The latest patch in TFT may look small, but don't be fooled. The balance of the game seems to be quite favorable for 4-cost. The nerf to 5 Faerie and general buffs to baseline power levels of other comps has lessened the gap significantly.
Now, you can very reasonably win with Varus, Karma, Ryze, or even just stick with the good ol' Kalista build. Reroll is not dead, it's just not as easy to pull off because half the lobby isn't rerolling and therefore buffing your odds of hitting. Knowing when to commit to it versus temporarily use them as item holders is key.
As a result of the above, it's easier than ever to get lost and bot 4. Let's begin breaking down the elements of what is key to climbing this patch.
THE CLIMBING FORMULA
ECON
This section will be a bit long so here's the tl;dr:
1. Pick an Econ Augment at 2-1 if you can.
2. Don't overfixate on streak (win or lose) unless you have an augment for it.
3. Be strong for Stage 3. Never rolling Stage 3 is asking for punishment.
4. If none of the above (no econ aug 2-1, no streak potential, weird items), look for a reroll out for top 4.
Back in the first episode of TFT Study Hall this set, Dishsoap and Frodan discussed about the importance of gold management skills in Set 12 and how it will be one of the primary ways to separate players skill levels. That's because we have shifted from Encounters, a huge resource influx mechanic, to Charms, a gold sink mechanic.
To be quite honest, the patches have not been balanced well enough for things like gold management to take the forefront priority.
- 14.15 (Set 12 launch) was defined by Syndra being SSS tier. A historically overpowered 2-cost that will be remembered forever alongside things like Warweek and 24 hours of Draven Spoils of War.
- 14.16 was the terror of Hero Augments. The meta heavily shifted towards reroll and 4-costs were not very viable outside of things like Fortune.
- 14.17 leaned heavily into verticals setups. Hero Augments remained powerful, but now you need something at 2-1 to be competitive such as an Emblem or Artifact.
- 14.18 was essentially a "midset" with the amount of changes and reworks to dozens of champions. But that welcome party got cut short due to Kalista and Varus' dominance.
So here we are, in 14.19, on the first patch where things look pretty balanced...so far! We return back to our original premise: Gold management skills are extremely important this patch because it will define your ability of when and how much you can roll on level 8. If you are struggling in the Fast 8 meta, there is a huge chance you are mismanaging your econ in Stage 2 and 3.
Speaking of Stage 3, lots of players have gotten used to Fast 8 metas in the past where you basically avoid spending ANY gold until level 8. In a set where you have charms to smoothen out your curve, this is a very incorrect approach. If you think about charms being a way to improve your board strength at the cost of gold, you win that gold back and maybe more. You are rewarded for rolling and maintain your gold parity while preserving HP. That's not to say you should be rolling hard or even more than once or twice. This patch will push your fundamentals very hard. Are you able to identify spots where you should roll on 6 to hit your pairs? Do you roll once or twice to preserve streak at weird intervals like 2-6, 3-3, or 3-6? Are you scouting to see if you even need that charm to win? If you answer these questions correctly, you will be rewarded with a strong amount of econ going into Stage 4. This is why spontaneous thinkers in TFT are in LOVE with Set 12 because of how dynamic the midgame has become.
ITEMS
1. Your first item choice will determine what comps you can play.
2. Always have a primary line (Carry 1) and a secondary line in mind (Carry 2).
3. Be ready to pounce on a reroll comp if things aren't working out.
4. In the worst case, you can throw that 1st item slam on a 5-cost late game.
Item economy is the second component (heh) of the formula that needs careful evaluation. What items you combine early will determine your options and you need to be mindful of what is flexible vs what is commital. The beauty of the early game right now is you can drop 10 Challenger players into an open ended spot such as Econ Augment 2-1 with a 5 item opener and there would never be consensus on what to do.
But what's important is understanding what opens up or closes from that crucial set of decisions.
Let's use the easy stuff as an example -- the narrow, most linear lines
Rageblade
Primary line - 5 Faerie Kalista
Secondary line - Ryze Flex
Reroll outs - Jinx, Ashe, Cassio
Back Up Case - Smolder, Milio, Briar, Olaf
If you slam Rageblade, you're likely aiming for Kalista, but instead of going for a second Rageblade immediately, you can make Gargoyle Stoneplate. This keeps you still open to the possibility of playing Ryze. If you make Last Whisper as your second item, you still can play Jinx if you somehow hit Wukong/Jinx very early. Perhaps on your rolldown on Level 8, you hit 1 Smolder and find 0 Kalista. Then next few shops you hit Varus 2. You just found a pivot.
This type of item flow for Rageblade is how lines are developed, which will be a topic for a future Study Hall episode so keep an eye out for it! There are other very niche situations as well (such as Rageblade for Warwick), but this meta read newsletter will never end if we list out every possibility. That's for you to discover. As a general note, the Back Up Case scenario is something you can't plan for whatsoever because its not anywhere near ideal to slam something for a 5-cost unless you're guaranteed (Draconic Mastery).
The AP mirror of Rageblade is Blue Buff because it’s mainly for AP casters and its similarly narrow:
Blue Buff
Primary line - Karma Flex
Secondary line - Gwen Flex
Reroll outs - Ziggs, Veigar, Ahri
Back Up Case - Milio, Nami, Norra, Xerath
Same concept as Rageblade. You mainly are looking for Karma and building a gameplan around her. If you miss Karma, Gwen is also great with Blue Buff and you can flex into other lines such as Gwen + Varus + Rumble + Blasters. A common item holder in Stage 2 for Karma is Ziggs. What if you hit a bunch of Ziggs on the way up? If you haven't leveled at all, you can maintain your low-cost odds at level 4 and maybe roll for the Honey board. Or you didn't hit Karma or Gwen at all...but got Ryze 2 instead. Slam those AP items and move Blue Buff eventually to Milio with 4 scholar.
Doing this for the most complicated lines will take a ton of time so we will stop here. Hope this helps illuminate how top players are approaching the meta and optimizing their decision making to streamline the efficiency of their choices.
AUGMENTS
This section won't be as meaty as the others. Here's the quickest summary we can give. Right now the suggested formula to follow is:
2-1: Econ > Item >> Combat
3-2: Item >> Econ > Combat
4-2: Combat >> Item >> Econ
Obviously, this can't happen every game. Sometimes you don't get offered any of these choices so you will just have to make due. Also, it may fluctuate based on the portal and opener. If you're in an Artifact Anvil start and you get a 5 item opener, item augments take a much lower priority. If you are in Gold Subscription, you can afford to take a strong item augment instead at 2-1.
Combat augments late game become increasingly more crucial in a 4-cost meta because they will determine who will be stronger if boards are in relative equal strength. If you have no combat augments going up against 1 or 2, you will be at a severe disadvantage especially when you factor in charms. However, that doesn't mean blindly take ANY combat for the sake of doing so. Sometimes that Prismatic item augment on 4-2 may be exactly what you need. In the rare scenario where you get no pickable combat augments, understand that you are likely playing for Top 4 unless you can push to level 9 and hit everything.
Okay, that was a ton of yapping. What's the tech? What should I play?
Right now the best 3 comps in the game are:
1. Arcana Varus
2. Karma Flex
3. 5 Faerie Kalista
The good news is that these are the easiest lines to master because they are heavily item dependent. Kalista wants Rageblade. Karma wants Blue Buff. Varus wants Infinity Edge. The bad news is that this is likely very contested each lobby. If you scout and see only 1 player on the line, that means you are greenlit to try and play for it.
However, we want to highlight how Gwen is unique positioned to glue many duo carries together. Gwen may actually be the Guile of TFT -- she goes with everything.
Here are some of the ways Gwen can tie into every other 4-cost carry.
Gwen - Fiora
Gwen - Bard - Zilean - Karma
Gwen - Bard - Ryze
Gwen - Rumble - Varus
Gwen - Bard - Zilean - Diana - Olaf
Gwen - Bard - Zilean - Camille - Kalista
Gwen - Rumble - Galio - Norra - Nami
Okay the last couple are a bit of a stretch, especially since Nami isn't really a carry. But you can see what we mean. The best part is that Gwen's itemization is very flexible because she can hold a wide range of pure AP (Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet, Archangel) to frontline (Crownguard, Spark) to flex (Giant Slayer, Hand of Justice). Combine this with all the item removers you get and you should be able to extract performance out of all of those situations.
Some more 1-cost buffs came through this patch to Soraka and Seraphine which improves their viability. But don't get baited -- those units are very weak to 3* and carry right now. As always, the strength of these openers largely depend on upgrades and items so don't only hold the best units if you are giving up pairs of other solid units.
S tier: Twitch Nomsy Frost Hunters, Zoe Portal, Ziggs Honeymancy
A tier: Ashe Multis, Seraphine Soraka AP, Eldritch, Shapeshifters
B tier: Sugarcraft, Warriors, Faeries
Good 3-costs to keep from orb: Hecarim, Swain, Wukong, Mordekaiser, Katarina, Ezreal, Jinx
These are the standard openers you'll often see. The more effective boards you can build for cheap, the higher the tier. This is because you're more likely to 2* units and snowball momentum. If you need to 2* a unit to be effective (example: Nilah 2), then it makes it hard to justify holding for unlikeliness of upgrading + impact on your economy.
That's all for now. Thanks for being a loyal Patreon sub! If you have any further questions, feel free to drop them in our Discord server. See you on ladder!