While many have already set up camp on the PBE server for the next two weeks to play Set 5, there is still a dedicated group looking to make the jump to the next rank before the Festival of Beasts concludes. TFT patch 11.8 focused less on balance changes and more on making sure players have a good time in their final days with Lucky Lanterns and Chosen units (everyone’s gonna miss Chosen units right?). Here are some tips to climb in this more turbulent final patch.
Take Advantage of The Lucky Lanterns
As mentioned before in last week’s patch 11.8 preview, Lucky Lanterns are going to appear a lot more often, granting some extra gold and rare items like Neeko’s Helps and Spatulas. While it may be tempting to blow this gold on some extra re-rolls in stage 2, do what a strict father teaching his kids about finance would say: use that money to build interest! Take advantage of the extra gold to reach 50 gold faster and slow-level. This way it will be a lot easier to reach higher levels later in the game without breaking the bank.
Neeko’s Help can be an extremely versatile item in the early game. Instead of letting it sit on the bench until stage 6 in the hope of using it on a 5-cost, don’t be afraid to use it early to two-star a 3-cost carry, star-up a frontline unit to keep the win-streak going, or even just selling the champion copy to maintain a healthy economy. Neeko’s Help has absolutely zero value if the player dies before it’s even used, and with the increased odds of them appearing, it’s a good idea to not be too discerning about when’s a good time to use it.
Chosen Tristana Sharpshooter is Still Good, no Matter What Riot Says
Over the last three patches including 11.8, this comp has been nerfed in one way or another. This time, Riot went for the Spirit synergy, lowering the attack speed bonus from 20%/35% to 18%/30%. Despite that, this comp will still net a top 4 placement. With the increased Neeko’s Help drop chances, it will be slightly less difficult to get Tristana and the rest of the crew three-starred.
Here’s a little extra tip for this comp: Teemo is an amazing secondary carry. Spear of Sojin and Morellonomicon will ensure that he will be dealing a ton of damage while taking away the enemy’s ability to auto-attack, creating a sort of faux frontline. He should be the third priority in terms of finding three-stars after Tristana and Diana.
Read more about this comp in the Patch 11.6 tier list!
Always Try to Three-star The Carry
Riot dealt out some nerfs to Neeko and Darius this patch, taking away from their three-star power. This change was done with the Lucky Lantern changes in mind. With the increased gold and Neeko’s Helps in the game, these three-stars are going to come a lot easier. This will make three-starring the carry in a lot of current meta comps like Vanguard Mystic Neeko and Keeper Kennen less of a win condition and more of a necessity to keep up with the rest of the lobby.
A lot of players will be high-rolling their comps, and over the next two weeks, some invincible insane comps will be popping up in games. It would be wise to make three-starring someone like Kennen or Neeko, who have extremely high burst AOE damage, to keep up and secure some LP.
Don’t Play Fortune
Ok, ok, so Fortune did appear pretty high in the Patch 11.7 tier list, but times are different now. This patch, Riot added a new ‘cold hearted’ drop possibility for six Fortune, meaning that ever-so-important Fortune drop after breaking a nine loss streak may leave the player a little less than satisfied to say the least. Riot also increased the probability to get ‘The Boot‘ from a six Fortune drop from 1% to 4%. While those more risk-adverse players may not see this as much of an issue, it can be devastating for those desperately trying to reach Platinum, Diamond or beyond before the doors close.
With only two weeks left, that’s a pretty limited amount of games to play before the ranks reset. With every game holding more significance, it’s probably not the best idea to roll the dice and hope to break a large loss streak and transition the team to something more powerful with low health, especially with the possibility that it could be all for nothing and the game just spits out a boot for all that effort. Climbing in TFT isn’t about hitting crazy high-roll comps to rocket from eighth to first in a blink of an eye, but rather consistently placing top 4 for a steady LP gain. With time being of the essence, it’s better to take the hand off the slot machine and go for something more reliable.
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