Table of Contents


Introduction Items Understanding Matchups
Why Play Tristana Summoner Spells How To ADC
Runes Abilities Tristana Mechanics
General Gameplay Conclusion




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Hi, I'm Gravers, a veteran player that's been playing since season 1. During that time I've hit plat 2 tier as a mid lane main in season 5, Diamond 1 as an ADC main in season 7, again as a jungle main in season 8, and once more in season 9 playing a mix of all those roles including ADC. I can play every role to a very high level and have a very good understanding of the general aspects of the game on top of that.



In this guide I will go very in-depth into gameplay and teaching you exactly what you need to do, so that this guide is the only resource you will ever need to go to to learn about Tristana.

They say in regards to ADC that once you learn to play one ADC, you can play them all. It's not too far off from the truth. Almost all marksmen share the same basic mechanics. Because of this, I've made this my most in-depth guide by far, as rather than just teaching you Tristana, I'll be teaching you an entire role.


VIDEOS


In this chapter I'm going to be gathering a compilation of Tristana footage ranging from full gameplays, VOD reviews of myself and more famous players, as well as short plays, to help you learn the champion even better if you're willing to put in the time to watch some extra content on top of the actual guide itself, as well as give you an idea of what the champion can achieve in the hands of a good player. Click here to sub for more educational content.































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Tristana's main weakness is her weak early-game where she can get bullied and set behind when matched against stronger early-game champions such as Caitlyn, Jhin or Lucian.

However, Tristana's mid-game is very strong and her late-game is definitely among the strongest of any AD carry. Rapid Fire can give her extremely high DPS for a limited duration, she gets a lot of burst with Explosive Charge and Buster Shot, and she's an extremely safe champion with her extremely high range and resettable long distance dash, Rocket Jump.

I think these factors more than make up for her early-game weakness, which is in itself not too weak. She has some good matchups, especially at level 6 which is a huge power spike for her while not always such a big power spike for other ADC's.

And above all, the biggest reason to play Tristana is she's so damn fun. Getting resets on her W is such a fun mechanic to have on an ADC. Whether she's average or strong, suited to the meta or not, she'll always be one of the most fun ADCs in the game, which explain why she's been so popular for so long.


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Domination & Precision





Electrocute
Hail of Blades: This is the best keystone on Tristana right now. It doesn't do more damage than Press the Attack but it does help guarantee a full stack Explosive Charge and a reset on Rocket Jump, usually outweighing the overall higher damage of Press the Attack.


Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact: Since most of your Explosive Charge explosions will be executed after a Rocket Jump, this rune can greatly increase your burst. Additionally it gives magic pen as well as lethality so it'll increase the damage of Rocket Jump and Buster Shot.


Eyeball Collection
Eyeball Collection: As a bot laner you're likely to pick up a lot of takedowns, so you'll stack this rune up a lot faster than any of its counterparts.

Ravenous Hunter
Ravenous Hunter: Though you don't have any abilities that greatly benefit from the healing passive, there are no outstanding options here for Tristana. Most opt for Ravenous Hunter, but Relentless Hunter is also worth considering.


Precision

Triumph

Legend: Bloodline Triumph: This can be a life saver in close fights, and the 20g per takedown actually adds up to quite a bit in bloody games. Especially good on Tristana since her playstyle encourages her to get into the thick of the action and her survival is often on very slim margins. Triumph ensures your aggressive plays aren't costing you your life any more than necessary.

Legend: Bloodline: Tristana buys attack speed early and has a very powerful attack speed steroid, but she also doesn't buy lifesteal until her 5th item very often. This makes the 12% lifesteal more valuable to her throughout the game than the 18% attack speed.


Offense:
10% Attack Speed

Flex:
9 Adaptive Force

Defense:
6 Armour




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Flash and Heal has been the standard ADC summoner spell combination since possibly mid-season 3. In fact, Flash has been the standard summoner spell to take on almost every single champion since forever. It's always been indisputably the best summoner spell in the game, so there's nothing you can replace it with, especially on a champion like Tristana.

Heal on the other hand, replaced Barrier when it got buffed in season 3 to give movement speed on the cast, which is the reason it's been standard over Barrier ever since, despite being affected by Ignite's Grievous Wounds. Aside from the small movement speed boost, which can be used both offensively and defensively, another reason why it's stronger than Barrier is it affects an ally, which is perfect for bot lane where you're laning with a support.

The reason you want a defensive summoner on ADC is that you have a lot of DPS, so the longer you can survive, the more damage you'll put out, usually out-damaging what you'd get from Ignite. And if it can go as far as to save your life, then that's even better, as ADC's are very important to have alive for both providing DPS and taking down towers, especially in Tristana's case given her tower shredding capabilities with Explosive Charge.




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Ability Description
Draw a Bead The range of Tristana's basic attacks, Explosive Charge and Buster Shot is increased by 0 - 139 (based on level) for a total of 525 - 661 (based on level) range.


My thoughts, tips and tricks

This passive is possibly my favourite passive in the entire game. It's been nerfed since I first started playing Tristana in season 2, but it still gives you a huge amount of range, and the only champions that out-range you at level 18 are Kog'Maw with Bio-Arcane Barrage activated, Jinx with rank 4 or 5 Switcheroo! and Twitch with Spray and Pray activated. These spells only grant temporary range buffs (or in Jinx's case, she'll only have that range some of the time at least), so Tristana is the highest permanent range champion in the game once Draw a Bead takes her above 650 range at level 16, at which point she begins to out-range Caitlyn.



Ability Description
Rapid Fire Tristana gains 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110% bonus attack speed for 7 seconds.


My thoughts, tips and tricks

With this spell activated, Tristana is one of the highest DPS champions in the game. Unfortunately the down-time on it is very high (11 seconds at max rank), so you need to make sure to make the most of it while it's activated. The most obvious way to do this would be to use it right after Explosive Charge to help you try and get as many stacks as possible onto your target. You don't want to waste it if you're in a position where it's not safe for you to auto-attack much.



Ability Description
Rocket Jump Tristana dashes to the target location, dealing 85 / 135 / 185 / 235 / 285 (+ 50% AP) magic damage to all nearby enemies on impact and briefly slowing them by 60% for 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds.

Whenever Tristana takes down an enemy champion or detonates Explosive Charge at maximum stacks on an enemy champion, Rocket Jump's cooldown is reset.


My thoughts, tips and tricks

Along with Draw a Bead, this is the main defining spell that separates Tristana from all the other ADC's, both pre- and post-rework. Tristana is all about being that high range ADC that dashes all over the place getting resets.

Rocket Jump is a little different from most other dashes in the sense that it's got a little bit of a cast animation before she dashes, but while the actual dash can be interrupted, the cast animation can't be. So for example, if you get knocked up during the brief cast animation, you'll be briefly knocked up but then your cast finishes, and your jump overrides the knockup. Whereas if you finish your cast animation, then jump, then get knocked up while in the air, the knockup will cancel your jump and you'll stay in place.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing, since while it means it can easily override a lot of CC's, it also makes it very easy for champions with displacements to simply hold their CC for your jump and immediately cancel it.

However, all in all I think it's one of the best mobility spells in the game, due its long range and the amazing things you can do by overriding CC with it.

Also, just a quick note, you can't auto-attack during Rocket Jump, but you can cast abilities, so Explosive Charge and Buster Shot. This means that when you Rocket Jump on top of an enemy you can place Explosive Charge mid-air and immediately get one charge as soon as you land. Or you can Buster Shot a low HP enemy mid-air to ensure they die before getting a chance to trade much damage back onto you.



Ability Description
Explosive Charge PASSIVE: Enemies explode when slain by Tristana's basic attacks, dealing 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 (+ 25% AP) magic damage to all nearby enemies.


ACTIVE: Tristana places an Explosive Charge on the target enemy or enemy turret. After 4 seconds the charge explodes, dealing 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 (+ 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110% bonus AD) (+ 50% AP) physical damage to nearby enemies. The explosion radius is doubled when used on a turret.

Tristana's basic attacks and abilities against the target increase Explosive Charge's damage by 30%, stacking up to 4 times for a maximum 120% increase, upon which the charge also detonates instantly.


My thoughts, tips and tricks

This is Tristana's main trading spell in lane, which you'll be maxing first. It scales above-averagely with levels at max stacks, and has a huge AD ratio at level 9. As a result it deals huge burst, especially if you explode it with Buster Shot or a critical hit. With a few items, you can burst down any squishy carry if you can hit them with full stacks.

Unfortunately it scales really badly on low stacks, which is mostly what you'll be doing in lane. The cast time and time it takes you to stack it is what makes Tristana's laning phase so weak in comparison to quicker-trading champions such as Lucian and Miss Fortune. However, she's pretty decent in full-blown all-ins, as you'll easily get max stacks if you're not forced to switch targets, and the burst, especially combined with Buster Shot, means it's really risky to start a fight on a full HP Tristana post-6.

Its other use, besides damage on champions, is damage on towers. It makes Tristana the best tower killing ADC in the game besides Jinx, who's a riskier, less mobile alternative.



Ability Description
Buster Shot Tristana fires a massive cannonball at the target enemy, dealing them 300 / 400 / 500 (+ 100% AP) magic damage and knocking back the target and all enemies around them by 600 / 800 / 1000 units.


My thoughts, tips and tricks

A very useful ultimate with many uses. The basic ways to use it are either for burst, or using the knockback as self-peel. More offensively you could use it to shoot an enemy closer to your team or away from where they're trying to run.






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