Red Post Collection: TFT Fates II Gameplay Overview, Patch 11.1 Balance Changelist, & More

• Red Post Collection: /dev: A Look Back at League in 2020, Universe Update, TFT Teasers, and more!
• Champion & Skin Sale: Week of December 28th
• Free Champion Rotation, Week of December 29th
• Champion & Skin Sale: Week of January 4th

"Introduction 

The Festival of Beasts is almost here, so let's talk about how this mid-set will change the way you play. We're swapping out a good portion of the current roster, including many of the build-around-me carries from the first half of Fates. This should help this stage feel significantly different than the last. Let’s get into all the major gameplay changes coming to a Convergence near you with patch 11.2. 

Leaving the Party 

Out with the old, in with the new. For the mid-set update, we’re shaking things up by removing a handful of champions to make room for new ones. So, what’s leaving us? 

• Moonlight - The moon wanes! No longer will its light bathe our low-cost units, providing them with additional star levels. They’ve had their moment in the moonlight, and their removal will help shake-up the early game. Say goodbye to the following units:
• Lissandra
• Sylas
• Aphelios
• Dusk - Dusk’s removal will pave way to the dawn of a new origin we’ll talk about later— Dragonsoul! This means we’ll no longer see the following units in Fates:
• Vayne
• Thresh
• Riven
• Cassiopeia
• Lillia
• Hunter - This group of synchronous snipers are headed out. Gone are the battles wherein they pick off foes in the blink of an eye. Farewell to:
• Aphelios
• Warwick
• Ashe
• Dazzler - When Sharpshooters and Hunters were running amok, who did you turn to but the glamorous Dazzlers to bring them down a notch? However, the following champions will dazzle no more:
• Lissandra
• Lux
• Ezreal
• Shade - No longer will Shades be slinking in and out of the shadows, terrorizing the enemy backline only to disappear without a trace. Speaking of, I can’t seem to find the following champions:
• Evelynn
• Kayn 

We also have a few additional units leaving who don’t fall into one of these removed traits:

• Nami
• Hecarim
• Jinx
• Xin Zhao
• Jhin
• Ahri

Keen-eyed individuals might have noticed that some champions are missing from these lists! Those champions have found homes in new or existing traits, with some minor modifications to their spells to ensure they fill a similar role.

• Diana
• Moonlight / Assassin → Spirit / Assassin
• Diana uses a different skin, so be on lookout for her new appearance!
• Zed
• Ninja / Shade → Ninja / Slayer
• New: Zed now has a passive ability where he jumps to the back to replace the old Shade passive. It does not include the aggro drop part though, so he is a lot more vulnerable this time around.
• Kindred
• Spirit / Hunter → Spirit / Executioner
• We'll talk about Executioner in a moment, but other than that, no change. Kindred are still the same strong 3-cost carry!
• Morgana
• Enlightened / Dazzler → Enlightened / Syphoner
• The built-in healing on her spell has been removed and replaced with a 40% AD reduction effect—but more on Syphoners later.

What’s Being Added 

Now that we've talked about what's leaving, let's get into the really fun stuff: what’s new! We're adding 7 new traits and 20 champions: 

• Dragonsoul
• Trait: Dragonsoul is the new big vertical in Festival of Beasts. It’s a 3/6/9 piece trait so you can go quite deep (and Rod + Spatula now makes a new trait item called Spirit of the Dragon). The trait empowers your champions with a powerful dragon buff that grants stats and a powerful dragon breath attack!
• Champions:
• Brand: Tier 1 Mage
• Tristana: Tier 1 Sharpshooter
• Braum: Tier 2 Vanguard
• Shyvana: Tier 3 Brawler
• Olaf: Tier 4 Slayer
• Aurelion Sol: Tier 4 Mage
• Swain: Tier 5 Syphoner
• Sample Comp:

6 Dragonsoul 3 Mage 2 Vanguard 2 Syphoner 

Aurelion Sol is a powerful caster if he gets a second cast off. Activating 3 Mage to make him a strong carry is a great way to play this comp, and the extra damage from Dragonsoul goes a long way. Using Braum and Sejuani as frontline to buy enough time for Aurelion Sol works well here, and Shyvana has high enough base damage that she can do some extra work as well. Throwing in 2 Syphoner is another great way to keep your team alive. 

• Fabled
• Trait: Fabled is a 3 piece trait with exactly 3 champions in it, so you’ll either need all 3 champs or a Fabled Chosen. All the Fabled champions are returning from previous sets, with tales of their power grossly exaggerated! Each Fabled champion gains an additional, unique effect that powers up their ability when the trait is active. Nautilus gains damage reduction after stunning an opponent, Neeko’s damage output is amplified on her final burst, and Cho’Gath? Oh man. Cho’gath will knock up the entire board! We're getting some serious “TFT on launch” vibes from him.
• Champions:
• Nautilus: Tier 2 Vanguard
• Neeko: Tier 3 Mystic
• Cho’Gath: Tier 4 Brawler
• Sample Comp:

4 Vanguard 4 Mystic 3 Fabled 1 Blacksmith 

Ahri may be gone, but the introduction of Neeko brings a new way to play the Vanguard Mystic comp. With her Fabled ability, Neeko can do a lot of damage—so make sure you activate it. Nautilus with 4 Vanguard, 4 Mystic, AND his Fabled power adds a lot of tankiness as well. Ornn is another great addition here, especially with his powerful Artifact items. More on those later. 

• Syphoners
• Trait: Syphoner is a 2/4 piece trait that is all about providing sustain to your team and creating unique drain tanks who can heal back up the damage being done to them. When the trait is active, your whole team will get some healing via damage done, but the Syphoners get a much larger amount!
• Champions:
• Nasus: Tier 1 Divine
• Vladimir: Tier 2 Cultist
• Morgana: Tier 4 Enlightened
• Swain: Tier 5 Dragonblood
• Sample Comp:

4 Syphoner 3 Dragonsoul 3 Cultist 2 Mystic 2 Vanguard 

Swain is a very strong frontline drain tank. Given the right items and traits, he can dish out a lot of damage and stay alive a long time. His weakness is burst, so use items to prevent his untimely death. In addition, Morgana acts as a good backline DPS option, and applies the Attack Damage reduction effect so you can tank even longer! 

• Slayer
• Trait: Slayer is a 2/4/6 trait with 5 champions in it, so to hit that 6 piece, you’ll need a chosen. They’re all about dealing tons of damage and powering through the hurt. The lower a slayer's health is, the more lifesteal they get allowing them to recover from their wounds. The lower a slayer's target is, the more damage they deal, allowing them to destroy wounded targets. If you want to beat down your opponents, this is the trait for you.
• Champions:
• Zed: Tier 2 Ninja
• Darius: Tier 3 Fortune
• Olaf: Tier 4 Dragonblood
• Tryndamere: Tier 4 Warlord Duelist
• Samira: Tier 5 Daredevil Sharpshooter
• Sample Comp:

4 Slayer 3 Fortune 3 Dragonsoul 2 Syphoner 2 Vanguard 1 Ninja 

Slayer offers a bunch of carry options, but Olaf is one of the more exciting ones. He can dish out a TON of damage, and using RFC to keep him safe allows for some strong itemization like IE/LW. With Slayer and Syphoner active he can also heal through any minor damage he might receive. This build also activates Fortune, so you can pocket some extra gold and work your way to Level 9, where you can take out Annie and put in Tryndamere and Samira for 6 Slayer. 

• Executioner
• Trait: Executioner is a 2/3/4 trait from a group of high-cost units. Executioners are a great set of units to pivot into when you need to dish out more damage in the late game. Plus with Syphoners joining the roster, it’s nice to have a set of units who can actually finish them off! Those who played Galaxies will notice a striking similarity to Valkyries, although this time as a trait and with deeper and more flexible break-points.
• Champions:
• Kindred: Tier 3 Spirit
• Kayle: Tier 4 Divine
• Xayah: Tier 4 Elderwood Keeper
• Sample Comp:

3 Executioner 4 Divine 2 Adept 2 Enlightened 2 Mystic 2 Spirit 2 Syphoner 1 Ninja 

Kayle is back and she’s still a very strong 4-cost carry. This composition is all about making her as strong as possible. Give her RFC and Guinsoo’s for additional range and attack speed, and QS to keep her safe. Kayle's damage will get a health ramp-up from 3 Executioner and all the extra traits pile on the utility. Use Shen and Adept as a frontline to buy as much time as possible. 

New Tier 5 Champions 

We’ll also see the introduction of two new 5-costs to the set: Ornn and Samira!

• Ornn
• Traits: Elderwood Vanguard Blacksmith
• Ability:
• Ornn summons an elemental from behind the furthest enemy to travel towards him, knocking up and stunning enemies hit for 1.5/2/15 seconds, and dealing 100/200/4000 magic damage.
• If the elemental runs into Ornn, he headbutts it, redirecting it towards another distant enemy.
• How he works:
• With solid all-around base stats, Ornn serves as a frontliner for comps that need one. At the Call of the Forge God, he brings much needed utility to the fight.
• Blacksmith:
• But Ornn’s true power comes from his unique trait, Blacksmith. After participating in combat, Ornn begins crafting an Artifact. The higher his star level, the faster he’ll craft these powerful new items. Once complete, the item will appear and you’ll be able to equip it to any allied champion with an open slot who doesn’t already have an Artifact equipped! These artifacts are brand-new unique items that can only be obtained from Ornn.
• Example Artifacts

• Rocket-Propelled Fist (+15 Mana, +25 Armor, +200 Health): At the start of combat, the wearer pulls the farthest enemy into melee range, stunning them for 1.5 seconds. Allies within range will prioritize attacking that enemy.

• Muramana (+20 Attack Damage, +20 Attack Speed, +15 Mana): After the wearer casts their spell for the first time each combat, they restore 100 Mana.

• Trinity Force (+33 of every possible stat other than health, +333 Health): Tons of Damage!....Well, really tons of everything.

Samira

• Traits: Daredevil Slayer Sharpshooter
• Ability:
• Samira dashes towards the largest group of enemies, gaining 100% dodge, becoming unstoppable, and firing out 15/25/50 shots at random nearby enemies over 2 seconds.
• How they work:
• Samira is the capstone physical damage-dealer of any composition running Slayers or Sharpshooter—or anyone lucky enough to snag her early and throw some AD items on.
• Daredevil
• Samira doesn’t have mana, instead relying on her combo system. After every other basic attack she’ll flip towards a new target, gain a short-duration shield, and fire twice, increasing her combo rating in the process. Once she reaches S-rank, she’ll pop-off in a hail of bullets, mowing down anyone unfortunate enough to stand within her sights.

Filling out the Roster 

In addition to the new traits and 5-costs, there are a few other champions joining the roster to help supplement their respective traits. 

• Rakan - Tier 2 Elderwood Keeper
• Sivir - Tier 3 Cultist Sharpshooter 

Systems Changes 

In addition to all of this, we got one more new thing coming to TFT this time around. Because it’s the Festival of Beasts, we felt everyone deserves a present! So during the game at a certain point, every player will receive a “Lucky Lantern”. All 8 players will receive their Lucky Lantern at the same time, and the contents are the same for each player, but what’s inside is different every game. The contents can include things you’re already familiar with like Gold, Neeko’s Help, Item Components, and even Force of Natures...but there can also be some brand new things inside that are new to TFT. Let’s go over a couple of them: 

• Shop Reroller - Use this on a champion and your shop will reroll once, free of charge, and only include champs of the same traits! For example if you use this item on a Kennen, only Ninja’s and Keepers will appear in the shop! Other than that it follows the normal shop rules for things like percent chances to see each cost. And because we know you’ll ask, in the incredibly unlikely event all the champs are somehow out of the pool, then it is possible for this item to fail and just roll other champs.
• Item Remover - Use this on a champion and all the items will pop off of them and return to your bench. If you want to keep the champion you worked so hard to build up, but be able to move the items to a stronger champ, then this is the consumable for you!
• Item Reroller - Use this on a champion and not only with the items pop off a champion, but they will also reroll into a random similar item. So if you have a cloak you don’t need, use this to reroll it into a different component. It also works on full items, but that’s a REALLY risky play! (Spatulas and Spatula items can’t be rolled.)
• Training Dummy - Finally this one gives you a placeable training dummy that works kind of like the Azir Soldiers. You can place it anywhere and it has some HP to eat up some attacks. Strategic placement of these can give you a big advantage, and it doesn’t count towards your army limit. You can’t bench or sell it though.

And that about covers it! We're excited to see what you make of all the new champions and team compositions. You'll start seeing everything on PBE tomorrow and it will head to live servers with patch 11.2."

Riot Mort added: 

"Was the article not enough? Do you want EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE DETAIL of Festival of Beasts in over an hour of info? Then this is the video for you. @Chaemirix and I run through all the changes up coming in the mid set expansion!"

Miscellaneous

• Riot Scruffy posted an updated Patch 11.1 changelist:

"Updated Patch Preview for 11.1:

Added 6 more champs that we will hotfix in on day 1 

Nerfs - Graves, Malphite, Ivern, Taliyah

Buffs - Sivir, Varus"

• CestDommage noted a schedule of changes coming for the in-game chat:

• Look for the upcoming Season 2021 livestream on January 8th! 

"Tune in for the Season 2021 Opening Day livestream on Jan. 8 at 7 AM PST!"

"Okay so we were -supposed- to be on vacation but had the opportunity for our girls to feature on the cover of Elle so you know we had to 😅 this hits news stands tomorrow in Singapore!!"

Other Games

Legends of Runeterra

• LoR twitter shared an image of Riven and a reminder to tune into the above mentioned season 2021 kick off stream.

Wild Rift

• Wild Rift Patch Notes 2.0 are up, including a slew of new champions and features!