Board Thread:League of Legends discussion/@comment-26972537-20150909145258/@comment-9048637-20151121231358

Because unlike Zed or nearly any other assassin, Talon offers nearly no ability to out-play his opponent. He runs at people until he's in range for his blink, he goes in, he does his thing... and then he's got no reliable way to get out unless he's been saving his ult, which offers the closest thing he has to an outplay by giving him the opportunity to get into range from stealth, so it's usually used to initiate, if you're not just double-tapping it for the damage. Because of all this, Talon is incredibly predictable and also liable to blow up against co-ordinated opponents, going at best one for one unless he's insanely fed, which is not a worthwhile trade in competitive.

Stormraider's Surge deals partially with his problem of not having an out, but I don't think it solves enough of his problems for him to see any significant pro play. This is not me saying Talon is weak, mind. He's very strong in solo queue, particularly below Diamond (or maybe Plat). But his lack of ability to outplay opponents, coupled with his opponents' ability to outplay him if they're working together, rather cripples him at the professional level.