Strategy & Tactics
Most of Teamfight Tactics players will agree that the hardest thing about playing this game is to choose your composition according to the items and champions that you find. The biggest problem that low ELO players often encounter is the inability to take a decision. It's not rare to see people with overcrowded benches, unable to properly build their economy or their composition because their reasoning is somehow blocked.
There is no perfect method to achieve victory in Teamfight Tactics. Nevertheless, it's possible to reach the Top 4 in most situations — especially if you're following some general 'best practices'.
The first Carrousel
Keep in mind that you should never aim for a champion during the shared draft: always target an item. Depending on the current patch, there are some items that we suggest you target:
- Spatula: This is definitely the best item of the game. It brings versatility, diversity, and consistency into your compositions by allowing you to give one of your champions another class trait. With the Youmuu's Ghostblade, you can aim at a Kassassin composition; with a Darkin you can have another Demon to synergize with Brand... the number of possibilities is incredible.
- BF Sword: This item allows you to build either an Hextech Gunblade for your Shyvana or Spear of Shojin for you Aurelion Sol. In both cases, BF Sword is especially strong because it can combine into items that fit into AP and AD compositions.
- Recurve Bow: Attack Speed means mana, mana means ability; in the end, a Recurve Bow is never really bad. All TFT champions need Attack Speed, all of them.
Leveling
Because of the new item distribution system, players now receive more gold than they were previously used to. The meta is therefore far more aggressive, which directly impacts the pace of leveling up. In the current meta, it's far less interesting to stay at level 5 or 6 — and you want to reach level 7 as soon as possible. As a general rule, you can level up following this rhythm:
How to play...
Sorcerers, Shapeshifters or Rangers +
During the first PVE rounds, buy all Knights, Rangers, and Shapeshifters (except Jayce). When you reach 2-2, you have several options:
- Leveling up to 4
- Sell champions from your bench in order to build your interest.
- Choose between Knights / Rangers and Shapeshifters: if you have more Rangers & Knights, sell everything else.
- If you have more Shapeshifters, you may consider keeping at least two Knights (since they're incredibly strong in early game)
Overall, you need to keep an eye on the shop to spot potential carries as soon as they appear. Most of the times, the first one to come often defines the rest of your composition.
- If you manage to pull off an early Kennen / Ashe duo, we suggest you go for the Glacial Rangers Elementalist archetype. You should aim for Lissandra and Brand to complete the Elementalist, and then proceed to replace Brand by Anivia in order to reach the (4) Glacials thanks to Sejuani. You will benefit from the (2) Knights buff thanks to Poppy, and can also aim at Gnar to unlock the (3) Yordles.
- If you get an early Shyvana / Aurelion Sol, aim for Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Your items will eventually help you to decide between building your Shyvana or your Aurelion Sol. In rare cases, you might even have enough item to build both of them...
Rotating from a composition to another one is really difficult — especially when you're starting the game — so we strongly suggest you stick with it as soon as your choice is made. Keep building your economy without rolling the shop: you should only buy upgrades when the shop offers them. If you're unlucky and don't get any upgrades, get ready to ride the losing streak! You'll gain tons of money, so spare it!
Once you reach Stage 3-1, you'll need to level up to 6 and start a first Rolling phase.
- If you feel strong and that you have a champion to add, level up to 6 then roll the shop to find the champions you need until you have 10g left.
- Otherwise, wait for 3-3 then roll until you have 20g left (or less if the situation is really bad)
Level 6 will 'lock' your final composition:
► Rangers +
The same archetype can be played in a lot of different ways:
- 4 Knights / 4 Rangers
Go for this composition if you manage to get four Knights or three Rangers during the early game.
- 2 Rangers / 3 Elementalists / 4 Glacials / 3 Yordles / 2 Knights
Go for this version if you have two two-stars Elementalists in early game.
- 4 Rangers / 2 Knights / 2 Demons
You should only go for this composition if Varus is one of your main carries.
► Sorcerers / Shapeshifters
- 3 Yordles / 3 Sorcerers / 3 Shapeshifters / 2 Knights / 2 Dragons
Since you won't be able to find Swain before Level 7 — or even Level 8 — we suggest you pick either Elise or Nidalee as a filler to unlock the (3) Shapeshifters bonus.
- 4 Wilds / 3 Sorcerers / 3 Shapeshifters / 2 Dragons
Overall, the first version of this archetype is definitely stronger, but Twisted Fate helps your Shapeshifters to transform sooner. If you manage to get all four Wilds during the early game — even if kitty cat Rengar needs to be replaced by Gnar — it might be a good idea to go the second version. You will spare money while quickly having a pretty strong composition — meaning you could snowball heavily.
Kassassin
If you want to play the Kassassin composition, you need to entirely relearn how to play Teamfight Tactics because you will essentially use the "Hard Roll" strategy.
There's one indicator which determines whether you should go for this composition or not — getting a Spatula from the first Carousel... If you managed to get one, then you just have to find a BF Glaive in order to build a Youmuu's Ghostblade.
Let's be straight, you absolutely need your three-stars Kassadin. To make sure that you'll get it, leveling up is your worst enemy since it will reduce your chance of getting a Tier 1 unit in the shop pool. If you don't get at least one one-star Kassadin during the first PVE rounds, stop immediately and revert to another composition — your Spatula will serve another purpose anyway.
To play this composition, you need 3 Voids, 6 Assassins and 2 Brawlers. Pick all Void champions as well as all Assassins.
During the early game, you will need to intentionally lose HP to be the first to pick your item during the second Carousel. This will allow you to quickly transform your Kassadin into an Assassin. Then, spare your golds until Krugs and buy only the champions you need.
Once you beat the Krugs, it's "Hard Roll" time! Spend your gold and try to upgrade your champions as much as possible. Your main target is obviously Kassadin, but three-stars Kha'Zix, Pyke or Zed are absolutely feasible.
Because of how strong the Kassasin composition is, you will then roll over all other players, especially if your Kassadin is also carrying a Rapidfire Canon and a Guinsoo's Rageblade. Once you get your three-stars Kassadin, you can start sparing gold and thinking about leveling up to 8 in order to reach the final composition.
That's it, you won.
