Teamfight Tactics for League of Legends is set to be released near the end of June. This mode is clearly inspired by Dota Auto Chess. Despite being released in January of this year, there are still some people that have problems playing Dota Auto Chess. If you are one of those with problems, or just prefer the League of Legends characters, we're here to help.
This time around we are going to help you get a feel on how to play Teamfight Tactics so that you will be ready once it arrives.
First let’s start with the Board. It has three components which are:
- BATTLEFIELD
- A hexagonal board where you can place your champions for combat. The board is divided into two halves.
- Players are able to place and position their champions on the left side of the Combat Area.
- The opponent's troops will spawn on the right.
- BENCH
- This is where your champions will live until you move them to the main Combat area.
- You can unlock additional bench spots with gold.
- SHOP
- Randomized champions from a shared pool will show up here for you to buy.
- If you want to reroll, you can by spending gold or the pool refreshes for free at the start of each round
So how do you win? Clearly you need to get stronger and you do so by either leveling up or gaining gold.
All players begin at level 1 and can reach a maximum of level 10. The level you have affects the number of champions that you can place on the board and even gives you access to better champions. If you survive each round, you gain experience.
You can also get stronger by getting, gold which is the main resource. Gold can be is used to:
- Buy champions
- Reroll your champion pool
- Buy experience points to level up faster
- Unlock additional bench slots
Players earn gold:
- At the end of each round
- By selling champions
- Winstreaks or losing streaks will give you bonus gold
- Interest on gold in your bank
The game allows players to spend gold on experience points in order to be able to expand their respective armies.
Teamfight Tactics has two phases:
- SHOPPING PHASE
- Players are given 30 seconds to purchase champions, reroll their Shop, equip items, level up, and position their champions on the Combat Area.
- Keep in mind the traits of your troops when positioning your army.
- COMBAT PHASE
- At the start of every combat, your Little Legend and troops teleport to your opponent's board (or vice-versa) to battle your opponent.
- If combat is still going on by the end of the 60 second timer, both players take damage based on the number of their opponent's surviving Champions.
When a player is eliminated and it results in odd-numbered players (3, 5, or 7), the game duplicates a random player’s army and faces one of the remaining players. The duplicated army does not cause the owner to lose health, but can still deal damage.
There are also two rounds when it comes to combat:
- PvE ROUNDS
- At the start of every game, players will first face off against monsters for three rounds before matching up against their opponents.
- Defeated monsters may or may not drop items for you to equip to your champions during the Preparation Phase.
- PvP ROUNDS
- Matchups between you and your seven other opponents are randomly decided during the game.
- Your troops will battle directly with your opponents.
The game also has a mechanic known as SHARED DRAFT. Here all players are transported to the Convergence’s center island and allowed to choose a champion for free from a random and shared line-up. In the first drafting round of the game, all the players can pick at the same time. When it comes to the other Drafting Rounds, the players pick begining with the one with the lowest health, then up to the player with the higest health.
So that leaves us with two other aspects of the game: Champions and Items.
Champions can be drafted or purchased. They can be combined, deployed and sent into battle. The champions fight autonomously once combat starts. Each champion has what is called an Origin which gives bonus effects based on how many champions have that similar Origin are on the team. Some champions can have multiple Origins. In addition, each champion has a Class that works like Origins but gives different bonuses.
Champions have five quality tiers with the higher-tiers being stronger, but more expensive and rarer. At the start, players are only able to access lower-tier champions, but get access to higher tiers as they level up.
Players can combine three of the same champion in order to get a super version. Combining three versions result in an ultimate version. The champions are automatically combined once you get three of the same.
Finally we get to the Items, which when equipped to the champions, make them stronger. Items can also be combined in order to upgrade them and give substantial bonuses. To equip an item, all you need to do is drop the item on a champion. However once equipped, the only way to get back the item is to sell the champion. In addition, each champion has a limit on items based on their star level.
During the PvE rounds, monsters defeated have the chance to drop an item. However, during Draft rounds, each champion drafted comes with an item equipped. When a champion is equipped with three basic items, it upgrades the item. However, the new items continue to have the same combination of stats as the three components.
It is important to note that each item modifies a different stat. The item Tear of the Goddess, for instance, allows the wielder to gain mana faster, while the BF Sword makes the wielder’s attack deal more damage.
That takes care of that. Hopefully this guide would give you a small edge once Teamfight Tactics is officially launched.
