Vayne/Strategy

Skill usage

 * For best burst damage try combining the third hit from and the bonus damage from  in the same attack.
 * Because of, it is fairly easy to chase down champions for the third hit, especially in the early game if your lane opponent(s) have not yet purchased boots.
 * Try an auto attack > >  combo for a fast and relatively safe proc of . This combo is very mana heavy so be selective when using this combo.
 * Remember that the full combo is not necessarily required to harass effectively. Zoning with a tick of may be more effective than getting all three ticks.
 * This may be a useful tactic to use in lane due to low health pool and poor defenses.
 * can be used to dodge skillshot abilities. is also effective at dodging delayed damage abilities like  or.
 * If you're fighting near an allied turret, try to behind the opponent and then  them into your turret's range. This can also be done to push an enemy towards your team.
 * Don't forget that only works facing the enemy and with that combined with your ultimate makes it very hard for the enemy to escape you.
 * Activating to triple the bonus movement speed from  is an effective way to catch escaping enemies.
 * Do not overestimate mobility.  bonus movement speed grants no bonus while running away from enemies, and  doesn't go on cooldown until you actually attack an enemy which essentially adds 6 seconds of cooldown that you can't reduce with cooldown reduction when you are using it to run away.
 * cannot cross most wall terrain (though it can cross, ,   or ).
 * can cross impassable terrain such as the small ledge near dragon pit if you position correctly.
 * Note that extra damage only activates upon attacking enemy units, not structures.
 * You can escape in the midst of a battle by using and  to stealth and confuse the enemy. It is recommended to change direction than the one you were running in or to choose an alternate route.
 * Because she is squishy, it is highly recommended to opt for more defensive summoner spells, such as, , or . is very desirable.  in conjunction with , which only stealths for 1 second, doesn't make for a very good escape. These summoner spells can also assist in chases.
 * will stun the target if it hits a terrain, a turret, an inhibitor or a nexus - it will also work (as of Patch 4.16) with, , and other player-created terrain. It will not stun when hitting the turrets in Dominion.
 * Using  on a retreating enemy may help them escape. Be sure to position where the knock back effect will let your team or yourself engage on the enemy.
 * or can help with positioning yourself for a successful.
 * could also be used when Vayne loops to the back of the target and knocks them towards allies.
 * Using  in jungle fights can be much more effective than in lane fights due to the tight spaces making it easy to land the second effect and stunning an opponent.

Build usage

 * Building or  can add some significant burst to . Starting with  provides much needed survivability and can assist in running from or toward a target if Vayne procs it on an enemy minion. Building  first grants her added mobility and attack speed to more easily farm and proc.
 * Vayne has zero abilities which scale with ability power, so consider this fact when deciding what order to buy items in.
 * are an especially good choice as the attack speed is beneficial for proc-ing.
 * Purchasing  may be a good idea when facing teams with a wide range of crowd control abilities.
 * A commonly held misconception is that due to dealing true damage, Vayne does not need to purchase  to deal with tanks, instead only needing more attack speed. This is somewhat inaccurate, as most calculations with endgame builds (based on low ELO games) have True Damage only composing around 7-10% of her total damage. Moreover, an attack speed reliant build without a  is somewhat easy to counter with items like  and  as together, these items slow Vayne's attack speed by 23%, as well as providing a large amount of armor that Vayne does not have penetration for.
 * What is true, however, is that Vayne does not need to buy Last Whisper until late-game, unlike most ADCs, as enemies don't have significant amounts of armor early game, and sometimes even mid game. Silver Bolts will be enough to deal with them until late-game, where it's necessary to buy Last Whisper because most of Vayne's damage is still physical.
 * Some players opt to buy instead. This item provides an active that boosts Vayne's attack speed even more, allowing her to proc Silver Bolts a lot more times, not to mention the extra critical chance. However, the flat armor penetration may not be sufficient to deal with tankier opponents, so this item is ill advised if there is more than one champion stacking armor on the enemy's team.
 * provides a substantial boost to Vayne's damage output from auto attacks. Remember that critical hits don't proc from and don't scale from  bonus damage.
 * provides much needed lifesteal to aid her survivability and scales with her and.
 * Alternatively, getting an early  can benefit Vayne due to the increased attack speed and incredible item active for damage and chasing/escaping. The passive effect also synergies with . Generally it is better to get a BotRK due to the attack speed it gives.
 * attack speed and critical strike chance synergize well with and increase the effectiveness of, as well as boosting her DPS quite a bit. Additionally the movement speed boost from  scales with the additional movement speed from , including the boost to it from using . With a Blade of the Ruined King, a Phantom Dancer, and a Zephyr Vayne's attack speed will approach the cap, making these three items core on her, allowing her to proc her Silver Bolts every other second.
 * Enchanting your boots with the Furor enchantment allows Vayne to kite or escape very well. Tumble away and whenever the enemy comes within range of an autoattack hit them once to start the tumble cooldown and rush away with your furor bonus, tumbling once it's off cooldown. Furor also strongly boosts Vayne's chasing ability. However it may be a tad excessive due to her ridiculous kiting and chasing, however there aren't many other good boot enchantments for Vayne.

Countering

 * Choosing someone such as or  who have strong early games can easily deny  from farming as  has a relatively weak early game. Avoid pushing the lane as  makes her an exceptional farmer under turret, and has strong chasing potential.
 * entire kit is focused on dueling (or 1v1ing) and chasing, so deny her the potential to duel with you and her kit will naturally round out late-game when teamfights become dominant, where the fights become more stationary and targets become harder to focus.
 * Once obtains  at level 6, her dueling potential increases exponentially and she essentially "jumps" to her mid-game potentially immediately before most other Attack Damage Carries. The Attack Damage and movement speed boosts are huge given how early in the game it is and stealth detection is much harder to afford earlier on. Respect her presence at level 6 if you haven't pulled a significant advantage over her and avoid dueling her if possible.
 * is one of the most powerful duelists in the game and is well known and feared as one of the most powerful marksman if/when she reaches full build. It is critical to keep her early and mid-game crippled.
 * Marksmen are usually easy prey to one-burst-wonder assassins, especially and  .  is by far not in this category, her ability to carefully move around the battlefield, drain-tank while evading attacks with stealth from  and bursting/peeling with  makes her complicated to kill by surgical, tactical and careful assassins as she can often prevent their abilities to properly flow for a combo.
 * is not that hard to counteract contrary to popular belief.
 * Her procs rely on her attack speed. Champions with attack speed slows such as  and  can mitigate  auto attack and  damage significantly along with having kits that counteract  extremely well.
 * tends to stack armor to synergize with his and his  has a cast and AoE range that outrange  and .  relatively high movement speed from  and  also become her undoing thanks to  movement speed steal.
 * kit provides extreme stealth detection and shuts down  mobility. Keep in mind that Cripple no longer reduces attack speed, although with the correct build, Lee Sin can usually one-shot Vayne late-game anyway.
 * and also shut down  mobility and make her an easy target to focus.
 * is extremely detrimental to because the armor portion of the item counters her lack of magic damage and the long-ranged -15% attack speed aura is practically unavoidable in teamfights. This item is arguably a better option in dealing with Vayne, as it does not provide HP, thus making  less effective.
 * is still especially useful against as one proc of slow will cripple her true damage and mobility. Because  relies on her mobility in order to survive in teamfights due to her short range, the movement speed slow will make her an easy target to focus. As such, even building an early  will have noticeable effects against her.
 * do not account for shields when calculating the percent of maximum HP so abilities such as and  are extremely strong against her.
 * The same case goes for lifesteal and high health regeneration; if the target's lifebar isn't noticeably large but is constantly renewed from either high lifesteal or abilities such as, the damage from becomes significantly less noticeable.
 * Battling her only in teamfights forces her to switch targets, resulting in fewer procs.
 * Mages with targeted burst damage/crowd controls such as or  can easily dispatch Vayne as her mobility and  are primarily anti-skillshot oriented. Targeted abilities that apply targeted hard crowd control's such as  and  prevents Vayne from retaliating with her mobility and lifesteal resulting in an easy kill.
 * is especially effective because is a core item in his build and his  shuts down  mobility and, which also shuts down her stealth when  is active.
 * It's recommended not to fight in the jungle as there are more walls for her to stun with her.
 * Taking a with you or activating an  is useful against  as her stealth will be useless, shutting down her primary method of reaching squishier targets of interest.
 * Vayne can be a very powerful top laner against tanks, so when you see your enemy pick Vayne, especially if the enemy team has already selected another marksman, ask your jungler to be a tank just in case she decided to go top so you can be a damage top laner.

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Vayne/Strategy