TFT Guide: 10 Ways To Improve In Teamfight Tactics

Teamfight Tactics has been a staple game under Riot Games despite its popularity reaching past its peak for a long time now. With so many players getting interested in the game with very few people to learn from, many newbies are still trying to find new ways on how to improve. This TFT guide aims to help any player improve at the game and introduce mechanics that newer players may not have been familiar with over the time they’ve played the game. Let’s get you prepped for the climb towards TFT Challenger!

TFT Guides: Tips & Tricks

Teamfight Tactics has taken everything that makes the Auto-Chess family of games become so interesting for strategic high-rollers. Despite the game running on 20-40% RNG, a major portion of the game actually requires a lot of strategies, quick-thinking, and game knowledge in order to successfully secure a Top 4 spot which is the required ranks to gain LP. Despite what most people think, TFT has quite a steep learning curve that will take some time.

This TFT guide aims to introduce the most important tactics that players need to learn. All 10 of these tactics combined will make up for a player’s success and mastering them will ensure that you are more likely to win your games. Check out 10 of the most important tips and tricks that will help you improve in Teamfight Tactics and propel you towards your journey to become one of the best players in your region.

1. Research the Meta

If you’re a beginner with no idea how interactions work, your best bet is to research which combinations are most successful. You can find some tier lists like Mobalytics to help you discover which combinations have the highest win rate in ranked. These websites also include in-depth data like proper positioning, phasing, and the proper item builds. Every TFT player will always try to check out these lists and determine what makes each of them strong.

At the higher ranks, players will be contesting the best team comps, which is why you’ll need to understand Meta Team Comps instead of memorizing them. This will help you adjust your playstyle if a certain composition is made unavailable. Veteran players don’t rely too much on the meta since they understand how units work so they can create unique team comps that work regardless of the situation. This is what your end game should be like if you want to reach the highest rank.

2. Play the Strongest Board

Playing the strongest board simply means that you’re always aiming to buy the strongest units. This either means that your buying the unit with the highest rarity or a unit that will promote an existing one as soon as possible. The sooner you promote a unit to 2-stars or 3-stars, the higher your chances of winning the game will be. If you’re able to get 2-star units on the 3rd or 4th buy phase, your early game lead skyrockets and helps you develop your economy.

Have as many 2-star units and 3-star units on board. That means you’re constantly buying ingredients and hoarding them on your bench. You can also get key pieces during the Carousel Round but you should prioritize items first during this phase. This doesn’t mean that you’ll buy any unit that you want, make sure to stick with the composition that you’ve decided to run. This will become more prominent later on in this TFT guide.

3. Set Up Your Econ

Gold is the single most important element of Teamfight Tactics. Having access to an early gold lead and spending it wisely is the key to winning the game. The best way to get ahead of the competition is to set up your econ so that you’ll consistently be able to spend more gold on buying units and upgrades compared to an opponent. Here are different ways you can set up proper econ:

• Win Streak – 2 or more wins (+1 gold after 2-3 wins, +2 gold after 4 wins, and +3 gold after 5+ wins)
• Lose Streak – 2 or more losses (+1 gold after 2-3 losses, +2 gold after 4 losses, and +3 gold after 5+ losses)
• Interest – Gain +1 gold for each 10 gold you have at the end of the round.

Earning gold is important but spending gold is equally as important. You don’t win the game by being the player with the most gold, you win it by having the best units in the game. This is why players need to study how they want to spend their gold. Whether you’re planning to play aggressively or conservatively, having a consistent plan will be the key to you being successful in the game.

4. Study Items & Builds

Items play a big part in the game. However, RNG plays a big role in trying to get them. There’s not much you can do about getting the items you want but there’s no doubt that any item you get will have its purpose in the game. This is exactly why the biggest way you can improve in making the right items is to memorize item skills, recipes, upgrades, and interactions. Once you know how each item works, it’ll cut your thinking time significantly and give you some allowance to worry about other stuff.

As previously mentioned in this TFT guide, meta lists include which items you need to have on certain champions in your comp. In the event that you don’t get those items in time, you might want to consider alternatives. This might also be to your advantage when you’re considering reforging an item. Slapping random items on champions become inefficient. Saving item parts too long might also prove to be inefficient since most of your opponents will likely force to build items.

5. Learn When To Roll & Level Up

Learn when to roll (refresh) & level up. Gold expenditure is an important and confusing part of Teamfight Tactics. Most people can be prone to over rolling on characters they need especially if they’re experiencing a drought. Aside from keeping yourself tilt-proof, you need to understand the importance of holding off your rolls so that you keep a stable economy. Spend gold to roll only until you reach a certain threshold. Be patient.

Leveling up is also another expenditure that you need to be wise about. Never be cheap about leveling up since most of your advantages will come from having a higher level than your opponent. Remember that having a higher level increases your chances to get higher rarity units and opens up a unit slot on your board. That doesn’t mean you need to spend all your gold to reach level 9. Be wise about your decision.

6. Make Scouting a Habit

Scouting is the act of looking at other player’s board and gathering information about them. This is one of the more advanced tactics in the game which deserves its own TFT guide. In a nutshell, scouting is extremely important because it allows you to plan ahead to counter what they’re trying to do. This is especially important when you’re not at the top of the list and want to beat someone strong who’s on a winning streak.

Scouting is important throughout the game. The biggest advantage of scouting is that you’re able to see what composition everybody is trying to build. If too many players are contesting a certain build, you might want to stay away from that comp or try to contest a few pieces simply to screw them over. Champions in Teamfight Tactics are limited per rarity, which is why the chances of getting them drop when other players already have them on the board.

7. Always Have a Backup Plan

Everyone wants to play the best Team Comp in Teamfight Tactics but not everyone will be able to share it since there are limited pieces. Unless you were actively scouting during the early game, you might not notice that a few other players are sharing the same team comp as you which makes it extremely difficult to get the right pieces. When this happens, you’re practically screwed. That is unless you have a backup plan which works with the comp you were initially building.

Meta Comps don’t have 100% win rates. Some lower-tiered team comps on TFT guides have a relatively good chance at winning. It’s better to choose a lower-tiered team comp than fight over a meta comp against someone who has more pieces than you. Before you even begin the game, study the team comp you want to build and how you can turn that team comp to branch out into something else. This way, you will never worry about highly contested units.

8. Know When To Make The Switch

The hardest decision you can make in TFT is giving up the comp you’re currently running and making the switch to another comp. This is another advanced tactics in the TFT guide since it’s not always the most advisable move especially if you’re a bigger. Switching is done when you have collected more pieces on a better comp that’s not too contested. You won’t lose too much gold when doing this but it does take some time to rebuild.

One reason why you should make a switch is when the pieces you want aren’t appearing consistently. Some pieces tend to appear more frequently which forces a player to switch. The advantage of switching is that you’ll speed up your progress in the long run without hurting your economy. When you decide to switch, make sure that you have the core pieces for the comp you’re trying to jump to. Otherwise, you might end up losing all your progress for nothing.

9. Smart Unit Positioning

Place the right units on the right tiles. Most Meta Tier Lists come with a preset of where your units should be place but you’ll actively need to adjust the positions during the end game because players will try to counter them with matchups. This TFT guide is especially relevant against team comps with Assassins or units that have the item – Zephyr. Being complacent about your positioning opens up the possibility of the enemy shutting down your strength.

The most important part about smart unit positioning is that you need to protect your important units and avoid the enemy’s carries. If you are able to actively scout the enemy teams, you might want to position your units offensively by shutting down the enemy’s units. You’ll also need to learn how to position your units a few seconds before the match starts so as not to give information to your opponents and allow them to adjust their comp according to yours.

10. Read on Patch Notes & Changes

Teamfight Tactics strategies and metas phase out periodically. Riot Games actively makes changes in the game and we’re not talking about new set releases. One of the most common changes are nerfs, buffs, and hotfixes that may or may not change which units are strong. Players don’t often take these things in mind since they think that small percentages aren’t enough to change the current meta but they can’t be more wrong.

Reading patch notes and changes allow you to get ahead of the competition and plan out which units will work. Game companies often nerf the strongest champions or compositions so if you’re a fan of sticking to the meta, you might not realize that you’re suddenly losing because the team you’re running is suddenly underperforming. Make sure to stay updated on the news by following Teamfight Tactic’s or Riot Games’ social media pages.