Combos · Jungle

Talon combos

the Blade's Shadow

3 Talon combos explained key by key: in which order to cast the abilities, when to use them and what each step does. The main combo is W › Q › AA. Further down: every ability's cooldown, cost and range, and the skill max order measured over ranked games.

Talon combos

The trade

W › Q › AA AA

When: An enemy is within blade range.

Rake damages on the way out and back and slows, Noxian Diplomacy stabs (critical strike in melee) and stacks, your attack triggers the bleed at 3 stacks.

The assassination

E › Q › W › AA AA › R

When: A carry is isolated behind a wall.

Assassin's Path crosses the terrain, Noxian Diplomacy leaps onto the target from range, then Shadow Assault makes you invisible and damages the enemies hit by the blades.

The escape

R › E

When: You need to get away.

Shadow Assault makes you invisible with a movement speed bonus; Assassin's Path crosses a wall to cut off the chase.

Common mistakes

• Attacking without the 3 wounds: the bleed depends on the stacks.
• Using Assassin's Path without thinking: the terrain crossed has a long cooldown.
• Casting the ultimate too early: the blades return to you when you become visible again.

Cooldowns, costs and ranges

A combo only comes back once its abilities are off cooldown: these values (rank 1 to max rank, in seconds) tell how long to wait between two combos. Source: Data Dragon 16.19.1.

Ability	Cooldown (s)	Cost	Range
Q · Noxian Diplomacy	8/7.5/7/6.5/6	40 Mana	575
W · Rake	9/8.5/8/7.5/7	50/55/60/65/70 Mana	650
E · Assassin's Path	0	—	725
R · Shadow Assault	100/80/60	100 Mana	550

Official ability descriptions

PassiveBlade's End

Talon's spells Wound champions and large monsters, stacking up to 3 times. When Talon attacks a champion with 3 stacks of Wound, they bleed for heavy damage over time.

QNoxian Diplomacy

Talon stabs the target unit. If they are within melee range, this attack deals critical damage. If they are outside melee range, Talon will leap at his target before stabbing them. Talon refunds some health and cooldown if this ability kills the target.

WRake

Talon sends out a volley of daggers that then return back to him, dealing physical damage every time it passes through an enemy. The returning blades deal bonus damage and slow units hit.

EAssassin's Path

Talon vaults over any terrain or structure, up to a max distance. This ability has a low cooldown, but puts the used terrain on a long cooldown.

RShadow Assault

Talon disperses a ring of blades and becomes Invisible while gaining additional Move Speed. When Talon emerges from Invisibility, the blades converge on his location. Each time the blades move, Shadow Assault deals physical damage to enemies hit by at least one blade.

Skill order

Max order: W > Q > E52.7% · 112 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●						●		●		●	●
W	●			●	●		●		●
E			●											●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 128 games).

Riot's official tips for playing Talon

• You can use Assassin's Path to get behind the enemy and set up for Noxian Diplomacy's melee attack.
• Shadow Assault is a powerful escape tool, but can also be offensively used to assault a group.
• Remember to pick your target before the fight. Focusing all of Talon's abilities on one target can be very rewarding, but splitting them up between many may leave you helpless.

How to play around Talon's combos

• Talon's attacks are all physical damage. Build armor early to counter his burst damage.
• Talon is heavily reliant on Shadow Assault to escape a fight. When it is down he's significantly more vulnerable.
• Talon has unrivaled roaming ability. Make sure to keep track of his position or force him to stay in lane by pushing aggressively.

Frequently asked questions

Build, runes and counters: full Talon guide · every champion's combos · tier list