The Mech-Pilot, who got quietly buffed while all these new units arrived with hype and fanfare. Time to take advantage of our favorite Mech-suited squad before the rest of the lobby figures it out.

Trait Breakdown

Mech-Pilot - 3 random mech pilots in play will combine and transform into a Super-Mech at the start of combat. The Super-Mech has the combined HP, Attack and Traits of the pilots. Once defeated, the pilots will eject and be granted 25 mana.

The 10.12 Adjustments - Pilots now eject with 35% health; Mech HP increased to 2200 + 50% of Pilot’s; Mech AD increased to 160 + 50% of Pilot’s; Mech attack speed increased to 0.85; Mech cleave damage reduced to 80% of AD; Mech total mana reduced to 200; Mech armor increased to 70; Mech magic resistance increased to 70; Mech ultimate damage increased by roughly 200 at each level.
TLDR: Pilots now have less HP on ejection, but the Mech has more HP, AD, AS, armor, magic resistance, ultimate power and needs to build up less mana.

Sorcerer - 2/4/6 units increase all allied spell power by 20%/45%/75%
- Increases the damage output of your backline as well as the ultimate of the Mech

Star Guardian - Star Guardian’s spell casts grant mana to other Star Guardians (spread between them) 3/6 units spread 25/40 mana
- Admittedly this trait got nerfed this patch, with the mana amount lowered. However, a bug that wasn’t properly giving out the mana was fixed - making this a sideways change. Plus, Janna was added as a new, crazy strong, 5-cost unit.

Paragon - All Star Guardian basic attacks are converted to true damage. All other ally basic attacks are converted to magic damage.
- Paragon was a new trait added when Janna was introduced to this set. Converting the ally's basic attacks to magic damage isn’t the greatest, but the true damage from Star Guardians is underrated and very strong. Also, as mentioned, Janna is crazy strong.

Infiltrator - Infiltrators jump to the back of enemy territory at the start of combat, [2/4/6] gaining 40%/60%/120% attack speed for the first 6 seconds of combat (refreshes on takedowns).
- Another trait that was nerfed slightly, but got a new unit. Zed was added this patch and is just as strong as he was in set 1.

Units

There’s a handful of units that you can use in this composition and reach the same end goal. It’s really about personal preference and how your RNG goes. So we’ll divide them into the core units and the interchangeable ones.

Core Units

Annie [2-cost] (Mech-Pilot/Sorcerer)
Rumble [3-cost] (Mech-Pilot/Demolitionist)
Fizz [4-cost] (Mech-Pilot/Infiltrator)
Viktor [4-cost] (Battlecast/Sorcerer)
Janna [5-cost] (Star Guardian/Paragon)


Interchangeable Units

Zoe [1-cost] (Star Guardian/Sorcerer)
Nocturne [1-cost] (Battlecast/Infiltrator)
Ahri [2-cost] (Star Guardian/Sorcerer)
Zed [2-cost] (Rebel/Infiltrator)
Syndra [3-cost] (Star Guardian/Sorcerer)
Shaco [3-cost] (Dark Star/Infiltrator)
Xerath [5-cost] (Dark Star/Sorcerer)
Ekko [5-cost] (Cybernetic/Infiltrator)


Realistically you want to make use of the most powerful new units, Viktor and Janna, anything else is a bonus. To do that you want to get some level of Sorcerer and Star Guardian trait bonuses. However, because Mech-Pilot already slots in a Sorcerer and Infiltrator; you can easily do 2 of both to split damage sources and/or take advantage of roll RNG.

Early Game

As with many compositions lately, your main goal for the early game is to preserve your health and build your economy up. So you’ll want to put the best units into play that you can at the moment. Whether that means taking advantage of some high rolls in terms of unit cost or putting in a bunch of the same trait. Do whatever you can to win early fights while also looking for Mech-Pilot units and picking up Sorcerers and/or Infiltrators to go with them.

Remember that for the Sorcerer, Star Guardian or Infiltrator traits you’re not going to use a ton of units. At most you’ll be using 2-4 Sorcerers or 3 Star guardians or 2 Infiltrators to get the base trait bonuses and take advantage of the variety of units/bonuses you have available to your composition.


Because we do want some 4-cost and 5-cost units, leveling is going to be important. We want to be level 4 by stage 2-5 and level 5 between stages 3-1 and 3-3. You have some flexibility with the leveling, because you want to maintain your health. So if you need to level slightly faster or you found some upgrades and need to delay by a stage to survive - go for it. But hitting Fizz and Viktor quickly is important and means you’ll have better odds at not only rolling them but also upgrading them.

You should be prioritizing Annie and Rumble during this time, as they’re part of your core composition.


Mid Game

Between stages 4-1 and 4-3, you want to be hitting level 6. This is where the composition should start coming online (if you haven’t gotten lucky with RNG yet), as you’ll have a 10% chance of rolling 4-cost units. Leveling to 8 is our end goal, but right now we want to split our economy between rolling for Fizz and Viktor and buying XP.

At worst, you’ll have hopefully hit Annie, Rumble, Fizz and have Mech-Pilot. With those three in, you’ll have three open slots to work with. You’ll only need 1 more Sorcerer and/or Infiltrator to hit the base bonuses for either trait. Depending on what your bench looks like you may even have 4 Sorcerers (potentially with 3 Star Guardians) or 4 Infiltrators. While trait bonuses are great, you want to put your strongest units into play (if that means mixing traits even though you have 4 of something, do it).


At best, you’d have hit Mech-Pilot and Viktor. If you’ve done this, pushing to level 7 and level 8 become the new goal. You definitely want to put Viktor in and try and activate the 4 Sorcerer bonus to support him as much as possible. But, you can still mix and match to get a 2 Sorcerer and 2 Infiltrator bonus if that makes you stronger.


Try and hit level 7 between stages 4-5 and 5-1. Depending on how you rolled, you can delay level 7 slightly, but do not fall too far behind by rolling. You need Fizz, but if you can't find Viktor easily (or the lobby has a lot of them) you’ll just want to level and work with what you’ve got.


Late Game

Around stage 5-1, we’re going to re-evaluate the composition. Are you level 7? If not, you need to be as quickly as possible. Afterwards, what units do you have and what bonuses can you activate? At this point, we can tell whether just playing your strongest units is going to continue working or if you need to take advantage of a different trait or trait combo.

On top of that, we’re looking to find Janna and hit level 8. Janna will ideally slot into a Sorcerer and Star Guardian composition, but is still arguably good with the Infiltrators package. As a standalone unit, Janna’s ultimate will summon five tornadoes which fly out in a large cone. These tornados grant allies passed through 100%/150%/500% attack speed for 5 seconds and knock up/stun enemies for 1.5 seconds.

With Sorcerers and Star Guardians, she hits like a truck and makes their auto attacks deal true damage. With Infiltrators she grants attack speed and crowd control from the backline. Overall, she’ll always support the Mech-Pilots extremely well and synergies amazingly with the other units you’re looking out for.

Your main sources of damage will come from a few places. The Mech will deal a ton of damage, but itemization has been fairly standard on it for a while and sees it as mostly a tank.

With Sorcerers, Viktor will be your main source with Syndra working as a good number 2 (or number 1, if you can’t find Viktor). I would say Viktor is better than Xerath and you shouldn’t concern yourself with replacing him/getting items for Xerath even if you roll one.


With Infiltrators, Zed and Shaco both output a lot of damage, prioritize whichever is the strongest. Unlike Sorcerers, Ekko is much stronger than either of those two and should be the primary carry (unless you’ve three-starred Zed or Shaco, then you can keep the items on one of them).


Positioning

Annie, Fizz, and Rumble will be placed as far forward and in the center as possible. This will allow the Mech to spawn, pull aggression and begin hitting as quickly as possible.

Sorcerers, Star Guardians, and Infiltrators all benefit from being scattered in the backline. With Sorcerers and Star Guardians, place your weakest ones on the outside (if there’s a Blitzcrank) or in places that will pull enemy Infiltrators to them/protect your carries.


Infiltrators should be placed to mirror enemy carries, so when they jump they’ll be on top of them immediately.


Items

The Mech is looking for: Warmog’s Armor on Annie, she shields herself when casting so she can take advantage of the item. Ionic Spark to reduce enemy magic resistance. Titan’s Resolve to increase survivability as it will be soaking a lot of damage. Bramble Vest or Dragon’s Claw to further increase survivability against AD or magic damage-heavy compositions (as needed per lobby). The Mech will take one random item from each champion. It's recommended you spread 3 items out among each pilot, prioritzing what you need by lobby/what you can realistically build for them.


Viktor is looking for: Blue Buff to keep giving him mana and increasing damage output by ulting more (could also be a Star Guardian Charm). A Deathcap to increase his raw damage output. A Gunblade to increase raw damage output and provide healing/sustain.


Janna is looking for: Purely mana items to increase ultimate output rate - Blue Buffs or Spear of Shojins. You can add a Guinsoo’s Rageblade with Shojins to increase mana gain. A Deathcap isn’t needed, but if you have an extra she will benefit from it as well.


Zed/Shaco/Ekko are looking for: Spear of Shojin to increase ultimate usage (not Zed). Guardian Angel to stay alive as they’re melee carries. Infinity Edge to increase AD and Crit (Not Ekko). Deathcap to increase raw damage output (not Zed or Shaco). Rapid Firecannon to increase range of auto attacks (not Ekko).