How to Play Artillerist — TFT Set 13: Into the Arcane
Welcome to our trait guide, where we’ll be covering the Artillerist trait in the new TFT Set 13: Into the Arcane. In this guide, we’ll explain how Artillerist works, cover the different champions, provide notable Augment choices, and cover some potential team comps.
Explore all of the new Set 13 traits here!
How TFT Artillerist Works
Artillerist, like most classes, is a small twist on a classic TFT trait. Artillerists gain AD as they attack, and will also shoot out rockets that damage enemies in an AoE. AD scaling traits are very common in TFT, and Set 13 is no exception.
Since Artillerists already gain AD throughout the fight, you generally will want to scale this up with other sources of damage such as Sunder or Attack Speed.
Artillerist Trait Bonus
Champions: Tristana 2g / Urgot 2g / Ezreal 3g / Corki 4g
Every 5 attacks, Artillerists launch a rocket that deals 125% Attack Damage around the target. They also gain Attack Damage.
- (2) 10% AD
- (4) 40% AD
- (6) 50% AD, Launch a rocket every 5 attacks that deals double damage.
Artillerist Synergy
Here are the other traits you can branch to with the Artillerist units:
- Tristana – Emissary
- Urgot – Experiment / Pit Fighter
- Ezreal – Academy / Rebel
- Corki – Scrap
Considering there are only 4 Artillerist units, it’s not expected for them to have any overlap outside of Artillerist. Putting all 4 Artillerists on your board can be strong for damage, but you’ll be lacking in frontline and other utility by doing so.
Most team comps will likely look to run 2 Artillerist while splashing in other traits to buff up your main carry. (Such as Scrap for Corki, Academy for Ezreal, etc)
However, Artillerist Emblem changes things quite a bit. This allows you to turn any unit in the game into an Artillerist, and essentially allows you to get the (4) trait bonus while only committing three board slots.
If you really high roll, you can get two Emblems and go for the (6) Artillerist trait. While you won’t have much frontline, you can definitely melt enemy team comps with 6 Artillerist.
TFT Artillerist Champions
Tristana Emissary Artillerist 2g
[Link to Champion Page]
Tristana has a straight forward ability that deals damage and ricochets if the target dies from it. Tristana will also gain permanant damage if so. We often see champions have scaling damage through a fight, but Tristana is one of the few that scales through the game.
Getting an early upgraded Tristana can let you snowball and complete build around her as your carry. The Emissary trait is also active with Tristana by herself, and only upgrades if you play all four Emissaries. As such, Tristana is able to run 4 Artillerist quite easily.
You can spend the rest of the board slots filling up your frontline.
Urgot Experiment Pit Fighter Artillerist 2g
[Link to Champion Page]
Urgot is the other 2-cost Artillerist, and he plays a hybrid frontline damage role. His Experiment trait allows him to gain some Shield, so activating that trait will be great for his survivability. Most notably, his ability Sunders enemies his, so he provides utility for the entire team.
This makes him a great pairing with Tristana for a 2-cost reroll team comp. The Experiment trait can build out your frontline when you eventually find Dr. Mundo (4-cost) and you already have a solid core of units to build around.
Ezreal Academy Rebel Artillerist 3g
[Link to Champion Page]
Ezreal is arguably the most “boring” of the Artillerist units. He simply deals damage in a small AoE. That’s about it. He does have three traits, meaning he can be used in a variety of ways, but kit wise, it’s a bit lackluster.
Corki Scrap Artillerist 4g
[Link to Champion Page]
Corki’s ability unleashes a massive amount of missiles split between his target and all enemies within 2 hexes. That is quite a large range. While you won’t hit backline units when targeting the frontline, he still spreads his damage across almost half the board. His Missiles also reduce enemy Armor, which will stack with Sunder for even more damage.
Overall, his ability is fitting a 4-cost unit, and playing around a 4-cost carry is generally a safe way to play. While you may not be able to force Corki every game, the same can be said about 3-starring your reroll carry.
Best TFT Artillerist Augments
In general, Augments like Crest and Crown will always be good, but there are definitely more notable ones to explore and discover. As we make our way to the PBE, we’ll be sure to test a variety of combinations and update this article with what we find.
TFT Artillerist Team Comps
The set has yet to even come out on PBE yet, and unfortunately, our team was unable to playtest the Set this time around. While we can’t recommend team comps at the moment, we’ll be sure to come back and update this article once we have a good feel for things.
Thanks for Reading! If you want to try and come up with your own team comps for Set 13, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview on the new set, check out our TFT Set 13 Reveal Page.
