Starting Items

• The main difference between corrupting potion and Longsword/3pots is the mana sustain. I would go LS/3pots 95% of the time, just because every Bonus AD provides you a lot (because of Talons pretty decent Bonus AD scalings). Only go corr. potion if you feel like you will get bullied and need the sustain (e.g. LeBlanc matchup).
• A goood early item that scales well into midgame because of it's flat ArmorPen (True Damage for the win!!). Get this if you feel like you need some defense against bursty champs (diana, lb) or just if they have AP-Mid & AP-Jungle.
• Get this at your first back when you can. Always a wise choice. You will have to get 3 of those either way, because in my opinion, every Talon should straight up build all 3 Lethality Items (Youmuu's Ghostblade, Duskblade of Draktharr and Edge of Night).
• A good item against champions like Vladimir or Swain that sustain and heal alot in fights.
• NOT as good. -> View Longsword, 3 pots

Core Items

• Basically your core items!
• I almost always rush a hydra after Youmuus. You may want to first build Youmuus and then begin Hydra or build Serrated Dirk -> Tiamat -> Youmuus -> Hydra.
• Fits Talon very well. Lethality, Move-Speed, free-red-trinket & bonus damage on 1 Auto-Attack (which synergizes well with "Fresh Blood" Mastery) provide a lot of useful stats and utility for Talon.
• A nice 4-5th item. Provides the possibility to deny hard cc or even slows if those would be the reason for your death. Also gives you a lot of flat AD and gives you some MR against mages.
• I usually go Youmuu's after finishing Hydra. It's CDR, Lethality and the move-speed buff all fit Talon pretty well.
• You dont really need mobi or swiftness boots to boost your mobility since your E gives you a lot already. CDR boots will give you the possibility to have a lot of CDR in early game already.

Situational Items

• You want to build this when you can't afford dying or you get focussed and killed in teamfights because you are the main carry of your team.
• Good in midgame. Just pay attention on not having too much CDR. Since 40% is the maximum and BC, Youmuus and CDR boots already fill those 40%. If you go for Maw, chose Swiftness Boots instead of CDR-Boots.
• A very good 3rd item (chose between this and Black Cleaver; the second choice 4th item) when they have either a lot of CC or 2 Magic damage dudes. Provides one of the highest amount of AD of all the items of the game. Fits Talon very well.
• Not that good on Talon. You want to focus on flat AD and ArmorPen instead of Crit items (because Talon has HUGE AoE burst while Crit is single target).
• Could fill your 10% "missing" cdr. I've never tried it, but I dont think it is good because it gives you a lot of stats that you don't really need: AttackSpeed, Mana, CritChance. Ofc it is nice to have those but remember this is the most expensive AD item of the game while you can get items that fit talon a lot better and that cost less expensive.
• This Item will "overfill" your cdr (with BC and Youmuus which are obligatory). It gives you (too much) CDR, Mana and Crit Chance (focus on flat AD and ArmorPen because of Talon's AoE burst; crit is one-target-damage) which are by far not as good as other stats on Talon. This item costs too much for what it provides to you as Talon compared to other items.
• 75 AD; 10% CD-reduction; 2 passives - 3400 Gold I just don't think this item is worth the item slot. You can get items that fit Talon much better than Death's Dance for the 3400 Gold it costs. Like I said: Use your gold mainly for AD and ArmorPen (prefect example: Youmuu's). CDR and diverse passives are minor matter and situational.

Note: The main difference between Talon and other Assassins (especially Zed) is that Talon has AoE while Zed has single target damage. This is the reason why I wouldn't build crit on Talon. You have to focus on AttackDamage and ArmorPen since this empowers your AoE burst. Don't build crit (talking about ), because of the reason I just explained AND because  doesn't have crit anymore (crit is good if you have a lot of crit, 20% crit through 1 item is so unreliable).

Your core items are actually these 3 (I nearly ALWAYS build them):

  

Hydra gives you a lot of AD, a lot of AoE, a lot of lifesteal and a nice active to improve your burst.

Youmuu's gives you some nice flat armor pen AND the active giving you movement speed is extremely good at roaming and ganking other lanes (this is a wise choice as a second item). Especially after the changes (higher AD, no more crit chance - which you dont need that early)

The Black Cleaver is nice as a 4th item after completing Hydra, Youmuus (and situationally Maw), this item gives you some tankiness along with some AoE ArmorPen (both are very nice in teamfights).

Like I already said, I tried out the  as a first item and I really like it against mages. The shield gives you a lot of 1v1 potential and saved my life several times already (I really recommend building this against a combination of AP midlane and AP jungle).

Build  or  after you completed ~3 items and when they have a lot of armor. When they do NOT have a lot of armor, just go for flat AD. You can build it later on because the passive (reduced healing effects) is veeeeery nice in  season 6 after all the OP Adc-Items and masteries that heal them for the triple of their actual HP in just one fight (you will not have your ignite up all the time).

Concerning boots: I usually go for  (except when i build Maw of Malmortius). I dont like Mobis that much, bcause losing so much movespeed in fight sux d1cks. However, Mobis give you nice movement speed (out of combat) which you can use pretty well in mid game because this is the time you roam and get fed off of bot/toplane.

Sell Mobis later for  or . In teamfights, people will throw their stuns, fears, taunts and whatever at you to shut you down. These boots dont lose MS in combat in contrast to . A big disadvantage Talon has compared to other assassins is that he has no way to get out of a fight easily. My recommendation is to jump in, do your combo and let your R on while running out invisible. If you have mobis and are slowed.. thats hard. If you have boots of swiftness though, the slows are reduced and you dont lose movement speed.

So these are the different build I would consider:

The %-Armor-Pen Build:

(against Tanks who have a lot of additional armor)

 ->  ->  -> ->   ->  -> Last Item (Situational)

The Flat-Armor-Pen Build:

(against Squishys with some armor; very good in midgame)

 ->  ->  ->  ->  ->  -> Last Item (Situational)

The Flat-Damage Build

(against Squishys wihtout armor; very good in midgame)

 ->  ->  -> 

The Magic-Resist Build:

(against Squishy AP Champions - very nice against AP-Mid and AP-Jungle)

 ->  ->   ->  ->  ->  -> might sell Maw of Malmortius for a situanional item in late game.

The vs-AD-Build:

(against Zed, Yasuo and stuff)

 ->  ->  ->  ->  -> (good against zed even though it provides mmr because you can qss his ultimate) -> Last Item (Situational)

• 

  Ahri

  Medium
• 

  Akali

  Easy
• 

  Anivia

  Hard
• 

  Annie

  Easy
• 

  Azir

  Easy
• 

  Brand

  Easy
• 

  Cassiopeia

  Medium
• 

  Cho'Gath

  Hard
• 

  Diana

  Medium
• 

  Ekko

  Medium
• 

  Ezreal

  Easy
• 

  Fizz

  Hard
• 

  Galio

  Hard
• 

  Heimerdinger

  Medium
• 

  Jayce

  Easy
• 

  Karma

  Easy
• 

  Karthus

  Easy
• 

  Kassadin

  Easy
• 

  Katarina

  Medium
• 

  Kayle

  Medium
• 

  Kennen

  Easy
• 

  Kog'Maw

  Easy
• 

  LeBlanc

  Medium
• 

  Lissandra

  Medium
• 

  Lulu

  Medium
• 

  Lux

  Easy
• 

  Malzahar

  Easy
• 

  Mordekaiser

  Hard
• 

  Morgana

  Medium
• 

  Nidalee

  Easy
• 

  Orianna

  Easy
• 

  Pantheon

  Medium
• 

  Quinn

  Hard
• 

  Riven

  Medium
• 

  Rumble

  Medium
• 

  Ryze

  Medium
• 

  Swain

  Medium
• 

  Syndra

  Easy
• 

  Taliyah

  Easy
• 

  Twisted Fate

  Easy
• 

  Varus

  Easy
• 

  Veigar

  Easy
• 

  Vel'Koz

  Easy
• 

  Viktor

  Easy
• 

  Vladimir

  Hard
• 

  Xerath

  Easy
• 

  Yasuo

  Easy
• 

  Zed

  Medium
• 

  Ziggs

  Easy
• 

  Zilean

  Easy
• 

  Zyra

  Easy

VS

Ahri

Medium

Since she is ranged she will probably have more CS than you early on. This doesnt matter, just dont take too much harrass

Pre level 6, poke her down as much as possible with . 

At level 6, your ult is immediate damage where Ahri has to cast her ult  3 times to get the full damage out. Your ult is also very good against her since her W  will just hit minions and ignore you since she cant see you. Just make sure you dont get charmed under turret.

Dodging her charm will make the difference in this lane. Riot made it very hard though to dodge the charm after they reworked Talon. His Gapcloser is now a dash, not a "TP", which can be interrupted pretty easily by Ahri's charm.

VS

Akali

Easy

This lane is pretty okay for Talon. Akali has to get into melee range to get CS or to trade. Talons combo is a lot stronger though (assuming you hit your W twice). Akali cant get near Talon's damage output in early game.

Just beware, her Invisibility  can screw up your Q or AA which you need for the combo.

VS

Anivia

Hard

A good anivia will bully you out of lane. A bad anivia will get rekt as soon as you are level 6. I have played against both and lived through both situations. Her Q is super annoying early on and I even considered going boots 4 pots to get at least some CS and levels.

It is just hard to dodge her Q hearly on if she zones you because you cant jump in because of the minion damage but there is no other way for you to dodge the Q so you take the damage if she uses it well. My recommendation is just to let some (or even a lot of) CS go and just don't die. Not the easiest lane if Anivia plays well but winnable if you play well yourself (and with some help of your jungler since the wave will be pushed into you).

Feels like you lack the consistent damage to kill her AND her egg after.

VS

Annie

Easy

So this is something between Easy and Medium. A good Annie will be suuuuper annoying in lane. She will just harass you all the time with Q  and Autos. A bad Annie will just try to farm and et oneshotted by you in lane.

Pretty much this counts:

Either go for CS and let her harass you or miss a huge amount of CS and stay safe. The first option gives farm, the second gives you kill potential.

In late game it gets a bit harder because of her stun which she whill just have up ALL the time.

VS

Azir

Easy

Azir is an easy matchup in my opinion.

His poke can be a bit annoying but at level 6 you can oneshot him and he cant really do something to you. The only thing he can do is ulting you away from himself to be safe. He probably has to back after though because he will be low af.

- Just be careful to not get ulted under his turret.

VS

Brand

Easy

Brand should be easy even though I hate this matchup. His poke is sooo annoying and his base damage is too.fucking.OP. (Rito pls ner)

The best moment to go in on him is when theres not too many minions on his site while NONE on your site. If you go in while your minions are around, his ult will halflife you.

Try to dodge the stun even though this is kinda hard when he keeps it until you jump onto him.

VS

Cassiopeia

Medium

Cassiopeia can bully you out of lane if she hits a lot of Qs early. Focus on not getting hit by her and try to land some Ws yourself if she walks up to you.

Dont underestimate her level 2 powerspike. Miss some CS if she zones you, just stay in range for experience. At level 6, you should just simply win because you got more burst damage than her. Only if she outplays you with her ult and her W, she can win 1v1 after 6.

VS

Cho'Gath

Hard

Foken hard match-up. His heal is ridiculous, his base (damage AND hp) stats are ridiculous, his silence has a ridiculous long duration and I dont even want to say anything about his R . The only disadvantage he has is his range... but since you have to jump INTO him he just straight up reks you.

VS

Diana

Medium

This is kinda hard but if you play it well you can win.

Her W  is super annoying and counters you so basically dont jump on her before level 6 escept shes low.

Poke her down with W  and wait for her to use her Q  to farm, then engage.

VS

Ekko

Medium

This match-up is OK for Talon. I put it in the "Medium" difficulty not because he is strong against you or reks you or something, just because you dont have much killpotential on him.

His Q is annoying because he can push and harass at the same time (especially since you are a melee) and his R  allows him to get out if you jump on him while healing him for a ton of HP.

If you dont make horrible mastakes, you should be fine though.

VS

Ezreal

Easy

Ezreal is a super easy lane. He has no early damage to be a threat for you and his abilities are all skill shots which makes it pretty easy to dodge them with your  and .

At level 6 you can just deny him all CS since he wont be able to farm without Q  unless he wants to lose 70% of his hp. If hes not completely retarded, he will always keep his E  to get out and never use it offensively because when he does that, he is dead.

VS

Fizz

Hard

Fizz should be a skill match-up. But I have to say I absolutely HATE this match-up. In laning phase its hella annoying because as soon as he dodges ANY damage from you with his E , youre gonna lose the upcoming fight because you lack damage. Fizz also likes to build zhonyas as a first item so it's even more annoying. His Ult  counters yours (it sticks to you when you use your R ).

Thats it for the laning phase. Let's consider you won it. Imma tell you whats gonna happen in teamfights if you try to kill him:

You jump on him, he uses E . Then you get your AA, Q off, he uses , then you get your W off, his E  gets off cooldown again and he uses it and gets out. There is just NO WAY you kill that guy in teamfights. You just stand around and hit 2-3 abilities on him which wont be enough to kill him while his team is gonna rek you.

Just jump on their ADC and oneshot him caus that guy won't build zhonyas and that kinda pussy stuff ;)

VS

Galio

Hard

This guy is very rarely on summoners rift. But when he is and he is your lane opponent... you pretty much have 0 kill potential on him. His shield  is just way to OP for this matchup. Just try to farm as much as possible to be able to oneshot their ADC later on. If their jungler is squishy you can even try to ward enemy jungle and catch that guy.

VS

Heimerdinger

Medium

Heimerdinger is very strong against champions that have no range and that have to jump onto him - such as Talon. Furthermore Heimer is a champ that often rushes zhonyas which is holy foken annoying. I chose "medium" though because your AoE with W  and R  kill a lot of his turrets which makes him lose a lot of damage. Just make sure you dont get stunned in tricky situations (try to juke his stun by using E  when he throws it .

VS

Jayce

Easy

Jayce is pretty easy. Theres not really a stage of the game where this guy is gonna be a threat unless he got fed extremely hard by your botlane or something. You just have more burst than he does in 1v1. His E  knocks you back which is kinda annoying - make sure you dont jump behind him and get instand knocked under his turret.

VS

Karma

Easy

Her poke can be annoying but actually she doesnt have a defensive gapcloser. She can just speed herself up which will not save her because she will be dead before she is able to run away. You outdamage her at level 6 but you can also jump in before at level 4-5 when you poked her down with W  already.

VS

Karthus

Easy

Karthus is super easy. He is squishy af and has no defensive spell (except his wall but that wont help him against Talon) neither does he have the burst to kill you before you kill him. Just make sure you run away from his passive after  you killed him because people often underetsimate this.

VS

Kassadin

Easy

Kassadin is a super easy lane. Kassadin is made to counter Mages. What is Talon not? A Mage. Kassadins passive is useless, his shield from his Q is useless and all he can pretty much do is using R  to get away from you after level 6.

VS

Katarina

Medium

Should be a skill matchup. Just stay away from her daggers she drops on the floor because they do an insane amount of damage (rito pls) and reset her E. If she plays well, she will dodge at least 1 instance of your W, which makes it kinda impossible to prok your passive. After 6, you should be able to kill her.

VS

Kayle

Medium

People always think to counterpick me with Kayle. Probably because google told them.

In my opinion this isn't entirely true. In laning phase she can harass you pretty hard with E . It isn't bad if you lose some CS to her. It's just how the match-up goes.

The thing problem for Kayle is the following:

In a 1v1 there is no real moment for her to use Ult. If she uses ult, just walk away, she doesnt have the damage to kill you. You can just kill her at the next engage. The only thing you have to pay attention on is to not use Ult and ignite on her when she uses her ult on herself. That will just put you behind in the next fight. Wait with your spells ( and ) for when her ult is down, then use them as soon as your E is up again and kill her.

VS

Kennen

Easy

I havent played this match up very often but I would say just wait until he uses his W  passive to cs, then go in. At level 6 you will kill him before he will get the stun of.

VS

Kog'Maw

Easy

Some people play Kog'Maw mid and it is a powerful pick - but not against Talon. Kog'Maw suffers a lot under AD Assassins like Zed and Yasuo because he just gets outdamaged but the absolute HARDEST match-up for him is Talon. Just complete rapetime. If he walks up, kill him, if he doesnt he will lose CS. Win-Win Situation.

Make that guy suffer guys.. make him suffer.

VS

LeBlanc

Medium

This can be a bit hard if the LeBlanc plays well. She is ranged and outdamages you at levels 2-5. When youre not too low at level 6 you should win an all in though. Make sure you put your ignite on her before her passive pops. Otherwise she will have the time to jump away.

Note: Your Q leaves a dagger on top of the champ you hit. If you Q her before her passive pops, the realy LB is the one with the dagger on her head.

VS

Lissandra

Medium

If she plays well, she can make you have a hard time in lane. Also her Ult  is pretty strong later in teamfights against you.

Still if you play well and dont get harassed too much through , you can kill her at 6.

VS

Lulu

Medium

I.Hate.Lulu.

You win 1v1 so thats fine. She doesnt outdamage you in anyway but you dont have kill potential on her either because of her Ult  (pls nerf rito) and her W  (pls nerf rito). Late game in teamfights is when it gets annoying. If shes a d1ck, she will keep her abilities up to not allow you to jump in. She will just wait. Sitting with the enemy ADC and waiting for your E. Theres nothing you can do about it than hoping your team does well. It is basically a 4v4 (while you and Lulu wait for each other to do something).

VS

Lux

Easy

Should be easy. Skillshots only which makes it easy to dodge them - especially with your . Care to not take too much damage from her passive in early laning phase. For lategame: If she hits you with , youre dead... try to avoid that.

VS

Malzahar

Easy

He just has no time to get his combo off. His ult alone doesnt do enough damage. Malzahar has to use at least E  and  on you before ulting to actually be able to kill you. If you get your combo off correctly, he just dies before he gets to pressing R.

VS

Mordekaiser

Hard

Dodge. Laneswap. Idk.

The ONLY thing that can make you win this lane SOMEHOW is to playing extremely aggressive early (at 1st wave) and with a lot of help from your jungler. If that happens and he wont be able to get his shield up on your minions (when you zone him from level 1 on) then you can win. Otherwise.. well.. youre not gonna have a nice time.

VS

Morgana

Medium

Super annoying match-up. Not that she has much kill potential on you but she can just play super safe due to her W , her Q  and her R . Her E  denies your passive and thats it. Youre gonna lose in CS because the wave is gonna be under your tower the whole time because her W is just completely broken for waveclear.

VS

Nidalee

Easy

She is super squishy while not having the burst you have. Her spears  are easy to dodge and you outdamage her at every stage of the game. The only thing you have to pay attention on is when youre below 50% of your HP and you get hit by a spear. RUN!

By the way: If they have a nidalee jungle and she ganks you, consider the option of just killing her (depending on their midlaner). She is super squishy and probably not full life (thanks to jungle creeps).

VS

Orianna

Easy

Orianna is squishy af. Her shield  and her Ult  can be a bit annoying but you can go in as soon as you see her use her Q  - W  Combo. You just outdamage her (even if you dont kill her) and she has nothing to answer it.

Always pay attention on where her ball is.

VS

Pantheon

Medium

Ive played against some pantheons already on midlane. Not during preseason yet but I think it got harder.

Due to Flask changes, I would usually go 3 pots and 1 Longsword. In this matchup I will maybe have to go for a . This is basically a flask and lets you survive his Q  spam. If you play it well and time your engage well, you can even be able to kill him at some point but it is gonna be a hard lane overall because of his passive  and his entire kit.

VS

Quinn

Hard

I just played against one. Horrible. I only realised in lane when I played against her what a hard counter to you Quinn actually is because usually assassins (especially Talon) counters all kind of ADC.

The reason Quinn mid counters you so hard is mostly her E  which knocks you back for 0.2 seconds or so (which can interrupt your combo) and it creates a gap between you and her. Whatever you do, if you wait with your E, she won't use her E if shes clever and just auto you. As soon as you use your E to jump on her, she will just use her E in return to knock you back and create another gap between you.

Another important point is that Talon's laning phase is one of the weakest of the game while Quinn is the lanebully of the lanebullies.

Just dont give her kills, all I can say. Lose CS, whatever, just dont feed her. Thats what I did and I was at least still useful in mid - lategame (she had 3x my cs though :/)

VS

Riven

Medium

Some people think they should pick Riven to counter you. Fuck these guys.

She outdamages you from 1-5 so dont fight before level 6. At level 6, wait for her to use her Stun . This is the point where you have to engage. Make sure tho you dont jump in at the point where she has her 3rd Q  charged.

VS

Rumble

Medium

Not the easiest lane. He outdamages you and can shield your W (which is pretty predictable) when youre trying to poke him.

He has no CC though and you can burst him. Dont go in before level 6 though unless he is super low and he will instantly die to your combo.

->> Dont underestimate his Autoattacks during his passive.

VS

Ryze

Medium

Havent played this matchup in a while but basically:

- Before level 6: Dont go in when he has his passive stacked to pop it.

- After level 6: Kill him (preferably also when he doesn't have his passive well stacked).

->> Dont underestimate his early damage. It feels like the highest damage a mage can do in levels 1-5.

VS

Swain

Medium

Pressure this lane and push it into his tower. I play Swain too sometimes and it is sooo annyoing to CS with that guy so as Talon, make him miss some CS. He doesnt have the damage before level 6 to be a real threat but you do neither (he is pretty tanky).

To kill him after level 6, you need ignite to deny his R  heal. It would be best if you engage after he used his Ult to farm and turned it off. Here you have a time window of 8 seconds to go in.

VS

Syndra

Easy

This is an easy matchup. You dont really outdamage her (because she has a lot of damage too) but she needs to play well to kill you while you just have to do your combo. If you get hit by a stun, she might be able to kill you so try to avoid that. Dont understimate her Ult  damage.

VS

Taliyah

Easy

VS

Twisted Fate

Easy

This guy doesnt have 1v1 potential until the very very veeeeery late game and his only defensive spell is his gold card. Just kill him or deny his CS. You can towerdive after level 6 him when he uses his W .

VS

Varus

Easy

He doesnt have the damage to kill you. Varus is a poke champion and poke champions are getting countered by assassins. Theres nothing special in this matchup. When you get in his range before level 6, jump on him and chunk him; after level 6, just kill him.

A lot of Varuses even throw your ult at you as youre running to them and you can easily dodge it by using E .

VS

Veigar

Easy

Veigar is pretty easy in a 1v1. The only thing that can be annoying and screw you over is his stun . Dont towerdive when this is up and be careful when you get ganked.

You can outplay his  by jumping out of it with your .

His ult will still do damage but not as much as against AP champs since it scales with enemy AP too.

VS

Vel'Koz

Easy

This is an easy matchup. Only skill shots which can be dodged easily by your E when velkoz throws something at you. Her ult  moves very slowly while you get movementspeed in your R  so you can just walk behind her.

VS

Viktor

Easy

His Stun field can be a little annoying  but you have more burst than he does after level 6. Pre-6 just CS and poke him with your W .

Be careful after level 6 though when your E isnt up because Viktor can burst you from some range especially if he got kills upon botlane or others.

VS

Vladimir

Hard

In lane this match up is very hard. I havent played it in a while so it could be somewhere in between "medium" and "hard".

The problem is that he can lifesteal when you engage with , then dodge damage by pooling , then lifesteal again . So you dont really have a lot of killpotential.

Also vlad likes to rush zhonyas which will be even more annoying.

VS

Xerath

Easy

Xerath is one of the easiest match ups. He can poke you in early game but literally all his spells are skill shots and since you are pretty mobile through ,  and , you should be fine. This is a matchup where you can easily also go in before level six when he uses spells on minions.

VS

Yasuo

Easy

So this matchup should be "medium" at least but it feels like every Yasuo Ive played against is retarded or im just too good ;).

Yasuo outdamages you to a level that is actually pretty hardcore at level 1-5. Your W  cant really do much because of his passive .

But I feel like SO many Yasuos dont know how much their windwall  actually counters Talon. It blocks W  AND . Your damage will basically just be based on your Autoattack Q combo. Well, nearly no Yasuo uses windwall well against you so that doesnt really matter.

Try to dodge his tornado when its up by jumping behind him when he casts it.

When he doesnt get a knock up on you, you can kill him at level 6.

VS

Zed

Medium

Zed is a skill match-up. Your disadvantage is your laning phase (which is pretty bad while his is pretty strong). Your advantage is the cooldown on your R  (75 on lvl 1) and  (120 on lvl 1).

Remember to check his inventory. If he has a pink ward, that means that you should take fights too far away from your turret. If he doesnt, just trade ultis and wait til yours is up again. Then go in and kill him.

Be careful to not blow damage when he is untargetable due to his ult.

VS

Ziggs

Easy

His poke can be annoying but in a 1v1 he is never gonna be a threaht for you at any stage in the game.

Just make sure you dodge his abilities early on and don't take too much autoattack harass (due to his passive ). Don't let yourself outplay by his .

VS

Zilean

Easy

I dont know who would play Zilean (lol) but this should be easy too. He relies on the stun from his 2 bombs . If he doesnt get this, hes very vulnerable. Try to dodge at least one bomb with E  and kill him. Be careful on not killing him when he uses ulti. It will just revive him with higher hp than before.

VS

Zyra

Easy

I havent seen a zyra mid in a looong time but I dont see why she would be a threat to Talon in anyway. You outdamage her, you outburst her and you outroam her. The only thing she has that Talon doesnt have is CC but that doesnt keep you from deleting her squishy body from Summoner's Rift.

Champion	Difficulty	Notes
Ahri		Author Notes
Since she is ranged she will probably have more CS than you early on. This doesnt matter, just dont take too much harrass Pre level 6, poke her down as much as possible with .  At level 6, your ult is immediate damage where Ahri has to cast her ult  3 times to get the full damage out. Your ult is also very good against her since her W  will just hit minions and ignore you since she cant see you. Just make sure you dont get charmed under turret. Dodging her charm will make the difference in this lane. Riot made it very hard though to dodge the charm after they reworked Talon. His Gapcloser is now a dash, not a "TP", which can be interrupted pretty easily by Ahri's charm.
Akali		Author Notes
This lane is pretty okay for Talon. Akali has to get into melee range to get CS or to trade. Talons combo is a lot stronger though (assuming you hit your W twice). Akali cant get near Talon's damage output in early game. Just beware, her Invisibility  can screw up your Q or AA which you need for the combo.
Anivia		Author Notes
A good anivia will bully you out of lane. A bad anivia will get rekt as soon as you are level 6. I have played against both and lived through both situations. Her Q is super annoying early on and I even considered going boots 4 pots to get at least some CS and levels. It is just hard to dodge her Q hearly on if she zones you because you cant jump in because of the minion damage but there is no other way for you to dodge the Q so you take the damage if she uses it well. My recommendation is just to let some (or even a lot of) CS go and just don't die. Not the easiest lane if Anivia plays well but winnable if you play well yourself (and with some help of your jungler since the wave will be pushed into you). Feels like you lack the consistent damage to kill her AND her egg after.
Annie		Author Notes
So this is something between Easy and Medium. A good Annie will be suuuuper annoying in lane. She will just harass you all the time with Q  and Autos. A bad Annie will just try to farm and et oneshotted by you in lane. Pretty much this counts: Either go for CS and let her harass you or miss a huge amount of CS and stay safe. The first option gives farm, the second gives you kill potential. In late game it gets a bit harder because of her stun which she whill just have up ALL the time.
Azir		Author Notes
Azir is an easy matchup in my opinion. His poke can be a bit annoying but at level 6 you can oneshot him and he cant really do something to you. The only thing he can do is ulting you away from himself to be safe. He probably has to back after though because he will be low af. - Just be careful to not get ulted under his turret.
Brand		Author Notes
Brand should be easy even though I hate this matchup. His poke is sooo annoying and his base damage is too.fucking.OP. (Rito pls ner) The best moment to go in on him is when theres not too many minions on his site while NONE on your site. If you go in while your minions are around, his ult will halflife you. Try to dodge the stun even though this is kinda hard when he keeps it until you jump onto him.
Cassiopeia		Author Notes
Cassiopeia can bully you out of lane if she hits a lot of Qs early. Focus on not getting hit by her and try to land some Ws yourself if she walks up to you. Dont underestimate her level 2 powerspike. Miss some CS if she zones you, just stay in range for experience. At level 6, you should just simply win because you got more burst damage than her. Only if she outplays you with her ult and her W, she can win 1v1 after 6.
Cho'Gath		Author Notes
Foken hard match-up. His heal is ridiculous, his base (damage AND hp) stats are ridiculous, his silence has a ridiculous long duration and I dont even want to say anything about his R . The only disadvantage he has is his range... but since you have to jump INTO him he just straight up reks you.
Diana		Author Notes
This is kinda hard but if you play it well you can win. Her W  is super annoying and counters you so basically dont jump on her before level 6 escept shes low. Poke her down with W  and wait for her to use her Q  to farm, then engage.
Ekko		Author Notes
This match-up is OK for Talon. I put it in the "Medium" difficulty not because he is strong against you or reks you or something, just because you dont have much killpotential on him. His Q is annoying because he can push and harass at the same time (especially since you are a melee) and his R  allows him to get out if you jump on him while healing him for a ton of HP. If you dont make horrible mastakes, you should be fine though.
Ezreal		Author Notes
Ezreal is a super easy lane. He has no early damage to be a threat for you and his abilities are all skill shots which makes it pretty easy to dodge them with your  and . At level 6 you can just deny him all CS since he wont be able to farm without Q  unless he wants to lose 70% of his hp. If hes not completely retarded, he will always keep his E  to get out and never use it offensively because when he does that, he is dead.
Fizz		Author Notes
Fizz should be a skill match-up. But I have to say I absolutely HATE this match-up. In laning phase its hella annoying because as soon as he dodges ANY damage from you with his E , youre gonna lose the upcoming fight because you lack damage. Fizz also likes to build zhonyas as a first item so it's even more annoying. His Ult  counters yours (it sticks to you when you use your R ). Thats it for the laning phase. Let's consider you won it. Imma tell you whats gonna happen in teamfights if you try to kill him: You jump on him, he uses E . Then you get your AA, Q off, he uses , then you get your W off, his E  gets off cooldown again and he uses it and gets out. There is just NO WAY you kill that guy in teamfights. You just stand around and hit 2-3 abilities on him which wont be enough to kill him while his team is gonna rek you. Just jump on their ADC and oneshot him caus that guy won't build zhonyas and that kinda pussy stuff ;)
Galio		Author Notes
This guy is very rarely on summoners rift. But when he is and he is your lane opponent... you pretty much have 0 kill potential on him. His shield  is just way to OP for this matchup. Just try to farm as much as possible to be able to oneshot their ADC later on. If their jungler is squishy you can even try to ward enemy jungle and catch that guy.
Heimerdinger		Author Notes
Heimerdinger is very strong against champions that have no range and that have to jump onto him - such as Talon. Furthermore Heimer is a champ that often rushes zhonyas which is holy foken annoying. I chose "medium" though because your AoE with W  and R  kill a lot of his turrets which makes him lose a lot of damage. Just make sure you dont get stunned in tricky situations (try to juke his stun by using E  when he throws it .
Jayce		Author Notes
Jayce is pretty easy. Theres not really a stage of the game where this guy is gonna be a threat unless he got fed extremely hard by your botlane or something. You just have more burst than he does in 1v1. His E  knocks you back which is kinda annoying - make sure you dont jump behind him and get instand knocked under his turret.
Karma		Author Notes
Her poke can be annoying but actually she doesnt have a defensive gapcloser. She can just speed herself up which will not save her because she will be dead before she is able to run away. You outdamage her at level 6 but you can also jump in before at level 4-5 when you poked her down with W  already.
Karthus		Author Notes
Karthus is super easy. He is squishy af and has no defensive spell (except his wall but that wont help him against Talon) neither does he have the burst to kill you before you kill him. Just make sure you run away from his passive after  you killed him because people often underetsimate this.
Kassadin		Author Notes
Kassadin is a super easy lane. Kassadin is made to counter Mages. What is Talon not? A Mage. Kassadins passive is useless, his shield from his Q is useless and all he can pretty much do is using R  to get away from you after level 6.
Katarina		Author Notes
Should be a skill matchup. Just stay away from her daggers she drops on the floor because they do an insane amount of damage (rito pls) and reset her E. If she plays well, she will dodge at least 1 instance of your W, which makes it kinda impossible to prok your passive. After 6, you should be able to kill her.
Kayle		Author Notes
People always think to counterpick me with Kayle. Probably because google told them. In my opinion this isn't entirely true. In laning phase she can harass you pretty hard with E . It isn't bad if you lose some CS to her. It's just how the match-up goes. The thing problem for Kayle is the following: In a 1v1 there is no real moment for her to use Ult. If she uses ult, just walk away, she doesnt have the damage to kill you. You can just kill her at the next engage. The only thing you have to pay attention on is to not use Ult and ignite on her when she uses her ult on herself. That will just put you behind in the next fight. Wait with your spells ( and ) for when her ult is down, then use them as soon as your E is up again and kill her.
Kennen		Author Notes
I havent played this match up very often but I would say just wait until he uses his W  passive to cs, then go in. At level 6 you will kill him before he will get the stun of.
Kog'Maw		Author Notes
Some people play Kog'Maw mid and it is a powerful pick - but not against Talon. Kog'Maw suffers a lot under AD Assassins like Zed and Yasuo because he just gets outdamaged but the absolute HARDEST match-up for him is Talon. Just complete rapetime. If he walks up, kill him, if he doesnt he will lose CS. Win-Win Situation. Make that guy suffer guys.. make him suffer.
LeBlanc		Author Notes
This can be a bit hard if the LeBlanc plays well. She is ranged and outdamages you at levels 2-5. When youre not too low at level 6 you should win an all in though. Make sure you put your ignite on her before her passive pops. Otherwise she will have the time to jump away. Note: Your Q leaves a dagger on top of the champ you hit. If you Q her before her passive pops, the realy LB is the one with the dagger on her head.
Lissandra		Author Notes
If she plays well, she can make you have a hard time in lane. Also her Ult  is pretty strong later in teamfights against you. Still if you play well and dont get harassed too much through , you can kill her at 6.
Lulu		Author Notes
I.Hate.Lulu. You win 1v1 so thats fine. She doesnt outdamage you in anyway but you dont have kill potential on her either because of her Ult  (pls nerf rito) and her W  (pls nerf rito). Late game in teamfights is when it gets annoying. If shes a d1ck, she will keep her abilities up to not allow you to jump in. She will just wait. Sitting with the enemy ADC and waiting for your E. Theres nothing you can do about it than hoping your team does well. It is basically a 4v4 (while you and Lulu wait for each other to do something).
Lux		Author Notes
Should be easy. Skillshots only which makes it easy to dodge them - especially with your . Care to not take too much damage from her passive in early laning phase. For lategame: If she hits you with , youre dead... try to avoid that.
Malzahar		Author Notes
He just has no time to get his combo off. His ult alone doesnt do enough damage. Malzahar has to use at least E  and  on you before ulting to actually be able to kill you. If you get your combo off correctly, he just dies before he gets to pressing R.
Mordekaiser		Author Notes
Dodge. Laneswap. Idk. The ONLY thing that can make you win this lane SOMEHOW is to playing extremely aggressive early (at 1st wave) and with a lot of help from your jungler. If that happens and he wont be able to get his shield up on your minions (when you zone him from level 1 on) then you can win. Otherwise.. well.. youre not gonna have a nice time.
Morgana		Author Notes
Super annoying match-up. Not that she has much kill potential on you but she can just play super safe due to her W , her Q  and her R . Her E  denies your passive and thats it. Youre gonna lose in CS because the wave is gonna be under your tower the whole time because her W is just completely broken for waveclear.
Nidalee		Author Notes
She is super squishy while not having the burst you have. Her spears  are easy to dodge and you outdamage her at every stage of the game. The only thing you have to pay attention on is when youre below 50% of your HP and you get hit by a spear. RUN! By the way: If they have a nidalee jungle and she ganks you, consider the option of just killing her (depending on their midlaner). She is super squishy and probably not full life (thanks to jungle creeps).
Orianna		Author Notes
Orianna is squishy af. Her shield  and her Ult  can be a bit annoying but you can go in as soon as you see her use her Q  - W  Combo. You just outdamage her (even if you dont kill her) and she has nothing to answer it. Always pay attention on where her ball is.
Pantheon		Author Notes
Ive played against some pantheons already on midlane. Not during preseason yet but I think it got harder. Due to Flask changes, I would usually go 3 pots and 1 Longsword. In this matchup I will maybe have to go for a . This is basically a flask and lets you survive his Q  spam. If you play it well and time your engage well, you can even be able to kill him at some point but it is gonna be a hard lane overall because of his passive  and his entire kit.
Quinn		Author Notes
I just played against one. Horrible. I only realised in lane when I played against her what a hard counter to you Quinn actually is because usually assassins (especially Talon) counters all kind of ADC. The reason Quinn mid counters you so hard is mostly her E  which knocks you back for 0.2 seconds or so (which can interrupt your combo) and it creates a gap between you and her. Whatever you do, if you wait with your E, she won't use her E if shes clever and just auto you. As soon as you use your E to jump on her, she will just use her E in return to knock you back and create another gap between you. Another important point is that Talon's laning phase is one of the weakest of the game while Quinn is the lanebully of the lanebullies. Just dont give her kills, all I can say. Lose CS, whatever, just dont feed her. Thats what I did and I was at least still useful in mid - lategame (she had 3x my cs though :/)
Riven		Author Notes
Some people think they should pick Riven to counter you. Fuck these guys. She outdamages you from 1-5 so dont fight before level 6. At level 6, wait for her to use her Stun . This is the point where you have to engage. Make sure tho you dont jump in at the point where she has her 3rd Q  charged.
Rumble		Author Notes
Not the easiest lane. He outdamages you and can shield your W (which is pretty predictable) when youre trying to poke him. He has no CC though and you can burst him. Dont go in before level 6 though unless he is super low and he will instantly die to your combo. ->> Dont underestimate his Autoattacks during his passive.
Ryze		Author Notes
Havent played this matchup in a while but basically: - Before level 6: Dont go in when he has his passive stacked to pop it. - After level 6: Kill him (preferably also when he doesn't have his passive well stacked). ->> Dont underestimate his early damage. It feels like the highest damage a mage can do in levels 1-5.
Swain		Author Notes
Pressure this lane and push it into his tower. I play Swain too sometimes and it is sooo annyoing to CS with that guy so as Talon, make him miss some CS. He doesnt have the damage before level 6 to be a real threat but you do neither (he is pretty tanky). To kill him after level 6, you need ignite to deny his R  heal. It would be best if you engage after he used his Ult to farm and turned it off. Here you have a time window of 8 seconds to go in.
Syndra		Author Notes
This is an easy matchup. You dont really outdamage her (because she has a lot of damage too) but she needs to play well to kill you while you just have to do your combo. If you get hit by a stun, she might be able to kill you so try to avoid that. Dont understimate her Ult  damage.
Taliyah
Twisted Fate		Author Notes
This guy doesnt have 1v1 potential until the very very veeeeery late game and his only defensive spell is his gold card. Just kill him or deny his CS. You can towerdive after level 6 him when he uses his W .
Varus		Author Notes
He doesnt have the damage to kill you. Varus is a poke champion and poke champions are getting countered by assassins. Theres nothing special in this matchup. When you get in his range before level 6, jump on him and chunk him; after level 6, just kill him. A lot of Varuses even throw your ult at you as youre running to them and you can easily dodge it by using E .
Veigar		Author Notes
Veigar is pretty easy in a 1v1. The only thing that can be annoying and screw you over is his stun . Dont towerdive when this is up and be careful when you get ganked. You can outplay his  by jumping out of it with your . His ult will still do damage but not as much as against AP champs since it scales with enemy AP too.
Vel'Koz		Author Notes
This is an easy matchup. Only skill shots which can be dodged easily by your E when velkoz throws something at you. Her ult  moves very slowly while you get movementspeed in your R  so you can just walk behind her.
Viktor		Author Notes
His Stun field can be a little annoying  but you have more burst than he does after level 6. Pre-6 just CS and poke him with your W . Be careful after level 6 though when your E isnt up because Viktor can burst you from some range especially if he got kills upon botlane or others.
Vladimir		Author Notes
In lane this match up is very hard. I havent played it in a while so it could be somewhere in between "medium" and "hard". The problem is that he can lifesteal when you engage with , then dodge damage by pooling , then lifesteal again . So you dont really have a lot of killpotential. Also vlad likes to rush zhonyas which will be even more annoying.
Xerath		Author Notes
Xerath is one of the easiest match ups. He can poke you in early game but literally all his spells are skill shots and since you are pretty mobile through ,  and , you should be fine. This is a matchup where you can easily also go in before level six when he uses spells on minions.
Yasuo		Author Notes
So this matchup should be "medium" at least but it feels like every Yasuo Ive played against is retarded or im just too good ;). Yasuo outdamages you to a level that is actually pretty hardcore at level 1-5. Your W  cant really do much because of his passive . But I feel like SO many Yasuos dont know how much their windwall  actually counters Talon. It blocks W  AND . Your damage will basically just be based on your Autoattack Q combo. Well, nearly no Yasuo uses windwall well against you so that doesnt really matter. Try to dodge his tornado when its up by jumping behind him when he casts it. When he doesnt get a knock up on you, you can kill him at level 6.
Zed		Author Notes
Zed is a skill match-up. Your disadvantage is your laning phase (which is pretty bad while his is pretty strong). Your advantage is the cooldown on your R  (75 on lvl 1) and  (120 on lvl 1). Remember to check his inventory. If he has a pink ward, that means that you should take fights too far away from your turret. If he doesnt, just trade ultis and wait til yours is up again. Then go in and kill him. Be careful to not blow damage when he is untargetable due to his ult.
Ziggs		Author Notes
His poke can be annoying but in a 1v1 he is never gonna be a threaht for you at any stage in the game. Just make sure you dodge his abilities early on and don't take too much autoattack harass (due to his passive ). Don't let yourself outplay by his .
Zilean		Author Notes
I dont know who would play Zilean (lol) but this should be easy too. He relies on the stun from his 2 bombs . If he doesnt get this, hes very vulnerable. Try to dodge at least one bomb with E  and kill him. Be careful on not killing him when he uses ulti. It will just revive him with higher hp than before.
Zyra		Author Notes
I havent seen a zyra mid in a looong time but I dont see why she would be a threat to Talon in anyway. You outdamage her, you outburst her and you outroam her. The only thing she has that Talon doesnt have is CC but that doesnt keep you from deleting her squishy body from Summoner's Rift.