TRISTANA BUILD GUIDE

 

Introduction

Tristana is one of the scariest champions to deal with late game. She is also incredibly strong in the early game; specifically at level 2 and 6. However she hits a mid game weak point, where she doesn't have enough items to scale with her 90% steroids, and not enough AP to scale with her nukes.

Tristana should be played very aggressively early game, passively mid game, and cautiously end game.

 

Masteries

21/9/0

Skip meditation since she needs that extra HP/Armor for all-ins at level 2.

 

Runes

Runepage is designed for early game dominance, very much like masteries.

Flat ARP Marks - Best in Slot
Flat Armor Seals - BiS
Flat MR Glyphs - BiS
Flat AD Quints - Can be changed with Flat HP or Flat ARP. I've personally had the best success with Flat AD.


Tip: Armor Seals and MR Glyphs are very cheap, and incredibly versatile. If you're starting to build up runpages, I recommend picking those up ASAP.

 

Skill Order

Buster Shot whenever you can.

Early on rotate between Explosive shot and Rocket jump for burst dmg.

Then max Explosive shot and leave Rocket Jump at level 2. Once you get your BOTRK, Rapid Fire offers a lot of damage from your autos, so max second.

 

Early Game

Try and convince your team into an aggressive support like Taric or Alistar. Then be very agressive with your early level 2 from Explosive shot. Farm to the best of your ability, it's tricky with Explosive shot, but a strong Tristana player can last hit near perfectly.

Tip: Red pot is also very strong for Tristana, it's essentially a cheap Doran's Blade!

 

Mid Game

FARM FARM FARM FARM FARM!

Trist's mid-game is horrid. Rocket Jump and Buster Shot's damage become sub-par, Rapid Fire still hasn't scaled up yet.

Even if you've had a successful early game, you cannot get too cocky during Tristana's mid game. Realize how strong you are, and farm to the best of your ability. Try and avoid fights especially if you've had a stagnant early game.

 

Late Game

This is when Tristana becomes a beast, you should be able to solo just about anyone at this point. Your range and damage combined can shred even the tankiest of champions. Don't forget to farm just because you have 4-5 items. Having a QSS before an end game fight may win you the game.

 

Team Fights

Positioning - being able to maximize your damage without dieing.

That is ALL you need to do in fights. It's very hard to teach how to position, but it all comes with your general knowledge of the game; where all champions on the map are, what items do they have, how much hp/mana do they have, what level are they... etc

Tip: Checking up on TAB often will drastically increase your team fight positioning.

 

Final Comments

Tristana's early game is fantastic, make sure to take advantage of this early game, because you will need it when you enter Tristana's mid game. Realize when you're becoming weak and try and avoid fights while farming into your end game build. Once you get to end game, all you need to do is focus on positioning and you should take the game easily.

 

Skills

Passive: Draw a Bead

Increases Tristana's attack range as she levels.

Explanation:

You can buy attack speed, attack damage, crit %... but you can't buy range.

712 At level 18. Second only to Kog'Maw with W on.

Attack Range scales incredibly well with items, making this passive one of the best late-game scaling passives in the game.




Q: Rapid Fire

Increases Tristana's attack speed by 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90% for 7 seconds.

Cooldown 20seconds
Cost 80mana
Range 20

Explanation:

The strongest AS steroids in the game. This and her passive really defines Tristana as an AD carry, as they scale so incredibly well with items. The mana cost is incredibly high, so I choose not to level it at 4.

Tip: Maximize the duration of Rapid Fire, it lasts 7 seconds and has a 20S CD. During an endgame fight, having Rapid Fire on cooldown is BRUTAL. Make sure you know when to use it to maximize the 7 seconds of god mode.



W: Rocket Jump

Tristana fires at the ground to propel herself to target location, dealing 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+80% of ability power) magic damage and slowing surrounding units by 60% for 2.5 seconds when she lands. On a champion kill or assist, Rocket Jump's cooldown resets.

Cooldown 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14seconds

Cost 80 mana

Range 25000


Explanation:

A very clumsy escape, but an escape/initiate ability none the less. The animation for Rocket jump is less than perfect if you compare it to Flash, however it's still a very strong ability. Rocket Jump should be used with caution, especially in team fights, however, Rocket jump should be used very agressively in the laning phase, also very agressively in winning fights, where you can clean up entire teams in a flashy manner by constantly refreshing the cooldown...

Tip: Using smartcast for Rocket Jump is very helpful especially if you're trying to chain cast it in a fight.



E: Explosive Shot

Passive: Enemies explode when slain by Tristana's attacks, dealing 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 magic damage to nearby enemies.

Active: Explosive Shot rends target enemy, reducing healing and health regeneration by 50% and dealing 110/140/170/200/230 (+10% of ability power) Magic Damage over 5 seconds. Lasts 55 seconds.

Cooldown 16 seconds

Cost 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90mana

Range 600

Explanation:

I level Explosive Shots at level 1 not because I enjoy pushing my lane, but for the 110 magic damage, along with an early level 2. Ensuring that you and your support is level 2 before theirs is a huge advantage, especially if your support is something like Alistar. If played correctly you can immediately zone or score a kill when your enemies are not suspecting it.

The healing debuff is nice, especially in AD vs AD duels where both have life steal and certain champions (Vlad, Soraka, WW, Mundo... etc). The animation, however, for Explosive Shot is also kind of clumsy, and most of the times I recommend auto attacks over using the ability.



R: Buster Shot

Tristana fires a massive cannonball at an enemy unit. This deals 300 / 400 / 500 (+150% of ability power) magic damage and knocks surrounding units back 600 / 800 / 1000 distance.

Cooldown 60 seconds

Cost 140 mana

Range 700

Explanation:

Once Trist hits level 6, she becomes incredibly strong with Buster Shot and has a lot of killing potential.

The damage from Buster shot becomes non-existent late game, and the ultimate becomes primarily used for the knockback.

Looking at recent AD Carries like Vayne/Caitlyn who has pure AD Scaling, this ability is pretty out-dated in terms of design, and I'm not sure why Riot hasn't changed it to AD scaling.

Tip: You can surprise people by running up to them when you're level 5, and a creep away from level 6, jumping immediately and leveling/using Buster Shot in mid jump.