The recent Teamfight Tactics meta has been revolving around the Elementalist class, and for good reason. With only three required units granting a massive increase in overall team HP with Daisy, you can survive mid game off of them alone. Unlike with compositions that require many units, Elementalists low overall cost lets you run any composition you want with them.
This flexibility makes them an incredibly safe bet to build around, since the carries you roll differ from game to game. Since the completing piece to Elementalists is a four star unit, Brand, the most important thing when you want to run them is to just play any composition early that can get you to level six with decent HP. Buy up Kennen and Lissandra on your way there and try to decide on what composition pairings you can run once you hit the Brand.
The early game for Elementalists consists of finding a strong early composition to last you until you can find Brand at level five plus. Early Knights with Vayne, Wild with Nidalee or Gunslingers with Graves or Tristana are strong options. Based on the units and items you get, decide on the direction your composition will transition towards.
Because of the versatility of Elementalists, no two comps running them will look quite the same. It is mainly up to you to decide what units to put in. That said, there are definitely tried and true combos you can use to get started.
This variation is good to go for if you can get an early Rapid Fire Cannon. Put the Recurve Bows on your early game carry and save gold all the way until level six and seven. Depending on how much HP you have leftover from early game, roll for two star Brand and Draven when you either absolutely need to or have a maxed economy. Other good items to look for on Draven are Bloodthirster or Infinity Edge for damage and Phantom Dancer or Dragon Claw for survivability.
Give spare items to Brand to supplement your damage. Morellos, Spear of Shojin, Archangels, Deathcap and Guinsoo’s are all workable. With Brand for magic damage and Draven for physical damage, there are not many comps that you will be unable to kill. Pick up a Cho’Gath, Sejuani or Gnar for frontline crowd control and your composition can be taken to late game. Anivia can be swapped for Lissandra if you find her.
Something important to note is that if you plan on going for Draven, make sure to keep at least a two star Darius around for the Imperial buff. You can replace him later for Swain, which also gives Brand Demon synergy.
This is a more niche build, since more of the prevalent Sorcerer comps take advantage of the six man synergy (Locket stacking, Luden’s Echo cheese, etc), but if you find a spatula to make Brand a sorcerer, you can manage an eight man composition with Daisy being the main frontliner. Know that Elementalists already get double mana from auto attacks, so if you have three good items on Brand already, you can give the Yuumi to one of the others.
With this composition, you can get immense burst magic damage that will obliterate any Yordles or Nobles in an instant. Just be careful for Dragon comps or Dragon Claws on enemy carries. It’s for this reason that more auto-attack focused items like Guinsoo’s become important with this variation.
While Demons may be seen as a vague composition to get in order, Brand’s prevalence in Elementalists make it possible. Spring for early Varus, Elise, Morgana and Aatrox as you can get four Demons relatively quickly. Make sure you still keep early game units, as losing too much HP with only two Demons to get you through early game is not uncommon. Since you have a bona fide ADC with this composition, you can fit attack speed items onto Varus and have an average damage mix.
Once you get your Brand, kit him up with the usual items and either get in your four demons or replace your fifth (likely Elise or Aatrox). However, keep them for now as hitting Swain can be a very welcome late power spike. Because of Elise and Swain being Shapeshifters, a Gnar frontline is recommended if you get to level nine or have force of Nature.
Mana burn is definitely a unique playstyle, as it renders enemy frontline units unable to use their ultimates. They’ll eventually get burned down and the mana burn will make its way through the enemy carries. If you find that the enemy is running a composition where the mana burn isn’t making enough of a difference (Draven comes to mind), going down to four Demons from six and adding Cho’gath or Gnar early is always a viable option.
As long as Daisy remains such a force in the current meta, expect Elementalists to continue to be contested. Their unique play pattern allows you as a player to experiment much more than with other compositions. As always, keep playing until you find a way to smoothly transition to any composition.
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