Reign of Gaming

Champion Notes: Tristana, The Megling Gunner!

     Today we cover one of the classic attack damage carries in the game, Tristana!  Tristana is about shooting things hard and often.  She is also uniquely suited for surviving in situations almost any other AD would die in.  Then when she lives, she kicks on the big damage with one of the highest attack speed buffs in the game.  I have grown to love shooting things and you should too!

Stats, Abilities, Ratio's Numbers:

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Tristana

Draw a Bead (Passive)

• Tristana's passive is very simple but exceptionally powerful.  The range increase eventually gives her the longest base attack range in the game.  Only Jinx's Rocket Launcher has a higher base range..   
• Her attack range allows her to attack safely from much rather away than other carries.  Combined with all her escapes and peels, Tristana is very difficult to kill. 
• Keep in mind what her range is at given levels in certain match-ups.  For example, Ashe has a 600 attack range but Tristana has a longer range by level 7. 
  
  

Rapid Fire (Q)

• Simple attack speed steroid but the bonus is massive.  90% is one of the highest ranged attack speed buffs in the game.
• For 7 seconds, Tristana is one of the highest damage AD carries in the game.  The cooldown is very long so pick your moment to decimate the enemy team. 
• Sometimes simplicity is best. 
  
  

Rocket Jump (W)

• Tristana's Rocket Jump is one of the longest escapes in the game. 
• While it has a long reach, the jump is also comparatively slow compared to other similar abilities like Ezreal's E or Corki's W. 
• Rocket Jump is coded like Ezreal's E.  Because of that, it allows Tristana to escape situations that other champions would simply get hit during.  Excellent examples are Thresh and Blitzcrank's hooks. 
• Rocket Jump is difficult to land offensively but it is great for engages with the granted slow.  Following up a support who goes in is very easy for Tristana. 
• Rocket Jump resets on kill or assist.  Very rarely would I ever jump in with another AD to get just one kill because my escape would be down, but that is not a problem for Tristana. 
• Rocket Jump does magic damage and scales with AP. 
  
  

Explosive Shot (E)

• Targeted Damage over Time ability with a healing reduction. 
• Explosive Shot's base damage is rather high. 
• The passive effect makes Tristana a tricky champion to learn to last hit with.  Every time you kill a minion, the resulting explosion damages those around it.  Be aware of where your next attack will go to catch any CS you could potentially miss as a result of this extra damage. 
• Explosive Shot's range increases with Tristana's level.  A quick attack followed by E is great for basic harass. 
• The healing debuff makes it hard to save someone Tristana is looking to kill. 
• You can fire this ability while using her Rocket Jump.  
• This ability does magic damage and scales with AP. 
  
  

Buster Shot (R)

• Tristana's ultimate is fantastic for blowing up someone in lane or knocking back people that want a piece of her. 
• The base damage on her ultimate is very high.  It does more damage than many mid lane mage's Ultimates! 
• Utilizing her ulitimate requires good practice.  It can be tempting to let loose with all your damage but the distance it can knock someone back is very far and can end up saving the person you meant to kill.
• Tristana's ultimate does not just knock back a single target, but like Lee Sin's kick, it will interact with people that are blasted backwards.  You can knock back multiple opponents with a will placed ultimate. 
• Tristana's ulitmate has a very short cooldown. 
• Buster Shot does magic damage and scales with AP
  
  

General Notes

• Tristana has fluctuated between having a good early game and an average early game as new AD carries have been released.  Tristana's basic ability to trade is not as great as other AD champions but her level 6 burst is massive.  Very few AD champions have the sudden explosive firepower that Tristana can throw out if she gets a good set-up.  
• Farming as Tristana is a unique mini-game itself.  You will miss CS if your not very careful with the explosions coming from your E.
• Tristana is going to push her lane because of her E.  If your playing as a support with Tristana, be sure to have your lane warded as it is very easy to suddenly end up pushing the enemy to their turret.  Conversely, if you are playing against a Tristana, you can easily make her push back against you.  Usually Tristana's will level their E for the damage and harass. 
• Tristana has a long range escape that gets out of unique situations, a significant multiple target knock back and one of the longest base attack ranges in the game.  Killing Tristana is not an easy feat. 
• Tristana is one of the best late game AD carries.  Her significant steroid lets you melt any target of your choosing.  But unlike some carries, her damage potential is really only during that window.  When not active, she is not the tank melter that she can be. 
• Tristana herself is not a high harass champion like Caitlyn or Ezreal, but her early game burst is so significant, that you can get kills easily with an aggressive support.  I personally love a good Leona with Tristana.  Zyra is similarly good at setting up kills. 
• Tristana can get shut down early by champions with better early game power than her.  Draven and Graves are examples of champions that have stronger early games and will positively trade against Tristana regularly.
• AP Tristana is a funny topic.  Her AP Ratio's are actually very good.  She has a lot of potential to actually murder someone but the build is very odd to play.  Getting maximum damage requires you to physically jump on top of someone and your ultimate will shove them backwards.  You had better get a kill or your left with no ability to move around.  It also makes her Q largely pointless as you would need some on hit item to utilize it.  But if your not leveling Q until the very end as AP Trist, why even consider it a core item?   

Just seemed appropriate considering the topic.

About the Author, Emeraldw:

• Loves psychology and philosophy.  Then tries to apply it to even simple things like League of Legends. 
  
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