I was only able to play a handful of games during this Preview, and let me tell you: I’m still figuring out what’s strong and how to best optimize a team. This makes me all the more excited to jump in when Lore & Legends hits Live servers in a few weeks. This is truly the biggest and boldest TFT set thus far.
Chumps Preview is a special kind of post where we unofficially preview games in Early Access, Beta, or are otherwise “unfinished.” This kind of preview is meant to be a first impression rather than a definitive review where we provide a rating to determine a game’s value. As such, we fully expect a game covered in a Chumps Preview to have room for improvement, some bugginess/incompleteness, and other features associated with similar games in the category.
Earlier, I and several other folks were in a call with Riot Games’ Teamfight Tactics development team learning about their upcoming set, Lore & Legends. During this call, they dropped a major bombshell: “This set of Teamfight Tactics has 100 champions!”
My mouth dropped open. 100 champions? How on earth would that work? How will players “hit” champions they need for any given composition? How will things be balanced? I had so many questions, as my mind simply couldn’t grapple with the idea of so many possible units available all at once.
Since the call ended, I played several hours’ worth of games just to get a feel for the upcoming Lore & Legends set! As with prior TFT previews, our preview of Lore & Legends contained elements and features that are subject to change, rebalancing, and so much more between now and its official launch. The content that was shown to us (and discussed below) is NOT FINAL.
Lore & Legends has taken a step back in terms of game complexity this time around. Instead of power level warping mechanics (think Hacks or Power Ups) or additional degrees of variance (like Spells or Encounters), this set has a basic premise: Just build a composition of units, be it around regions (like Void) or class (like Arcanist). Additional units will unlock once you’ve met requirements that are clearly shown in-game when hovering over a trait and/or in your Team Builder.
If you’re familiar with some of the Prismatic Trait mini quests from Set 15: K.O. Coliseum, unlocking champions in-game should feel pretty similar, albeit far easier to complete. If you want to unlock Kai’Sa, a 4-cost Void Longshot unit, you need to field another Longshot unit with three items and be level 8. Upon doing so, Kai’Sa will begin showing up in your shop in the next round. If you want to unlock Bard, simply reroll 4 times before the Stage 2 Carousel.
Easy, huh?
The unit unlocking process feels great for several reasons. Aside from seeing the little pop-up on screen that tells me that I’ve unlocked a unit (completing quests is fun, folks!), it solves a very critical pain point that has existed in just about every single TFT set until now: You’re pretty much guaranteed a unit once you’ve unlocked it. In one of my games, I had three-starred a Yasuo – a requirement to unlock Yone. I didn’t have to spend 50 gold trying to find the 4-cost I needed to complete my team like I would have in an earlier set. Since the beginning of my time playing TFT, I’ve had those unlucky games where I didn’t come across a single specific unit all game despite being uncontested. I know you have, too. This mechanic lightly solves it by ensuring that exactly one of that unit will appear once it’s unlocked (assuming all of the copies haven’t been taken out of the pool).
Of course, there’s still a chance (as always) that you’ll be unlucky and not hit a 2-star of a unit you need or whatnot. I’d rather have that be a pain point instead of the extreme case of unluckiness of spending 50+ gold to get one copy a very specific 4-cost unit that is key to activating a necessary trait.
The other benefit of unlocking units is that teambuilding feels far deeper and more complex, almost as though I was playing TFT in the first few sets prior to stat sites that accelerate the rate at which players “solve” a current TFT patch’s meta. These days, it feels like the meta is solved within a few days after a new balance patch is released, even shorter after a B-patch. With so many units available (a good chunk of them being locked away behind achievable quests), I’d like to believe that players will have more to theorycraft with, even at the Set’s theoretical midpoint when content is adjusted or removed rather than added.
I might be wrong, though. Stat sites may lead to players deferring to a carbon copied meta that feels more successful than playing flexibly, creatively, and/or “what you hit.” Balance may cause some players to rush playing Demacia and nothing else just to get an easy Top 4. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
My one concern about Lore & Legends is how it may be perceived by casual TFT players, let alone new players who’re unfamiliar with the game at all. Just opening up the Team Builder feels like a gargantuan task because of the sheer number of possible units available. I understand that players may get a feel for what to do after a few games of TFT, but perceived information overload can be off-putting for those trying to figure out rules.
As a longtime League of Legends player, it’s clear that Lore & Legends was designed around celebrating Riot Games’ Runeterra universe and League of Legends’ history. The traits are all based on the regions of Runeterra, like Noxus, Ionia, Piltover, and Demacia. Units are all from League of Legends, RIFTBOUND, Legends of Runeterra, and even the show Arcane! I love it when Riot cooks with new thematics and unit designs, don’t get me wrong, but I love it even more when they lean into their existing Universe and showcase the content players have fallen in love with.
This is especially true with how they’ve leaned into the Runeterran lore. For instance, when I placed a Xin Zhao and a Jarvan IV on my board, they interacted with each other using voice lines initially from League of Legends! The Runeterran IP that’s been slowly built up over the years in League feels like it’s paying off, making me even more excited to see and hear how other champions interact with each other.
There’s a lot more in store from the TFT team with this upcoming set, whether it be future cosmetics or competitive events. I don’t like spoiling cosmetics and such, but what I’ve seen is quite charming.
I was only able to play a handful of games during this Preview, and let me tell you: I’m still figuring out what’s strong and how to best optimize a team. This makes me all the more excited to jump in when Lore & Legends hits Live servers in a few weeks. This is truly the biggest and boldest TFT set thus far.
