League of Legends news » Tristana goes tick, tick, boom in the LCS Finals

You know that scene in every action film where a time bomb is slowly ticking down and there's nothing anyone can do about it? That's playing against Tristana.

Because of her explosive expertise, the Yordle Gunner has been everywhere in pro play as of late. Her amazing tower siege and her relatively safe laning phase means that she's relevant in all stages of the game, ensuring that she'll be able to, as Krepo puts it, "jump, kill, jump, kill, jump, kill" all over the Rift. Oh, and there's her tower pushing. Hoo boy, her tower pushing.

Tristana has never been more relevant than in the 2015 LCS Summer Split Finals.

Death from above

Let's get the exciting stuff out of the way: Tristana is insanely explosive in teamfights. Once she picks up a kill or an assist, her Rocket Jump (W) cooldown resets, allowing her to hop repeatedly and fire away at whoever gets in her way.

That means giving her the first kill in a team fight can often lead to her turning the brawl into a massacre. For example, Rekkles' pentakill in Game 3 of the EU LCS Finals.

Take a little look at where that fight started. Rekkles and Tristana were able to chase Origen from where Fnatic's inner turret all the way into the base of Origen, picking up five kills along the way. The play shows exactly what Tristana becomes once she's got some items in her bombadier's belt: a terrifying killer raining hell from the skies.

Her mobility isn't only good for getting into the fight, though. It makes her one of the most slippery AD carries in the game, allowing her to escape from ganks during the laning phase and sticky situations once team fights begin. Plus, it's helpful for picking someone off with Explosive Charge (E) and Buster Shot (R) before bailing.

The girl's a time bomb

Explosive Charge does more than just inform those it's stuck to of their impending demise. It also blows turrets right the hell up.

By tossing a Charge right on top of whatever building is in her way, she can charge up the bomb to do more and more damage with each autoattack. Plus, she can pump them up even faster with the attack speed buff from Rapid Fire (Q). All of that adds up to some serious damage to whatever turret she's decided to bring down. Watch as Doublelift is able to say "Goodnight, sweet turret" during Game 1 of the NA LCS Summer Split Finals against TSM.

When combined with a siege composition, her ability to blow up objectives from afar is stupid powerful. When she's allowed to split-push, she can take towers on her own so quickly opposing teams barely have time to wonder where it went before it's reduced to rubble.

Oh, and if one combines Trist's tower pushing prowess with the bonus AD from a Janna's Eye of the Storm (E) shield, you can be sure that turret will be ripped to shreds in rapid fashion.

Speaking of split-pushing, Explosive Charge's passive makes it so her autoattacks do AoE magic damage when dealing a killing blow to enemies. That means she can quickly shove down waves, inching ever closer to the turret she wants to destroy. Tick tock, turret defenders.

She's a bombshell

Tristana sounds pretty great, huh? Sure, she's crazy powerful when she's given room, but pros have to be incredibly careful when playing her.

Thanks to her reliance on autoattacking and relatively low movement speed, using her Rocket Jump offensively is a very sketchy proposition. If she doesn't manage to get herself a kill right away, she's a sitting duck, only able to protect herself with the knock back on Buster Shot. Thanks her to her squishy status, she'll likely die if she ends up anywhere near a high-damage enemy champion. Moral of the story: Don't pull an old school Zuna.

But with some of the best AD carries on the planet heading to the 2015 World Championships in Europe this fall, expect Tristana to be causing fireworks all around the Rift.

Keep your eye right here on Lolesports to keep up with the action. And if you missed any of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split Playoffs action, head over to the spoiler-free VODs page.