Vanguard Marksman
Primary
Tier
Fast 8
1-Cost Reroll
2-Cost Reroll
3-Cost Reroll
Fast 8
Fast 9
1 & 2-Cost Reroll
1 & 3-Cost Reroll
2 & 3-Cost Reroll
9
81
Main
▾
Traits
6
Vanguard
2 > 4 > 6
1
God of the Net
1
3
Anima Squad
3 > 5 > 7 > 10
2
Golden Ox
2 > 4 > 6
2
Marksman
2 > 4
1
Divinicorp
1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7
1
Cypher
3 > 4 > 5
1
Slayer
2 > 4 > 6
1
Syndicate
3 > 5 > 7
6
1
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
Tips & Tricks
- 6 Vanguard received a slight nerf in 14.7, but is still superior to the 4 Vanguard 4 Marksman version.
- With Marksman Emblem, you can play Miss Fortune over Jinx for another Dynamo unit and another strong AD item holder
- Comp tends to cap out low so try and play for winstreaks early / midgame. This means don’t greed for perfect Aphelios or Xayah items. Don’t sit with 3+ components on bench if you can help it.
- Best items on Aphelios are obviously Rageblade and Gunblade, but other good items include: Kraken’s Fury, Giant Slayer, Deathblade, Guardbreaker, Quicksilver, Red Buff. Crit items tend to be better on Xayah, but can build on Aphelios too if you have extra. Be open to slams.
- Xayah does not need Shojin. It’s an acceptable item, but not BiS.
- Try and build 3 proper tank items on Leona if possible and place any utility-based tank items such as Sunfire on a different Vanguard (e.g: Jarvan IV) as Leona can stall a long time especially with Gunblade Aphelios
- The Edge of Night builds for Xayah and Aphelios are for if you have the augment “Not Today”
Strong Conditions
+2 Tier Conditions B → S
Buried Treasures III
Living Forge+1 Tier Conditions B → A
Fishbones
Flickerblade
Gold Collector
Marksman Emblem
Sniper’s Focus
Unending Despair
Vanguard Emblem
Flatline
Not TodayOpeners
Vanguard Slayer
Sylas
Rhaast
Skarner
Vayne
Jarvan IV
4
2
1
Item Priority
Recurve Bow
B.F. Sword
Sparring Gloves
Aphelios
Xayah
Leona
Garen
Golden Ox
Marksman
Aphelios
4
4
Current
Best-in-Slot
Alt Build 1
Alt Build 2
Alt Build 3
Alt Build 4
Alt Build 5
Moonlight Vigil
)
Buffer Overflow
Solar Flare
)
Banwave
Economy Strategy
- Level to 4 if you have upgrades and a good item to place on one of those upgrades.
- Level to 5, unless on 3 loss streak.
- Level to 6 if on 4+ win streak (scout to see if necessary in high elo) or can stay above 40g.
- Level to 6, unless you would go below 30g. If you have to stay level 5 due to low gold (rare), then level to 6 on 3-5.
- Level to 7 if you can stay above 30g, otherwise stay level 6.
- Level to 7.
- Level to 8. Roll for desired comp until stable. “Stable” changes depending on rank, items, augments, composition, and patch. Melee carries and tanks get the biggest spike for 2-stars. Usually stable involves 2-star tank or carry and some other supporting 2-stars. Try not to roll below 10g.
- If you are weak (e.g., have no 2-star 4-costs), consider rolling again to 10g here. If you are stable, save gold to go 9.
- If you are low HP and haven’t 2-starred your carry and tank, roll to 0g. If you have medium to high HP with an upgraded + itemized 4-cost unit and some other upgrades, save gold to go 9.
- If high HP, consider waiting until 5-5 to go level 9. If medium HP, consider going level 9 if you can roll 20g or wait until 5-5. If low HP and can afford to go 9, do so even if you have almost no gold to roll on 9. If you can’t afford to go 9 this game, roll every turn for upgrades.
- Level to 9 if possible. From this point onward, look to level to 9. Acknowledge games where level 9 is not possible and roll every turn on 8 to preserve placements.
- For max cap games, you can either roll on 9 or level to 10. If you are itemizing a 5-cost carry and it is 1-starred, roll on 9. If you have all your main itemized units upgraded, level to 10.
early one better to kinda build items for aphelios or xayah ? i mean i dont know who ill hit first
you can go for IE or anything that increase crits like quicksilver, though I don’t think crits are strong early. I always aim to rageblade > red buff > shojin > last whisper = ie > runaan deathblade etc
Runaan is listed as a good item for both xayah and aphelios though I don’t think it works that well. Deathblade is something if im desparate bc it takes 2 swords which can later on turned into shojin ie or gunblade. Red buff is solid if I have a bow and can get another one in carousel, big tempo item. IE is always slammable midgame. Though I always prioritize true tank item on 2 stars tank then make utilities later on then finally go for bis that I didn’t have like ie, rageblade. Sorry for the long rant I hope it helps. Just remember to tempo it and enjoy your free top 3.
At one point you offered this as a pivot option to being contested on tf with rb built. I assume that’s only if you do it early enough(stage 2) to actually go hard tempo(maybe from 3-2 roll). My question: with this premise is it worth to play MM/VG in this spot if you’re only going 70-75% win rate stage 3&4 to bleed out at 5. I’m looking for a backup rb comp for the tf line. Are there other options?
This is the best non-TF rageblade line. Other options are Vayne, MF + Zeri (terrible), and Urgot with BoomBot bruisers but that requires a 5 cost. If you’re going to slam the rageblade, you should know which of these lines you are playing already
the way i manadged to pull top 3+ with this compo is by playing it form a high tempo guinsoo opener. i did my first 100hp win yesterday w a skarner 2* + kog 2* opener.
i’d say once you go 9 and put aurora, change that 1cost sylas for a 3* braum, makes your frontline better.
this comp legit got me 7th for the first time in like 25 games and then again after like 3 games
somehow i cant get this comp am always going bot 4 with this 🙁
If you’re playing to winout and greeding for BiS items on Aphelios / Xayah, that would explain it. This is not a strong late-game comp. You should only be playing this if you have a strong early / midgame and you should be slamming items relatively aggressively to ensure you save enough HP for your eventual bleedout in Stage 5 onward.
caught me haha yea that explains my struggle with this comp
I only top 4+ with this comp after i started playing it more like tempo comps, and i only take combat augments, you only need leona/xayah/aphelis lvl 2 to stabilize on 8