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Teamfight Tactics Guide by Sovereign Kitten


The Detailed Guide to Teamfight Tactics [TFT]

By Sovereign Kitten | Updated on July 4, 2020
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Teamfight Tactics Guide

The Detailed Guide to Teamfight Tactics [TFT]

By Sovereign Kitten

Hello, and welcome to the OFFICIAL Teamfight Tactics (TFT) Detailed General Guide for beginners!

This guide is meant to help you understand the fundamentals of how this game mode plays, what you should/shouldn't be doing if you do wish to play and win games more effortlessly, we will be covering pretty much everything so lets get into it!

TFT (Teamfight Tactics) is an Auto-Battler in the form of chess. You place your units on the board, and they fight for you without you being able to control them outside of placements. It's all about strategy and utilizing what you are given to win.

8-Players will fight through multiple stages throughout the duration of the game, positioning, organizing an competing against one another to become the victor. Understanding everything about this game is pretty important if you intend to climb high.

You will find yourself becoming quite the strategist, in this fast-paced game mode, be it through the shop, drops or simple AI. Without further ado let's get right into the basics of how this game works, and how you can start improving yourself to win.

Unlike other Auto-Battlers, TFT offers something new to the mixture.
What TFT offers is a unique mechanic called the Carousel. Basically a safe haven where after a set number of PvP/PvE battles, 2 players each in order from last place to first place, acquire a unit based on galaxy.

This is very important throughout the game, but crucial when you start up a new game. The first Carousel is important because it can be the decider on what you get later on in the game based on the unit that you choose, or the item that you have chosen. You can sell the unit and replace them for a better one that fits into your future build, while keeping the item to give to other units who can utilize it's full potential.

Regardless of if you are first, last or in between, you always have a shot at a specific champion or item. It does help to lose a few games on purpose if you really need to be first, at the expense of HP. It is a valid strategy when playing the carousal.

Speaking about the galaxy Mechanic, this is something specifically unique to set 3 with a #% chance of happening.
You know you are in one of these Galaxies if the stage shows the indicator for that galaxy, which you'll soon memorize.
Basically, the icon on the carousal or the icon next to the (x)-(x) stage tells you which galaxy you are in, if you are in one.

This is the most common game mode, with no specific galaxy rules. The normal TFT experience.

The Littler Little Legends galaxy makes everyone smaller and faster, and start with only 85 health.
This sometimes makes it harder to obtain carousal units due to the size and speed of your Little Legend. Games become much faster than usual, so keeping yourself ahead and alive is important.

The Galactic Armory galaxy grants players with the exact same fully built items at the start of the game. This makes things a little bit harder and set in stone, normally forcing people into the exact same compositions if they attempt to utilize the items they acquire fully. It will come down to RNG. These items do not build from Spatula, and the two items cannot be identical to one another.

The Neekoverse grants you and every other player in your current match Neeko's Helpers when you return to your planning phase. You acquire (2) Neeko clones, which will allow you to clone 2 units of any tier to spawn an 1 star copy. It's best to be held until you can complete a 3 star unit early, or to be held for the late game in an attempt to 3 star a higher tier, like Kayle or Jhin.

The Binary Star galaxy simply prevents all units from equipping more than 2 items. This encourages players to have three or four carries rather than the traditional one or two. Comps that are not item-dependent will most likely thrive in this galaxy, whereas units that require 3 items will suffer.

The Trade Sector galaxy gives players a free re-roll each round costing (0) instead of (2) gold. This quickly adds up, saving you precious gold. You can use this to pretty much level all tier 1's to level 2's giving you a solid early game if you have fighters. The idea with this galaxy is primarily to hyper-roll your comps quickly. You can't save rerolls, so be sure to use them as soon as you enter next round.

The Superdense galaxy gives all players a Force of Nature at stage 3. A Force of Nature would normally require two Spatulas, but in this case, it’s free! It doesn't need to be equipped.

The Star Cluster galaxy grants 1, 2, and 3 cost units on carousels to have two extra stars units turning them into a upgraded unit. The second carousel only has 2 cost units. This can grant you some pretty high units in the early game if you manage to acquire a good start with multiple tier 2 units.

The Treasure Trove galaxy causes ALL minion kills to drop a loot orb. Which means a higher chance for gold, units and items. This can make games pretty hectic and unpredictable but a lot more fun an different from the usual game modes where you're not always guaranteed a loot orb.

In the beginning of the game you start with 100HP, and when you reach 0HP, you lose.

Taking a look to the right side of your screen when you load up a new match will give you the information about your current HP and your current placement out of the other 7 players.

The closer you are to the bottom means the more frequently you will be able to go first when you get sent back to the Carousel to choose a unit or item, this is in groups of 2. This also gives you an idea of how closer you are to losing, allowing you to theorize how to live a bit longer.

If you are at the top you will be the very last player to get a unit or item. So you can use this information to lose a few matches purposefully if you are in dire need of an item early game when it won't drop in any of the PvE fights. Losing early grants better rewards essentually.

If another player is on fire then this information can also notify you, how well another player is doing. You can then plan your strategy for later specifically for them. Perhaps a specific comp that can counter them if others are not a major threat to it! There are multiple ways to counter every composition, which you eventually learn through reading or playing them first hand.

Every stage you lose against an NPC or player will subtract (x) amount of health based on how many units are left on the enemies playing field including the enemy player. So you will take a lot more damage from 8 units than you would from 1 unit. If you have no chance of winning fights, try to build into a comp that will at the very least keep you from taking too much damage.


ORIGIN & CLASS While in any TFT match an whilst in the possession of any units, you will automatically activate one of many Origin an Classes effects. Which shape and determine your build.

Your main priority in TFT is to get as many as you possibly can, while also working towards compositions that compliment each other, with synergy and items that can counter your opponents or strengthen yours. It really comes down to knowledge of the whole game.

It takes time to understand everything to play optimally, to fully understand which items work with each unit and why they work with them an not other units that are similar.

It is very hard to compile a specific build due to how RNG this game mode is, sometimes you will get the items that have 0 synergy with your current units. This is bad and needs to be addressed as soon as possible before units become harder to obtain as you level up.

It really all depends on what you get early. The general idea is work and build around what you currently have in your possession early game and figure out what you can do for the remainder of the game, to improve or switch around units. Do you invest in the units you currently have because you acquired two level 2 units? Perhaps you don't want this and want another comp. Quick decisions like this can make or break your builds entirely.

If you're in need of a refresher for the current strongest comps, head on over to our TFT Comps for more information below.

It's not a surprise. Gold is important to have. The more you have the more you can do for your yourself keeping yourself ahead of your opponents, in levels and in strength. You acquire gold through various means, winning and losing constantly, selling units from the carousel, PvE and sometimes boss battles and having over 10/20/30/40/50 Gold income.

Try to restrict yourself from going on a spending spree. Losing a little HP and having a huge economy late game, is much better in the long run than using re-roll strategy in the mid game until you exhaust everything losing late game if behind.

Located on the left side of the playing field is your bonus income. Each gold chest indicates 1+ extra gold per turn. You can then understand how much gold the other player is currently hovering around when you click on their side of the stage.

You could then use this information to play aggressively against another player who has no chance to obtain higher levels or higher level units for their current comp due to a drain in their economy, exhausting that unit they desperately need now.

Speaking of economy and income, there are 2 specific ways to play TFT both with their own specific pros and cons.
They are called the "Economy" and "Re-roll" strategies, they are pretty basic concepts utilizing different means of winning.

Occurs when a player simply sits on their provided income, regardless of what units they have acquired in the early game.
This requires the player to not re-roll for champions, whatever the shop offers is used to make something work. In the meantime the players income will start to stack up for stage 3-1, in which they start using excess 50+ gold for their leveling and re-rolling of units to complete their desired compositions. THE DOWNSIDE: You will lose a lot but be first to pick a unit.

Occurs when a player simply does nothing but re-roll early game, in hopes to acquire multiple leveled up units and possibly a tier 3 upgraded unit. It's often not a good choice as it does rely heavily on RNG as a leading factor which is a hit or a miss.
But if you do manage to acquire a strong front line and DPS start you're good to win most every fight til mid game.
THE DOWNSIDE: Winning all the time can lose you precious carousal units & items early. It's also heavily reliant on RNG.

Gold can be spent three ways.

REFRESH (2 gold) your unit pool.

BUY XP (4 Gold) which levels you to acquire more and better units.

PURCHASING (1-5 Gold) unit from the unit pool.

Located on the far right corner of your shop is a lock, click it to lock and click again to unlock, this is used to safe-guard units you really need, but can not afford right now. It will lock until your next planning phase, don't accidentally forget to unlock it!

This can be exceedingly useful for you, in the early game or late game as it will allow you to wait til the next turn to afford a unit you couldn't previously afford, especially if you were at the Max level an acquired your final tier 1 unit to upgrade it to tier 3.

Please keep in mind that the higher level you are, the more the shop will open its gates to you, for higher tier units. Unfortunately this will also lower your ability to purchase lower tier units, So getting them up at a low level is crucial!

Above we have the current list of Classes and Origins. If you ever need a reference to figure out which class or origin you are missing use this image. You can also use this as reference to plan out your later game, to acquire the units that would complete the bonus effects. While playing any match of TFT it is wise to structure yourself around the bonus you start out with, to save up income, otherwise following the economy strategy is one of many ways to strategically climb to top 3.

I would highly suggest you experiment with builds, the game is always changing and sticking to one specific play-style is never going to work 100% because players love to use the same compositions over and over again, rarely switching things up.

Each stage has something different. At the start you will be faced off against (3) sets of PvE battles. These special PvE battles ease you into a specific composition based on the early game RNG rolls for you, be it the item drops or the units pool. This is where you need to make your stand on whether or not you wish to dominate early game if possible, or survive enough until you can put together a strong enough team to make your come back mid-late game utilizing carousals & first picks.

The indicator is here so that you can keep track of how much longer you need to survive or wait for the next PvE/PvP or Carousel. No before you ask, you can not see the enemy you are facing, it is mostly speculation until it is the final 2-3 players remaining, at that point of the game you would start arranging and rebuilding your units to compete with them specifically.

Some times you will be faced up against an NPC of another players team, these are NPC units who can not use their Origins or Classes. It's a way for the game to keep you or others in the game longer when they have nobody to face off against them.

The longer the game goes on, the harder and more dangerous the NPC creatures become.
In which you will fight Rift Heralds & Dragons that reward much greater loot, fully built if you conquer them.

There isn't really a limit to how many stages or matches there are. However, in any normal circumstances you will only ever make it to about Stage 6 before players start to lose and leave the game, in the final debut between the top 3 players.

Please keep in mind, if you equip and item to a unit, you can not remove it unless you sell that unit. Do be careful.

Why are they so important to the strategy of this game?
It's quite simple really. You need items, specific items for specific units and compositions that allow you to counter another players an to strengthen your own further.

You won't always be lucky and unfortunately will sometimes get the short end of the straw, never finding a single good item to build into a strong item, for a specific composition you are building for. In cases like this you can still do well, by switching units around to make room for units that can utilize them. Example: You get a bunch of rods/tears, but have no mages.

This is a random variable that isn't tied to any Galaxy. Every now and again Kayn will be carrying 3 items instead of 1. This is randomized for each player, so you may get something good and you may get something that is useless, while other players get nothing but amazing things for their carries or tanks.

Applying certain items, to compositions that can benefit from them greatly is a lot more efficient than giving something like to a unit that can not utilize it fully because of their skills. They may be a front liner, a tank someone who needs to be in the front of the fights and not the prime target for damage. Where as a squishy infiltrator would be much more preferred since they can attack from a longer range preferably behind a Leona or Poppy keeping them alive longer with a tank.

There are many different and countless builds that can be applied to really every unit and their origins and classes. But this is something you must experiment with and learn for yourself. A guide can only go so far into helping you with this. Good Luck!

Something very important to TFT is unit placement. You can't just place all of your units in random spots on the field.

Sometimes you may need to further protect your units from infiltrators, who jump behind your front line.

Watching your enemy who has a few infiltrators on his team can allow you to reformat your tactics and place a very strong tank to be the primary focus of one or more infiltrator, allowing your carries to make short work of them in the process.

Some items will require your unit to stand within a specific pattern to acquire the effect your unit is spreading.

So if you keep losing, try switching your units around. Positioning really makes a difference against every form of composition.

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