Is a DPS build for her even viable? Skill and item wise if you would.

I tried it once. I did okay, but did measeley damage until the game was essentially over where as I have played AP Trist and have done nothing but do obscene damage all game.

Her skills just do not seem to synergize with a non-ap build save for the attack speed skill. I mean.. Her ultimate pushes enemies out of her attack range FFS where as if you go AP it does obscene damage and her rocket jump puts her in melee and/or nuke range and puts out pitiful numbers and simply eats through mana in a non-ap build.. Though I guess buster is good support regardless and rocket a good escape, but still..

I mean, I can see her being great when she is stacked with items, but when you compare her to other range/melee carries whos skills actually synergize with a DPS build..

She just seems useless unless build for AP.

It seems like AP build Tristana has become popular, but I still swear by attack build.

Buster Shot is not meant to be a DPS skill except as a finishing blow, it's much better as an escape skill. Rocket Jump is also not a good offensive skill because any coordinated team will stick you to the floor and nuke you after the first jump.

So, in my opinion, Tristana should take advantage of her incredible range and high attack speed to be an attack damage champion. Black Cleaver is amazing with her because she applies debuffs very quickly. Then add an Infinity Edge and you'll be doing 600damage crits with a higher rate of fire than almost any other ranged champion.

The main problem with AP Tristana is balancing survivability and damage. AP Tris depends on getting kills with Rocket Jump so that she can keep jumping, but if she doesn't get enough defense, she's going to get stunned/decimated after the first jump. Alternatively, if she gets lots of survivability, she won't be doing enough damage.

Try my build:
Brawler's Gloves 2x health pot
Averice Blade
Berserker Greaves
Zeal
Black Cleaver
Agility elixir (always on from this point)
Last Whisper
Phantom Dancer

The build starts off slow so you'll be looking to just farm creeps until Black Cleaver. Once runes are implemented it is a pretty speedy build. After Black Cleaver and agility elixir you should be hitting extremely hard. Prioitize leveling your Q ability and E secondary. Get 1 rank of W at level 1.

This is my personal build, I hope you enjoy it as I use it in tourney and high level play.

Spells:
Exhaust/Tele

Build:
Maki Pendent
Berserker Greaves
Black Cleaver
Frozen Mallet

game is over.

If it keeps going, Phantom dancer, banshee's veil, infinity edge and bloodthirster are all decent.

With mallet you have a snare and can use your jump as an escape instead of to chase. And it makes you -alot- less squishy.

She becomes quite explosive late-game once you get about 2 1/2 DPS items. You can melt DPS champions in 4-6 shots (literally 1-3 seconds with Rapid Fire), and solo-kill turrets in one go of Rapid Fire with just a few creeps as support. She's so overpowering, when I first read the AP Tristana threads I initially thought they were just trolls.

Early/mid-game she's great at harassing other heroes in her lane. Her long range means you can pretty much poke other heroes whenever you want, and heavily deny their last-hit opportunities. My life-goal is to force someone in my lane to quit before level 8, just from harassing them with single shots.


The problem is she's the squishiest hero I've ever seen. Any player that's any good should primary you as soon as you start auto-attacking, forcing you to run. And if she's not standing and shooting, she's next to worthless.

Even worse, for the team-fight environment we're playing in now, her AoE damage is super-weak. I call BS on the guy that said he uses her in tourney and high-level play. It's currently a team-fight-centered metagame, period, and I expect Tristana to either die early in any high-level teamfight, or not deal enough damage to be viable.

I'm really tired of people doing ap builds for champions that can actually kill things with auto attacks. Yeah your burst with ap items can kill noobies but your sustained dps will terrible.

Think about the major physical dps items like Infinity Edge vs caster ones like Zhonya's Ring (do ppl even know what this is or seen anyone build it?). Think about how many Infinity Edges were made by both sides in your last 3 games. Think about how much they wrecked minions, towers, champions, everything. From major items, physical dps can get at least +50% overall boost per item. Caster are not nearly so lucky.

Don't stack ap just so you can use 2 nukes every 10s and then spend the rest of the time scratching yourself. Don't buy dumb stuff like Amplifying Tomes. Save your gold for an Infinity Edge (or godly melee dps item of your choice.)

I get Phage, Berserker Boots, Zeal. Then finish Infinite Edge, Phantom Dancer, and Last Whisper or Malady if game last that long.

Don't complete Frozen Mallet as it slows you on IE, it is not necessary on her as her attack speed will definitely proc slow and her range should keep her safe. Blood Thirst is a better investment of your money if its to keep her hp up.

Max Explosive shot as it is incredible farming tool, and attack speed skill just melts towers.
1 level of jump is all you need, i use it mainly as running, sometimes chasing or even cut through jungle for the kill.

An ap build on her would be some thing like jump next to target(nuke)+ Explosive shot(dot)+buster shot(nuke)= kill

To me it is wrong on the first step, you put the character with longest attack range right into their melee range??

Dps build you pop attack speed + explosive shot, and watch them lose hp trying to run from the slow. Keep an eye on their hp, if gets low enough you can buster him to death while still able to jump out of harm's way. The key is slow + attack speed.