Teamfight Tactics: Best starting strategies, tips and tactics
How to get ahead in Teamfight Tactics.
Teamfight Tactics is filled with all manner of champions, origins and classes, and each comes with its own synergies and bonuses. It’s safe to say there’s a lot going on, and for new players it can be an incredibly daunting task trying to get to grips with the game.
This rings true in the early game, especially. Going up against experienced players can lead to an absolute stomping, so it’s important that you understand how to get off to a good start, which will allow you to experiment with Teamfight Tactics and truly begin learning its intricacies.
Even for those who’ve got more playtime under their belts, getting off to a good start with strong class combos can set you up nicely for the mid to late game. It’s also crucial to get your economy rolling too.
Just below you’ll find a few things to think about when building your early game composition which will hopefully help you get off to a flying start.
We’re still in the process of learning the ins and outs of Teamfight Tactics ourselves, so stay tuned for more strategy advice which will arrive very soon!
Teamfight Tactics: Best opening strategies
Here are a few key pointers to help you get an early advantage:
Nobles + Knights
As of right now, we’d say the likes of Garen, Lucian, Mordekaiser, Vayne and Fiora are fantastic pickups for the early game.
First off, they’re all really cheap so you won’t be forking over too much gold with each purchase. What’s more, they also appear pretty frequently in the shop so you’re likely to get some quick upgrades too.
Garen, Vayne, Lucian and Fiora all fall under the Noble Origin too, which means you’ll receive the first rank of the buff nice and early on. It grants one random ally +100 armour and +35 health per attack, which is fantastic for survivability.
Throw Mordekaiser into the mix alongside Garen, and you’ll also unlock the first rank of the Knight bonus. This means they’ll both block 20 damage from basic attacks, which comboed with the Noble bonus is something to behold.
Wild + Shapeshifter
In a similar fashion to Nobles, Wild units are quite commonplace in the early stages of a match. Nidalee, Warwick and Ahri are often in the shop, so sticking them all on the board will grant you the first bonus very early on (Generate stacks of Fury with every attack. Each stack of Fury gives 7% attack speed).
Again, they’re frequent faces in the shop so it’s likely you’ll have at least one tier two unit after the first few rounds which’ll help you nicely towards a win streak.
Stacking Wild units also means you’ll be primed for the Shapeshifter bonus (Shapeshifters gain 100% bonus maximum health when they transform). They’re quite expensive and a bit rare, but if you can pick up Elise, Gnar, Shyvana or Swain whenever you spot them, you’ll eventually have two incredibly strong buffs playing off of each other.
Popular Teamfight Tactics coverage:
- 1. Tier List - Teamfight Tactics Tier List
- 2. How to Play - How to play Teamfight Tactics
- 3. Items - Teamfight Tactics: Items guide cheat sheet
- 4. Guide - Teamfight Tactics guide
- 5. Starting Strategies - Teamfight Tactics: Best starting strategies
- 6. Win More - Teamfight Tactics: How to win
Be Flexible
If you’ve got a composition which isn’t faring too well, take a second to look over your champions and figure out where the weak link lies.
Usually it’s down to a lack of synergy, so don’t be afraid to sell or swap champions to completely reconfigure your composition around a different bonus.
For example, you might have a Kassadin, Kha’Zix and a Nidalee on the board. However, Garen and Fiora are sitting on the bench. It’s worth swapping out the Kass and Kha for both of these champions as you’ll at least be working towards the Noble bonus.
This way, you'll at least be building towards a synergy and trying something new. There's no point sticking to something which isn't working, otherwise you'll be left behind.
With this in mind, it’s important to constantly assess what is and isn't working. When it comes down to it, don't be afraid to ditch certain champions in favour of others if it means better synergies.
Remember - most of the time, individual champions aren’t greater than buffs and bonuses.
Don’t reroll the shop too often early on
In Teamfight Tactics, harbouring a healthy economy is vital to reaching the latter stages of a match. You’ll receive interest at the end of each round based on the size of your gold stash, so it’s important you take advantage of this.
It’s easy to get carried away and think, “just one more reroll”, but you’ll quickly burn through your gold reserves if you’re not careful. What’s more, getting an early gold lead means you’ll be able to sink more money into levelling up and nabbing those rare units before everyone else.
Having plenty of gold to spare also means you can partake in glorious reroll sprees later down the line in the hopes you'll obtain those all-important two or three star champions.