Shadow Lunar in depth Guide to climb (plat TFT player guide)

Ok, so anyone looking to climb TFT, I have some advice to you...

GO SHADOW LUNAR.

I may not be the best League player, however I have always been good at chess. I am currently a plat ranked player, an decided to try an help some people who are willing to read a little try an get to gold or higher ranks.

Pretty much no matter your items, someone on this comp can use to a good extent. Sion an Leona make for good front liners, Karma helps protect your hyper carry, and you have different routes as to who your carry can be. Got a bunch of AD items? pick sion or Kindred. AP items? Malz Veig and even Kindred can use.

• Champions to focus on

Kindred is by far the best hyper carry in this game. Anti heal, mobility, high DPS, an can utilize both AD an AP. An honestly, if you get quicksilver, blood thirster, and Hextech Gunblade, you have a near unstopable force. She just heals so much that not even a 3 item lv 2 Olaf can 1 vs 1 her with his best healing set up due to her anti healing skill an own sustain. the other best set up is Seraphs, ludens echo, and iceborn gauntlet. Some will argue an say Jewel Gunatlet or some other item is best, but honestly with Seraphs and iceborn, she is so strong with just those 2 items.

Veigar is a high burst dmg mage, an to be honest, most ignore if they can't get him to lv 3 for his OTK. However he can be quite the deadly hyper carry at lv 2. give him Seraphs with either Rageblade, iceborn gauntlet, or ludens echo, an watch him do 10-16k dmg in an end game fight. Seriously you only need 2 items, an he's a solid pick.

Malzahar is honestly my favorite unit to try an get as a hyper carry. at lv 2 an 3 he generates so much threat against most comps he can save what looks to be a lost match. Shojins, morellos are all the offensive items he needs. Grant him the quicksilver an he will get you top 3 easily at lv 2.

Sion is a huge front line. if you have an earth or ocean board, focus on having him on at least 1 of the two hexes. comps that clump together like druid/woodland tend to do can be instantly destroyed by his AOE knock up. Shojins an iceborn is a good set up. or go warmogs with bramble vest is amazing. add on titans resolve vs AD or dragon claw vs AP comps and your opponents will hate him.

Karma is by far your best friend to your hyper carries and does well enough without any items to support them. I often put her on the side I expect assasins to come from. She will pretty much always get off at least one shield and attack speed burst an allow your hyper carry to take out 2 units quickly while she holds them off. By then your carry should turn to kill if they are right next to Karma. you can also chose to protect her an allow her to give more bonuses more often to your carry, just be sure she has a shojins to quickly get off more shields.

Senna can be a huge tide turner an great support, though I find her to be less of one than Karma. An no, you do not have to have lucian to make full use of her. Malzahar is just as good with her as lucian I find. He generates units farther out an with her on hit skill, she can hit all voidlings he creates pumping up his DPS DRASTICALLY! Add on a seraphs, ludens echo and/or GA and she can be a real annoyance to enemies.

Master Yi... if you get Neeko's help an have a, or cant, 3 star kindred... save it for this guy. Yi is just amazing, especially once he hits lv 2. It might not sound like much, but usually Yi does about 6 to 8k dmg, but if you consider the fact once a lv 2 yi goes off, the match is over in about 7 to 10 seconds. No joke, he takes out units before any healing or regen can apply. give him Hand of justice an IE, and watch units just disappear.

• **Items to consider **

Quicksilver - this item I find is not used enough. Everyone is so focused on Zephyr that they ignore it's hardest counter and honestly most overpowered item in the game. Any carr you have gets MR and crit, but complete immunity to crowd control. I highly suggest rushing this item early once you know your set ups carry. shadow has such high dps as it is that you only need 2 offensive items on a carry, an can make a good off carry as well.

Rageblade - needless to say, this item is a must for most comps in general. however with shadow it just spikes their already insane DPS to higher lvs. I dont suggest giving it to Yi though as he does better with straight up dmg items.

Spear of Shojin - If malz or sion are going to be key units, this is a must for them. MAss CC or mass unit generation is very over powered in this meta. The faster you can do either, the better.

Seraphs Embrace - IF kindred or Veigar are the units you are after, this is a must for either. They both go off the charts with this one item. Seriously this one item is all they need. anything else is just a bonus for either unit.

Hand of Justice - yet another underlooked item. put this on Kindred or Master Yi and an watch them solo carry. be it sustain or higher dps, you can't go wrong with a item most people an comps seem to hate.

Ice born gauntlet - another sleeper OP, if you have a shojins sion, or a Kindred, this is a must have. Sion can mass knock up followed into a 2.5 sec freeze. Kindred can do insane CC as well adding to her great utility.

The rest of the items im sure everyone knows what is what, these are just some of my favorite items with this comp that most people seem to ignore, besides the obvious Seraphs an rageblade.

• **Stages of the game **

Early game.

• Shadow is a mid to late game comp. it struggles early game, so don't expect any Mr.100's out of this. you usually will fall to 72 to 54 HP before you are set up, by which you should have 3 shadow an 2 lunar comp bonuses.

• Focus on trying to get Malz an Senna ASAP, you dont even need 3 shadow an this set up if you can get them lv 2 will keep your HP safe for most games. Leona should also be your early game focus. Get a lv 2 quickly or you will take more dmg down the line.

• once you have 3 shadow, or 2 lunar an at least 2 shadow, start econning (save up gold). Grab any units in shadow or to upgrade, as you come across. Even if it might slow your econ slightly.

Mid game.

• Depending on what you want your hyper carry will be, you should have at least 60 plus gold an be lv 6 by now. this is where if you are going to hyper roll, you want to start. If senna an malz are going to be your focus, stay 6 an save up as much gold as you think is good. I usually like to have 60 to 72 gold an roll down to only 40 (roll down to 30 if you are really struggling to find units, but no more), at lv 6 you have the best chance to find tier 2 units. Grab any Tier 3 shadow or Karma as well here, but only up to lv 2 of the tiers.

• if Kindred, Veigar, an Sion will be your focus, Keep your Econ over 50 an get to lv 7 ASAP. save up to 76 to 85 gold, an then hyper roll when you think is best for those tier 3 units. I advise on strictly focusing 1 of the 3 units to be lv 3 if you are going to push for it. an Focus on what items you can use to decide on which you should try to get to lv 3 if you do. otherwise just focus on getting them all to lv 2 ASAP.

• once you decide on what is best, getting a tier 3, or all lv 2, get to lv 8 ASAP.

• Focus Master Yi on Carousel. Forget itemizing at this point, you want to hit 6 shadow immediately. you see a Yi with a sub item, idc what it is, grab him. you can make something for him, even if its a negatron, chainmail or giants belt, he can use it. If you can't find, then of course focus item.

Late Game

• Again, focus Master Yi on Carousel

• once lv 8, you have a few options. Select a unit to fill in the available space for starters. I find a good front line to be best as your DPS will be good still. Malph, Taric, Mumu, Mundo all make good subs until you can find Master Yi.

• econ up and Roll down for Master Yi if you can't get via Carousel.

• If you have a neekos help, roll down for another yi an use it on master Yi.

• lv 9, if you hit this phase of the game, which is rare when you get this comp down, focus on a unit that will help you vs who ever is left. Lux is a huge help if you can get shadow, inferno, steel, or crystal lux. Cloud is solid, especially on the cloud board. Ocean can help too but not as much as the other 5. Other units, look for big front liners. Mumu and Singed by far would be best. Taric is 2nd after those 2. Nami an malphite are also great for added CC an utility. Ill go more into detail of the strengths of the 3 front liners however, excluding malphite because he can do his own thing.

Singed can be great if you want sion to get off a huge knock up. place Singed just in front of sion to allow Sion to get build up for his skill. Units will focus Singed over sion an group up as they follow singed allowing for a huge combo.

Mumu cna be a bit harder to utilize than singed late game if you cant give him items or get him lv 2. so I usually put him behind leona or kindred so he can get build up for his skill an huge stun.

Taric i Usually will grab if I see an assassin base opponent. I will put him in the corners behind my carries and use his skill to protect multiple vulnerable units.

Well that is all I have for now. I really hope this guide helps some of you at least into Gold. It is by far one of the most ignored an straight forward comps. So unless this catches on, you shouldn't have to many issues using the comp. Best of all you don't even need to hit 6 if you are just looking for a top 3 finish. However with 6 shadow with lunar, you should be pretty much set for a top 2 finish.

[garen-swing]