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Grey Talon

SniperCarryController Hybrid Damage Mid Game Medium Difficulty

Patch 10-30-2026, 199,101 matches. Updated daily.

How to counter and play Grey Talon

Items to buy

  • vs silences and ability denial Debuff Reducer Debuff Reducer 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPassive +25% Debuff Resist +90 Bonus Health Dispel Magic Dispel Magic 3,200 souls Tier 3ArmorInstantCast +45s Cooldown +10% Spirit Resist +3s Buff Duration +250 Heal Amount Indomitable Indomitable 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPassive +55s Cooldown +10s Duration +10% Bullet Resist +10% Spirit Resist +20s Cooldown On Apply +2 Out of Combat Regen Builds from Reactive Barrier
  • vs air mobility Cold Front Cold Front 1,600 souls Tier 2TechInstantCast +25s Cooldown +4s Duration +0.6s Spread Duration: +48% Move Speed +6% Spirit Resist Slowing Bullets Slowing Bullets 1,600 souls Tier 2WeaponPassive +24% Move Speed -20% Dash Distance +3.5s Slow Duration Slowing Hex Slowing Hex 1,600 souls Tier 2TechPress +29s Cooldown +3.5s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +16% Move Speed -26% Dash Distance
  • vs long-range poke Extra Regen Extra Regen 800 souls Tier 1ArmorPassive +2.5 Health Regen +1.5 Out of Combat Regen Healing Rite Healing Rite 800 souls Tier 1ArmorPress +70s Cooldown +0.2s Cast Delay +20s Regen Duration High-Velocity Rounds High-Velocity Rounds 800 souls Tier 1WeaponPassive +45% Bullet Velocity +8% Weapon Damage
  • Dive him — he has the lowest durability in the group and only one escape; Phantom Strike Phantom Strike 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPress +35s Cooldown +0.35s Cast Delay +8 Spirit Power +15% Weapon Damage +40% Move Speed +3s Slow Duration , Haze Smoke Bomb Smoke Bomb 8s Duration33s Cooldown Vanishes from sight and gains bonus sprint speed. Mobility significant sprint speed bonus while active; Defensive an escape — at tier 3 it also purges non-ultimate debuffs and grants 50%… 1 grants 2 ability charges 2 removes non-ultimate debuffs on cast and grants 50% bullet lifesteal for 5 seconds approach, or Abrams charge kills him outright
  • Buy Knockdown Knockdown 3,200 souls Tier 3TechPress +35s Cooldown +0.1s Cast Delay +2s Stun Delay +0.5s Stun Duration +75 Bonus Health +5% Ability Range +5% Radius specifically for Rain of Arrows Rain of Arrows 4s Duration25s Cooldown Launches Grey Talon high into the air and lets him glide down slowly, gaining bonus weapon damage and firing multiple arrows per shot while airborne. Crowd Control tier-1 upgrade adds roughly a 24% movement slow to his arrows while airborne Damage no direct damage; tier 1 adds about +3 weapon damage and a 24% movement slow… Mobility high vertical displacement plus a slow controlled glide 1 +3 weapon damage and a 24% movement slow applied by his shots 2 -12s cooldown 5 +30% bullet lifesteal, +30% spirit lifesteal and +30% bullet evasion : it drops him out of the glide and stuns him, removing his escape and his damage window simultaneously
  • Pre-activate Unstoppable Unstoppable 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorInstantCast +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer BEFORE approaching a trapped choke, because Spirit Snare Spirit Snare 34s Cooldown Throws down a trap that arms after a short delay and triggers when an enemy enters its radius, applying Curse and a movement slow. Crowd Control Curse (silence + disarm + item lockout + interrupt) plus a movement slow; Damage minimal direct damage; Defensive the primary anti-dive tool — placed at his own feet or on the approach, it… 1 -20s cooldown 2 applies -15% Bullet Resist for 10 seconds 5 +1s Curse duration and +1.5m radius 's Curse blocks item activation after it lands
  • Strafe laterally against Charged Shot Charged Shot 17s Cooldown Draws back a heavy shot that can be held at full charge and pierces straight through everything it hits. Damage about 80 at base spirit power, +54 at tier 2 (deadlock.one, metabot.gg) 1 +54 damage and -2s charge delay 2 the shot bounces once off a wall (it cannot hit the same target twice), plus improved… and Guided Owl Guided Owl 125s Cooldown After a short cast, Grey Talon takes control of a spirit owl and flies it across the map; Crowd Control area stun on detonation Damage about 230 at base spirit power (deadlock.one) Mobility none for Grey Talon — in fact he is locked in place 1 +85 damage 2 -40s cooldown 5 instantly kills enemies below about 22% health and grants permanent Spirit Power per… — both are slow projectiles with travel time
  • Kill him during the roughly 1.5s Guided Owl cast; he is rooted and defenceless for the full duration plus the flight
  • Fight in enclosed interiors and tunnels where his 54m falloff advantage and his vertical glide are both worthless
  • A Charged Shot hits your whole wave and you behind it, from roughly 50m, and at tier 3 it can bounce off a wall to reach you behind an angle
  • Spirit Snare's Curse silences, disarms and blocks item use — if you step on it you cannot press Dispel Magic, Unstoppable or Warp Stone Warp Stone 3,200 souls Tier 3ArmorInstantCast +16s Cooldown +30% Bullet Resist +6s Buff Duration to get out
  • Guided Owl at tier 3 executes anyone under about 22% health anywhere on the map; retreating at low health is not actually safe
  • Rain of Arrows plus multishot from directly above means your cover on the ground is worth nothing
  • Spirit Snare tier 2's -15% Bullet Resist turns his trap into a damage amp for his entire team's follow-up
  • Rain of Arrows first — it is his only escape. Show a fake commit, make him launch, then engage on the landing when he has neither the glide nor the evasion
  • Spirit Snare second: force it with a durable body walking the obvious approach lane, since the Curse is what actually stops your dive
  • Guided Owl is worth baiting only when you can punish the cast — pull him into using it on a target with Ethereal Shift Ethereal Shift 6,400 souls Tier 4TechInstantCast +37s Cooldown +4s Duration +5s Buff Duration +30% Spirit Resist +20 Spirit Power or full health, then kill him during the flight
  • Charged Shot is not worth baiting; it comes back too quickly — deny it with angles instead, and away from walls once he has tier 3
  • Roughly 1.5s of Guided Owl cast plus the entire owl flight — he is rooted, looking elsewhere, and cannot defend himself
  • The whole Rain of Arrows glide against any rapid-fire gun or against Knockdown — he cannot change direction
  • While drawing Charged Shot, where he is slowed and committed to a firing line
  • The moment after Spirit Snare is placed and before it arms — the trap does nothing during the arming delay
  • Reload windows: at roughly 1.67 shots per second, a missed arrow is a long dead interval where he has no output at all

Plan a game against Grey Talon and the rest of their team →

Good at

  • Long engagement range — he can dictate whether a fight starts
  • Spirit Snare's Curse is one of the few effects that blocks item usage entirely, shutting down escape actives
  • Rain of Arrows gives him a vertical escape plus a damage buff in the same button
  • Guided Owl scales itself with permanent Spirit Power on every hero kill

Weak to

  • Very low health and no damage mitigation — he dies to any committed dive
  • Everything meaningful in his kit has a visible cast tell (charge draw, snare arming, 1.5s owl cast)
  • Airborne during Rain of Arrows means Knockdown counters both his escape and his damage window at once
  • Slow projectile weapon means his DPS falls off badly against mobile targets in close quarters

In lane, good at

  • Charged Shot pierces the wave, so he farms and pokes with the same button from outside his opponent's range
  • Bow falloff runs to about 54m — he can contest soul orbs and harass from range
  • Rain of Arrows gives him an escape
  • Spirit Snare protects the approach to his guardian and makes a lane gank very costly

In lane, weak to

  • Low durability — a successful gap-close in lane is lethal
  • Bow is a slow projectile with travel time; a strafing target is genuinely hard to hit, so his lane damage depends on aim rather than being guaranteed
  • If Rain of Arrows is on cooldown he has no way out of a two-person gank
  • Charged Shot's charge time is long until tier 2, and holding it slows him, so aggressive laners can walk him down during the draw
  • Charged Shot tier 2 — +54 damage and 2s less charge delay make his setpiece poke hit harder and come round sooner
  • Charged Shot tier 3 — A wall bounce lets the shot reach around a corner, and better spirit scaling rewards a spirit build
  • Spirit Snare tier 2 — -15% Bullet Resist for 10s makes his trap a team-wide damage amp on top of the Curse lockdown
  • Guided Owl unlock — Gives him cross-map pick potential and a Stun for his team to fight around
  • Guided Owl tier 3 — The sub-22% execute plus permanent Spirit Power per kill makes his ult a self-scaling snowball

Bow

Medium RangeHeavy HitterProjectile

39.2 DPS

Falloff Range 18m 54m

Slow single-arrow projectile weapon — roughly 1.67 shots per second for about 23.5 damage each, with travel time that must be led on moving targets. Falloff only begins around 18m and extends to about 54m, a long effective band, and headshots are the majority of his damage output.

  • 23.51 Bullet Damage
  • 1 Pellets per Shot
  • 1.67 Bullets per sec
  • 17 Ammo
  • 2.35s Reload Time
  • 495m/s Bullet Velocity
  • 50Light Melee
  • 116Heavy Melee
Vitality and movement
  • 780 Health
  • 1.50 Health Regen
  • 6.30m/s Move Speed
  • 1.60m/s Sprint Speed
  • 4 Stamina
  • 4.50s Stamina Cooldown

Base values on patch data. Items and boons change all of these.

The heroes Grey Talon wins most with, against what their two win rates would predict.

  • Graves Graves ControllerSummonerClose rangeHybrid damage Map pressure while away from the fight via Borrowed Decree Ghouls marching at objectives Durability low (1/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing low (1/3) 56.7% together +4.0% above expected
  • Victor Victor BruiserInitiatorClose rangeSpirit damage Effectively two health bars via Shocking Reanimation, which invalidates the normal 'focus the bruiser' plan Durability very high (3/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing very high (3/3) 54.0% together +2.8% above expected
  • Seven Seven MageControllerMid rangeSpirit damage Wave and jungle clear through Lightning Ball and Power Surge, which helps him reach item breakpoints sooner Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing none (0/3) 53.4% together +1.6% above expected
  • Drifter Drifter AssassinSkirmisherMeleeHybrid damage A heavy 20.10-damage-per-bullet shotgun, with burst on top from Rend Durability low (1/3) Burst very high (3/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing low (1/3) 51.2% together +1.5% above expected
  • Kelvin Kelvin SupportControllerMid rangeHybrid damage Frozen Shelter is a hard physical barrier that stops ranged damage and ultimates outright Durability high (2/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing very high (3/3) 52.9% together +1.2% above expected
  • Lady Geist Lady Geist BruiserSkirmisherClose rangeHybrid damage Personal sustain between 100% Life Drain conversion and lifesteal itemisation Durability high (2/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility low (1/3) Healing very high (3/3) 51.6% together +1.2% above expected

Every Grey Talon duo →

Every Grey Talon matchup

Grey Talon wins 48.1% of games overall. Who counters Grey Talon and who Grey Talon counters: all 43 opponents, from Grey Talon's hardest to easiest, with how far each sits from that average. Grey Talon struggles Grey Talon does well

Graves and Paige are strong against almost every hero this patch, so they sit near the top here too. The counters that are about Grey Talon in particular: Kelvin (Grey Talon wins 41.8%) and Drifter (Grey Talon wins 46.4%).

Only matches whose average rank was Oracle and above, where Grey Talon wins 44.7% overall.

Abilities

Pick an ability to see what it does and how to play around it.

Charged Shot

Ability 1 · Chargeable Piercing Skillshot

Draws back a heavy shot that can be held at full charge and pierces straight through everything it hits.

Purpose: His main poke and wave-clear button — one charged arrow can hit a whole creep wave and the hero standing behind it, from long range.

Damage
About 80 at base Spirit Power, +54 at tier 2 (deadlock.one, metabot.gg)

How to play against it

  • It is a slow projectile on a line — strafe perpendicular to him, do not walk toward or away in a straight line
  • Break line of sight during the charge; the charge-up is long and visible
  • Stand off to the side of your creep wave so one arrow cannot hit both wave and you
  • Bullet Armor does nothing here — Spirit Armor is what reduces it

Interactions

  • Pierces, so it hits the wave and the hero behind it in one cast — the cheapest farm-plus-poke in the game
  • Detonates an armed Spirit Snare from range, letting him trigger his own trap on a target who walked near it
  • Charging slows his movement, so it is a commitment, not a snap shot
  • Scales with Spirit Power, which is why spirit-heavy Talon builds exist alongside pure bow builds
  • At Tier 3 the shot carries on at half speed after bouncing off a wall, so cover near a wall is less safe
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 2: +54 damage and -2s charge delay
  • Tier 3: the shot bounces once off a wall (it cannot hit the same target twice), plus improved spirit scaling

Rain of Arrows

Ability 2 · Self-Launch with Glide and Weapon Buff

Launches Grey Talon high into the air and lets him glide down slowly, gaining bonus weapon damage and firing multiple arrows per shot while airborne.

Purpose: Both his escape and his damage window — he goes vertical, becomes hard to reach, and rains multishot arrows on whatever is below.

Damage
No direct damage; tier 1 adds about +3 weapon damage and a 24% movement slow to the arrows
Crowd control
Tier-1 upgrade adds roughly a 24% movement slow to his arrows while airborne
Mobility
High vertical displacement plus a slow controlled glide
Defensive
Getting airborne removes him from most melee and gap-close threats; tier 3 adds about 30% bullet evasion

How to play against it

  • Knockdown is the direct answer — it pulls him out of the air and stuns him, and he has no second escape
  • While gliding he cannot dodge; any rapid-fire hero (Haze, Infernus, Ivy, Wraith) simply out-damages him mid-air
  • Step under cover or into a building — the glide gives him no ability to change angle quickly
  • Bait it out: once Rain of Arrows is on cooldown he is a 0-mobility, low-health hero on the ground

Interactions

  • Being airborne makes him vulnerable to Knockdown, which drops him out of the sky and stuns him
  • Combines with Spirit Snare: snare someone on the ground, then go airborne and multishot them while they are slowed and silenced
  • Tier 3's bullet and spirit Lifesteal is his only real sustain, and it only exists during the glide
  • Glide makes him a large, slow, predictable target for anyone tracking him with a rapid-fire gun
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 1: +3 weapon damage and a 24% movement slow applied by his shots
  • Tier 2: -12s cooldown
  • Tier 3: +30% bullet Lifesteal, +30% spirit Lifesteal and +30% bullet evasion

Spirit Snare

Ability 3 · Placed Arming Trap with Curse

Throws down a trap that arms after a short delay and triggers when an enemy enters its radius, applying Curse and a movement slow. The Curse interrupts, silences, disarms and blocks item use.

Purpose: His lockdown and self-peel — a diver who steps on it cannot shoot, cast, or use an escape item for the duration, which is usually the entire fight.

Damage
Minimal direct damage; the value is entirely the debuff
Crowd control
Curse (Silence + Disarm + item lockout + interrupt) plus a movement slow; tier 3 adds about +1s Curse duration
Defensive
The primary anti-dive tool — placed at his own feet or on the approach, it neutralizes an incoming assassin

How to play against it

  • It has an arming delay and a visible model — watch the ground on approach routes and around soul orbs and simply walk around it
  • Pre-cast Unstoppable BEFORE contact; once Curse lands you cannot activate items at all
  • Force the trap by sending a durable body (Abrams, Kelvin, Ivy in Stone Form Stone Form 3s Duration40s Cooldown Turns Ivy into impervious stone and slams her into the ground, stunning and damaging nearby enemies and healing her for a portion of her maximum health. Crowd Control area stun on landing; tier 3 extends the stun duration Damage about 75 at base spirit power (deadlock.one); Mobility a downward slam — it repositions her vertically, especially when combined… 1 -25s cooldown 2 increased stun duration and improved damage scaling ) through the approach first, then follow with the carry
  • The trap is a single placed object — approach from an unexpected vertical angle (zipline drop, Bounce Pad Bounce Pad 22s Duration41s Cooldown Drops a pad that launches any hero who touches it high into the air. Crowd Control tier 3 adds about +0.7s stun to the landing stomp Damage about 60 stomp damage on landing (deadlock.one) Mobility very large vertical launch for Holliday and all allies who step on it 1 about -10s cooldown 2 she and allies gain roughly +4 m/s movement speed for 4 seconds on landing 5 about +0.7s stun on the landing stomp , Rain of Arrows) to skip the approach lane he trapped

Interactions

  • Can be detonated manually with Charged Shot, so he does not have to wait for someone to walk onto it
  • Curse blocks item usage, which means Dispel Magic and Unstoppable must be used BEFORE it lands, not after
  • Tier 2 adds -15% Bullet Resist for 10s, which is a large damage amp for a bow-built Talon and for his team
  • Placed on an objective or a soul orb it becomes area denial rather than self-peel
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 1: -20s cooldown
  • Tier 2: applies -15% Bullet Resist for 10 seconds
  • Tier 3: +1s Curse duration and +1.5m radius

Guided Owl

Ultimate · Player-Piloted Projectile with AoE Stun

After a short cast, Grey Talon takes control of a spirit owl and flies it across the map; on impact it explodes, damaging and stunning enemies. He accumulates permanent Spirit Power for each enemy hero it kills.

Purpose: Long-range execute and cross-map initiation — it finishes retreating targets, opens fights from an angle no one can see, and its Stun is the setup for the rest of his team.

Damage
About 230 at base Spirit Power (deadlock.one)
Crowd control
Area Stun on detonation
Mobility
None for Grey Talon — in fact he is locked in place
Defensive
None; he is fully vulnerable while piloting

How to play against it

  • Grey Talon is a stationary, silent statue for roughly 1.5s of cast plus the whole flight — that is a window to kill him
  • The owl is a controllable but visible projectile; break line of sight around a corner or drop off a ledge as it approaches
  • Never sit below about 22% health in the open once he has tier 3 — that is an unavoidable execute, not a dodgeable ability
  • Ethereal Shift makes you untargetable through the detonation; Unstoppable prevents the Stun chain that follows

Interactions

  • About a 1.5s cast time before the owl launches, during which he is rooted and exposed
  • Tier 3 outright executes enemies below roughly 22% health, turning it from a Stun into a guaranteed kill
  • Permanent Spirit Power per hero killed means a Talon who gets early Owl kills scales harder all game
  • Best value is on someone already stunned or snared — the owl is dodgeable in the open
  • It leaves in exactly the direction he aims, steep downward angles included, so a Talon on high ground can drop it straight onto a target below
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 1: +85 damage
  • Tier 2: -40s cooldown
  • Tier 3: instantly kills enemies below about 22% health and grants permanent Spirit Power per enemy hero killed

Grey Talon's win rate by game length

Grey Talon gets stronger the longer the game goes: 45.8% in games under 25 minutes (#31 of 44), 50.2% in games past 40 (#17 of 44). Worth knowing: the tag at the top says "Mid Game", but on this patch the long games are where Grey Talon pulls ahead of other heroes.

40% 45% 50% 55% 0.6% of all games end at 10–15 minutes 1.2% of all games end at 15–20 minutes 3.4% of all games end at 20–25 minutes 11.0% of all games end at 25–30 minutes 23.2% of all games end at 30–35 minutes 26.4% of all games end at 35–40 minutes 17.9% of all games end at 40–45 minutes 9.4% of all games end at 45–50 minutes 4.3% of all games end at 50–55 minutes 1.7% of all games end at 55–60 minutes 0.8% of all games end at 60+ minutes 10–15 min: 48.2% over 1,194 games 48.2% 15–20 min: 46.9% over 2,292 games 46.9% 20–25 min: 44.9% over 6,117 games 44.9% 25–30 min: 44.2% over 20,572 games 44.2% 30–35 min: 46.4% over 45,730 games 46.4% 35–40 min: 48.8% over 53,261 games 48.8% 40–45 min: 50.5% over 36,454 games 50.5% 45–50 min: 50.2% over 19,465 games 50.2% 50–55 min: 49.3% over 9,127 games 49.3% 55–60 min: 50.3% over 3,714 games 50.3% 60+ min: 48.5% over 1,984 games 48.5% 10–1515–2020–2525–3030–3535–4040–4545–5050–5555–6060+
above 50% below 50% under 1,000 games how many games end then
See the numbers
MinutesWinsvs usualGames
10–15 48.2% +0.1% 1,194
15–20 46.9% −1.2% 2,292
20–25 44.9% −3.2% 6,117
25–30 44.2% −3.9% 20,572
30–35 46.4% −1.7% 45,730
35–40 48.8% +0.7% 53,261
40–45 50.5% +2.4% 36,454
45–50 50.2% +2.1% 19,465
50–55 49.3% +1.2% 9,127
55–60 50.3% +2.2% 3,714
60+ 48.5% +0.4% 1,984

"vs usual" is against Grey Talon's 48.1% over all these games. Faded rows have under 1,000 games, where a few percent either way is noise; under 300, no win rate is shown.

Each point is how often Grey Talon won games that ended at that length, not the chance of winning at that minute. Short games are usually one-sided, so the left side is about closing out a lead and the right side about long, close games. Games under 10 minutes are left out. Every hero by game length →

Sources and confidence for this record

Record confidence: Strong evidence. Compiled for patch 10-30-2026, researched 2026-10-30.

Difficulty rating: deadlocklabs.gg hero page lists in-game complexity as 2 of 3 stars (★★☆)