A Guide To TFT For Dummies (Written by a Dummy)

There's literally HUNDREDS of posts saying 'There's too much RNG' in this game mode. I respectfully disagree. I estimate I've played a good 250 TFT games, combination of ranked and normals, and I'm actually happy with the RNG that TFT provides. I write this to talk to those players who often get overly frustrated @ this game mode. I was of the same mindset until I got a large number of games played, because it wasn't until I'd experienced both the positive and negative sides of the RNG factors that I felt I had a better understanding of the mechanics going on here. And I'm here to say that there's a LOT more control of what happens to you during the game than most new players would like to think.

If you find yourself frequently getting frustrated by this gamemode, please read on.

I like to break the RNG elements of TFT into 3 categories:

1. Controllable
2. Plannable
3. Uncontrollable (And yes I'm aware of the paradox of calling RNG controllable, but read on.)

Let's look into each category, what they all include, and why I deem them as such.

1. Controllable RNG elements:

• The Carousel: This one seems to be a rather sore topic with a lot of posts on the boards. The carousel is my personal favorite part of the game, because apart from the very first carousel, every other round is completely controllable in regards to your position in the pick list. In order to make this happen, you will be playing the long game and banking up your gold. In the first carousel round, you pick a champ that has the ITEM that you want. For me, I ALWAYS go for the spatula, but go for whatever tickles your pickle. From that round, you buy ONLY the champions you want that pop up in your shop. You DO NOT re-roll anything until after Wolves. At Golems, you buy the exp boost to get lvl 5 and put the 5th champ on the field to ensure that golems die. I don't care if you have a sorry ass team of all lvl 1 champs until wolves, DON'T spend money on re-rolls until you have 50+ gold. Once you hit that 50+ gold, spend the extra on re-rolls and champs that you want, but stop when you hit 50. If this doesn't make sense to you, look up TFT wiki and search 'Interest'. You will be on the bottom of the champ list for literally the entire game, and you'll always get first pick during the carousel rounds. Always go for the ITEMS that you want during the carousel. You'll have enough gold to re-roll and find the champs that you want. If you are in danger of being knocked out before wolves, which RARELY happens, spend as much gold as you need to in order to get all champs up to 2* or more. By this time, you'll have picked up all the items you want and will still be riding the bottom of the list. I'm usually @ around 20-30 health by now, but my team is beefy as hell and I just ride that low HP until the end, still getting first pick during every subsequent carousel. No lies, I've won games after being @ 1 hp the round just after wolves. NOTE- Another positive side to carousel is the ability to pick up champs simply to deny an enemy. Playing dirty? Not in my opinion. If you just lost to a guy who's got two lvl 1 Kayle's, scoop up Kayle during the carousel to keep him from getting a free win thanks to his Kayle. Sure, he might be able to re-roll and get it, but he's going to waste a lot of gold finding one. Making your enemy spend their gold gives you an advantage.

• Item Combinations: This is another sore spot for people. This is ALL about patience. Given the above strategy I just spoke about, there is no need to rush item combinations. If you have a specific item that you want, you CAN wait for it. Given that you're first pick every carousel, you WILL get the perfect item that you want. In late game carousels, sometimes it's even given to you as a complete item. Be patient, and don't waste your item components on sub-par champ itemization. NOTE- Let's say you have a Draven on your field with a Recurve Bow, but you want to put a Bloodthirster on him. Don't make the rookie mistake of tossing on the BF Sword and making a Sword of the Divine. Buy a 1 gold champ, combine the Neg Cloak with the BF Sword on the cheap champ, then just sell that champ. Boom, there's your Bloodthirster fully completed and you didn't mis-match your items on the champ you want to keep.

• Champ placement in regards to strategic advantages: This is a big one. When your shop pops up, buy the champ you want as quickly as possible, place them where needed and then start looking at other people's arrangements. Most people DO NOT do this, and that's a big mistake. You need to be aware of any assassin comps or a newly purchased Blitz that's gonna mess up your team. Early game this is hard to do because of the sheer number of enemies you have to watch, and we can't control whom we fight. The best strategy for this is to find the comp you think will be the hardest to face, and arrange your champs accordingly to fight THAT team. Late game, this becomes much simpler to do, but when late game comes around, assume that they are watching your board as well. Make that last important movement literally 1 second before placements lock to start the battle. NOTE: I absolutely HAAAAAAAATE Hextech and the Rito employee who signed off on it, but for now it's something we have to deal with. You can spread out your champs who have items to diminish it's effectiveness.

2.Plannable RNG elements:

• Champ Sets: I call it champ sets, others call it origins, or classes. Whatever, it all means the same thing. It's the class buffs that you combine to get that OPness rolling such a Brawlers, Void, Blademasters, etc. We all have that perfect team comp in mind, but there's always another way to build it. I roll sorcerer virtually every game. It's a lesser-played comp because it's very expensive and very high-risk high-reward. I always WANT a Morgana, TF, and Veigar on my team, but there's always the option of putting in Ahri or Karthus as a substitute, or building a Yuumi and MAKING a champ a sorcerer. I can't CONTROL what champs pop up in my store, but I can start buying alternative champs to have as a backup plan in case RNG wins out on me, or my enemy has already scooped up the champs I want. NOTE: I know that there are certain traits which can't be replicated yet, such as the addition of another noble to your team. When you are in early-mid game, you need to have a couple of champs on your team that aren't being used very much by your enemies. If you notice a bunch of Aatrox popping up in your shop, maybe scoop him up and toss on a trait item to mold him into your team comp. Or pick up a few Kennens and do the same. You can always plan ahead by scooping up potentially-useful champs to use as backup comps in case you aren't able to get that 6th noble.

3.Uncontrollable RNG elements. Yup, here's the 3 things over which we have no control in the game:

• Item Drops: Nope, we can't control a damn thing when it comes to which items and how many of them drop during the game. Given this fact, my above strategy about the carousel becomes even more important. Some games you're the lucky dude who has 4 items drop by the time you face your first pvp round. And other games you get nothing but gold even from Golems. It's just a part of the game. Just enjoy it when you get to be that lucky person.

• Enemy Comps: You can't control what champs you enemies want to use. If you're the aggressive type, you can counter pick during carousel to discourage enemies from pursuing a certain champion. That's really about all you can do, deal with it.

• Champs in the store: You can't magically MAKE certain champs appear in the store. BUT, you CAN save up your gold in order to have a much larger number of re-rolls in order to raise the probability of finding those champs that you want.

Even the 'Uncontrollable' RNG factors have counterplays; it just requires patience.

Then let's look at the basic concept of it all: Would you actually enjoy playing a game that was completely predictable; where everyone ALWAYS got the exact same number of items, and ALWAYS got the champs they wanted? Hell no, it would be BORING. It would just be a never-ending cycle of queuing up, grabbing your 6 noble team, and waiting to see which Kayle could ult the fastest. Even then there would still be complaining about the 'RNG' of the enemy hitting 0.1ms faster due to lag and getting the ult off first. It's the very aspect of luck and finding that last Warwick to make him 3* or the BF Sword to give your champ a Gunblade that makes the game exciting and unpredictable. Embrace the luck, don't shy away from it.

I've seen this gamemode compared to auto-chess, and I suppose it's a valid comparison, though very over-simplified. It's auto chess with 8 layers of interractions occuring simultaneously: Mitigation (armor/MR) Damage differentiation (ad/ap) Individual champ stats (different attack speeds, base traits, etc.) Individual champ abilities Different attack styles (ranged/melee) Champ traits/sets Items Traits built off of probability (Glacial with a % to freeze, or Blademasters with a % chance to strike multiple times)

To those who claim 'There is too much RNG in TFT', I'd like to see you come up with a code that can take all of those aspects into account and have anything OTHER than a purely RNG-driven madhouse. It is my opinion that the game is very well balanced in its intended function, given the number of variables that go into making a battle of 6v6 champs even half-way comprehensible or predictable in its outcome. RNG is the nature of the beast, but with patience and observation, you can find ways to deal with it and succeed.

Anywho, thanks for reading, if in fact anyone has managed to read to the end. If nothing else, I hope that any newer players who read this are able to at least gain a teensy bit of understanding on how to grapple with TFT.

Rags