You won't be surprised to learn that the latest Teamfight Tactics update has once again shaken the meta upside down. Even though new content and features — such as the release of Pantheon — have impacted the meta, the big change of Patch 9.17 actually lies on the Attack Speed cap being raised from 2.5 to 5 attacks per second.
Yeah, you heard it well: 5 attacks per second. It means that Champions like Vayne or Tristana are now able to proc their ability in one second. As a consequence, the Guinsoo's Rageblade is now the best item of the entire game since it allows one of your champion to become a massive shotgun.
You understood it: raising the Attack Speed cap means one thing...
The Ranger Meta is back!
(notably, because Guinsoo's Rageblade is now the best item in the game)
Thanks to the combination of the Ranger trait and some attack speed items, your Rangers should reach the cap without that much trouble. Plus, looking at your Vayne slowly but surely increasing her attack speed to the point you can't even read what's going on the screen is one perfect feeling.
This also works with Ashe, especially since she's a Glacial: increasing your Attack Speed means you're also increasing your chance to proc the stun effect... Since Runaan's Hurricane actually applies on-hit effects, you can freeze several champions with one poor basic auto-attack.
While everyone was criticizing Ranger for their lack of AoE, they're now back on the top of the tier list because of their incredible damage output. After all, who needs AoE when you can chain kills faster than light?
Shapeshifters needed Pantheon
(now that they got it...)
The main issue of Shapeshifters used to be the fact that they could only rely on two Champions to carry compositions: Swain and Shyvana. However, since Swain is a Tier 5 Champions you can't really plan on building a composition around him — meaning that Shyvana used to be the only logical choice when you were planning on building a Shapeshifter composition.
While having stacked all your items on her, you would most of the time look for Aurelion Sol since the Dragon buff makes them both almost unsensible to magical damage. Sadly, Aurelion Sol is a carry that requires as much item as Shyvana to be actually efficient — not to mention the fact that their builds are quite different — meaning you would only play Aurelion Sol to have the Dragon buff.
However, things have changed because Pantheon is a Dragon / Guardian and Shapeshifters just needed that to make their great return into Teamfight Tactics S Tier. It's now possible to build a Shapeshifter / Dragon / Guardian that's not entirely depending on Shyvana reaching three-stars and surviving long enough to wipe out the entire enemy team.
Keep also in mind that most Shapeshifters (Nidalee, Shyvana, Gnar) had their mana pool reduced. Since the result of late-game rounds often depends on who casts his crowd control effects first, this change is more important than it might look...
Honestly, we don't think that Wild / Shapeshifters will once again dominate the meta, but it seems that Demon / Shapeshifters already took the crown...
Patches keep raining onto Teamfight Tactics! However, 9.17 has something else more: it introduces Pantheon! Check this out!
