Talk:Vayne/@comment-4943324-20130509220311/@comment-5057599-20130510013006

Vayne is my most played AD carry so I can give you some insight on this. First of all you need to understand the support match-ups, because believe it or not they are more important than the AD carry match-ups, specially for Vayne. For example, Taric or Sona will give you good heals early game. Janna or Lulu will shield you from any obvious harass attempt. As such you should always start Doran's Blade when laning with them, simply because it's the best early game item in terms of value for gold and you can count on these supports to mitigate lane trades. It's also THE mandatory item against all-in supports like Leona or Thresh, because when they go in at lvl 2/3 they go for the kill and having pots sitting in the inventory mean nothing in those situations. On the other hand you can start longsword + 2 pots when laning with no sustain/shield supports like Blitz/Leona/Thresh/Alistar (Thresh's lantern and Alistar's E are negligible sustain tools, and they won't even max it first), but make sure you take two lifesteal quints to make up for the loss of Doran's. Boots + 3 pots start is just outdated right now and I'd only take it against heavy harass and skillshot comps. For example, I would defintely start Boots + 3 pots against Draven + Thresh. I'd also bend over because this lane is a nightmare...

Cloth armor + 5 pots? Rejuv Bead + bunch of pots? No. Cloth armor and Bead don't build into anything useful early game and with such a start you're basically telling the enemy bot lane that you're not even gonna try to contest them. You see, the most common misconception about Vayne is that she's bad early game. WRONG. On the contrary, she's one of the strongest AD carries from level 1-3. Even with her low base defensive stats there isn't a single carry who can trade with Vayne at low levels (except Draven... but screw Draven, just ban him. most broken AD carry atm). AA + Q reset + E with W proc. This is done in one second and chunks around 40% of the life bar very easily. So many times I get kills at this stage because people just underestimate Vayne at early game. Don't be a shit scared Vayne, you can dominate the lane if you know how to control the minion wave and if you understand the timing of trades and all-ins. It saddens me whenever I see Vaynes in my team getting pushed to tower and eating harass all day while cs'ing under it.

So, let's review it so far:

Doran's Blade - if your support is Sona/Taric/Janna/Lulu/Soraka OR against all-in supports like Blitz/Thresh/Leona

Long sword + 2 pots - if you're laning with an all-in support OR the enemy bot lane comp is very poke oriented without any proper engage (Lulu+Ez, Sona+Cait). Not as good as Doran's start but gives more sustain in the long run.

Boots + 3 pots - basically never. Unless you're against Draven. If you're against Draven I feel sorry for you. Get some lube or pray it's an unskilled Draven.

Elixir + 3 pots -  used to be good before the nerf (Elixir + 6 pots). Not anymore. It feels really strong early game but you will notice a huge fall off if you don't get kills early.

And finally I'll add in some general tips: don't pick Vayne in purple team (blue side is waaaaaay too broken at the moment, just do golems and dominate regardless of the matchup); don't pick Vayne into Draven or Varus (Vayne can beat and outplay all the other carries in lane, no matter what people tell you); don't pick Vayne into Leona (the only support who genuinely scares me); start pushing the lane from minute 1 (I can't stress this point enough), and remember: be the bully, not the bullied. There is a huge difference between a shoved Vayne and a shoving Vayne.

I'll add some videos which you might find useful in understanding how to play the early laning phase with Vayne. I'd recommend you to watch the first 5 to 10 minutes of each video:

Chaox's Vayne + support Janna on blue side against Caitlyn + Elise. Starts Elixir + 6 pots (nerf hasn't hit Korea server yet), gets first blood after an extremely intense prolonged trade and still manages to kill enemy jungler with help from mid teleport. 2/0 and double buff Vayne at 3 minutes, game over. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrZkPeqLQwg

Entenzwerg's Vayne (#10 EUW challenger) + support Taric on blue side against Ezreal + Lulu. Starts Doran's Blade, does golems, gets first blood on Lulu and proceeds to dominate the lane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw3RORRe4V4

Wildturtle's Vayne + support Karma on blue side against Caitlyn + Nami. Starts Doran's Blade, does golems, gets first blood, misses easy kills by derping a bit and gets somewhat camped by the jungler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_GFTCxl5Xo