FOTM Report: Taliyah Rework DOMINATING!

Guide to Taliyah Post-Rework

As of Patch 12.9, Taliyah made a rapid ascent to the top of the solo queue tier list via a number of "reworks" that really just buffed her mid-lane kit. She's still viable in the jungle, but it certainly wastes a number of powerful new mechanics at her disposal, including the newest Worked Ground changes.

Check out the details on runes and builds below!

Guide to Taliyah Post-Rework

As of Patch 12.9, Taliyah made a rapid ascent to the top of the solo queue tier list via a number of "reworks" that really just buffed her mid-lane kit. She's still viable in the jungle, but it certainly wastes a number of powerful new mechanics at her disposal, including the newest Worked Ground changes.

Check out the details on runes and builds below!

How to Play

Abilities: Q, E, W then prioritize R > Q > E > W

Summoner Spells: Flash + Ignite

Starting Items: Doran Ring + Healing Potions

Strategy: Play around Worked Ground for crowd-control in lane to assert pressure, get lane priority and threaten roams with your passive movespeed.

Core Items: Luden's Echo, Sorcerer's Shoes, Shadowflame, Zhonya's Hourglass, Void Staff, Rabadon's Deathcap

Rune Setup

Primary: Electrocute, Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, Treasure Hunter

Secondary: Biscuit Delivery, Time Warp Tonic

How It Works

Increased Crowd-Control
Taliyah has new crowd-control built into her kit in the form of a slow when using Threaded Volley [Q] on top of Worked Ground, which also does double damage. She also has an additional stun on her Unraveled Earth [E] which activates when enemies that dash through it. 

Faster Knock-Ups

Seismic Shove [W] now has a shorter cooldown, lower mana cost, and best of all, a shorter time delay before activating. This gives her more of an opportunity to spam it in lane and fish for potential kills or have it up sooner for escaping ganks.

Massive Roaming Potential 

The same reasons she was a powerful ganker in jungle also make her an excellent roamer mid-lane. Her chicken clears were nerfed but her movespeed out-of-combat near terrain allow her to be a very effective ganker. Her ultimate was also updated to give her a larger dash range and dash speed, which gives her more room for error.

Potential Pitfalls

Still Weak to Assassins

Taliyah's main weakness mid-lane was against highly mobile assassins, which is slightly better with her updated E that stuns, but still not enough to take away that vulnerability. This is especially the case with mobile assassins that also have an invulnerability dash, avoiding the stun altogether. 

No Sustain

When it comes to a poke fight, Taliyah will generally lose to champions like Ahri if she's unable to land her crowd-control. However, at the moment she seems to be a bit overtuned, so her ability to 100 to 0 champions quickly makes the lack of sustain negligible. If you expect to fall into this type of situation you can also pick up Corrupting Potion.

Conclusions

The reworked Taliyah is extremely powerful and the new additions to her kit make her a more than viable mid-lane champion that's an excellent pick.

Suggested Tier: God Tier