1. Build Guide Updates and General News 1.1 Most recent update(s) 2. Build Background 3. General Notes 3.1 Why buy defense first or at all? 3.2 WP or CP? 3.3 Stutter Stepping and More 3.4 Taka Play Styles and Abilities 3.5 Builds for S.Amazing and Above 4. Strategies and Notes 4.1 Taka Strategies 4.2 WP Notes 4.3 CP Notes 4.4 Battle Royale 5. Gameplay/Taka Mechanics Videos 6. Skill Tiers 7. Author's Notes 8. Condensed Guide 9. 2.0 10. Takatics

(You can Honestly just skip this and head on over to "Why buy defense?")

Disclaimer: This guide will have very poor attempts at humor - really bad attempts that will cause some cringing. Also be warned its a lot more reading than most guides. (It's extensive.)

This guide is written in a very informal way, and is much more of a conversational-type guide.

Background:

I've played as a Taka main ever since he was released as a hero, "sadly" he isn't as op as he used to be.
(November 2014)
(R.I.P Old House Kamuha Perk (75% lifesteal and guaranteed crits every 2 seconds or 80% crit chance) old Kaku (he could stay invisible forever if he had enough cooldown, lmao) and X-Retsu's 730 base damage)

I always have had Taka as a main from the highs and lows of SEMC Nerfs/Buffs, and stuck with him through some pretty tough times.

As of patch 3.9 though, Taka is the cliche "Dark Souls" of VG with the astounding winrate of 39.67%. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the lowest winrate in this patch, and that was a ***alative effect ever since Taka got nerfed long ago in patch 1.something

For those who have played Taka for a while as well, please head over to the build for Simply Amazing and Above build as that will be what you are more geared towards. (You already utilize Kaiten correctly, so you don't need double defense, you can time your T.Bow proc to H.Kamuha's M.Strikes, you can actually follow what the heck I mean in this sentence)


Anyways I was thinking about pretty good WP items.
[*] Sorrowblade is always a mainstay in most WP builds
[*] Tension Bow is always perfect for burst potential and the armor pierce allows X-Retsu to really bring home some damage
[*] Breaking Point is the best way to ramp up your raw damage, the attack speed it gives is nothing to scoff at either
[*] Poisoned Shiv is quite common as a catch all power-spike for the reliable trades of damage, sustain and attack speed and the passive

Please note that these chapters only apply to the first 5 builds, and also the Battle Royale build.
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This guide is also intended for anyone who has played Taka for a bit and any Veteran Taka Players.
Starter Taka players can still understand most of this guide as well.
If you've just started VG, welcome!
And you're gonna be very confused. Go play the game and get blown to smithereens first, then come back and read. There's also a bit of MOBA Jargon here. (I mean. *gestures hand at the webpage* you're on the MOBAFIRE network.)
(You can turn other people into smithereens though, in fact I highly suggest it!)

Taka is pretty squishy, we all know that already.

Buying Defense first allows Taka to survive Lvl. 1 JG invades in most elo levels. aka still dishes out quite a bit of damage without said damage items anyway due to Mortal Strikes from his House Kamuha perk.

For those in higher elo, I reccomend sticking with the standard double Weapon Blades.

It takes some time getting used to the lower damage and the slightly slower farming time that results, but over time you'll see a major difference in how long you stay within fights, especially early game alongside of the Kaku heal, this will also let you hone your last strikes/ killing blows so your captain or enemy will not get your farm/creep score.

(Also the amount of people you'll kill will rise up significantly if you stay alive to do so.)

Even better, is the fact that Early-Mid Game is where Taka still shines.

Adding defense is the extra polish that let's him stay relevant Late Game, even more so since your laner is the one that you are protecting by eliminating the other High Damage carry first.
Another fact is that the defense items in this build are also highly flexible.

A Slumbering Husk and Celestial Shroud is usually your best bet in low ELO.
In higher ELO, or other situations however, you might want to look at Aegis and Slumbering Husk as both of them function similarly, and to those who have been here from the times where all you had to do was get the old OP Breaking Point and Reflex Block to win the game as Petal with range buff, I'm pretty sure you understand the power behind stacking raw defense on top of reflex already.

Situational defense items such as Atlas Pauldron or Pulseweave or even Shiversteel are for team effects, which can help turn battles around, or simply to let you kill that Krul/ SAW with more ease.

Because building Tier one Defense items bolster Taka's survival chances significantly, you can actually stay at Tier one Defense up until mid game.
[*] You really should stay at Tier One with one defense item, you're still an assassin, damage still needs to be done
[*] Even then Laners still do lower damage to you during your ganks, and if you're really doing well (90% of the time) you can upgrade the second defensive item
[*] I do not reccomend building Warmail as your first T2 defense as it is a "waste" of 200 gold. Is +5 armor/shield and getting back one item slot really worth that much? (Generally no, as getting my Reflex first offers me much more sustain when procced on top of my Healing Flask)

Also, due to Taka's relatively lower health pool, defense makes every last hit point count much better than the oddly popular Crucible or Capacitor Plate.
It also makes Aftershock and other high burst items less effective against him.

There is also that little itty bitty thing.

Psychological warfare!

Taka is a beast when it comes to this. Simply put, we've all had a moment where Taka's enemy was at a sliver of Health, but then we Kaku and run up to then and slice them up, they die with their hopes up, and generally aren't too happy.
You know; the special that we Taka mains love serving up from time to time to Ringo, SAW, or Celeste, etc.

But in this case, our type of psychological warfare is actually Taka's Health.
*head scratching*
But how?
Well, many times other players expect a rather easy kill on Taka, especially when he is "locked down".
(Stunned, slowed, silenced, etc.)
In this case Taka is actually quite "tanky", and a high damage dealer in this build; able to take a hit, and able to deal one heck of a hit back.
So, other players who hope to land an easy kill on you, will actually be quite surprised when you slice them into a mist after Taka starts taking "heavy damage" or when you take way longer to kill at least.
Just remember, you're NOT invincible.
Unless you don't get damaged, then you have all rights to that title. (Or excessive lag)
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Basically, the enemy expects an Assassin -someone easy to burst down- not a bruiser.
I mean, Taka is an Assassin afterall.
In our case, Taka becomes a Brawler/Assassin mix, a bruiser, if you will.
At first he's a brawler/fighter, overtime he builds up Breaking Point stacks, evolving into an Assassin again, dealing massive amounts of damage while still having generous amounts of defense.
This damages enemy morale quite a bit.
Think of it this way, a full blown Taka X-Retsus you and takes tiny bits of your supposedly insane amounts of damage, and still manages to nuke you; you'll probably gonna go on tilt.
Not only that, but he gains more and more power during the fight, enough that he can go and kill your whole team in a straight on 1 v 3 fight.
They are dead.
We aren't. So far that sounds pretty good.


Just please note, at anytime, just know you definitely need to have Weapon/Crystal items, just not always at the start.


That Light Shield/ Light Armor combo also let's you 1v2 right off the bat, especially if you quick back to add a T1 Damage item such as Crystal Bit or a Weapon Blade.

It's a pretty situational problem.
Some examples are:


If it's Krul, go Crystal. (Honestly that WP build can still wreck him completely, just keep kiting him to build more and more stacks and R.Block his weakness stacks in a 1v1) Stay away from a Shiversteel + tank Krul, because he WILL prove to be highly annoying and do more damage than you would think.


If it's CP Joule, go Weapon. It'll help due to her high end game shields and her armor perk.
Attack Speed lets you stutter step or run circles around her, so she can't land her B ability.
CP can handle her somewhat well, since low CD will let you Kaiten for days, avoiding most, if not all, of her attacks. WP Joule is a bit more annoying for Taka, but she isn't really in the Meta, so facing her is unlikely.

Those are the "only" real pointers I can give you, other than just learn the game.
If you're already on the site, you're committed to becoming a better player, as corny as it sounds.


It's kinda hard to explain.
To me WP is a better build path. However, CP is good for dealing with other Assassins/Squishies, WP lets you fight and have consistent damage and teamfight.

WP lets you deal A LOT of consistent Damage.
Energy isn't really an issue in the WP path, unless you're trying to escape or you managed to X-Retsu too often.

It's difficult to fight Warriors in WP, since they normally (normally, as in it's just their base stats or skill passives.) deal less damage than you, but are far more tanky, letting them have much more time to beat you down along with sustainability.
(The more defensive builds in this guide are like that. Letting Takabecome a bruiser.)
However, if the Warrior you face off against only has damage items, you'll have a chance to take them down.


CP lets you Burst the heck out of most people / wipe them off the face of the Halcyon Fold, but if you don't have energy...
Well. You can compare it to having a .50 Cal Rifle, but no bullets.
Swinging the rifle at people isn't going to do much, if you get the analogy.
And your Basic Attacks, well. They really suck and are just used to refresh Mortal Wound. (Unless you have Aftershock or the very much less viable Alternating Current.)
It lets you nuke Laners though.
And 1v1 Gold Mine at earlier levels.

The issue here is that you really got to time your abilities. Ever since the cooldown and energy changes happened, the need to watch for these resources has skyrocketed as a simple poke might cost you the next fight because you were caught without X-Retsu up.


(This is all redundant for a purpose, it's really easy to forget some details in such a stretched out, wordy guide.)

Taka, by default, is an Assassin.
He makes people disappear into a Red Mist.
(No. Not Rona, don't get mixed up.)
However, the ban level on this guy is BEYOND COMPREHENSION. (Or at least he used to be until newer heroes came out as of now.)
(Followed by Black Feather, Lyra, and rarely Glaive.) *Now in 3.3, Taka is still banned* *narrows eyes*
So, should you pick him, expect EVERYTHING, to be launched your way.
(Or maybe not?)
Why, you might ask? Because of Taka's high damage, decoy "utility", and mobility, he is balanced by a set of rather squishy stats.

Most people play him rather strange in ranked and as such, can't always utilise him to his full potential.

So.. to combat his squish, turn him into a Bruiser.
(This is what I mean, as such, the term "bruiser" might/will refer to something different.)
A bruiser, is generally a melee hero, who deals high damage, but has high/above average defense as well, not unlike a Warrior.
(Like Two or Three defense Items)

However, what sets then apart is that they have more gap closers, "higher potential for damage", and that they used to be some other role. (Like an Assassin or Protector.)
Take Black Feather's popular builds.
They are more of the Bruiser quality.
How I play him is:
Serpent Mask, Breaking Point, Halcyon Chargers, Metal Jacket/ Atlas Pauldron, Aegis, and Shiversteel/ Crucible/ Fountain of Renewal/ Aftershock.

So, if you've ever faced me, or that kind of BLKFTHR, heck even some crazy tank Koshkas, you'll understand me somewhat better now.

Bruisers also stay in the fight much longer than Assassins, due to more defense, but trade off some damage.
That's why most Bruiser builds have some sort of Scaling Damage Item.
(A.Shock, B.Point, B.Saw and now D.Eye)

If you still don't understand after how redundant this whole guide is, you're on your own.
Or watch one of the videos down below.
Sadly no audio.
*Shameless Channel Insert*

Note: Bruiser Koska got destroyed in 1.22.
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I'm an Assassin, not a fighter.

If you opt for more of an Assassin path, you'll raise Taka's difficulty exponentially.
This is due to his squish level, but we already understand that.
But as an assassin avoiding wars of attrition is your goal.

You'll generally want one defense item that gives you a buff against your prey, since you are focusing on them.

"The big five" defense items are:

Crucible
Max Health: +600
Crucible Active: Reflex Block for you and your team. Has a higher cooldown than Aegis.
Notes: Leaves you very susceptible to A.Shock, which is standard Roamer gear. Aka not you!
That doesn't matter much when you assassinate their laner, Kaiten over their Gap-Closer and promptly flee the scene. Crucible isn't my choice ever unless I have a really terrible laner in Battle Royale or my Roam doesn't have it.

Atlas Pauldron
Armor: +80
Shield: +25
A.Pauldron Active: Decrease enemy Hero Attack Speed by 65% in a small radius for 4 seconds.
Notes: Doesn't have as much Armor or Shield as Metal Jacket, but reduces enemy total DPS.
Highly effective on heroes who are reliant on B.Attacks.
( Krul, SAW, Ringo, Vox, etc.)
Leaves you vulnerable to the more dangerous Crystal Carries.

Aegis
Shield: +85
Armor: +25
Max Health: +250
Aegis Active: Reflex Block.
Notes: Standard defense on nearly all carries.
Since many Heroes that deal a lot of damage are very squishy, Shield lets them survive burst, while the small amount of Armor let's them take less sustained damage from weapon power. Reflex Block also gives you that extra health barrier when you need it to flee or to simply escape heavy Crowd Control. All in all, it's a very good pick.

After getting your main damage item, getting an Oakheart is usually enough, until later in the game, which is where you will want to upgrade it into a Dragon Heart or a Reflex Block, either for Crucible (why?) or Aegis, or get L.Armor to build into A.Pauldron.
If you are getting A.Pauldron, sell Oakheart once you run out of room.

However, with the new patch of 2.0 and beyond we have:
Slumbering Husk
Max Health: +650

This is for getting in and out after destroying and blitzing into enemy teams.
CP Taka benefits much better from this than any other defense item in most cases.
WP Taka doesn't need this tbh since he is facing sustained damage instead of burst.

Stutter Stepping:

What it is:
Its where you s-s-step.
Ok, not really. Stutter stepping is moving your hero right when they are finished with their basic attack animation.
Lets take my other main, SAW, for an example.
Ever see that weird turning/dancing thing that seems to make a SAW "stutter" in place as they attack? That's stutter stepping.
The player simply presses on the ground near their position after a basic attack registers a certain animation frame or sound, then presses on their target again. While it sounds like a lot of tapping (it is) it's really helpful in letting off many more shots than normally possible.
Think of it as a MOBA version of the "classic" Quick-Scope or something along those lines.

What it does:
For champs who have super high attack speed, but can't utilize it to the full capability, stutter stepping allows rapid fire attacks, increasing DPS by huge amounts, compared to just letting VG's Auto-Attack mechanism work.
And for champs who have really low attack speed, it allows them to attack more often; for an example, Lance. The best part about Stuttering, is that it lets you move while attacking, allowing constant repositioning. This means that you can stick to a target even better or simply be safe.

How this applies to Taka:
...
Well, in the beginning of the game, you're banking all your damage on House Kamuha, and stutter stepping. You really are.
Since House Kamuha is basically a Six Sins with eventual extra WP and partial Critical Hit, you do more damage than most heroes at Lvl.1
Like over 100 kind of damage. His HK got nerfed recently because you could kill most heroes in 4-5 hits early game with a red buff.

Adding a Weapon Blade leaves you squishy, and is nearly over kill as Taka can and will stick to a target, meaning that he will generally kill them unless they escape through some miracle.
Stutter stepping also removes the need for an early game Swift Shooter. That is not to say that its useless, in fact stutter stepping is better with the more attack speed you have, until a certain threshold, said threshold is how fast you can tap and certain mechanic limitations.

(VG attack animations consist of several parts put together with different limits.)

Stutter stepping even lets you chase and actually stay ahead of a target that is fleeing, thank VG devs for House Kamuha for keeping the speed boost.

A video will also show this Stutter-stepping.
To understand how to do it, just pay attention to the movement cursor and the video's description.

Taka Stutter Step:
The Video of Taka S.Stepping

Other Wisdom:

What is pierce damage?

Pierce damage is akin to true damage.
Sucky explanation, I know.
Let me explain True Damage first.

True Damage?

T.Damage is DMG that goes through and deals it's full damage, regardless of Armor or Shield.
This means that Ringo's Hellfire Brew ULT (The fireball and the burn) is true damage as stated.
It is true damage because it pierces all shield, not just a little bit of it.

Hellfire Brew Hero: Ringo | Slot: C|110/100/90|100/115/130 Ringo takes a long swig from his gourd and breathes out a scorching fireball at his target. The explosion pierces all shield, deals splash damage on impact and sets the target on fire, burning it & nearby enemies for 7 seconds. DETAILS: Damage: 250/365/480 (75% Crystal Ratio) Burn Damage: 30/50/70 (20% Crystal Ratio)

"Ok, so what does this have to do with anything related to Taka?"
Good question!
That is, if you asked it...
It is irrelevant now whoo

Tell me what pierce damage is.

Fine!
Pierce damage makes a percentage of your damage True Damage.
Be it Armor or Shield Pierce, it works the same way.
Tension Bow gives you 10% A.Pierce, meaning 10% of your weapon damage is actually True Damage.
Broken Myth also gives you 10% S.Pierce, meaning 10% of your crystal damage is actually True Damage.
A little redundant, I know, but what part of this guide isn't subject to a little bit of it? (<--Even this is redundant)

Armor Shred is a debuff that lets your whole team do more damage to enemies.
It cut's down enemy armor, "shredding" it down, therefore reducing its total amount.
I'm not too sure on what other things A.Shred does because my math isn't the greatest.
That doesn't mean that Armor is useless against Bonesaw YOU NEED THE ARMOR. Otherwise, you will get destroyed very easily. A more in-depth explanation is below from another guide.

But here is a link to a guide by BlueBadger.
He has a very extensive guide on hidden mechanics in VG. It is quite outdated, but many core-concepts still apply and that's where I got the explanations from, so check it out!

How it relates to Mr. Taka

Kill people faster and more efficiently.
A Sorrowblade costs a lot of money, for obvious reasons.
Tension Bow costs less, but provides huge potential for Burst damage. It also gives Armor Pierce.
Really good stuff.

Pairing those two let's you wipe the floor quite easily with squishy lane carries.

The reason why you see others choose to build a T.Bow instead of another S.Blade is simply due to the A.Pierce and the burst proc/ etc.
Getting a double S.Blade is great and all but the moment an enemy builds more armor, your WP's effectiveness drops by huge amounts.
(*Cough* that's why we get defense first in the JG people *cough*)

House Kamuha

This perk is stronger than you would think.
House Kamuha is an amplification and raw buff to basic attacks (Mortal Strikes)
A better way to describe it, is to call it a Critical hit without all the fancy 1000! colors and exclamation marks.
This equation
(30 at lvl 1 to 63 at lvl 12 + (Extra WP*1.35) + (Base WP)
shows how much you do with H.K before defense is calcualted into how much is really done.
The best part is that it actually does decent damage even on CP builds against squishy laners.

Critical Hits

WIP
Critical hits are just that. Critical hits.
What makes them revered is the fact that it makes you do more damage according to a ratio.

Now, before you get too excited, crits are very fickle, and crits chance doesn't necessarily mean you'll land one every time. (Unless you're Taka back in the first versions of VG)

Hence the term Crit Chance.

Crit items also boost your Crit damage, meaning that you won't be doubling your damage. You'll actually be doing more than that.

Taking a basic look at most hero stats, everyone's Crit Chance is always at zero, unless that particular hero has certain skills or perks that make it be something else. ( Glaive, Ringo and old 2014 era Taka.)

Base Crit Damage is also at 50%, which means it does 1.50 your Weapon Damage.

Once you get Crit Items, these numbers will rise up by small increments. It's possible to get 100% or above Crit Chance/Damage, but isn't really recommended. (120% Crit Chance doesn't do much)

So think of Crit Damage as a Ratio of sorts, like CP Ratios, but instead it works on Weapon Power at random attacks. Like let's say you get the standard Sorrowblade, Tyrant's Monocle, Tornado Trigger Trio.
Or even better, a random amplification of Weapon Damage.

• Sorrowblade adds 150 WP
• Tyrant's Monocle adds 80 WP, 35% Crit Chance, and 15% Crit Damage.
• Tornado Trigger adds 35% Attack Speed and 35% to Crit Chance and 10% to Damage.

This Trio gives a solid base of 200 Weapon Power, 70% Crit Chance, and 25% extra Crit Damage.
(230 WP, 70% Crit Chance, 75% increased Crit Damage)

So, only using these stats, sans/excluding any other hero base stats other than Crit Chance/Damage and before armor reduction, your attacks will be like this:

• Normal Hit: 230 Damage.
• Critical Hit: 380! Damage. (Crits always have an exclamation mark)

Now obviously, once you factor in things like hero skills/passives/stats/items you'll get really different results.

For Taka with a Sorrowblade and Tyrant's Monocle, damage at Level 12 would be:

• Normal Hit: 326 Damage.
• Normal Hit with H.Kamuha: 416 Damage.
• Critical Hit without H.Kamuha: 619! Damage.
• Critical Hit with H.Kamuha: 790! Damage.

Once again, factor in Armor reduction and other things and different results. Boom.

Tommorow, I will try to talk about Attack speed and some other stuff. I keep forgetting what though.

Attack Speed

Taka requires just a little bit of attack speed to increase his DPS, this is due to House Kamuha.
That's not to say high attack speed is bad on him, i'm just saying that you don't always need a +75% Attack speed. ( Tornado Trigger)

Sometimes a Blazing Salvo/B.Salvo is all you need for attack speed.
Upgrading that into a Breaking Point is all you generally need if you are doing hit and run.

(If you're doing that, just get Sorrowblade, Breaking Point, and then a Tension Bow. It will give you burst, armor pierce and provide decent Attack speed. Couple it with a Weapon Infusion and you will get a decent amount of DPS if you ever need to stay in a fight.)

Getting back to the topic of attack speed, my standard build of S.Blade, B.Point, and B.Saw gives you a good amount of extra A.Speed. Couple that with your end-game A.Speed from Base stats, Taka will get 136% + 85% or 221% Total A.Speed.

This decent amount does wonders, and if you remember what I said about Stutter Stepping, you can see that it gives you a basis to almost maximize the amount of attacks you will deal in a few seconds.

A.Speed also affects your Basic attack animation to a certain limit.

I've also heard that there are actually two parts to the whole thing that A.Speed does.
This is the limiting affect that it does.

Skill Skipping

Basically, at level 5, you don't put a point into a weaker skill.
On Taka, that means his Kaku won't be getting a point.
Once you reach level 6, you receive an even crazier power boost.
This is because you can then have T4 Kaiten instead of a T3 Kaiten.
Your Kaku however is going to be T1 for a bit until you can upgrade it at level 7.

While it seems detrimental to your hero, it helps when you have a really "meh" ability, kinda like on a CP Ringo. CP Ringo is normally going for damage on his Achilles Shot, while his Twirling Silver is pretty generally a DPS increaser depending on his build. Skipping that point in T.Silver is going to give a huge power boost to the rather late-game CP Ringo because he will have much more damage and burst with his Ult.

If that makes any sense, then good! If not, well, go look on YouTube.

Play Styles

Taka is a very maneuverable Assassin-Type hero, with the ability to cross gaps quickly and turn invisible, he already has great skills, you as a player must have a general sense of when to retreat and when to engage.

Taka, to me, is a mix of three: Assassin/Initiator/Decoy/(Useless with a rock-bottom winrate).

Assassins generally stay in a team fight for a mere few seconds, heading right for the least tanky enemy.
This is usually a laner, like Ringo, Celeste or Magnus.
They deal lots of damage, but can receive very little in turn, kinda like Taka.

Taka also pulls the most attention to him in team fights; generally starting/initiating those fights.

This also makes him somewhat of a decoy, allowing your laner and roam to swoop in and kill their lane carry if you coordinate correctly.
Your team will generally listen to you if you keep getting kills, showing that you are a "good" player.
(I mean, think about who you're going to follow in a game, if you need to.)

Taka's Abilities

House Kamuha Official Description: Taka gains Mortal Strike every 2s Mortal Strike: Taka's next basic attack deals 30-85 (level 1-12) (+30% weapon power) bonus damage and briefly gains bonus movement speed. When Taka uses an ability or lands a Mortal Strike, he gains a stack of Ki. Ki: Taka gains Mortal Strike faster (not really) and his ability cooldowns are reduced by 10% per stack. [*] 5 stacks max. .

My Description:
(Possibly redundant)

A very powerful Heroic Perk.
One of the most powerful offensive ones, in my opinion, especially the old version of it.
(100% CRITS AND 30% LIFESTEAL FOR DAYS)
Now that it has been nerfed in Update... something, the perk does some other stuff.
(That Lifesteal needs to come back, even if its just 2% per stack or something.)
House Kamuha now does:
Mortal Strikes: Taka does (40+ 25% Weapon Power Ratio) as damage. This also refreshes the Mortal Wound Debuff on those who have been recently X-Restu-ed and gives Taka one Ki stack. Mortal Strikes happen every 5 seconds and give Taka a burst of move speed.
This perk basically makes every single thing of bonus Weapon Power 25% better than other heroes. Coupled with Crit chance, he makes a very devastating snowballer that dominates.
He still fares quite well even without crit chance.

Ki Stacks: Each stack of Ki gives Taka 25% CDR (Cooldown reduction) and reduces the amount of time that another Mortal Strike occurs by 0.9 seconds. They are gained either by Mortal Strikes or Ability Usage.

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Kaiten Official Description: Taka flips over his target, cutting it with his switchblade. Taka is invulnerable to damage & debuffs while in mid-air. DETAILS: Damage: 100/165/230/295/360 (+0.8 Crystal)

My Description:
(Possibly redundant)

Kaiten makes Taka flip over people.
It also does damage and closes small gaps and rarely allows Taka to jump walls. (Really difficult)
The main thing about this ability is that it allows you to dodge ALL DAMAGE.
ALL DAMAGE. ALL OF IT.
Possibly other than the Adagio Arcane Fire Debuff. (I think. It's really difficult to notice.)
Overdrive allows this ability to cost no Energy. (*Cough Chakra cough.*)
It has an 80% CP Ratio and a 15 second CD.

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Kaku Taka throws a smoke bomb at his feet, vanishing from enemy sight and gaining move speed. This illusion ends early if he strikes a target or he takes direct damage. Turrets and Flare Guns can still see Taka. This ability heals Taka while he is invisible. DETAILS: Speed Boost: 1.25/1.25/1.25/1.25/1.25 Duration: 4/4/4/4/4 Heal/sec: 40/50/60/70/100 (+0.25 Crystal)

My Description:
(Possibly redundant)

Kaku makes Taka throw a smoke bomb, heal him, turn invisible and also grants him a speed buff.
It's really cool, and allows for escaping, freaking people out (An assassin just turned invisible, you're gonna freak out.), setting up ambushes, face checking bushes, and also searching for random scout traps.
(When your name switches from dark to normal while in Kaku, there is a nearby scout trap.)
Overdrive just makes this heal you a lot more. (Especially if you're CP.)
I don't really Overdrive it, ever.
25% CP Ratio.

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X-Retsu Official Description: Taka bursts through his target, carving an X with his switchblades for lethal damage. The target suffers a mortal wound, reducing its healing by 50% and taking damage per second over the next 3 seconds. The wound's duration is refreshed whenever Taka mortal strikes this target. Grants bonus Ki stacks on use based on number of ability points in X-Retsu. DETAILS: Damage: 250/390/530 (+1.7 Crystal) Damage/sec: 40/52/64 (+0.7 Crystal)

My Description:
(Possibly redundant)

Taka channels for a quick moment, before flying at his target, dealing immense damage and applying a Mortal Wound Debuff that bleeds Crystal Damage. Mortal Strikes Refresh the Debuff. Taka gains Ki stacks equal to the amount of Skill Points you put into it.
The Mortal Wound Debuff also reduces ALL healing effects by 50%, lasting for 3 seconds.

This includes:
Jungle Monster Regeneration Buff.
Fountain of Renewal Active. (Passive doesn't really count. It has a 5 second cooldown after all.)
Adagio Heal.
Krul Spectral Smite.
Ozo Three Ring Circus Heal.
Alpha Core Charge.
Ardan Herioc Perk: Julia's Gift.
Glaive Bloodsong Passive.
And probably much more.

This ability really hurts.
A lot.
Mortal Wounds usually comes to play on barriers, fortified health, health regen and lifesteal.
On people who have stupid amounts of health restoring passives, (Ardan) this ability absolutely destroys it.
I always Overdrive this Ability.
It has a 180% CP Ratio and a 140% WP Ratio for main damage.
For its bleeding/Mortal Wound Debuff, it has a 75% CP Ratio.
It's not always an execute, and you generally start a fight with this.
I mean, it can go through walls, has a 20 second CD that is reduced by Ki Stacks, closes pretty large gaps and does good damage even if you go WP.

Kaiten

This ability is essentially where Taka achieves god mode, and is essentially invincible to damage and debuffs while in mid air.
If used carefully, you can block stuns, silences, ults, get out of harms way, jump over walls and such.
Even block Vox's resonance Pulse (Cuz' that minor slow is annoying)
For people who can stun you from a mile away, you can use this right when they are on top of you.
*Looking at Koshka, Joule and Ozo*
Select them, and right when they appear in the middle of thier ability/channel, click on Kaiten.
This has to be done when they are far away though, not when they're literally on top of you. Otherwise, you'll mess it up and get stunned most of the time.
Joule and Ozo stuns are easier to identify than Koshka's, since she just pretty much channels for a short second and then does it.
If you do it correctly, you don't have to time Kaiten usage yourself, instead letting VG's auto-target thing work.
If Koshka is right next to you though, wait for her exclamation point to almost finish before Kaiten-ing her stun.

Ringo Hellfire Brew? Kaiten over a minion!
Celeste Ult? Kaiten over her!
Joule's giant laser beam? Still Kaiten over her!
Ardan drops the The Gauntlet? Wait for some random person to be near the edge, the Kaiten out of the way!
Phinn Pull? You're dead! (Unless there is a minion right next to you. Or just X-Retsu away.)
Am I trying to hard? Heck yeah!

Kaku

It makes you invisible, as you know already... Right?

When you use it, try to run the opposite direction the enemy is headed.
Like really, common sense.

In 1.22 they fixed the Kaku bug where it made Taka end it early because he immediately attacked after activation.
(One of my videos at the bottom of the guide will show you, [Its the Second Video])
Especially at low health, run away and go back to base.
Heck, your teammates might have a giggle at how easily you fooled the enemy.
Also, unless it is early game, run the opposite direction.

Also, set up ambushes after successfully scaring the heck out of people.
Do that horror movie thing where you take them out one by one.
The possibilities are endless! Kind of.

;_;

If they have scout-traps and flares, you better hope you don't stumble into them.
REFLEX BLOCK THAT FLARE FRIEND.
May luck be with you on that.


If they have skillshot-type heroes, try to be unpredictable with how you move.
Instead of horizontal movement, try a more vertical approach.
A better way to put it is, do not go closer to the enemy, just kite around them. (Or get out of range.)
If its someone like Celeste just act like you're running away, do this opposite from where you want to go. If they give chase alone, then abruptly run towards them and Kaiten/X-Retsu them to carry on to your desired destination.
Or kill them, which is way more hilarious, since they thought they could kill you.
This is how you deal with most skill shots anyways.

If you're invading/ganking lane, try to use Kaku only when you need to, that means no random Kaku and running into the top lane bushes.
(Which I'm really hypocritical about)
Skirt around the back of your turret, and then stick to the top edge of the map until you reach said area instead of Kaku.
But that is only if you have time to do such things.
If you don't, just go ahead with your own plan.

Also, don't forget that using Reflex Block while in Kaku deflects anything trying to end the illusion early, and then you get to leave with your Kaku on.
Leaving infuriated enemies in the dust never felt so good.
(Killing them is much better IMHO)

Kaku also lets you chase targets, due to its speed buff.
It kinda makes Taka an invisible land shark; you know that shark fin is there, steadily heading straight for you, yet you can't do anything about it.
Typical Taka Gameplay:
*Taka after Kaku, chasing Ringo*
*Slow horror music*
Dunn dunn. Dunn dunn. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.
*Taka X-Retsu*
*Ringo AFK*

Kaku heals you over time, depending on your CP.
It also lets you hide after getting stunned. (Not anymore)
*cough* Random Koshka Out of nowhere *cough*
(R.K.O)
Enemies aren't that dumb however, so expect a laser or something being faced your direction.
(Reflex Block it! Also do that when Koshka is damaging you so you can leave with Kaku still on.)

You can also use Kaku to keep or add on to your Ki stacks. Really helpful if you have CDR on you.
This is not as recommended to do this if you are WP though, since using your energy/mana/chakra/etc. whatever, for no reason is not good, and Kaku does have a higher cooldown.
As of new Update NOTE: Halcyon Chargers don't care about running out of energy on a WP build.

Note: One thing I still don't get:
Why can flares/Jungle mobs see you, but heroes can't?
Yes, I realize its an illusion, and that I'm overthinking an ability in a game but...
Scout Traps, turrets, and Kraken can see you right?
Two are mechanical, one is an enormous monster of great power.
Being able to see you makes sense.
However, someone shooting up a flare affects an illusion that was put on the people shooting said flare???
*Stoner Stanley Face*
Enemy Hero:
"Can't see Taka, lemme shoot a flare to see him, even though he's technically invisible to us, so my team and I can't see him."
Jungle Mobs:
JM1: "Yo man, I smell and hear something running by."
JM2: "LETS FLAIL VIOLENTLY AT IT!"
JM1: " YEAHHHHH! THAT SOUNDS GOOD!"
*flailing commences on a soon to be dead Taka*

Once you reach this point in your elo, you'll have to revert to standard builds, but not always.

WTF (What the fire) does this mean?
Revert back to what Taka is, an Aggressive Assassin.

This means there will be huge changes to some of the builds in this guide.

However, that does not mean that all of my builds aren't viable anymore, I'm just saying that the team compositions are highly varied, and now are more balanced than you would think. You have to learn how to counterbuild and how to play to your items.

Alpha also appears quite often, and is very very strong against bursty champs late game, as I found out over and over. (E.g. Dying over and over.) As such, she is very dangerous in the late, but her early game is completely easy to destroy.

People generally know their hero here, and will consequently be able to do really, really awesome-looking maneuvers.
What I mean is that in the one second you were derping out, your health is completely shot to hell and you're promptly left with a dead Taka, if he wasn't banned, and with a team pinging you for very good reasons. (You can X-Retsu her while she winds up her laser, in the moment you do so, you will trade positions and avoid her damage as her damage tick arrives after she does the flashy spin)

As with any advancement to a new skill tier, you will die a LOT.
You will FEED a lot.
You will find yourself with very low cs and other things like facing JG invasion quite a bit.

Annoying, I know. In fact, I'm venting a little bit.

Chances are your enemy knows you.
Your general ways and movements based on your chosen hero will be predicted better than that 6 Shatterglass smurf Joule that was completely stomping your team into dust.
*shudder*

Roaming will be quite different as well, at the first couple of levels Roamers will help you in the JG, then they will either stick to lane or bounce back and forth like any true Roamer.

Be prepared for Phinn pulls and more Catherine players.
I have yet to see a lot Ardan players. (Which is weird)
Lyra Roam will pop up every few games when she isn't banned.
Lance is cancerous with constant attempts at roots.

Taka isn't as frequently banned, because most of his S.Amazing and above gameplay consists of him stepping on scout traps and walking into flares when facing competent players and he has been nerfed so hard that his winrate is the 46th highest. (That's rock bottom btw)

Because of this, Taka doesn't need to be fully armored like my WP Defensive.
Insane, I know.

"Wait, why? If he's walking into flares and-"
Just wait a sec, I'll get into that.
Remember how I said Taka must be played as an Assassin now?
This is so you can erase the enemy's JG farm, replace them with disappointment and waste their time. Taka obviously excels at this. If your Taka isn't following suit, you're playing him wrong.

So now, I'll add in a few more builds that will help with this.
These builds will be placed in the S.A and Above builds.

Okay, now for the strategy:

Getting a Weapon Blade first for either a WP build or CP build seems a little bit unorthodox, but then again we are talking about a bipedal, monocle wearing, masked ninja fox wielding two arm "switchblades" that can turn invisible in a highly possible Metal Gear Solid reference fashion of hiding under a box.
He is also literally named Hawk/Falcon in Japanese Katakana.
Yes, we went there.
Fight me.
(Next thing you know he has gravity defying silver hair and gets late to everything)

Personally, are you more WP based at the start or CP?

The answer is most definitely WP.
House Kamuha gives a bonus from the tiny 15 WP Weapon Blade,
Basically his damage with H.Kamuha before armor reduction and stuff would be:
40 + (Bonus WP*1.25) + Base WP + (Lvl-1*5.3)
or
40 + (15 Bonus WP*1.25) + 83 Base WP + (Lvl-1*5.3)
Taka's damage at level 1 would be...
141 Damage.
Taking BlueBadger's guide into account, damage to a target with 25 Armor would be:
Basic Attack(1 + (Enemy Armor or Shield/100)) = Damage
or
141/(1 + (25/100) = Or about 112 Wp Damage.
This is damage done to a hero, not a JG Creep.
A creep has something like 84/85 Armor or something, so
140/(1 + (84/100) = about 77 Wp Damage!
Or 77.348 blah blah blah.
But since it is rounded down by VG it's simply 77.

So yeah.

Kaiten only happens every few seconds, which isn't as helpful when you aren't Koshka or someone who has extra purpose with their abilities. (Like 8 seconds or so with full Ki stacks)

T1 Kaiten and a Crystal Bit would do:
100 + (0.8*CP)
or
100 + (0.8*20) = 116 CP Damage
Not much honestly, even without Shield reduction it doesn't stand up to a Weapon Blade.
Versus enemy with 25 shield:
116 / 1.25 = 92 CP Damage.
Due to the somewhat low CP Scaling, that's why we see crazy Hybrid builds with T.Bow and A.Shock appear, and it let's you be such a hardcore early game hero that you just dominate.
However, I like heroes that aren't stuck in E.Game, that's why I outfit Taka for Mid-game first and then add more stuff to produce a more solid Late-game feel for Taka.

But my build doesn't always work, if you have an entirely passive Laner or late-game carry, go for the early-mid game Taka before building substantial defense on him. And most importantly, play aggressive.
I make the mistake of farming to much or being too passive and I reap the consequences of epic fail.

That, my fellow Taka players, is all there really is to S.A and above.
Okay, not really.

Your Roamer will more likely than not be helping your Laner, instead of you in the JG.
You'll have to take up some small jobs like keeping some flares on you or simply placing S.Traps in key high-traffic areas.

This reduces the risk of you getting completely nuked and protects your lane carry on their way to the JG shop.

Placing Traps next to JG Camps also help you identify any would be JG invaders and promptly walk in and deal with them.

I personally love last hitting on the JG creeps before the enemy and straight up ignoring them before I just Kaku and walk off, or turning around and killing the hero because the creeps dealt some damage.

It just produces the intense and very useful atmosphere that a Taka should always have.

The "I simply don't care about your presence" aura and the classic "Shove to the side" maneuver always angers people. This has the effect of making people focus on you instead of your potentially much squishier Carry with low escape. They also play much sloppier.

As I explained above, while ignoring the enemy may seem to be quite "dumb", it just gives you that air of perfect arrogance that seriously frustrates enemies.

I generally like walking away from or beside very-low health enemies while my team takes them down, this let's my lane carry secure a kill and for me to earn money from an assist.
A plus is that enemy morale drops because their fighting seems rather futile, while we don't need to get into tactics and stuff, just relate to having an embodiment of Death just walking merrily by you while bullets are whizzing into you.
If you manage to get away, Death (Taka) claims you. Either way, you might as well stand there and die.

A little bit of dark humor, but the world isn't exactly black and white, ne?
Just don't become a megalomaniac dude with an orange mask and you'll be fine.

Complete
This chapter has FIVE separate sections.
One for each of the first five Build paths:

1. The Main Paths of the House Kamuha 1.1 WP/Defense and Scaling Damage Path 1.2 CP/Defense and Aftershock Path 1.3 Roam and Support/Decoy Path 1.4 Simple Assassin Path

1. WP/Defense and Scaling Damage Path. (My Favorite)

General Notes

This applies to Weapon Power Notes.
This build allows for sustaining and light tanking from the defensive items, as such, letting him stay in a fight longer when your target just doesn't want to die.
This makes Taka more of a Bruiser, but towards the end, he becomes an Assassin again, after gaining some BP stacks.
You came to kill. They came to die.
THE WP DEFENSIVE BUILD IS CENTERED AROUND BREAKING POINT. IT IS HIGHLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU KEEP IT.
In the end, you still have to burst your target down, this is where that Tension Bow and Breaking point really comes hand in hand, the Bonesaw also allows you to take down fleeing tanks (Catherine, Fortress, Ardan, etc.) fairly easy.

Flexibility

There are many different things you can do to change this build really.
I find myself switching out Bonesaw for Tyrant's Monocle often, since Breaking Point actually gives me a good enough Attack Speed bonus, and that Tension Bow gives me decent-ish Armor Pierce.
(A lot of Tanks / Roamers seem to not care about pure armor right now, instead going for more team-oriented items; like any good Roamer I mean.)
Also skim/scroll through the outdated WP notes for a bit until you hit the rather redundant nerdy part, filled with math and more flexible item changes to the build. While not up to date, it still gives you a pretty good idea of what Taka's damage potential is with some items.

Play Style

Early Game:

The defense allows Taka to run around and actually invade/fend off invasions.
Early game is now your play ground. You slice and dice while enemies scramble about in terror due to that extra armor and shield.
(Just today [6-22-16} I got a 14 kill streak, and two deaths, end game 17/2/8. not my best but, still decent.)
It's absolute fun and this is about the time you go on a killing spree.
Only invade JG when you see their Roamer / JG in a bush with lower health. This makes most of them flee, and with good coordination with your Roamer, you'll get a kill or two, or three if their Laner runs in.
Starve the other Jungler of their CS or Creeps and they'll be unable to build anything for a while.
Or just murder everyone.
(Steal their farm too)

Pushing into their JG territory is a very aggressive power play that will make enemies choose to do a few things:

• Try to ignore you, something that is impossible.
• Enemy laner help, which splits their attention, leading to team fight or more CS for your laner.
• Invade your JG while you become too preoccupied with their JG.
• Continously run into you and die.
• Actually execute a good strategy that causes decent confusion and lays waste to you and your team.

Usually, it's the top four.
Keyword is usually. Be careful about getting too cocky and all of a sudden getting blindsided by their very livid team.

Mid Game:

Your Early Game killing spree does wonders.
By now you have a Tension Bow/Serpent Mask/Tyrant Monocle/Sorrow Blade , A tier Two Defense item and another Tier One/Two Defense item, a pair of boots and possibly on your way to a Breaking Point.
This is the time that Taka hits Level Six.
If the enemy team though Taka wasn't scary enough well, he just got a major power boost ON TOP of his killing spree.
However, just because your little killing spree makes you feel invincible, (it really does) you're absolutely not.
(You might be if they only have one item each)
Play a little more cautious, don't go recklessly charging about, unless you know that the enemy team is still trying to dig themselves out of the giant pit you put them in. (THEN DIG THEM FURTHER INTO THE PIT)
The reason why I focus more on their Jungle is because there is two people in that area.
The Jungler and Roam Positions bring in more Utility into the team, while the Laner usually gives the team that damage that is needed to win a team fight.
Having damage is great and all, but if you don't have the utility or defense to back it up, you're not going to get really far.
(Unless you're Taka)

Late Game:

(if you ever reach this point, most of the time, they surrender)
I stay in the back of team fights when it gets to this point, employing more hit and run tactics.
By now, your enemies might have killed you once or twice, having been able to climb out of the bankruptcy pit. The Laner would be around a lower threat level than usual, if you Ganked.
(I've had games where I've gotten 20 kills, zero deaths and 10 assists. It's insanity. I rarely die because of the defense I have and that you still can Hit and Run.)
When you are low health, most definitely run away. Kaku and wait for your enemies to focus more on your Roam and Laner. Go back in and Assassinate anyone who has low health or any high level threats like Ringo.
This uses up your Tension Bow Proc, but gives you a decent amount of BP stacks to continue the fight.
This makes the enemy team lose a lot of power, since the enemy JG and Roamer might still be a little behind in terms of items/power.
But anyways, kill them all.
Also. If possible, switch out that Tension Bow for a Tyrant's Monocle or Sorrow Blade or Serpent Mask.
Trust me. It makes one heck of a difference.
It will change your play style just a tiny bit as well.
From poking people with TB, to a more straightforward approach with the SB or whatever item you grab.
Sorrow Blade makes Taka a full blown Assassin, you'll gain BP Stacks really fast.
Serpent Mask is weaker, but allows you sustain Taka and have more time to gain BP Stacks.
Tyrant's Monocle, weaker than both SB and SM, it's like Tension Bow really. This makes Taka do tons of burst damage and also gain BP stacks fast should you land a Crit.
When I say weaker I just mean less WP.
SB is Raw WP.
SM is WP with Life steal
TM is the Jack of All Trades.
(Search up Broken Myth's Tyrant's Monocle comparison)
Either item you switch out TB for makes him stupidly strong, and is the last final push in Taka's strength.
(Don't forget your Infusions!)

I recommend SM for matches with frequent Team fights, and also if you're carrying the match with a near losing team, since most damage will be directed to you.

SB is for those matches where you are more in the background, and would rather pick off a target one by one.
Or if you're just steamrolling/snowballing.

TM is similar to SB, however it's more effective on enemies with high Defense. (Criticals, armor shredding and also increasing WP.)

You can also mix it up and go with a Sorrow Blade, a Breaking Point and a Tyrant's Monocle.
Armor Pierce and Shred are good an all, but if the enemy team doesn't have any Armor it's wasted money.
(Tension Bow Proc is still good however.)
This combo basically gives you 3 Sorrow Blades, a Blazing Salvo, and a TM.
Armor also fails against this build since it's hard to defend from the combo of 3 SBs and a TM.

2. CP/Defense and Aftershock Path.

General Notes

'
This applies to Crystal Power Notes.
I don't play CP Taka as much as WP.
I'm more WP oriented toward Taka most of the time since it lets me have more options to kill other players.

Taka needs a lot of CP power to successfully murder other players and farm.
I personally find him shaky on CP with only 3 Crystal items. And a lot of times his gameplay is either do well and snowball, or do not do well at all and get completely wrecked.

In other words, he is a one trick pony when he goes CP.
It is great in lower ELO though. While I might say he is a CP one trick pony, that one trick does stupid damage against unshielded enemies, which are fairly common.

Higher ELOs, not many are going to risk feeding a Taka, let alone a CP one.
This is not to say he is bad though!
I'm just saying that "everyone" is going to play on the safe side.
Unless it's that one feeding Vox that engages all the way.

Items:

(Summer Update of 2016's Halcyon Chargers lets Taka steamroll, some Item Build changes have commenced, check them out.)
Halcyon Chargers is my first full item, followed by a Shatter Glass.
Why?
It's similar to getting a Clockwork honestly, just with much less cool down.
I get a Hourglass to help Taka have a little more CDR and then rush into a Shatterglass.
This let's Taka begin his X-Retsu out of nowhere mini-montage on the fold, dealing absurd damage to all the other kids on the playgro- er.. Halcyon Fold.

Broken Myth lets you destroy enemy Shield and also gain a brief CP boost in the form of a Passive.

Aegis let's you R.Block those debilitating ults that everyone seems to have, while giving you ample Shield and bare minimum Max health and Armor.

Alternating Current let's you stick to a target and refresh the Mortal Wound debuff on them, while doing your CP damage every other hit.

If you dislike Alternating Current, grab another CP item instead. (ALL MY HATE, DIE ENEMIES! *shakes fist*)
As long as you can keep up your basic attacks to refresh the Wound, you'll be good.
A Weapon Infusion will help you keep up that Mortal Wound btw.

Play Style

Early Game:

Get defense based on what damage type you are expecting from the enemy JG.
This let's you survive, blah blah blah.
You probably get the drill by now.
I'm also tired of being so redundant and I'm actually tired.

Your first visit to the JG shop means a flare being shot into the enemy bush to check for a possible low-health enemy roamer. However, wait a second to see if your roamer will shoot a flare, as you will waste yours if you both shoot one. If there is one, buy your other half of the L.Armor/Shield combo quick, grab your damage item and go destroy them while they are hopefully preoccupied in shop.

If there is not a low-health enemy at all, don't engage unless they try to.
If they do, give them hell.
I mean, you were the one that literally just gained a +50 Shield/Armor Buff, not them.
Dance all over them while relying on your Basic Attacks, Stutter Stepping and House Kamuha to bring them down, Kaiten should be your starter and your finisher in the fight, since it let's you dodge debilitating attacks or abilities, and at the end when they flee, close the gap.

Keep in mind that if they decide to build that L.Armor/Shield combo on a warrior early, you "might" have a rough time.
*shrug*
I mean, it only happened once to me, but I still managed to kill the Rona in some feat of Kaiten dodging her second Foe Splitter.

After this go back to farming, since trying to gank lane is nearly hopeless once you kill 2/3 of the enemy team.
If you can gank though, do it, and just destroy the laner for that Killing spree.
Don't die, like really don't.

Early-Mid Transition:
Get your Shatterglass or build into it. (If you can, well damn, that's a lot of dead heroes)
Afterwards, this is where you decide to be:
1. That one Taka that invades your JG and kills everyone again.
2. JG Farmer that Hyperleveled so hard that everyone else is still Lvl.4 and you're Lvl.6.
3. Nearly Useless Teamate that ignores everyones pings, then goes and 1 v 3's successfully.
4. Do the normal JG rotations with Roamer.
2&3 is nearly the same, just 2 actually goes and helps.
3 is the one nobody sees hide or hair of until mid-late game murdering sprees begin.

I enjoy the second one personally, alongside the fourth one.

The only problem about the second one is that if you have a roamer that doesn't synergize well with you, it isn't the greatest idea to go invading unless you can coordinate well.

3. Roam and Support/Decoy.

General Notes

I love this.
I really do.
People underestimate you so much its insane.
Enemy Players:
"Is that, is that really roam Taka?"
*laughter*
"This is gonna be easy."
"You want to be a Fally Guard?"
*More laughter*
Your Team:
*(-_-*)*
"???.. Why? We're gonna lose so fast."

Me:
"Heh. Nope!"

Notes:
Roam Taka is more suited for teams with slower Heroes, such as Krul or Reim.
(1.23 Update Notes)

Think of it this way.
WP defensive Taka is pretty stupid to fight against.
Now, take him, add more health, team healing and reflex blocks, and Halcyon Chargers + Aftershock bursting along with True Damage.

OP as hell.
I enjoy using the Team Effect Roam build the most.
Crucible allows you to help your team block stuff, Fountain heals, and Warhorn allows you to flee or engage.

You will most definitely start most fights.
Taka is akin to Fortress in that sense.
Except Fortress can't turn invisible.
(He can summon those heat seeking wolves though.) (._.)

Grab some enemy team kills when you can.
When I say that, I mean if there are not any teammates around to finish that enemy off, go ahead and kill that enemy.
If you're team is around, let them have that kill.
You're still a roamer after all.
But in the end, if you're stuck in a 3 v 1, where the enemy is trying to murder you, just kill them if you can, then get out.
You might be able to kill one or two if you have all your item actives up.

(1.23 Edit)
I don't reccomend this unless you just want to bug the living heck out of the enemy team.
(Hehe, that's the Kitsune spirit)

Here, you will see how important all of your Taka mechanics are. Whether its keeping your DoT from X-Retsu on a high-value target, dodging stuns and escaping from skill shots from heroes or even basic manuevers such as Kaku escaping.

This update, Kaku has been nerfed in terms of duration, so it will be even harder to control him to his full effectiveness.

As an expert of guerrilla war-fare, Taka as a hero requires a low skill floor, or in layman's terms, minimum skill level to utilize. However, to use him to his max capabilities in high ranked play, you will need to understamd peoples general mindset towards him and avoid doing highly predictable maneuvers.

As a Roam Taka however, you're your team's lifeline, the foundation that your team will build their fortress upon; a roamer.

Now, take this concept of roaming and add how you have to play Taka. Initiator Taka.

As a roamer, you deal with a much higher difficulty even though your survivabilty increases to crazy amounts. In the current 1.23 meta, the double/triple ranged team compa dominate, Roam Taka allows a counter of an unorthodox variety that most over look because he is usually banned or simply because they jumped on the "Taka is cancer" bandwagon. While I might be biased, and all of that, thsts not the point. Taka excels at poking with X-Retsu, the Mortal Wound offers really soft CC but works wonders when you're facing people who need that lifesteal or barrier to fight effectively. Adding a Frostburn instead of a Stormcrown will allow you to add additional CC to your abilities, meaning that you'll get to provide more support for your team. If you really need extra health but still want a slow, get a Shiversteel because its better on a melee like Taka.

Whatever path you choose, Roam Taka will be much more viable than one would think because of all the squishies running around on the Fold.

And that concludes my essay, lmao.

4. WP Traditional Hit and Run Path.

General Notes

Honestly, there isn't much of difference here, just know that when you hit, you got to escape ASAP to heal and RE-COUP Taka and then go back in to kill.
This is all because you're much squishier, meaning you're easier to kill.
The plus is that it allows you to do the full "I'm an Assassin, FEAR ME" kind of thing where you pick off enemies one by one.
Also, you really might want to consider taking a Sorrow Blade/Serpent Mask first instead of a Tyrant's Monocle. That's if you want to build up a higher base WP first.

5. CP Traditional Burst and Run Path.

General Notes

Pop up with your X-Retsu and murder some unlucky hero.
Much squishier, but higher damage, and I'd even say its better than the CP Defensive Assassin, since that Kaku heal is beyond crazy.
Get in, get out.
However, should you ever need to cut down groups of minions to protect a turret, you're screwed, since he isn't exactly an AOE hero AT ALL.

Item Breakdown for Build 1.

Calculations here will follow this pattern, and will be rounded down like VG.
H.Kamuha: 85 + (Extra WP*0.30)
Taka Lvl.12 WP = 125
Any procs will be added to appropriate places.
For example:
Total Damage for Lvl. 12 Taka along with H.Kamuha and no items is : 85 + (Extra WP*0.30) + (Base WP) = 210 on Vain Crystal

Sorrowblade
WP: +120
Raw WP.
What's more to want with that House Kamuha Perk?

Breaking Point
+20% Attack Speed
+50 Weapon Power

Passive: Gain 5 Weapon Power for every 100 weapon damage done to enemy heroes; +5/10 (melee/ranged) needed for each stack thereafter. 35 stacks max. Decays 5 stacks per second after you’ve stopped attacking for 2.5s.
Adds 220 WP total if you reach 35 stacks. Really useful for late game as it lets you scale your damage up.
As you fight, you may or may not lose health. Most of the time you will lose health, so technically as your health goes down, your damage will ramp up as you attack, paired with a good crit or T.Bow proc and you will gain a tons of stacks immediately.

For example, lvl 12 Taka:
125 base wp + 50 BP WP + 85 HK Base + (0.3 * 50) = 275 raw damage, base enemy armor usually brings down damage roughly to 80 percent give or take so you would be dealing 220 damage or so. That lets you get an additional 10 WP because 2 stacks requires 205 damage total to be done. That leaves you with 125 base wp + 50 BP WP +10 BP passive + 85 HK Base + (0.3 * (50 + 10)) = 288 raw damage for your next attack. Not really amazing by itself, but Taka allows for zany build paths. If you proc Mortal Strikes every time, your attacks are worth 30% more WP and then you add whatever level based WP HK gives you. In reality, your attacks are probably going to be worth 20% more. You still do more damage than most people though. (Not that BP should be a first T3 on Taka)

Bonesaw
+40 Weapon Power
+20% Attack Speed
+25% Armor Pierce

On Hit: Your basic attacks shred 10% of the target’s armor for 3s. Max 4 stacks.

Like B.Point, ramp up your damage by bypassing defense, oh, and not just for yourself, but your whole team too.
Highly underrated, B.Saw shreds through defenses with ease letting any enemy become easy pickings for anyone to damage, even if they are a mage. While your teammate might only experience 40% of the armor shred, if they have T.Bow, they will pierce for 75% of the enemy's armor. What a mad lad. You do pierce for 65% though.

Alternate Build

Get this instead of B.Saw for burst damage.
Tension Bow
WP: +45
Armor Pierce: +35%
Passive: Every 6 seconds a proc appears in Taka's hands, this red glow is used up in your next basic attack for an additional 50 + (100% bonus) WP Damage. If you get T.Bow first for whatever reason, you will always have 95 damage on proc, along top of 45 as that is the base WP from T.Bow.

Notes: Burst people down.
The psychological effect alone from a well-fed Taka appearing will cause many to flee and the strong hearted to pale with fear.
Couple that with the past experiences of him 1v3-ing your team to death and this T.Bow proc, you get terrified enemies trying to get away instead of attacking you.
Early game, this item is monstrous to any enemy.
Just realize you NEED to have a T1 A.Speed item at the very least to go with it.
(Literally an S.Shooter)
Don't forget House Kamuha!

(125 + 45) + (85 + (45*0.30) + 50 ProcActive + (45 Proc scaling) = 363 DMG

With S.Blade, you would instead do:

(125 + 120 + 45) + (85 + (165*0.30) + 50 ProcActive + (165 Proc scaling) = 639 DMG
At level 12 with one heavy handed T.Bow and M.Strike proc you do 639 raw damage. Taking into account an enemy's base defense, lets say Phinn, he has 100 base armor, you would do 473 Damage. If you were fighting a carry, they usually have 75 armor, you would do 506 damage. Although, as most matches have people getting defense, you would be up against a Slumbering Husk most of the time, so your damage would sink to 439 against a carry.

Typical Item Breakdowns

Aftershock
+25% Cooldown Speed
+1.0 Energy Recharge
+30 Crystal Power

Passive: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals 10% of target's max health as damage with +25% lifesteal. Max 400 damage vs non-heroes. 1s cooldown.
(Enemy shield does reduce the effects of this passive.)

Pros

[*] Deal absurd amounts of damage when you add it on top of your initial X-Retsu or Kaiten, Kaku also lets you set up a last hit if Mortal Strike is available
[*] Farm better in general, even in lane
[*] Cooldown speed helps a bunch even with passive
[*] Offers a small heal which actually helps a lot more than you think
[*] Small energy regen shines when paired with Halcyon Chargers

Cons

[*] Not a lot of CP means not a lot of ability damage
[*] If you can't time your abilities correctly, then this item is not cost effective

Broken Myth
+35% Shield Pierce
+50 Crystal Power
Enemies have those pesky shields? Get this and you'll wreck them mate.
Or at least hurt them a lot.
Useful no matter what. Even if enemies do not have shield yet, getting this as a second item lets your damage (generally) stay relevant no matter what.


Clockwork
+30 Crystal Power
+35% Cooldown Speed
+400 Max Energy
+5 Energy Recharge

Passive: Upon damaging an enemy hero with an ability, refresh all ability cooldowns by 10% (maximum 3s). This can only occur once every 3s.

Shatterglass
CP: +130
Note: Crystal Power boosts your Hero's ability according to different skills, due to lower or higher CP Ratios.
For example:
A 100% CP ratio means that 100% of your extra Crystal Power goes into that ability. Whereas 50% CP Ratio only uses half of your CP for the ability, and etc.
Usually the first item you get, but B.Myth's and Clockwork's passive amplify your 70 CP to a high enough amount that it's more of a mid-late game item.
Then your 220 CP becomes 275 CP with C.Work passive.

Halcyon Chargers are the default last item due to the sustain and small health pool it gives. The utility of being able to run longer than your opponents helps when fleeing or catching up. The CDR gives you more spam time, and let's you escape more often. It also does its job as boots.

Complete
Taka, like most Assassins, doesn't fare well in Battle Royale if you're getting focused on by the enemy.
If they are not doing that, you have free rein over the match.

Battle Royale is mostly based on team comps as well.
Building defense first helps, like most games.

Enemies usually try to go for the burst-iest build possible, meaning that if you can survive the first wave, you'll be able to catch them off guard.

Staying in the top bush is best, usually closer to their side, as most skillshot heroes will fire into your team's end of the bush.

To bluntly put it, it's Battle Royale, just go and beat up some people really.
It's not really meant to be taken seriously.
(I'm a hypocrite on this.)

Viable Hybrid Build works great on this as well, especially if your team doesn't seem to understand or want to play their position.

Rare Talent offers incredible reach and damage, but I find epic to be more useful as healing up and not dying from insta-death abilities is much more useful.

Legendary is for fun.

Note: Some of the Videos have NO AUDIO

This is due to Android, and because it does not have any current API for Marshmallow, or something like that. Its been updated, so most will have audio now.
These are also usually full-length gameplay videos, where you get to see how I use Taka's mechanics and put them into play.
I'm currently having some problems recording gameplay though, if you were wondering why no new ones were appearing other than "My Profile". It's all because of random lag and game crashing and etc.

Viable Hybrid Solo Practice Test Run

Play Video
^Not really that interesting, as it's literally just a test of that build in solo practice. Wouldn't watch it.

WP Defensive/ Hybrid Casual Match

Play Video
I got matched up with lower ELO here.
The game where I killed a lot of unhappy people, and messed up a little (got too cocky), but we're all human. (Right...?) Some key things about Taka are demonstrated here in this one video.
(Kaku/Kaiten usages, positioning, when to attack and when not to, the works.)

Stutter Stepping

Play Video
Taka Stutter Step Video, it would be better if I had got some attack speed to show it better.

Taka CP Defensive with Stormcrown Gameplay

Play Video
CP Taka gameplay. CP Taka is really my "weak" point, since I'm more used to him slicing people up instead of mainly using abilities, still fun to play though, and it really emphasizes hit-and-run Assassin mechanics.

BRONZE POA RNKD WP/Defensive Taka match

Play Video
This video actually has audio. MIND BLOWING, I know. This video showcases Taka mechanics better than the other videos. Other than the odd moment where I die due to very poor timing or overestimation of what the enemy is doing, it will show me just destroying people because they chose the wrong type of Hero. My Roamer does an excellent job with scout trap placement as well as assisting. My team comp was pretty decent as well.

Roam Taka

Play Video A really decent playthrough of Taka as a roamer.
You're gonna see me change a lot of items and evade capture quite a bit.
Taka roam is more viable than most think, and his damage is still very strong. At first I was going to go for BP to build stacks on the unarmored SAW, but I eventually went for CW and SC to help fight objectives and dodge Catherine's stuns. (And to mess around with the enemy team.)

SKILL TIER GENERAL NOTES

Some examples:
Unranked to Rock Solid:
These tiers generally have either Low ELO or High ELO, so don't rage when you lose a match.
This is due to a general mismatch of High ELO players coming back from a hiatus of Vainglory or "smurf" players who steamroll, then there are the actual people who are just starting ranked, and are getting toasted.

Decentish... er I mean Got Swagger Bronze to Gold:
The most infamous tier(s), akin to League of Legends' Bronze V skill tier.
It's infamous for a reason. "EVERYONE" is stuck here, except for that legendary percentage of people who are above.
I nickname it "The Rage Tier" (I raged a lot)
Once you hit your promotion to Got Swagger bronze, make sure you have friends who can play, like honestly.
Most of the time, it is one teammate, or both that is screwing up, not you.
(Unless I'm in lane, then it's most assuredly me)
(It could be you though, if you don't know what you're doing, don't try to "command" other players, know your limits and don't overestimate yourself.)
In this tier most people will AFK/Rage Quit, if you still manage to pull off a win, good for you, if not, it's still ok since the AFK thing has been improved.
In these tiers, most people are still getting a grasp on who and how they're playing.
Or maybe not. (RIP Those poor souls who get matched up constantly with that one feeding team.)
Basically, this is still "low ELO".
Here most won't build any defense, unless they are building with a guide or Recommended build.
How I managed to fly out of these evil tiers, is by purely playing Taka with WP Defensive build.
OH LAWDS, THANK YOU FOR GRANTING ME THIS WONDERFUL IDEA FOR THIS BUILD!
Like really.
Screwing around with this build for one game made me stick with it.
Back to the subject...
Most people are high damage, low defense.
How do you counter this?
Stay average.
???
Average????
Basically find a middle ground, where Offense and Defense meet at a perfect ratio.
Assassin: More damage, but still some defense, along with a good amount of utility.
(My build takes more defense, but damage scales over time.)
Usually strong as hell in the early game, so combining some defense will add a more late game-ish feel to them.
Sniper: High Damage, some/little defense and some utility.
Some stuns, heals, slows, and the like.
Mage: VERY High Damage, little/Mah Boots defense and decent utility.
Warrior: Average Damage, More Defense, Some/More utility.
Roam: Low Damage, High Defense, More utility.
Your defense, if it's incredibly high, let's you tank more damage and yet still deal back some, since they don't have any, or very little.
In the end, you wreck them.
High defense usually wins over high offense. (BUT NOT ALWAYS)
This is how you'll get out of this tier, with some help with party play and friends.

The Hotness and above:
This is where people have gotten their niche in.
They know how to play, they've suffered countless attempts and trials all reach this point.
THEY WILL NOT BACK DOWN.
NO MERCY.
NO GAMES.
THIS IS IT.
The instant we find a weakness, it will be capitalized.
Team vision will be a must.
Expect enemies to pull wins out of their magic hats.
Close games will be highly common, making VG decently more fun than other lower ELO tiers.
Expect some WP Laners to carry Shiversteel, maybe even some warriors. This lets them peel and stick onto you, taking you down.
Drafting will occur 99% of the time.

---

*background cheering*
WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!
OH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ambushes will come out of nowhere like Randy Orton's RKO's. (And just as effective, if not more.)
RKO OUT OF NOWHERE!!

---

You will be built against a lot of talented people (people pay attention to their screen), so expect more defense on everyone, utility items will be more frequent, and team comps might be varied.
One Team Comp Example:
SAW, Adagio, and Alpha.
Adagio buffs SAW, Alpha slows down enemies and keeps them at bay from SAW.
Adagio heals Alpha while she gains health with each hit.
SAW mows down enemies, if Apha needs to retreat, SAW holds the line.
If Alpha can't kill a target in time, SAW can slow them down and catch up with a quick Roadie Dash.
Etc.
So look out for high Crowd Control teams, and try not to pick a team composed of entirely lone wolf (Taka, Black Feather, Ringo, etc.) heroes, or High Damage/Low Defense heroes, no CC effect heroes, or "greedy" (Vox, Krul, high Farm) heroes.
If you get stuck with a bad team composition, TEAM COORDINATION IS KEY.
PING THE HELL OUT OF THE MAP.
(Not literally, that will get you banned.)
Oh and watch out for Catherine, Celeste, and Glaive.
If it happens, GGWP M80, I wish you luck.
Skin to win. Don't forget that.

Simply Amazing is more like Simply Derping in some cases.
Pinnacle of Awesome also translates to Pinnacle of Derp.
Why?
Because Shino.
No actually it's really because people get really cocky and forego defense all together, or the trolls roll in and they only ever seem to be on your team.
*thinking about the CP Krul I played with this morning*
At first they are really really good.
Then the first time they die after you kept giving them YOUR kills, they rage-ping you.
???
And then when you look at them, they don't even have boots.
Like, seriously?
Then they start intentionally feeding and you know the drill.

And once you get a really, really, really easy win, just know that you invited elo Hell for a very *fascinating* trip around the Halcyon Fold.

Roam is more fun here, but highly stressful when your team goes for Glass Cannon builds, or even worse, buys really random items.
For an example, I once had a guy built Sorrowblade on a Lyra. Like, seriously? (This was back when that was not really viable)
What are you doing??????

Roam Mains pop up more often, god bless them, they usually know what they're doing, unlike me, and they are really really awesome.

PRAISE THE MAIN ROAMS.
THEY ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE HALCYON FOLD, FOREVER FORGOTTEN BUT MORE THAN INSTRUMENTAL IN VICTORY.

But seriously. They're really pivotal, so don't ever anger one or you will never get that clutch FtoRl Heal or Crucible block.

Other than that, watch JG rotations, and try to allow your laner to either:

• Go JG Shopping, where you sit in Tri-Bush and guard.
• Go Back to Base, where you and/or your roam freezes the minion wave on your side, don't take minions except for last hits, and even then that's a big iffy.
• or simply help them in lane once your JG is cleared.
  
  Helping your laner after the first JG Rotation isn't advised when you're Taka, unless you already started steamrolling. However, if the enemy is there, go protect the laner. You're not the carry, they are.
  
  You can camp lane, but I don't recommend it, because going to invade the enemy JG is far more profitable, and keeps them from regaining their much-needed CS.
  After the Minion Miner spawns, don't invade backs at all.
  
  Even if you aren't on a killing frenzy, and you've somehow died, the JG Creeps respawn fairly quickly at the start of the match, meaning that farming will bring you back up to speed.
  
  Insert more rambling and you get the gist.

These Builds are highly flexible, but it's all how you play with Taka.
By now, it should be well known that Assassins get in and get out.
Hit and Run tactics are the norm for the light defense Taka builds. Get to know Taka, and play him right.
The heavy defense/bruiser Taka builds let you have more room to flee and engage.
(The WP and Defense build isn't exactly Hit and Run. It's more like Hit, run circles around them and then Run.) [Into more enemies preferably]
(The Crystal Power build actually works on a lot of other heroes as well, for example, Koshka.)

Know when to engage and to disengage from your targets.
This is especially important in ranked play, since different skill tiers actually change the flow of gameplay, they really do. Especially some item usages and build types.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Taka's old difficulty rating was High, and even with the new reworks, I'd still say he needs a lot of practice to fully utilize his combos and know how to use Kaku correctly and which direction to go with it.
(He has a "medium" difficulty now?????????)

And yes, I do realize that some of the item categories are a little mixed up, it's the first time I've made a build, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to move those blasted things around.
Note: As of 1.20 and now at 3.9, the people of VGFIRE haven't found a way to do that yet.

Also, for those wondering about the threats, it's really up to how you play with him, if you blatantly enjoy running into people, you're gonna have a very difficult game, hit and run tactics are the best, but you also need to know when to stick to your target with these builds.

In all seriousness, when you're up against another Taka, unless they build some defense, their Taka is going to die.
(If they build defense it gets interesting, and if they use this build... well. May the better/lucky Taka win.)

Since this build (WP Defensive) gives you all the Defense in the world alongside of decently horrifying Damage Potential, most enemies are going to go down really quick, unless they have some form of defense.
When I say PvP, I mean this build is highly effective against other players, against minion/monsters, it takes a while to farm effectively. (1.17 Note: BP has regained a bit of its WP, farming is way easier now) (As of 3.9 everything is meaningless)

If you liked it, or want to ask about anything, just vote or comment down below, in the meantime I'll keep updating this build guide.
Like really, vote. This guide has wayyyyyy to many views to only have just....
Edit: holy smokes, 44 votes??

Unless it you didn't like it or something.
Must of been the humor.

Meanwhile in-game if I see you using this build, I sincerely will be highly flattered. (Because the VG community has grown and I don't see anyone else with any Old Skill indicators, LE Rona, Cath, Taka, Petal, Celeste, Fortress, etc.)
And will point you out. (By trying to kill you first.)

If you're wondering about me, I've been playing before seasons were a thing.
So way before Season 0 came out and when Taka literally just came out, and he was the login screen!
He was beyond stupid powerful, dominating the meta, even with weird builds. (Defense only build?? TANKA??? Catherine Stun Bug????)
I am currently "retired" from ranked matches but still sitting from a decay at Credible Threat Bronze (not too amazing) and I am still not in any teams, but I'm a Veteran of a small guild called Touch Arcade.
Whoa_Silnt***asnNinja. <- IGN as it shows in a match.
I have 4643 Wins and counting.
What more authenticity do you people want???
Outdated Videos, lol.

Play Video


Update on my Ranked Skill Tier!
Play Video
For those who survived and endured the terrible humor, random Rona puns, and the occasional Kakashi reference, thank you.

Anyways, get back to slicing and dicing those tin cans.
"Hey, I thought we were besties!"- Taka.

Other Notes are at the bottom.

5/5/16

Major Changes:

New Build Guide Section: Taka Strategies! WIP
Putting in more Math into Weapon Power Notes.
"Taka's Abilities and Play Styles" section actually has his abilities and some tiny notes on his play styles. Will add more Playing styles.

Minor Changes:

All Sections look a little neater!
I've been taking more time into looking for coding techniques to slowly polish this admittedly messy guide.
CURRENTLY TRYING TO FIX ALL THE BUGS. UGH!

5/5/16

Minor Changes...

More stuff being changed...

5/6-9/16

Overwatch Beta happened...

Too "busy" to make any really changes to the guide.
(Tracer, Genji, and Mei; my favorites.)

However, I fixed that really dumb error I made in the "Taka Strategies" section.
I'm very sorry to those who saw that mess.
Also a new, general hero tips section will appear.
(I also encountered someone who used this guide in a ranked game. I sadly don't remember who they were, but needless to say, I know how to counter these builds. I'm sorry whoever it was, but I was not gonna stay in bronze all season.)
But that means...

I'M BACK IN BUSINESS.
Update: I got shoved back into Bronze.
*sarcasm*
Yay.

5/10/16

New Updates Rolling Out!

Major Updates:

More WP notes.
Talking about fighting against no Armor and builds for that.
"Defence" finally changed to Defense.
Removed Jangles the Space Monkey ASCII Artwork.
Disclaimer put up.
More Colors!
Random Changes and Fixes.

5/11/16

Catherine Guide in process...
Krul Guide Online. (WIP)

5/13/16

CATHERINE GUIDE IS AMAZING

Looks better than this guide!
I will publish the Catherine guide first and then update this guide afterwards.

I've been out sick

Sorry people

5/23/16

I'm back.
This guide is going to get some Roam Taka Strategies and stuff.
New Roam build paths for him as well.
Roam Taka is OP as heck. I mean, true damage?
Ouch.

5/27/16

MAJOR CLEANING UP OF BUILDS HAS HAPPENED

New Tables have been added!
Random fixes here and there in grammar.
Random visible bb code has been dealt with.

6/19/16

Big Update

No one is really commenting, so I have added much, much more things.
CP DEFENSIVE TAKA:
Has now been changed; No Metal Jacket
Metal Jacket has been replaced with Shatter Glass
AC can be switched out for a Eve of Harvest for more energy and that wonderful Crystal Life steal.

Taka Strategies Section: Complete!

Other Notes:
Noticing a lot of people using these builds though!
(Mainly WP Defensive)
Still confused on why only three votes, after all I've seen tons more use these builds.
Those new Items are confusing me.

6/22/16

Updates

Item builds have the new items and have been changed!
New Build online! (Hybrid Taka)
New section based on Halcyon Chargers VS Journey Boots.
More terrible humor!

6/23/16

VIDEOS!

Videos on each of the builds are coming up slowly!
No audio however, due to Android restrictions and API things.
(Still pretty decent to watch with your own music)
Youtube links are near the bottom of the guide.

6/25/16

Some Changes

Just kidding.
HUGE CHANGES!
New Section in the Author's Notes!
(Skill tiers)
Rewording to make this guide less confusing!
No more chicken nuggets.
Removed no-longer applicable things!
Explanation of Taka's bruiser style more apparent, I even added a video for it!
(Second Video)
Killed more bugs.
Completely nuked Ringo in a 1v1. (Like usual)
And then his fleeing team.
And general updates.

6/26/16

M04r Polish

Skill Tier section removed from Author's Notes.
Its a new chapter by itself!
Which makes more sense.
(It also looked really ugly.)
What's a Bruiser? Reworked.
Some person named DarkPotato very nearly copied my threat meter. (He promised to change it)
Not sure what to think, as it made me raise an eyebrow in surprise/flattery, since its really close.
Lol.

6/27/16

More Polish

The polishing brush finally found the Threat meters.
*sarcasm*
Apparently, phones can be much better than PC's on a PC site.

6/28/16

Good or Bad???

More "humor" and overthinking in the "Kaiten and Kaku usage" section.
Some rather glaring mistakes have been removed.

7/3/16

Some changes

Possible mlg Vox guide coming up.
Obviously with terrible humor, cliches and stuff.
Removed more chicken nuggets.
Also... Battle Royale Chapter and builds made.

7/10/16

EVERY RANKED GAME I'VE PLAYED EVER SINCE THIS NEW PATCH EITHER HAS A VOX, OR THE MOST EFFECTIVE TEAM OF CATHERINE, GLAIVE, AND CELESTE. ITS LITERALLY JUST STUN AFTER STUN AFTER STUN, ITS THE MOST BROKEN TEAM COMP I'VE SEEN.
I CAN'T EVEN LEAVE THE HOLE THAT IS ROCK SOLID IN RANKED.
ARGGHHHHJJ
*Clears throat*
Anyways....

Some Build Item changes

Its to fit the new meta!
Not really, its because the build guide is seriously messed up.
Like really messed up.
Rewriting some chapters, and threats.
Random references added.

7/13/16

I MADE IT TO THE WEEKLY STAFF PICKS OH MY GOODNESS THATS BEYOND AMAZING THANK YOU STAFF PEOPLE THIS IS NOT WHAT I EVER COULD HAVE IMAGINED WITH THIS GUIDE HOLY SHIBA INU THANK YOU.
Even of this thank you is somewhat belated.

Changes:

Tiny Changes really.
:P
I'm also wondering how many Taka monstrosities I've just let out into the world ever since I made this build.
Like really.
HOW MANY?????

7/14/16

Update:

Table of Contents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long overdue update really...
Cuz honestly who reads these Updates?
*reading comments, raises eyebrow*
**one random reader: "I don't read those updates."**
***confusion intensifies***
****paradox blackhole forms, sucking in all the build guides****
Table Of Contents template also beat my a** around quite a bit.
One of the administrators made the template for it though. Thank you Mowen!

7/15/16

Koshka, anyone?

I'm putting up a guide about this Cat Lady, for those who still play her. (I have yet to see another Koshka player in months)
It will be pretty similar to this Taka guide in fact.

7/15/16 [/h2]

Minor Update:

I don't have much to do, so over the course of the day excpect some Threat to be added to some of the builds and some bb code formatting.
Okay. I lied. I put in a completed list of threats for Roam Taka, keep in mind that it is team wise, not against Taka.
Also, the threat list on the original Taka build has been slightly updated, as I realized I missed a completely important item changes when fighting Glaive. From the get go, build a Sorrowblade, get a P.Spear and then rush an A.Shock when you can. This lets you do more damage, and let's you do more X-Retsus frequently, along with the 15% Max Health Damage.

7/16/16

New Build!

There is a new build, Crit. WP Hit and Run Defensive.
Serpent Mask Heals Taka, while the B.Point and B.Saw combo increases his DPS output. Aegis gives Taka the bare minimum defense and Reflex Block, and to top it off, Tyrant's Monocle escalates his DPS to Absurd amounts, rivaling a CP Taka's X-Retsu at half B.Point Stacks. OP as hell, for those who want a more Assasin-Like Taka, but one with some defenses or sustain.

7/16/16

Small chapter added : Stutter Stepping!

Its escalating quickly.
Like going to work/school on monday and then a zombie apocalypse starts along with nuclear warfare kind-of escalating.
I'm also trying not to be a megalomaniac when I get on killing sprees with any champ.
This is because your mere presence alone will deter a whole entire team.
MWHAHAJAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
DIE DIE DIE!!!!
Yeah. Too many CP SAW/WP Taka killing sprees mess you up in the head.

7/20/16

Small Build Added!

It's more of a Traditional Assassin Build, for fighting against Krul, since this update has boosted him with a rather strong Health Barrier.
CP Taka Notes has gotten a little more love as well!.
Much more honestly.

7/23/16 [/h2]

Welp, there's a new video!

CP Taka!

{H1]7/24/16

CHANGED THE CP BUILD, CP IS ALSO GETTING MORE TLC

A person commented on my CP Defensive Taka, and said that the build wasn't doing much damage.
When I looked through it again I realized that I had made A.Shock the first Item to get instead of Shatterglass.
My bad, and now you should be dominating early game better and/or doing more damage.

CP items also have an actual description on why I chose them in the CP Notes section.
How I forgot to add that, the world may never know.
I'm also unsure of what thoughts I had in mind when I put the Taka Strategies before the actual WP or CP notes.
...
To be honest, I'm horribly lazy right now.
Also feel much more cynical and satirical.
Must be all the British Marmite and AllSorts.
I mean, I shouldn't even enjoy it since I'm not nearly old enough to even look at those foods and say "those taste good."
Also, British people are awesome.
Not that I am.
Why am I saying this?

7/27/16

Well. This 1.20 update got real.

SEMC really threw a curveball.
Like they really did.
Clockwork is actually a very good item now.
Doesn't mean the utility items aren't viable though.
Since Bonesaw has reduced WP, I finally changed the Wp Defensive build into the more practical S.Blade, B.Point, and B.Saw.
Most of the WP guide is messed up now due to the simple change of B.Saw.
It takes forever to edit this guide as well, since VGFIRE doesn't want me to move Item Builds around; this means I have to delete everything and do it over. Yay.
CP however is still rolling well.

7/27/16

CP DEFENSIVE TAKA REVAMPED AF

A total recomplete doing of CP Taka.
Kinda.
He has more defense, and is more OP than I had actually thought possible. That's even without a C.Infusion.
He waltzes and kills people for giggles in very short times.
A.Shock has been removed in favor of Clockwork.


GanonTARDIS this is my guide, if you were looking for it.
Does anyone read this section?
I really want to know.

7/29/16

More builds

For those who just want a traditional Assassin experience, I've added another build for you.
It applies to both WP and CP.
Hope it helps.
I've added more on the current situation with B.Saw as well.

7/30/16

More stuff in "Stutter Stepping and more Wisdom"

Talks about True DMG and Pierce DMG.
Also a link to BlueBagder's guide on such things. He is a very well renowned user in hidden VG stuff.
CHECK IT OUT IT'S AMAZING

WP notes will also be changed a little.

8/3/16

Broken Myth:(Web and Item)

So I was surfing the interwebs, when I managed to find my WP Defensive Taka build on B.Myth!
(The website)
It was pretty legit.
(Or a variant of it)

Also, met this really awesome player, D...cast (Not the full username, can't have that floating around)
He had a really good CP Ringo, and was doing tons of damage.
I'm also changing a little more stuff here and there.
(Removing things about B.Myth that were wrong)

8/5/16

RANKED PROMOTION???

I'm now Simply Amazing Bronze.
Y***SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
Anyways some small changes as usual will be made.
Small Video added about my profile on VG.

8/8/16
I BLAZED PAST SIMPLY AMAZING, HOLY MOTHER OF SHIBA INU, I AM NOW PINNACLE OF AWESOME BRONZE THAT FEELING I HAVE IS BEYOND GIDDY

Will add a new section tomorrow! Its gonna detail more strategies once you reach EVEN HIGHER ELO.
It was hell for my poor Taka
(When he wasn't getting banned)
simply because I was using my build that was far too defensive, or because people knew what the new generation of Taka's were like.
It also makes me wonder how long I've exactly been playing. And how many people/turrets/minions I've accumulatively destroyed.
(Shoulder shrug)

8/9/16

Finished the two new builds

S.Amazing and Above Ranked Weapon/Crystal Power complete.
Cleaned up some of the guides and removed a few builds.

8/10/16

More content added and "Builds for S.Amazing and Above" section completed

Minor changes and added another T.o.C for those whose who read this section.

8/12/16

So I was messing on Excel

(Bet you don't hear that often outside of office work)
When I found that Taka does a whopping total 911 WP Damage with WP defensive if he ever gets full stacks on BP.
This is before applying B.Saw and armor reduction.
Against 200 Armor, which is a roamer, he does over 350 damage with full B.Saw stacks on said roam.
Small changes have been added here and there, and more clarification has been put into the builds.

8/14/16

Minor Changes

A little bit o' polish if you will.

8/16/16

Minor Changes

Still adding polish.
"S.A and Above" and "Skill tiers" chapter have more content and tips.

8/20/16

Changes:

• More stuff in CP Section
• More content in general
• Was working on an app
• I changed some things in CP Defensive Taka
• Another video added. ACTUALLY HAS AUDIO
• Pointless and utterly terrible humor added
• Shout out to the people who main Roam, cuz they are awesome and deserve the love

Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road to waking up.

8/27/16

SCHOOL STARTED UGHHHHH

This is why there haven't been any updates in a while.
And why this won't be updated so often.

8/30/16

Some polish

Not sure what to add honestly. (8:38 PM)
This uncertainty is gonna change in a few moments and a new chapter is probably gonna be added. GGWP.

8/31/16

New Sections

Critical Hits and more info added randomly throughout the guide.

The thing that was updated most and will be updated even more today is:
"Stutter Stepping and More Wisdom"

• Critical Hits added to that section
• Skill Skipping will be added today
• Attack Speed will also be discussed

Some parts of this guide is honestly becoming more "General".

9/8/16

Finished the Condensed Guide

I'm probably gonna do more polish today.

9/15/16

Absolutely in love with update 1.22

Wow, it's a pretty good update.
From opals, reloaded skill tier systems, special skin identifier hype or dis-hype? To Baron, Nerfs, and decent buffs, update 1.22 is pretty jame packed with great content.

This guide will be receiving small revisions in addition to the ever-present OCD of my updating/polishing brush.

This update is links. Lots of links. Make the text flair better, ya know?

10/6/16

SO MUCH SCHOOL

I finally have time to get back to VG.
Expect an new build to come out for Taka.
You can see the preview for it already.

10/8/16

NEW BUILD: THE NEW META WP/CP

Its a hybrid build, but really effective.

I've been playing for a bit and I keep facing people with Stormcrown, so I just decided to create a build centered around it.

This is the main build for it, I have described offshoots of it in the build section as well.

• Stormcrown
• Tension Bow
• Alternating Current
• Aegis
• Atlas Pauldron
• Halcyon Chargers

I also suck at VG now, no practice in too long, R.I.P VG SKILLS/MECHANICS.

10/28

Its been a while.

Far too long.
So many updates.
Imma play VG and get back to y'all with new info for this update.

Happy Halloween!(Belated)

Im back with results:

Roam Taka Video coming into guide.
Also, Roam Taka build updated for 1.23.
Expect Video tommorrow.

11/10/16

WP Taka Status

So uh...
Yeah.
WP Taka has been nerfed beyond the point of comprehension.
He was at first spat on, then kicked into the dirt before SEMC picked him back up and throw him into a ditch somewhere in 1.23 and 1.24.
Now his grave is being desecrated with the nerf.

Theres been speculation on the VG forums and what not (from me and many others) and we're hoping flr a Halcyon Renaissance of sorts to appear for the whole game.

Getting back on topic, I made it so CP Infusions are way valued over WP infusions.

Why? CP gives Taka some of his nerfed CDA back and makes his burst and DoT noticeably stronger.
Thats just sadly the way we have to play now.
(For the few WP Taka mains.)

11/11/16

Veterans Day

We the people thank the dedicated men and women who served and fought for the United States, this announcement is the least we can do to honor their sacrifice and determination.

11/22/16

Minor Update

Its a tiny update regarding Stormcrown.
1.24 is centered around SC really.
Good for Taka CDA nerf, adds better clear time, gives you some health too.

A must need, and I'm regularly taking it over Bonesaw.

12/19/16

Sorry people

Haven't done a good update in forever.
Expect a good 2.0 Update to come around efore Christmas.
As of now, I'll do item changes.
PS: Stormguard Banner is my first item after the Light Defense combo. The utility/wave clear is immense, and the damage on heroes is decent, even if it isn't the main point.

2/13/17

I actually updated!

Also, the other guides with "Silent Assassin" are not made by me unless it has my name as the author, er... obviously.

Anyways, 2.0 chapter has some stuff in it along with what I'm currently running with as I play this much more fleshed out WP Taka.

2/18/17

Apparently, there is a contest!

Yeah... I just read that, haha.
*fail*

That means actual updates now.

4/28/17

It has been a while. Far too long.

4/4/18

Its been a year. Wow. Alright so I changed some things and completely removed a build for CP. WP Taka is updated for the S.Amazing and above build.

6/9/18

Removing chapters here and there. Updating in general. Sorry for the usual mess.

1/12/19

Removed builds and updated them.

1. Build Guide Updates and General News 1.1 Most recent update(s) 2. Build Background 3. General Notes 3.1 Why buy defense first or at all? 3.2 Halcyon Chargers or Journey Boots? 3.3 WP or CP? 3.4 What's a Bruiser? 3.5 Stutter Stepping and More 3.6 Taka Play Styles and Abilities 3.7 Builds for S.Amazing and Above 3.8 Kaiten/Kaku Usage 4. Strategies and Notes 4.1 Taka Strategies 4.2 WP Notes 4.3 CP Notes 4.4 Battle Royale 5. Gameplay/Taka Mechanics Videos 6. Skill Tiers 7. Author's Notes 8. Condensed Guide 9. 2.0 10. Takatics

This is the skeletonized version of my entire guide, excluding the more general topics like:

• Boots and which ones are more useful.
• Stutter Stepping and Other Wisdom, which holds a lot of stuff.
• Video Gameplay/Examples
• Skill Tiers
• Battle Royale
• Possibly more

Defense and Utility

Defense adds a psychological layer of attack to enemy morale.
Being able to survive many successive attacks is generally useful anyways.
Getting defense also lets you take an even more aggressive approach.

Get it early, either as your first and second items, or your second and third items.

For example:
L.Armor, L.Shield and then a Weapon Blade.
Or
Weapon Blade, L.Armor, and L.Shield.

Weapon Power

Consistent damage output is great.

On Taka, you either pick a burst/light defense build or scaling/heavy-medium defense build.

A bursty assassin build lets you get in and get out after killing an enemy, but when the enemy focuses on you, you are very vulnerable. This lets you dice an enemy laner and snowball all over the enemy quickly. (Or at least in theory.)

A defensive brawler build lets you have a more reliable team fighter and deal tons of damage while being a general decoy. You will want a good amount of Weapon power or damage in general. This path gives a very quick setup that lets you dominate most of the game.

Whatever path you choose decides your play-style for that game.

Crystal Power

Huge burst potential, can eliminate carries easily.
Can sort of 1v1 Kraken with correct Kaiten/Kaku timing and leashing. Can't destroy structures well due to lack of X-Retsu DOT.

Crystal Taka is very dangerous towards any low health hero, and will assassinate them easily.

Kaku will heal enormous amounts, which is helpful for Glass-Cannon builds.

Either path, whether the Glass-Cannon, or Defensive build, will require some general knowledge on timing.
Utilize your low cool down to its max effectivness and escape through walls with X-Retsu or the very rare
Kaiten or two.

Be careful of prolonged engagements even with defense, since CP Taka uses X-Retsu DOT as a crutch for DPS and will only be able to effectively focus on one target.

Basic Taka Mechanics

House Kamuha:
Grants 1 Ki stack every five seconds, up to a max of 5, reduces Ki stack cooldown by 0.9.
Every Ki stack is granted on a Mortal Strike. (When Taka's hands glow)
Also grants 25% Cooldown every stack.

A Mortal Strike does (30-63 + Base WP + (35%*Extra Weapon Power).

Kaiten:
Use it to block debilitating damage or abilities, simple as that. Try to make it Overdrived unless you have sufficient energy. By sufficient energy I mean like 2-3 Energy items, like Clockwork, Eve of Harvest, and Halcyon Chargers. You can sometimes clip through walls with this, but it is seriously rare. Also use it on minions or people near Arden's Gauntlet to either get in or to escape it.

Kaku:
Either engage or disengage/escape with it. It lets you negate damage in the sense of being unable to be targeted (*heckn invisible).
Be wary of lock on/target based abilities or skill shots, as these will either track or hit you through sheer luck.
Time it so you don't get hit and get your Kaku-getaway end with you in the middle of a rather awkward situation.

If you need to, reflex block flares before they reach you so you can remain undetected. Not that you should, but still.

X-Retsu:
Execute and engage with this. To escape or juke enemies, use it to clip through walls or dodge enemy skill shots. (Kestrel's One Shot, One Kill)
The damage over time and mortal wound also negates enemy health regeneration by a good deal.

End:
That's really all there is to it. For more info and elaboration on the topics, read the whole guide. (Yeah right as of anyone has time to do that. :p )
It contains a lot of information and requires decent time to read, but is still very helpful.
You might even find something you didn't know!

Weapon Items:
[*] Sorrowblade
[*] Serpent Mask
[*] Spellsword
[*] Breaking Point
[*] Poisoned Shiv
[*] Bonesaw
[*] Tension Bow
[*] Tornado Trigger
[*] Tyrant Monocle

Using Kaiten on a SAW about to shank you will cause him to roll into you, as in if you were heading left and he was to attempt to stab you in the front, he would roll behind you and fly off into the right. Difficult to explain but its really funny when you set it up just right and watch SAW get hit by turret fire. Basically, he normally goes where he doesn't want to head.

You can dodge Alpha's Prime Directive in a 1v1 at long range without using Kaiten -- using X-Retsu right before she dashes to you will place you on the spot Alpha was a few miliseconds ago, and since her damage is only applied during the spin animation, you essentially dodged her damage. Useful when Kaiten is on CD, but only works if she is visible at long range, other wise you will just X-Retsu slightly in her damage circle.

X-Retsu or Kaiten on a Target running off into a Lyra portal will cause Taka to either shoot off onto the spot the enemy was, or cause him to spin away into a portal.

Ardan's Gauntlet or Lyra's barrier can be breached with a good Kaiten on the outside or a Reflex Block + X-Retsu combo.
You can also leave Ardan's Gauntlet that way as it doesn't restrict dashes like Lyra's bright Bulwark.

If you're having problems with escaping, walk into a scout-trap-less bush and Kaku the opposite way you came, be wary of skillshot enemies though, as they will let a few abilities off and it might hit you point blank. (Makes for very awkward company, would not reccomend getting hit.)

Look at enemy mana/energy bars, engaging an enemy team when they have low energy is usually a great time to strike, as their dps will be much lower.
I mean, if that Catherine can't stun you, their Ringo can't slow you or rapidly shoot you down and the Koshka can't do noticeable damage, crash into them full-force with a little backup from a Boot active or whatever.

Avoid chasing high-attack speed ranged enemies, as they can stutterstep and move and shoot you down as you're in pursuit. Unless you Kaku or something.

Having trouble fighting that Celeste or Baron? (You shouldn't have much trouble anyways.)
Walk into them.
No really, when you engage, sit on top of them and Kaiten their CC. Keeping slapping away and stutter stepping / repositioning from skill shots as WP and as CP just... delete, I guess?

Kestrel, Skaarf, Samuel got you down?
Get into the strangest positions you possibly can without the enemy team noticing you.
For example, the enemy team engaging your turret. Instead of attacking, let your laner poke and your roamer do damage control. When possible, rush out and do surprising amounts of damage from an angle they weren't expecting at all. A flanking tactic works well since most carries tend to stick to the back of the group.

Ok, so let's get deeper into it instead of this kiddie pool tips n tricks stuff

Basics

Ambushes:
These generally involve bushes. Am-in-bush seems legit right?
Ok, I tried a bit too hard there.
We have seen how well these change the whole dynamic if a battle is tough.
We all learn the hard way.
If the enemy is "obviously" capturing the central objective, wouldn't being in the most random spot be perfect to destroy them? Also, it could be a trap, which is usually is, and no matter how much my gut tells me not to do something, I generally do it and die to something hilariously absentminded.

Early game:
Back to being in the random spot, early game, we all love that Jungle Shop Treant right?
That's nothing compared to an ace.

After a successful capturing of that, what does the enemy do?
They SPLIT UP.
Most solo queue games go like that, and even then most teams do that.

So...
*devious smile*
If we camp the enemy lane bush, wait for their super squishy lane carry to come up through that bush, yeah? You get it? Hehehe.

Now, you're free to invade the enemy team's jungle to your own pleasure and possibly pick up an extra kill or so along the way.

Now, this is not a one hundred percent chance that they will do this.
It's just the norm. If the enemy team seems super cautious, expect more defensive play from them in the early game.
If you do pick up an ace or can force early game pressure on the turret, DO IT.
Getting that one turret out of the way causes the enemy to pick less fights with you, and you can then keep pushing them further and further.

Mid/late game:
So, they're "capturing" some gold or the Kraken, and you find out they really aren't cuz you're whole team is lying dead in the big bush and now they actually are doing said capturing. We all get those moments.
However, if you 100% know that that the enemy team is not doing what they appear to be doing (acting like they are capturing an objective), simply waltz into their tri-bush -- if they don't have scout traps -- to see what is going on. When they decide to go back to their bush, ambush them instead. However, if they don't do anything and you don't either, it's basically "Who goes first?"
At that point, it's just hellish waiting.

Diversions
It is what it is.

While you're fighting at Kraken or trying to kill that roamer who keeps running away at 1 hp, your base explodes and the game is over.
Backdoors, decoys, you name it, it happens.

Pincer Attack:
You're lil ol' Taka, sitting in a bush. Your laner and roam are making a huge show of themselves messing around in lane, and lo' and behold the enemy team emerges from the bush to come and pick a team fight.
Generally, your laner and roam pings you, wondering why you continue to squat in the top lane bush as they get slowly nicked by the enemy team. The enemy team continues to push little by little before they can turret dive, and that's where you come in.

At this moment, their cocky carry usually comes in without a care in the world.
"Haha, Taka isn't there you guys! We scout trapped this place to heck!"
*two scout traps in the bottom lane bushes*

Their Krul or Glaive goes all out and tries to CC your carry to heck while their Ardan or other roamer buffs them and their carry oversteps into X-Retsu range.
Now, it's an involuntary "Pincer Attack (Split push kind of deal)", but now their carry is generally deleted and the enemy team is suffering from turret fire and no bite to make up back up their bark.

And if your team has a competent roamer, they save the carry from certain death with a good heal or buff while you come in as the spear point of your team to go tear through the roamer and the jungler.
Somewhat simple enough.
Basically a "well thought out ambush" now that I thought of it.

Actual Pincer Attack:
Your laner and roamer are a team together, they should stick together in the late game.
You however, can make it out of most places alive with the trusty help of well timed Kaitens and Kaku, possibly a reflex block if worse comes to worse.

You go out as a decoy since most people go straight for Taka, it's a hardwired habit.
Your defense lets you survive while your team is actually in the lane peppering away at enemy structures or capturing Kraken. Sure, you might die, but it's for the team.
And it's all about being a team in this game. Now, this isn't me saying "throw ya body at people as a meat shield", it's me saying, take one for the team and be a good team mate, you're the second "roamer" if you haven't gotten the idea that you're here to distract people with noticeably flashy moves such as giant X marks ripping through people or jumping over people or even that smoke bomb which strikes fear into the hearts of carries and causes roamers to fumble around for a quick flare or for jungler to use AoE in an attempt to uncloak you.

Within the moment their carry messes up and accidentally shoots her Solar Storm into her base or frantically have them shooting off fireballs, that buys your team just enough time to poke and ramp up damage against the enemy.

Having your main damage ability on cooldown is terrible, and as a WP carry, having an invisible Taka use Atlas Pauldron is enough to have you scream in frustration (·SAW·"What happened? Oh shoot." -Dead SAW) when your roamer can't block it because IT WAS INVISIBLE AND NOW EVERYONE IS DYING, OH MY GOODNESS.

It's even better when you casually lay a scout trap right in the middle of them without them considering why their name lit up.

It's far better when you ace them.

Feigning Weakness

*Invisible Taka Kaitens over Ringo, doing little damage*
*Ringo retaliates with a bullet or two*
"Oh no, I took some damage, let me run off!" said Taka.
"Finally! An opportunity to end Taka's killing spree, he used up his Kaku, and now he can't do anything to me!" thought Ringo.
*Ringo starts rushing at Taka, who takes far less damage than he thought*

At this moment, I normally X-Retsu right back into the enemy, all of a a sudden, that Taka doesn't seem to be high tailing it out of here, the next he's having you surrender (not really, more like deleting you) at blade-point.

It lulls the enemy into a false state of security, and if they have been doing decently well against your teammates, why not you? Am I right?

You have some health missing, you're supposedly retreating, and you're still taking damage!
Why not attack?

Meanwhile, you do a complete turn and fly back into said enemy and are now kicking them into the dirt.

It messes with enemy morale which you literally just got up, and it causes you to be a higher threat than your laner or roamer who keeps being attacked.

With you as the top distraction, your team can do damage somewhat safer.

Looking weak, but being at your strongest is as important at looking strongest at your weakest.
*The Art of War by Sun Tzu*

That makes sense right?
Baiting the heck out of people is what it is.

Poking

WP Taka:
X-Retsu, dodge damage and get a few smacks in, Kaku out of there.
Repeat if necessary.

CP Taka:
Be cancerous to the enemy carry, watch them internally scream, Kaku to heal.

Literally, just poke if you can without a worry, similar to Lance and his darned Impale when you're trying to farm as a carry.