Riot has released the first patch of Teamfight Tactics, adding some significant updates to the auto battler.
One big update in the patch is TFT’s brand new ranked mode. Ranked mode matches players according to their skill in the auto battler. Players can now rank up or down depending on their placement in these ranked matches. Similar to regular LoL, the ranks range from Iron to Challenger, complete with the numbered divisions in between.
The patch also adds Twisted Fate as a champion and he will be a Pirate Sorceror, clad in his Bilgewater skin. His cost of purchase is two gold, making him the same tier as fellow pirate Pyke.
His skill in TFT is Pick A Card, which randomly chooses between a gold (stun), red (AoE damage), and blue card (AoE mana regen). From the looks of it, Twisted Fate is a great addition to TFT, giving players a chance to work around the very resourceful, yet limited selection of the Pirate class. With him, you can easily compose a solid Pirate team with Wild or Demon, seeing that all three classes also have an assassin and a sorcerer.
Other champions and classes/origins have also gotten tweaks for balancing purposes. Elise’s cost was reduced from two to one, making her the cheapest demon in the game. The Wild origin’s attack speed bonus gets an increase from 7% to 8% while the Guardian class’ armor buff is now stackable.
As for downgrades, the Demon origin has fewer chances of burning mana (25/50/85%) while the Elementalist class gets a significant adjustment to its Golem, now only having 2,500HP with 100 damage.
As for in-game changes, attack speed bonuses are now a percentage based on the champion’s attack speed. Champions with lower attack speed get smaller bonuses.
With the update, the Recurve Bow now gives a 20% attack speed bonus. This slight change is merely challenging players on where they put their attack speed items. Long gone are the days of putting a Rapid Firecannon on Garen.
Speaking of items, Riot has added a definite reward system during the PvE rounds of TFT. For every PvE round, you will either receive an item or some gold. While this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get items in every PvE round, this system feels more satisfying and fair compared to the previous item drop system.
The spatula also gets a great upgrade in the new patch. On top of its class-adding combos, it provides double the component item’s bonus. For example, Youmuu’s Ghostblade, made from a spatula and a BF Sword, now grants 40 attack damage (BF Sword grants 20 attack damage). With a spatula at hand, players have more reasons to mix up their origins and classes instead of rushing a Force of Nature early game.
For more details on patch 9.14, you can check out the official patch blog here.
READ MORE: The beginner’s guide to Teamfight Tactics
