Strong Comps and Synergies In The Current TFT Meta
A breakdown of strong meta and anti-meta comps in Teamfight Tactics.
The current state of TFT has allowed the possibility to go many different comps with good variations and synergies you can tech in. The days of forcing egg roll are over and an era of flexibility has come. With so many options, you may not be sure what synergies are good or even what some end-game compositions should look like. Here are strong compositions in the current patch – 9.24b.
S Tier comps are comps that are going to consistently top 4 and even win the game if the units aren’t contested. Since these units are contested, they may be difficult to pull off, so keep that in mind if you’re a player who likes to force comps every game.
S Tier - Ocean Warden Mages
If you’ve played this patch at all then you’ll have most likely seen this comp pop up in several of your games. With nerfs to their counters, Ocean Mages have come back with a vengeance. This comp has changed to have more emphasis on Wardens due to the addition of Amumu as well as the Berserkers and Rangers being more popular.
Key Items
Morellos
Seraph's Embrace
Tank items for Wardens
Early Game
The early game is pretty simple, you’ll want to collect Ocean and Mage units while holding a decent economy. Mages are weak in the early game, so it’s a better idea to have Wardens or other strong 2-starred 1-cost units to either win streak or at least minimize damage. Look for Thresh and Nautilus as soon as you can, as these will be the core of your Wardens while also providing Ocean buff. You can stack your Brand items onto Vladimir and toss Morello onto a unit like Nasus until you can find that Brand or Nami.
Variations
Mystic
If you find the lobby is heavy on magic damage, then it may be worth swapping out a Warden for Mystic. Ideally, Soraka would be a good alternative, as her spell silences and makes this even more effective against heavy AP lobbies.
Summoner
If you end up with a Mage Cap, you could consider going the Summoner route. You can put the cap on Annie to give the possibility of double casting Tibbers. Swap out mountain buff (Taliyah and Malphite) and put in Yorick and Zed.
S Tier – Summoner Assassins
This comp is a great counter to Rangers and Wardens. With the nerf to Phantom Dancer, assassins are in a way better spot now. The Assassins will completely explode the backline and the Desert buff is a nice way to eliminate those pesky armored Wardens. It may be a little difficult to get the units for this comp since they’re pricey.
Key Items
(Zed Items) – Guardian Angel, Spear of Shojin, Redemption.
Morellos
(BF Sword Items) – Infinity Edge, Bloodthirster, Giant slayer
Early Game
Your early game will be to focus on surviving, getting Thresh and Nautilus, and getting the key items. You can put your Morellos on Nasus and stack your Assassin items on units like Leblanc or Diana. You want to hard econ, since you’re trying to get to level 8 as fast as possible. At level 5, you’ll ideally have Thresh, Nautilus, Qiyana, Leblanc, and Diana or Nocturne. If you’re finding that you’re losing way too much health, then you may have to consider abandoning this comp and pivoting to something else.
Variations
This comp doesn’t have too many variations since it’s pretty straightforward. Most variations come with the element of the map you’re currently playing. If it’s mountain, then you can replace Nautilus with Malphite to get mountain buff. If you’re playing on the Inferno map, then you can use an Inferno Spatula on Nami to tech in 3 Inferno and have a strong Tidal Wave. If you’re on a Cloud map, you can level to 9 and toss in Janna to tech in Mystic and Cloud.
Mountain
Inferno
S/A Tier – Blender
Sadly, it seems the nerf to Blender was just a smack on the wrist and they’re still very strong. To play this comp, you want to get Spatula on the first or second carousel. Otherwise, you’ll have to abandon this comp. Also, this comp is extremely reliant on getting Nocturnes, so if you can’t get at least a 2-star Nocturne, you may have to consider pivoting out of this.
Key Items
Blademaster Spatula
Infinity Edge
Giant Slayer
Red Buff
Hush
Early Game
If you’re lucky enough to snag Spatula off the first carousel, you’re going to be looking for a Recurve Bow to make the Blademaster item. Run a strong early game composition so you can start econing and not take too much damage. Pick up as many Rek’Sais and Yasuos as you can and try not to waste any gold by 2-starring 3 cost units. Nocturne is your main carry in this comp, but it’s also important to have items like Hush and Red Buff on your Sivir so be on the look out for those components as well.
Once you reach level 7, you have 2 options: Roll down to 0 to find as many Nocturnes and Sivirs as you can or econ to level 8 and then roll down to 0. If you’re not very healthy at 7, it’s best to just roll down, but if you’re very healthy with a lot of excess gold, then feel free to level to 8.
Variations
Blademaster is the strictest comp on this list with the only variation being Steel/Cloud Lux at level 9 or possibly Amumu for extra frontline and CC.
A Tier comps are comps that can also get you top 4 but the chances aren’t very high that you’ll win the whole thing. These comps are less contested, so you have a higher chance of 3 starring units and taking down some S tier comps.
A Tier – Rangers
This comp can be a little difficult to pull off for a few reasons: Kindred and Wardens are contested, they take a while to come online, and the backline can be destroyed by Assassins. But once the build is complete, it becomes a force to be reckoned with. This build also has a few great variants to counter some strong teams in your lobby.
Key Items
Runaan's Hurricane
Giant Slayer
Situational BF Sword and Recurve Bow items
Early Game
It may be tempting to splash in your Rangers as you get them, but I want to stress that Rangers are not powerful until you get at least 4. Even when you do get 4 Rangers, they may still not be strong until they’re 2-starred, and you have some frontline. Your early game, like most early games this patch, consist of getting some good Wardens and 2-starred 1-cost units to win streak and econ well. If you can get good items for Ashe and Kindred and 2-star them, you may want to consider going 4 Rangers at level 7 or at level 6 if you’re lucky. Until you can find the 5 cost Wardens, you’ll be better off with Thresh and Nautilus or Braum and Malphite.
Variations
There are 3 main variations for Rangers, and it all depends on the type of lobby: 4 Wardens, Poison, and Glacial. If the lobby is physical damage heavy, you’ll want to consider going the 4 wardens route with Amumu, Taric, Thresh, Nautilus. If the lobby is magic damage heavy, then poison with Singed and Mundo is the way to go. Lastly, if there are a lot of auto attackers, then going glacial with Ezreal, Braum, Olaf, and Glacial Spatula on one of your Rangers with Runaans can be viable as well.
4 Wardens
Glacial
A Tier – Predators
Like Ocean Mages, this is a comp that’s been around for a while that is still powerful due to not being nerfed nearly as much as other comps. You typically only want to go Predators if you get a lot of them early on. Otherwise, it’s not worth it due to core of the comp being 1 and 2 cost units. With ideal items, this comp can get you top 3 and even win. Without ideal items, you won’t win but a top 4 is still possible.
Key Items
Luden's Echo
Runaan's Hurricane
Red Buff
Giant Slayer
Thief's Gloves
Early Game
Finally, a comp that’s early game doesn’t revolve around Wardens! The Predator synergy is strong early game, so this makes it one of the few synergies that is strong at all stages of the game. If you don’t get 5-6 Kog’Maws and some other Predators by 2-5, you may want to consider pivoting out this comp. The longer you go without getting a lot of predators the worse. When you get to Krugs you have 2 options. If you’ve been win streaking, have a lot of gold, and can beat krugs with 4 units, you can hype roll on 3-1 and use the last bit of your gold to level. This gives you the highest chance of getting 3-star Kog’Maw and Warwick while also being on par level wise.
If you’re not that rich or can’t beat krugs with 4 units, you may want to level to 5 and slow roll Predators to conserve your economy. After this, I usually like to put in Glacial and or Steel synergy to keep me win streaking until I can find late game units. It’s a good idea to hard econ once you find a comfortable mid game with 3-stars so you can rush level 8. Kog’Maw is the carry for this composition and you want him to hold items like Luden's, Runaan's, Red Buff, etc. Skarner is a great secondary carry who uses Thief's Gloves fantastically. If you can’t build Thief's Gloves, then tank items and Ionic Spark work as well.
Variations
Generally, Poison is the variant that is most common. But there is also a 4 Crystal variant if you’re lucky enough to get a Lux. 4 Crystal is insane and can easily net you a 1st or 2nd place win. You can also go Crystal Wardens with Taric, Malphite, Thresh, and Nautilus. Lastly, if you can get your hands on an Electric Lux, you can go a Glacial and Electric variation with Volibear and Zed that is very potent as well.
4 Crystal
4 Electric
A Tier – Braum Stacking Wardens
This one is a personal favorite of mine because it’s just so funny watching people kill themselves on you. This comp is best played under a few circumstances: Mountain map to make Braum healthier, getting an early Thornmail, and finding a lot of Braums. This comp does very well into physical damage healthy comps but can struggle against magic damage greatly if you can’t find Dragon Claws and Mystics. Because of this, the restrictions required to make it optimal, and how contested wardens are right now, this comp is A tier and not S tier.
Key Items
Thornmail
Warmog’s Armor
Dragon’s Claw
Ionic Spark
Early Game
You want to grab as many Wardens as you can and acquire tank items. Ideally, you want to grab Thornmail first. 4 Wardens early are very strong since many spells aren’t being tossed until Ocean synergy and mana items are built by other players. Since you’ll be going Electric in the late game, it also doesn’t hurt to get as many Ornn’s and Volibears as you can. Ocean, Warden, Glacial, Electric is a strong early start that’s easy to build with Braum, Volibear, Thresh, Nautilus, Ornn and can lead to win streaking or not losing much health. If you see that the lobby is heavy on magic damage, it may be worth pivoting out, but if you have 2-starred units and Thornmail built already, you can tech in Mystics.
Variations
There aren’t many variations since this is a very straightforward comp. The largest strength this comp has is that it can easily be pivoted out of into another meta comp like Ocean Wardens or Rangers if you need to. Mystics will be your best friend in magic damage heavy lobbies so teching in Soraka and Nami is a great option. If you find you don’t have enough damage or can’t find a Zed you can also swap out electric buff for Rangers or Assassins.
A Tier – 6 Berserkers
This comp had a stint in patch 9.24 but with 9.24b they’ve been less popular due to the rise of Wardens and Mages. Despite this, this comp is still strong due to Olaf not being contested much if at all. The game plan is the same – stack Olaf and laugh as he destroys their team.
Key Items
Zeke’s Herald
Locket of the Iron Solari
Rapid Firecannon (Even 2 can be good if there is a hard to reach backline)
Hush
Red Buff
Bloodthirster
Early Game
Getting components for Zeke’s Herald and/or Locket are a must. These items can be the difference between your Olaf popping off or dying before he gets to do anything. Wardens and a 2-star Renekton pivot into this comp very well. If you get lucky after Krugs, you can also hold your own with Desert/Warden/3 Berzerkers until you can find all 6 Berserkers you need. Your priority for carousels should be to find good Olaf items if you already have Zeke’s and/or Locket completed. Rapid Firecannon allows him to keep attacking units without stumbling around your own units. Having 2 Rapid Firecannons makes him an even larger threat due to having long range on top of all his damage. Hush and Red Buff are also notable items to have on him since the berserker synergy helps him spread these effects. Sword Breaker should only be put on Olaf if the lobby is high in physical damage.
Variations
There’s a few variations you can go for this comp that relies a little bit on luck and the lobby. If you can get an Electric Lux, you can put in Zed to have 4 Electric buff which is massive. If you find a Glacial Lux, you can go 4 Glacial and even 6 if you really wanted. If the lobby is magic damage heavy, you can tech in Mystics. Lastly, there is also the Poison variant with Singed and Twitch.
Glacial
Electric
Poison
A Tier – 6 Summoner/Warden/Infernal
This comp is a fun one that has the potential to get 1st with, but it is inconsistent due to how difficult it could be to get the units and the econ required. If pulled off, you will laugh as you see your enemies get swarmed.
Key Items
Morello
Spear of Shojin
Seraph’s Embrace
Guardian Angel
Thief's Gloves
Early Game
The early game for this comp is difficult since you’re trying to econ as hard as possible and rush to level 8. Since most of this comp’s units are 4 cost and 5 cost, you’ll want to just focus on getting cheap 2-stars and snagging as many Zyras and Malzahars as you can. If you can’t find a lot of 2-stars or Wardens, you can also go the Summoners/Assassins variant until you can find all 6 Summoners. Ocean, Warden, Infernal can also be a decently strong mid game to hold you over until you are able to find all of your units. If you’re unable to find an Amumu, you can have Nautilus and Thresh to provide Ocean to have your Summoners cast their spells quickly.
Variations
On the Mountain map, you can use Qiyana and Kha’zix to have Desert, Assassin, and Mountain buff. This can be incredibly powerful since it allows your Zed to really pop off. If you find a Mage Spatula, you can also put in Brand and another Mage to provide Mage buff. Mage cap on Annie is fantastic since the frontline of having two Tibbers is valuable.
Mage
