Mechanics: Into the Arcane

Enter the Anomaly, Team Up with new Augments, and unleash the true potential of Arcane's most fearsome characters!
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Into the Arcane brings an entirely new mechanic to TFT that asks you to choose who enters the Anomaly and how they change. It also brings new twists to existing mechanics with Opening Encounters and a fresh batch of Augments, including the all-new Team-Up Augments. If you’re still spinning from the release of the first act of Arcane Season 2 and have come to acquaint yourself with our Arcane-clad roster, check out our Gameplay Overview piece. If there’s just too much literature to handle here, don’t worry; all this and more will be playable with the release of Into the Arcane on November 20th with Patch 14.23.

ANYONE AND EVERYONE CAN CHANGE WITH THE ANOMALY 

The Anomaly is the core mechanic for Into the Arcane, and much like in the show, it has profoundly transformative and permanent effects! Here’s how it works: At Stage 4-6, deep into the game, the Anomaly emerges, asking you to place a unit into the center to become empowered with an Anomaly effect. Here, you can roll through Anomaly effects for one gold each, up to as deep as your gold mines go. There are 60 Anomaly effects, so expect to roll a bit to get the most optimal effect for your comp’s centerpiece, whether that’s a three-item carry or a two-star 4-cost tank.

When designing the Anomaly, we wanted to create a one-time-only, no take-backs moment to transform a unit and solidify your end game. The timing of the Anomaly, late in the game, allows you to have a close-to-final comp in mind and take it to the next level. But how you capitalize on this moment to change the future (of your game) is up to you; there are plenty of Anomaly effects to choose from—and which one you take may make all the difference.

ANOMALIES

There will be 60 Anomalies during our release patch, each providing a different path to success—or your best attempt at it. Just one patch into the set, patch 14.24, we’ll be adding a few more. And for our first patch of the new year, 15.1, we’ll add another small batch of Anomalies.

Below, we will cover just a few examples and how we might use them, but note that some things, like balance numbers and use cases, will change by the time the set goes live on November 20th. 

  • Mini Mees: Gain 3 mini versions of your selected unit that each attack every 3 attacks for 40% Attack Damage each. Their attacks reduce Armor by 5.

    • Mini Mees is perfect for an AD carry who loves AS, and even better for someone that loves themselves…speaking of that, can I recommend reroll Draven here? 

  • Deep Roots: Gain 1000 Health, 50 Magic Resist, 50 Armor. Unit cannot move or be stunned, and they pull their target into attack range.

    • My favorite with Deep Roots is Blitzcrank, who can serve as your solo tank with Gargoyle’s Stoneplate and whatever other defensive items you can get. Put this Automata through the Anomaly and watch as they emerge true to their roots, pulling enemies into attack range and shocking enemies with their tankiness, and their Static Field. 

  • Wolf Familiars: Summon 2 wolves with 30% of this champion's Attack Damage that attack quickly on their own.

    • As a fairly flexible Anomaly, Wolf Familiars is a great generic add when you don't have a lot of gold to roll for a more specific Anomaly. Just find your ally with the highest AD and nominate them as your pack leader, AKA throw them into the Anomaly.

  • Miniaturize: Transform your chosen unit into an item that gives 50% of their Attack Damage, Ability Power, Armor, and Magic Resist. Equipped items pop off. 

    • Miniaturize is a weirder Anomaly that’ll transform whomever you send into the Anomaly into an item version of themselves. It’s perfect for running a devastating solo-carry and can create some insanely powerful combos when used alongside another powerful item, such as an Artifact or a Radiant Item. 

  • Ultimate Hero: Star up a 1-cost champion to four stars!

    • Never got that 2-star 1-cost that’s core to your comp to hit three stars? Well, why not skip three stars and go straight to four? 

  • Legacy of Shurima: After 12 seconds of combat, ascend, gaining 40% max Health and 60% Attack Speed

    • Feeling nostalgic for the days of Runeterra Reforged’s Shurima? Legacy of Shurima is perfect for any carry that wants to scale throughout a fight. Try this out with a Talisman of Ascension (Artifact) for some extra thematic synergy.

  • Protective Shielding: At combat start and every 8 seconds, grant 20% max Health Shield to self and 2 lowest health allies for 5 seconds.

    • Sometimes, you just want your team to survive. Protective Shielding is a great option for a tank that stacks Health and has particularly excellent synergy with Garen, whose Emissary bonus increases max Health. 

  • Freestyling: Gain 4% Damage Amp for each activated trait you have.

    • Miss Remix Rumble’s Jazz, or Tahm Kench’s Arcana bonus? Well, Freestyling allows you to build a super carry by splashing together as many small traits as possible! This one is harder to pull off but can get pretty crazy when combined with other sources of Damage Amp or just powerful items. 

  • Invisibility: Every 4 seconds, turn invisible and gain 100% Critical Strike Chance for 1 second.

    • This one will make any melee-carry into a stealthy assassin, constantly dropping aggro and hitting with big crits. Skip the defensive items for the melee-carry you put into this Anomaly; they’ll likely be the last unit to be taken down.

  • Dual Wielding: Gain 2 completed items that fit this champion's role.

    • Sometimes you just need items for your carry. 

  • Stoneskin: Combat start: Gain 225 Armor and Magic Resist. Every second, reduce this bonus by 15.

    • If solo-frontline tanks are your style, and Wukong was a favorite unit of yours during Magic n’ Mayhem, you’re not alone. Stoneskin brings a more powerful version of Wukong’s passive to turn any single tank into the only tank you’ll need. With how much Armor and MR they’ll receive early, make sure to pick up a Warmog’s Armor to really maximize this one. 

  • Eagle Eye: Gain +1 Range. Every 2 seconds this champion doesn't move, gain 6% Attack Damage.

    • Perfect for the backline Snipers in this set. If you pick up an early Caitlyn, rolling for this will surely pay off! 

  • Slow Cooker: Every second, deal magic damage in a 1-hex radius equal to 5% of their max Health. Radius increases every 5 seconds.

    • Slow Cooker will take any stall comp and make them a threat to be reckoned with. Perfect for a Bruiser or Watcher heavy comp, my go-to’s for this Anomaly are Garen, with his bonus Health passive, or Scar, whose Firelight trait and healing ability will keep him safer than most frontline tanks, allowing the magic damage radius to grow continually. 

  • Laser Eyes: Constantly deal 80% AP magic damage in a 3-hex line in front of them and Burn enemies for 3 seconds.

    • Yup. Laser Eyes.

AUGMENTS: TEAM-UP AND MORE!

Set after set, Augments continue to make each game and board feel novel and fun. We’ve known this for a while now, which is why for Into the Arcane, we’re expanding the total number of Augments in the pool from 270 to 300, and we’re refreshing a lot of them by adding over 100 completely new Augments. That’s a lot of new gameplay, but we’ve also got one more kicker to share: Team-Up Augments, a new type of Augment that’ll have you playing canonical combos from the show and taking them to the non-canonical boards of the Convergence—well, those boards are at least canon for Pengu and friends. Let’s get into some new Augments, starting with three of our eight Team-Up Augments. As per usual, expect the balance numbers below to change as we approach live!

  • Trait Unlock: Sisters (Gold): When Vi scores a takedown, Jinx gains 50% Attack Speed for 5 seconds. When Jinx scores a takedown, Vi gains 40% Attack Damage for 5 seconds. Gain a Vi and Jinx.

    • With this Gold Augment, you’ll be able to bring back the Sisters trait from Gizmos & Gadgets, get instant access to a 4- and 5-cost, and most importantly, unite two Sisters across distant traits.

  • Trait Unlock: Geniuses (Prismatic): When Ekko casts, Heimerdinger fires 3 missiles, each dealing 75% damage. When Heimerdinger casts, Ekko releases an afterimage, dealing 75% damage. Gain an Ekko and a Heimerdinger.

    • Make this IQ delta (difference between two values) into an LP delta. Geniuses allows your Geniuses to tag-team and combo off of each other’s abilities. Be sure to keep an eye out for Mana items, as casting faster helps both Ekko and Heimerdinger. 

  • Trait Unlock: Menaces (Gold): While fielded with Silco, Powder gains Dominator, but no longer benefits from Family. When her monkey explodes, it creates three of Silco's monstrosities.

    • What if Powder and Silco ruled Zaun without all the drama those topsiders and so-called family members brought? 

  • Trait Unlock: Martial Law (Prismatic): When Ambessa casts, Caitlyn fires an empowered attack at the target dealing 125% damage. Ambessa gains 20% of Caitlyn's Attack Damage. Gain an Ambessa and Caitlyn.

    • Dispose of foes one at a time, loading up Caitlyn with AD to further buff Ambessa. Look out for survivability items (Bloodthirster, Titan’s Resolve) on Ambessa to keep the synergy alive.

Beyond Team-Up Augments, there are another near-100 new generic Augments. We won’t have time to get into all of them, but let’s check out a few exciting ones! Just remember, as with all the numbers shown here, these are likely to change before the set even hits PBE, and then again before it goes live.

  • Golemify (Gold): Lose ALL units. Gain a Golem with 70% of their combined Health and 50% of their combined Attack Damage.

    • Need to pivot but need extra encouragement? Are you too dizzy and would just prefer a giant Golem? Just like big HP bars? This Gold Augment will instantly tank your board, so you’ll have to react quickly to create a stable comp—don’t worry, that giant Golem will certainly help. 

  • Table Scraps (Silver): After each carousel, get a copy of a champion that wasn't chosen and the items they were holding. Gain 1 gold.

    • It could be a bow and a high-cost unit, but it’s more likely a Belt and a Trundle. 

  • Tower Defense (Gold): Gain a Training Dummy equipped with a random emblem that fires ranged attacks at enemies. 

    • Who’re you calling Dummy? 

  • Tomb Raider II (Prismatic): Every time a player is eliminated, choose one of their items to keep.

    • Relive Yorick’s Graveyard Portal from Runeterra Reforged, but this time, it’s only for you. 

  • Bronze For Life (Gold): Your team gains 2% Damage Amp for each non-unique trait active at its lowest tier.

    • New bottom right Augment just dropped. (Editor’s note: Bottom Right Augments are in reference to the streamer who typically has their camera on the bottom left.)

  • Starry Night (Gold): 1-cost and 2-cost units in your shop have a chance to be 2-star. Gain 3 gold. Chances increase with player level.

    • Perfect for the flex reroll players out there. I know you’re out there, right? 

  • One For All I (Silver): Your team gains 2% max Health and 1.5% Damage Amp for each unique 1-cost champion on your board. Gain two 1-costs. 

    • Either reroll many 1-costs, or use a few that help you meet trait breakpoints to buff up your higher-cost carries. 

  • Max Cap (Prismatic): Your max level is 7. Gain one Tactician's Shield and 60 gold.

    • It’s like my old love Infernal Contract, no cap….er, I mean Max Cap. 

  • Another Anomaly (Gold): After the Anomaly round on 4-6, gain an equipable item that duplicates the chosen Anomaly onto the equipped champion.

    • If it happens any more frequently, would it still be called an Anomaly?

And it wouldn’t be an Augment refresh without new Champion Augments. We’re thinking about these a bit differently this time around, with Silver-tier Champion Augments for our 1-costs. For more context on the way we’re thinking about Champion Augments, check out our learnings article from the last set.

  • Mad Chemist (Silver): Gain a Singed. Your strongest Singed will constantly move across the battlefield, leaving a poison trail that deals magic damage. His ability always targets himself and grants 20% Omnivamp instead of Durability. 

    • Relive the days of Rise of the Elements Singed!

  • Gloves Off (Gold): Gain a Vander. Your strongest Vander gains a new ability that deals increased damage and punches the target backward, dealing 30% of the original damage to all enemies hit.

    • His hug is still stronger.

  • Trolling (Silver): Gain a Trundle. Your strongest Trundle’s ability no longer heals, but instead grants attack speed for 5 seconds. Each cast permanently grants him 1.5% Attack Damage. His Mana Cost is reduced by 40.

    • If you’re a fan of the ramping fantasies of Magic n’ Mayhem Warwick or Monsters Attack! Stacks on Stacks (Nasus Carry Augment) Trundle’s Champion Augment allows him to scale into the late game, but you’ll need survivability items to keep him trolling.

OPENING ENCOUNTERS REPLACE PORTALS

While we already introduced these changes in earlier pieces, we’re adding them here to make sure this is a comprehensive list of all our mechanics changes. With Into the Arcane, we are removing opening portals and replacing them with an Opening Encounter experience, similar to Galaxies and Portals in their goals, but providing only the good type of variability (read: no bad Portals and more consistent games on average). We get more into the why behind the swap in our recent Learnings article, so if you want more context, read that one.

We’ll start with around 10 opening Encounters, each tied to an Arcane champion. With Portals, we saw players entering a “high-inflation” Portal in about 30% of games, so we will keep a similar frequency of the more inflationary Portals here to make sure we’re still getting those econ-fueled exciting games without their frequency making them less exciting. Below is a list of the possible opening characters that’ll greet you and alter the game:

No Opening Encounter Game (40%) - Piltover or Zaun

Prismatic Game (10%) - Heimerdinger

  • 5% Prismatic Opener

  • 2.5% Prismatic Finisher

  • 2.5% All Prismatic - Ekko

Scuttle Game (10%) - Jinx

  • 5% Scuttle Puddle

  • 5% Crab Rave

2 Component Anvils (10%) - Vi

3 Gold Augments (10%) - Vander

Gold Subscription (4%) - Caitlyn

Loot Subscription (3%) - Sevika

Wandering Trainer (3%) - Ambessa

Powder’s Monkey (10%) - Powder

As the set continues and the show evolves, we’ll add two more Opening Encounters.

Opening Encounters aren’t the only quality of life improvement with Into the Arcane. The set also brings an update to the Item Bench. Items will now appear in a toolbar on the left side of your screen, allowing for easier visibility, more refined clicking, and the ability to combine items in your inventory! By moving off the Arena, our improved Item Bench can now hold ten more items/consumables for a total of twenty max, but as a reminder, you should probably slam those items… And desktop players, you can now see your items during the Carousel, making it easier to figure out what component you need most…or second most if someone takes that Bow you wanted.

 

Enter the Anomaly, Team Up with new Augments, transform your board into a giant Golem, and do it all with more consistent Opening Encounters! Into the Arcane brings a host of exciting changes to TFT with its launch on November 20th with Patch 14.23! If you’re looking for more info on those changes, be sure to check out our Gameplay Overview article, our Learnings article from Magic n’ Mayhem, or our recent Dev Drop. And as always, keep an eye out for more Into the Arcane information, because things are bound to change as the events of the show unfold!