The changes listed for the Teamfight Tactics 10.4 patch were officially announced on Tuesday. Riot Mort, the lead designer behind TFT, said that TFT patch 10.4 would be rather small and just focus on a few small things.
However, just like with most patches before this one, even the smallest changes can have huge impacts to the meta game. With that in mind, here are the top predictions for the TFT 10.4 patch meta game.
Lights are back with the help of Husband and Wife
In patch 10.2, Lights were considered by most players to be the best composition in the game. In 10.3, the comp saw significant nerfs to the synergy itself as well as some of the champions. However, one light unit saw a buff in 10.3. Lucian saw a damage buff giving Light players a silver lining in the nerfs to the once dominating comp.
However, in 10.3, the meta game overshadowed the Light comp. But in TFT patch 10.4, Lucian received another buff, this time to his ability attack speed. With two patches in a row giving the Light damage carry buffs, its going to be hard to ignore. This could be Lucian’s patch to shine.
Along with Lucian, his Soulbound partner Senna also received some slight buffs making the once popular Husband and Wife combo promising once again. Yorick, despite the nerfs, is still a very strong unit and the light synergy isn’t in a terrible place balance wise.
Only time will tell if Lucian will take over the meta game but the tools could be there for him to do so. Look out for Lights being a decently strong pick to secure top four placements.
Berserkers are also back (this time without Poison)
Berserkers were a very potent composition a couple of patches ago but due to a mix of the meta not favoring them, with the rise of rangers, as well as nerfs to the comp’s major carry, Olaf, the composition hasn’t even been on a tier list in weeks. In TFT patch 10.4, it might be time for the comp to rise again.
In this patch, Olaf received some significant buffs to his health and attack speed when his ability activates. This means that he will last long enough to get his ability off as well as being able to carry fights more with the attack speed increase.
Olaf also has the Glacial trait which was reworked this patch. The two glacial synergy received a significant buff with the stun chance being increased by 5% as well as the stun inflicting 75 magic damage. This means that the six Berserker synergy will do more damage and stun more enemies.
Going deeper into the reworked Glacial synergy will sacrifice increased stun chance for more damage. This can actually be beneficial for Olaf due to the cleave affect of Bersekers making debuff items ideal on Olaf. With the Glacial trait trading debuff for more damage, this means that Olaf might benefit greatly from the reworked Glacial trait.
The early game transition for Berserkers also received a buff. Ornn, who pairs perfectly with Volibear due to the electric synergy, received a buff of his own. Now that Glacial got reworked to do damage similar to the Electric trait, the Glacial, Electric, Berserker Volibear will be a very strong early game unit that can be used to carry the early game until Olaf is found.
Instead of fitting in Poison, Berserker players may find that going for increased Glacial or Electric synergies could be beneficial to the damage output that Berserkers lack historically in the late game. Look out for this comp fighting for wins in lobbies coming soon.
Down but not out: Crystal Poison Rangers will stick around
There is no hiding that the TFT 10.4 patch was designed to take down the infamous Crystal Poison Ranger composition. Three of the five total nerfs targeted the composition.
The Crystal synergy will now take more damage on hit, The Poison synergy wont mana starve for as long, and Taric, the compositions main tank, wont give allies immunity for as long.
All of these things hurt the comp significantly. But is it enough? Yes and no.
The composition will now buy less time overall for Ashe and Twitch, the compositions main source of damage. The poison nerf will allow enemies to cast high impact abilities more. The Crystal nerf will cause Ashe to die faster. The Taric nerf will not protect the team for as long meaning that Ashe and Twitch will have to kill faster or die.
However, many high level players do not think that Ashe and Twitch are the main priorities to the composition. Instead they point to Taric and Singed. Buying enough time for the ranger damage dealers allows the comp to succeed. Without Taric and Singed, the composition will just get ran over. Players struggled to win games without level two Taric and Singed. In patch 10.3 with so many players looking for the same units, it meant that playing the composition was risky.
With the nerfs to the composition, less players will be playing the composition. Now more Taric and Singed units will be in the pool. Despite the nerfs, if a player finds Taric and Singed level two, the damage dealers will still have the power and time to clean up fights.
On top of that, the running man himself received a buff to compensate the poison nerf. Singed now does more damage at level one. This could make him a viable carry option the moment a player picks him up.
If players shy away from the composition, the composition will be a very good choice to go for if uncontested. The power level is still there, its just weaker. Crystal Poison Rangers may catch players by surprise in TFT patch 10.4.
Follow The Game Haus on Twitter as well for more esports coverage