Boards›Teamfight Tactics

My thoughts on current state of TFT.

ShadWooo·7/7/2019, 6:38:02 PM·2 votes·1,705 views

Just had a nice conversation in game after I got stomped by player with five 3star units when I had none. I ranted about rng and then another guy with full glacial comp said - he might have five 3star champs but he has no synergy in them he will lose. The moment he wrote it he got matched against this guy and despite he had full glacial comp bonus + ranger bonus for Ashe+Vayne and two more units he got stomped so hard it was hilarious.

End-game screen

https://imgur.com/a/v8FlTiU

the guy who is(was) second won it in the end. But despite the first guy had only single bonus and that is Knight 2 and less units he was stomping everyone and the match with second player was quite close.

Anyway last 10 games I ended at the bottom after the store didn't offer me single 3star and in many cases not even any synergy between what it was offering. It also seems that more and more players figured out the strongest units/items and get better.

I think that with more players doing same comps, going for same units and same item this game becomed pure RNG. You either get good item and good units and good ammount of them or you go home.

Also when it comes to lategame. And it is just you and the other guy, assuming you both know how to play it it is all about if you manage to get that third draven or not. Or maybe whether he manages to get that last Veigar for 3star or whether you get the right item from dragon that you need. Pure rng.

Problem #1 - Unit availability.

First off. Shared pool is unfun. I understand the reason behind it and I though it is great mechanic at first, but it only leads to one player being more lucky and others gets nothing. Before the recent hotfix changes I was scouting what are other players building and tried to build up unit that nobody else bought. That being said, it wasn't much successful strategy as the next round I could see my unit announced as 2 star i chat anyway. And I was screwed. I know champion pool consist of enough shards that two players can build up rank3 (at least gold1 unit, never saw two players had rank3 on gold2+ though in one game I had rank3 lulu and other player had 2x rank2 and 1x rank1 - but then he lost) but especially because the recent hotfix changes that doesn't matter anymore as the chances to upgrade gold1 unit to rank3 is minimal right now.

There are basically 3 ways how to play TFT right now.

  1. Hoarding gold. Worst strategy because of shared pool, but not only shared pool. I tried this several several times, ended 7th or 8th everytime because several reasons. While you are hoarding gold players are taking their champ from shared pool which means less units for you. Also there is quite little ammount of time. So you have 40 gold and decide ok now it is time to roll something. But you will not be able to roll and upgrade champs in the 30 seconds you have between rounds at all (unless the intent is to get very specific champion and only that champion). Furthermore it seems that store offers same champions over and over and especially those you just sold. I made about 50 rerolls in one of such game and I I saw several champions over and over. But it didn't meant there were 9 shards of Lissandra, it was the same shard or two over and over again.

  2. Getting levels quickly asap and build comp around level2 stronger units. Not a strategy with high chance to be first but seems like solid strategy to end in first four right now.

  3. Not levelling up and rerolling to get 3star units. This is what I do most of the time because if you don't get 3stars on gold1 champion till level6 you better sell it. By not levelling up you increase the chances to get such unit to level3. And while level2 Draven is stronger than level3 Tristana, without level3 tristana you won't get that far anyway. It is pure rng though. Either you get the 3star unit and it pays off. Or you wasted time and hitpoints for nothing and you lose early.

Whatever strategy you choose, after recent hotfix changes whether you get that 3star unit is just pure RNG. There is no skill.

Problem #2 - Champion balance / Teamcomp balance.

This is twofold. First some champions are much much stronger than others. Draven is prime example, Kassadin is super strong for gold1 unit as well, Pyke is still overpowered. This results in players going for same champions and teamcomps and less diversity. Doesn't matter you have that 6 Nobles with 3 Star Vayne with 3 items that level 2 draven with same items (and 2imperial bonus which is super easy to get) will beat that Vayne easily.

Also teamcomp balance is an issue. It seems that the only way to have a winning chance is to split team to frontline and backline. You cannot win with just frontline (especially because space block) and you cannot win without it either. This limit options in what is viable and what isn't and I think we have enough of this in SR where are champions pigeonholed into one or two lanes (except the newer champs who can go anywhere of course).

Problem #3 - Item balance and usefullness

This is probably the biggest problem I see now after players got better. Not all items are equal and not all items are equally good on every champion. From this reasons (and the fact that you cannot dissolve items or move them without selling champion) players are now hoarding item components and waiting for that one component they need as long as they can. This is smart and reasonable from players but I find this stupid from design perspective, playing TFT when both players have nothing on their champs is boring.

Basically everyone goes for these items:

  1. force of nature
  2. rageblade
  3. spear of shojin
  4. phantom dancer
  5. rapid fire cannon
  6. infinity edge
  7. static
  8. titanic hydra
  9. warmogs

Sorcerer items, Seraph, Ludens, Rabadon, Morello aren't that bad but because the best champions you can use it for doesn't appear early you barely get to see them and if you do it is probably only because player had too low hp and had to use item to avoid losing.

As you can see these are mostly "adc" items which is related to problem #2. Frontline champions usually cannot use these items to full extend nor beat champion with such items (alone). Which put them into specific role and that is "draw aggro and buy as much time as possible". There are exceptions but I can count them on fingers of my hand are they are either gold4+ unit or you need luck and get that unit to level3. Or you go home.

I did not mention item availability as that was already dealt with by riot and is going to be balanced in next update.

9 Comments

Ctrl Alt Xerath7/7/2019, 7:36:27 PM1 votes

Weird because I go against people who stack them and destroy them everytime with a good synergy comp. If they're running ranger glacial, they need to have early knights too. Otherwise they had a c tier comp at best. Also mostly 2 coin 2 stars isn't good. However a 3-4 cost 2 star will beat any 1 cost 3 star. https://imgur.com/89s2OF0

Hoosier17/7/2019, 7:52:25 PM1 votes

{quoted}

Just had a nice conversation in game after I got stomped by player with five 3star units when I had none. I ranted about rng and then another guy with full glacial comp said - he might have five 3star champs but he has no synergy in them he will lose. The moment he wrote it he got matched against this guy and despite he had full glacial comp bonus + ranger bonus for Ashe+Vayne and two more units he got stomped so hard it was hilarious.

End-game screen

https://imgur.com/a/v8FlTiU

the guy who is(was) second won it in the end. But despite the first guy had only single bonus and that is Knight 2 and less units he was stomping everyone and the match with second player was quite close.

Anyway last 10 games I ended at the bottom after the store didn't offer me single 3star and in many cases not even any synergy between what it was offering. It also seems that more and more players figured out the strongest units/items and get better.

I think that with more players doing same comps, going for same units and same item this game becomed pure RNG. You either get good item and good units and good ammount of them or you go home.

Also when it comes to lategame. And it is just you and the other guy, assuming you both know how to play it it is all about if you manage to get that third draven or not. Or maybe whether he manages to get that last Veigar for 3star or whether you get the right item from dragon that you need. Pure rng.

Problem #1 - Unit availability.

First off. Shared pool is unfun. I understand the reason behind it and I though it is great mechanic at first, but it only leads to one player being more lucky and others gets nothing. Before the recent hotfix changes I was scouting what are other players building and tried to build up unit that nobody else bought. That being said, it wasn't much successful strategy as the next round I could see my unit announced as 2 star i chat anyway. And I was screwed. I know champion pool consist of enough shards that two players can build up rank3 (at least gold1 unit, never saw two players had rank3 on gold2+ though in one game I had rank3 lulu and other player had 2x rank2 and 1x rank1 - but then he lost) but especially because the recent hotfix changes that doesn't matter anymore as the chances to upgrade gold1 unit to rank3 is minimal right now.

There are basically 3 ways how to play TFT right now.

  1. Hoarding gold. Worst strategy because of shared pool, but not only shared pool. I tried this several several times, ended 7th or 8th everytime because several reasons. While you are hoarding gold players are taking their champ from shared pool which means less units for you. Also there is quite little ammount of time. So you have 40 gold and decide ok now it is time to roll something. But you will not be able to roll and upgrade champs in the 30 seconds you have between rounds at all (unless the intent is to get very specific champion and only that champion). Furthermore it seems that store offers same champions over and over and especially those you just sold. I made about 50 rerolls in one of such game and I I saw several champions over and over. But it didn't meant there were 9 shards of Lissandra, it was the same shard or two over and over again.

  2. Getting levels quickly asap and build comp around level2 stronger units. Not a strategy with high chance to be first but seems like solid strategy to end in first four right now.

  3. Not levelling up and rerolling to get 3star units. This is what I do most of the time because if you don't get 3stars on gold1 champion till level6 you better sell it. By not levelling up you increase the chances to get such unit to level3. And while level2 Draven is stronger than level3 Tristana, without level3 tristana you won't get that far anyway. It is pure rng though. Either you get the 3star unit and it pays off. Or you wasted time and hitpoints for nothing and you lose early.

Whatever strategy you choose, after recent hotfix changes whether you get that 3star unit is just pure RNG. There is no skill.

Problem #2 - Champion balance / Teamcomp balance.

This is twofold. First some champions are much much stronger than others. Draven is prime example, Kassadin is super strong for gold1 unit as well, Pyke is still overpowered. This results in players going for same champions and teamcomps and less diversity. Doesn't matter you have that 6 Nobles with 3 Star Vayne with 3 items that level 2 draven with same items (and 2imperial bonus which is super easy to get) will beat that Vayne easily.

Also teamcomp balance is an issue. It seems that the only way to have a winning chance is to split team to frontline and backline. You cannot win with just frontline (especially because space block) and you cannot win without it either. This limit options in what is viable and what isn't and I think we have enough of this in SR where are champions pigeonholed into one or two lanes (except the newer champs who can go anywhere of course).

Problem #3 - Item balance and usefullness

This is probably the biggest problem I see now after players got better. Not all items are equal and not all items are equally good on every champion. From this reasons (and the fact that you cannot dissolve items or move them without selling champion) players are now hoarding item components and waiting for that one component they need as long as they can. This is smart and reasonable from players but I find this stupid from design perspective, playing TFT when both players have nothing on their champs is boring.

Basically everyone goes for these items:

  1. force of nature
  2. rageblade
  3. spear of shojin
  4. phantom dancer
  5. rapid fire cannon
  6. infinity edge
  7. static
  8. titanic hydra
  9. warmogs

Sorcerer items, Seraph, Ludens, Rabadon, Morello aren't that bad but because the best champions you can use it for doesn't appear early you barely get to see them and if you do it is probably only because player had too low hp and had to use item to avoid losing.

As you can see these are mostly "adc" items which is related to problem #2. Frontline champions usually cannot use these items to full extend nor beat champion with such items (alone). Which put them into specific role and that is "draw aggro and buy as much time as possible". There are exceptions but I can count them on fingers of my hand are they are either gold4+ unit or you need luck and get that unit to level3. Or you go home.

I did not mention item availability as that was already dealt with by riot and is going to be balanced in next update.

It is a recycled genre from the 90's. Riot figured it was a good idea to waste time and money so you people born after turn based strategies were a thing would get a chance to play them. TFT is nothing new for those of us who were playing Suikoden and Final Fantasy Tactics over two decades ago. Riot is using you post 90 people to try and pull you in to a stale genre.