[SEASON 14.13] Kaostanza's Talon Jungle Guide (CHALLENGER) (2024)

If you’re learning Talon then you must learn combos as his damage is back-loaded on his passive. Your kill potential is enormously heightened if you are always prepared to pull off the right combos in all kinds of situations. As you will usually be running Ignite instead of Flash, you will be a bit more limited in how you want to pull off combos, especially without terrain or structures. Generally speaking, for instant burst combos you should use R as part of the sequence, however good Talon players will know when to hold R for another rotation or abstain from using R completely to be able to stay and continue pressuring on the map safely. The latter is a lot easier to do when you have Conqueror or when you are considerably ahead of the target(s). Being highly versatile and able to choose and use optimal combos or even adapt and switch combos mid-fight is the highest micro skill cap for Talon.

As Ignite is preferred over Flash for Talon Jungle, I will not cover any Flash combos. I HIGHLY suggest practicing some of these combos in the Practice Tool to help engrain these combos into muscle memory and hopefully you will be able to use them and make split-second adaptations in the right scenarios. While a lot of Talon combos exclude E, I’ve chosen to include E if they play an important role in the sequence to make up for the lack of Flash Combos.

Important notes: while Ranged Q combos will deal slightly less damage than their Melee Q counterparts due to the lack of AA reset and Crit Q, Talon is still a melee champ and will often need to utilise the gap closing form of Q. You may want to exclude the AA before Q → AA as this slows down your combo. For burst combos where you include using R, Ignite and Smite should only be used before R or when your combo has broken your stealth, otherwise they can mess up your R targeting causing them to converge on yourself rather than the enemy.

NEW NOTE: Combos added from S11 guide. No visual assistance ATM.

W → R
I like to call this the Tsunami combo as you’re just absolutely drowning them in AoE and open a LOT of options.

Common combo opener for melee combos and AoE multiple passive stacks. This is used usually from a flank and within fairly close range, securing you at least 1 stack from W but usually a 2nd stack from R. This combo opens a lot of options for you as you will have multiple passive stacks on multiple different targets, potentially applying 3 stacks every one nearby. You usually want to use the stealth and Bonus Movement Speed to close the gap on a valuable target and attempt to kill them in whatever way is suitable. You can consider fighting on - especially with Conqueror - as you will have stacks on other enemies too and probably oneshot the first target or just retreat.

Standard Ranged Combo
W → Q → AA (passive proc)
Talon’s bread and butter combo. Requires you to wait to ~0.7s after casting W so you can instantly proc passive after landing Q. The follow-up AA is almost instant, don’t worry about having to input your own command. The common combo to gank with.

Flower Combo
W → Q → R → AA (passive proc)
Talon’s standard ranged burst combo Post-6. Throw W, use rQ and use R mid-air. Pulling this off is the fastest and most efficient ranged burst combo. Try to Ignite either before Q to reduce healing or after landing Q, else you will risk your R converging onto you instead of the target.

I suggest practicing using the Flower combo as this is one of the most effective combos and works in almost any situation for Talon Post-6, yet is very easy to pull off. You can probably use this combo only after Level 6 and still manage to win a lot of games.

Late Blooming Flower
Q → W → R → AA (passive proc)
This is very similar to the Flower combo, except it is used when you’d rather rQ to stick to them, and then instead of having the auto follow-up from the rQ usage you override that with W buffer mid-dash and simultaneously R; the AA is almost instant after the W cast.

This is useful when they are at max range of W.

Leap Combo
Q → AA → W → AA (passive proc)
This is used to engage the enemy when they’re at the edge of W’s range and you are not cutting them off from an angle therefore unable to secure both W hits. You should often step back after throwing W for a split second to cloud your intentions and make W2 easier to hit. This combo is how you want to initiate duels and chases, especially when they are in your turret range and you don’t have time to go around from an angle. You can also use this as a short trade once you have Eclipse, obviously not if they can chain CC and shut you down.

I use this often once I have purchased Youmuu’s Ghostblade and or Eclipse. Red Smite and Red Buff help chase them down. Bringing them closer to kill range, putting your abilities on cooldown ASAP and gathering Conqueror stacks will make you ready to face any retaliation, should they try to fight back.

Ranged Hop Combo
W → E → Q → AA (passive proc)
Use this combo when the enemy is behind a wall. If you need a faster execution, use E between 0.5s after using W and instantly Q → AA to give enemies less time to react, else wait to see if both W1 and W2 hit before going in. Similar to Standard Range except with a wall hop in between.

Leap & Hop Combo
Q → AA → W → E → AA (passive proc)
This combo is not often used as it is very specific. Like the Standard Leap Engage combo, this combo is aggressive and is used when you want to reposition right after dashing in. The first AA can be omitted but there are not many downsides to Q → AA as it’s almost instant. You will want to find terrain or structure to hop over - preferably a short hop - and then proc your passive with the delayed AA.

Hopping Flower Combo
W → E → Q → R – > AA (passive proc)
This combo is when your target is behind but not close to a wall and moving away. You want to guarantee your first stack from W, hop over the wall to close the gap and then proceed to execute the rest of the Flower combo.

False Flower
W → Q → AA → R → R
Late stealth combo that is used in a few situations where you managed to hit W1 and W2. It can be from bush-camping or when the enemy team is BM’ing you and coming too close. Only use this when you hit both W1 and W2. You’ll have to time your R right after AA but this won’t be too hard as the follow-up AA is almost instant. I call this the False Flower because the damage is only slightly less than a Flower combo even if you cannot secure a R2 hit by re-casting as you’ve hit W2 instead. This is not the best combo as it gives them about a second to react from the moment you cast W but the main difference between this and a Flower combo is that you want to be stealthed to reposition or escape. Think fadeaway.

Delayed Dash Combo
W → R → Q → AA
Predictive combo. Mostly used when ganking Bot Lane from behind and they are trying to retreat to their turret. While this may look like the Tsunami opener from the sequence, this is in fact very different. This combo is used when from an angle or behind i.e. most approaches to ganking. The “Delayed” part of this is very important here. When Talon’s W2 is returning, a lot of people will use Flash to evade it. You should be predicting this and walking towards where you think they will Flash to and use R when they do. Follow up with Q → AA, whether it is ranged or melee.

Double Dash Combo
Q → W → Q → R → AA
This combo uses the Q 50% CD refund on kill mechanic. You want to Q a low HP minion, throw your W out as they will most likely try to punish you. Retreat for a second to burn some of the Q CD and avoid taking damage and then proceed to execute the Flower combo.

False TNT Combo
Q → AA → R → W or Q → AA → W → R
Youmuu’s Ghostblade’s speed is mandatory, Edge of Night’s spell-shield is preferred. Ignite is preferred to mislead the killing intent on the first target.

Talon’s aggressive mixed single-target and AoE combo used to engage and cause disarray. If your team is under pressure and struggles to engage during a siege, do it yourself using E from Fog of War. You should be dealing a decent amount of damage with the use of Ignite and Smite onto one squishy target, possibly killing them. If the enemy has no way to react in time, you can use the first version of this combo.Hold onto your W til last and while stealthed, reposition to a safe area or near terrain before casting W if you could not use it before to slow as many as you can. Generally speaking, you want Edge of Night to be safe but as long as you have been playing in Fog of War for a while then this can catch them off-guard and cause them to panic, creating an opening for your team or preventing the siege. If your team chooses not to fight, run away and apply pressure elsewhere as you will not be able to fight after this.

You can omit the first AA and instead go for Q → AA in these combos if you think you don't have the privilege to give them any more reaction time and/or don't need to weave an extra AA before Q → AA for DPS. These would be considered as “fast” versions of the combos.

AA Reset
AA → Q → AA
Talon’s AA reset using mQ. Useful but not necessary to use in combos, sometimes that 1 extra AA is what will ruin your combo execution as it gives the enemy time to Flash/Dash or even outrun your mQ → AA passive proc.

Melee Bleed
W → AA → Q → AA
This is similar to the Standard Ranged combo; hit both W1 and W2 and use Q → AA to proc passive. This version can be used when you are able to catch up or already in range of the target after landing W1 and W2. This deals considerably more damage than the Standard Ranged combo.

Delayed Melee
W → AA → AA → AA → Ignite → Q → AA
This combo is only really used in early game when your CDs are high. You could have either walked up to them after slowing them with W or they jumped on to you. This combo makes use of Conqueror and Last Stand where you want to stall your AA → Q → AA burst until you have brought them into kill range with the extra DPS you will be dealing from runes. This can be a very low HP clutch play but early game Talon will kill just about anyone if he can pull this off. Doing AA → Q → AA too early can prompt their flash/escape which can lose a free kill. “Appear weak when you are strong” is a quote that articulates this kind of play.

The concept of Delayed combos can be very useful against anti-burst champs, such as Rengar, or enemies with anti burst items, such as Crown of the whatever it’s called.

Hop Melee Combo
W → E → AA → Q → AA
Use this combo when your target is behind and is relatively close to a wall and you are on the other side. This is the melee counterpart of the Ranged Hop combo when you know you can catch up to them with E hop and W slow for an AA Reset.

Fishing Combo
W → R → AA → Q → AA
Use this combo when you know you can successfully approach a target during Invisibility i.e. you won’t get CC’d. Pretty much only viable with Youmuu’s Ghostblade active.

This combo uses the W → R Tsunami opener to be able to run up to a target with R’s stealth and speed, and hopefully W2 slow. This combo is relatively strong even if you only manage to hit W1 on your preferred target, an AA Reset will guarantee a passive proc with AA → Q → AA and the converging R assuming you’ve been in stealth for at least half a second. This means you do not have to start this combo off closest to your preferred target as long as you can hit W1. As Talon’s AoE and stealth combined will cause enemies to panic not knowing who he will target (how I came up with “Fishing”), you can run up to your preferred target and use an AA Reset and won’t have to worry about R2’s delay for the 3rd passive stack.

As you won’t have Flash, try to at least come from a flank or this will be very awkward due to the lack of range.

High Haste Fishing Combo
rQ → W → R → AA → Q → AA
Same as above but you use ranged Q first to engage - high haste (100+) is required to pull this off.

Shadow Hop Combo
W → E → R → AA → Q → AA
You want to guarantee your first stack from W, use E to hop over the wall to close the gap and then use the No Rake sequence without the need for delay as you will have 3 stacks after Q. For thin walls, you will be able to short hop so during R’s stealth and movement speed try to angle your W2 to hit them for extra DPS if needed but be wary this gives them more time to react.

False Bloom
W → AA → Q → AA → R → R
Melee counterpart of the False Flower. This order is used when you have hit both W1 and W2 and they are still coming towards you and you are at risk if you don’t retreat soon. You want to proc your passive normally without R using the AA Reset and then immediately pop R and run. Recast R at a safe spot if you think you need R2 to finish them off. Think fadeaway.

No Rake Combo
R – AA – Q – AA
This combo can be used when Rake is unneeded or is unavailable. R is often used near the end of E animation to shorten the delay for R2 or after E should someone catch you by surprise on the other side. There are usually two ways to play out this combo: you prefer not to break stealth so you wait 0.5s or longer and then use the AA Reset to proc your passive for more damage; the enemy is low HP and you want to execute your combo as soon as possible disregarding passive proc.

Mist Combo
R → AA → Q → AA
Against champs with targeted abilities, you can time your R to cancel their ability with Invisibility. A good example is Lee Sin’s R. You will usually still be Rooted because of his own quick input buffers but you will cancel the ability and not be kicked, reposition to the safe side and then follow up with an AA Reset and W if up as he will probably kick you away afterwards.

Hidden Rake Combo
W → R → AA → Q → AA
The backwards Prowler's combo, except without Prowler's. Not recommended unless they have nothing to react with and relatively close to the wall you're using.

Common Long Sequences
You usually want to have 2+ Items to go for long sequences. Conqueror is also preferred. If you are much stronger than the enemy, you should abstain from using R to stay on the map for longer.

Two Rotations Short Duel
Q → AA → W → AA (passive proc) → AA → R → AA → Q → AA
This sequence starts off with the Leap combo to engage. In this scenario you cannot wait for a second W knowing that they will go all-in shortly after your Leap combo. You can also use the Standard Ranged combo to engage. This sequence is used when you prefer to stealth, denying them the chance to damage you too much while you wait for Q cooldown for an AA Reset to finish them off.

Two Rotations Dueling
Q → AA → W → AA (passive proc) → AA → AA → W → R → AA → Q → AA (passive proc)
Conqueror is highly preferred if you want to go for this play, else either avoid tanky enemies and look for oneshots instead. This sequence is a combination of the Leap and Melee combos, with AA(s) weaved in between while on cooldown. You can also use the Standard Ranged combo to start off this play. You usually want to do this in the side lane where you will have more than enough room and time to chase them down, presumably bruisers and tanks. The Leap combo also acts as a bait window for them to turn the fight but with Red Smite and low cooldowns, you should be fine.

As this sequence uses two rotations, you’ll probably only need to attempt this play at 3+ items when you have Black Cleaver, a good amount of Haste and you cannot oneshot the target. Try to weave in autos but prioritise juking any CC and spacing while the W is on CD. You should hold onto Ignite until your cooldowns are almost down for the second rotation, especially against bruisers who will try to turn the fight when they are fairly low.