Vayne is a good step towards combating tanky dps. What people generally overlook is the "Assassin" archtype tag she has. She is a mix between a carry and an assassin and it should be kept in mind when playing her.

Playing against Vayne
Going 1 vs 1 with Vayne ends up pretty much the same for a squishy as trying to fight any other assassin alone... bad. (Akali/Nocturne)

What makes her strong
Very good mobility, strong laning phase, strong poke, % true damage based on max health, jungle fights.

Her shortcomings
Unreliable CC, she does not bring any aoe to team fights, medicore range, low base hp & resistance gains per level.


Vayne has the lowest HP per level in the game, Even lower than Twitch or Veigar - She can be focused down extremely fast.

My first trip back is usually a second , and . If I am solo lane I try not to leave before I can also afford a

I tend to rush this item if i'm laning versus a heavy harasser or I'm having trouble in my lane - This will help you keep up with the last hits while waiting for a gank from your team mates. Also It's going to keep you safer from jungle ganks because of the free ward.


Surprisingly I have found the passive proc of this item to be very good on Vayne, because you will end a lot of team fights with relatively low health compared to other carries.

For example I took down a 100% health Shaco during the shield proc who jumped on me at ~30% health (it helped me completely negate his Shiv damage).
This item is especially good vs , , & . Keep in mind this is an early- to mid game survivability item - It has little effect when it comes to endgame damage.



With the nerf to her movementspeed she needs it more than ever. I tried to play her without trinity force, but noticed pretty fast my inability to chase, because I didn't get close enough to the target for my passive to proc.

For my next Item I build , because by this point in the game most tanks have finished their core items and It will help your physical damage scale to mid game.

I would never get on Vayne, because She will lose the attackspeed that The Black Cleaver offers, which boosts your true damage. You should never have to worry about massive armor stacking in the first place because of your which you should have maxed by mid game. Cleaver helps you rip up squishies better, and helps your entire team take down the tanks better(everyone who attacks your target also benefits from your cleaver).

The way I see these two items in general:

Team player Item
Selfish Item

I would never Get:
The activate is only 4 seconds on ranged vs. 12 seconds on a melee like Xin Zhao, Master Yi, Jarvan. Although I would consider building and never finishing youmuus, but instead going for for maximum burst.


You don't exactly have much time to do sustained damage before an entire team focuses you and even then the magic resist it provides will not save you. Q and E scale with Attack damage so this item just holds back your burst potential.

Black Cleaver outperforms this item on Vayne in terms of damage you get from armor penetration. Also it does not add any Attackdamage hindering your burst damage from abilities, which an assassin should be aiming for.



I would Consider:
With the condition that I take 15% magic penetration from the Offense tree. This item does provide some AD and the attackseed + % damage synergises nice with your .

Why I personally do not like getting this item on vayne is because:

a) It's expensive as hell, meaning you will finish this item really late game or if you rush it early you are going to miss out on the slow + movementspeed trinity force provides you
b) Vayne has no self-sustainability unlike . Grabbing buffs or jungling is gonna force you go back to your lane with reduced health.
c) Wriggles outperforms this item in terms of utility that the free ward provides.

This item I would consider over any other attackspeed item in the game, because of the movementspeed it provides. It goes well together with , which is unfortunately a very expensive item and sets me back on my road to getting Trinity Force.
There is no single right item for Vayne when it comes to items. It's all personal playstyle preference. Find what suits you best!

Endgame Defensive Items

The only defensive item I usually get for endgame, not so much because of the magic resist, but the spellblock, that helps you dive into team fights better.

A bit pricy to fit into early-mid game, but not the worst pick for endgame item.


I encounter and quite often in ranked and I do not see myself playing effecitvely without this item. Not having it means you die every time they have their ultimate up, because rest assured, they will save their ultimates especially for you! :)

I prefer having all of my kit availible at level 3 because of early ganks and roamers.

I prefer maxing as my second ability because stun is way too unreliable and you are just wasting 50% of your AD scaling when it doesn't stun.

with you get more reliable damage output.

After some testing I found that maxing second worked well, but only if the enemy team is squishy.

pretty much makes you the king of 1vs1 and ensures you come out as the victor, unlike exhaust provides some defensive value also, which Vayne needs because of her natural squishiness. Vayne's damage output is more than enough even without Ignite.

I don't use because of the 12% movementspeed that provides
I have never felt the need for ghost when triggers.

However using is still very effective on her.


Since I always prefer on vayne I sometimes pack instead of versus CC heavy teams.


Alternative



Standards summoners spells for playing a squishy champion, I recommend this when you are trading survivability for damage in your rune book, which I will be going over in the Runes chapter.
I find & to be weak without the masteries so I use different masteries when running this combo.

I usually run her 21/0/9 since she is an assassin and I want to take full advantage of what the offense tree has to offer, however as mentioned before I sometimes use an alternative 15/0/15 mastery setup to get the most out of my summoner spells.

I do not take the 15% magic penetration from Archai Knowledge, because I do not use nor in my build.

After mid game I grab our red buff whenever possible, I almost make it a priority, thus having longer buff durations really helps me be deadlier in team fights.

I do not take perseverence because the 4% does not boost your manaregeneration significally.

out of 100 mana regen per 5 you would get 4 more manaregen. 4% of the normal 20-30manaregen per 5 you usually have is almost non existant.

I rely on for mana

The reduced death timer helps her better in end game as she is a target for focus fire.

Defensive runes
Armor and magic resist amplify the health you get from Double + and helps deal with your natural squishyness.

Armor penetration
Since I believe her Q to be her strongest spell I like to take armor penetration for stronger tumble harass and also flat armor pen loves builds.

Alternative Glyphs & Seals
You can trade more survivability for damage, since you should not be tanking in the first place.
I have had some success with Attackspeed seals & Glyphs (13% attackspeed) Be advised you are exchanging damage for survivability and I would recommend and early because of the armor and lifesteal that will increase your lane presence.

Vayne ruthlessly hunts evil-doers. She gains 40 Movement Speed when moving toward nearby enemy champions.


A passive that's hard not to love. This passive forces the enemy to commit to fighting you, otherwise you are stuck on their ass each time they come to last hit a minion.




Vayne tumbles a short distance and her next basic attack within 6 seconds deals bonus physical damage.

The bonus is equal to 55/60/65/70/75% of her total Attack Damage.

Cooldown 6/5/4/3/2 seconds

Cost 35 mana


I max this first, because of It's low cooldown and it has decent scaling. It is however very sensitive when used to cut corners near walls.





Vayne tips her bolts with a rare metal, toxic to evil things. The third consecutive attack or ability against the same target deals an additional 30/40/50/60/70 plus 4/5/6/7/8% of the target's maximum Health as true damage. (Max: 200 damage vs. Monsters)


Definetly worth maxing second without doubt. The true damage gives you reliable damage output vs. any type of opponent.





Vayne fires a huge bolt, dealing 60/100/140/180/220 (+50% of attack damage) physical damage and knocking her target back.

If they collide with terrain they take 60/100/140/180/220 (+50% of attack damage) additional physical damage and will be stunned for 1.5 seconds.

Cooldown 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

Cost 90 mana

Range 450


I don't max this skill second because the stun is unreliable and you pretty much waste half the AD scaling when you don't stun, However the choice is still up to you. If the enemy team consist mostly of squishies then this ability has higher burst potential.





For 8/10/12 seconds Vayne gains 35/55/75 Bonus Attack Damage, Tumbling grants Vayne stealth for 1.5 seconds, and the bonus Movement Speed from Night Hunter is quadrupled.

Cooldown 70 seconds

Cost 80 mana


I tend to activate my ultimate at the exact time the enemy team decides to focus me in a team fight. A get out of jail free card combined with tumble. I would use it offensively in a 1vs1 situation or when I'm positive my team mates have CC off cooldown which could save me.

When to Tumble?
I always keep an eye on my own minion health bars. Whenever my oponent closes in to last hit the minion
I use + combo to harass them and then run after them for a third hit to proc

This is also the reason why I take 1 rank in all of my abilities by level 3. The full combo deals considerable damage and when you can pull it off twice you have won your lane.

KEEP IN MIND!
E skill adds a ring that can proc true damage from
Never shoot the enemy towards their own tower, it will make it difficult to land the third hit.
Tumble next to them so you could send them flying diagonally. This will give you enough time to land the third hit before they reach the safety of their tower.

You can use to smash people into their own towers when tower diving

Discipline
Never waste mana on farming minions, reserve it solely to harass your lane oponent / team fights.

Team Fights
Even though you should not be the first to initiate I have started countless team fights by using to nail someone to a wall and have my entire team jump on them.

Positioning
In team fights stick to walls. Mostly because E skill loves walls and should you fail also loves walls ^^.

You should still put focus on farming, because she lacks fast AOE farming (MF, Caitlyn, Ashe, Corki)

Late game is where Vayne really shines - Think of her endgame as Pre-nerf Twitch. She Gets incredibly strong which will in turn generate aggro from the enemy team - You will be the #1 Focus target.

I often find myself just escaping the enemy team while my tanks try to peel off my pursuers while of course rinse-repeating the kiting technique.

Late game once fights break out it's quite important to save your ultimate for escaping. It's 10x more effective to use it for escaping rather than getting that 1 kill and dying to focus fire.


Almost never use your offensively in a team fight unless going for an ACE kill


Caution in team fights do not tumble too close to walls as it can self stun you and get you killed.

I prefer Kayle > Taric > Soraka

#1 Kayle
The slow on Kayle's Q really helps you land those 3 hits, not to mention position yourself better.
But the real reason is her ultimate. Once she hits level 6 you have a kill in the bag with invulnerability.

She Works pretty much the same way as Twitch + Kayle combo. Kayle casts her ultimate on you -> You kill entire team. It makes towerdiving almost too easy aswell.

Here's a Penta Kill to make my choice of laning partner more valid.

#2 Taric
Every stun turns into a potential wall slam

#3 Soraka Her Double heal Combo can make you pretty tought to kill. The armor buff is nice, but Taric provides the same with his W passive aura, but unlike soraka his kit allows you better positioning for your wall slam.

You can kite an Enemy in a 1vs1 situation by using in a direction you want to flee to while making sure you always land that 1 autoattack to get the cooldown ticking again as fast as possible.

When the enemy gets too close to you shoot them with to create some distance between you and the pursuer. This will allow your tumble to get off cooldown again.

Try to save to counter Dashes/jumps when kiting

If you repeat this about 3 times and have some lucky procs you can turn around and chase your pursuer down with your passive.

Two of her abilities scale with AD. I find her more effective when making use of all of her abiltiies and having the true damage just as a bonus to my burst.


This is just my personal opinion. Going attackspeed and building tanky works well also, but even though you build tanky, it's going to be very easy to burst you down despite your resistances and hp. (you have the assassin archtype HP/armor/magic resist per level scaling)

I've seen people go + 9/21/0 masteries, but their resilience in a team fight seemed to be the equivalent of a tank Twitch.




The choice is up to you to experiement with which playstyle suits you best!

Solo Lane
In a solo lane I prefer with the alternative masteries (see Summoners Spells chapter), because you won't have a ward early game and are more suspectible to ganks. I also tend to get in a solo lane, because of the free ward and stronger lane presence it provides.

Duo Lane
In a Duo lane I build after my dorans blades. I can rely on support for wards. For duo laning i prefer to have because I will be facing a high chance of first blood with a support.

1. Use your own common sense when to sell 1 of the dorans blades to make room in your inventory.

2. While my build is expensive, I never have problems finishing my core build in a game. by the end of the game I usually have kills in double digits

3. http://leaguecraft.com/skins/5458-crestfall-raven-vayne.xhtml My Regards to Crestfall for being my Favorite Skinner! This is how Vayne should have been released, that stupid pony tail and Blue Latex really kills the Van Helsing Vibe for me.

Looking more badass greatly improves overal performance when playing Vayne!