight as the better alternatives, as the 300 gold which you’d otherwise have to spend on Boots can now be saved through a few early takedowns.
If you are wondering why we paired Cosmic Insight with Ingenious Hunter, the reason lies within one of Talon’s core items, Youmuu’s Ghostblade, which players should be constantly using in order to catch up to unsuspecting enemies.
The Best Talon Items
Starting Items: Emberknife + Refillable Potion
Mythic: Eclipse / Duskblade of Draktharr
Core Items: Defensive Boots, Youmuu’s Ghostbalde, Edge of Night
Finishing Options: Black Cleaver, Serylda’s Grudge, Serpent’s Fang
Regarding the Mythic item, players are free to choose between Duskblade or Eclipse according to their personal preference once again. The choice largely comes to down to picking between some added sustain or invisibility, which can help with securing a chain takedown.
Discussion
Season 12 introduced a new Assassin item to League, Axiom Arc, which is known for its Ultimate cooldown reduction, upon securing a takedown. While champions such as Zed build it near-universally, Talon’s need for reduced Ultimate cooldown is still up for debate.
As a more personal opinion, we’d recommend building an Axiom Arc after Youmuu’s in games where your early lead is beyond the ordinary, making the investment feel less dramatic. Otherwise, we do not stand by the Axiom Arc build in regular-going games, where value for money granted by items such as Edge of Night is simply better.
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The Best Skill Order For Talon Jungle
W > Q > E > R
As the standard camp-clearing and poking ability, W should be maxed first, followed by Q and lastly E, investing spell point into your R every time you reach a milestone LVL.
The Best Jungle Paths for Talon
Having covered the basic Summoner Spells, Runes and Items, it is now time to shift our focus to the main subject of this guide, Jungle pathing with Talon. Keep in mind that Assassin are not meant to be played like most other Junglers, given their need for early advantages and takedown-oriented kits.
We are going to cover the possible starts from each side, but players should keep a few factors in mind when deciding upon where their Jungle pathing should start. These are:
- Which laners are going to provide more help in clearing the first camp?
- Counter-jungle opportunities, based on where the enemy Jungler is likely to start.
- Which lane would you like to gank first, depending on both the allied and enemy champions.
Remember that your primary focus should always be ganking and securing takedowns on unsuspecting enemies who roam too far from their team. Whenever such an opportunity arises, feel free to abort your clear and join the fight, as your E allows you to cover great distances, which can very rarely be matched by other champions.
Red Side, Red Clear
The Red Buff provides Talon with yet another killing tool, the slow and DPS, which can easily be converted into an early kill if the enemy Laners mistakenly overextend. For the clear, kill the first Buff using repeated Ws, while saving Smite for the next camp.
Put the next spell point into Q and head for the Krugs. This camp is normally a bit more challenging to slay, which is why we advise players to use Smite on the largest mob, accelerating the clear and regaining some Health.
Keeping the momentum slow, clear the Raptors and Wolves, using your Refillable Potion whenever needed, until you reach your fifth camp, the Blue Buff. Do not hesitate to use the second Smite on it, as it would otherwise cost you quite a bit of time and Health to kill.
For the sixth camp, the Gromp is your target, as it will heal you up even more, allowing you to confidently enter the River, in order to secure the Scuttler. If you haven’t stopped for a gank until now, it is time to force a flank on either Bot or Mid, using your E to enter the fight.
Red Side, Blue Clear
When starting from the Blue Buff, your tempo will be slightly better, as your first two camps will only have a single mob, and you can expect to be near full Health by the time you reach the Raptors.
The clear is pretty standard, slay Blue and use Smite on the Gromp to accelerate you pace, heading for the Wolves and Raptors next. During your fight with the Red Buff you can expect to lose a bit more Health than usual, but given the added HP regeneration granted by the buff and Smite’s healing, your HP bar shouldn’t be a concern.
After clearing Red, players have three options. Finishing a full clear by slaying the Krugs and Scuttler, skipping the Krugs altogether, or forcing a gank on Top and resuming the clear afterwards.
This is a purely personal choice, but if unsure, we recommend going the safe route and finishing the Krugs and Scuttler, unless a fight breaks out somewhere in your proximity.
After gaining access and vision in the River, you are now free to force a gank on your Top-side lanes.
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Blue Side, Red Clear
Switching into the Blue Side, starting at the Red Buff is going to offer the advantage of having 2 allies helping you take the first camp. Although most Junglers would call this difference insignificant, in the case of these off-meta Assassins, any piece of extra assistance is going to have an impact.
From the Red Buff, head towards the Krugs and Smite the largest one, then transition towards your Raptors and Wolves, again as the most difficult part of your early game pathing.
Your fifth and sixth camps are once again going to be the other Buff and the Gromp, slaying Blue with the help of Smite and Gromp naturally, leaving you with plenty of Health to contest the Scuttler if needed.
After taking the Scuttler Crab, look for a position to gank from on Mid or Top, accounting for the enemy line of vision and the positions of the lanes.
Blue Side, Blue Clear
And finally, if you are looking to land a first gank on Bot, the Blue Buff start is going to leave you with a great opening to do just that.
Secure the Buff and use Smite to finish the Gromp as soon as possible, then head for the Wolves and Raptors as usual. Save your Smite for Red, transitioning into the Krugs afterward.
If you have reason to believe that the Rift Scuttler needs to be contested, you can skip over the Krugs and secure the extra vision and gold, but otherwise stick to the pathing shown in the image above.
Once the full clear is over, you can use E to cross any walls necessary for you to reach the desired angle, allowing you to gank effortlessly. Still, you’ll want to take the more advantageous-looking trades, as your early game objective is to build a lead.
The Best Tips and Tricks for Talon Jungle
- As a generally useful piece of advice for all Assassin players, occasionally drop a Control Ward into enemy territory in order to spot out roaming champions. Once a target has been spotted, using Youmuu’s active in combination with your E, it becomes childishly easy to catch up and assassinate them.
- During the early stages of the game, you want to constantly look for opportunities to gank overextending enemies by jumping over the walls they’d be least suspicious about. The ability to gank from obscure angles is arguably what gives Talon that essential element of surprise, crucial to pulling him off in the Jungle.
- In the late game, you want to be lurking in the Fog of War, using the small pockets of shadow to plan your flanks from. Once a high-value target steps just a bit too far from the rest of the enemy team, your job is to punish their poor positioning.
- Once you’ve successfully assassinated an important target, use E, Duskblade’s invisibility, or your Ultimate ability to get out fast. Edge of Night will absorb some damage and hopefully some CC, but Talon was not made to stay between multiple enemies alone. Failure to escape is likely to end up with you being sent back to the fountain, resulting in a 1 for 1 trade.
- Lastly, remember not to give away your position. As tempting as it would sometimes be to get a free kill on the enemy Support, that is only a partial victory.
Finalizing Thoughts
Assassin Junglers need to get early gold and experience leads, and despite the consistent AOE damage against mobs, Talon’s kit was designed to kill champions, not monsters. Every time a vulnerable enemy tries to roam, it is your duty to intercept and punish their move.
Spend some time learning the mechanics of your E. Keep in mind that once you’ve jumped over a wall, you won’t be able to cast E on it for a certain period of time. This makes it your duty to properly plan attacks, making sure to have a piece of terrain to jump over in order to secure your escape.
Some games may require you to build some resistances as well as some Armor shred, and your best options are going to be Black Cleaver, Hexdrinker or Death’s Dance. Despite sacrificing some Lethality, you will still be able to assassinate the enemy carries quite easily, so do not hesitate to invest in some defensive stats and passives.
With that we conclude this article, hoping you’ve found sufficient information to terrorize the enemy carries with in your next game of Talon Jungle! Make sure to also keep an eye out on our website to stay up to date with our latest League-related content!
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