TFT: Inkborn Fables Gameplay Overview

Welcome to the intersection of myth and reality, where stories are woven, fortunes are struck, and your fate is realized! Inkborn Fables brings a completely new roster of champions, including two Runeterra firsts with Alune and Kobuku, a TFT original Yordle making their joyous debut in the League universe. All this kicks off March 20th with patch 14.6! And with that, let’s talk about some of the traits: first up, the fortunate return of a fated fan-favorite:

FORTUNE (3/5/7)

• Kobuku (1g Brawler)
• Teemo (2g Trickshot)
• Tristana (3g Duelist)
• Zoe (3g Arcanist, Storyweaver)
• Annie (4g Invoker)

The much beloved econ trait from Fates has made its way into our fabled set with a few new twists. Every time you lose a fight, gain Fortune, and when you win, convert that Fortune to rewards. The more fights in a row you lose, the more Fortune you get each fight. If you make it to a Festival without winning a fight, you can cash out your Fortune then and there for even better rewards. Let’s take a look at the trait breakpoints for more details:

(3) Roll a die: after that many player combats, hold a Festival. At the Festival, you can choose to gain bonus Fortune and then convert to rewards, or keep going to a later Festival.

(5) Heal 2 Player Health at the start of player combat.

(7) After the Festival or winning a combat, roll a new die!

More fortune = bigger cashouts, with rewards that range from a bit of gold to one of every Item Component + two Champion Duplicators, or even something crazier—much crazier! And in pursuit of that craziness (achieved by continued pursuit of Festivals) here’s a pro tip from our playtest team: Always push your* luck.

*Note that we sometimes playtest with Player Don’t Die enabled to be able to test a variety of late-game comps.

EXALTED (3/5)

• Most of our Champions (Xg Exalted)

Like playing flex? Well of course you do, you’re the flex-magician. But if you love playing flex, and want to become the flex-master, then look no further than Exalted. Every game, a different set of champions will gain the Exalted origin in addition to their other traits. There are over 50 unique combinations of Exalted units. Note that if a champion already has 3 traits, they can’t be offered in the shop as Exalted.

With Exalted, your entire team gains bonus damage based on your level. After combat, Exalted units will store XP in a Soul Core, which you can sell to claim XP.

Pro tip: Utilize Team Planner when playing Exalted. It really helps to map out your late game board since you’ll want to level fast!

HEAVENLY (2/3/4/5/6/7)

Heavenly units grant a unique stat to your team depending on which ones are on your team. The stats are increased by their star level (read: play this as a reroll enhancer or vertical). Let’s check out the roster and stats granted:

• Kha’Zix (1g Reaper) Bonus: Critical Strike Chance
• Malphite (1g Behemoth) Bonus: Armor and Magic Resistance
• Neeko (2g Mythic Arcanist) Bonus: Health
• Qiyana (2g Duelist) Bonus: AD
• Soraka (3g Altruist) Bonus: AP
• Wukong (5g Great Sage) Bonus: Attack Speed
• Heavenly Emblem Bonus: Omnivamp

Heavenly is a reroll friendly version of Guild, a fan favorite from Dragonlands. Mix and match Heavenly units to fill out your team’s needs. Add Qiyana to your AD comps, Soraka to your AP comps, and Wukong to every comp you want to be great… and attack faster. And if you want to completely devote yourself to the trait (I can’t blame you, helicopter Neeko is adorable) then don’t worry about wasted stats, as many of the Heavenly units scale with multiple stats. Just remember to place your Heavenly Emblem on a 3-star champion to maximize the bonus Omnivamp.

UMBRAL (2/4/6/8)

• Darius (1g Duelist)
• Yorick (2g Behemoth)
• Yone (3g Reaper)
• Alune (3g Invoker)
• Sylas (4g, Bruiser)
• Sett (5g Fated, Warden)

Activating Umbral makes the moon illuminate certain hexes, shielding units placed in them at the start of combat. Umbral units basking in the moonlight will also execute low Health enemies. Hit Umbral 6 to illuminate the entire board, and Umbral 8 to have a chance for Umbral executions to drop loot.

PORCELAIN (2/4/6)

• Lux (2g, Arcanist)
• Amumu (3g, Warden)
• Ashe (4g, Sniper)
• Lissandra (5g, Arcanist)

When the teapot starts whistling, Porcelain units gain attack speed and become more durable…unlike the Porcelain tea set I broke as a child. Ashe and Amumu can be run as your backline/frontline Porcelain combo: Amumu with his healing Tea-rs can take your frontline items (and the occasional AP item), while Ashe can utilize your Bows and Swords to load her quiver and rain shards on her foes.

STORYWEAVER (3/5/7/9)

• Garen (1g Warden)
• Sivir (1g, Trickshot)
• Riven (2g, Altruist, Bruiser)
• Zyra (2g, Sage)
• Zoe (3g, Arcanist, Fortune)
• Galio (4g, Bruiser)
• Irelia (5g, Duelist)

Storyweaver is our Inkborn Fables version of a summon trait where you build your own story around a central character: Kayle. As you commit your team to Kayle, you’ll add supportive effects, combat effects, and eventually Ascend your hero (that’s Kayle in case that’s not clear yet). But in addition to empowering Kayle, your team will gain a flat amount of Health just from basking in the presence of their storied hero!

FATED (3/5/7)

• Ahri (1g, Arcanist)
• Yasuo (1g, Duelist)
• Kindred (2g, Dryad, Reaper)
• Aphelios (3g, Sniper)
• Thresh (3g, Behemoth)
• Syndra (4g, Arcanist)
• Sett (5g, Umbral, Warden)

With Inkborn Fables we’re leaning into diversifying TFT’s genre as a game, whether that manifests as a Tahm Kench fishing mini-game or a Convergence match-maker with Fated. When active, the trait allows you to drop one Fated unit over another to form a pair and unlock a Fated Bonus. As you go further with Fated, their bonus gets stronger, and all Fated units benefit, allowing the vertical to prosper through the power of friendship. Who will you make best friends?

Different bonds bring different strengths to your comp. Bonding Aphelios with Sett for instance grants you both Aphelios’s bonus of Damage amplification and Sett’s bonus of Omnivamp. Mix and match different Fated units to build your own Fated bonus—now that’s what I call versatile!

LEGENDARY UNITS

With Inkborn Fables, our Legendary units are just that. They represent the champion’s fantasy as their character in our new world. Let’s see just what that means!

UDYR: Spirit Walker, Behemoth, Inkshadow

Udyr is a fieldable raid boss thanks to his Legendary trait, Spirit Walker. It allows him to bounce back in combat, unleashing his rage by healing, gaining Omnivamp, and changing his ability from Ram Slam to Tiger Strikes. And just what do these abilities do?

Ram Slam gives Udyr a shield before he barrels through his current target, grabs the nearest enemy, and slams them into the ground dealing magic damage in a zone—what is this, WWE? (WWE stands for wrestling, wrestling, and the letter E by the way.)

Tiger Strikes becomes Udyr’s spell after he falls to 50% HP in combat. With Tiger Strikes, Udyr gains an absurd amount of Attack Speed and empowered attacks that deal chain magic damage to nearby foes.

With his multi-phase passive, you can play Udyr as either a tank, adding a hefty frontline CC unit, or play him more as a bruiser carry, positioning him to die earlier into the fight so that he can dish out serious damage.

XAYAH AND RAKAN: Lovers, Dragonlord, Trickshot/Altruist

Xayah and Rakan are purchased from the store as one unit for 5 gold. With their Legendary Lovers trait, you can swap who takes the field based upon where you place them. In the front two rows you’ll get Rakan, who will contribute to the Altruist trait, which when active allows Altruists to heal the lowest Health ally for a percentage of their damage dealt. In the back two rows you’ll get Rakan once again—just kidding, you’ll get Xayah, who will contribute to the Trickshot trait. When active, it allows Trickshot abilities to ricochet with reduced effectiveness.

Be sure to swap from Xayah to Rakan based upon the traits your comp needs, which of the duo you like more, or which ability better fits your board. Speaking of abilities, let’s check them out!

In the frontline, Rakan uses Grand Entrance to rush into enemies, gain a shield for each enemy hit, and then return to his original spot, calling support from Xayah who will deal magic damage to the enemies hit. For the next few seconds, allies who attack enemies hit by Grand Entrance will heal for a portion of the damage they deal. Utilize Rakan when you already have a strong backline and instead you need to refocus on crowd control and healing for that backline.

When placed in the back rows, Xayah’s ability, Feathers Fly! will have her leap into the air, and throw feathers at the closest enemies, each dealing physical damage. Upon landing, she’ll recall the feathers, dealing another round of damage to enemies hit. Meanwhile, Rakan, hanging out somewhere nearby, will throw his own feathers at allies—don’t worry, these ones are healing feathers! If you have the items (AD and AS) and need the damage, keep Xayah in your backline and remember to continually yell FEATHERS FLY!

Additionally, each Lover will support their sweetheart from the sidelines, helping them out when the other casts their spell. Partnered casts also benefit from traits, so if you want Rakan’s healing feathers to bounce, then make sure Trickshot is active.

WUKONG: Great Heavenly Sage

Ah, the Great Heavenly Sage… or as you may know him, Wukong. Wukong has great traits that can be flexed into most boards—he’s pretty Great like that. His ability, Legendary Prowess, cycles him through a 3-Hit Wombo Combo:

First: Wukong throws his staff out, dealing physical damage to the current target and stunning them.

Second: Wukong spins, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies.

Third: Wukong dashes to hit the most enemies in a line (blame it on his happy feet), then slams down his staff, dealing physical damage to enemies hit.

But here’s the real kicker (or smasher?): Wukong's Legendary trait, Great, extends his staff every three casts, allowing his abilities to smash, bonk, and spin even further, hitting more enemies.

SETT: Fated, Umbral, Warden

Back in Fates, Sett was all about core; a vital muscle group for longevity and quality of life. But now, Sett’s focused on leg day, which leads me to one question: how many sets are in Sett’s full body workout?

Annnnyyway, Sett’s ability, Light and Shadow, has two components. The passive has him squat adjacent allies in the same row at the start of combat, gaining Attack Damage for every 1000 Health squatted.

All that AD is going to become useful for the active part of the ability, which slams the current target forward, stunning them and dealing a percentage of the target's maximum health as physical damage to enemies within 2.5 hexes. The original target takes additional physical damage.

And of course, every hard workout can benefit from a spotter, so be sure to activate Sett’s Fated bonus to gain Omnivamp, a vital stat for frontline tank/damage dealers/cc monsters… Sett.

IRELIA: Duelist, Storyweaver

We talked about Irelia’s development in our recent dev drop, so be sure to get the whole picture here and know that there is no shame in looking up a word that you do not understand.

Now on to her kit. Irelia’s Transcendent Blades has two components.The first is her Blade Dance passive that allows her attacks to take the form of flying blades, which dart from enemy to enemy, dealing physical damage and applying Sunder.

The active component of her ability, Storm of Steel, commands her blades to swiftly strike the three lowest health enemies.

Oh, and one more piece of her kit: Irelia converts a portion of her bonus Attack Speed to Attack Damage and faster blade movement, making Attack Speed items on her extra lethal. While you’re at it, be sure to slam a debuff item on her like Red Buff or Guardbreaker since she’s going to be applying their effects to pretty much the whole board. Okay, last tip: feel free to splash Irelia into just about any AD comp, as her Sunder (Armor reduction) also gets applied to just about everyone!

LISSANDRA: Arcanist, Porcelain

Lissandra is an AP caster whose ability, Let ‘em Brew, will place her current target in a teapot, stunning and dealing damage to them while they brew helplessly. If Lissandra kills her target in her teapot, Lissandra turns them into a random component they were holding or the cost of the target in gold. At the end of the brewing, Lissandra throws the boiling teapot at the largest group of enemies, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit.

Lissandra only wants to have tea if there’s a full tea party going on, so if her target is the last enemy remaining, her ability will instantly kill them instead—now that’s what I call oversteeped.

That’s it for now, but be sure to keep an eye out for more Inkborn Fables content whether it’s from your favorite content creator (it’s okay if it’s not us), PBE experiences, or the next article you read while in queue ahead of our March 20th, patch 14.6 release.