Thread on HOW TO GET BETTER TFT! People ask a lot and are almost always wrong on the how. I've hovered around Top 20 Challenger in every single set I've played not because of comps or mortdog luck but because of fundamentals:

1. When to level/roll and why
2. How to position

Things you can control EVERY game: when you level + when you roll + how you position your board

Things you CAN'T control: what chosen you hit + what units you hit + items

Focus on the former, i.e. things you CAN control. People always ask about the latter, though.

Here is a cookie cutter leveling curve:

4: 2-1
5: 2-5
6: 3-2 (roll to ~20/30g)
7: 4-1 (roll to ~20/30g)
8: 5-1 (roll until strong)

You could force this pattern + one comp basically every game and hit diamond JUST from having a better econ timing than other people.

There is nuance, though! The lower in elo you go, the more likely you are to see people hold useless shit on the bench.

For this set, rules of thumb:

1. Always sell to hit next interest thresh hold.
2. Early 3/4cost units aren't worth holding unless they are core carries.

That means units like Lux/Irelia/Cass should not be held early. They cost too much AND don't carry early game. Units like Kalista/Kindred/Ashe/Warwick can carry early though, and thus could be played.

My econ timings don't work if you don't hit interest!

Which means you do NOT need to chase the 3-star Maokai or the 3-star Teemo! It is almost ALWAYS the wrong play to do so -- in fact I'd say you should never chase 3-stars until you are in at least Diamond so as to learn how to better manage your econ first.

The kicker as you get higher is learning when and WHY you roll.

1. You roll because you need to be stronger. If you do not need to be stronger, you do not need to roll.

2. You can intentionally skip the roll now, knowing you will roll later, if you have HP to leverage.

3. If you do not have HP to leverage, then you need to roll.

70hp at 3-2? You should roll. 60hp at 4-1? You should roll. You can set your own thresholds, but those are mine -- again, aiming to roll until about 20g~.

So what are you looking for?
1. Frontline
2. A carry

Front line is anything that buys time for your carry -- right now that means locket / brawlers / wardens / keepers / adepts (in order of how soon they are available to you)

Carry is any unit that can hold offensive items

Focus less on specific units and more on their function

Here's are a couple of examples of strong level 6 boards that hit on those philosophies + are easy to hit

Learning strongly early synergies is SOOOO much more important than learning good end-game comps, but that just means understanding the fundamentals of front line + carry.

Again, you will ALWAYS play the early/mid game, but sometimes you are dead before end game even happens, so why focus on the end game? Focus on early/mid.

I recommend rolling to ~20g at 6 and 7, but what I really mean is just roll until you are strong.

This takes time to understand/learn properly, so I suggested an average gold threshold you need to roll to for that -- you should follow it pretty tightly until you get better.

Here are specific scenarios:

1. 4-1, level 7, 48g, 74hp, 3 hits.
2. 3-2, level 6, 41g, 82hp, 2 hits.

1. In case 1, you can't hit level 8 at 4-5 with good gold (good is 40+) to roll, so you should roll at 4-1. You can win or save HP in the 3 fights before 4-5 by doing this and still contest 4-5 people because one turn transitions are VERY hard. Your goal is to roll down at 5-1.

You can either tank the first 3 fights and pray you spike on ~20-30g worth of rolling at 4-5 (almost never happens) or spike a bit now so you only "tank" the last 2 fights of this stage. Obviously only "tanking" 2 is better.

You can save health + spike harder at 5-1.

2. In case 2, your HP is still solid, so you should ask -- are you win streaking? Is your carry upgraded? Do you have pairs to roll for? Generally it's still worth rolling a couple times here -- especially if streaking. Rolling at 4-5 requires A LOT of econ.

This means unless you are streaking early AND have good econ, you should almost ALWAYS play to roll a bit at 3-2 so that you can roll a bit at 4-1 into the final major roll at 5-1. Can you open fort? Sure -- it works IF you are good (Masters+) at the game. But it's a BAD habit.

The last fundamental -- specific to this set -- is chosens.

You are being too picky with your chosen. You should almost always take the first or second you see (especially when learning game) to learn how to play with it. Sell for new ones when you roll if it sucks.

If you combine the understanding of these fundamentals WITH my guide on comps, then you can get better! That means learning these basics first, and then applying it to specific comps.

Beyond that, slam items. Position well (tanks in front, DPS in back, think about abilities).

Here was 10.24's guide for reference. New one maybe next week if the meta calls for it, but probably won't be too necessary. https://twitter.com/MeanMisterKien/status/1333532329478746112

Lastly, Diamond/Masters/GM players might think "whatever I know this" -- you are absolutely wrong. I've watched enough to tell say your econ management is god awful, and this continues to be true into Challenger.

If you are stuck, it's because you have shitty fundamentals.

People ask how they can support me -- just follow me on Twitter so I can watch by follow count grow to help my ego.

Otherwise, support the TFT community and don't be a dick. Watch/sub Bertasaurus so he can buy a new CPU. Watch Becca. Watch Kurum. Don't backseat drive.