TFT Dev Drop: Galaxies Mid-Set Update

TL;DR:

• All Valkyries and Voids are out
• Sona, Kassadin, and Lux are also out
• New Champions: Zed, Vayne, Riven, and Janna
• New Traits: Astros and Battlecast (with their own champions)
• Total of 14 new Champions
• A whole spaceship load of smaller changes to current Items, Champions, and Systems

We’re trying something new. Instead of gradually adding new champions to the Galaxies set like we did in Rise of the Elements and the launch set, we’re putting all new gameplay elements into a single mid-set update. This way you’ll get to enjoy the set for a bit longer while still facing exciting new challenges and goals. We hope you’ll have a lot of fun experiencing your favorite Galaxies champs in new ways.

We also don’t want to add too much bloat to the roster—If there are too many different champions, many builds will become too risky to pursue.o, to add some fresh faces to the mix, we’ll be removing a few champions and traits as well. That’s where we’ll start: out with the old, and in with the new.

Who’s leaving?

Everything in Teamfight Tactics is connected—but to varying degrees. When we looked for champions to remove, we wanted to identify the ones whose roles overlapped with those of incoming champs, but whose traits were self-contained enough that they could be removed without upsetting the entire meta. So, who did we end up taking out?

• Void - The gate to the Void is closing, which means that for the rest of your Galactic journey, you can no longer ignore your enemies’ defenses! This, of course, means the following champs are gone:
  • Kha’Zix
  • Cho’Gath
  • Vel’Koz
• Valkyrie - These mighty ladies have made their legend. If you’re like most players, you’ve marshalled their power to get a win or ground your teeth as they laid waste to your team. The departure of these champions leaves some pretty big boots to fill—who will step up to take their place?
  • Kai’Sa
  • Kayle
  • Miss Fortune
• Sona - Sona’s CC cleanse left little room for counterplay, so she’s been removed to make room for some new Rebels and Mystics. Soraka will have to stand on her own as healer of the galaxy.
• Kassadin - Kassadin was one of the unsung heroes of Galaxies. Mana-Reaver was a powerful—if undervalued—trait, and Celestial was a nice bonus to splash into many comps. Plus, he was the first champion to wield an AoE disarm spell! But he too must return to the Void, and keep watch over its horrors.
• Lux - The game’s incoming champions land pretty heavily in the 3-cost tier, and it was proving hard to introduce so many 3-cost units without removing one. Lux, as a 2-piece partner with Xerath in two separate traits, will be returning to her homeworld.

New Champions to Existing Traits

We’re also adding a few champions to round out existing traits, and to make certain team comps more interesting to run. This includes adding a new Cybernetic so you don’t have to rely on hitting a Legendary to get the gold badge, a new Blademaster who can use AP items, and a new Rebel who doesn’t have to stick with the group! Let’s take a look:

Vayne

• Tier 3
• Cybernetic Sniper
• Final Hour: Vayne focuses for 10 seconds, tumbling away from her target immediately, and every third attack thereafter. Vayne is invisible while tumbling and her first attack after each tumble deals 180/200/240% of her Attack Damage.
• Vayne gives Cybernetic the options it needs to get to 6 without needing to luck into Ekko. She also serves as a powerful Tier 3 carry who usually doesn’t need a defensive item because her spell drops aggro. She should serve as a powerful AD carry, especially with Cybernetic and Sniper active.

Zed

• Tier 2
• Rebel Infiltrator
• Contempt for the Weak (Passive): Every third attack Zed deals 20/40/80 bonus magic damage and steals 25/40/80% of the target’s current Attack Damage.
• Zed brings some unique capabilities to the Rebel lineup. As an Infiltrator he can jump away from a Rebel clump and offer a way for them to spread out. In addition, he serves as a great anti-carry who can steal away all of that carefully-stacked AD—Great for getting in those pesky Snipers’ faces.

Riven

• Tier 4
• Chrono Blademaster
• Energy Slash: Riven dashes and shields herself for 300/450/900, then slashes forward dealing 100/150/450 magic damage. Every third cast, Riven leaps into the air and launches a wave of energy that deals 400/600/1800 magic damage.
• Blademasters have all been pretty similar, and have required similar items (crit and attack speed), but that’s about to change. Riven loves AP items that give her a bigger shield and help her deal massive damage—if she can get a third cast off. She even uses Luden’s well, and can boost your Chrono builds with Twisted Fate and Sorcerer.

New Traits and Even More New Champions

With that out of the way, we’re introducing three new traits, and a total of ELEVEN more champions! Here they are:

Battlecast - (2/4/6)

• Trait: Battlecast champions, upon dealing or taking 10 instances of damage, trigger a bonus effect based on their current health. If they’re above half health, they deal 75/150/225 magic damage to the nearest enemy. If they’re below half health, they heal for 75/150/225 instead.

• Champions:

• Illaoi: Tier 1 Brawler
• Nocturne: Tier 2 Infiltrator
• Kog’Maw: Tier 2 Blaster
• Cassiopeia: Tier 3 Mystic
• Viktor: Tier 4 Sorcerer
• Urgot: Tier 5 Protector

• How they work:

• Battlecasts are strong champions who start to heal after taking a beating. This added toughness, in addition to their ability to deal extra damage, allows them to dish it out just as well as they can take it depending on the situation. At a 2/4/6 split, theirs is a flexible trait that can fit into many different comps. Several Battlecasts also have unique capabilities: Kog’Maw and Viktor do percentage health damage, Cassiopeia wrecks shields, and Urgot can obliterate LITERALLY ANYTHING!

• Here's a Battlecast starter comp to try out: Urgot, Cassiopeia, Lulu, Xin Zhao, Kog’Maw, Illaoi, Ezreal, Blitzcrank. This gives you 4 Battlecast, 2 Protector, 2 Celestial, 2 Blaster, 2 Chrono, 2 Brawler, and 2 Mystic.
• How it works: Illaoi, Blitzcrank, and Xin Zhao stand tall on the front line while Urgot chews through the enemy team one by one, decimating almost anything the enemy can throw at you.

Astro - (3)

• Trait: Reduce your Astro champs’ mana costs by 30.

• Champions:

• Nautilus: Tier 2 Vanguard
• Bard: Tier 3 Mystic
• Gnar: Tier 4 Brawler
• Teemo: Tier 4 Sniper

• Astro champs are much more… out there (they’re astronauts), and each one brings something different to the battlefield. Nautilus stuns the enemy’s front line, Gnar returns from the launch set with his giant team shove, and Teemo places powerful shroo—uh, satellites on the board that can do tons(!) of magic damage. Perhaps the most "out there" of the bunch is Bard. He's relatively weak in a straight-up fight, but he has a unique and powerful ability that creates, you guessed it, meeps! They can be sold for 1 XP each, allowing you to level up just a little bit quicker than your opponents.
• Here's an Astro comp to try out: Nautilus, Wukong, Gnar, Teemo, Caitlyn, Ashe, Jhin, and Karma. You can also add Lulu at level nine (if you get there). That’ll give you 4 Sniper, 3 Astro, 2 Vanguard, 2 Chrono, and 2 Dark Star—plus Mystic and Celestial at level nine.
• How it works: This team’s strong utility and crowd control will tie up the enemy team while your Snipers chunk them down. Watch out for shrooms!

Paragon - (1)

• Trait: Your team’s basic attacks are converted to magic damage.

• Champion:
  • Janna: Tier 5 Star Guardian

• Janna comes to the aid of her fellow Star Guardians as a new Legendary champion, wielding a powerful spell that knocks enemies up and boosts allies' attack speed. Using Janna’s unique trait, you can convert your team to do mostly magic damage, which can be useful if you’re struggling against Vanguards. Of course, you'll need to watch out for Mystics and their team-wide magic resistance. Either way, Janna can table-flip your matchups just by being on the board.

Other Changes

Of course, that’s not all. With this update, we’re making a few other changes to existing champions, traits, and items. There are too many to list in full detail, but here are some of the highlights:

• Traits
  • Chrono: Buffed 4 and 6, and also added an 8-piece bonus!
  • Dark Star: Now has breakpoints at 2/4/6/8 instead of 3/6/9 and now buffs Dark Star champions off ANY ally’s death, not just other Dark Stars.
  • Mech Pilot: The mech and pilots are all getting a lot of buffs… but now when the mech dies, the pilots come out quite damaged.
  • Sniper: Now has breakpoints at 2/4.
  • Vanguard: Now has breakpoints at 2/4/6.
• Champions
  • Ezreal: Now much more utility-focused and able to cast much sooner, but deals less damage.
  • Syndra: If she kills her target, extra orbs move on to the next target! Never waste an orb again!
  • Jhin: Attack speed now scales with star level, so this Dark Star killer’s 3-star form is even scarier.
  • Aurelion Sol: Fighter ships now drain enemies’ mana.
  • Ekko: Casts sooner, and attacks a number of times instead of every enemy once (so, if the enemy team has only a few champions left, he’ll hit them multiple times!). He also slows the attacks of enemies he hits.
• Items
  • Infinity Edge: Now sets the holder’s critical strike chance to 100% (also does less bonus damage).
  • Rapidfire Cannon: Now, in addition to the extra range, your attacks can’t miss… again!
  • Seraph’s Embrace
    • Replaced by an Summoner's Rift classic: Blue Buff!
      • After each spellcast, the holder’s mana is set to 20.
  • Demolitionist’s Charge: Join the Battlecast lineup! Replaced with Battlecast Armor. Grants the wearer the Battlecast trait… obviously.
• Galaxies
  • No new galaxies in 10.12, but we’re removing the Lilac Nebula (the first galaxy we shipped).
  • Starting in 10.13, we’ll be adding and removing one galaxy each patch for the remainder of the Galaxies set.
• Other
  • Tier 3 champ pool expanded from 16 copies to 18 copies of each.
  • Champions now sell back for their full value! (Example: 2-star copies of 3-cost champs will sell for 9 gold instead of 5).
  • Neeko’s Help ALWAYS works now. If there’s nothing left in the pool, Neeko will create a temporary extra champion… just for you.

And that’s not even everything! Take a look when it all comes to PBE in the next few days, and let us know what you think. All of it is subject to (and will) change based on PBE results, but we hope you enjoy this new galactic adventure. We can’t wait for you to play this version of Galaxies and see the new teams and combos you discover. See you out there… way, way out there!