Tired of playing the same compositions over and over? Well, brace yourselves, because Camille, Jayce, Vi, and Jinx have just been unleashed, alongside their brand new Trait: the Hextech Origin!
"The Hextech champions are all strong and serve their own purpose, but together they give some counterplay to items. But the bomb itself can be played around. We hope this adds a new and interesting dynamic to play around."
• Trait: Throw a bomb at an enemy unit with an item, and disables all items in a 1/2 hex radius for 8 seconds.
Tier: 1 Cost
Class: Blademaster
Ability:
• Hextech Ultimatum - Camille roots an enemy dealing 200/325/450 and forces her in-range teammates to target whomever she's fighting.
Tier: 2 Cost
Class: Shapeshifter
Ability:
• Thundering Blow + Transform Mercury Cannon - Jayce disrupts the enemy frontline by knocking back an enemy unit with his Thundering Blow dealing 200/350/500. He then switches to his Mercury Cannon bringing increased attack speed and ranged damage.
Tier: 3 Cost
Class: Brawler
Ability:
• Assault and Battery - Vi targets the farthest enemy and charges towards them, knocking aside and damaging every enemy along the way. Once she gets there, she knocks her target up and damages them.
Ability Damage: 250/450/650
Tier: 4 Cost
Class: Gunslinger
Ability:
• Get Excited - Jinx gets excited after her first takedown, gaining bonus attack speed. If she scores a second takedown she pulls out Fishbones, her rocket launcher, causing her attacks to deal AoE damage.
Rocket Damage: 100/225/350 magic damage in an explosion that covers 3 hexes total.
Why did Riot add Hextech?
- To give some counter options to strong items. If you are losing to an RFC Volibear, you can tech in some Hextech units and try to shut them down which can be devastating.
- To expand on some of our existing traits. Having an early path to Blademaster through Camille, or Shapeshifter through Jayce opens up some early game options for example.
- To add some new units with very specific purposes through their spells. Vi, in particular, is a great option and bursting down the backline carries which means comps and positioning need to change pretty dramatically. Jinx also opens up another late-game carry option, so we don’t see Draven in every game.
- Simply to expand our roster. Having more units and more possibilities changes the game, and also makes forcing specific options a bit harder. We think we’re getting close to the max count for a good set, so this will allow us to see the impact of adding 1 unit into every pool.
As usual, the specifics of Hextech and these new champions are still in iteration, meaning it might change a lot until it gets released on the live servers.
Our Thoughts
Considering the fact that TFT is heavily impacted by items, in our opinion the Hextech trait might be too powerful — at least at the start. The current meta is so centered around Void champions, that we're afraid this new Origin could reproduce the same phenomenon.
This could balance the fact that items tend to dominate matches — whoever has the most items early usually wins. However, it might also become a game-breaking mechanic — to such a point that the Hextech trait becomes mandatory in most compositions.
There are many different, powerful compositions in Teamfight Tactics. In this article, we focus on the Blade of the Ruined King/Pirates/Gunslingers composition — an incredibly strong lineup that will often guarantee you a top-four finish.
