Vayne Build & Rune Guide

Vayne is one of the most annoying marksman Champions in the game, but not for the reason you think she is. Rather than playing as a bot-laner, Vayne is infamous for dominating the top lane, especially in lower ELO. Her ability to harass melee top laners plus an insane true damage output, make her a tank’s worst nightmare. If you want to go ahead and be a top lane menace, Vayne is an amazing pickup for you.

How Do You Play Vayne?

Vayne has the shortest attack range of all marksman Champions, meaning she cannot rely on poking from afar. However, she is extremely mobile due to her Q and can push back enemies using her E. To play her, you must keep the enemy within range and poke them with basic attacks. Remember to proc her W consistently, as it does amazing damage.

You can also ward off enemies from minions, causing them to lose farm and gold. Pro Vayne players push their opponents under the tower, so they lose out on experience as well. Once you get your mythic and hit level 6, it is over for most tank Champions. That said, beware, as one CC effect can mean doom.

How Do Vayne’s Abilities Work?

All of Vayne’s abilities might seem simple with short descriptions but don’t be fooled, as using them correctly is still pretty hard. While she has no issue with last-hitting minions or poking the enemy with basic attacks, her abilities are more focused on dodging. Her Q has a short cooldown and can help her kite, while E pushes enemies back and can stun.

Vayne’s ultimate is also a unique ability that buffs her attacks while helping her reposition with invisibility. This Champion may require some effort to learn, so let’s see how her abilities work:

Night Hunter (Passive)

Vayne’s passive, Night Hunter, gives her bonus movement speed while moving toward a nearby enemy Champion. This is a great passive for Vayne as she does not have any gap close and needs to save her Q to kite back from the enemy. This additional move speed allows her to stay on top of the enemy and poke harass until they either try to engage or need to retreat out of the lane.

Tumble (Q)

Tumble is Vayne’s get-out-of-jail-free card. Whenever she feels like an enemy is getting too close for comfort, she can use her Q to dodge skill shots or move out of the way. Tumble can also be used offensively, although it is less recommended. If you need to gap close on your opponent, Tumble can give you that little bit of movement to basic attack them.

Vayne’s next auto attack after using Tumble is empowered. This effect has a 3s duration.

Silver Bolts (W)

Vayne’s W is her main source of damage, especially against Champions with high max health. Every time Vayne hits an enemy with a basic attack or E, they receive a stack of her W for 3.5s. When she gets to 3 stacks, Vayne does bonus true damage to the target with a minimum threshold.

These stacks can be seen under the target as silver-colored rings. This ability does not affect structures or wards.

Condemn (E)

Definitely one of Vayne’s most annoying abilities if you’re a melee Champion. Every time you think you’ve almost caught up to her, she will hit you with a Condemn, knocking you back. With her E, Vayne fires a bolt at the target, dealing physical damage and knocking them back 475 units. If the target collides with terrain, they are stunned for 1.5s and take bonus physical damage.

Final Hour (R)

Final Hour empowers Vayne’s entire kit and is usually used for securing a kill. You should always engage with this cooldown as it can significantly affect the outcome of the battle. During Final Hour, Vayne’s basic attacks are buffed with bonus physical damage, and her passive’s effect is doubled.

Other than that, using Tumble enters her into stealth for 1s that is broken if she attacks or uses Condemn. Securing a Champion takedown increases the duration of Final Hour by 4s.

Vayne’s Build Path (Runes + Items)

Vayne benefits from increased attack speed as once she is close enough to the target, she needs to shred their health bar as fast as possible. On top of this, she needs some sustain as well, as she is a very squishy champ and usually dies if hit by one CC effect.

This is why people run different builds with her according to their playstyle, but we will mention the most popular one.

Runes

• Primary: Lethal Tempo. Vayne can stack Lethal Tempo extremely fast with her basic attacks and Q (her Q resets her auto attack). Lethal Tempo also grants additional range which can help Vayne poke enemies from afar once it’s stacked. 
  Follow this with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace. Triumph is an amazing rune for Champions with high kill pressure. They can stay in lane longer as they regain health and mana on each Champion takedown. Legenda: Alacrity increases her attack speed stats as she gets more takedowns, while Coup de Grace is for finishing off low-health enemies.
• Secondary: For secondary runes, you can either go Conditioning and Overgrowth for more beefiness and survivability or Sudden Impact with Ultimate Hunter. The latter build is for more burst and extended trades against bruisers or tanks.

Items

• Starting Items: Doran’s Blade is the only viable starting item on Vayne, as she does not need defensive or mana regen stats.
• Core Build: For your core build, you can go with either Immortal Shieldbow or Kraken Slayer. Immortal Shieldbow increases sustain and self-heal. Even if you get engaged, there is a chance you can make it out, especially with this item’s shielding effect. Kraken Slayer, on the other hand, is pure damage and requires a very high amount of skill to pull off, as any mistakes are punished harder.
  Guinsoo’s Rageblade should be your second pickup. Giving you an extra 45% attack speed, it plays perfectly with Lethal Tempo. On top of that, your Critical Strike Chance is converted to on-hit damage, and on-hit status effects are applied twice on the third auto attack. This item synchronizes perfectly with Vayne’s entire kit and should not be delayed.
• Situational Items: You can go Bloodthirster for additional lifesteal as it will work well with your Immortal Shieldbow. Phantom Dancer is also a great option since Vayne needs to excel at kiting; otherwise, she will be useless. Her short basic attack range means you need mobility and some defensive stats, so Witt’s End is a viable option as well.
• Boots: Vayne will always go Berserker’s Greaves for more attack speed.

Final Thoughts

Vayne is a hard Champion to master, no doubt. While her abilities may have one-line descriptions, bringing out their full potential can be hard even for Challenger players. She is also a match-up dependent, so I would not recommend her if you are going solo queue. Otherwise, practice your kiting as it is an essential factor needed to be good with her.