TFT guide
Our TFT guide will go over all the basics to playing the game, such as how to download and run TFT, what TFT is, and some tips and strategies for the game. There will also be links to our other TFT guides, including links to our item cheat sheet and the best comps to use in every game as of Set 3 - Galaxies.
Contents
How to play TFT What is TFT? TFT positioning TFT tips
We are currently in the process of updating all of our Teamfight Tactics guides in preparation for the new TFT season in mid-March. Please bear with us as we update our guides.
How to play TFT
TFT is now a permanent part of League of Legends, though it is still in beta. It is a separate game mode within the League of Legends client so the only barriers to accessing the game on PC are that you’ll need to download and install the League of Legends client onto your computer. To get you started playing the game, you’ll need to do a few things. First, you’ll need to sign up to League of Legends. If you already have an account, there is a link to download the client under the start button. After creating the new account and logging into it, you’ll be presented with a news page. On the top-right hand corner, you’ll see your name and your region. Highlighting this will bring a dropdown, with the option to download as one choice. You’ll then be able to download the client for Windows or Mac.
After downloading and installing the client, sign in with your username and password and you’ll be presented with the League of Legends client. On the top bar, there is a play button. Click it and then select PVP, before clicking on Teamfight Tactics to select the mode in question. Click “Find Match” to begin matchmaking. You’ll likely need to accept multiple times to get a match started, but you should find a match very quickly. If you disconnect from the client, you should be able to reconnect by logging back in and selecting the option to Find Match in the same PVP (Teamfight Tactics) tab.
What is TFT?
TFT is an 8-player PvP strategy game that’s played across multiple boards. Each player begins the game with 100 life and their aim is to avoid being eliminated by having their health reduced to zero. In order to do this, they’ll need to save up gold to buy a small army, equipping items onto them and building team compositions with certain synergies. Games are divided into timed stages. Each stage has a period of time where you either buy champions to use in your team or draft a free champion from a small selection. There are also parts of the game where teams fight each other on multiple fronts or fights against Creeps. While you can manage their positions, which items they have equipped, and the composition of your roster, you have no control over the battles themselves. This occurs over many rounds until one player is left standing and each game takes up to 40 minutes to play. This can all get quite daunting, so take a look at the best comps, which can be found in our TFT comps guide, while the TFT items cheat sheet guide can assist with item recipes so you don’t have to look them up.
What’s new in Set 3 - Galaxies?
Everything is new in the latest season of TFT. All the champions have changed to a brand new roster, which you can get a sneak peak at in our TFT champions tier list guide. The synergies have also completely changed and have been collected in our TFT synergies guide for your perusal. Changes to the core game have also occurred in the transition to the third season. The first carousel of any game now only shows champions that cost one gold, and you can see full items at an earlier point than normal. Something called “Components” will also now show up from the sixth carousel onwards and the Spatula is returning here too, though it’s much rarer to see. There are also some more minor changes, such as adjustments to income earned per stage, gold and champions found in boxes, streak adjustments, player damage, and more. You can learn more about all of these changes by at Riot’s latest post about the new set.
TFT positioning
For those looking for a more in-depth explanation on positioning, check out the above video from YouTube user “Scarra”. He goes into a ton of detail about probably the most difficult to understand part of TFT. Keep in mind that it’s mostly talking about Set 1, where there were only three rows, but a lot of what he says carries over to Set 2. With the new update and extra row, it’s likely that new strategies will be discovered in time. The general idea is to try and position your tanks in front of your more fragile champions so that they have time to build up their special attacks. Do keep in mind that the video was created for Set 1, so when he says “Assassins”, the up-to-date version of this is Infiltrators. Your high DPS champions should be protected by other champions long enough for their ultimate abilities to trigger.
TFT tips
As for other general advice, here are the fifteen top TFT beginner’s tips that you should take into consideration before and while playing online against real players in your first dozen or so matches.
- In the early game, if you can’t find the champion you’re looking for, don’t spend money on a reroll. Instead, you should save the money for later turns so that you have more gold to spend when it matters the most. 2) Know where to find the stats for champions and their synergies. You can get individual information by right-clicking on a champion or look at the left of the screen to see the synergies. 3) Adapt your strategy to suit your current situation. If you lose the earliest attack phase, carry on losing to increase the amount of gold you can accumulate. Just don’t go crazy with the losses. 4) Before every draft stage, try to memorise what the champions you have on your team look like. It’ll take a few games to work out which champion you’re looking for, so use the mini-map at the bottom right of the screen to remind yourself, or scout other player’s boards for a way to scupper their plans. 5) Speaking of other TFT comps, high-level players buy and sell units they may not want. You’re denying your opponents their choice of champions, which can be good for the mid-late game. You can always sell them back and earn back the spent gold if needed. 6) Make sure you use the mini-map so that you get a look at enemy team compositions. You can do this by using the mini-map at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, or by using the hotkeys 1 and 2. 7) During the late game, change your position. If you find yourself suddenly losing to enemy teams, it may be that they’ve adjusted their positions. 8) Learn some recipes off by heart ahead of time, or write them down. In the heat of a game, a misplaced item can turn an otherwise flawless game into one that spirals out of control. Choose a bunch of items that you reckon would be beneficial and save your basic items until you have the correct items to make the desired combined item. You can drag one item onto another one to see what you can currently make. 9) Several things affect which champions are available from the shop. These include champions that have been bought by other players, as well as your Player Level. If you’re not seeing enough of the better tier units, spend some cash into Player Levels. 10) Don’t be afraid to sell upgraded units. The champions of higher tiers have better overall stats aside from health, so sell off weaker champions unless you’ve managed to progress their star rank to level 3. 11) Don’t be afraid to stack items onto other champions. A good example of this is Ionic Spark, which activates every time the conditions are met on one enemy champion. 12) Make sure you keep up to date with how good champions are. A champion that was amazing back in the early days may not be so good now. New sets also change the roster dramatically. 13) If you’re wondering why you’re losing late-game, think why that might be and adapt. Perhaps their positioning prioritises certain champions, so counter-position to target them. Maybe their comp counters yours? Is it too late to change your comp to beat theirs? If you are able to alter your team, do so on the bench before deploying. 14) Learn what some of the best comps are for the various galaxies ahead of time. This will ensure you’re not too off guard if there’s a galaxy that appears at the beginning of the game you weren’t expecting. There’s tons more about them in our TFT galaxies guide. 15) Above all else, don’t rest on your laurels in the mid-game. Your enemies may be sacrificing their teams in order to build up their coffers, or grab specific comps. Keep looking at what your opponents are doing, then alter your strategy accordingly.
TFT guide series
We have a whole host of other useful Teamfight Tactics guide pages for your convenience. Why not take a gander?
TFT items cheat sheet - A collection of the item cheat sheet and item rankings. TFT galaxies - Information on the upcoming third season of Teamfight Tactics. TFT comps - A collection of the best team comps to invest in. TFT champions tier list - The complete champion’s tier list with all the skills and stats. TFT synergies - Learn about Champion drop rates and their Classes and Origins. How to play TFT Set 2 - The basics of how to play TFT and an explanation of the user interface. TFT gold - Tips for making money as quickly as possible in TFT. TFT beta pass - Learn everything about the beta pass, upcoming champions, and eventually all about the upcoming Season Pass. TFT 9.24 patch notes - Get info on the latest updates to TFT.
