New TFT Set 4 Synergies You Should Expect to See
Set 4 has been extremely fun to play for many players so far on the PBE and there are a lot of interesting strategies forming. The new Chosen Mechanic is game-defining, but not over tuned to the point where it feels overpowering. Players can opt to pick an early Chosen to win streak the early game, or hold out later to use it as a comeback mechanic.
We’re still discovering different team comps and item combinations, so don’t expect this article to fully predict the meta. Riot will still make many changes to balance things. Even still, some champions and synergies are already showing a lot of promise.
NOTE: Make sure you stay updated with our TFT site and the new team comps we are constantly adding and updating. To view these comps in game, you can download our overlay to give you a helping hand.
4-Cost Carries
Almost every TFT meta involves 4-cost carries. They are very powerful being 4 costs units and are consistent enough to hit every game. I’ll be going over every 4-cost unit that I think has the potential to be a main carry of a team.
Ahri
Players have tested around and found that Ahri is an extremely capable carry already. Her ability hits a very large AOE, and with Mage, her ability hits even more enemies. Ahri stands out as the clear carry for Mages, and players are looking to optimize builds that revolve around her.
Morgana
Morgana was sort of a sleeper unit compared to Ahri. Players quickly found out that her ability deals a lot of damage and she was quickly nerfed on PBE.
Even still, Morgana poses as a second magic damage carry whose team doesn’t look to stack damage, but to instead stack debuffs. Morgana’s synergies allow her team to easily run things like Adept and Dazzler. These synergies debuff the enemy team rather than stacking buffs for the player’s team.
Some players are looking to 6 Enlightened teams that can stack 3 Adept and Dazzler to overrun weak enemy teams.
Warwick
Warwick proved himself to be a very powerful unit in that he has survivability and damage. His ability gives him lifesteal and damage, while his synergies also provide damage and health.
Players often overlooked melee carries in Set 3/3.5, but Warwick has increased movement speed to make up for his low range.
Warwick combines nicely with Ashe to allow 2 carries on a Hunter team. Players can also look to use Warwick as the sole carry on a Divine team. There are lots of possibilities with this unit, and players are refining their builds as I write this.
Ashe
Ashe has been in sort of a weak spot since the release of Set 4. Hunter teams are more likely to stack Warwick and Elderwood teams usually gravitate toward Mage comps rather than attack daamge comps.
Still, on a Hunter team, she can provide solid extra damage from the backline. Elderwood teams have also prioritized going Mage comps recently, but with balance changes, that can quickly change.
Ashe hasn’t shown to be a star carry yet, but with more balance changes to come, she looks to be in a decent spot going forward.
Jhin
Jhin has probably been the most underused 4-cost carry type unit. Without Dark Star, his ability doesn’t pack quite the same punch as it used to. To compensate for this, Sharpshooters deal ricochet damage to enemy teams, but he still just doesn’t provide quite enough to warrant 3 items.
On Cultist teams, Jhin is also in sort of a weird spot. 6 Cultist has been quite difficult to justify as the synergy doesn’t provide enough compared to using other synergies. Cultist 9 is a very interesting high roll prospect, but doesn’t allow for many other synergies.
Talon
Talon is the last 4-cost unit that stands out as a damage carry rather than a frontline tank or a support unit. People haven’t found much success with Assassin teams yet, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t bring a lot to the table.
Talon pairs extremely well with Morgana as an attack damage counterpart for Enlightened teams. Even if Enlightened teams are nerfed, he still has some potential being the main carry of an Assassin focused team. His ability functions extremely well to focus enemy carries, and I have high hopes for this unit.
Wide Synergies
You don’t hear this term very often, but I consider playing wide to be when your team is focused on hitting many units in a 6 or 9 trait, rather than combining very many traits (which would be tall).
Wide synergies are much easier to hit now with the Chosen mechanic. Since these synergies are really easy to play, I expect a lot of people to go for these types of comps when ranked hits as it requires less experimentation.
Below, I’m going to go into a few of the wide synergies that I think have a lot of promise going forward.
6 Enlightened
As I mentioned previously in the 4-cost section, 6 Enlightened looks to be a very strong synergy. The synergy contains two 4-cost carries in Talon and Morgana, and also reduces the need for mana items on your carry.
This allows you to prioritize damage items on both Talon and Morgana. Irelia is also a very strong mid game unit that allows you to run Adept, a very strong synergy that debuffs enemy attack speed.
9 Warlords
9 Warlords is one of the few 9 unit traits that I believe can be hit somewhat consistently. Since Warlords have a spatula item, you can somewhat consistently hit 9 Warlords at level 8, assuming you have a Chosen Warlord and a Spatula.
The synergy gives a lot of bonus HP and Spell Power, and the Spatula allows you to experiment with many different carries. Warlord Warwick has been played by some players with decent success already.
6 / 8 Divine
8 Divine plays very similarly to 9 Warlords. If you can hit a Chosen Divine and have a Spatula, you can run 8 Divine.
Warwick is already a competent carry, and Lee Sin gives you that extra strength in the late game. Divine comps have not been as popular compared to some others, but it still has a lot of potential.
9 Cultist
9 Cultist is another wide synergy, but it seems to be more of a meme than a meta comp. Cultists don’t have a Spatula item, so you need to run all 8 Cultist units in order to fit it.
Without other synergies to add on, it may not be strong enough to warrant holding out for. Regardless, summoning a Supreme Overlord Galio is extremely fun and can change the fight if you are able to hit 9 Cultists.
And many more
I won’t cover every single wide synergy, but there are many more. There are still Dusks, Mages, Elderwoods, Ninjas, etc. With Chosen being a part of the game, these wide synergies are almost sure to play a part in how the meta forms. Depending on where Riot applies nerfs and buffs, we may see a meta where going wide is more important than going tall (combining many synergies).
How to Theory Craft
I covered just a general outlook of what I think will be strong going forward, but how do you experiment or make a comp? While I personally am not a top tier theory crafter, I will try and explain my process of how I make comps and how I deconstruct comps based on what I see other players run. To provide an example, I’ll show how the 6 Enlightened team comp was made on our website.
Identify the Carry
This first part is pretty simple. In any comp, there is always the priority carry. Step 1 is simply choosing or identifying this carry, and then learning what items are good on this carry. For a unit like Morgana, this would be items like Morellonomicon, Rabadon’s, or mana items.
Complete an 8 Unit Team
Once you have figured out what the carry is, try to determine what the ideal 8 units would be in the comp. Use the team builder to fit in synergies and units that compliment your main carry. This is where you can also determine what units to place extra items on. In this situation, I would place defensive items on Shen, while placing any extra attack damage items I find on Talon.
Construct a Game Plan
At this point, you can try to determine what units you should look for in the early and mid game. Since this comp spikes in the later stages of the game, it isn’t important what early units you find. This means that during the mid game, you should look to transition into your main team by keeping as many synergies and strong units that you can.
Other Considerations
This is just a simple outline for how to build a comp, but there are other things you should also keep in mind.
- Transition Units: If you have items for you main carry, try to find a good early unit that can hold the items for your carry. In the case of this comp, any early game unit will hold items well for Morgana, but Vayne and Nidalee pair well together early as they can hold either Spell Power items or Attack Damage items.
- Leveling Strategy: Most comps follow a similar leveling strategy when they run 4 cost carries, but if you are trying to build a slow roll team, make sure to adjust how you play to match the comp.
- Item Priority: This one usually requires some experimentation, but try to determine what item is most important for your comp and prioritize making that item first. In this comp, it would be Morellonomicon on Morgana.
- Chosen Unit: In Set 4, every comp will try to leverage the Chosen mechanic as best as they can. In the case of this comp, you want to hit a A Chosen Enlightened unit so you can replace Fiora with a better unit late game.
Lastly, Don’t Give Up!
You may finally come up with your own new comp and try it out in-game only to get stomped your first try or two. Don’t be too discouraged. Try to see what went wrong in that game and if the comp you made is truly weak or not.
Maybe you didn’t hit the units you needed, or maybe you need to tweak your items a bit. Don’t expect your first try to go perfectly. You may be on to something and just didn’t perfect it yet.
Use the PBE as an opportunity to find out what works for you and your playstyle before it hits live. GLHF!
Thanks for reading our TFT Set 4 champions guide! Be sure to check our site for new recommended team comps, champs, and items.
