Item Build:

1. Muscle Band
2. Scope Lens
3. Attack Weight/Float Stone (I haven't had the opportunity to try Float Stone but it's probably more consistent)

Skill Path:

1. Acrobatics (Level 1)
2. Peck (Level 3)
3. Flame Charge (Level 5)
4. Fly (Level 7)
5. Unite Move: Flame Sweep (Lvl 9)
6. Flame Charge+ (Lvl 11)
7. Fly+ (Lvl 13)

Your Role as the Jungler:

1. Apply pressure for your laners early
2. Secure Dreadnaw/Rotom/Zapdos
3. Farm enemy jungle to deny enemies exp whenever possible

Early Game (10:00 - 7:00)

Lilipup + First buff:

On spawn, fly straight out of the base, and Acrobatics over the wall to hit Lilipup. Observe the direction it moves and dash in that direction (with your left joycon after the Acrobatics animation ends) to gap close and smoothly kill it. Said direction indicates where Ludicolo will spawn. Take a second to assess your lanes. Which lane has strong early game Pokemon on your side (Lucario, Eevee, Bulbasaur) or weak early game Pokemon on their side (Gardevoir, Garchomp, Cinderace)? Start heading towards the buff in that direction. Use Peck -> Fluffy Tail -> Acrobatics to kill the first buff.

PS: Blue buff will help you secure the wild Pokemon, while Red buff will help your teammates secure a kill.

First gank contesting Corpish(Top)/Audino(Bot):

Head straight to the regular jump pad and bounce over the wall into the bush. Walk around from the back of the brush to the middle brush and aim your Acrobatics such that it hits both the laners/the lowest hp laner on the enemy team. Immediately dash in the direction they're likely to run to (their goal) and chase them down with your normal attacks and Peck. If they both eject button out of range, leave the lane; You've already done your job. If either laner is dead and the other laner is forced to grab a sitrus, get in a cheeky goal and start stacking your attack weight. Do not base if you have more than 75% HP remaining. Alternatively, if your laners are not positioned to contest it, don't go and 1v2; Continue clearing your jungle.

PS: Do not overstay as the enemy jungle will come in with a 2 levels advantage and mess you up.

Second gank contesting Vespiqueen (8:50):

Farm the rest of your camps (use fluffy tail on the other buff) and hit level 5. Upgrade to Flame Charge while sitting comfortably on the regular jump pad. Move sneakily to the middle bush in the lane if possible. Vespiqueen spawns at 8:50 into the game. Wait for the enemy laners to waste their skills on Vespiqueen and her Combee horde. Use Acrobatics on the enemy laners (try to steal some combees if you can), and chase them down with Flame Charge if it's a 3v2, but back away if it's a 3v3 or worse. Farm the 2 Corpishes in the central area near you before going back to fully clear your camps a 2nd time. You should hit Level 7 this time and upgrade Fly. Feel free to gank either Top or Bot, but ensure that you're fully healed up and headed for Dreadnaw by 7:30.

PS: Now that you have Flame Charge, you should be using it off cooldown to move across the map.

Mid Game Part 1 (7:00 - 5:00)

First Dreadnaw:

Teamfight:

In higher elos (Ultra+), this is probably where the first full blown teamfight of the game occurs. If the first goal has yet to be taken, scout the bushes on your side with Fly and hide in them if they turn up empty. If the first goal has been taken, scout the enemy's bushes with Fly and hide in them if they turn up empty. Your job in a teamfight is to dive the enemy Attackers in the backline and remove them from the fight. Do not show yourself until your team has started fighting. Fly over the Defenders and Supports and aim the Attacker at the very back. Immediately Flame Charge upon landing away from them towards the enemy base, and force them to choose between kiting towards your team, or chasing after you. Do not start Dreadnaw until either their attacker or speedster are dead. If there's a power-up punch Lucario, make sure he's dead too. Pop fluffy tail immediately, and do not use your skills. Fly when Dreadnaw has about 25-30% HP remaining, and secure it at about 10-15% HP with Fly + Flame Charge.

Numbers Advantage (Healthy Clear):

If you have at least a 2 Pokemon advantage, start Dreadnaw immediately. Auto him to trigger his AOE move (there's a charge up bar at the bottom), Fly and wait for his move to be unleashed, activate fluffy tail right before landing, and burst Dreadnaw down as fast as you can. Try to run around Dreadnaw in a circle in between every normal attack to dodge his water gun. Leave the zoning to your support/defenders. If there's only a 1 pokemon advantage, refer to 1.1 Teamfight.

Numbers Disadvantage (Steal):

If you've lost the teamfight or your teammates are busy wasting time Top, hide in a bush (the Corpish one at the edge if you need to be very safe) and wait to steal. Depending on how far away you are, Fly in at between 30-50% HP remaining, hover over Dreadnaw menacingly, and do your best to steal. If you succeed, good on you! If you fail, don't be too hard on yourself; It's primarily your team's fault for not being there/losing the teamfight.

Post Dreadnaw (Win):

Get the first goal if it isn't already down. If it is, and Rotom is still up, rotate to Rotom, regardless of what your team chooses to do. If it isn't, and your team is still healthy, push for the second goal and try to score.

Post Dreadnaw (Lose):

If you aren't already dead, run away; Don't bother defending. Head top after respawning to kill Rotom.

Rotom:

Nothing much to say here. You kill it pretty fast with Fluffy Tail. Rotom does score 20 points by itself, so if that's sufficient to destroy the goal, make sure to score before Rotom reaches it. If you have your Unite move up (from killing Dreadnaw and Rotom), a cheesy thing you can do is to push all the enemies away when Rotom is almost at the goal. If the enemy got Rotom and are escorting it well, you can flank them from your jungle, and push the Rotom into the side jungle (with all the Audinos), and Rotom will confusedly move past the goal it's supposed to target and achieve nothing. See: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonUnite/comments/pmlctm/talonflames_unite_move_can_apparently_push_rotom/

Farming your enemy's jungle:

Between Level 7 and Level 11 is your strongest period as Talonflame. When it comes to invading, it admittedly takes a bit of experience and judgement to pull off, but if you're ahead, it's generally safe to farm the enemy's Corpish hugging the wall next to the regular jump pad, and Fly over the terrain if they attempt to catch you, or farm the outermost Corpish and Audino on your enemy's side jungle (they spawn after the first outer goal is destroyed). If you're aware of all the enemies' positions, you can feel free to take their buffs and score cheeky goals). On your side, if nobody's farming the Audinos in the side jungle, feel free to take them as well. A well levelled bird is a happy bird. With enough map awareness and game knowledge, you can attempt the same even from behind, but generally when you're behind just stick to your own jungle, and claim any audinos that are left untouched. The goal here is to reach Level 11 and have Flame Charge upgraded before the next Dreadnaw fight.

Mid Game Part 2 (5:00 - 2:40)

Super Jump Pad:

At the 5 minute mark, the Super Jump Pad next to the spawn point is unlocked, and it becomes nearly impossible to score at the secondary goals. Continue to fight for Dreadnaw (2min respawn timer), and take any farm you can get. Now is not the time to be picky - the race to Level 13 is on. Continue to rotate to Rotom after Dreadnaw, but do not follow it to the secondary goal. Rotom applies a lot of pressure by itself. You should use this chance to invade the enemy's jungle and their side jungle on the bottom side, even attempting to score if all the enemies are accounted for. It doesn't matter if your points get capped at 50, continue to farm for exp. Outside of Dreadnaw and Rotom, you should generally aim to be where your team isn't. If they're all at Top, go Bot. If they're advancing, defend. If they're defending, invade. Use your Unite move as necessary, either to secure kills or to run away.

Late Game (2:40 - 0:00)

Preparing for Zapdos:

This is it. This is where the game is won or lost. Everything you've been doing up to now is irrelevant. Meaningless. All that matters is getting/denying that Zapdos. Zapdos spawns at the 2:00 mark, and subsequently all goals scored become double points. Starting from the 2:40 mark, do your best to not die. Use your Unite move to secure a last minute Dreadnaw if necessary, but do not die. File into the central area from either the top or bottom ahead of time (10-20s before). If you reach the Zapdos pit before your enemies do, hide in their bush for vision, but be prepared to give up the spot when they come. This is the stage where you are quite possibly the weakest. Anyone can kill you. Even that squishy Pikachu can kill you if he presses his Unite move. Get out of the way in advance. Use Flame Charge to navigate; Do not waste your Fly.

Teamfighting:

If your team is all here, camp the bushes on the enemy side and wait for them to funnel in from the middle. Once their backline shows, and your team has good CC, such as Blastoise and Mamoswine, it's time to make the hero play. Flank the enemy backline using Fly, and push them all into your team's CC pokemon with your Unite move. If the enemies are scattered all over, do not show yourself until you see a squishy target (attacker/speedster) in KO range. If 1 enemy shows up on your minimap trying to score, stay put, but look for an opportunity to force a teamfight. If 2 enemies show up on your minimap trying to score, immediately start Zapdos using Fluffy Tail, but save Fly for the last 20% of Zapdos' HP.

Stealing:

Unfortunately, your team won't always be in time for Zapdos, or they might get picked off and die beforehand. In such a situation, you have to attempt a steal. Hide in the middle bushes closest to the lane, or stay in the middle corridor leading to the Zapdos pit, and pan your camera over. How fast Zapdos goes down varies from game to game, and it's equal part luck and skill when it comes to stealing Zapdos. Use your Unite move to close the distance if you still have it, and make sure you're in Fly mode directly above Zapdos, before Zapdos' HP drops below 30%. Once again, if you fail the steal, don't be too hard on yourself. To be forced into this position - your team has already lost the game.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Muscle Band and Scope Lens?

As a jungler, your primary focus is to take out jungle creeps as quickly as possible, and having to use your skills to do so - especially in the late game, makes you especially vulnerable, so you need to pimp out your normal attacks.

Why Fly/Flame Charge instead of Brave Bird/Aerial Ace?

Going Brave Bird/Aerial Ace limits you to being an all-in Dive Bomber. Aerial Ace can't be used when there are no targets and severely limits your escape options. Brave Bird gives you insane range and damage for steals, but is limited by its skillshot nature, which can be pretty challenging with Switch controls. On the other hand, Fly gives you a long invulnerability period, which allows you to scout bushes for your team, and make outplays in 1v1s. Flame Charge gives you mobility with its short 5.85-5.2s CD (10% CDR at lvl 5, 20% CDR at level 9), allowing you to quickly traverse the map, as well as escape from enemies as needed without burning Fly.

Why not get a defensive third item such as Focus Band/Buddy Barrier instead of Attack Weight/Float Stone?

Talonflame is an assassin with no in-built sustain unlike Zeraora. With his 6300 HP and 290/200 defenses, he's not surviving the fight without killing his target. Talonflame also relies on his skills to secure kills and objectives, which scale purely off of his attack stat and can't crit, so he definitely appreciates an additional source of attack outside of muscle band (+15 only).

Why not Eject Button/X-Attack

Fluffy Tail is necessary for the early gank 3v2 cheese with a buff. Between Fly and Flame Charge, you honestly shouldn't be in the position to use Eject Button unless you're positioning really poorly. Your job isn't to chase kills or win 1v1s, but to secure objectives for your team. As for X-Attack, I personally haven't found the damage increase to be significant enough, but that's just me.