Guide · ADC

Tristana Guide

the Yordle Gunner

Marksman

Assassin

Tier B ADC

Tristana, the Yordle Gunner, is a marksman and assassin champion of medium difficulty. Across our 1665 analysed ranked games, Tristana is mostly played as ADC (80% of its games), and more rarely in Mid (17%), with a 50.0% win rate in that role: tier B among ADC champions (#20 of 36, ranked by win rate). Tristana's damage is mostly physical (90%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate stays steady whatever the game length (48.9% to 51.3%): a reliable pick in every phase of the game.

Averages measured over 1331 ADC games played with Tristana, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Tristana is an execution marksman: her attack range grows with her levels, and Rocket Jump lets her dive or escape. Explosive Charge places a bomb on a target or explodes on every takedown, letting her chain kills in team fights. Her ultimate knocks the target back and doubles the charge's blast radius.

The execution

W › E › Q › AA AA

When: An enemy is isolated or weakened.

Rocket Jump brings you closer and slows, Explosive Charge places a bomb on the target, Rapid Fire boosts your attack speed to finish.

The defensive ultimate

R

When: An enemy dives you.

Buster Shot deals magic damage and knocks the target back; if they carry an Explosive Charge, the blast radius is doubled, which also hurts their nearby allies.

The kill chain

E › AA AA › AA AA › Q

When: A team fight is underway.

Every takedown makes your projectiles explode around the victim: position yourself to hit several enemies at once.

Laning phase

Your range grows with your levels: play carefully early, then punish from a distance as soon as you outrange them. Keep Rocket Jump to escape or finish, since its cooldown is long.

Common mistakes

• Diving with Rocket Jump without an escape: its cooldown is long.
• Using the ultimate offensively when it knocks the target back: it is also a defensive tool.
• Forgetting that your range grows with levels: do not play like you are level 1.

Riot's official tips for playing Tristana

• Her massive gun allows Tristana to fire on targets at a great distance. Utilize this to prevent your enemies from ever laying a hand on you.
• Use Rocket Jump after you have stacked up your Explosive Charge on an enemy to finish them off with a burst of damage.
• Use Rapid Fire to help stack up your Explosive Charge on enemy champions.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Infinity Edge, Yun Tal Wildarrows, and Navori Flickerblade (432 games, 56.7% win rate).

Infinity Edge+Yun Tal Wildarrows+Navori Flickerblade

432 games · 56.7%

Infinity Edge+Lord Dominik's Regards+Navori Flickerblade

314 games · 60.5%

Infinity Edge+Yun Tal Wildarrows+Lord Dominik's Regards

252 games · 60.7%

Summoner spells

Flash + Barrier49.9% · 922 games

Exhaust + Flash51.7% · 257 games

Cleanse + Flash45.1% · 133 games

Most-played runes

Lethal Tempo + Inspiration

50.0% · 1096 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph94%

Legend: Bloodline56%

Cut Down96%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cash Back79%

Triple Tonic62%

Shards

Attack speed96%

Adaptive force100%

Health92%

Lethal Tempo + Domination

46.7% · 120 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph97%

Legend: Alacrity93%

Coup de Grace92%

Secondary tree · Domination

Treasure Hunter99%

Taste of Blood94%

Shards

Attack speed99%

Adaptive force99%

Health scaling92%

Lethal Tempo + Resolve

53.1% · 32 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph75%

Legend: Alacrity72%

Cut Down66%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating100%

Overgrowth47%

Shards

Attack speed94%

Adaptive force100%

Health72%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Tristana's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team52.3% · 369 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Infinity Edge 55.4%

Navori Flickerblade 54.2%

Yun Tal Wildarrows 54.2%

Lord Dominik's Regards 60.6%

Hexoptics C44 49.1%

The Collector 54.2%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team49.9% · 341 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Infinity Edge 55.6%

Navori Flickerblade 56.4%

Yun Tal Wildarrows 54.0%

Lord Dominik's Regards 56.9% ▼

Hexoptics C44 46.4% ▼

The Collector 54.8%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team48.6% · 621 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Infinity Edge 52.0%

Navori Flickerblade 52.8%

Yun Tal Wildarrows 48.6%

Lord Dominik's Regards 62.1%

Hexoptics C44 52.5%

The Collector 50.5%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Tristana as ADC

Lucian Tristana: 29.6%27 games

Lucian has the edge in 70% of the 27 ADC duels against Tristana. See the Lucian guide.

Kalista Tristana: 37.5%16 games

Kalista has the edge in 62% of the 16 ADC duels against Tristana. See the Kalista guide.

Zeri Tristana: 41.2%17 games

Zeri has the edge in 59% of the 17 ADC duels against Tristana. See the Zeri guide.

Caitlyn Tristana: 42.1%38 games

Caitlyn has the edge in 58% of the 38 ADC duels against Tristana. See the Caitlyn guide.

Draven Tristana: 43.5%23 games

Draven has the edge in 57% of the 23 ADC duels against Tristana. See the Draven guide.

Who Tristana is strong against

Corki69.6% · 23 games

Kai'Sa61.9% · 63 games

Jhin58.2% · 55 games

Ezreal57.9% · 38 games

Xayah56.0% · 25 games

How to play against Tristana

• If you see Tristana activate Rapid Fire in a fight, stun her and try to back off until the spell dissipates.
• Stand away from your creeps in a lane to take less collateral damage from Explosive Charge.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Tristana's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveDraw a Bead

Increases Tristana's Attack Range as she levels.

QRapid Fire

Tristana fires her weapon rapidly, increasing her Attack Speed for a short time.

WRocket Jump

Tristana fires at the ground to propel her to a distant location, dealing damage and slowing surrounding units for a brief period where she lands.

EExplosive Charge

When Tristana kills a unit, her cannonballs burst into shrapnel, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. Can be activated to place a bomb on a target enemy that explodes after a short duration dealing damage to surrounding units.

RBuster Shot

Tristana loads a massive cannonball into her weapon and fires it at an enemy unit. This deals Magic Damage and knocks the target back. If the target is carrying the Explosive Charge bomb, the bomb detonation radius is doubled.

Frequently asked questions

Full Tristana page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides