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Taliyah Build Guide by zZVersusZz

AP Carry (6.12) CorrectWayToPlayTaliyah?

AP Carry (6.12) CorrectWayToPlayTaliyah?

Updated on June 24, 2016
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League of Legends Build Guide Author zZVersusZz Build Guide By zZVersusZz 12,254 Views 2 Comments
12,254 Views 2 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author zZVersusZz Taliyah Build Guide By zZVersusZz Updated on June 24, 2016
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Introduction

Hi Mobafire, I'm zZVersusZz and new to this community here. Believe it or not, I'm currently in Diamond Division in my hometown sever. I used to be a Malzahar main since season 4 until Riot kinda messed him up (R.I.P OP Cancer Puppies 2010-1016). Anyway now I discovered Taliyah. I didn't have enough IP to buy when she was released so the testing was delayed for a couple weeks. During that time, I heard so many reviews said that she is suck and useless, which make me so curious. Then I tested her for the first time in a rank game and somehow easily won with 15 kills 3 deaths. She has so many zoning and damage alongside with huge map pressure, how could that be weak? I was continuously searching for her gameplays and guides and found out that people are actually playing her wrongly, which result in her low win-rates. That's why I decided to write this guide. I will assume that you already know how her skills work so that I can focus more on the builds and gameplays. Enjoy reading!
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Masteries

The runes and summoner spells are pretty much standard for AP mid (You can bring Ignite if you want to guarantee first-blood but Teleport is better for map-controlling and helping your teammates. Barrier and Heal are for p**sy only, don't bring it). However the masteries are slightly different:
  • Wanderer : (I'm giving credit to Painters for this one) 5 more aa dmg on minion is nothing compare to the movement speed for roaming, chasing and rotating.
I think this is the best masteries page for Taliyah mid at the moment after many testing and guide searching. It's very suitable for play-making in early and mid-game.
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Ability Path

Why maxing first?
This is definitely the highlight of this guide. Believe me, it feels much more comfortable and satisfying when landing the combo rather trying to aim for 5-hit . Sure has more DPS, but it requires you to position yourself correctly and move to another location every 2 seconds. You don't always have that luxury, especially when fighting in the jungle. With maxed , you can deal extremely high INSTANT damage, which will scare the enemies make them run away and allow you to hit while moving away from the ground as you chase them.(I know, genius right?).Don't forget has a 120% AP ratio at max value so it can still do good damage at level 1.
Why maxing second?
Just to match with the cooldown of , allowing you to knock-up the enemies every 5 seconds, much better than slowly doing 150-ish per second with maxed .

TL;DR : Just max first, you will see the difference.
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Items

  • or
    The meta, very gold efficient, but the only problem here is to choose between them. I nearly NEVER buy both of them because they give less damage compared to some big AP items like Rabadon's Deathcap and Rylai's Crystal Scepter, which will slow down your snowball. You should not only choose to buy Zhonya's Hourglass or Abyssal Mask depending on whelther the enemy mid-laner is building AD or AP, but also on the damage you mainly take during teamfight. Why? Because you will be spending most of time on ganking other lanes not fighting 1v1 in mid. It is also very situational. For example, when i'm laning against Varus and their top and jungler is Ekko and Elise, Abyssal Mask is the better option as i can dodge nearly all Varus's Q in teamfight and with the MR, I can survive better when Elise and Ekko jump on me. The same goes for Zhonya's Hourglass, its active can save you from massive AP dmg like Lux's R or Syndra's R.
  • Best item on Taliyah (Trust me). Look at her skills: can deal the maximum of 120% AP ratio, can deal the maximum of 160% AP ratio. With Rabadon's Deathcap, she becomes a nightmare for squishy champions.
  • For Riot, it is the core item for Taliyah. For me, i only buy it when the enemies are able to somehow escape from the zone of and the slow of . Don't get me wrong, Rylai's Crystal Scepter is still good for Taliyah, gives her more utility and good health as well as decent AP.
  • It is a good combo with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, but not a good item on Taliyah even with Rylai's Crystal Scepter. I don't know why but i always feel like doing less dmg with this item. It's a lot more expensive than Void Staff but doesn't work as effective. If anyone can prove me wrong, feel free to say at the discussion.
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Laning Strategy

I'm not sure if this works in challenger division, but this strat does fine in diamond. By abusing the ability of fast pushing early with and roaming with , you can create a huge lead for yourself and your team.
Step 1:
Start normal with Doran's Ring and 2 pots. When the creeps just come to lane, tank a few hit from the melee creeps to make them gather in 1 place then use and aa to quickly kill them.(Note that: with the runes and masteries above, to kill a melee creeps takes 5 hit from , 2 aa and 3 DMG). Then keep aa and last-hit the range creep while waiting for your to cooldown. After that, a wave of 4-5 creeps is pushing to the enemy's tower, which create a wide angle for you to hit all of your (5 + Thunderlord + 1-2 aa = 1/3 healbar). If they try to trade back, you will have the creeps to support you, and better if the enemy use his aoe skill and proc Thunderlord on the creeps, he/she will have trouble last-hit them under tower.
Reward : Burn 1 pots from the enemy, 2-3 CS lead and make him/her nervous.
Step 2:
After the creep wave resets and slightly pushes toward your tower, you can safely last-hit till level 3. REMEMBER to put a ward down on their red-sided jungle just in case of lv2 gank (which I magically get a lot). When you hit level 3, try to land the combo ( then ) on the their mid-laner, the best chance to land is when he/she tries to last-hit your range creep. The damage from the combo is insanely high, if your jungler comes and flashes cc the enemy ==> 100% first blood. Then use your skills to quickly push the wave, make the enemy lose those CS and back.
Reward: A kill or at least 5-6 CS lead.
Step 3:
At the first back, usually buy second Doran's Ring and boot if you have the money, but the most IMPORTANT thing is a pink ward and Sweeping Lens. Go back to lane, put the pink ward in the small bush in the river of the side you want to gank, use Sweeping Lens to clear ward in the lane bush of the same side (if there is), then farm until 6. When hit level 6, quickly clear wave and start roaming immediately. The movement speed from the masteries and Worked Ground plays a huge role here, you can reach the dragon/baron's pit to start using your in approximately 4 seconds. 80% chance that the enemies won't be able to react fast enough even in diamond. Use your to block their escape + the support from their jungler, create an easy 3v2 fight. If the enemy's mid-laner TP bot to help, he/she will not hit lv6 due to step 2 and/or not have 1 skill used to clear the wave you push in earlier (if he/she didnt't use skills to clear the wave, he/she will lost those XP). THEREFOR, you always have the advantage, unless their enemy's jungler is waiting in the bot-lane bush and kill you as you arrive, which is the worst-cased scenario.
Reward : Kills and maybe dragon/tower.
Step 4:
Simple, just back, TP to mid and go back to Step 2.
That is how I snowball and carry the early-game. Transiting to mid-game with Taliyah is fairly easy, split-push and use to separate the enemies if you want to initiate a teamfight.
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Summary

In my opinion, Taliyah is very balanced right now (and balanced = weak lol, just jk).But it is very fun using a "weak" champion to win than rekting ppl with Ryze or Vladimir. If she receives one more buff, she will be OP, which not likely gonna happen. I even expect a mana nedf from riot because her mana cost is ridiculously low, but hopefully not. Comparing her with other champions, I think the most similar one is Twisted Fate. He can do Taliyah's job safer and more reliable but have a boring ****ty early-game, while Taliyah is average in all stages of the game. She is very fun to use and has unique play-style - aggressive and supportive (but I still miss the "make one's life miserable" style of the old Malzahar, seriously why Riot?). Anyway thank you for spending time on reading and hope you try this build out then give feedbacks.

PS : This guide is only based on my personal experience and opinion, you may argue differently, which is why there is a discussion section below. Sorry for the lack of illustration and poor design, when I get used to the code here, I will edit it better.
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League of Legends Build Guide Author zZVersusZz
zZVersusZz Taliyah Guide
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