For those unaware, in patch 13.24, Talon received a QoL that makes Ranged Q reset his basic attack timer, just like Melee Q does.

This is a good and fair improvement to the functionality of Q. We’ve been asking for it ever since Talon was reworked in 2016. We’re grateful that it finally happened and we ENORMOUSLY appreciate it.

QoL changes feel much better and they’re way more welcomed than number buffs. In fact, most Talon mains would happily trade damage in favor of changes that improve QoL, add smoothness and reduce clunkiness, because this champion suffers from a lot of those issues. This is a way healthier approach that contributes to player satisfaction but doesn’t contribute to enemy frustration. Thank you /u/RiotAugust for bringing it up to the Dev team.

Now, this QoL does help, it’s amazing, but it doesn’t address the elephant in the room. This is the chance to address the ACTUAL BIGGEST ISSUE with Talon’s Q (and Talon overall), which is his Melee Q.

To understand why… let’s look more in-depth at Talon’s Q overall. What’s its purpose and functionality? What is this ability supposed to do?

  • 1) It’s a gapcloser: it decreases the distance between you and the enemy to 0.
  • 2) It offers a fast and reliable way to proc Passive.
  • 3) It allows you to use R during the dash to protect yourself from point-clicks as you’re flying.

Then, there’s Melee Q that goes in complete contradiction with all of this, being completely unreliable in doing its job, offering you only frustrating and inconvenient downsides for using it over Ranged Q.

# Here is the problem #

For future reference, Melee Q’s range is 170 + your hitbox + enemy hitbox, so roughly 300. Ranged Q’s range is 575.

The troublesome feature of Melee Q: Melee Q has a cast time. Cast times stun you in place for 0.25 seconds before the ability goes off. Melee Q is also not a dash.

The problems caused by said feature:

» When you Q an enemy, you expect to jump on top of them and basic attack. Ranged Q does exactly this, BUT if the enemy is within 300 units, you Melee Q instead, stunning yourself in the cast time, during which the enemy walks away from you, further increasing the distance between you and them, ruining your chances to basic attack & proc passive & chase. This contradicts purpose 1) & 2).

» Because of the cast time, unlike Ranged Q, you cannot use R during Melee Q. This leaves you vulnerable to point-clicks during your combo. Furthermore, queueing up R during Melee Q’s cast time cancels the automated basic attack that is supposed to come after. This contradicts purpose 2) & 3).

» Melee Q takes longer to happen than Ranged Q would from that range, which only increases the delay of your combo. This contradicts half of purpose 2).

» Melee Q doesn’t follow enemy mobility (dashes/blinks). This contradicts purpose 1) and 2).

# Here are the possible solutions #

1) Remove Melee Q and make Ranged Q deal more damage based on distance instead.

OR

2) Keep Melee Q, but remove its cast time and make Talon lunge to his target (like Garen Q).

Here are a few clips that highlight the issue. Ranged Q would’ve granted me the kills by gapclosing on the enemy. Melee Q did the exact opposite and made me miss all kills. There’s no reason for these 2 spells to be bound on the same key when they do completely opposite things.

I wanna remind you that Melee Q’s range is 300 and Ranged Q’s range is 575. It’s NOT easy to avoid using Melee Q when it occurs at more than half the range or less.

TLDR: Talon’s Q is a gapcloser that increases the gap between you and the enemy when used from 52% of the range or less.