Tristana Wild Rift Build & Guide

Tristana Wild Rift

S Tier

Class: Marksman

Best Tristana Wild Rift build guide for Season 11 Patch 5.0 of WR. With our Tristana guide you will learn which items to build, runes to select, skill order, who counters Tristana, and how to use abilities properly.

Recommended Builds

Starting Item Long Sword
Boots Gluttonous Greaves Stasis Enchant
Core Items Stormrazor Rapid Firecannon [This item has been removed from WR] Infinity Edge
Complete Build Stormrazor Rapid Firecannon [This item has been removed from WR] Stasis Enchant Infinity Edge Navori Quickblades Bloodthirster
Runes
Conqueror
Gathering storm
Adaptive Carapace
Sweet Tooth
Starting Item Long Sword
Boots Gluttonous Greaves Stasis Enchant
Core Items Blade of the Ruined King Infinity Edge Rapid Firecannon [This item has been removed from WR]
Complete Build Blade of the Ruined King Gluttonous Greaves Infinity Edge Rapid Firecannon [This item has been removed from WR] Mortal Reminder Guardian Angel
Runes
Kraken Slayer
Gathering storm
Adaptive Carapace
Sweet Tooth

Tristana always leaps into battle with steadfast courage and optimism. She is a mobile marksman with a long-range leaping ability and a mix of DPS, burst damage, and a whole lot of mayhem!

Tristana Wild Rift Build Recommendation

Here are Item Build Recommendations that works on this champion and which are the best build for Tristana Wild Rift in this patch.

Boomer Gunner

Stormrazor Rapid Firecannon [This item has been removed from WR] Stasis Enchant Infinity Edge Navori Quickblades Bloodthirster

This is the standard build for Tristana Wild Rift that focuses on increasing her DPS as much as possible. Stormrazor is a great first core as it greatly increase her damage output alongside Infinity Edge. Rapid Firecannon on the other hand is essential to further give her more attack range especially when dealing against ranged opponents. Navori Quickblades on the other hand makes it an ideal addition as it lowers down the cooldown of her abilities through critical strikes.

On-hit Gunner

Blade of the Ruined King Gluttonous Greaves Infinity Edge Rapid Firecannon [This item has been removed from WR] Mortal Reminder Guardian Angel

This build for Tristana Wild Rift balances DPS, burst damage, and sustain.

  • Blade of the Ruined King increases both your attack speed and attack damage. Its passive, Ruined Strikes which deals %HP damage, will reduce the enemies HP enough to make your full combo fatal. The Drain passive which steals the enemy’s movement speed also helps to secure kills.

Runes for Tristana in Wild Rift

  • Lethal Tempo is the best choice for your Keystone Rune as Tristana needs more attack speed in order to dish out more damage. On the other hand, you may opt for Kraken Slayer if you want to deal true damage.
  • Gathering Storm grants bonus AD that increases more and more as the game progresses.
  • Adaptive Carapace grants a small HP bonus and once your hp drops below 50%, grants bonus adaptive resistance depending on the type of damage you have taken in the past minute.
  • Sweet Tooth increases the healing you receive from Honeyfruits and makes it grant little bonus gold at the same time.

Spells

In our Tristana Wild Rift Guide, here are the best champion spells that you can equip on her.

Heal is your defensive spell because it affects you and your support plus it grants bonus movement speed for the both of you which is useful not only for defensive situations but for offensive situations as well.

Flash is extremely useful for a lot of offensive and defensive situations.

Skill Order

3
8
10
11
2
12
14
15
1
4
6
7
5
9
13

3rd, Explosive Charge is maxed first because it is your main source of damage in the early game and it helps with clearing waves fast. 1st, Rapid Fire is maxed next because you are starting to build up your DPS in the mid-game. 2nd, Rocket Jump is maxed last as it provides enough utility in its first level. Get a point in your ultimate whenever possible.

Abilities

Infernal Chains

Increases the range of attacks, Explosive Charge, and Buster Shot by 10 per level.

Infernal Chains

Gain 30% bonus Attack Speed for 5 seconds.

Infernal Chains

Leap to a target location, dealing 60 magic damage (60 + 50% AP) and slowing nearby enemies by 60% for 1s.

Takedowns and fully stacked Explosive Charge detonations on champions reset Rocket Jump’s cooldown.

Infernal Chains

Passive: Enemies explode when killed by Tristana’s attacks, dealing 40 magic damage (40 + 25% AP) to nearby enemies.

Active: Places a bomb on an enemy or turret, dealing 60 physical damage (60 + 50% AD + 50% AP) to nearby enemies. Tristana’s attacks and abilities charge the bomb’s damage by 30%, stacking 4 times.

Bombs explode immediately at full stacks. Explosion radius is doubled for bombs placed on turrets

Infernal Chains

Fires a massive cannonball at an enemy, dealing 300 magic damage (300 + 100% AP) and knocking them back.

Abilities Analysis

Innate Passive: Draw a Bead

Tristana’s auto-attack, 3rd, Explosive Charge, and Ult, Buster Shot range increases per level. Each line represents Tristana’s range in the respective level.

There is a significant range difference between a level 1 Tristana and a max level Tristana. A max level Tristana’s range is only behind a Seraphine with 15+ note stack or a Jinx with max level 1st, Switcheroo! But, the big difference is that along with Tristana’s long-range, she has superior mobility thanks to her 2nd, Rocket Jump. 

Here is a comparison between Tristana, Jinx, and Graves.

  • The yellow lines represent Tristana’s range. The outer yellow line is Tristana with the Firecannon Barrel passive which grants 150 bonus range. The second yellow line is Tristana’s max range at level 15. and the third yellow line is her range at level 1.
  • The red lines represent Jinx’s range. The other red line is Jinx’s range with her cannon, Fishbones at max level and the inner red line is her range with Pow-Pow, the minigun.
  • The blue line is Grave’s range.

Q | 1st: Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire is Tristana’s steroid ability. It augments her burst damage because it allows her to quickly charge her 3rd, Explosive Charge and in the late game, this ability gives her one of the deadliest DPS among the ADCs.

The only downside to Rapid Fire is its long cooldown. You don’t want to commit to fights when it is unavailable and wasting it is a big drop to your DPS.

When to activate Rapid Fire boils down to experience but as for beginners, here is some advice on when you’ll want to activate Rapid Fire when:

  1. There is an out-of-position enemy you want to use your full combo on. The full combo is 2nd + 3rd + AA + Ult +AA.
  2. Both teams have used their initiation abilities and crowd controls.
  3. You are in a position to freely hit the enemies.

W | 2nd: Rocket Jump

Rocket Jump is Tristana’s mobility ability and her defining ability. This is what makes her annoyingly hard to deal with because its cooldown resets when she takes down an enemy and when she managed to detonate a fully stacked 3rd, Explosive Charge. 

Rocket Jump has a short casting animation which means that there is a short delay before she jumps and enemies will be notified and have a short time to react whether you are going in or out of a fight.

During the short casting animation, you can counter crowd control abilities. For example, if you are hit Blitzcrank’s 1st, Rocket Grab, you’ll be able to jump out to safety even you are hit. This applies to almost all crowd control abilities. But if you are hit after the casting animation, while you are up in the air, your jump will be interrupted and you’ll have no way to counter it unless you have flash available.

Experienced enemies will wait for your casting animation to end before trying to hit you with their CCs. To counter this, use your Rocket Jump reflexively, meaning, use it as the enemy uses their crowd control or even bait it out if you’re confident about reaction time.

You can use your abilities mid-air while jumping but you cannot auto-attack. Use this fact to drop in your 3rd, Explosive Charge while mid-air so you’ll be able to charge it faster because Rocket Jump can also stack your 3rd, Explosive Charge if you hit the enemy with it.

You may also use Ult, Buster Shot mid-air for the Insec play where you’ll push the target enemy into your team.

Be careful when engaging against ADCs with Rocket Jump because they are able to auto attack you while you are in mid-air while you cannot. If both you and the enemy ADC are low and you want to kill them, fake them with a Rocket Jump then cancel it using your Flash to surprise your enemy.

Because when using Flash with Rocket Jump. Using Flash during the casting animation will make it cast faster while using it during the jump will cancel the jump and no damage will be done upon landing.

You can do a double jump by jumping while your 3rd, Explosive Charge is nearly stacked or when an enemy is nearly dead.

E | 3rd: Explosive Charge

Explosive Charge is your main source of damage in the early and mid-game.

First, the passive part explodes enemies killed by Tristana’s attacks, dealing magic damage. This allows you to shove your lane and push back melee supports safely.

Second, the active part places a bomb on an enemy or turret which explodes after a short duration or when fully stacked. Each attack or ability Tristana lands on the enemy with an Explosive Charge increases its damage, up to 120%.

In the laning phase, you can safely harass the enemy by combining the passive and active parts of this ability. To do this, use Explosive Charge on a dying minion near an enemy champion then attack once. Both the passive and active portions will explode and damage the enemy champion near the dying minion.

Use the full combo (2nd + 3rd + AA + Ult +AA) on priority enemies when you get the chance. If you can reach level 5 before your enemy laners, immediately look for a kill opportunity before they acquire their ultimate.

Remember that you can use Explosive Charge on turrets to quickly take them down. The range is doubled when Explosive Charge is detonated on towers so use it whenever you can to harass enemy champions under turrets.

A high-level combo you can use with Explosive Charge is detonating it on time while pushing the target enemy champion to their team using Ult, Buster Shot so they’ll all receive the explosion damage.

R | Ultimate: Buster Shot

Tristana’s ultimate, Buster Shot, is a burst damage crowd control ability with lots of uses. Some of them are:

  1. To burst down enemies with your full combo. 2nd + 3rd + AA + Ult + AA. You can sneak in an auto-attack after using your ultimate.
  2. For self-peeling or to protect your allies by knocking away a pursuing enemy.
  3. To set up a kill by pushing an enemy to your team.

The knockback of Buster shot is essentially a crowd control so always use it when dueling an enemy champion so you’ll be able to land at least one more attack than them which can mean life or death on 1v1 duels.

When an enemy has 2 stacks of 3rd, Explosive Charge, cast your ultimate and point towards the enemy team then auto attack so you’ll damage the enemy team with your 3rd, Explosive Charge. 

Full combo: 2nd + 3rd [1st] + AA + Ult +A

Any other combos are variations of this combo. You’ll want to activate 1st, Rapid Fire before auto-attacking. If your 2nd, Rocket Jump won’t damage the enemy, land another auto-attack first before using your ultimateBuster Shot to maximize3rd, Explosive Charge‘s stack damage.

Tristana Early Game Guide

Tristana is a champion who loves to all in so she works best with offensive supports with lockdown which right now are Alistar, Leona, and Blitzcrank who all have strong level 2 power spikes.

Try to reach level 2 faster than your enemy laners and once you reach level 2, immediately go in for an engage and use your 2nd, Rocket Jump and 3rd, Explosive Charge. You’ll kill them or at least burn their summoner spells.

If you successfully capitalized on your level 2 power spike, you’ll most likely have smooth sailing on your laning phase from now on.

If not, you’ll have another chance on your level 5 power spike. A single combo on a locked-down enemy is a sure kill even when that enemy has full health.

But if you are struggling in your lane, you can simply spam your 3rd, Explosive Charge on your the minions to avoid being shoved into your tower.

Tristana Late Game Guide

In the late game, take advantage of your long-range and superior mobility to place yourself in spots where you can freely hit the enemy team and always reserve your ultimate. Buster Shot to fully combo an enemy priority target.

The priority target is usually the mid laner or the ADC whoever is more of a threat to your team.

Another great use of your ultimate, Buster Shot is to push away the enemy jungler when you are taking Drakes or Baron so you’ll prevent them from stealing your objectives.

Remember to think twice about where you’ll use your 2nd, Rocket Jump because one wrong jump will cost you your life.

Take note of the abilities that are used by the enemy because you’ll most likely be the enemy’s priority target if you are doing well so don’t stray too far away from your support.

Synergies

For our Tristana Wild Rift Guide, we highly recommend using her with the following champions as they synergize well with her.

Alistar together with Tristana is a high-pressure lane. He has a strong level 2 combo which works perfectly with Tristana’s level 2 power spike. He is tanky and his passive sustains himself and a teammate which enables you to stay aggressive all throughout the game.

Leona is one of the strongest engage supports in the game right now. She has an easy-to-use but potent level 2 engage that Tristana can easily utilize.

Blitzcrank is another champion with a strong level 2 combo which makes him a great partner for a Tristana kill lane.

 

All Tristana Wild Rift Counter Champions

In this section, we’ll specifically show champions that can easily counter Tristana in Wild Rift.

Braum can intercept your attacks so you won’t be able to 1-shot the enemy ADC. If he marks you with his 1st, Winter’s Bite, or auto-attack, don’t use your Rocket Jump offensively because you might get stunned while near enemy champions.

Draven has a lot of kill pressure in the early game, more than Tristana’s, because of his strong early game damage thanks to his Spinning Axes. Do not engage him if he’s not CC’d because if he’s fed, he can kill you helplessly while you are mid-air.

Tristana will usually end up on top versus Kai’Sa but if she is not shut down, she’ll come up on top in the mid and late game against Tristana and she will punish Tristana for overextending. She can disengage when Tristana activates Rapid Fire and she can also follow Tristana easily with her kit. For the same reasons, Vayne is a dangerous ADC against Tristana.

Pros & Cons About Tristana

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Tristana in Wild Rift.

Pros

  • Tristana is one of the most mobile ADC with her 2nd, Rocket Jump which has a long-range and it can reset through takedowns and fully stacked 3rd, Explosive Charge. She can protect herself her ultimate, Buster Shot by pushing away enemies. This makes her one of the safest ADC picks because she is not that easy to pick off.
  • Aside from her mobility, she also has one of the longest range among ADCs in the late game. Thanks to her range and mobility, she can finish team fights without being hit even once.
  • Tristana has a balanced DPS and burst damage kit. She is an ADC champion with constant kill pressure front the early game to the late game and her DPS when 1st, Rapid Fire is activated is one of the strongest in the game.
  • She can quickly take down towers with her 3rd, Explosive Charge. 

Cons

  • Tristana’s damage output is heavily tied to her cooldowns. If she misuses her 1st, Rapid Fire then she loses a lot of potential DPS until it becomes available again. If she failed to stack her 3rd, Explosive Charge, it does little damage and she misses a reset with her 2nd, Rocket Jump. 
  • If you use your ultimate, Buster Shot too early, you’ll be pushing the enemy away from you, helping them escape. If you misjudged the position of your enemies and jumped towards them, you’re easily dead.

FAQ's About Tristana in Wild Rift

How good is Tristana in Wild Rift?

Tristana is an (Tier S) champion. She is a safe pick for most matchups and she can easily come out on top given the right support. She snowballs hard in the fast pace meta of Wild Rift.

What role / lane should I play with Tristana in Wild Rift?

Tristana is usually placed in the Dragon lane as an ADC together with a support champion who has a strong kill pressure like Alistar or Blitzcrank. She can also be played as an off meta mid laner.

What abilities do I level up with Tristana?

Her 3rd, Explosive Charge is maxed first because it is her main source of damage and wave clear in the early game. Her 1st, Rapid Fire is maxed next to improve her DPS starting mid game.

What items should I build with Tristana?

Blade of the Ruined King helps with her damage output and attack speed in the early game. Infinity Edge adds to her burst damage capabilities.

What Runes should I use when playing as Tristana?

Conqueror is the best choice for your Keystone Rune as Tristana loves consecutive takedowns. Triumph helps her with the consecutive takedowns with its healing on takedowns and bonus damage on low HP champions.

What's the best combo for Tristana?

Jump on your target with 2nd, Rocket Jump then cast 3rd, Explosive Charge while midair. Auto-attack once or twice then cast your ultimate, Buster Shot followed by another auto-attack.