All New TFT Set 9.5 Horizonbound Champions, Traits, and Items

Everything New in TFT Set 9.5: Horizonbound

Set 9 is just about to close, and the PBE for 9.5 is releasing very soon. Horizonbound is bringing a lot of new changes to the game, and will be the last Mid Set Update for TFT. Going forward, there will only be entirely new set updates.

We’ll cover just about everything you need to know for the new set. This way you’ll be prepared for launch even if you don’t play PBE.

Keep in mind that the information for new champions, traits, and items are constantly being updated on the PBE. Our website will continually be updated, so make sure to check out the Champions Page to stay updated on any changes.

To see ALL the new changes, head to our all-in-one TFT page for Set 9.5.

When Does Set 9.5 Horizonbound go live?

Set 9.5 goes live on September 13th with Patch 13.18.

Everything Leaving TFT Set 9.5

Here’s a list of the Traits and Champions leaving Set 9.5:

Removed Traits

• Shadow Isles
• Yordle
• Deadeye
• Redeemer

Removed Champions

• Akshan
• Garen
• Gwen
• Kalista
• Kled
• Lissandra
• Lux
• Maokai
• Senna
• Teemo
• Tristana
• Urgot
• Viego
• Yasuo
• Zed
• Zeri

TFT Set 9.5 Item Update

Set 9.5 is coming with some big changes to the item system. While there isn’t a giant overhaul, there are a lot more changes than we’ve seen in a long time.

Mortdog did a rundown of the changes on his twitter, but here’s quick summary.

Item Categories

Items are now split up between four different categories and are designed in a way to make them identifiable.

• Core Items – These items are used for carry type champions to make them stronger. The item update also introduces new core items for champion types that were missing out, such as AP tanks or melee bruisers.
• Radiant Items – These are juiced up versions of items that make champions extremely powerful. We’ve seen these before, and they’re sticking around for a while.
• Artifacts – These items provide interesting and unique effects and will now have a red border. These are like the Shimmerscale and Ornn items that we’ve seen so far.
• Support Items – These will come from various sources such as augments, portals, rewards, and more. These items will often provide a buff to your team, along with providing an additional effects.

Other Item Changes

There’s going to be a large balance change for items, so expect a lot of smaller changes to pre-existing items. For example, Shred and Sunder (from Last Whisper, Ionic Spark, etc) is being reduced to to make them less mandatory for comps.

TFT Set 9.5 New Items

Core Items:

These items are all built from item components and will replace the older items.

Adaptive Helm: Negatron Cloak + Tear of the Goddess

Combat Start: The holder gains bonuses based on their starting position.
Front Two Rows: 35 Armor and Magic Resist.
Back Two Rows: 20 Ability Power and gain 10 Mana every 3 seconds.

Sterak’s Gage: Giant’s Belt + Sword

Once per combat at 60% Health, increase max health by 25% and gain 35% Attack Damage for the rest of combat.

Evenshroud: Giant’s Belt + Negatron Cloak

30% Sunder enemies within 2 hexes. Gain 20 Armor and Magic Resist for the first 10 seconds of combat.

Night Harvester: Chain Vest + Brawler’s Glove

Deal 12% bonus damage. After falling below 60% Health, increase this to 25% for the rest of combat.

Nashor’s Tooth: Recurve Bow + Giant’s Belt

After casting an Ability, gain 40% Attack Speed for 5 seconds.

Crownguard: Needlessly Large Rod + Chain Vest

Combat start: Gain a 30% max Health Shield for 8 seconds. When the shield expires, gain 40 Ability Power.

Bilgewater Emblem: Negatron Cloak + Spatula

The holder gains the Bilgewater trait.

Vanquisher Emblem: Brawler’s Glove + Spatula

The holder gains the Vanquisher trait.

Support Items:

Here is a list of the Support items coming to TFT. All of these items will grant a base stat of 250 Health, and grant a unique bonus to your team. A lot of these items are familiar, with a few new ones. As previously stated, these items will be granted through unique game mechanics such as Augments or Region Portals, etc.

Chalice of Power

Combat start: Grant 18 Ability Power and 10 Mana to the holder and allies within 2 hexes in the same row.

Locket of the Iron Solari

Combat start: The holder and allies within 2 hexes in the same row gain a 200 Shield, 20 Armor, and 20 Magic Resist for 20 seconds.

Banshee’s Veil

Combat Start: Grant the holder and all allies within 1 hexes in the same row immunity to crowd control for 18 seconds.

Needlessly Big Gem

Once per combat: If the holder is alive after 15 seconds of combat, grant 1 gold per 2 living allies, and grant living allies 30% bonus damage.

Shroud of Stillness

Combat Start: Shoot a beam that 30% Mana Reaves enemies. Your team gains 60 Health.

Aegis of the Legion

Combat start: Grant 30% Attack Speed and 15 Armor and Magic Resist to the holder, adjacent allies, and all allies behind them for 8 seconds.

Obsidian Cleaver

Attacks and Abilities 30% Shred and 30% Sunder enemies for 15 seconds.

Randuin’s Omen

Combat start: Grant 30 Armor and 30 Magic Resistance to the holder and their adjacent allies.

Virtue of the Martyr

Every 5 seconds, heal all allies for 7% of their max Health. When the holder dies, the healing increases to 14% max Health and continues for 10 seconds.

Zeke’s Herald

Combat start: Grant 25% Attack Speed to the holder and allies within 2 hexes in the same row.

Zephyr

Combat start: Summon a whirlwind on the opposite side of the arena that removes the closest enemy from combat for 5 seconds. Your team gains 8% Attack Speed.

Zz’Rot Portal

Combat start: Summon a large Voidspawn that forces nearby enemies to attack it.

New Artifacts

You’ve likely already seen some of the previous Artifacts in the game such as the Ornn items (Manazane, Trickster’s Glass, etc). Here’s a list of some new Artifacts in the game.

Goldmancer’s Staff (Previously Shimmerscale)

Grant 1 Ability Power per gold in your bank (up to 60 gold) and a 40% chance to drop 2 gold on enemy kill.

Mogul’s Mail (Previously Shimmerscale)

Grants 1 Armor, 1 Magic Resist, and 6 Health when taking damage, stacking up to 40 times. At full stacks, grant 2 gold.

TFT Set 9.5 New Traits

Bilgewater

Bonus: Bilgerat attacks and Abilities mark enemies. The mark stores a percentage of damage dealt to the enemy by Bilgerats.
Marked enemies are struck by a cannonball after 2 seconds, dealing the stored damage plus a flat value as physical damage.

• (3) 200 + 25% damage dealt
• (5) 300 + 45% damage dealt
• (7) 500 + 90% damage dealt
• (9) Cannonballs damage nearby enemies

Champions: Graves (1), Illaoi (1), Twisted Fate (2), Miss Fortune (3), Nautilus (3), Nilah (4), Gangplank (5)

First Impressions:

Bilgewater is an origin trait that is replacing both Yordle and Shadow Isles as it’s a large trait with 7 units. The trait is quite simple as it simply deals more damage the more Bilgewater units you have and the more Bilgewater damage is done. It’s a trait that heavily incentivizes going vertical, but we will see if this turns out to be the case.

Ixtal

Bonus: Gain elemental hexes, which give a different bonus from game to game.

• (2): 1 Hex
• (3): 2 Hexes
• (4): Gain an extra empowered bonus

Champions: Milio (1), Qiyana (2), Neeeko (3)

First Impressions:

The description can be a little confusing, so here’s a better idea of how the Ixtal units work:

Each game, Ixtal units create different elemental hexes that empower whoever’s on them. At 4 Ixtal, the bonus will empower even more.

This makes the Ixtal units potentially very strong flex units depending on the hex in the game. Players will need to explore these units to see how effective they are. For example, maybe playing a Qiyana Rogue comp is more viable when a specific Hex is in the game, etc.

Vanquisher

Bonus: Damage from Vanquisher Abilities can critically strike. Vanquishers gain bonus Critical Strike Chance and Critical Strike Damage.
(2) 15% , 10%
(4) 35% , 25%
(6) 55% , 40%

Champions: Jhin (1), Ashe (2), Darius (3), Nilah (4), Xayah (4)

First Impressions:

Vanquisher is another fairly simple class trait that gives the units Ability Crit and bonus Crit stats. This makes items such as Infinity Edge and Jeweled Gauntlet bad for these units, and other items that simply give more stats are better.

Reaver King

Bonus: Gangplank uses his cutlass when placed in the front 2 rows and his pistol when placed in the back 2 rows.

Champions: Gangplank (5)

First Impressions:

This is the new Gangplank specific trait that allows him to flex between a carry unit and a support unit. I’ll go into more detail when covering Gangplank’s full kit further below.

Other Trait Changes

Darkin – Now has a (2) bonus.

(1) Darkin are possessed by a weapon. When they die, the weapon possesses the nearest ally champion, granting them the weapon’s power.
(2) Weapon powers become 50% stronger
Weapon powers are described in each Darkin’s Ability tooltip.

Freljord – No longer has a (4) bonus.

After 8 seconds, an ice storm strikes the battlefield. Enemies take a percentage of their max Health as true damage and gain debuffs.
(2) 5% , enemies are 40% Sundered and Shredded for 10 seconds
(3) 12% , enemies are also Stunned for 1.5 seconds

Shurima – Increments changed

Every 4 seconds, Shurimans heal 5% maximum Health. After 8 seconds, select Shurimans Ascend and gain 30% maximum Health and 40% Attack Speed.
(2) The strongest Shuriman Ascends
(4) All Shurimans Ascend. +10% Ascension bonus
(6) Instead, Ascend at combat start. +50% Ascension bonus
(9) Ascend twice, at combat start and after 8 seconds. +100% Ascension bonus

Slayer – Now has increments of 2

Slayers gain 12% Omnivamp.
Slayers deal bonus damage, doubled against units below 66% Health.
(2) +6% bonus damage
(4) +16% bonus damage
(6) +36% bonus damage

Positioning Key

We’ll be giving basic positioning suggestions for every champion to get the ball rolling for you, but remember that positioning is incredibly contextual in TFT and to always adapt to the situation at hand.

The terminology we’ll be using in this article will be frontline, midline, and backline.

TFT Set 9.5 New Champions

Let’s go over all of the new champions coming to set 9.5.

1-Cost Champions

Graves Bilgewater Gunner Rogue

Ability: Smoke Grenade

Launch a smoke grenade toward the current target. It explodes on impact dealing physical damage to adjacent enemies, leaving behind a smoke cloud that Chills.
Chill: Reduce Attack Speed by 30%

First Impressions:

Graves is looking to be a frontline Gunner as he also has the Rogue tag. His Armor and MR stats will likely be sufficient to be a semi frontline, and his Rogue tag will give him a semi Edge of Night effect.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Graves TFT Champion Page]

Illaoi Bilgewater Bastion

Ability: Harsh Lesson

Deal magic damage to the current target, linking souls for 5 seconds. While linked, heal for of all damage taken by the target.

First Impressions:

Illaoi is the Bastion unit that will be replacing Maokai. Maokai has had niche use in the meta due to his traits, and Illaoi will likely be the same depending how useful Bilgewater is.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Illaoi TFT Champion Page]

Milio Ixtal Invoker

Ability: Ultra Mega Fire Kick

Kick a ball at the current target that deals magic damage and Stuns for 2 seconds. The ball bounces to the closest enemy behind the target, dealing magic damage in a 1-hex radius.

First Impressions:

Milio is a new Invoker that has a CC ability which is always nice to see on a unit. Milio will likely be a trait bot for comps that want Invoker, but she can also maybe be a flex unit for strongest board. Depending how strong the Ixtal hex is, we could see Milio picked up early to mid game just to fill out an early board.

Positioning: Backline

[See Milio’s TFT Champion Page]

2-Cost Champions

Naafiri Darkin Shurima Challenger

Ability: Eviscerate

Eviscerate the current target, dealing physical damage.
Darkin Dagger: Gain Omnivamp. After casting, 2/3/4 packmates attack the first enemy hit.

Omnivamp: Heal for percentage of damage dealt

First Impressions:

Naafiri is a new Darkin unit, meaning that you can play around the Darkin ability in the early game now instead of just late game through Aatrox. This will be quite interesting to play around to see if Naafiri can somewhat carry through mid game and then you can potentially pivot to Aatrox in the late game.

Positioning: Frontline / Midline

[See Naafiri’s TFT Champion Page]

Nautilus Bilgewater Juggernaut

Ability: Riptide

Passive: Gain 30% bonus Armor and Magic Resistance from all sources.
Active: Summon a whirlpool that deals magic damage to enemies within two hexes, Stunning them and pulling them towards the center with a knock up.

First Impressions:

As far as I know, Nautilus is the first champion that scales defensive stats through his ability. This seems to make him a strong tank for the early game, although I’m unsure if he will stay relevant late game. His ability is also extremely strong considering he is only a 2-cost champion.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Nautilus’ TFT Champion Page]

Qiyana Ixtal Slayer Rogue

Ability: Supreme Display of Talent

Dash to strike enemies in a line and deal physical damage, Stunning, and knocking up enemies for 1.5 seconds.

First Impressions:

Qiyana is another new Rogue replacing Zed, and also has 3 traits, making her a strong carry candidate. Her ability deals a solid amount of damage, and CCs them as well. Getting her into the backline to stun enemy carries seems quite good if you’re on the correct side.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Qiyana’s TFT Champion Page]

Twisted Fate Bilgewater Multicaster

Ability: Stacked Deck

Throw a hand of cards at the current target, dealing damage and encircling them. After 1.5 seconds the cards explode, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

First Impressions:

Twisted Fate is another Bilgewater champion, and extends into the Multicaster trait. I’m unsure if TF can carry a team comp as it depends on his numbers, but Multicaster carries usually need some form of AoE, so he likely will end up a trait bot unless his numbers are crazy high.

Positioning: Backline

[See Twisted Fate’s TFT Champion Page]

3-Cost Champions

Miss Fortune Bilgewater Strategist

Ability: X Marks the Spot

Call down an X-shaped rain of bullets, dealing magic damage and Wounding targets for 5 seconds.
Wound: Reduce healing received by 33%

First Impressions:

Miss Fortune is a Strategist, but her ability doesn’t seem to lean into the carry role unless her numbers are too high. She will more likely be a nice Strategist to flex in if you need some healing reduction on your team.

Positioning: Backline

[See Miss Fortune’s TFT Champion Page]

Neeko Ixtal Bastion

Ability: Pop Blossom

Leap towards the current target and gain Shield for 3 seconds. Slam down after a brief delay, dealing magic damage to enemies within two hexes.

First Impressions: 

Neeko stands out to me in the list of new champions. She is a Bastion that also deals damage in a large AoE. Neeko possibly allows for a vertical Bastion comp to thrive with Neeko as the main AP Tank hybrid carry.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Neeko’s TFT Champion Page]

Quinn Demacia Slayer

Ability: Skystrike

Launch Valor through the row or column with the most enemies, marking them to take increased damage for 4 seconds. Then rain down arrows, dealing physical damage split between all marked enemies.

First Impressions:

Quinn also has an interesting ability as she can potentially target an enemy row or a column. This will make players adapt to how they position their team to defend against Quinn. The fact that she is a Slayer also pairs nicely with Kayle, another Demacia Slayer unit.

Positioning: Backline

[See Quinn’s TFT Champion Page]

4-Cost Champions

Fiora Demacia Challenger

Ability: Blade Waltz

Become untargetable and strike the current target 4 times. Each strike deals physical damage and true damage. Heal for 20% of the total damage dealt. If the target dies, change targets to the nearest enemy.

First Impressions:

Fiora is replacing Yasuo as the 4-cost Challenger carry, and this time, she fits into Demacia instead of Ionia. This poses an interesting question as you can’t easily fit in vertical Challengers and vertical Demacia.
That being said, her ability seems to be extremely powerful as any melee carry with an untargetable phase can sometimes just 1v9 if built well.

Positioning: Frontline / Midline

[See Fiora’s TFT Champion Page]

Mordekaiser Noxus Slayer

Ability: God of Death

Passive: Attacks deal bonus magic damage, increased while God of Death is active.
Active: Gain Shield and 1 range for 5 seconds. Killing enemies in this state steals 10/10/25% of their Health, Attack Damage, Ability Power, Armor, and Magic Resistance until combat ends.

First Impressions:

Mordekaiser is another 4-cost carry that looks quite strong. He is a Noxus unit, meaning you no longer are forced to reroll to play Noxus comps. Furthermore, his ability granting him additional stats when killing enemies can turn him into an absolute unit.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Mordekaiser’s TFT Champion Page]

Nilah Bilgewater Vanquisher

Ability: Formless Blade

Passive: Attacks strike in a cone, dealing physical damage to up to 2 additional enemies. Every 3rd attack becomes empowered, striking in a line for physical damage.
Active: Gain a Shield for 3 seconds and dash to a safe location. For the rest of combat, gain 44% stacking Attack Speed.

First Impressions:

Nilah is a new 4-cost carry with two new traits, Bilgewater and Vanquisher, which makes it difficult to evaluate her place in the meta. Nilah also makes enemies want to position differently as you don’t want her to get full value out of her auto attacks. Her kit seems very similar to Gwen, except with less reliance on AP, and more on AS and AD.

Positioning: Frontline

[See Nilah’s TFT Champion Page]

Silco Zaun Sorcerer

Ability: Undercity Tactics

Throw a vial at a nearby enemy, covering adjacent hexes in shimmer for 8/8/12 seconds. Enemies affected by shimmer take magic damage per second. Allies affected by shimmer heal health per second.

First Impressions:

Silco is making a comeback, and he is basically replacing both Lux and Urgot as a 4-cost Zaun Sorcerer. Losing Urgot definitely hurts Zaun comps, as Silco is a more support unit than a carry. Sorcerer comps will also need to adapt without Lux as their main carry (just hit Ahri on 7 lmao). In terms of Silco, his ability is quite nice as both utility and damage, but his numbers will determine how effective he will be in Zaun or Sorcerer comps.

Positioning: Backline

[See Silco’s TFT Champion Page]

Xayah Ionia Vanquisher

Ability: Featherstrike

Summon 7/7/18 feathers that converge on the current target, dealing physical damage each. Each feather removes 6 Armor from the first target they hit until the end of combat.
Ionia Bonus: Attacks restore an additional 5 Mana

First Impressions:

Xayah is an AD carry that does not need to rely on Sunder or Last Whisper. This makes her quite powerful as you can easily just slam three powerful AD items on her and call it a day.

She will be the new carry for both Vanquisher and Ionia comps. The fact that Vanquishers have two AD carries in Nilah and is also interesting. Either these carries will be separate in Bilgewater and Ionia comps respectively, or a vertical Vanquisher comp with both will be strong, or all three comps will be strong. Only time and balance patches will tell.

Positioning: Backline

[See Xayah’s TFT Champion Page]

5-Cost Champions

Gangplank Bilgewater Gunner Reaver King

Ability: The Dreadway

Cutlass Passive: Gain 50 Armor and Magic Resist. Attacks ignite the target, dealing true damage over 3 seconds. Pistol Passive: Gain 3 range. Attacks grant 5 extra mana.

Active: Summon the Dreadway to sail across the board, crashing into the first enemy hit and dealing magic damage in a 3-hex radius. Allies the Dreadway passes through or hits with the crash are empowered by citrus, gaining 30/40/300% Attack Speed and immunity to crowd control for 4 seconds.

[See Gangplank’s TFT Champion Page]

First Impressions:

Gangplank is replacing Senna as a 5-cost unit, and he is the last unit in the Bilgewater trait. Gangplank has two modes, melee and ranged. If melee, he will lean more toward being a carry unit, dealing more damage with Ignite. As a ranged unit, he will gain mana faster, allowing him to cast his ability faster, making him more of a support unit.

This makes him a very flexible unit and likely will be a strong pickup for any comp that can fit him. Will he be better than other flexible 5-costs like Heimerdinger, Sion, or Aatrox? I’m not sure, but possibly.

Positioning: Frontline/Midline/Backline (situational)

Other Champion Changes

• Rek’Sai – Is now a Slayer as well
• Poppy – Is no longer a Yordle
• Jhin – Is now Vanquisher instead of Deadeye
• Ashe – Is now a Vanquisher instead of Deadeye
• Darius – Is now a Vanquisher as well
• Aphelios – Is now a Gunner

TFT Set 9.5 New and Removed Augments

Let’s quickly go over all of the new Augments and the other Augments being removed from the game.

• Bilgewater Heart Your team counts as having 1 additional Bilgewater. Gain a Twisted Fate.
• Bilgewater Crest Gain a Bilgewater Emblem and a Twisted Fate.
• Bilgewater Crown Gain a Bilgewater Emblem, a Night HarChain Vester, and a Nautilus.
• Ixtal Heart Your team counts as having 1 additional Ixtal. Gain a Qiyana.
• Ixtal Crest Gain a Ixtal Emblem and a Qiyana.
• Ixtal Crown Gain a Ixtal Emblem, a Crownguard, and a Neeko.
• Vanquisher Heart Your team counts as having 1 additional Vanquisher. Gain an Ashe.
• Vanquisher Crest Gain a Vanquisher Emblem and an Ashe.
• Vanquisher Crown Gain a Vanquisher Emblem, a Hand of Justice, and a Rek’Sai.
• Rising Infamy Round start: Get a level 1 treasure chest. Your cannon barrages permanently improve future chests. Gain 3 Bilgewater units. (Next level: 40 Barrages).
• Rising Infamy+ Round start: Get a level 2 treasure chest. Your cannon barrages permanently improve future chests. Gain Bilgewater units. (Next level: 75 Barrages).
• Rising Infamy++ Round start: Get a level 3 treasure chest. Your cannon barrages permanently improve future chests. Gain 3 Bilgewater units. (Next level: 75 Barrages).
• Rejuvenating Flames Allies heal for 7% of their maximum Health every 5 seconds, increased by +3% for each Ixtal ally that started combat in an elemental hex. Gain 2 Ixtal units.
• Stolen Vitality When your Vanquisher’s attacks critically strike, they heal their lowest health ally for 2% of their target’s maximum Health. Gain 2 Vanquisher units.
• Stationary Support I Gain a Training Dummy. In 8 player combats, equip the dummy with 1 random Support Item(s), which cannot be removed.
• Stationary Support II Gain a Training Dummy. It has 1 random Support Item(s) equipped, which cannot be removed.
• Stationary Support III Gain a Training Dummy. It has 3 random Support Items equipped, which cannot be removed.
• Support Cache Open an Armory and choose 1 of 5 unique Support Items.
• Teaming Up I Gain 1 random Support Item and 1 gold.
• Teaming Up II Gain 1 random Support Item and 6 gold.
• Teaming Up III Gain 2 random Support Items and 3 gold.
• Void Crown Gain a Void Emblem, an Adaptive Helm, and a Rek’Sai.
• Strategist Soul Your team counts as having 1 additional Strategist. Gain a Night HarChain Vester and a Swain.

Here is a list of all of the removed augments. Most of these relate to the traits leaving the set, except for All that Shimmers.

• All That Shimmers
• Shadow Isles Heart
• Shadow Isles Crest
• Shadow Isles Crown
• Deadeye Heart
• Deadeye Crest
• Deadeye Crown
• Suppressing Fire
• Haunted Shell

Closing Words

Set 9.5 will be the last mid set update for TFT, and it’s gonna be a hefty one. Not only are they swapping out a lot of champions, they’re giving the item system a big update as well.

With these changes, we can expect Set 9.5 Horizonbound to be much more exciting than previous mid set updates.

Hopefully this guide was useful, and this information helps you climb once the new set releases!

To learn about the new TFT Set, head to our all-in-one Teamfight Tactics Set 9.5 reveal page that covers all champions, traits, and more!