How to Hit Masters in TFT Set 11 (easy-mode guide). I’m 1700 Rank 5 peak this set, and I’m going to teach you how to climb. Here are three comps you play every single game from every single spot using the same tempo: Get to level 8 with ~50 gold and then roll.

This set, the way to climb is to have a game plan for level 8. The above boards are what you’ll be able to hit on average. Final winning boards are below in thread.

I listed only a few items because you should be slamming everything but the essentials (shred + 1 anti-healing).

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for you to just slam items until you get better at the game. Blue Buff is better on Syndra and lot of guides will list that, but it tricks you into not slamming Shojin, which is WAY more likely tempo for a normal game. Just make items!

How to get to level 8 50g? Here are the intervals where you should level:

2-1: 4
2-5: 5
3-2: 6
4-1: 7
4-2 or 4-5: 8 (you want to have ~50 gold left)

Then roll for above boards. Roll to ~10 gold until you pair your 4-cost units, and then you can just send to 0 every turn.

There many other intervals, and most high elo streamers will do different ones from you. They also won’t wait until 50g to level and roll, but that’s only okay if you know how to put together makeshift boards that don’t hit your carries. It’s not effective for most people.

But if you are curious, the common off intervals are going level 6 on 3-1 (to maintain a winstreak), going 7 on 3-5 (to maintain winstreak), and going 8 on 4-2 (as mentioned above). However, you are unfortunately too poor to properly roll on 4-2 in many games.

Hitting 8 with lots of gold and rolling for S-tier boards is the ONLY thing you need to do to climb. Slamming items early and leveling at good intervals helps you maintain HP to be able to do that.

If you’re not sure if you’re strong, just roll — it’s better to overroll and miss out on a 1st than underroll and go Bot 4. For the three comps, you can stabilize on Syndra 2* or Ornn 2*, Ashe 2*, and Lee 2* or Lee 1* + Irelia.

After that, go 9 and upgrade to these boards to win:

Notes on comps:

1. Link Ahri + Syndra. At level 9, a 2nd Ornn is better than Annie if you can hit it. If you have Dryad spat, then it’s Rek’sai. If you have Fated, then it’s Yasuo.
2. If not contested, 2nd Ashe or Naut is much better than Syndra.

Thoughts on augments:

In general, I separate augments into econ / combat / items. The way to think about them is this:

Econ = strength later if picked early, strength now if picked late
Combat = strength later if picked early, strength now if picked late
Items = strength now

If you have a good opener, items are good. Combat augments are hard to take early, so I would avoid them there, and then gold augments are often hard to take late.

My ideal augment tempos:

1. econ -> item -> combat (losing early)
2. item -> econ -> combat (winning early)

And then these are basic things long time TFT players know that newer players might not:

1. Chasing 3-star units is almost always bait. Holding expensive units on your bench (stage 2) at the cost of making an interest interval is almost always wrong. Just sell. They’ll be back.
2. The best item holders early are 2 or 3 costs, since you can still sell and replace them easily at level 8 (Kindred holds for Syndra, Senna or Aphelios for Ashe, Qiyana or Voli for Lee). If you can win streak, it’s fine to slam items onto Ahri 2* or Yasuo 2* or Darius 2*.

TFT tempo is about slowly laddering upwards into your end-game board. Lot of people sit on items for too long or are afraid they have to sell an Ahri 2* later into the game, but it’s okay. 1 cost units especially don’t matter as much at level 8. They can be 1-star.

Again, to emphasize how much it matters — make your interest intervals! Do NOT roll at all until level 8 until you are good enough at the game to assess mid-game boards and lobby strength (which IMO is not until GM or Challenger).

A lot of streamers will tell you to scout or watch VODs. I’m here to tell you it’s pointless. Most players won’t know what they’re looking for anyway. Even if you scout upcoming opponents, are you able to tell where you should position your units? Probably not.

What you should do is park your board with good fundamentals: tanks in front, carries in back, anti-healing and shred on same side as damage. Good tank in front of good carry. You will lose some fights because you are wrong side — but that’s easier to adjust for endgame.

And this isn’t just to flame lower level players. The reality is even Challenger players will struggle to understand why a fight is won or lost sometimes — especially in the mid-game when boards vary greatly from game to game. So it’s best to just focus on yourself.

That’s about it. There are of course a ton of other viable comps you can find online (I recommend https://tftacademy.com/ from Frodan and Dishsoap).

I just find the above 3 comps to be the easiest and most consistent to play. Learn them and you can climb.

If you only have time to learn ONE comp, I recommend Fated/Dryad. It has a very high cap, it’s fun, and it contains an Ahri that won’t cost you $500 to play.

If you’re looking for streamers to learn from, I think Dishsoap and Robinsongz are two of the best.

Thanks for reading — if you made it this far, congrats, you have higher reading comprehension than the average TFT player. You can apply that further and support me by purchasing my poetry book “Extinction Theory,” which you can find on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

A couple more things I forgot:

1. It’s okay to roll during a fight! You might look/feel like a noob, but the vast majority of players cannot roll all their gold in a single turn. It’s better to lose some econ than to lose a fight because you’re too slow.
2. Don’t be afraid of being low HP! It’s just a resource. If you tempo properly and roll for these boards, you can win out even from low HP. Save HP from slamming items! https://TFTAcademy.com has a lot of good early boards you can play!
3. Commit to your comp early. Don’t worry about being contested — the lower elo you go, the harder it is to tell what people will be playing early on. Sometimes you get contested by a lot of people. That’s fine. Follow my tempo and you’ll be better off when it’s time to roll.
4. Sometimes you’ll miss and go bot 4. That’s okay! Even the best TFT players go Bot 4 every 3rd game. The average player should be aiming to go Top 4 in 6 out of 10 games. Climbing is a long game — just focus playing as well as you can. You’ll make your way eventually!

Link to Kein Lam’s (MeanMisterKien) original post