It’s time! Time to say goodbye to Galaxies and hello to the next set: Fates. So let’s take some time to introduce some of the champions and traits you’ll be seeing in Fates, as well as our new mechanic.

Fates Mechanic - Chosen:

In Fates, one of the key ways you’ll be able to claim victory over your opponent is by picking the right “Chosen” champion for your team. Here’s how you can expect it to work.

Occasionally, in your shop, you will be offered a Chosen champion. These champions are already at 2-star level, so they cost three times their normal 1-star price and come with some extra power:

• One of their traits (origin or class) is “Chosen” and counts as 2 of that trait!
• They also get +200 HP and a unique stat bonus—either 500 HP, 35% spell power, 50 AD, or 25% reduced mana cost. (Tunings subject to change)

For example, if you look at the image above, you can see Garen in your shop as a Chosen. This particular Garen is a Vanguard Chosen (Chosen can pick either trait). If you purchase this Garen, he will immediately be a 2-star, come with 700 extra health, and count as two Vanguards, giving him the Vanguard bonus by himself, and making it easier to hit 4 Vanguard!

Once you buy one Chosen champion, other Chosen champions will no longer appear in your shop. You can only have one at a time! If you sell your Chosen champ, they can start appearing again in your shop. You’ll be left with some tough decisions: Do you buy an early Chosen to lock in a direction, or do you keep yourself flexible for a late-game pivot? Do you hold out for a 4 or 5-cost Chosen that makes great use of the bonus stats, or do you grab a 2 or 3-cost with a more beneficial support trait?

Here’s your real challenge. You won’t be able to force a Chosen champion every game. Getting a specific champion is hard enough, but getting that champion with the right Chosen trait will be close to impossible. Instead, you’ll have to carefully weigh your options and figure out the best way to build your team with what you have.

Now, let's look at a few new team compositions.

Warlord

When you’re first trying out the new set, the Warlord synergy is a good place to start. Warlords are all about conquering your opponents in battle and powering up each time you do.

When you activate the Warlord synergy, your Warlords will get some health and spell power for each battle they win and victorious battles they've already been in (even if you didn't have the synergy active at that time). This bonus increases up to a cap of 5. This means the longer you use the champions, the more powerful they get. Let’s take a look:

• Warlords have an additional
  • (3) 150 HP & 10 SP
  • (6) 400 HP & 25 SP
  • (9) 600 HP & 50 SP

• Each victorious combat they participate in grants additional HP & SP, stacking up to 5 times.
  • (3) 30 HP & 3 SP
  • (6) 40 HP & 5 SP
  • (9) 80 HP & 10 SP

Example Level 7 Composition - 6 Warlord 2 Assassin 2 Keeper 1 Ninja

• Nidalee - (1 cost Warlord Sharpshooter)
• Garen - (1 cost Warlord Vanguard)
• Jarvan - (2 cost Warlord Keeper)
• Pyke - (2 cost Cultist Assassin)
• Katarina - (3 cost Warlord Assassin) (Warlord Chosen)
• Kennen - (3 cost Ninja Keeper)
• Xin Zhao - (3 cost Warlord Duelist)

With this composition, you’re using Katarina as your primary carry—an explosive backline Assassin. Giving her the two Assassin bonus allows her spell to crit(!), and the bonus spell power from Warlord makes it that much more powerful. The CC from Pyke and Kennen, the strong front line of the Warlords, and the Keeper shields keep Katarina alive long enough to cast her ult for tons of damage!

Moonlight

Moonlight is one of the more unique traits in the Fates set, offering something new we think you’ll really be excited about. Moonlight is a 3-piece trait, and all of the champions are either 1-costs or 2-costs. This means you can activate this trait very early in the game! Once you do, the trait will upgrade the lowest star level unit by one star level! (And in the event of a tie, the champ with the most items gets the star-up.) This means if you have a 2-star Diana, a 2-star Lissandra, and a 1-star Sylas, then at the start of combat the Sylas becomes a 2-star! You can use this trait to access 3-star champions really early on.

Here’s where it gets interesting. What happens if you have 3 Moonlight champions and they are all 3-star? If you said “I should get a 4-star champion,” you are absolutely correct.

It is possible to reach new levels with the Moonlight trait, and we’ll see TFT’s first 4-Star champions. These are very powerful champions that make for really cool carry possibilities. They aren’t as strong as 4-cost 3-stars, but they pack quite the punch!

Example Level 6 Composition - 3 Moonlight 3 Warlord 2 Assassin 2 Brawler 2 Dazzler

• Diana - (1 cost Moonlight Assassin)
• Lissandra - (1 cost Moonlight Dazzler) (Dazzler Chosen)
• Garen - (1 cost Warlord Vanguard)
• Sylas - (2 cost Moonlight Brawler)
• Vi - (2 cost Warlord Brawler)
• Katarina - (3 cost Warlord Assassin)

With Moonlight, you can choose to either hit your 2-stars and move on, or you can slow-roll and chase that 4-star dream comp. This version does just that, and uses Diana as a carry with Gunblade and 2 Assassin as well, so that her spell can do as much damage as possible. Lissandra provides strong backup by Morello-ing the front line and reducing any healing coming in. This allows you to assault enemy back and front lines at the same time.

Cultist

Cultist is another one of our major origins in Fates, with more champions than any other trait at 8 Cultist champions! Interestingly, this trait doesn’t offer any power to the Cultist champions themselves. Instead, Cultists use their powers to summon the Demon Lord Galio into the team! The more Cultists on the board, the more powerful Galio will be. 

• (3): Tyrant Galio
• (6): Demon Lord Galio
• (9): Supreme Overlord Galio

Each level provides Galio a ton of stats and increased abilities. Supreme Overlord Galio is an absolute monster with more than 7000 health and 600 AD! But even Tyrant Galio offers a solid 1800 HP frontliner with a big AOE stun that can be the difference between winning and losing your next fight.

Example Level 7 Composition - 6 Cultist 2 Duelist 2 Vanguard

• Elise - (1 cost Cultist Keeper)
• Twisted Fate - (1 cost Cultist Mage)
• Pyke - (2 cost Cultist Assassin)
• Thresh - (2 cost Dusk Vanguard)
• Evelynn - (3 cost Cultist Shade)
• Kalista - (3 cost Cultist Duelist) (Duelist Chosen)
• Aatrox - (4 cost Cultist Vanguard)

This composition uses Kalista as the primary carry if you manage to get Duelist activated. That’ll give her a LOT of power, especially with Guinsoo’s Rageblade and Statikk Shiv. It also uses Aatrox to gather everyone up so that when Galio arrives you get the most value out of his massive slam attack. This is a pretty good all-around comp, especially if you need to tear through a powerful frontline tank.

That's all for now

This is just a taste of what’s in store for TFT: Fates. Hopefully you’re excited to see what other kinds of unique traits and champions are coming in the next set; expect to be able to try them out when they hit PBE soon!