Strongest Hextech Augments
Hextech Augments are a new game mechanic added to Set 6 of TFT. At 3 points throughout the game, you will be given a choice to pick an “augment.” These augments range from giving you items, giving you more gold, giving your champions stat boosts, or even changing how the game is played for you.
The augments have been out for a little bit now, and players have slowly figured out what works and what doesn’t. For the most part, the difficult decision when it comes to Augments will be from the first Augment pick. The second and third Augments come after you’ve likely decided on a build, so they don’t require as much thought to pick.
So in this article, I’ll be going over which Augments are the best to first pick, as well as how to play with these Augments.
Trait-Specific Augments
Before I get into some of the stronger Augments, I’m gonna clarify that I won’t be talking too much about trait specific Augments.
You shouldn’t normally pick a trait-specific Augment first as it limits your flexibility in game. However, if you’re dead set on playing a specific comp, or you need a specific Augment to complete a certain comp, by all means go for it.
There are a few exceptions to this idea and one of them are
Mercenary Augments
Mercenary Heart and Soul provide so much economic value if you are able to get it early. By lowering the amount of Mercenaries you need to complete the trait bonus, you will be able to earn a lot of extra income by only committing a few unit slots.
The power level of this trait may go down in the future if there are nerfs to Mercenaries, but at the moment, this Augment is extremely powerful.
Socialite Augments
Socialite is also a great Augment to pick up as just having one Socialite allows you to gain the hex that gives bonus damage to the unit standing on it. If your team comp already runs 1 Socialite, having two never hurts, and a Socialite Heart can even get you up to 3 very easily.
Best Augments to First Pick
Picking your first Augment is usually about finding the best generic Augment to pick. These Augments are to be used as a way to propel your economy with things like free refreshes or strong buffs to win streak with.
I won’t be covering all of the Augments, so if I don’t mention an Augment, it likely isn’t very powerful right now, or requires an extremely niche situation to be good.
Economy Augments
These Augments are highly preferred to first pick as they impact your economy. Having a strong economy can make or break your late game, so these augments are many players’ favorites.
Hyper Roll (Tier 1)
Hyper Roll allows you to not have to worry about interest early on. You can slam your gold for levels and hold units to make your board stronger and stronger. The bonus 2 gold provides so much value early and mid game and makes it very difficult for opponents to keep up.
Calculated Loss (Tier 1)
This Augment will be great if you have a strong gold opener and decide you want to lose streak the early game. This can also be a great Augment for when you want to play a slow roll comp as lose streaking is the preferred early game strategy for those comps often times.
Rich Get Richer (Tier 2)
This trait people mostly use to get a free injection of 10 gold early on. The 70 interest cap is enticing, but the extra 10 gold actually compounds a lot in the early game, making it the main attraction of this augment.
Clear Mind (Tier 2)
This augment can be very powerful, but it definitely can be difficult to use. To make the most of this augment, you need to keep your bench clear which will either result in less upgrades or very aggressive gameplay.
Trade Sector (Tier 2)
This augment is great to pickup early as it turns into a lot of free rerolls over the course of the game. Picking this up later is less valuable, but early on, it’s definitely a great choice.
Windfall (Tier 3)
This augment is great for the same reason Rich get Richer is great. An early injection of 20 gold makes it so you start compounding interest a lot faster. This lets you hit levels much faster, letting you play very aggressively.
Golden Ticket (Tier 3)
This augment is very similar to Trade Sector. However, instead of a free reroll, you get a free refresh 40% of the time (including at the start of a round). Furthermore, you can get a free reroll off of a free reroll. This can turn into streaks of 5+ rerolls for free.
Level Up! (Tier 3)
Getting more experience when you buy points is just free gold. Nothing much to explain here.
Item Augments
Pandora’s Items (Tier 1)
Picking this Augment allows you to essentially build perfect items for your team comp. You can put desired components on a unit and wait for the Augment to reroll your items until you can build the perfect items for your team comp.
Item Grab Bag I/II
These augments are decent as they give you extra item component(s) which can open up a lot of possibilities for you. Being short one specific item component in the late game is less likely when you have an extra component in the early game. The reforger also helps you late game to recycle bad items.
Band of Thieves (Tier 3)
Thief’s Gloves is a great item in the early game for pure value. As the game goes on, other items become better, but this augment can still provide a lot of free value early game as well as extra items for secondary carries.
Portable Forge (Tier 3)
Ornn item’s are very powerful, but it can be a bit luck as to whether you get a good one or not. All of them are great, but it might not be the one you want for your team.
Unique Bonuses
Other than the above Augments, we have Augments that simply give your team a little boost. This section covers the Augments that give you a bonus in exchange for doing something.
These Augments are usually great early game picks as they give you a way to try and win streak.
Exiles I/II/III
This augment encourages you to place your units away from each other to gain a large shield. In the early game, this can be done very easily and can help you win streak. In the late game, this augment becomes more difficult and limiting, but it can still provide some value.
Knife’s Edge I/II/III
This augment is similar to Exiles, except you will want to put your units in the front two rows for bonus Attack Damage. Once again, this is less punishing early and can help you win streak.
Makeshift Armor I/II/III
This one isn’t too difficult to utilize. Just prioritize putting items on your strongest units and let the other units get free stats.
Cybernetic Implants I/II/III
In the early game, putting one item component on a unit will give them a nice stat boost with this augment. You won’t get as much value late game, but ideally, this augment helps you win streak.
Built Different I/II/III
The first tier of Built Different is a decent augment, but Tier 2 and 3 are extremely powerful. The bonus stats you get from this augment are insane. You can easily get a huge win streak just by putting in random upgraded units without sharing traits.
Featherweights I/II/III
Once again, this trait is great as it gives your early game units a stat boost. However, this trait is also great if you plan to play a slow roll comp that focuses on 1 and 2-cost units. This allows you to be strong early while also buffing your main carries.
Generic Augments
These augments are the ones that provide value without you having to do anything. These augments are usually less powerful than other more specific augments, but are also the most flexible.
- Celestial Blessing I/II/III
- Thrill of the Hunt I/II/III
- Stand United I/II/III
All three (or nine) of these augments above just give a nice buff to your team regardless of what comp or how you decide to play. Stand United prefers having more traits active, but you don’t have to drastically change anything in your team comp. These are solid options to pick when you don’t have any other good options.
Weakspot (Tier 1)
Weakspot provides a nice little Armor Penetration as well as applying healing debuff on enemies. This by no means is game breaking, but it is almost universally useful and flexible in many team comps.
Phony Frontline (Tier 1)
Target Dummies are just free sacks of HP for the frontline. It’s not gonna break the game, but it’ll be a solid pick for any game.
Woodland Charm (Tier 2)
Having a clone in the early game greatly helps your ability to win streak. Just having an extra unit and body to soak damage helps a lot in early fights.
Sunfire Board (Tier 2)
Sunfire is strong throughout the entire game, but this augment shines even more in the later stages of the game. Burning every enemy and applying healing debuff is extremely strong when teams have 8 or 9 units.
New Recruit (Tier 3)
This one is just a free Tactician’s Crown (or FoN). Who wouldn’t want this augment?
High End Shopping (Tier 3)
This augment is quite powerful in the early game. It will be a little hard in the first few rounds to get upgraded 1-cost units, but every level after 4 will allow you to find higher cost units much faster. Being able to get level 9 shop rates at level 8 also immensely helps you in finding 5-cost units.
Second and Third Pick
After your first augment choice, the other two picks can be more specific. These can be things like trait augments or specific trait boosting augments, etc. These augments should be more tailored to your team comp and be whatever helps you the most.
This will change game to game, but for the most part, it should be simple to identify which augments help your team vs do nothing for your team.
It can be a bit more difficult to choose if you get multiple good options, but just use your best judgment at that point.
Overall Thoughts
All in all, the first augment pick is usually preferred to be something more flexible and relating to either economy or items. Unique stat boosting mechanics or generally strong augments are also solid picks when not given economy or item augments.
Once you have your team comp decided and are going into the mid game, you can then choose augments based on what will either help your comp the most currently, or what will help your final team comp the most.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out our meta team comps page, or head to our Team Builder to try and come up with your own comps.
