Vayne
Build Guide by SaskioLoL
[13.7] BEST VAYNE TOP IN DEPTH GUIDE Detailed Match Up Sheet Included
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Recommended Items
Runes: Standard Runes
Precision
Resolve
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
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2
3
4
5
Flash Ghost
Flash
Ghost
Items
Ability Order
Night Hunter (PASSIVE)
Vayne Passive Ability
Champion Build Guide
Hello my name is Saskio. I am an NA CHALLENGER Vayne top player bringing you my in depth guide on how I play Vayne. My goal is to give you the knowledge and tools you need to find success on Vayne at any rank!
IN DEPTH VAYNE TOP MATCHUP DOCUMENT WITH CUTDOWN VALUES
Top Vayne Match Up Document
DISCORD WITH FREE IMPROVEMENT VIDEOS
discord.gg/saskiolol
Refer to my Youtube Vayne Top Guide if you prefer visuals and explanations
https://youtu.be/RSdrgaOMkAo
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Night hunter (Passive): Gain 30 movement speed when moving towards a nearby VISIBLE enemy champion. (Having your ult activated increases this movement speed to 90). |
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Tumble (Q): Vayne dashes in the target direction and her next basic attack deals bonus physical damage. You will be using this mainly to reposition and trade. NOTES: You can put extra points in Q randomly if an all in occurs right when you level up to lower the cooldown. If you level up to 11 but your ult is on cooldown and a fight is about to happen, level up your Q instead |
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Siver Bolts (W): Every 3 stacks, Vayne deals bonus true damage. Auto attacks, Condemn, and Guinsoo's Rageblade on hit applies stacks. NOTES: Press the Attack does not amplify Silver Bolts damage. |
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Condemn (E): Fires a bolt and upon arrival knocks back opponents 475 units. If the target collides with terrain, they take bonus damage and are stunned for 1.5 seconds. Notes: You can Condemn then Flash to redirect the direction (Explained later) Terrain: Anivia Wall, Trundle pillar, Azir Ult, Jarvan IV Ult, Taliyah Ult, Ornn Q, and walls. You can E people into Veigar E but it won’t Vayne stun. |
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Final Hour (R): Vayne gains bonus attack damage and triples Night Hunter (passive) until ult runs out. Tumble’s cooldown is reduced and grants Vayne invisibility for 1 second. Scoring a kill or assist within 3 seconds of damaging then extends final hour by 4 seconds up to its original duration. |
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Ability Maxing Order:
When it comes to leveling order on Vayne there are a lot of variations you can play with during the early game while some specific matchups require certain points in a skill. There are even times where you will level very weirdly like 0 points condemn or skipping and ult point for tumble.
The question everybody always asks is do I max Tumble or Silver Bolts first. Generally speaking maxing silver bolts first is the highest dps option you can go for, however leveling up tumble or even maxing it sometimes can be very beneficial when you want a lower cooldown. Very commonly into some melee matchups I will place 2-3 extra points for a lower cooldown giving me more flexibility in how I want to kite or chase. If you were to follow this order it would look like this: |
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Q>W>E>Q>Q>R>W>W>W>W>R>Q>Q>E>E>R>E>E
Q>W>E>Q>W>R>W>W>W>Q>R>Q>Q>E>E>R>E>E
This is another variation where you go only 2 points Q then start maxing W after. This is very common in many matchups top since having a slightly lower cooldown is more beneficial for the early game.
You can also look to level like this if you know you will not proc your W in a specific match up until later on.
The standard leveling order on Vayne is: Q>W>E>W>W>R>W>Q>W>Q>R>Q>Q>E>E>R>E>E This maximizes your true damage and synergizes well with the meta of on hit/attack speed Vayne. Weird variations you can consider is skip leveling condemn at 3 into a matchup where you would not condemn and level it at 4 instead. You would do this to max your trading pattern slightly stronger with an extra point in Q or W. There are some times where you will notice I level up my tumble over ultimate at level 11 because of 2 potential factors, I leveled up mid fight and want lower tumble cooldowns or I recently used my ult and it's on cooldown, and I am about to fight so I may as well place an ability point in tumble. |
Summoner spells on Vayne show exactly how the player plans to play. It’s important you run the most optimal spells to make the matchup or game go as smoothly as possible.
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Starting off we have the most standard spells on Vayne being Flash Ghost. These summoner spells are the most flexible, allowing you to chase, run away, or reposition. |
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Flash Ignite gives you a ton of kill pressure. This summoner spell variation is mainly used to reduce healing on some heavy healing champions. Alternatively you will notice me take ignite into very tough matchups and try to match their kill pressure like Akali, Quinn, and Jax. |
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Flash Teleport likely means you are playing safe in a hard matchup and want to be able to reenter lane without losing minions after getting poked out. Teleport will be very helpful in allowing you to split push without worry of not making it to a fight in mid game. |
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I rarely run Flash Cleanse but these summoner spells will help you escape certain crowd controls while being able to Flash away. You will see me run these summoner spells if I am against a heavy crowd control team while they have a Jarvan IV. |
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You can try Exhaust into matchups like Pantheon, Jayce, Akshan, and Lucian. The point of Exhaust is to bail you out of tough situations and gives you more time to scale and find better opportunities to win the lane or transition into mid/late game without falling too far behind. |
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If you ever see me run Cleanse I am likely running it with Ghost since the synergy is really good. The point of these summoner spells is to help you escape crowd control and immediately have the movement speed to chase or kite certain match ups. You will need very specific conditions from the enemy top lane, jungler, and sometimes mid to run this. Listed is every top champion you can potentially run the summoner spell into. However in order to truly unlock the summoner spells you would need not only the top laner but the jungler would have to be one of these champions. There is also nothing wrong with running Ghost Cleanse for a particular match up while the enemy jungler is a weak ganking jungler like Master Yi, and Shyvana. Lastly, some mid matchups can influence this decision like Lissandra, Twisted Fate, Ahri, and Veigar. |
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I rarely run Ghost Ignite but it can be an option into some specific match up like Dr. Mundo, Vladimir while the enemy jungler is a weak ganking jungler with no gap closes. This summoner spell is only useful when Flash isn’t optimal into the 3 enemy top side but also giving you kill pressure over your opponents. |
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Exhaust and Ignite is a very rare combo to run on Vayne. These summoner spells are only viable into matchups where you would have gotten zoned and you need every last combat stat you can get. Or you will likely just fight to death when you run into them. Examples of these matchups include Draven, Lucian, Kalista, Pantheon, Tristana, and maybe Rengar. |
Lethal Tempo
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Fleet Footwork
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Overheal
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Triumph
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Presence Of Mind
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Alacrity
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Bloodline
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Coup De Grace
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Last Stand
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Cut Down
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Conditioning
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Bone Plating
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Second Wind
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Overgrowth
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Revitalize
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Unflinching
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Demolish
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Nullifying Orb
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Nimbus Cloak
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Celerity
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Absolute Focus
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Gathering Storm
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Scorch
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Hail of Blades
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Taste of Blood
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Ghost Poro
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Ingenious Hunter
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Ultimate Hunter
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Adaptive Tree
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Starting Items
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Core Items
Mythics
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When it comes to mythic items the biggest question I get asked is Kraken Slayer or Immortal Shieldbow. My biggest advice when it comes to these items is looking at the enemy team and deciding what is more beneficial for that game. If the enemy team has very tanky targets then you can opt for Kraken Slayer, if they have assassins or things that can burst you Immortal Shieldbow will be more beneficial. At the end of the day if you are new or in doubt, just buy an Immortal Shieldbow since it gives lifesteal and more survivability.
Lastly I will give a shoutout to Blade of the Ruined King rush which is very common in matchups where you heavily benefit from stealing movement speed like Nasus, Sett, and Garen. You can also rush these into matchups where it's less optimal like Fiora, Aatrox, and Jax if you are winning to force the opponents to trade back or be very mindful of their positioning.
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Situational 5 / 6 Items:
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QSS, Mercurial, Silvermere
Quicksilver Sash is a good option when the enemy team has a lot of cc that you want to avoid. Really good examples of champions you would build this item into are Lillia, Fiddlesticks, Twisted Fate, Skarner, Malzahar, and Lissandra. Now the question is which item do we go into. I would go Silvermere Dawn if the enemy team has massive amounts of cc after the first usage or if you prefer to have more hp. Aside from that you want to go Mercurial Scimitar if there is only one crowd control you are really focused on.
Force of Nature
I rarely go force of nature but the item is optional if your opponents have a ton of consistent magic damage like Mordekaiser, Rumble, Gwen, and Swain.
Maw of malmortius
Maw of Malmortius is good if you opted into Kraken Slayer or Galeforce early on. This will especially help with burst but is a very rare situation to build it since you would have likely opted into Immortal Shieldbow and Wit's End earlier on. But the option is here for those 1 in a million games where this item can be built in the 5th and 6th slot.
Spirit Visage
Spirit Visage is an option you can opt in to if the enemy team has a lot of ap damage while you have healers or shielders like Soraka, Lulu, Ivern.
Guardian Angel
Guardian Angel is a good option if you think you will get bursted. However I personally think the item isn’t good since you will ult at the start of the fight, if you get bursted your ult timer will run out and you will be in a very weakened stat
Randuin's Omen
Randuin's Omen is strong if the enemy team has multiple ad threats you want to address especially if they have crit champions like Tryndamere.
Phantom Dancer
Phantom Dancer is a good option if you need immediate movement speed for a spike because a big fight is coming up.
Anathema's Chains
Anathema's Chains is a good option into the enemy team where they have 1 really big threat you want to take reduced damage from. Examples of these champions include Rengar, Evelynn, Wukong, Akali. Keep in mind this item will make clones very obvious if you tag them with it like Wukong, and Shaco.
Rapid Firecannon
Rapid Firecannon is a very rare item to purchase but can be viable into matchups where you value that extra range for 1 attack.
Executioner's Calling
Executioner's Calling is very bad on Vayne but can be purchased when you are really desperate to reduce healing against a specific match up or team. You should always try to ping your teammates to build heal cut first or for your support to get Chemtech Putrifier.
Bloodthirster
Bloodthirster is an odd item to purchase on Vayne but can be viable when you really want the preemptive shielding or you feel like you will be auto attacking a ton in teamfights.
Death's Dance
Death's Dance will reveal Vayne while she is invisible in her silhouette since she will take passive damage. However if you are willing to give up your ability to use invisibility tactically you can purchase this item if the enemy team has crazy burst.
Titanic Hydra
Titanic Hydra is a very common item to purchase on Vayne because it synergizes with Guinsoo's Rageblade by double proccing. I will commonly buy this item when I am down an inhibitor or if I want tanky stats while also getting a bit more ad for teamfights.
Blade of the ruined king
Blade of the Ruined King is a staple first item in Vayne top into particular matchups where you highly value movement speed. However when it comes to purchasing this item in slot 5 and 6, you generally only want to buy this if you feel the enemy team is really tanky and want to make shredding them a bit easier.
Gargoyle stoneplate
This is a very underrated item on Vayne that gives armor and magic resistance. However the random shield proc will catch many people off guard and keep Vayne long enough to start get kill resets. I highly suggest buying this item in many late game scenarios.
Edge of Night
This is an odd item on Vayne that is used mainly into Teemo. However you can possibly purchase this item randomly if you want to block out an enemy ability where they may have champions like Fizz, Annie, Ashe and Syndra.
Runaan's Hurricane
Runaan's Hurricane is only ever viable if you pair it up with Titanic Hydra so the Runaan's Hurricane procs will apply the titanic. You can only ever go this build if you don’t need the defensive stats and notice the enemy team are a ton of melee champions who are often clumping up during fights.
Hullbreaker
I may get deeper into this build in the future maybe when it's meta again but there is a time to build it. The time would be if you purely just want to split push into multiple tanks. The build is Vampiric Scepter into Berserker's Greaves. From there you rush Hullbreaker, then build Trinity Force, complete Blade of the Ruined King and go Titanic Hydra. From here you just purely play to split push.
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Condemn Flash Combo:
Starting off with the E flash combo. The point of this is to wind up your condemn but flash to a new location so the projectile hits them from the new location. This is most commonly used to catch your opponents off guard to get an immediate stun. Here is exactly how to do it: start by clicking condemn on your opponent, from here you have roughly half a second to flash to your new location.
You pull off this combo very similarly to Lee Sin insec combo by using Condemn, while the Condemn is winding up you Flash to a different location to redirect where it goes.
EXAMPLE: CLICK TO VIEW
Auto Attack+Q into wall
This isn’t necessarily a combo but an important mechanic to output damage must faster on Vayne. The idea is to auto attack and tumble into a wall that you are standing right beside. Since you are tumbling into the wall, your character will be stopped forcing it to complete the animation therefore allowing you to attack. You will most commonly do this when you are leashing, taking towers, securing objectives like dragon/herald/ and baron. However you will run into very unique situations during fights where you will need to apply this mechanic in order to live so keep your eyes peeled for those opportunities.
EXAMPLE: CLICK TO VIEW
Auto Blast plant + E while auto is in midair
This is a very rare combo but the point is to auto attack a blast plant, while the auto is traveling in midair you wind up your condemn on your target then let Jesus take the wheel. It’s hard to explain when or why you would use this combo but it is there when the time is right.
EXAMPLE: CLICK TO VIEW
Vayne invisibility
In this section I will be talking about everything you need to know about Vayne’s invisibility past level 6.
This is less of a combo but more of an initiation tool. The point is that you are out of vision and you Ult and Q to keep closing the distance while remaining invisible for 1 second so you can sneak up on your opponents without them ever knowing it. It’s important to understand minion vision and champion range for this to work because if you get spotted the play will not likely work. Another thing to keep in mind is understanding the distance at which you do it and if you will even catch up to hit them.
Another way to utilize this combo is by doing it from a bush and assassinating someone. A glitch that nobody talks about is if you are standing right on the edge of a bush, sometimes your character will bug out and be revealed to the opponents. I don’t know why this happens but a way to combat it is to back up a bit into the bush so there is more time for your Tumble animation to go through before you leave the bush. So judge your distance and see if you are willing to take the risk to make sure you can engage on your opponents with a timely distance.
During teamfights you don’t always have to maximize damage output by constantly tumbling and attacking. Keep in mind that invisibility lasts for 1 second so sometimes it's worth it to stay invisible to get a better position to potentially output more damage later.
Another way to juke opponents in duels or fights is by tumbling straight through them. You can only do this if you are not taking dot damage or getting hit by minion projectiles. The point of this is to completely juke your opponents and show up behind them. Human brains will fill out sequences when their opponents are doing something so you can take advantage of this by doing something that they have not accounted for.
Lastly when it comes to Vayne’s invisibility, you can straight up be compromised and be shown by these abilities. Aside from that when it comes to revealing Vayne’s silhouette any AOE abilities, dot damage, minion projectiles, or Control Ward will show your general location. This is why purchasing Death's Dance isn't great on Vayne since you cut and distribute the damage overtime meaning you will take damage while your invisible revealing your silhouette to opponents.
This is less of a combo but more of an initiation tool. The point is that you are out of vision and you Ult and Q to keep closing the distance while remaining invisible for 1 second so you can sneak up on your opponents without them ever knowing it. It’s important to understand minion vision and champion range for this to work because if you get spotted the play will not likely work. Another thing to keep in mind is understanding the distance at which you do it and if you will even catch up to hit them.
Another way to utilize this combo is by doing it from a bush and assassinating someone. A glitch that nobody talks about is if you are standing right on the edge of a bush, sometimes your character will bug out and be revealed to the opponents. I don’t know why this happens but a way to combat it is to back up a bit into the bush so there is more time for your Tumble animation to go through before you leave the bush. So judge your distance and see if you are willing to take the risk to make sure you can engage on your opponents with a timely distance.
During teamfights you don’t always have to maximize damage output by constantly tumbling and attacking. Keep in mind that invisibility lasts for 1 second so sometimes it's worth it to stay invisible to get a better position to potentially output more damage later.
Another way to juke opponents in duels or fights is by tumbling straight through them. You can only do this if you are not taking dot damage or getting hit by minion projectiles. The point of this is to completely juke your opponents and show up behind them. Human brains will fill out sequences when their opponents are doing something so you can take advantage of this by doing something that they have not accounted for.
Lastly when it comes to Vayne’s invisibility, you can straight up be compromised and be shown by these abilities. Aside from that when it comes to revealing Vayne’s silhouette any AOE abilities, dot damage, minion projectiles, or Control Ward will show your general location. This is why purchasing Death's Dance isn't great on Vayne since you cut and distribute the damage overtime meaning you will take damage while your invisible revealing your silhouette to opponents.
When it comes to Vayne top gameplay everyone has it in their mind that they must play super aggressive and solo kill and bully their lane. While this is partially true it's important to cover all the basics to make sure you are playing as optimally as possible. During the laning phase for most melee matchups you will want to control brushes and contest every cs you possibly can. You want to generate as much gold for yourself as possible while denying your opponents the ability to get gold and sometimes experience with your ranged advantage. You do this because Vayne heavily outscales and benefits from being really high level with multiple items.
Remember when I said it's partially true to solo kill and bully your lane. You need to make sure you do the basics first like landing minions and controlling waves. From there when you have free time you look to poke your opponents and take small victory trades. I have coached many Vayne players before and notice the Tumble forward and start tanking a ton of minion aggression or bad trades. They put the enemy top laner at 30% hp while leaving themselves at 55% and open to get ganked. As Vayne you don’t need to take someones hp down 100 to 0, you play slow and focus on waves while taking maybe 5% of someone’s hp and taking almost nothing in return. You then repeat the process slowly and slowly until you can potential all in someone once you have taken multiple small good trades. If you can’t kill you then look to take small leads like tower plates, camps and objectives, or take good base timers.
Let's get into how to cs properly and the things you need to keep in mind. Vayne has 550 range and a missile speed of 2000. She has an auto attack cancel with her Tumble and 3 procs for Silver Bolts damage. Lastly she has a Condemn to damage and displace a minion. These will all be really important when it comes to csing and sometimes crashing waves as fast as possible.
Remember when I said it's partially true to solo kill and bully your lane. You need to make sure you do the basics first like landing minions and controlling waves. From there when you have free time you look to poke your opponents and take small victory trades. I have coached many Vayne players before and notice the Tumble forward and start tanking a ton of minion aggression or bad trades. They put the enemy top laner at 30% hp while leaving themselves at 55% and open to get ganked. As Vayne you don’t need to take someones hp down 100 to 0, you play slow and focus on waves while taking maybe 5% of someone’s hp and taking almost nothing in return. You then repeat the process slowly and slowly until you can potential all in someone once you have taken multiple small good trades. If you can’t kill you then look to take small leads like tower plates, camps and objectives, or take good base timers.
Let's get into how to cs properly and the things you need to keep in mind. Vayne has 550 range and a missile speed of 2000. She has an auto attack cancel with her Tumble and 3 procs for Silver Bolts damage. Lastly she has a Condemn to damage and displace a minion. These will all be really important when it comes to csing and sometimes crashing waves as fast as possible.
During the laning phase you want to position to achieve as many things as possible.
The ability and range to last hit
Out of range to get engaged on or damaged
Near brushes to reset aggression if you decide to trade
In range to harass or zone opponents off to thinking that you will poke them
That's why you will notice me in some games that I will walk forward in an aggressive manner only to scare my opponent while I focus on last hitting
The safest position possible to escape a potential gank if it does come from the worst angle possible
To hover towards a potential jungler play that is happening
Lastly the potential situation where you have to walk as close to a minion as possible to last hit it
You will only do this last one if you recently auto attacked a minion and you don’t have enough attack speed to get another one AND maybe your Q is down or you don’t want to use it.
You will then walk melee range so your missile has less distance to travel beating out other minion auto attacks allowing you to get the cs.
Blue Side
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How to ward blue side example: CLICK TO VIEW
Red Side
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How to ward red side example: CLICK TO VIEW
Control Wards
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Now while doing all those things you need to focus on the next thing which is wave management.
Wave management is an art on Vayne and may be very confusing at first but will make complete sense the more and more games you play. You will come to realize when watching my more in depths guides on wave management or even in this video that you have been playing very poorly on waves. Wave management is one of the big factors on whether you can avoid ganks and properly crash waves to get base timings.
Let’s start off with the basics and talk about the first 3 to 4 waves. Into melee matchups, when the first wave arrives you want to play to last hit the first 3 melees since they will all generally get low at the exact same time. You want to auto 1 minion to put it on an off timer where you can list hit it first and auto + Tumble auto the 3rd one. From here look to poke your opponent if they are still hanging around and reset aggression with bush 2. Most melee characters will sacrifice the mage minions out of fear of getting poked so hold your positioning and keep last hitting. Once you reach level 2 off of the 1st melee from the second wave you can look to potentially cheese your opponent by playing really aggressively. However if that is not the case keep zoning and purely last hitting. Once the last minion from wave 2 is dead, look to quickly place a ward somewhere in the river to spot an early gank from the enemy jungler. Once you get back to wave 3 make sure you start hard shoving as fast as you can while still poking the enemy top laner off the wave, your goal is to crash the wave before the 4th minion wave reaches this point. Congratulations you have pulled off a simple 3 wave crash as a ranged top laner. But the next question is what now?
Let’s start off with the basics and talk about the first 3 to 4 waves. Into melee matchups, when the first wave arrives you want to play to last hit the first 3 melees since they will all generally get low at the exact same time. You want to auto 1 minion to put it on an off timer where you can list hit it first and auto + Tumble auto the 3rd one. From here look to poke your opponent if they are still hanging around and reset aggression with bush 2. Most melee characters will sacrifice the mage minions out of fear of getting poked so hold your positioning and keep last hitting. Once you reach level 2 off of the 1st melee from the second wave you can look to potentially cheese your opponent by playing really aggressively. However if that is not the case keep zoning and purely last hitting. Once the last minion from wave 2 is dead, look to quickly place a ward somewhere in the river to spot an early gank from the enemy jungler. Once you get back to wave 3 make sure you start hard shoving as fast as you can while still poking the enemy top laner off the wave, your goal is to crash the wave before the 4th minion wave reaches this point. Congratulations you have pulled off a simple 3 wave crash as a ranged top laner. But the next question is what now?
Lets review the few options you have:
Cheater Base
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Cheater basing can be done by running to bush number 3, 2, or alcove. Base and purchase your items based on how well you last hit. The point of the cheater base is to avoid an enemy jungle gank while getting an item advantage over your opponent and coming back to try to keep them in lane to abuse them. The other advantage is that the wave will bounce back in a 2-3 wave fashion so you will not be in a bad position when you come back. Keep in mind that you will be down experience since you generally lose 3 melee minions from this strategy but will restabilize when your opponent is forced to take their base.
Cheater base example: CLICK TO VIEW
Solo suicide dive
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This one is very straight forward, if you were able to poke down your opponent enough, you can simply land a condemn on the wall for bonus damage and fully all in someone while dying in the process. Bonus points if you do live and base. This will always end up being worth it because your opponent will lose a ton of exp and gold ESPECIALLY if they don’t have tp, however if they have tp they are burning an entire summoner spell which is a big advantage. And lastly you get a a fast base and more gold to spend on your items.
Dive with jungler
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This one is a lot harder to pull off with random junglers below grandmaster but is a possibility if you can get them on board. If you noticed that you were able to poke your matchup down to the 40-60% marker by wave 2, you can start spam pinging your jungler to dive right as wave 3 will crash. Simply Condemn your target, auto + Tumble auto and Flash out of tower range and your jungler should handle the rest. [/center
1. How many minions will be pushing towards you
2. Will the enemy top laner tp or walk back to lane
3. If the enemy jungler is around the corner
Purchase Boots or Berserker's Greaves
Do the Refillable Potion trick to gain hp faster
If you don’t have refillable, you can buy a Health Potion and pop it then buy a Refillable Potion and run to lane while the potion heals you.
Dive with Jungler Example: CLICK TO VIEW
Just continue poking more/hitting the tower
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This is a very straight forward option if you know the enemy jungler is pathing bot. Simply stay and prioritize hitting the enemy champion, if the enemy champion is playing safely you can hit the tower for reduced damage or clear minions. If you get lucky and they take a ton of poke you can do a late suicide dive. Just make sure to avoid taking tower damage and burning too much mana for the bounce back and you should be good.
How to poke after 3 wave crashing example(s): CLICK TO VIEW
4 Wave crash
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Next up is the 4 wave crash. This is similar to the 3 wave crash except you are crashing on the 4th wave, this can only be made possible with 3 conditions.
The enemy top laner cleared the wave enough to slow down the stacked waves to stall out until the 4th wave appeared.
The enemy jungler is pathing bot so we don’t get full clear ganked
Or both junglers are pathing top and we win the 2 v 2.
You simply crash the 4th wave and can choose any of the options I explained before. A big advantage with the 4 wave crash is if you cheater based and your opponent tries to 2 wave crash back, the 6th wave will be a cannon wave making it possible to poke your opponent off the wave and freeze on them when you come back.
The enemy top laner cleared the wave enough to slow down the stacked waves to stall out until the 4th wave appeared.
The enemy jungler is pathing bot so we don’t get full clear ganked
Or both junglers are pathing top and we win the 2 v 2.
You simply crash the 4th wave and can choose any of the options I explained before. A big advantage with the 4 wave crash is if you cheater based and your opponent tries to 2 wave crash back, the 6th wave will be a cannon wave making it possible to poke your opponent off the wave and freeze on them when you come back.
4 Wave Standard Crash example: CLICK TO VIEW
Buying Items
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Next up let’s talk about something that is very important for Vayne since tempo and timing is key to succeeding on this champion. Before 20 minutes right when you base you want to click towards the bottom of the fountain and buy all your items before this line. Once you have purchased your items and waiting for hp and mana, you can stand a tiny bit out of the steps until you are close to full hp and mana. A little trick you can do if you have refillable potion, you can step here outside of the core fountain and pop your potion to regain hp faster and buy items, once you think you have timed it perfectly to get the right amount of regeneration on the way out, you want to walk back into the core of the fountain to get your refillable back and walk to lane.
Lastly an odd trick you can do if you MUST immediately get back to lane is to buy a Health Potion and pop it, then buy your Refillable Potion. This is so you can regen hp while walking back to lane and catch a really big wave instead of stalling in base for hp while also having refillable for the next portion of the laning phase.
Lastly an odd trick you can do if you MUST immediately get back to lane is to buy a Health Potion and pop it, then buy your Refillable Potion. This is so you can regen hp while walking back to lane and catch a really big wave instead of stalling in base for hp while also having refillable for the next portion of the laning phase.
Wave States
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Next up let's talk about general wave states after the first 5 waves of the laning phase. Since you are playing Vayne, a champion that has no wave clear, you must play wave stacks perfectly in order to maximize this champion's usage, otherwise you will end up in situations that will lead to you overstaying or getting ganked. Let's look at how waves spawn during different parts of the game.
For the first 15 minutes a cannon wave spawns every 3 waves.
After 15 minute a cannon spawns every 2 waves.
After the 25 minute mark a cannon spawns on every wave.
The only important thing to note on Vayne are the waves before 15 minutes. The reason why we are so hyper focused on this is due to the fact that we need to properly crash waves in order to get correct base timings or vision set up to control and harass the lane.
For the first 15 minutes a cannon wave spawns every 3 waves.
After 15 minute a cannon spawns every 2 waves.
After the 25 minute mark a cannon spawns on every wave.
The only important thing to note on Vayne are the waves before 15 minutes. The reason why we are so hyper focused on this is due to the fact that we need to properly crash waves in order to get correct base timings or vision set up to control and harass the lane.
3 wave standard crash base for cannon bounce back
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Let's start off with the most common situation, the wave starts stacking on your side and it is a cannon wave, you want to purely last hit to wait for wave 2. While lasting hitting make sure to try to zone your opponent if you can and harass him so they do not clear the wave. Wave 3 should be roughly somewhere in this area, from here hard shove the wave. In most cases you won’t be contested 1 v 1 since you have a gigantic wave. If you get ganked during the 3rd wave, you should either try to outplay by kiting in odd ways where you can still play with the wave or purely away if the situation permits it. Otherwise you should hard sacrifice and run away. An alternative to the 3 wave standard crash is 2 wave crashing if you know it might be risky to be in the area if your jungler is on the opposite side of map.
Once you do the 3 wave crash what should you do? It is literally the exact same thing as the first 3 waves. You may base, solo suicide dive, dive with jungler, or simply continue to poke your opponent and tower if you know the enemy jungler is not on that side of the map. The reason why it is okay to base at this point is if your opponent hard shoves the wave back, you will get back and catch the minions since the cannon will tank the turret for awhile. Just make sure you place vision if you aren’t exactly sure where the enemy jungler is. I suggest staying if you recently purchased items and you know exactly where the enemy jungler is because this will be your chance to get platings and make the enemy top laner have trouble last hitting.
Once you do the 3 wave crash what should you do? It is literally the exact same thing as the first 3 waves. You may base, solo suicide dive, dive with jungler, or simply continue to poke your opponent and tower if you know the enemy jungler is not on that side of the map. The reason why it is okay to base at this point is if your opponent hard shoves the wave back, you will get back and catch the minions since the cannon will tank the turret for awhile. Just make sure you place vision if you aren’t exactly sure where the enemy jungler is. I suggest staying if you recently purchased items and you know exactly where the enemy jungler is because this will be your chance to get platings and make the enemy top laner have trouble last hitting.
Standard 3 Wave Crash example: CLICK TO VIEW
2 wave first cannon crash
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I briefly mentioned this before in the 3 wave standard crash but this is a different variation where the first wave is a cannon, but you start hard shoving it so you can start pushing the 2nd wave. There are different places you may want to put the wave but the further you are from the enemy turret, the longer it will take to escort and base but you will be safer. The closer it is to the enemy turret, the easier it will be to crash and base for tempo but you will be in a dangerous position. The reason why you would ever want to 2 wave crash is if you need to base urgently for an objective, or if you noticed that if you were to do the 3 wave standard crash, you will likely get ganked.
2 wave non cannon crash
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You will often see the first build up to be a non cannon wave, and the second wave to be a non cannon wave. Generally speaking you want to build up 2 waves and crash because if you try to 3 wave crash, while the 3rd wave is a cannon wave, you will be standing around for a long time clearing the 3rd wave which can lead to your death. From here you can ward and start playing off a standard cannon wave meeting in the middle of the lane.
Single Wave crashes
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This is the biggest no-brainer strategy but if you have your vision set up, you can purely just keep pushing waves in and harassing your opponent while taking plates slowly. This can generally only be done if you are against an easy matchup or you are really ahead.
How to single wave crash example: CLICK TO VIEW
Timers
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Now that we have discussed how to properly play waves, let's talk about how to use the timers you have to move. The reason why you have a timer is because you created it by crashing waves, while your opponent is dealing with the wave underneath the turret, this is your timer to do something. I have already taught you that you can base, and that you can ward. However other things you can do is break Honeyfruit, Scryer's Bloom, farm camps, do rift herald with your jungler. The options are there but the most important thing that you want to do is to get back to lane before the first minion of the next wave dies if possible. Essentially this boils down to how much exactly can you get done on the map before you have to get back to lane before you miss gold and experience.
Shaving Waves pushing towards us
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Next up I will be discussing the concept of shaving waves that are pushing towards us. It’s sometimes hard to do this because many champions will play aggressively with a big wave but if you are able to ever attack minions without getting engaged on, do it and cut down the wave as much as possible. This will slow down your opponents 3 wave crash and potentially force them to stay in lane when they would not have creating opportunities to use item advantages and set up jungle ganks. The ultimate goal with this is to eventually shave down the wave enough that it will hold in front of your tower which will lead right into our next topic.
Golden Wave Positioning/Freezing
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The golden wave positioning is a position in the lane where you are in front of your tower with a wave state that is odd for a melee champion to deal with without taking poke. You are holding your wave in this position right here on blue side, and here on red side. This position is very beneficial on Vayne because:
- The enemy melee character will have to walk up to clear the minions which will open them up to poke and potentially get ran down
You are in a position where ganking you will be hard to do unless they dive
The enemy can get ganked by your jungler easily (Assuming there isn't a counter gank)
You ideally want to do this when you have come back fresh from a base since you will be full hp and mana. If you clear the minions perfectly you can actually hold the wave in this position for a long time. Which leads to the freeze, generally speaking when you freeze lanes, you are putting the wave in a state where it will always push towards you forcing the enemy top laner and sometimes jungler to come and break it. It really depends on where the wave meets and fights but generally speaking you want some type of variation below in order to freeze a lane.
4 Mage minions
3 mage minions 1 melee
1 cannon 1 mage minion
Most people view freezing as something you do infinitely but realistically speaking you are doing this for 1 or 2 waves until the enemy top laner comes back and tries to break a freeze.
Freezing is advantageous because you deny potential experience and gold from the enemy team while also forcing them into an uncomfortable decision to break it against a ranged top laner which could lead to them getting harassed and potentially killed.
- The enemy melee character will have to walk up to clear the minions which will open them up to poke and potentially get ran down
You are in a position where ganking you will be hard to do unless they dive
The enemy can get ganked by your jungler easily (Assuming there isn't a counter gank)
You ideally want to do this when you have come back fresh from a base since you will be full hp and mana. If you clear the minions perfectly you can actually hold the wave in this position for a long time. Which leads to the freeze, generally speaking when you freeze lanes, you are putting the wave in a state where it will always push towards you forcing the enemy top laner and sometimes jungler to come and break it. It really depends on where the wave meets and fights but generally speaking you want some type of variation below in order to freeze a lane.
4 Mage minions
3 mage minions 1 melee
1 cannon 1 mage minion
Most people view freezing as something you do infinitely but realistically speaking you are doing this for 1 or 2 waves until the enemy top laner comes back and tries to break a freeze.
Freezing is advantageous because you deny potential experience and gold from the enemy team while also forcing them into an uncomfortable decision to break it against a ranged top laner which could lead to them getting harassed and potentially killed.
How to golden wave positioning/Freeze example: CLICK TO VIEW
Basing after kill while setting up positioning for wave to push to you
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You will often run into situations where you will solo kill your opponents but the wave is too big to wave clear without being in an awkward situation when the enemy top laner comes back. This is where you will shave down the wave and leave the wave in a state where it's pushing towards you. Somethings to keep in mind here are:
1. How many minions will be pushing towards you
2. Will the enemy top laner tp or walk back to lane
3. If the enemy jungler is around the corner
Starting with the minions, you ideally want to shave the wave as much as possible, however you don’t want to shave it too much that it will start pushing back to your opponent. It depends where the wave is being left at while you're basing but generally you want the enemy minions to have 2-4 more so it will stay pushing towards you. You don’t want to leave too many minions up because if you do, the wave will crash too quickly and you will end up losing a lot of gold and experience. My biggest advice is to test the waters depending on the wave whether it may be a cannon wave or not and see what works best for you.
Next up the enemy top laners tp status will play a big role in how long you have before you base, if the enemy has no Teleport you will have a ton of time before they come back to lane so you can take your time clearing the amount of minions you want. If the enemy top laner has Teleport, you have to gauge how long it will take for them to Teleport in and start shoving the wave. This means that you will likely have to clear 1 or 2 minions and immediately base and try to get back as fast as possible.
Lastly you have to be wary of where the enemy jungler is right after you solo kill, sometimes it's better to just immediately base under tower and lose waves instead of trying to shave the wave and dying.
A couple quick tips I have for you to get back to lane faster is to:
Next up the enemy top laners tp status will play a big role in how long you have before you base, if the enemy has no Teleport you will have a ton of time before they come back to lane so you can take your time clearing the amount of minions you want. If the enemy top laner has Teleport, you have to gauge how long it will take for them to Teleport in and start shoving the wave. This means that you will likely have to clear 1 or 2 minions and immediately base and try to get back as fast as possible.
Lastly you have to be wary of where the enemy jungler is right after you solo kill, sometimes it's better to just immediately base under tower and lose waves instead of trying to shave the wave and dying.
A couple quick tips I have for you to get back to lane faster is to:
Purchase Boots or Berserker's Greaves
Do the Refillable Potion trick to gain hp faster
If you don’t have refillable, you can buy a Health Potion and pop it then buy a Refillable Potion and run to lane while the potion heals you.
How to Base After Solo Kill & Wave is Pushing Towards Us: CLICK TO VIEW
Spacing game/Tethering
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Next up is the spacing game. The spacing game is simply your ability to hold perfect range relative to your opponent. I will explain this concept from a theoretical perspective then apply it to how Vayne can use it.
The spacing and tethering game boils down to:
The spacing and tethering game boils down to:
- Auto attack range
+ Which is the range of a characters abilities or auto attack
- Movement speed
+ Which is how fast a character moves
- Attack speed
+ Which is how fast a character can fire an auto
- Space Available
+ How much area you have to work with
- Ping
+ How fast your game responds to your commands
- Ability to read what your opponent will do
+ This is the most important concept, if you are able to read what your opponent will do, you can predict it and perfectly hold range.
So with all these things in combination, hypothetically if you were scripting you can perfectly hold spacing on your opponents to a point where you can always be in range to auto attack your opponents but never get hit by them if you have long enough range.
Spacing Gaming and Tethering Explanation: CLICK TO VIEW
Zone Of Influence
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This concept is very straight forward, it is understanding enemy champion abilities and auto range then drawing them out in your head.
This is broken down into:
- Ability Windup
- Ability Range
- Time needed to complete travel from current location
- Ping
It’s taboo to talk about but the best way to really learn this concept is to watch scripting videos on youtube. You essentially want to play the game but be viewing it how a script would. This will make you actively think about enemies abilities and make you ready to deal with certain abilities in skirmishes. During the laning phase you may be drawing more of these out for every ability but during teamfights, you only need to focus on the big things from the enemy team that will be lethal to get hit by like Lux Light Binding, Sejuani Glacial Prison, Ahri Charm.
This is broken down into:
- Ability Windup
- Ability Range
- Time needed to complete travel from current location
- Ping
It’s taboo to talk about but the best way to really learn this concept is to watch scripting videos on youtube. You essentially want to play the game but be viewing it how a script would. This will make you actively think about enemies abilities and make you ready to deal with certain abilities in skirmishes. During the laning phase you may be drawing more of these out for every ability but during teamfights, you only need to focus on the big things from the enemy team that will be lethal to get hit by like Lux Light Binding, Sejuani Glacial Prison, Ahri Charm.
Zone Of Influence Explanation: CLICK TO VIEW
MID/LATE GAME
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When it comes to mid and late game on Vayne, you want to group and make use of your summoner spells and items to win teamfights. I will make a more in depth guide in the future but I will quickly touch on each topic to give you an idea of what you should do.
During the mid game and late game you generally want to push out waves IF IT IS SAFE then rotate towards your teammates and fight around objectives. This will guarantee you more gold and levels before you go for a risky plays.
If it is not safe it is better to collect waves then rotate late towards teamfights. Otherwise you can simply just force group and try to fight immediately.
If you believe playing around your teammates is not the play, you can infinitely split push by going to the opposite side of the main objective being played for. Push out the waves and set up a couple wards and keep trying to pressure turrets. If you are holding an enemy laner in lane, you can potentially move and force a numbers advantage fight near your teammates in mid lane.
During teamfights your biggest friend will be the zone of influence concept. Understanding the range and staying outside of enemy areas of initial danger will make teamfighting easier. After all the big cooldowns are used you come in and easily sweep the fights. The biggest thing you need to identify before fights is all the biggest cooldowns that will immediately kill you. Try to wait these out before entering a fight or be ready to flash or tumble if you start fighting.
During teamfights you have 2 ways you can play fights. The first and most standard way to play fights is called front to backing. Front to backing is defined as it is, simply fighting the enemy team by hitting their front line and staying away from their back line. This will make it easier for your team to peel you since you are holding an angle with your teammates.
The second way is assassinating by diving the backline and finding an angle where you can hit their most important threats while avoiding their frontline. You only do this when the enemy backline would destroy your front line faster than you would kill theirs.
A concept that I do during teamfights is isolating separate 1 v 1s. Most people view teamfights as 5 v 5 but as Vayne you want to only put yourself in range of 1 person at a time. This minimizes the damage you take and allows you to focus on 1 person which naturally also translates into the front to back fighting style.
During the mid game and late game you generally want to push out waves IF IT IS SAFE then rotate towards your teammates and fight around objectives. This will guarantee you more gold and levels before you go for a risky plays.
If it is not safe it is better to collect waves then rotate late towards teamfights. Otherwise you can simply just force group and try to fight immediately.
If you believe playing around your teammates is not the play, you can infinitely split push by going to the opposite side of the main objective being played for. Push out the waves and set up a couple wards and keep trying to pressure turrets. If you are holding an enemy laner in lane, you can potentially move and force a numbers advantage fight near your teammates in mid lane.
During teamfights your biggest friend will be the zone of influence concept. Understanding the range and staying outside of enemy areas of initial danger will make teamfighting easier. After all the big cooldowns are used you come in and easily sweep the fights. The biggest thing you need to identify before fights is all the biggest cooldowns that will immediately kill you. Try to wait these out before entering a fight or be ready to flash or tumble if you start fighting.
During teamfights you have 2 ways you can play fights. The first and most standard way to play fights is called front to backing. Front to backing is defined as it is, simply fighting the enemy team by hitting their front line and staying away from their back line. This will make it easier for your team to peel you since you are holding an angle with your teammates.
The second way is assassinating by diving the backline and finding an angle where you can hit their most important threats while avoiding their frontline. You only do this when the enemy backline would destroy your front line faster than you would kill theirs.
A concept that I do during teamfights is isolating separate 1 v 1s. Most people view teamfights as 5 v 5 but as Vayne you want to only put yourself in range of 1 person at a time. This minimizes the damage you take and allows you to focus on 1 person which naturally also translates into the front to back fighting style.
This next section will be a couple random facts about Vayne that did not fit anywhere into the guide so there will be no structure.
Bans and worst matchups in the game:
- I always ban Malphite in solo queue because the matchup is very rough in high elo. Alternatively another character you can ban is Teemo. Both these champions are very hard to deal with so choose wisely.
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This concludes my Vayne guide. If you guys have any further questions please join my Discord and ask me there! Otherwise please follow my stream for live gameplay and join my Discord to be a part of a community of like minded Vayne players. I had a blast creating this guide and would like to thank you for reading until the end. Please subscribe for more future guides and best of luck on the rift!
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