01What is TFT?

Teamfight Tactics is an 8-player auto-battler. You don’t control your units in combat — instead you build a team, and it fights the other players’ teams automatically. Round by round you strengthen your board: you earn gold, buy champions from the shop, combine items and build towards a winning comp.

The goal: survive as long as you can. Lose a fight and you lose HP; win and you keep it. The last player standing wins — but a Top 4 finish already counts as a good result (it gains LP in ranked).

02Your first game — how rounds work

• Carousel: a rotating ring of champions, each holding an item. The players with the lowest HP pick first — this is where you pick up item components.
• PvE rounds: you fight monsters. Win and they drop item components or gold.
• PvP rounds: you face another player’s board. This is where you lose HP.
• Augments: at three points in the game (2-1, 3-2, 4-2) you pick 1 of 3 options — perks that last the whole game.

03Economy — when to spend, when to save

Economy is the most important mechanic in TFT. Every round you earn interest on your gold: 1 for every 10 gold, 2 for 20 … capping at 50 gold (max 5 per round). Sitting on 50 gold means maximum interest.

• Don’t overspend early — buy what you need cheaply and bank the rest.
• Levelling up (4 gold for XP) is usually a safer investment than rolling the shop (2 gold per roll).
• Roll down: spending 30–50 gold in one round to upgrade your comp. It’s level-dependent: at level 6 aim for 2★ units, at level 7 go for 3★.
• 4-1 and 4-2 are the classic breakpoints — this is where you decide to stabilise or go all-in.

04Comps and positioning

Your comp is your team composition — it decides which traits you activate and who holds your items. Trait bonuses scale in tiers: 2 / 4 / 6 Sorcerer, for example, gives an increasingly powerful effect.

Carry: your main damage dealer, holding 2–3 items. Tank: stands in the front line and soaks up damage, holding 2–3 defensive items. Everyone else is support — they don’t need items.

Positioning wins games. Keep your carry in the back row, away from enemy assassins, and your tank up front. Scout your opponents between rounds and adapt.

05Key terms

06Your first 10 games — what to do

• Start with normal queue, not ranked.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel — head to a meta site (see Useful Resources above), pick 2–3 comps and stick to them.
• Watch your interest. Try to end each round on 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 gold.
• Scout every round — check the other boards. What are people playing? Who’s your next opponent?
• Don’t panic if you lose three rounds in a row. TFT is a long game — 30–40 minutes — and you can still turn it around below 40 HP.
• Ready to level up your game? Book 1-on-1 coaching in the TFT Coaching section.