I’ve got some good news and some bad news regarding the Champ of the Week series. First, the good news. It’s coming back next week! I know I owe everyone a Talon video and a long overdue Veigar video, but that’s where the bad news comes in. All of the recordings I have from those games is buried somewhere on a corrupt and now very dead hard drive. I’ve since replaced that drive, but I lost my LoL Replay data along with all of my video footage from those games. Yes, it sucks very much.

Back to some good news, though – I should be able to get a game or two in over the next few days with both Talon and Veigar so I can at least upload a replay for those of you using LoL replays. If I have the time, I might even do a quick and dirty video, but that seems unlikely at the moment.

So, check back at the beginning of next week for the return of the champ of the week series. If you have suggestions for a character you’d like to see next week, let me know in the comments.

I thought it might be nice to give some mid-rotation thoughts on Talon while I’m working to gather footage for his wrapup video. I’m not sure if there are some high-ELO streamers playing him these days or if he just shines enough in Dominion to make him worth trying on Summoner’s Rift, but I’ve been seeing a lot of Talon lately. I’ve also been seeing him banned, and though I think there are better bans than Talon, I can understand why he’s on the list for some players.

Part of what makes Talon interesting is the way his ultimate works. He can use it to produce a lot of damage, but most of the Talon players I saw in the weeks after his release were using the skill to get out of a fight or run away before a fight even started. In my experience, though, it’s best to save his ult for when you’re already in the fight and the skill can hit both on its way out and on the way back in.

That’s a mechanic I didn’t really pick up on in the Champion Spotlight (even though Phreak said it) partly because the tooltip is a little unclear on just how the blades deal damage. Shadow Assault has the potential to deal damage twice: once when the blades expand and once when they collapse. In most cases, that means you want to ult while you’re standing right on top of someone. When the blade go out they hit and then even if your enemy flashes the blades will likely land on the return. It took me a while to figure that out, but now that I’ve got it I find it fairly easy to burst down a champion.

I’ll have more thoughts on Talon later in the week, including the wrapup video. Keep checking back and let me know if you have any questions.

I’m heading off to a wedding this weekend, so I won’t have enough time to do a proper Champ of the Week writeup in one week. Over the course of two weeks, though, it should be no problem. With that in mind, I’m happy to announce Talon as this (two) weeks’ Champ of the (two) Week(s).

When Talon first released I was unimpressed. He reminded me a little bit of Akali but without the sustainability. His cooldowns were too long to jump from target to target, he required a lot of damage items to really produce results, and he was painfully squishy. I’ve been spending a lot more time with him recently and I’m starting to come around on Talon. He relies pretty heavily on Doran’s Blade stacking for his early game, but after that he can affect the course of a game as well as a lot of champions. His ultimate can also be devastating to a team in the right circumstances.

So I’ll be playing Talon for the next two weeks, recording my thoughts and once again putting together a video about his skills. Check back for some more impressions this weekend or early next week. If you have specific questions or suggestions, let me know in the comments.

Since Dominion launched I’ve found myself drawn more and more to Talon, the newest assassin to join the League. I had a hard time loving him when he first launched, but I’m really starting to understand his strengths, even in a duo lane, which can often be frustrating as a melee champion.

I’ve been playing him here and there, but mostly in solo queue ranked. As it currently stands, I’m 8-0 and headed into my 9th game. I’m not sure what to take away from the experience so far. Right now my ranking is somewhere around 1300, so it’s not like I’m playing a marginal champ and succeeding at high ELOs. Still, I am succeeding, and usually pretty wildly.

I think the bigger lesson for me has been that there are champions that just take a little time to learn, and when they click, they really click. I originally thought Talon was meant to be a highly mobile melee champion, using his ultimate for escaping teamfights or stealthing in for the attack. I’m actually having the most success playing him as an almost Akali-like teamfighter – running straight for targets, making them very dead, and then following up with a whole load of AoE damage. Talon isn’t particularly mobile or survivable, but he can easily kill a target before the target can kill him, and that’s what an assassin should be about.

You may have been surprised, as I was, to have no patch today. It’s strange to me that we get a warning about the size of the patch, but not when it will release. Ah well, I don’t set the schedules. We’ll be getting Talon tomorrow, adding a melee assassin to the host of champions available in League of Legends.

When I first saw the Talon mechanics preview, I was ambivalent. His skills didn’t sound all that exciting and, frankly, it looked like there were some other champions that already outperformed him. After his spotlight, though, I’m pretty pumped to try him out. I might have to snag that Crimson Elite skin too. It looks pretty awesome.

I think most of Talon’s flavor comes from his two blade abilities: Rake and Shadow Assault. His other skills seem a little less inspired, but the blade stuff definitely looks cool. I also like that he seems to be focused on picking off a target, disappearing, and then showing back up for cleanup. If there’s one thing I’d worry about, it’s that he’s sort of forced to pick up at least a Phage, if not the Frozen Mallet Phreak suggests. That’s a damn expensive item (the mallet) for a character that seems very farm dependent.

I’ll be playing Talon as much as possible tomorrow and bringing my full impressions soon after. Are you interested in the Blade’s Shadow?