*by [Pockygom](/guides/)* 


*Are you interesting in starting to play TFT? Trying to get a new player into TFT? Here's the first of a series of guides aimed at introducing players to TFT* 

# BEGINNER GUIDE (PART 1: CORE MECHANICS)

## What is TFT?

Teamfight Tactics (often abbreviated TFT) is an autobattler game developed by Riot Games designed to be strategic, yet accessible for people of any background. Your units fight on their own, you are given about a minute per round to make your decisions, there are no truly challenging mechanics to TFT and you don't even have to win the game to raise your rank. TFT is, in most regards, an easy game. The main difficulty is in navigating through the randomness and variance to make well-informed decisions and maximize your expected placement.

However, this is only possible with the proper knowledge and information to base your decisions around. There is neither a tutorial nor a sufficient resource explaining how the game works for beginners. The goal of this beginner guide is to fill this gap by introducing the key mechanics of Teamfight Tactics and provide a basic structure to help new players learn the game.

## BASICS OF TFT

(If you would like to skip over this, jump to the Learning TFT section.)

A standard game of TFT consists of 8 players taking turns battling each other in a pseudo-random order until one player is left alive and deemed the winner.

Take a look at your typical TFT screen.

![](/images/newplayer/image6-min.jpg)

While the UI may seem daunting at first, we will go over each component one at a time.

### BOARD

Each player is given a 4-by-7 hexagonal board and a bench that can fit 9 champions as shown below.

![](/images/newplayer/image10-min.jpg)

Only units on your board will fight for you in the current round. 

The number of units you can have on your board is equivalent to your player level.

You can hold units on your bench for future purposes.

### SHOP/CHAMPIONS

Champions are the units that are displayed on your board/bench and in your shop.

Champions can be purchased and moved to anywhere the game highlights on your screen.

Each champion has its own unique cost, stats, skills and traits. You can check these by right-clicking the unit.

-   The cost for selling the unit is shown in the top right of the portrait

-   The stats are health, mana, attack damage, ability power, attack speed, armor, magic resist, critical chance, critical damage and range

-   During combat, units will automatically attack based on their range. Each attack dealt and all damage taken helps units generate mana. 

-   Skills typically activate when the unit fills its mana bar

-   Every champion has 2-3 traits

![](/images/newplayer/image8-min.png)

Every unit has a star level:

-   When you purchase a champion, it comes as a 1* unit

-   When you obtain 3 copies of the same champion, all 3 will combine into a 2* version of the champion. The 2* unit has enhanced stats (HP and AD) and skills and appears bigger with a silver outline on its health bar

-   Similarly, 3 copies of the same 2* champion will combine into a 3* unit appearing even bigger and golden with a gold outline on its health bar

-   The shop will indicate when you are able to create a 2*/3* as shown below

![](/images/newplayer/image5-min.png)

You can reroll your shop which will replace your current shop with a new shop. This is used to spend your gold to find specific champions and upgrade them.

### TRAITS

Your active traits are displayed on the left.

Traits are distinguished between origins and classes with every champion having at least one of each.

Playing different champions with the same traits on your board gives you additional bonuses and effects based on the trait.

Traits will indicate that they are active as shown below.

![](/images/newplayer/image11-min.png)

Hovering over the trait will show you its effects, champions and thresholds

![](/images/newplayer/image2-min.png)

Emblems can be obtained and used to increase the count of a specific trait by 1. These typically require a Spatula to craft, or can come from a special item called a Tome of Emblems. 

![](/images/newplayer/image9-min.png)

### PLAYER LEVEL

Your level is the value displayed on the bottom left. 

It increases when the EXP bar under it reaches the threshold to reach the next level. 

![](/images/newplayer/exp.png)

EXP is gained through two ways: 

-   At the start of every round you receive 2 EXP

-   You can purchase 4 EXP for the cost of 4 gold

Your level is equivalent to the number of units you can have on your board.

Your level determines the odds that different champions can show up in your shop.

### GOLD

Your gold is the value displayed on top of your shop. 

It is used to purchase units and EXP.

![](/images/newplayer/image12-min.png)

There are four ways to obtain gold: 

-   You naturally gain gold at the start of every round depending on several factors
-   *For each 10 gold that a player has, they earn 1 additional gold / round, up to 5 additional gold/round.* 

-   You gain gold for winning a round

-   You can sell units you have on your board/bench for the cost displayed on the top right

-   You can receive gold from loot boxes

![](/images/newplayer/image4-min.png)

Win/loss streak gold is determined as follows:

![](/images/newplayer/streak.png)

### ITEMS

Items are the icons that are displayed on the bottom left of your board or on top of your units.

Items are distinguished between item components and completed items:

-   Item components only give a stat boost

-   Completed items are created by combining two item components and have additional effects as shown below

![](/images/newplayer/image1-min.png)

Right clicking a item component will show you all the completed items that can be made using the component

![](/images/newplayer/image3-min.png)

Items must be placed on units on your board for it to have an effect.

You can place at most 3 items on any given unit as shown below.

![](/images/newplayer/image7-min.png)

There are two ways to obtain items:

-   You can pick up an item of choice on carousel rounds

-   You can receive items from loot boxes

### HEALTH

Every player starts with 100 health. 

Whenever a player loses a fight, they will lose health depending on two factors, the current stage as well the number of units remaining on the winning player's board.

Players die when their health reaches 0 and they receive a placement for the game depending on the order that they died.

![](/images/newplayer/image13-min.png)

## LEARNING TFT

In a typical game of TFT, you'll do the following:

-   Take units and items from the carousel 

-   Purchase, sell and reroll units from your shop

-   Add and remove units to and from your board 

-   Build items and upgrade units to make your team stronger

-   Purchase EXP to level up

-   Save up gold

-   Build your strongest board to try and beat the other players

We will go through a few guidelines to follow as you get used to playing the game. For this part, we encourage you to start with a few Hyperroll games. The hyperroll game mode removes most of the complexity in managing your gold so that you can focus on learning how all the other aspects of TFT work together.

Your goal here is to build a sense of how the game plays out and figure out what units, traits, items all do. Don't focus too much on the nitty-gritty of all the math, probability, and meta behind the game! These are things you can study once you get to a point where you understand the game flow and key concepts of the game.

All TFT games start similarly and maintain the same structure throughout. Hyperroll will be a little different from the standard ranked mode but the gist of it is the same.

The game starts with the opening carousel and moves into 3 creep rounds. You will typically receive 3 item components by the time you fight other players. The game is divided into stages with each stage following the same format: 3 player combats into a carousel into 2 player combats and then one creep round. At the end of the creep round, we move into the next stage and repeat the cycle

Don't worry too much about what you take on the opening carousel and let the games play out. For the following guidelines, you will want to prioritize the ones that come first and move onto the more complex concepts as you get more comfortable.

### GUIDELINES

1.  **Learn the units.** \
    Buy units and put them on your board to see what their stats are and what their skills do. You can right click a unit on your board/bench to look at all of their information.\
    Your goal here is to learn what each unit does and what traits they have.

2.  **Upgrade your units.** \
    2* units are significantly stronger than their 1* counterparts. They have nearly double the HP and AD and are usually not too difficult to obtain. Oftentimes, a 2* unit is stronger than putting in a unit just to activate a trait.\
    You can go for 3* units. Be warned that many times you will not be able to turn your units golden because obtaining 9 copies of the same unit can be very difficult especially if other people are holding the same unit as there are a limited number of copies of each unit available\
    Your goal here is to build a sense of how many times you typically have to roll to get your 2* and 3* units.

3.  **Learn the items (as well as the special items).** \
    Don't be afraid to experiment with items. Try to make combinations of items that seem like they would be good and see how they perform. You can right click on items and components to see what they do.\
    Your goal here is to learn what each item does, how to build them and how well they interact with each other, units and traits. Learn how items like reforger, remover, loaded dice, tome/emblem, etc. works.

4.  **Try to fit as many traits as you can on your board.** \
    As you are able to put more and more units on your board, the combinations of traits that you can have at any time increases. Try to adjust your board so you can either upgrade an existing trait to its next tier or add a new trait.\
    Focus on testing out as many of the traits as you can while seeing how the game lets you build different combinations of traits as you level up. You will notice certain combinations can be built more naturally (and often synergize better) than other combinations.\
    Your goal here is to make a habit of finding the best combination of traits that your current board can fit.

5.  **Watch your fights from beginning to end.** \
    Even though your board fights on its own, you want to pay attention to what each unit is doing in the fight. There are many things to pay attention to here but for now focus on how units move, target enemy units, how their skills work and what initial positioning seems to work best for each unit. (Melee up front, ranged in the back is the general guideline)\
    Your goal here is to make a habit of observing every little thing that is happening in the fight to better understand the combat mechanics

6.  **Follow a team composition list/guide.** \
    Find a team composition that you would like to play and find the appropriate guide that explains the units and items that you want. If the guide is thorough enough, it will tell you how to do everything from start to finish while explaining what to prioritize.\
    Try to follow the general structure focusing mostly on what units you want to use/hold, what items you should prioritize making and how to position the units in the composition.\
    Your goal here is to learn how to follow a game plan and begin understanding what compositions/units are strong and part of why they are strong.

7.  **Save resources.** \
    There are times when you will want to save item components, gold, and hold units on your bench. As you get more comfortable with the game, you will understand which items are worth making and which units are worth using/saving.\
    This means holding onto item components when you can't make the right items, keeping units on your bench that you aren't playing on your board, or saving money to roll at a specific time/level to improve your chance of hitting a unit.\
    This is where the majority of in-game planning in TFT is so you will want to practice it a bit as you play.\
    Your goal here is to begin evaluating which units and items are worth using to win fights and learn a bit of the planning needed to navigate through TFT's game flow.

Play a few games of hyperroll while following these guidelines and once you feel comfortable with buying units, rerolling, making items/comps, etc., you can try to move into the standard mode! 

In this standard mode, you will need to learn how to manage HP and gold much more carefully. We will discuss this topic further in our next article where we will focus on what resources you have and how to manage them all in conjunction with each other. 

Once you're jumping into standard, check out our quickstart guide for [SET 6 MECHANICS](/guides/advanced-wiki/gizmos/primer) and our updated [composition list](/blog/1123b/) for the current patch. 

New Player Guide

*by [Rue and Pocky](/guides/)* 


*New player? Returning player who hasn't played for a while? Wanting to try out a Riot game after watching Arcane?* 

**Here's a short quickstart guide to help you hit the ground running when you start playing set 6.**

With the advent of the new TFT set-- Set 6, aka Gizmos and Gadgets almost upon us, we've written a guide to help players, both old and new, get up to speed on the multitude of new mechanics and exciting changes that are part of the new set.

For players who are completely new to the game, or those who want a refresher on the core game mechanics -- check out our new player guide or wiki.


Set 6 Mechanic - Augments
-------------------------

### What are augments?

**Hextech Augments** are the set 6 mechanic. Augments provide **gold, items, combat stats, or some other form of utility** that (generally) last for the entire game.

Players are offered a choice of **3 augments at the beginning of stages 1-4, 3-3, and 4-6**. 

![](/images/primer/image1.jpg)

<div align="center">Choosing an augment</div>
<br>


Augments themselves give many different bonuses, but they are organized within **3 tiers of power**. When offered an augment, **all players will be a given 3 choices within the given augment tier**. For example, it wouldn't be possible for you to be offered tier 1 augments while your opponent is offered tier 3 augments.

After choosing an augment, the augment will be visible in the player's **Hexcore**, the floating gear on the left side of the player's board. 

#### How to pick an augment? 

In general, augments can be classified by the type of bonus that they provide.

### **Combat augments**
Some augments like Knife's Edge or Cybernetic Implants give raw combat stats like health, AD/AP, attack speed, and healing, among others. These are generally flexible bonuses that can fit most boards, though AP comps can't use the AD well, and vice versa.

### **Econ augments**
The other major class of augments boost your economy. This can take the form of giving a one time large gold bonus, or having higher tier shops, generating extra gold per combat, or giving free XP. These tend to snowball the earlier you get them, but they are also flexible and let you play into any kind of board.

### **Trait augments**
These give bonus combat effects for a particular trait. In particular, many of the augments also give the ability to fit in extra traits. These can take the form of the heart/soul augments, which give +1/+2 of a given trait, respectively, or just in the form of an emblem.

**Find the full list of augments here**: <https://app.mobalytics.gg/tft/set6/hextech-augments>

Traits 
-------

As with every new set, the new units and new traits may seem daunting. To make this more manageable, we've classified the traits by generally what purpose they'll serve in a team.

### Frontline Traits

-   **Bodyguard** - taunts enemies and gives armor to bodyguard units

-  **Innovator** - summons an additional unit that serves as additional frontline and has a teamwide buff at 5/7

-   **Colossus** - can't be CC'd and takes 25% less damage. Colossi take up TWO unit slots on the board.

-   **Protector** - gives an additional shield on spell cast

-   **Bruiser** - gives additional HP to all units, double the amount for bruiser units

### Offensive Traits

AD

-   **Twinshot** - additional AD and has a chance to attack twice

-   **Challenger** - gives bonus attack speed, extra attack speed and dash on unit kill

AP

-   **Arcanist** - additional AP to team and bonus AP to arcanist units

Both

-   **Sniper** - extra damage for each hex the target is away

-   **Academy** - bonus AD/AP, additional on ally ability cast

-   **Assassins** - bonus crit chance and crit damage. Every assassin's spell can crit.

-   **Imperial** - grants the imperial unit(s) that dealt the most damage extra damage %

### Support

-   **Enchanter** - teamwide magic resist, bonus to healing + shielding

-   **Clockwork** - teamwide attack speed boost

-   **Scholar** - all units passively gain additional mana / second

-   **Enforcer** - highest HP unit (2) / highest DPS (4) unit is disabled at the beginning of combat. 

-   **Socialite** - gives bonuses to a unit on a random and fixed hex for that game. The hex is the same for all players. Boosts damage dealt (1) / Gives additional mana / second (2) / Gives omnivamp (3)

### Econ Traits

-   **Yordle** - spawns an additional Yordle after every player combat. If all Yordles are 3* already, will spawn Veigar, a 5 cost. 

-   **Mercenary** - similar to Fortune from set 4. Grants a reward after winning a player combat. Consecutive player losses (with mercenary in) grant additional rewards.

### Miscellaneous (Combat)

-   **Scrap** - temporarily completes components on scrap units at the start of combat. Grants all units a shield at the start of combat.

-   **Mutant** - different effect in every game. Can be used to enable multiple different carries.

-   **Chemtech** - grants Chemtech units attack speed, healing, and damage reduction for a set duration after losing HP.

-   **Syndicate** - gives Syndicate unit(s) armor / magic resist and omnivamp.

To see the details for all of the new set 6 traits, see: <https://app.mobalytics.gg/tft/set6/synergies/classes>

Item Changes
------------

a few of the items had their effects changed.

-   Deathblade (Sword + Sword) - no longer gives stacking AD on takedown. Now grants flat AD at the start of combat based on unit star level. 

-   Statikk Shiv (Bow + Tear) - gives 15% aspd and also on-hit MR reduction + shiv proc. 

-   Runaan's Hurricane (Bow + Cloak) - no longer procs on-hit effects. Now grants additional AD. 

-   Archangel's Staff (Tear + Rod) - now gives increasing AP for every second of combat. 

-   Banshee's Claw (Belt + Glove) - no longer blocks CC spells multiple times when stacking spell shields. Additional shields only block extra damage / shield stack.

Spatula Items
-------------

With each new set, new traits also bring new emblems. We've come up with a handy way to remember which spatula makes which trait.

The new spatula items are:

#### Sword / Imperial
![](/images/blog-11-19/imperial.png "imperial emblem") \
Imperial units need to have swords to conquer people.

####   Rod / Arcanist
![](/images/blog-11-19/arcanist.png "arcanist emblem") \
AP component -> AP trait

####   Glove / Assassins 
![](/images/blog-11-19/sin.png "sin emblem") \
Gloves are always sins, since the component gives crit, and sins gives crit

####   Bow / Challenger 
![](/images/blog-11-19/challenger.png "chall emblem") \
Challenger players have high APM -> attack speed component

####   Tear / Academy
![](/images/blog-11-19/academy.png "imperial emblem") \
People cry a lot in school, so it's a tear

####   Belt / Chemtech
![](/images/blog-11-19/chemtech.png "imperial emblem") \
Chemtech units are kinky so you need to whip them with a belt (to turn a unit into a chemtech)

####   Vest / Syndicate 
![](/images/blog-11-19/syndicate.png "imperial emblem") \
Take off your chain vest so you can be naked and sneaky like a syndicate

####   Cloak / Mutant 
![](/images/blog-11-19/mutant.png "imperial emblem") \
Cloak is magic resist and mutants are resistant to radiation (magic)

Set 6 Primer

Guides

*by [Pockygom](/guides/)* 


# Playing around the forgotten opener

## What is Forgotten?
In Set 5.5 the Forgotten trait is flat trait buff granting forgotten units **20/40/70/200 AP and AD** at tiers of **2/4/6/8 units** respectively, with each victorious combat that the units participate in granting an **additional stacking 10% stat bonus up to 5 times**. 

_Note: You can obtain forgotten stacks from creep rounds as well so you should put in all of your forgotten units during these rounds._

The units that comprise the Forgotten synergy are \
![](/images/blog-10-11/image1.png "forgottens")

(1 cost) - Vayne [Ranger]\
(2 cost) - Hecarim [Cav], Thresh [Knight]\
(3 cost) - Miss Fortune [Cannoneer]\
(4 cost) - Draven [Legionnaire] \
(5 cost) - Viego [Assassin] 

This guide will explain how to effectively leverage the forgotten opener into a strong endgame board. Special emphasis will be put on explaining the thought process between determining what comps are viable transition options from different openers.

<div class="note">

**Sections:** \
[Opener](#opener) \
[Early synergy units](#early-synergy-units) \
[Early itemization](#early-itemization) \
[Stage 2](#stage-2) \
[Stage 3](#stage-3)\
[Radiant](#radiant-armory)\
[Stage 4](#stage-4)\
[Pivoting out/transitioning boards](#relevant-comps)

</div>

## Opener
### Core units of the forgotten opener:
![](/images/blog-10-11/image5.png "forgottens")

**Vayne** - Good AD/aspd item holder (especially rageblade). Very weak unit without having 4 forgotten, items and rangers. Reroll vayne is very strong with the correct items.\
**Hecarim** - Okay frontline unit that does not scale well with star level. Can be a carry in MF/cavs  as a 3* with the right defensive items. Totally fine to keep this unit 2* for majority of forgotten comps and usually is the first to go for draven comp.\
**Thresh** - Amazing utility/cc unit that can often single handedly win fights. Requires good positioning that depends heavily on matchup.\
**Miss Fortune** - Great damage unit that can require no items to provide decent dps + utility from her anti heal. Strong AP carry and can be both an AP/AD item holder.

### Units to 2* early that synergize well with the forgotten units:
![](/images/blog-10-11/image6.png "early synergy")

**Senna** - good damage and utility early on, especially synergizing well with miss fortune for the cannoneer trait\
**Kled** - great HP, AD/aspd item holder especially when you have knights and cavaliers both in \
**Poppy** - best early game frontline unit that deals good damage and synergizes well with thresh for focusing enemy backline. Ideally position poppy so that she isn’t the first unit being targeted to maximize the amount of  times she uses her skill.\
**Leona** - okay tank but usually replaced ASAP

### Early synergy units:
![](/images/blog-10-11/image10.png "early synergy")

Play these synergy units if they provide the relevant synergy for your main carry (which can sometimes be your frontline units). \
Do not hold pairs for these units if you can make econ by selling the pair. Make these units 2* if they are given to you though.\
**Sejuani** is the only exception since sejuani is the best 2 cost unit in the game and can easily transition you into other compositions even early on in stage 3.

### Early itemization:
![](/images/blog-10-11/image9.png "early itemization")
Do not go out of your way (armory/carousel) to make any of the defensive items unless it is the only thing you can make!

**Try not to make a fully itemized carry before the first radiant armory!** The difference between a good radiant item on your carry is huge due to the multiplicative nature of itemization.This can apply to hecarim/sejuani as well if you are rerolling cavs.

Prioritize making flex items when possible so that you can adapt to whatever radiant item you are given.
However, do not go out of your way to make a flex item if it makes it difficult to use your remaining components. Your goal is to slam as many useful items on stage 3 to ensure you winstreak with the forgotten board. For this reason, you will want to **avoid chain vest, cloak and tear** as much as possible as they only let you slam any of the listed items.

Also, generally speaking, do not make AD items if you have already made AP items and vice versa. 

**Miss Fortune** can hold any damage item. With AD/AS items you will want to make sure to have the cannoneer trait in to maximize its value.\
If you have **rageblade + vayne 2***, you will want to play an extra ranger because the ranger buff is multiplicative on any attack speed your vayne has. 

## STAGE GAMEPLAN

### Stage 2:
If you have 2* vayne on 2-1, look at your item components to see if it is an opportunity to reroll vayne. If it looks possible, do not level. Reference SunAstro’s guide for this.


In the case that you do not have any of the strong early game 2* units or 4 forgotten, you will want to go on a loss streak. Openforting is especially appealing if you are planning on rerolling vayne as it gives you item priority to always choose your ideal item component. When playing for loss streak, you do not want to level at the standard timings and you will want to make as much gold as possible and not slam items. Your goal is have enough gold to roll on 3-2 and hit 2* forgotten units and strong/flexible items. 


Even if you hit early 4 forgotten do not play too aggressively with items/econ. 4 forgotten usually does not win fights without additional traits + items (cav/knights/rangers/cannoneers). 


In general, try to itemize your upgraded units/supporting synergies that you have on your board: ex. 
With 2* senna + MF - you can put either AD/AP items (Guinsoos/DB/etc.) onto your MF instead of vayne.

### Stage 3:
Only level on 3-1 if you have a 4 or 5 win streak going into it and already have a good frontline.
Most games will be level 6 on 3-2 and roll for forgotten units. **The goal is to find 2\* frontline either in the form of hecarim + sej/rell or poppy + thresh while hitting 4 forgotten**. 

The 4 forgotten damage spike makes it appealing to pick up the offensive trait of whichever unit you are itemizing (cannoneer for mf, ranger for vayne, legionnaire for draven if you find one).

If you have mostly defensive items at this point, you want to **play around cavaliers + knight synergy** instead.
You are okay with being at 10 gold if it ensures you hit your 2\*s (you don’t expect to 2* MF here though) 

With 2* frontline and decent items, you will win most of your fights on this stage since 4 forgotten is a very strong early game synergy. 


### Radiant Armory:
![](/images/blog-10-11/image7.png "radiants")

You will typically want to take an item for your carry (or planned carry). If you have no good dmg item to take for your carry, you will want to take the best flex option possible. This can depend heavily on what comps are being played in the lobby and we won’t go into that here.

In the case where you have to take one of the situational radiant items, generally the best unit to play off of with those items is Draven (he can use GA/QSS/RFC well and LW is okay if you have an IE).

### Stage 4:
This is the main point where you will decide whether you want to stay on 4 forgotten or transition to a different board. This depends very heavily on your current HP + items as well as the state of the rest of the lobby. We will not go into too much detail about analyzing the rest of the lobby.

_General rule of thumbs for stage 4:_ \
If you are transitioning off of AP Miss Fortune, you will want to transition on 5-1 at level 8. It costs too much gold to transition off of the forgotten board into the AP boards on stage 4.

Even if your endgame goal is to play Aphelios/Akshan, you can use Draven, Lucian or Jax to stabilize you into Aphelios/Akshan. This will be necessary if you have too little HP to sack the majority of stage 4 to quickly reach level 8.

**If you are above 80 HP at 4-1,** you do not want to end up below 20 gold at any point in stage 4. Certain comps will demand you to transition/roll on 4-1 even from a win streak (mostly MF, draven, lucian, jax). However, you have a huge HP advantage that you will want to play greedily so that you can go level 8 with a lot of gold (30+ gold to roll with on 8).

**If you are below 50 HP at 4-1,** you will want to play for a level 7 comp unless you have enough gold to level at 4-5 and roll. Do not be afraid to roll down to 10 to hit 2* units.

**If you are somehow below 30 HP at 4-1**, just all-in onto a level 7 comp. Generally speaking, do not all in on MF because in the majority of games you will not have enough hp to roll for 3* MF/cavs.


## Relevant comps

Will not go into full detail for each of these comps but these are general templates to work off of when determining your end comp/transition timing.. 

#### Vayne carry 
- See more details on how to play Vayne with SunAstro's Vayne Guide (coming soon!)
**Roll timing:** Level 5 while playing 4 forgotten 2 rangers\
**Core items**: Runaans, zekes, trapclaw\
![](/images/blog-10-11/image3.png "vayne")

#### MF/cavs
**Roll timing:** Level 6/7 for 3* cavs + 3* MF\
**Core items:** Shojin, AP item\
![](/images/blog-10-11/image2.png "mf cavs")

#### Aphelios/Akshan 
**Roll timing**: Level 8\
**Core items**: Deathblade, rageblade\
![](/images/blog-10-11/image4.png "rangers")

#### Lucian/Sents
**Roll timing**: Level 7 for 6 sentinel\
**Core item:** Any collection of non AP dmg items\
![](/images/blog-10-11/image11.png "sents")

#### Teemo, Heimer, Karma, Velkoz
Roll timing: Level 8 (sometimes level 7 for velkoz)\
Core items: Blue buff/shojin, AP items\
![](/images/blog-10-11/image8.png "heimer") 

![](/images/blog-10-11/image12.png "karma") 

![](/images/blog-10-11/image13.png "velkoz")

#### Draven
Roll timing: Level 7 for 4 legionnaire, 2 forgotten\
Core items: AD items\
![](/images/blog-10-11/image14.png "early synergy")


(Set 5.5) How to play around a Forgotten Opener

*by [SunAstronaut](https://www.twitch.tv/sunastronaut/).* 


# SunAstronaut’s Vayne Reroll Guide

## Introduction
A little bit about me for those who don’t know me. I’m Sun Astronaut, one of the most well known Challenger “reroll degens” on NA ladder. Comps I’ve been most famous for playing include, open fort protectors (set 3), open fort spirit aphelios (pre-rework and post rework) (set 4), Ninja Zed and Akali (set 4), Spirit Trist and Zed (set 4.5), and others that I might not recall on the top of my head. I’ve been asked by many about tips on playing Vayne and I told both PockyGom (4th NA Regionals), and SpencerTFT (NA Worlds Rep) that I’d write a guide after they’ve played in their respective tourneys.

![](/images/blog-10-16/image2.png "match histories")
![](/images/blog-10-16/image6.png "match histories")
![](/images/blog-10-16/image7.png "match histories")
![](/images/blog-10-16/image8.png "match histories")
![](/images/blog-10-16/image10.png "match histories")

Above are some games where I’ve played Vayne to varying degrees of success. I haven’t been hard forcing vayne for a while, but I’ve had times where I had 14/20 Vayne games. I also have an infinite amount of Vayne games on Kurums Golf Card which is another 1K lp account.

Now that Vayne has gotten nerfed multiple times, it is not a comp that is worth hard forcing at the top of the ladder. (I am pretty sure anything sub GM though or even 1k LP it is probably still fine to hard force but I wouldn’t recommend it.)

## When is it a Vayne Game?
Since this isn’t a 20/20 guide, I’ll outline when I think it is a Vayne game. Usually the #1 criteria I look for is my items. I actually care less about how many Vaynes I have than my items. I will not play Vayne unless I have half a Runaan's Hurricane (RH) and half a Zeke's Herald (zekes) after 2-2 armory. I just feel like without RH after 2-2 you will be taking so much damage in stage 3 that it isn’t worth playing the comp. (You won’t be winning rounds but we don’t want to be getting 6-0’d every fight in that stage)

If you’re trying to angle Vayne, what start is the best start to go for on opening carousel? Here’s my priority if I want to angle vayne from the start of the game.

* Bow
* Belt
* Vayne with one of glove, BF sword or rod

## Items in Vayne Comp + BIS Vayne
I hate saying BIS, but this happens to be one of the most asked questions when people ask how to play a comp. In my opinion there are “mandatory” items, “good” items, and “never make” items.

If I could hand pick items on Vayne every game it would be Guinsoo’s Rageblade (rageblade), RH, and +1. The +1 is lobby dependent. It could be Hand of Justice (HOJ), Giant Slayer (GS), RH, Titan’s Resolve (titans), Bloodthirster (BT), Last Whisperer (LW).

Some questions that might come up about the +1:
* Why No Jeweled Gauntlet (JG)?
JG sucks most of Vayne’s damage actually comes from the ad damage with forgotten.
* Why Titans?
She scales with ad and ap and stacks it up fast cause she’s a ranger.
* LW?
High Iron lobbies you might actually find LW really good.
* HOJ? She doesn’t use mana right?
She uses the stats on HOJ very efficiently that who cares if you waste the mana, plus this comp has a hard time wasting tears.

Other items that are important in the Vayne comp:
Zekes and Banshee's Claw. These two items should almost always go on Miss Fortune. The stats are good on Miss Fortune who is sort of a secondary carry in this comp.

Good items/situational items:
Redemption is good in AP heavy lobbies for the damage reduction. Locket of the Iron Solari (locket) for more pseudo frontline. Tank items to stack Hecarim as a solo frontliner.

## Radiant item ranking
This is a new note that has to be noted in set 5.5. There is no strict best Radiant item and you should think about it a bit but this is a general line up of what are Radiant item I’m looking for. (Important note please think before picking your radiant item. Even if I think Radiant rageblade is the best radiant item in the comp, you already have a normal rageblade and RH and no frontline items it might be better to take a frontline item!)

Damage items:
1. Guinsoo's Rageblade
2. Ruunan's Hurricane
3. Giant Slayer
4. Zeke's Herald
5. Hand of Justice
6. Titan's Resolve
7. Rapid Firecannon

Defensive items:
1. Banshee's Claw
2. Locket of the Iron Solari
3. Warmog's Armor
4. Redemption 
5. Sunfire Cape
6. Gargoyle's Stoneplate

Some important notes:
I think the only items that are mandatory in the comp are RH and zekes. Rageblade is nice, but you really just want the initial attack speed to shred through frontline and start attacking the back line.

## Vayne Comp Variants
There are multiple variants of Vayne you can play and I’m here to outline all of them.

![](/images/blog-10-16/image1.png "4 knight vayne")
4 Knight Vayne. I only play this variant if I natural a whole bunch of Leona 3. Leona 3 is actually a very broken frontliner and you can slow roll for her as well with Vayne.

![](/images/blog-10-16/image3.png "6 forgotten vayne")
6 Forgotten Vayne. This variant needs you to hit a Viego on 8 or a forgotten emblem. Personally I feel like this variant has the highest cap. Usually when I play this build I’m slow rolling for Thresh, Miss Fortune and Hecarim as well because 3 star forgottens are really powerful with 6 forgotten.

![](/images/blog-10-16/image5.png "3 clad vayne")
4 Forgotten with 3 Ironclad. This build is definitely the best in heavy AD lobbies. Rell is a nutty frontliner and 3 iron is obviously strong against all AD lobbies.

These are obviously just very general and the most common builds to go for. Please only use this as an outline. The more you play the more you should be able to realize what is your strongest board at any point in the given lobby.

## General Gameplay Patterns
In this part of the guide I’ll be talking about how the general game play of the comp looks like. I’ll be outlining how the board looks like at level 5 to level 8. Anything before level 5 doesn’t really matter as in stage 2 you’re literally only holding Vayne and making econ points.

### Stage 2
Only hold Vayne and forgotten units. I will hold a single Miss Fortune even if it means if i miss an econ point because you don’t want to have to roll too deep for 4 forgotten or not have it. If you don’t have 4 forgotten you will take infinite damage until you hit.

Carousel:
Finish RH or else finish zekes if you have RH already or get a zekes component

### Stage 3
On 3-1 you can roll decently deep for vayne 2 and some upgrades on your other forgotten. Take a look at your hp and items. If you have good items and hp you don’t have to roll at all and start slow rolling from 3-2, if not roll down to make a decent board, we need to start saving HP.

Carousel
Finish your zekes if you don’t have it complete yet or get yourself ready to make a 2nd Vayne item. You can finish a HOJ if you have tear/glove or go for a rageblade component.

### Stage 4
On stage 4-1 you need to hit Vayne 3. I will usually all-in here unless I have high HP. (60+) If you don’t hit by 4-1 you usually will go 8th. People will start to hit their 4 cost carries so position your Vayne on the same side as Lucians and Velkoz. At this stage we also have to make a very important choice. We will decide to either slow roll some on 6 for Hecarim 3 and Thresh 3 or push levels. This depends on the number of Hecarim/Thresh and HP. I usually will roll if i have 6/7 of each and have a decent amount of HP. If not I’ll push levels and hope to hit or else sell to make way for other frontline.

Carousel:
Finish up Vayne items. I will take Viego here if it means getting 6 forgotten and I’ll be able to go 8 very soon. Try to get banshee's claw/zekes as well.

### Stage 5 and beyond
At this point just position your units in a way that your Vayne doesn’t get targeted. Always center Vayne against Lucians. Velkoz you want to be on the opposite side. You can frontline Vayne against assassin and Akshan carries. 

Carousel items:
Just take whatever fits.

## General Positioning Tips:
Here are some layouts and tips for positioning your comp.

Against Lucian
![](/images/blog-10-16/image4.png "vs lucian")

Against Velkoz just position on the opposite side from the velkoz in the corner.
![](/images/blog-10-16/image1.png "4 knight vayne")

Velkoz is on the opposite corner.

Against Sins
![](/images/blog-10-16/image9.png "invert vs sins")

These are just general outlines use your own discretion when to position.

## Closing Thoughts
I don’t think Vayne is a comp worth going 20/20, especially after the most recent nerfs. It is still a very solid comp the nerfs were additive not multiplicative. Is it worth playing? If you have the opener sure, but it definitely not hard forceable. If you have any questions you can ask me on [my stream](https://www.twitch.tv/sunastronaut/) or [pockygom’s stream](https://www.twitch.tv/pockygom/). Pocky also knows majority of the stuff on the comp as well. Thanks for reading.


(Set 5.5) SunAstronaut's Vayne Guide


### Aggro
- Using up gold and items earlier than typical to exchange econ/perfect itemization for an early lead/capitalize at your strong point

### All in

-   To use up all your gold in a last ditch attempt to strengthen your board and scrape out the highest place you can

-   Generally done when you have 1 life left and you're not trying to save your gold for the next set

### AOE
 - area of effect, refers to abilities that affect an area of the board

### Bench
 - refers to the 9 slots in which a player can hold units that are not being played on the board

### BIS
 - stands for best in slot. Mostly refers to the typically ideal item combination for a given unit. 

### Board 
- refers to the units that a player is currently playing

### Board cap
 - the strongest your board can (realistically) get (usually 2*ing your entire board with the best comp surrounding your carries)

### Bot 4
 - refers to having a final placement 5-8. In ranked queue, going bot 4 results in losing LP. 

### CC
 - crowd control, refers to abilities or items (zephyr) which prevent a unit from acting/moving

### Cheesing item components
 - putting item components mid fight (usually belt/tear) to win a close fight

### Cheesing zephyr/shroud
 - keeping zephyr/shroud on your bench to place right before the start of a fight to "guarantee" high value from the items

### Clumping
 - positioning all your units right next to each other in a ball (generally to protect your backline)

### EV
 - stands for expected value (usually of a decision being made)

### Econ
 - stands for gold. Can mean actively hitting interest breakpoints (10, 20, 30, ...) or just the total amount of money accumulated
 - as a verb, generally means saving up gold to roll at a later point in the game

### Flex
 - playing "flexibly" so you can adjust which comp you play based off of what the game gives you (generally overemphasized)

### Forcing/onetricking
 - playing only one comp regardless of your opener and making all your decisions around that idea

### Fast 8 / 9 
- concept of playing in a way where you get to level 8/9 as soon as possible (rolling as little as possible)

### Full backline
 - putting all your units in the furthest row back

### Going infinite
 - the concept of having a sustain based champion be able to infinitely sustain / ramp into overtime

### Golf
 - Golf with your friends, a superior game to TFT

### Greed
 - decisions that sacrifice your current board strength to increase your future board strength (or increase likelihood of hitting). Can refer to holding units/items, not rolling when possible, etc.

### Hex
 - the hexagons on the TFT board in which a player is able to a place a unit

### (1/2/3/4) Hex range
 - refers to the range of a unit's auto/skill range

### Highroll
 - refers to having a lucky game (early upgraded units, perfect items, good matchmaking, etc.)

### Hit
 - finding your desired unit/item

### Hyperroll
 - rolling down all the way on 3-1 while being level 4 to hit 3* 1 cost units

### Infinite
 - what players say when they take a lot of damage (ex. I took infinite)

### Inverting board
 - flipping the standard unit positioning by reflecting vertically (usually only down to deal with sin players)

### Item holder
 - refers to a unit that uses completed items well but will be sold later for a better user of the same items

### Lives -

-   How many losses you can take before you die

-   For example, 28 hp is roughly 2 lives at stage 6, meaning you can take 2 losses before you die

-   This concept is important to know when you should all in or not and try to place higher

### Lowroll
 - refers to having an unlucky game (bad items, not hitting units/upgrades, bad matchmaking, etc.)

### Offset 
- moving the positioning of a unit/group of units by a hex or two

### On interval
 - buying EXP so that you are exactly at 0 EXP when hitting the next level threshold

### Off interval
 - buying EXP so that you do not end up at 0 EXP when hitting the next level threshold

### Open fort
 - playing a weak board in order to guarantee a loss streak (often done during stage 2)

### Overtime
 - What happens when the 30 second round timer runs out. The fight is accelerated and healing/shields are reduced, while damage is increased.

### Playing for top 4 
- making decisions entirely designed to improve your odds of getting a 4th in order to ensure a gain in LP
- often refers to rolling earlier or slamming items for tempo that may lead to a lower board cap

### Pick priority
 - refers to the order that you get to choose items off of the carousel (gaining priority means getting to choose earlier than the other players)

### Pivot
 - usually refers to making the decision to not commit to an originally planned comp (usually a reroll comp) 

### Popping off (item)
 - refers to removing certain items/components from a unit without having to sell the unit

### Prelevel
 - buying enough EXP so that the next round naturally hits the level threshold (used to adjust your shop odds)

### Proc
 - refers to effects that occur once every x autos/casts/etc. (such as static shiv)

### Rolldown
 - rolling most of your gold on a single turn to hit upgrades and/or transition your board

### Reroll
 - refers to spending 2 gold to get a new list of units in your shop

### Strongest board
 - the concept of making the strongest board possible with your current board/bench and available units in the shop

### Sac
 - short for sacrifice. Generally refers to strategically giving up a round or two (usually done for rerolling at a better timing or trying to get pick priority)

### Scout
 - checking the boards of the other players in your lobby to see their comp/positioning/etc.

### Scale
 - related to board cap but usually refers to how strong a comp can get once you hit all your relevant upgrades

### Slam
 - making completed items (usually as soon as possible)

### Slow roll
 - rerolling while staying above 50 gold (usually in order to hit 3* units)

### Spat
 - refers to the item component called Spatula. Often refers to emblems/completed spatula items

### Spike
 - refers to making a stronger board than you previously had (usually after rolling and hitting unit upgrades and items)

### Stimmy
 - refers to the radiant blessing that you receive when you hit 40 HP

### Swap side
 - reflecting your comp from left to right (or vice-versa)

### Tempo
 - a qualitative evaluation of your game state by combining your current board strength, gold economy, HP total and spike timing

### Transition
 - usually refers to when you change a significant portion of the units on your current board after rolling down 

### Top 4
 - refers to the placements 1-4, which guarantees a LP gain

### Tuning mana
 - putting mana items on a unit to typically make them cast earlier and/or more frequently (there are some exceptions)

### Vertical (comps)
 - comps that rely on putting as much of a specific synergy as possible (usually 5/6+ synergies)

### Wincon
 - stands for win condition. 


Glossary


Despite TFT being 2 years old, we realized that the barrier of entry into TFT was unreasonably higher than it should be. New players did not have a proper tutorial or entry point to learn the basics of the game and players looking to improve had no centralized resource to guide them through the learning process. Our goal is to curate a large collection of guides/coaches to aid players of all skill levels learn and improve at TFT.

## Our Team

### Rue
Rue, also known as “rue loves you” on NA server, often bounces around top 50 in NA and has competed in Giantslayer Series and Challenger Series previously. She also enjoys watching other vtubers, especially Sakura Miko and Nyanners. 

[Twitch](https://twitch.tv/rueasterid) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rueasterid)
### Pockygom
Pocky (or Gom) is frequently top 10 on NA ladder and acquired the most snapshot points in set 5.0 as well as placing 4th in the Set 5 NA regionals. Has a penchant for playing troll comps/limit testing.

[Twitch](https://twitch.tv/pockygom) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pockygom)

About Us


The carousel is a mechanic that allows players to acquire an additional component (or item) during the middle of each stage. There are 9 units on the carousel, and players are able to select their chosen carousel by using their Little Legend to collide with it.

The first carousel consists of only 1 cost units with random components, though some special carousels might have all spatulas or all Force of Natures. All players have access to the first carousel at the same time.

### Mechanic
At successive carousels, players will be let out 2 at a time, from lowest HP to highest in order of the HP bar on the right side of the screen. Thus, **players may intentionally lose HP in order to gain carousel priority** if they need a specific item. Additionally, each carousel will have **2 of the highest cost units** that are available on that carousel.

### Carousel - Unit Quality
**2-4:** 3 cost\
**3-4:** 4 cost\
**4-4+:** 5 cost

### Component/Item
**2-4 - 4-4:** single component\
**5-4:** completed items\
**6-4+:** completed items + components

Carousel


## What is gold?
Gold is a player resource that is displayed in the top middle of the player’s HUD. It can be used to purchase **player experience** and **units**. The amount of gold that each player has can be approximated by the number of gold counters on the side of their board (each gold counter means that the player has at least **_10*counters_** the amount of gold).

Econ management is an important skill in TFT. The **power cap** and **ability to spike** a given board is closely governed by the amount of gold a player has.

## Income / Turn
The amount of gold that each player earns is calculated from:\
**_passive income + streak income + interest + win gold + additional econ traits_**



### Passive Income

The first 5 rounds give **2, 2, 3, 4, 5** gold respectively, then all successive rounds starting from **2-3** will have **5 gold** as passive income.

### Streak Income

Maintaining a lose streak or win streak will also yield bonus gold. This is why **open-fort** and **aggressively levelling** are viable strategies, because these strategies can maintain win/lose streak and therefore extra gold. 

Streaks:\
1 W/L streak: 0 gold\
2 W/L streak: 1 gold\
3 W/L streak: 1 gold\
4 W/L streak: 2 gold\
5+ W/L streak: 3 gold



### Interest
For each **10 gold** that a player has, they earn **1 additional gold / round**, up to **5 additional gold/round**. This is why it is in a player's best interest to save up gold to 50 gold in order to maximize their economy. 

### Win Gold
If a player wins the combat phase, they will earn an additonal **1 gold**.

### Econ traits
Depending on the set, there will be unit traits that grant additional gold. Previous examples of this include Space Pirates, Fortune, and Draconic.


Gold/Economy


Health is an important resource in TFT.

**When a player’s health reaches 0, they lose the game.**

### Damage Formula
The way that player damage is calculated depends on the **number of enemy units (non-summoned) that are still alive at the end of combat** and the **stage**.

**_stage damage_ + _champion damage_ = _damage taken_**

### Stage damage
**Stage 1** - (neutrals) - 0\
**Stage 2** - 0 hp (1 if no enemy units remain in a loss)\
**Stage 3** - 2 hp\
**Stage 4** - 3 hp\
**Stage 5** - 5 hp\
**Stage 6** - 8 hp\
**Stage 7** - 15 hp

### Champion damage
**For every unit up to 5 unit loss**: _2 hp / unit_ \
**For every unit > 6 unit loss**: _1 hp / unit_

If multiple players are less than 0 health at the end of a round, placement is determined by whoever has the lower HP. 


Health

Wiki

## What are items?
Items are a large part of a player’s power budget in TFT. Item components are received from neutral monsters, carousels, and armories, while later on in the game, the player will receive completed items instead. Each basic component gives a corresponding stat boost to _attack speed, ability power, attack damage, mana, crit/dodge chance, armor, magic resist, or health_. These items can be equipped to units on your board to strengthen them. However, **each unit can have at most 3 items equipped**. 

## Combining Items
Two basic components can be combined by **equipping the two components to a unit**, which creates a complete item that takes the stats of the 2 components and also provides additional powerful effects. Once combined, **a combined item cannot be broken back down into the composite components**. Without a special drop (item remover / reforger) **completed items cannot be removed from the equipped unit without selling it**. 

## Popping off items
Combining a unit into a higher star level allows you to pop off **incomplete components** or a **random completed item** if multiple copies of the unit have items equipped. If three full completed items are equipped, then any basic components will be popped off when the unit is upgraded. If 4 or more completed items are equipped onto copies of the unit, then an item(s) will be popped off, with the items equipped to the copy of the unit currently on the board taking precedence. 

## Item economy
As of now, the minimum total item components you can receive in any given game is **12**.  Each radiant item counts as 2 components and with the current double radiant patch you will receive 14 item components. 

There are guaranteed **4 item components (minimum) from creeps**. You are less likely to receive item components you have already received from creeps.

Starting from round **5-7**, neutral monsters will have either 1 completed item and drop gold, or 3 completed items with no gold drops. 

![Dragon](/images/wiki/dragonfullitem.png "Dragon")
<p align="center"><i>Dragon with a full item drop</i></p>

**10 item components of “choice”:** \
**1-1** Starting carousel\
**2-2** Armory\
**2-4** Stage 2 Carousel\
**3-4** Stage 3 Carousel\
**3-6** Radiant Armory\
**4-2** Armory\
**4-4** Stage 4 Carousel\
**5-1** Radiant Armory

**Potential armory timings:** \
5-2 - Ranges from a component to completed items/emblems\
6-2 - Usually completed items/emblems

Stage 5 Carousel only has completed items
Stage 6 Carousel can have item components

**Drops such as item remover, reforger, Tome of Traits, Neeko’s Help do not count towards your total item count.**

## Special Items
### Item Remover
Item remover can be used on a unit to pop all the items that it is holding back onto your bench. Very useful for not selling key units while still being able to transfer items to a better user.

### Neeko's Help
Neeko's Help is a special item that can drop from **neutral monsters** and **armories**. It allows the player to duplicate a champion that they currently have, **bypassing restrictions on champion pool count**. It is a powerful item that can be used to spike a board by finding the last copy of a 2* 5 cost or 3* unit. **It does not count towards the item component count.**


![Dragon](/images/wiki/neekos.png "Dragon") \
<i>4 Neeko's Helps on bench</i>


### Reforger
Item reforger can be used on a unit to convert all the items that it is holding into random items. Useful for converting useless items + components into potentially something usable.\

Item components will convert into a random non-spatula item component\
Spatula will convert into a non-spatula item component.\
Completed items will convert into a random completed item.\
Spatula emblems will convert into another spatula emblem.\
Special emblems will convert into another special emblem.



Items

### Levels / XP
Player level determines two main things: the **amount of units you can have on board** at a time and the **odds for your unit shops**. 

The number of units you can have on the board is equal to **your player level added to the number of Force of Natures that you have**.

At higher levels, the likelihood of getting higher cost units increases while the likelihood of getting lower cost units decreases. \
Check here for the odds at each level. https://lolchess.gg/guide/reroll

## How to level
Your player level increases once you hit certain EXP thresholds.
After every round **you naturally gain 2 exp**. \
This can be accelerated by purchasing **4 exp for the cost of 4 gold**.

### Level thresholds
3: 2 EXP\
4: 6 EXP\
5: 10 EXP\
6: 20 EXP\
7: 36 EXP\
8: 56 EXP\
9: 80 EXP

Due to these thresholds, you typically end up with specific timings that are ideal for purchasing exp. These timings are distinguished as **preleveling, leveling on interval** and **leveling off interval**.\
**Preleveling** is when you purchase enough exp so that you will level up naturally on the next round in order to adjust your odds towards the higher cost units.\
**Leveling on interva**l is when you purchase exp so that you end up perfectly at 0 EXP after hitting the leveling threshold.\
**Leveling off interval** is when you purchase exp and end up at 2 EXP after hitting the leveling threshold (uses up 4 extra gold for the same level). This one is typically done to maintain the standard leveling tempo of the lobby/when you don’t need to roll for anything/all-in.

### Standard leveling times
These do not necessarily apply if you are playing reroll comps/open fort.\
1-3 Prelevel to 4\
2-1 Level to 4\
2-4 Prelevel to 5\
2-5 Level to 5\
3-2 Level to 6\
4-1 Level to 7 (off interval)\
5-1 Level to 8 (off interval)

### Other common leveling timings
These level timings are usually for maintaining win streaks/playing aggressively while improving odds of hitting high cost units naturally.\
3-1 Level to 6 (off-interval)\
3-5 Level to 7\
3-7 Level to 7\
4-2 Level to 7\
4-5 Level to 8\
4-7 Level to 8\
5-2 Level to 8

### Uncommon leveling timings
These tend to be lower value since you only stay higher level for at most 2 or 3 rounds while losing a lot of interest in exchange but occasionally is the right play.\
2-2/3 Level to 5\
2-5/6 Level to 6\
3-2/3 Level to 7\
4-2/3 Level to 8


Player Level (EXP)


Little legends are a variety of creatures and chibi versions of champions that are controlled directly by the player. **They are purely cosmetic and have no effect on gameplay.**

The player can move them to pick up loot orbs from **neutral monsters** and additional orbs dropped from **set mechanics or econ-generating traits**. However, the Little Legend used has no effect on gameplay, though players often swear by a specific little legend. 

### Scouting
Opposing players’ Little Legends will also show up on boards that they are scouting, giving information on which players are scouting which boards. On carousels, the size of the Little Legend will scale with the amount of HP that the corresponding player has (ie. a 100 hp Little Legend will be significantly larger than a 10 hp one). 


Little Legends


The matchmaking algorithm determines which opponents a player will fight in the upcoming stage. Half of the players will randomly be chosen to travel to an opponent’s board to fight in the upcoming turn. If there are an odd number of players remaining, a **ghost** will be generated to fight one of the remaining players.

_Note: If two fully empty boards fight each other, the player that traveled to the board will receive the win._

**Ghost** - a copy of a surviving player’s board, chosen at random. The fight is the same as if the ghost is a player, except in the case of a tie in overtime. Ties do not result in player damage. 

### Simplified Explanation
In general, you can’t fight the last 4 people that you have fought. This number is reduced when players start to die later in the game, but you will never fight the same player twice, not counting ghosts.

### Comprehensive Explanation
During stage 2, a queue of players is established, such that you will match against a new unplayed opponent for every pvp round during stage 2. 


Starting at **stage 3-1**, there is a pool of 3 players at all times that you are eligible to match against. At 3-1, this consists of the **first player you matched against**, and the **two players who you have not yet played**. Out of this 3 person set, one will be randomly selected. 

At the next stage, 3-2, the player who was just played is now moved to the back of the queue, and the player at the front of the queue is now added to the potential 3 player set. From here on out, the players in this constantly updated 3 player set are who you can face against during every turn.


### Trackers
Riot has allowed for the use of 3rd party extensions to help track opponents, such as: \
MetaTFT: https://www.metatft.com/download \
Blitz.gg: https://blitz.gg 


Matchmaking


The player can choose where to place their units during planning stage. Positioning is very important for certain units’ skill targeting, and can often decide the difference between win or loss.
While the nuances of positioning various champions are often very intricate, in general, tanky units want to be positioned such that they **draw aggro** and **CC enemy champions**, while damage dealing carries want to be positioned to maximize their **safety** and **damage output**. 

**Champion aggro**

At the start of combat, each unit will target the closest enemy unit within the unit’s attack range. If no unit is within range, then the unit will move towards the closest enemy until there is an enemy within attack range. After the current target becomes untargetable (due to trait, or death), then aggro will switch to the next closest champion within auto attack range. 



Positioning


## What are units? 
These are what make up your board. You can typically purchase units that range from 1 cost - 5 cost from the shop, which offers a semi-random set of **5 units per shop refresh**. The player can control what items a unit can hold, as well as where they are positioned. However, players cannot directly control the units after combat begins.

![Picture of units in shop](/images/wiki/units.png "Units available for purchase in the shop")
<p align="center"><i>Units available for purchase in shop</i></p>

Units typically have different **base stats**, with melee units and **frontline units** generally having higher **health**, **armor**, and **magic resist**. Higher cost units of the same archetype generally will also have higher base stats than their lower cost counterparts. The same often holds true of offensive stats for more carry oriented champions.

Each unit also has a **unique ability**, most of which are dependent on **mana** -- when a unit reaches max mana, it will use its ability. Units can also have a **starting mana** value, which determines the amount of mana that a unit starts with at the beginning of the combat phase. Starting mana **DOES NOT** affect subsequent casts after the first ability cast. 

## Unit traits / origins
Units will also have between 2-3 traits. These are inherent bonuses that will be activated to buff either the entire board (ex. mystics), or the unit itself. These unit synergies are important to create stronger boards. There are often breakpoints to activate traits which will be noted in the trait description, and higher tiers which grant stronger bonuses.

![Show unit traits](/images/wiki/traits.png "Traits")
<p align="center"><i>Traits for a given board, shown on the left</i></p>

## Star Level

Acquiring 3 of a single unit will allow them to combine to form a 2* unit, and acquiring 9 of a unit will combine into a 3* unit. Each additional star level grants the unit +80% (multiplicative) **attack damage** and **health**, and upgrades the unit's unique **champion ability**. Additional star levels also enhance the effect of certain items like **Bramble Vest** and **Locket of the Iron Solari**.

**Mana, ability power, attack speed, and armor/magic resist ARE NOT affected by star level.**

## Unit Count

There is a limited amount of each unit in a shared champion pool between ALL players. This means that it is harder to upgrade a given unit if multiple other units are holding that unit. In addition, units which appear in player shops are also temporarily taken out of the pool until that shop is refreshed.

For each champion tier, there are:


**1 cost - 29 units**

**2 cost - 22 copies**

**3 cost - 18 copies**

**4 cost - 12 copies**

**5 cost - 10 copies**


## Unit Value

The odds of hitting a certain champion cost varies depending on the player's level. 

All star levels of 1 cost units can be sold for full value.

For 2 cost and above units, 2*/3* can be sold for 1 less gold than their combined cost (ie. 2* 3 cost can be sold for 8 gold)



Units

Guides and articles focused towards competitive TFT.

TFTGuide | Blog

*by [Rue](/guides/)*


# 11.23B Comp List

After the Sion nerfs, we've seen a huge rise in Katarina comps as well as a return to the AD 4 cost carries. Arcanists are still quite strong, but there's little recourse for missing on Lux/Vex. Fast 9 comps are still incredibly strong and can cap out with Jinx/Jayce/Yuumi/Kaisa.

*To give some additional context into the tiers:* \
**S:** Disproportionately strong comps that are forceable. In this specific patch, only Katarina is forceable from S tier. Jinx relies on being able to successfully fast 9 and cap out the board. \
**A:** Extremely strong comps that can be forced into with relative success, top 4 with relative consistency, and can contest top 2 in the lobby.  \
**B:** These comps are STRONG when given the spot to play them. Less CONSISTENT if you force them, but can still often top 4, and can contest top 2 with highroll (units/augments). \
**C:** Strong in specific situations. Often requires highroll to play but if you have the spot, the comp will usually top 4. 

**S: [Katarina Reroll](#katarina-reroll), [Chemtech Bruiser Jinx (Fast 9)](#jinx-bruiser-twinshots)**

**A: [Arcanist](#arcanists), [Yone](#vertical-challenger-yone), [Dark star mutants (voracious)](#darkstar-mutants)**

**B: [Snipers](#snipers), [Prot mutant reroll](#prot-mutant-reroll), [Bruiser trundle/vi reroll](#trundle-vi-ekko-bruiser-reroll), [Samira reroll](#samira),[Sin-dicates](#sin-dicates-shaco-akali), Chemtech Urgot (Lvl 8)**

**C:[WW Reroll](#warwick-reroll)**

### Katarina Reroll

S, S+ with early econ augment (calculated loss, meta, trade sector)

Item Priority

Katarina: Ionic/IE+healing

Super strong comp that rerolls on 6. With spat, can play 6 sins + 2 bodyguard. Can tech in socialite since Katarina is somewhat positioning agnostic. 

![](/images/blog-11-23/image11.png)

### Jinx Bruiser Twinshots

S - To give some context, this specific comp is being used as a stand-in for a SUCCESSFUL fast 9 board, most of which go into Jinx boards. It specifically caps out extremely high, but it is NOT a comp that you can try to go into the game playing, but it's important to understand the strength of fast 9 in any given meta. 

Item priority:

Mundo: Warmogs+tank items

Jinx: GA

Urgot: Runaans + damage

 One of the strongest endgame boards with 2* jinx, but still does well with urgot midgame. Fairly augment agnostic, and has strong legendary techs in Jayce/Viktor if you hit and have items for them.  

![](/images/blog-11-23/image1.png)

### Darkstar Mutants 

(A, S+ with target dummies)

Item prio

Malz: Guardian Angel

ZZrot for frontline

Push levels and play for upgraded legendaries (Kaisa/Yuumi/Viktor)

Very flexible items, GA malz can carry through midgame and Mutant carry (Urgot/Viktor/Jinx) can be a wincon.

![](/images/blog-11-23/image7.png)

### Arcanists

A+, becomes a lot stronger with heart/soul/spat.

Item priority:

Vex: Tank items

Lux: Infinity Edge/Jeweled Gauntlet/Blue buff

Viktor: Shojin

This comp needs to go 8. It can cap out very high with Vex 3, Viktor 2, Yuumi, but sometimes has trouble getting to that point. Vex 2 is incredibly strong in the midgame with strong tank items. Positioning is important for Lux and having Vex avoid Tahm Kench.

![](/images/blog-11-23/image8.png)

### Vertical Challenger Yone

A, A+ with En garde, challenger emblems

Yone: GA/Runaans + 1 dmg

Kaisa: AP

Locket and utility are good in this comp.

 ![](/images/blog-11-23/image4.png)

The comp wants to go 8, play strong board up to 8 then roll for 2*s. Spikes very hard with hitting 5 costs (especially Yuumi). GA (or QSS) is extremely important. Locket is pretty good in this comp, as is Zephyr for zephyring the first unit in front of Yone. Positioning Yone near Fiora also helps to get the first challenger reset proc.

### Trundle Vi Ekko Bruiser Reroll 

B, S with featherweights

Item Priority

Trundle: QSS / runaans + healing

Ekko: ap/frozen heart/morellos

![](/images/blog-11-23/image13.png)

Reroll on 6/7. Very strong midgame that tends to bleed out towards lategame. Can flex between 6 bruiser from depicted board or add in Lissandra and Janna/Yuumi.  Very strong with certain augments, reasonably strong otherwise.

### Samira
B-, A with all for one

Item Priority\
Samira: 2 damage (ie/lw/db/gs)+healing\
Utility: Locket/Zephyr

![](/images/blog-11-23/image10.png)

Can reroll on 6 or 7 depending on health. Very strong with All of One augment, otherwise generic healing or imperial/challenger augments are also good. Typically position 2nd or 3rd row if 2* samira, then can frontrow her after 3* but she can't be in front of Urgot. If you don't have anything to play on 7, 2* sion with tank items with 4 challenger 3 imperial is fairly strong in the midgame as well, though you want to pivot out of it. 
### Prot mutant reroll 

B+, A+ with featherweights/trade sector

Item priority

Kog: 2 dmg + defense or 3 dmg (very flexible)

Kassadin: Tank items

Reroll on 5. Kog has flexible itemization, and tank items go on kassadin. Spikes after hitting 3*s, then can level to add in mutant / and strong units from that point on. Is relatively mutant agnostic, though a good one increases the cap of the comp. 

![](/images/blog-11-23/protmutant.png)

### Snipers

B - does poorly into Kat meta

MF: AP

Jhin/Trist: AD items (IE/LW/GS, guinsoos for trist)

![](/images/blog-11-23/image3.png)

Relatively consistent comp that has both AD and AP carry. Usually needs to be played from a good spot. With sniper emblems, can tech in 4 snipers with cait and play Jayce frontline for enforcer. Bodyguards/brawlers/Jayce are all acceptable frontline, but bodyguards tend to be the easiest and most consistent. If there are a lot of sin players, it helps a lot to build GA on Jhin.

### Innovator Seraphine Heimer Jayce

B, A with self-repair, S with innovator emblem (7 innovators is incredibly strong!)

Item priority

Frontline item on Taric/Singed/Jayce

Damage items onto Heimer (Blue buff, AP) or Seraphine (archangels/shojins)

![](/images/blog-11-23/image5.png)

Ziggs is a replacement for the innovation in the above picture. 

Go up as quickly as possible, using innovator + scrap to play a strong midgame board. With innovator emblem, 7 innovator is quite strong. The most important thing is to use a tanky frontline for bear/dragon to boost team damage and let morellos/archangels stack damage. In a pinch, or if you highroll heimer, 3* heimer is also a strong carry. Shiv is quite good in this comp as well. Caps out with hitting 2* legendaries. Can also carry Jhin or ranged Jayce in a pinch if you hit mostly AD components. Starts to fall off hard with only 5 innos, spikes extremely hard when you summon the hydra at 7 innovators if you have an emblem/innovator heart. 

### Sin-dicates Shaco Akali

B-, B+ with spat

Defensive items onto Darius/Braum

Akali: 2 dmg (ionic/ie/deathcap) + defensive (GA)

Shaco: 2 damage (IE/GS/Deathblade/Runaans) + defensive (GA)

![](/images/blog-11-23/image6.png)

The most important thing is to be able to hit Akali 2. Try to play around strong syndicate midgame board with Darius / Blitz frontline. Shaco is strong in the midgame especially with healing augments like thrill, but he needs damage items to do anything. Akali 2 helps the board cap really hard and it has a favorable matchup into arcanists and snipers.

### Warwick Reroll 

C+, B with featherweights/trade sector

Item Prio

WW: QSS (must) with 2 damage (Titans/Shiv)

![](/images/blog-11-23/image12.png)

![](/images/blog-11-23/image9.png)

Can play either the chemtech or challenger version, depending on augments and what you hit. Roll on 6 then go up after hitting, Morello Liss helps to save a lot of HP especially in the midgame. Usually only playable when highrolling Warwick.

TFT 11.23B Patch Comp Tier List

*by [Rue & Pockygom](/guides/)*

# TFT Set 6 Patch 11.24B - Best Comps Tier List
These are the strongest comps to play in the current patch, Set 6 11.24B. These opinions are gathering from playing in Challenger lobbies, and collecting the opinions of multiple other Challenger players.

While we saw the emergence of extremely strong 5 cost options in the form of syndicate Akali and a meta that was mainly shaped around Archangel's, as well as a strong reroll option in protector mutant reroll and just general reroll mutant, the B patch has brought a lot of the balance outliers back in line. However, while Akali is still viable it seems that legendaries and 4 cost boards are still dominating the meta, with Kaisa and a strong colossus frontline as well as chemtech bruisers dominating the current meta. While there are a large amount of viable reroll comps, expect to see most lobbies being won by Urgot or capped Colossus/Kaisa/Socialite (CoKS) boards. 

**S:** [3 Socialite Viktor/Kaisa/Akali carry](#socialite-colossus-5-cost)

**A+:** [Chemtech Bruiser Urgot](#chemtech-bruiser-twinshot-urgot)

**A:** [Jhin](#snipers), [Sin-dicates Shaco/Akali carry](#sin-dicates-shaco-akali-carry), [Socialite Fiora](#socialite-fiora), [Yone](#challenger-yone), [Trist reroll](#trist-reroll)

**B:** [Kat reroll](#katarina-reroll), [Protector mutant reroll](#prot-mutant-reroll), [Mutants](#mutants), [Samira reroll](#samira-reroll), [Warwick reroll](#warwick-reroll), [Heimerdinger scholar reroll](#heimerdinger-scholars)

**C:** [Singed/Twitch 1 cost reroll](#twitch-1-cost-reroll), [Arcanists](#arcanists), [Vertical Academy](#vertical-academy), [Syndicate reroll](#reroll-syndicate), [Innovators](#innovators), [Trundle/Vi reroll](#trundle-vi-bruiser-reroll)

#### Tiers explained:

We rate the comps in general by the number of things that need to "go right" for a comp to achieve a certain placement. All the comps that are on the list are viable comps that can succeed under certain circumstances, but comparatively a C tier comp may require highrolling certain units/augments in order to contest top 4, while an A/S tier comp can usually play off of generic/common augments and a variety of openers for a consistent top 4 (or higher) finish. 

### Socialite Colossus 5 Cost

**Rating:** S+ (hard to be able to hit the board, usually can't play this every game)

**Augments:** Anything, Socialite heart is especially good

**Item Priority:** Play for econ/hp. Morellos/Shiv/GA.

##### Key Itemization

Kaisa: MORELLOS + GA/Archangels/Shiv/Rageblade/HoJ/

Viktor: GA/Archangels

Sion: Tank items

Galio: Tank items or Runaans/IE

##### When to play

Need to roll for this board at 8 or 9. Need to have good econ to roll down on a higher level.

##### How to play

Play for maximum econ/hp while slamming future Kaisa items going up. Roll down on 8 to hit colossus 3 socialite, and Kaisa 1 is usually stable. Viktor/Akali can also substitute for Kaisa, since GA Arch is the key itemization in this build. However, generally Kaisa >> Viktor/Akali and she makes amazing use out of Morello.

![](/images/1124b/image5-min.png)

### Chemtech Bruiser Twinshot Urgot

**Rating:** A+, S with Instant Injection

**Augments:** Instant Injection >  Chemtech Emblem, combat augments (Celestial/Thrill/Titanic/Knife's Edge, etc.)

**Item Priority:** Bow > Belt > Glove

##### Key Itemization

Urgot: LW/Runaans + (GA/Shiv/IE/QSS/BT/Titans)

Lissandra: Morellos

Mundo/Kench: Tank items

##### When to play

Strong AD board that can easily cap out into a 1st place board with legendaries. However, it is usually quite expensive and strongly prefers to be rolling at 8, so strong early econ is mandatory.

##### How to play

Can play mercs into cashout into Urgot, or play strong board with Runaans/Shiv/LW slammed to go 7 or 8. Roll down and find the board, though having a strong frontline is really important for the comp. The comp becomes "strong" by playing Tahm Kench and Yuumi. Chemtech spat on Tahm or Jinx can be a large power spike for the comp.\
If you can go 9, Tahm Kench + Yuumi + Jayce usually is one of the strongest possible boards currently.

![](/images/1124b/image8-min.png)

### Snipers

**Rating:** A+, S+ with Broken Stopwatch

**Augments:** Broken Stopwatch >>> fairly augment agnostic

**Item Priority:** Sword / Glove > Bow

##### Key Itemization

Jhin: IE/LW/GS/DB, OK-ish items - (QSS/GA/BB/Runaans/BT/HoJ/JG/Shojins)

Braum: Bramble/Warmogs (tank items)

MF or Ori: Shojins/Archangels/Deathcap/Shiv

##### When to play

Consistent AD comp that can make use of most slammable AD items. Can play into Jhin from almost any spot.

##### How to play

Roll for Jhin/Ori/Braum on 7 or 8 depending on how strong your board is. Typically requires a strong frontline, but Jhin does very well with many AD items. MF or Ori can be a secondary carry with AP items. The board is quite stable, though it has trouble with assassins. The comp caps with Yuumi/Galio/Jayce. Bodyguard enchanters are also very strong, especially into AP boards like Viktor/Kaisa/Akali.

![](/images/1124b/image15-min.png)

### Sin-dicates Shaco Akali carry

**Rating:** A

**Augments:** One for All, Cutthroat, Knife Edge, Thrill of the Hunt

**Item Priority:** Bow > Glove > Sword

##### Key Itemization

Shaco: LW/RH + 1 of IE/GS/QSS/RFC/GA

Braum: Bramble/Warmogs (tank items)

Ekko: Morellos/FH

##### When to play

Strong off of early Shaco + early 2* syndicates/bodyguards

##### How to play

Prioritize Shaco items to stabilize you in the midgame. Usually roll for 2* units on level 6 to stabilize. Can play syndicate board or 4 sin/2 bodyguard board with leona/blitz. End game goals are Shaco 3, Akali 2. Depending on your HP, you can roll either on 7 or 8 for Shaco 3. Akali doesn't do much without items so don't plan for her too much. 7 syndicate is usually a bait unless you have One for All.

![](/images/1124b/image17-min.png)

### Socialite Fiora 

**Rating:** A

**Augments:** Built Diff (drop Kaisa), Duet/Share the Spotlight, any combat augments, Socialite Heart

**Item Priority:** Defensive items (optimize for strong board)

##### Key Itemization

Fiora: Titans/JG/IE, can use (BT/DB/Hoj/RFC/GS)

Braum/Galio: Tank items

##### When to play

Pivot into this board from a strong early game, hard to play specifically for Fiora. Requires a lot of gold to be able to go 8 and play high value boards. It is MUCH better if the socialite spot is somewhere good, like in the sides of the 2nd or 3rd rows.

##### How to play

Play a strong early game board (can be a built diff pivot as well) and go 8/9 to roll for a high value board with Fiora carry. The board is somewhat flexible, and you can put excess AP items on Seraphine, Orianna, or Kaisa, depending on what you hit. You can also play Sion/Blitz instead of Braum depending on what augments you have to fit it. If playing the Sion version, sub out Braum and Orianna for the Sion.

![](/images/1124b/image2-min.png)

### Challenger Yone

**Rating:** A, A+ with En Garde/Challenger Emblem/Knife's Edge

**Augments:** En Garde/Challenger Heart/Emblem, Knife Edge, Thrill/Celestial, combat augs

**Item Priority:** Bow > Glove

##### Key Itemization

Yone: Runaans/LW + 1 (QSS/GA)

Kaisa: AP

Fiora: any additional AD

##### When to play

Can play either strong early board or weak board, but you need to have the econ to roll for Yone/Fiora/Yuumi. Usually flex between Yone/Urgot depending on what you hit.

##### How to play

Roll for Yone/Fiora on 7 or 8,  any excess AP items can go onto Kaisa. Vertical challengers is the strongest for this comp, and 8 challengers is also a strong spike. Positioning is quite important to try and be same side for Jhin and opposite side for Urgot. Yuumi spikes the comp extremely hard, and positioning Fiora near Yone is strong for getting the first challenger reset proc. Zephyr is also quite strong to remove a frontliner in front of Yone. 

![](/images/1124b/image3-min.png)

### Trist Reroll

**Rating:** A

**Augments:** Featherweights, Reroll/econ augments

**Item Priority:** Sword/bow > Glove

##### Key Itemization

Trist: LW/RB/DB (HOJ, BT, QSS, Runaans, IE are okay)

Jhin: IE/LW/GS/DB, OK-ish items - (QSS/GA/BB/Runaans/BT/HoJ/JG/Shojins)

Braum/Poppy: Bramble/Warmogs (tank items)

##### When to play

Early Trist 2* with yordle/bodyguard opener.

##### How to play

Roll for Leona, Taric and 2* board on 6. Roll on 6 until you get Trist 3. You can make 3* Poppy, 3* Lulu, 3* Ziggs but prioritize making 3* Trist. Level up to 8 and fill out the rest of the board with a Jhin-esque comp. If you hit early enough, you can usually go level 9 with this comp. Don't be afraid to sell Poppy 3 if you have a good replacement (2* Jayce, Braum), she usually doesn't do much other than take hits. Sell Lulu if you don't have her 3* by the time you hit level 8.

![](/images/1124b/image12-min.png)

### Katarina Reroll

**Rating:** B

**Augments:** Smoke Bomb, Cutthroat, Reroll/econ augments

**Item Priority:** Glove > Rod

##### Key Itemization

Katarina: IE/Ionic/HOJ (AA, Rabs, GS, GA, Gunblade)

Ekko: FH, Morello, AA

Leona: Bramble/Warmogs (tank items)

Zephyr on frontline/cc + shroud

##### When to play

Leona opener with sins or open fort (difficult to play without two/three item Katarina on stage 3).

##### How to play

Roll for Leona, Ekko and 2* sins (especially Katarina) on 6. Roll on 6 until you hit 3* sins. Level up to 7 if you can fit 6 sins or 4 bodyguard due to augments/emblems. Focus on positioning to catch the enemy backline.

![](/images/1124b/image6-min.png)

### Mutants

**Rating:** B

**Augments:** Unstable Evolution, Armor Plating (Target Dummies for Voracious Appetite), Mutant Heart/Emblem

**Item Priority:** Tear > Belt > Rod

##### Key Itemization

Cho'Gath: Bramble/Dclaw/Redemption/Warmogs

Kog'maw/Kaisa/Malz: Any AP, Statikk Shiv, GA

##### When to play

The comp is best if you hit Cho'Gath early. Otherwise, Cho is too squishy without stacks on his ability. Otherwise, check mutant and decide if your items can fit it and if you hit the units.

##### How to play

Play the mutants and itemize to save HP so that you can go 8 and cap the board with Kaisa. Sion is very strong in the composition to pair with Cho'Gath. Shiv is extremely good, especially with hyper-adrenal mutation, and Malz is an extremely strong carry that can be rerolled in Synaptic Web mutation. Cybers in general are quite strong.

The weaker ones in the current meta are bio-leeching and metamorphosis in the current meta. Depending on what the mutation is, having a mutant emblem is extremely strong, particularly in Voracious Appetite which enable spat carries like Viktor / Jhin.

![](/images/1124b/image16-min.png)

### Samira Reroll

**Rating:** B, A with Assassin emblem, All for One

**Augments:** Assassin Emblem, All for One, Healing augment

**Item Priority:** Bow > Glove > BF

##### Key Itemization

Samira: LW, RH + 1 (IE, DB, GS, GA, QSS Assassin emblem)

Sion: Bramble

Zephyr, Shroud, Locket

##### When to play

Samira on stage 2 or strong challenger opener or early imperial opener

##### How to play

Usually a pretty highroll comp that requires an early 2* Samira. Prioritize LW and look for 3 imperials on 3-2 and 2* most of your board. If possible, roll for 2* Samira on 3-2 but don't roll for it if most of your board is already 2*. The end goal is to find a Samira 3* with a Sion 2* frontline which requires you to roll on level 7. If contested, push level 8 and try to have contesters die so that you can roll for 3* Samira later. Assassin emblem makes Samira significantly better as she struggles to deal with the late game frontline CC. Healing augments + full damage items is usually better than damage augments + 1 healing item. Also, to avoid getting Samira enforced you will need to have a 3* WW or Warmogs on a non-Sion unit.

![](/images/1124b/image14-min.png)

### Prot mutant reroll 

**Rating:** B, A with Trade Sector/Featherweights

**Augments:** Unstable Evolution, First Aid Kit, Protector Heart/Emblem, generic healing/econ

**Item Priority:** Bow/Tear/Belt > Chain

##### Key Itemization

Kassadin: Bramble/Dclaw/Redemption/Warmogs

Kog'maw: Statikk Shiv, QSS + Rageblade/GS/Deathcap

##### When to play

This is fine to play if you have a good augment for the comp and you end up hitting a lot of the key units in Stage 2. Mutant spat helps the composition be a lot more stable early while rolling on 5 before you can fit mutant in.

##### How to play

Play the Kassadin/Kog/Cait/Graves/Garen core on 5, occasionally Blitzcrank can be better than Cait. Play high econ during stage 2 so that you can go into Krugs with at least 30, preferably 50 gold at 3-1. Slowroll on 5 until hitting the key 1 cost units, then roll for Kog on 6. In general, the best mutations for the comp are: Voracious Appetite > Hyper-adrenal > Cyber/Bio-leeching > Metamorphosis/Synaptic. 

To cap out, usually want Sion 2 in the comp at 7, on 6 you can usually just play Mutant. Level 8 board has mutant + Sion 2.

![](/images/1124b/image7-min.png)

### Warwick Reroll

**Rating:** B, A with Featherweights, Instant Injection

**Augments:** Featherweight, Chemtech Emblem, Instant Injection, any combat augments. 

**Item Priority:** Bow

##### Key Itemization

Lissandra: Morellos

Warwick: QSS - MANDATORY + Shiv/Titans/Rageblade/GS

##### When to play

Good augments for the comp (especially featherweights), and hitting a healthy amount of Warwicks naturally

##### How to play

This board tends to be quite strong early, so you can play a strong chemtech board early with QSS/Shiv Warwick, which should keep you extremely healthy into stage 3. Reroll on level 6 for the board, playing 5 chemtech + 2 Challenger. Cap out by teching in strong units like Yuumi or additional challengers if you can go up.

![](/images/1124b/image4-min.png)

### Heimerdinger Scholars

**Rating:** B

**Augments:** Scholar Heart//Crown

**Item Priority:** Rod/Tear > Belt/Chain

##### Key Itemization

Heimerdinger: BB/Gunblade/Archangels

Lissandra: Morellos

Braum/Leo: Tank items

##### When to play

Must have at least +1 scholar. Yordle start is preferable, playing Poppy/Lulu/Heimer in the midgame for econ and extra Heimerdingers. Must be playing for a strong stage 3, since the comp needs to hit Yuumi.

##### How to play

Yordle opener into roll for Heimer on stage 7 or 8. The comp struggles without an extremely strong frontline and also spikes incredibly hard with 6 scholar, so it is extremely preferable to roll for Heimer/Liss 3 on level 8. Enchanter/Bodyguard is a strong midgame and lategame frontline to play off of. The cap is very high, but you need to highroll early/mid for this comp. 

![](/images/1124b/image9-min.png)

### Twitch 1 Cost Reroll 

**Rating:** C, B with Featherweight or 1-4 High Roller 

**Augments:** Featherweights, Celestial

**Item Priority:** Bow/Glove > Sword/Belt/Chain

##### Key Itemization

Twitch: Runaans/LW/IE or (GS/QSS/BB)

Singed: Tank items

Ekko: Frozen Heart

##### When to play

Much better with Featherweights, otherwise, if you natural a lot of Twitch or Singed early, this comp is quite good. In prismatic if you get offered dice, you can usually guarantee Twitch and Singed 3* at 2-1.

##### How to play

Hold the units while maximizing econ. Slowroll at 5 after Krugs. Positioning is important. If you end up hitting 3* Ezreal but few Twitch, you can play Innovators around 3* Ezreal instead. 

![](/images/1124b/image13-min.png)

### Reroll Syndicate 

**Rating:** C

**Augments:** Featherweights, Syndicate Heart/Emblem

**Item Priority:** Tear/Rod/Chain/Belt

##### Key Itemization

Darius: Warmogs/Bramble/Redemption (general tank items)

TF: BB/Morellos/Arch

##### When to play

Much better with Featherweights, or if you natural infinite syndicates early on.

##### How to play

Hold the units while maximizing econ. Slowroll at 5 after Krugs. Play whatever units you hit as you go up after hitting 3* Darius and TF. In general, Enchanter/Scholar is pretty strong to tech in with Janna/Taric. The board can cap out on 8 with itemized Akali if possible. 

![](/images/1124b/image10-min.png)

### Arcanists

**Rating:** C, B-ish with arcanist emblems 

**Augments:** Arcanist heart / Runic Shield 

**Item Priority:** Tear/Rod > Belt/Chain

##### Key Itemization

Vex: Tank items

Lux/Malz: BB/JG + IE/GS (for Malz GB/Morellos OK)

##### When to play

Yordle opener into stage 3 vex 2 + malz to either hold items for Lux to carry. The comp tends to not win out lategame unless you can hit Viktor 2 and Vex 3 so you need to

##### How to play

If you have a strong opener, play for strong board into Vex 2. Otherwise, more consistent is to play Yordles and hope you hit Vex 2 in Stage 3. Carry Malz during the early game and he can do very well. Can choose to reroll on 7 for enchanters + Malz/Vex, or go up to 8 and play 6 arcanist + enchanters or scholars depending on what augments you have. Cap out the board with Viktor 2 / Arcanist Kaisa. 

![](/images/1124b/image11-min.png)

### Vertical Academy

**Rating:** C, A with enough academy emblems/cram session

**Augments:** Academy crest/soul, Cram session

**Item Priority:** Tear/Rod > Glove

##### Key Itemization

Katarina: BB/Ionic/IE (HOJ, GA, Gunblade)

Lux: BB/JG + IE/GS (for Malz GB/Morellos OK)

Yone: Runaans, RB, GA/QSS

##### When to play

2* academy opener with Leona and/or early academy augment/emblem.

##### How to play

Look to win streak off of 4 academy as soon as possible. Usually requires level 6 for a good board but with a single academy emblem you can realistically be strong from level 5 to 7. Roll for 2* as soon as possible (usually 3-2) and try to streak into 6/8 academy. Academy emblem makes this comp much stronger as units like Ekko, Fiora, Seraphine and Kai'sa are great academy emblem users. Academy BB/Shojin Samira is a great battery for generating AD/AP for the whole team.

![](/images/1124b/image18-min.png)

### Innovators

**Rating:** C, A with Innovator Emblem/Crown

**Augments:** Innovator Emblem/Crown

**Item Priority:** Anything

##### Key Itemization

Ez/Jhin/Backline Jayce: DB/IE/LW

Seraphine: Morellos/Archangels/Shojins

##### When to play

MUST HAVE INNO EMBLEM/SOUL TO PLAY VERTICAL INNOVATORS. Otherwise, pivot innovators board out into either Jhin or Socialite Kaisa/Viktor.

##### How to play

Go up as quickly as possible, using innovator + scrap to play a strong midgame board. With innovator emblem, 7 innovator is quite strong. The most important thing is to use a tanky frontline for bear/dragon to boost team damage and let morellos/archangels stack damage. Shiv is quite good in this comp as well. Ezreal can be AD carry until hitting a backline Jayce to swap out instead, or you can tech in Jhin as the AD carry. Caps out with hitting 2* legendaries.

![](/images/1124b/image1-min.png)

Ziggs is a replacement for the innovation in the above picture.

### Trundle Vi Bruiser Reroll

**Rating:** C, B with Featherweights

**Augments:** Featherweights, Bruiser emblem, Sin spat, Weakspot

**Item Priority:** Bow/Cloak

##### Key Itemization

Trundle: QSS/Runaans/BT (Can sub QSS for sin spat) 

Ekko: Frozen Heart/Morellos

Vi: BB + AP

##### When to play

Good augments for the comp (especially featherweights) and naturalling a lot of Trundles

##### How to play

Strong early board should help to save HP. The board rarely wins out against the current meta endgame boards, so you should slam items to preserve streak. Getting blue buff + AP onto Vi early should help to blow through the frontline, especially if you don't have LW on Trundle into the heavy armor boards which are currently meta. Frozen heart Ekko on enemy backline carries also makes a big difference. Sin spat trundle can be a wincon. You can go up and play more units (Tahm, Illaoi) for 6 Bruiser, or play bruiser spat Yuumi.

![](/images/1124b/image19-min.png)


TFT Set 6 Patch 11.24B - Best Comps Tier List

TFT 12.1 Patch Comp Tier List - Best Comps Guide

TFT 12.2B Patch Comp Tier List - Best Comps Guide

*by [Pockygom, Rue](/guides/).* 




With the culmination of set 5.5--the Reckoning Worlds Tournament-- almost upon us (a couple hours as of this post), here is our analysis of the Worlds meta, as well as a tier list of what comps we expect to do well, and what items will be defining the flow of most games. 


[Jump to item meta](#items)
> "Kledge" - SpencerTFT (NA rep)

Without further ado, here is the tier list, in order of how good the comps generally are (consistency + cap):

1. [Rangers (Aphelios/Akshan)](#rangers)
2. [Kled](#kled)
3. [Draconic AP (Zyra 3/Heimer 2)](#draconic)
4. [6 Sentinel Lucian](#lucian)
5. [Karma](#karma) | [Velkoz with SW spat](#spellweavers)
6. [Draven](#draven)
7. Velkoz without SW spat
8. [Nightbringers (Yas/Lee)](#nightbringers)
9. Legion reroll (riven/yas) | Chug jug | Assassins | Vayne | Kayle (too expensive to hit reliably, but strong when capped)
10. Niche stuff (dawn reroll/skirm reroll/kalista/ziggs reroll/gwen/renunu/brand reroll)

### Rangers
Rangers (and variants) is the most consistent high-cap comp in the game. By playing around strong early tempo carry items like DB/Guinsoos and a variety of strong item carriers in the earlier game, Ranger boards can transition to capped variants like Aphelios/Akshan 2 with Teemo and revenant frontlines with relative consistency.

![](/images/blog-9-30/image5.png "rangers")

### Kled
The level 5 reroll Kled comp is extremely strong currently. Utilizing IE/LW/Runaans, Hellions are able to safely roll for Kled 3* and cap out with defensive synergies and Teemo with high tempo. It effectively utilizes tomes and spats, and especially with a Hellion spat, this is one of the best comps in the game. The downsides to this comp are the possibility of missing on 5, which usually results in 8th, but it is highly consistent and has done very well in inhouses. 

![](/images/blog-9-30/image1.png "Hellions")

### Draconic
Draconic has one of the highest caps in the game with 2* Heimer or 3* Zyra. However, the comp requires early commit with shojins/arch/guinsoos slam, and is relatively weak during the midgame. It relies on hitting good eggs and using the econ from draconic eggs to go 8 relatively healthy and cap out the board with Voli/Teemo. If the player hits, this is a very 1st place comp, but because it requires a draconic opener and relies on egg luck, the consistency of the comp is somewhat lower. 

![](/images/blog-9-30/image4.png "Heimer")

### Lucian
Lucian has consistently been strong for the past couple patches. The meta shift has brought him back into the spotlight, but the sentinels board does cap lower than many of the AP boards, and has trouble capping compared to Aphelios. The strength of the comp is that the comp spikes at 4-1 with 2 cannoneer 6 sentinel Lucian. He also is flexibly itemized compared to many of the other carries in the game, using a variety of crit/GS/aspd/AD items. The comp tries to cap with Akshan 2 and random strong units teched in, but generally falls off lategame. However, in tourney the high tempo should reward players who are able to reliably play around HP and spike at 4-1, which makes this a consistent top 4/5 comp in tourney. 

![](/images/blog-9-30/image7.png "Lucian")

### Karma
Playing off of early Blue Buff / Rabadons Ziggs, Karma has come back into meta. The strength of Ziggs 2 often allows Karma players to go to 8 and roll for legendaries to build a strong 4 invoker board with garen. This comp caps relatively well, but relies strongly on hitting legendaries on 8, and also starts to bleed out in stage 4 as the Draven and Lucian players roll down on 4-1 while the fast 8 Karma players have to push to level 8 on 4-5. 

![](/images/blog-9-30/image3.png "Karma")

### Spellweavers
With Shojins / JG slam, this is the AP comp that most players have to resort to if they're not strong enough to go 8. Velkoz is slightly weaker than Karma since it caps lower, but the strength of the comp is that it matches the AD comp tempo by rolling on 4-1 and hitting abom + Velkoz. The comp becomes far stronger with a spat, since SW fiddle can help to duo carry, and helps to beat Kled. Occasionally, tank item slams mean that the player plays more around abom, and Gwen/Teemo can also be secondary carries in the lobby. Another weakness of the comp is that it is highly positoning dependent on having the enemy ranged carry opposite side of Velkoz. This leads to many 50/50s since all Worlds players are very good at scouting and positoning. 

![](/images/blog-9-30/image6.png "SW")

### Draven
Draven is similar to Lucian in that it spikes at 7 and can punish the lobby as they go 8. He also can be flexibly itemized with guinsoos/IE/DB and any combination of AD/aspd/crit items. China's innovation to frontline Draven caused him to dominate CN regionals, but the changes to his itemization both weakened the strength of Last Whisper and caused Draven's itemization to become a little more rigid. His early game strength also went down a bit, but he remains a strong comp that can play vertical legion in the midgame and transition to more capped board with 2 Forgotten and strong frontline units. However, due to his reliance on capping with Viego 2/Diana, he also struggles to scale in lobbies with a lot of defensive trapclaws. He also has a bad matchup versus spellweaver fiddle but has a good matchup into most Karma boards that are near equal gold value. In the current meta though, he has to be careful of other frontline threats if he's frontlined, like Riven/Lee/Kled (mostly the latter).
![](/images/blog-9-30/image2.png "draven")


### Rats
While Kled remains one of the dominant comps of the patch, the other Hellion variants are relatively solid, especially with a spat. Tristana is a decent out if a player misses Kled, since she shares much of the itemization that he does. With spat, a player can fit in 6 hellion 4 cannon, which is an extremely strong comp with high burst damage that can contend versus many of the other best comps. However, her relative weakness against very tanky frontlines remains a weakness that often causes her to lose to cavs or stacked brawlers. Aphelios also usually has a good matchup into her. 

Ziggs reroll is also semi-viable if a player naturals a lot of Ziggs. He can occasionally be leveraged as a secondary carry in Kled reroll, but usually itemizing Teemo if possible is better. This might possibly be played if someone naturals a lot of Ziggs and uses him to fast 8 with hellions and pivot into invoker carry. 

### Nightbringers
Yasuo is somewhat weak in the current meta, and struggles against strong revenant frontline. If mispositioned, he will also get farmed by Draven and Lucian players. However, the strength of the comp rises dramatically with a spat, which opens up the options of Cavalier Yasuo. While most players won't be going into the game planning on playing Yasuo, a player who naturals a lot of Yasuos has an option to simply play vertical Nightbringer and cap out the comp with Teemo/Diana/Viego. It is also somewhat important to note that this is one of the few comps that has a favorable matchup into Kled with a relatively cheap board. A tanky Lee Sin will massively shut down Kled's damage, and Yasuo's ability to quickly burst a single unit with an AP build lets him burst Kled before he's stun locked by hellion CC. 

### Niche comps
**Legion reroll** - Will only see from early 2* riven (like 3-2) with runaans slam.  
**Vayne reroll** - Will only see from early 2* vayne + combination of a lot of early bows, bf swords, belts. Main goal is to make 5-6 item vayne with vertical forgotten (lots of zekes/banshees claw)  
**Sins** - Strong off of sin spat. Loses hard to Kled.  
**MF cavs** - Decent comp that stabilizes well during stage 3. Low cap and loses hard to Akshan.  
**Chug Bug** - Good to stabilize into sins/dawn reroll, but has a lower cap. Very strong with sin spat on riven.  
**Renunu** - early renewer spat with early 2* sej/nunu (very high cap but super unlikely to get the right start)  
**Gwen carry** - strong carrier of blue buff / gunblade. However, bad matchup into weaver fiddle/kled/aphelios. Biggest issue is difficult to cap without gwen 2, inconsistent on 8.  

# Items
Right now, the item meta leans towards slamming defensive items as flex options, while slamming most offensive options commits you to a subset of comps during stage 2. 

### Defensive
Mogs/Sunfire/Stoneplate - all strong slams onto brawlers and knights   
Frozen heart - good into sins and on Kennen, always has good effectiveness on Diana or Voli   
Bramble (good into draven kled critlucian jgkoz)  
Trap claw - this item scales so well that it's slammable during any stage. This is almost mandatory to cap a board with backline carries. 

### Offensive
The way the current meta is played out, we see that offensive options hard commit you to a certain subset of comps very early on in the game. Due to the Draven change, LW has become a fairly rigid item that only works on a few comps. The most flexible item in the game is probably:


**Giant Slayer** - an item that scales well into late game and can be played on any carry. However, it burns a sword and bow, so it depends what the other free components are to commit to a comp. This item has infinite tempo when paired with an AD item (hoj/titans/deathblade)  


**Guinsoos** - pretty much means you play for a 4 or 5 cost AD carry (Preferably Aphelios/Draven/Kayle). However, it is also good on Zyra and can be decent in other AP comps.  


**Blue buff** - This opener is always into Karma/Teemo/Gwen. Most players play for the first two since they pair with strong early Rabadons slam.  


**Last whisper** - This item is not flexible. It pretty much means Kled/Trist, can possibly flex into Riven reroll or Lucian.


**Shojins** - This item probably won't be slammed since it isn't as good as Blue Buff on Ziggs. Expect to see this mostly in draconic openers, or if people are forced to roll on 7 to play spellweavers. 

TFT Reckoning Worlds Patch Meta Analysis/Tier List


# Our Coaches

*Pockygom* is a top challenger player. An frequent contender in the competitive scene, he is often top 10 on NA ladder, previously earning the most snapshot points in set 5.0. He is also known for placing 4th in the Set 5 NA Regionals tournament, and more recently, scoring highest overall on the final day of the Piltover Cup in Set 6.0.

# Coaching Style

Not all good players are good at teaching the game. However, Pockygom has refined his coaching style to help his students get the most out of their coaching. Instead of live coaching, which often ends up being backseating where the student is unable to retain a lot of the information, Pockygom helps students review their recorded games and identify areas of key improvement. 

# Pricing
The rate for coaching is $40 / VOD. 

### Contact
Please contact Pockygom if you're interested in being coached. \
Email: johnjaeryungsong@gmail.com \
Discord: pockygom#9983 \
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pockygom


Get coached by top Challenger players

Coaching

Your one stop shop for finding the best meta builds, improving your TFT fundamentals, and developing as a TFT player.  Find data, guides, and coaching, all on this site.

Welcome to TFTGuide!

Browse our curated collection of articles detailing how key key mechanics like econ, player damage, and item drops work in TFT. A key resource for both beginner and advanced players.

TFT Wiki

Explore our collection of guides written by top challenger players. With content for players of every skill level, we have everything from patch guides and comp guides to more general player development guides.

Comprehensive Guides

Just getting started with TFT? Wondering what all those weird acronyms in guides and streams mean? Check out our glossary of commonly used terms.

Ready to take your TFT skills up to the next level? Reach your LP goals and break into the upper echelon of TFT players with tailored coaching from top players. 

Our composition tier list updated for the most current patch. (Patch 12.2B)

Current Patch Overview

Just starting the game? Trying to get a new player into the game? Our introductory guide explains the core mechanics of TFT and introduces the different skills needed to understand and enjoy the game.

We're currently taking a break for set 6.5 - stay tuned for more content when set 7 launches!