Reviewing The Set 4 Changes in TFT
Set 4 has brought a lot of changes to the game, here's a brief review for those still unsure of everything or those getting back into TFT
Set 4 has been out for a little bit now, but the new set brought a ton of changes to the game. After checking out everything Set 4 has to offer, I think I’ve nailed down the biggest changes from the previous Teamfight Tactics sets. So if you’re a new player trying to learn how to play the current TFT or a returning player still unsure about all the changes, I’ve got your back.
The Chosen Bonus
One of the main things to roll out with set 4 is the Chosen bonus, which will replace either the origin or class trait. How it works is, every so often you’ll be offered a “Chosen” champion. These champions pop out of the shop at 2-star level, making them much stronger than your average buy. The tradeoff being they cost three times the normal champion amount (what you would normally pay when buying all three copies individually).
At first you might think that this seems kind of weak to sink so much gold into all at once. However, the “Chosen” benefits don’t stop there. The non-replaced trait (origin or class) will count as two of itself, allowing you to hit trait thresholds much easier and quicker. They also get a large bonus to HP and a unique stat bonus (either more HP, additional AD or AP, or reduce mana costs).
Benefits of the Chosen One
Rolling early “Chosen”, assuming you can afford them, usually leads to a nice streak. If you get really lucky, you might roll a champion you plan on building a composition around and just cruise to an easy late game. On the other hand, if you’re one of those people who need to use all their luck to simply roll a chosen, you’ll still walk away with some extra cash and HP from an early win streak. In the end if you can at least recoup your loss from buying the chosen unit, I’d call that a win.
Rolling a late “Chosen” champion could result in an extreme turn of the tides. This is, by all accounts, a large risk though. If your early game went poorly and you manage to roll a 3 or 4-cost “Chosen” unit, odds are you’ll have enough power to at least place in the positive LP range. The two biggest drawbacks to this are luck and knowledge. Obviously you have to luck out and roll a 3 or 4-cost “Chosen”, but it also has to be worth building a composition around. Secondly, you need to understand pivoting and available compositions in general to pull off a successful comeback.
”Chosen” bonus table from Riot Mortdog
The Fortune Trait
Fortune apparently favors the unfortunate in Set 4. A new trait was introduced that benefits players on losing streaks. While the fortunate trait is active, an invisible counter will stack every time the player loses combat. Once the player wins, they are rewarded extra gold (there is a payout at zero losses as well).
The fortune trait is Space Pirates, but more consistent and arguably just flat out better. You always know what your payout will be and you know you’ll always earn extra gold in wins. You don’t need to hope that a certain unit gets the last hit, just that your board is better than your opponent’s. While there is still elements of uncertainty and a decent amount of risk, Fortune can change the economy of games drastically.
Shop Changes
Unwanted Champions
A small change to the rolling system was added with Set 4. Previously players would attempt to thin their shop out by buying champions they didn't want before rolling. This honestly did very little to affect the odds and was really just a waste of gold. With Set 4 though, if you pass on a champion (I.E you don’t buy it) and then roll, it will not appear in the next shop screen. This isn’t the biggest change, as most of the time you’re not power rolling, but it’s a nice quality of life change overall.
Shop Odds
The odds of finding certain champions (I.E champions of a certain cost) have changed from Set 3 to 4. The odds didn’t change drastically, but it was enough to change compositions that focus on slow rolling. For example, your odds of hitting 1-stars are up through level 6 and 2-stars are down until level 6 (but slightly higher at 7).
Table from Riot Mortdog
Leveling Changes
Riot has decided that leveling, by spending gold, was too accessible for the benefits it could potentially give. Leveling is now more expensive at the later levels. The overall feel was that players were able to hit level 9 too consistently in Set 3, so to go from level 8 to 9 is increased from 66 XP to 80 XP.
Previously, slow roll compositions would wait unit level 8 to begin rolling. Now however, many lobbies don’t allow players that luxury (especially the more aggressive ones) and players choosing those types of compositions are starting their rolls at level 7. Overall, the meta is more favorable to a faster and more aggressive style of play (although hyper rolling is still considered weaker due to the changes to shop odds).
Overall Impressions
It seems that this Set was designed to encourage a more aggressive and risky style of play. The fact that Riot nerfed slow rolling with the XP changes and lowered the odds of hitting higher star champions at the early levels backs that up. Players are encouraged to build strong early boards, so that they can level aggressively and hit those higher tier champions quicker. The "Chosen" and Fortune mechanics also support that, as traits can be filled out quicker with stronger champions and gold is more accessible respectively. That isn't to say pure hyper rolling is necessarily the strongest strategy, nor is slow rolling completely gone, as the traditional "meta" of play seems to have shifted as well. Regardless of how you like to play though, hopefully you'll be chosen to have some good fortune.
