META REPORT
LAST UPDATED: 1/30/2025
These meta reports are designed to make the Challenger TFT meta as accessible as possible. I try to be as accurate as I can and elaborate on the details of each comp. With a game like TFT, whatever is good in Challenger will be good everywhere else, so this is just something to create an extra edge over your opponents!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
META REPORT PATCH 16.3
I will update this as the meta progresses as anything gathered from PBE right now is just speculation.
PLAYSTYLE:
THE META SEEMS TO BE A MIX OF AND LEVEL 8/9. BECAUSE THERE’S NO COMEBACK COMP LIKE DIANA OF LAST PATCH, A LOT OF TIMES YOU LOOK TO PLAY REROLL WHEN PLAYING FROM BEHIND OR A DECENT SCALING COMP LIKE BILGEWATER OR DEMACIA.
EKKO REROLL, SONA REROLL, BARD NEEKO REROLL, SOMETIMES SION APHELIOS AND SOMETIMES YASUO ARE GOOD.
DISCLAIMER: THE ITEMS IN THESE SCREENSHOTS ARE GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS, THEY ARE NOT SET IN STONE. DON’T ALWAYS GREED FOR BEST IN SLOT.
EARLY GAME/COMP PATHING
Here’s a few examples of building early game comps and where they lead into. I don’t have every possible opener here because it would be impossibly long but these are good examples of good openers playing into reliable comps.
Opener:
Opener:
Opener:
Opener:
AUGMENTS
God tier:
Really good:
If you like playing flex or level 8 comps these are augments are good:
S TIER COMPS
What I consider for S tier is not only potential strength of the comp, but also consistency. I usually don’t put niche comps in this category for this very reason unless they’re extremely strong.
S TIER:
SERAPHINE LISS:
Unlock conditions: Orianna: 2 items on a Piltover unit.
This comp is arguably the most consistent comp in this patch right now. In some games it may not cap the highest, but you can play this comp from almost any spot as long as you unlock Orianna (which is easy to do).
In most of your games, you play around Orianna unlock and a Defender frontline early game. A cookie cutter level 4 is: Vi, Orianna, either Anivia or Sona, and any Defender. You don’t always have to slam AP items early to unlock Orianna. Any tank item will do as well.
Play your strongest board to get to level 8 healthily. You ideally want 1 or 2 econ augments as well since this comp is really contested. If you hit a Swain 2* on level 8, you can play Vi, Swain and Neeko instead of Freljord and play the standard Diana board (without Diana) and a 2 Invoker splash. If you’re level 9 and omega flex, you can play Annie instead if you hit her instead of your Lissandra and Seraphine 2*
Seraphine items: Archangel Staff, Nashor’s Tooth, Jeweled Gauntlet, Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm/Blue Buff, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Void Staff, Morellonomicon
Lissandra items: Archangel Staff, Nashor’s Tooth, Jeweled Gauntlet, Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm/Blue Buff, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Void Staff, Morellonomicon
Braum/Taric items: Tank items
S- TIER:
DEMACIA (BOTH VARIANTS):
Sona reroll:
This is reroll variant of Demacia. You should look to play this if you get a lot of Sonas and Jarvans early AND have reasonable AP/Mana items for Sona.
You should look to play this if you get a good Demacia opener and ideally an econ/reroll augment. The augments Demacia Forever and Early Learnings are also great in this comp as you are stacking once the game begins for your 3* units.
As will most 1 cost rerolls, you want to build your econ up early, hold Sonas + Jarvans and roll down to 34 gold at 3-1. This is because this is the last round you’re still level 4 (to increase 1 cost odds) and you’ve built up a decent amount of gold to work with. After, econ back up to above 50g and slowroll until you hit Sona and Jarvan 3*.
After, just push levels for your final level 8 board.
Sona items: Archangel’s Staff, Mana Generation, Hextech Gunblade, AP items
Jarvan items: Tank items
Garen items: Tank items
Lux/Lissandra items: Void Staff + Anti-Heal
Lux Demacia:
This is the variant you can play if your early items are not good for Sona or if you dont have a good augment to reroll/stack stats.
You should look to play this if you get a decent Demacia opener. If you don’t have a lot of Sonas, you can just push levels and tempo with Demacia. Making AD items is still ok this patch but it’s actually more viable to play for Lux and Lissandra Duo carry on level 8 as it’s an AP meta.
However, if you have great Vayne items and an early Vayne, you can make it as Demacia is really flexible. Because you’re rarely going to win out, you should roll heavily on level 8 at 4-2 to save HP and get closer to unlocking Galio.
It’s much more worth it to get Lux 2 and Garen 2 when you can than it is to push 9 in this comp.
Lux items: Mana generation, Jeweled Gauntlet, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Archangel Staff, Hextech Gunblade
Lissandra items: Void Staff, Morellonomicon, AP items
Vayne items: AD items
Garen/Swain items: Tank items
BEL’VETH SLAYERS:
Unlock conditions: Aatrox: be at Level 8 and have a champion on your board start combat with 40% omnivamp.
Slayers are ok this patch; they have good matchups but require a lot of highrolling to secure a top 2.
You usually consider this comp if you have a strong Slayers opener with an item slam. Something like Briar 2* and Qiyana 2* with Bloodthirster is required to play this comp as you need to keep your HP high to go 9 for 2* Aatrox, Shyvana and Fiddlesticks.
You should roll on level 8 to stabilize however, because you need at least 1 Bel’Veth and Ambessa. Ambessa 2* is better than Aatrox 1*, so if you hit that you should put items on her before you get your Aatrox 2*.
Items:
Bel’Veth items: Kraken Slayer, Bloodthirster/Hand of Jusice, Titan’s Resolve/Quicksilver, Giant Slayer, Guinsoo’s Rageblade
Aatrox items: Bloodthirster, Hand of Justice, Titan’s Resolve, Sterak’s Gage
Ambessa items: Bloodthirster, Hand of Justice, Titan’s Resolve, Sterak’s Gage, Giant Slayer, Deathblade
Fiddle items: Morellonomicon, AP items, Thief’s Gloves
Shyvana items: Thief’s Gloves
VOID(S1N):
Unlock conditions: Kai’Sa: Have 3 items (at least 5 components) on a Longshot unit and be level 8, Baron Nashor: Be level 10 and field 7 Void units.
Void can still win the game easily if you reach Baron Nashor 2*, but the road to getting there is harder now with the nerfs! You play this with a Void opener ideally, but you can honestly force this as long as you have econ augments.
If you want to win the game, you MUST have a lot of gold to get to level 10, so econ augments are heavily preferred. You can even take 3 econ augments in this comp because of how strong Baron Nashor is at 2*.
If you can’t get substantial econ augments, you can play for a top 4 by taking combat augments, rolling hard to stabilize off Kai’Sa and Rift Herald 2* and hope to either make it to level 10 naturally or just secure a safe top 4!
Items:
Kai’Sa items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Hextech Gunblade, Void Staff, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet
Belveth items: Kraken Slayer + AD fighter items
Rift Herald: Tank items
Baron Nashor items: Bloodthirster, Sterak’s Gage, Infinity Edge, Last Whisper, Deathblade, Hextech Gunblade
A TIER COMPS
Comps that fall in this category are either: A) Strong but reliant on Augments and/or perfect items or B) Consistent but not as reliable/strong as S tier comps.
A+ TIER:
ZIGGS SEVEN:
Unlock conditions: Sett: Have only 1 unit in your front 2 rows and be level 8, Ziggs: Have 3 items on a Zaun or Yordle unit and be level 9, Ryze: Have 4 Region traits active in the previous round and be level 9
Ziggs + Ryze is one of the highest cap comps in the game right now, but is also pretty challenging to play well.
90% of the time you’re playing this from a Yordle opener, as you can easily unlock Kennen + Kobuko to fulfill Ionia and Yordle requirements on level 9 to unlock Ryze + Ziggs. 8 Yordles also gives a good econ boost to hit level 9 with enough money to reliably hit your 2* 5 costs.
It is crucial that you plan in advance how to unlock your priority units like Sett, Ziggs and Ryze, so as you’re playing Yordles, you MUST hold 1 Caitlyn and 1 Vi to unlock Piltover for Ryze. Stage 4 you can start holding Wukongs or any Ionian as well. I really like unlocking Sett on 4-6 or 4-7. This way he doesn’t grief your econ if you unlock him earlier on 8 but also not too late where you die before you get your board online.
If you’re rich enough and unlocked Sett on 4-6, you can level up to 9 and sit with your unlock board and sell the irrelevant Yordles. It’s important that you also have enough money to reliably hit upgrades.
Ziggs items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Jeweled Gauntlet, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Nashor’s Tooth, Hextech Gunblade, Void Staff
Ryze items: Morellonomicon/Red Buff, Void Staff, Mana Generation
Wukong: Tank items
Sett items: Thief’s Gloves, AP items, Hand of Justice
Taric items: Tank items
INVOKER FRELJORD:
This is an AP comp you can play if you can’t go 9 or play Demacia.
If you have a great AP opener but no direction and can’t reasonably make it to Ziggs Ryze, look to play this. Since you’re going to be stuck on 8 for a while, you want to get ideally 2 combat/item augments to make sure you’re strong on 8.
A popular way to get to this board is having Leblanc stabilize your board for Stages 2-4 and until you get Lissandra 2*,
Your lategame revolves around Voli and Zilean 2*, so if you’re healthy and strong, look to cap out your board that way once you go level 9.
Lissandra items: Mana Generation, AP items
Voli items: Bloodthirster/Hand of Justice, Titan’s Resolve, Sterak’s Gage
Zilean items: Mana Generation, AP items
Wukong/Taric items: Tank items
YUNARA RYZE:
Unlock conditions: Kobuko:
6 star levels of Bruiser, Yordle, or Invoker + Level 7, Kennen: 8 star levels of Ionia, Yordle, or Defender, Ryze:
Field 4 region traits together in combat + Level 9
Yunaara Ryze is really strong right now, but the problem is unlocking Kennen and Kobuko and getting to level 9!
You can play this from an AD or AP opener, as Lissandra can use AP items until Ryze and Yunara uses AD items. Popular openers are: Jhin Ionia Bruisers for AD, and Anivia Invokers + flexible frontline or Yordles for AP.
It’s very important to keep in mind the requirements to unlock both Kobuko and Kennen, so if you don’t have a Yordles opener, you can try to hold units that fulfill unlock requirements on bench and unlock the units during neutrals.
Ryze is the lategame scaling carry of this comp, so if you can’t get to Ryze, you can try to play around Volibear and Kindred/Senna + Lucian.
Items:
Yunara items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Kraken Slayer, Infinity Edge
Lissandra items: Blue Buff/Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm, AP items
Ryze items: Blue Buff/Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm, AP items
Taric/Wukong items: Tank items
ANNIE FAST 9:
Unlock conditions: Sell Jarvan IV 2*, Garen 2* and Lux 2* to get Sylas. Have a solo unit in the front two rows to unlock Sett.
Annie is still really good this patch! Still the most reliable fast 9 comp.
You can only play for Annie if you have econ augments, because it takes a lot of money to get to 9 and 2* 5 costs. Yordles are a decent way to get some sort of econ to go 9, but you can play it from any spot as long as:
- You have a 1 giga econ augment or 2 medium ones
- You have multiple sources of mana generation as she takes forever to cast
If you’re not playing Yordles, you can stabilize off of 3 cost AP carries like Ahri, Zoe, Millio or off 1* 4 cost AP carries like Lissandra and Seraphine to buy time until you go 9.
Obviously Sylas is your highest cap, but most games you won’t be able to find the Jarvan 2* to unlock him, so you can easily use Sett to carry his items as they are both AP melee carries.
Items:
Annie items: Blue Buff, Spear of Shojin, Void Staff, Nashor’s Tooth, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Adaptive Helm
Sylas/Sett items: Jeweled Gauntlet, Hand of Justice, Hextech Gunblade, Crownguard, Protector’s Vow, Rabadon’s Deathcap
Tibbers/Swain items: Tank items
Lucian/Senna items: AD items
APHELIOS REROLL:
Unlock conditions: Bard: Reroll your shop 4 times before Stage 2 Carousel
This comp is only playable from certain conditions (usually early Aphelios with AD items, econ augment), but it can definitely snowball if you hit your 3* Aphelios early.
Like with other 2 cost rerolls, you want to build up your money early. You should roll on 2-3 to unlock Bard and get as many Aphelioses, Neekos and Vis as possible while you unlock him. On 3-2 you should roll down to ~20g at level 6 for upgrades to stabilize. Then, you build your economy back up and slowroll above 50g until you hit 3* units.
Aphelios items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Infinity Edge, Titan’s Resolve, Kraken Slayer, Deathblade
Bard items: Mana generation, AP items
Neeko/Loris/Braum items: Tank items
FAST 9 KINDRED:
Unlock conditions: none
This is a comp you can play if you can’t unlock Ryze and can bypass Yunara completely by going straight to 9.
Look to play this if you’re very healthy and/or you have tons of econ to bypass level 8 and go straight to 9. You play similarly as if you were playing for Yunara early; either Jhin or Ashe early to carry AD items and play your strongest board to keep your HP up.
If you see that you have a lot of AD items and no Ryze items, you can skip setting up for Ryze and go straight for this comp.
Ideally since this comp is so expensive, you want 1 or 2 econ augments to get to 9 with enough money to roll without dying. With nerfs to both Kindred and Lucian/Senna, this comp can’t winout from 1 life anymore as you can sometimes randomly lose to Annie or Baron.
Items:
Kindred items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Kraken Slayer, Deathblade, Giant Slayer, Hextech Gunblade
Lucian/Senna items: Blue Buff/Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm/Nashor’s Tooth, Infinity Edge, Last Whisper, Red Buff/Morellonomicon
Braum/Ornn items: Tank items
BARD BRUISERS REROLL:
A TIER:
EKKO REROLL:
Ekko is dominating right now as probably the best reroll comp.
Since this is a 2 cost reroll comp, you want to build your econ early and save your components to make good Ekko items. In reroll comps that have 1 carry, it is imperative that you make solid items. Sometimes you can replace items (e.g. Hand of Justice instead of Bloodthirster), so if your item economy makes HoJ a better slam, look to do so.
The item that is most important is Titan’s Resolve or Quicksilver, as melee units het CCed hard this set. On Stage 3-2, level to 6 and roll aggressively for upgrades (down to 20 gold), as you need to stabilize first before you econ up to slowroll for 3* Ekko and Neeko. If you get Neeko 3*, Nidalee is a great duo carry later on as Neeko almost always dies last if you have tank items/
Ekko items: Bloodthirster/Hand of Justice/Hextech Gunbblade, Titan’s Resolve/Quicksilver, Guinsoo’s Rageblade
Neeko items: Tank items
Nidalee items: Hand of Justice, Jeweled Gauntlet, Thief’s Gloves
Singed items: Void Staff, Morellonomicon, Tank items
BILGEWATER:
Unlock conditions: At least 3 components on Twisted Fate to unlock Graves, 500 Bilge coins to unlock Tahm Kench
Bilgewater is still good but isn’t nearly as snowbally as it was last patch. You ideally want to play it from an aggressive start to start snowballing once you unlock Graves. Augments such as Hustler, Level Up, Going Long are very good for establishing early game tempo and also getting access to Nautilus/Gangplank earlier to get 5 Bilgewater online.
You can spend early Bilgewater coins to get Nautilus/Gangplank or to get key upgrades like Graves/Twisted Fate 2, but the current meta seems to skip the 5 Bilgewater items completely, build up coins, and once you get 7 Bilgewater in at level 7/8, start rerolling your Bilgewater shops to gain access to the higher tier items. This is because the more Bilgewater you put in, the higher quality the items.
Late game you want to cap out around multiple 5 costs as shown above and drop out of 7 or even 5 Bilgewater completely. This is done after you’ve gotten your final item at 260 coins, as after that point you have no need to keep your extra Bilgewater units.
Items:
Miss Fortune items: Dead Man’s Dagger, Cutthroat Cutlass, First Mate’s Flintlock, Infinity Edge, Spear of Shojin
Senna items: Mana generation, AD items
Tahm Kench items: Pile O’Citrus/Barknuckles, Tank items, AP items
Nautilus items: Pile O’Citrus/Barknuckles, Tank items
BARD IXTAL REROLL:
RYZE FLEX:
SERAPHINE FLEX:
VERTICAL VOID:
aurelion sol targons:
targon reroll:
yordle reroll:
A- TIER:
DIANA:
Unlock conditions: 3 items on Leona 2* at level 6 or higher, Azir unlocks are flexible
Diana is strong at all points of the game once you unlock her, the only difficulty in the comp is securing her best items and getting Leona 2* with 3 items at a reasonable time.
You really want something that helps secure Leona 2 fast, whether it be dupe augments like Heroic Grab Bag, Team Building, or XP augments like Going Long/Level Up. Oftentimes you will roll on 7 to secure your Leona 2* with 3 items ASAP to unlock Diana.
Lategame, you cap out around Azir unlocks, Seraphine, Diana and whatever useful 5 costs you find. Renekton and Xerath are great as secondary carries, and Nasus can be useful if your frontline is a bit weak.
Items:
Diana items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Titan’s Resolve, Bloodthirster, Artifacts: Seeker’s Armguard, Wit’s End
Renekton items: Bloodthirster, Sterak’s Gage, Titan’s Resolve, Hand of Justice, Quicksilver
Seraphine items: Mana generation, Morellonomicon, Void Staff, AP items
Xerath items: Mana generation, AP items
Swain/Nasus items: Tank items
MEL FAST 9:
Unlock conditions: Mel: Have Ambessa 2* with at least 1 item die in combat, Renekton: Win 2 combats in a row
Mel is honestly pretty bad this patch but this is a comp you can play if you can’t hit Annie 2*!
You play this similarly as if you were to set up for Annie; you need a lot of econ and you usually play with a Yordle opener, but any AP opener works as well. You generally want 1 or 2 econ augments to secure your ability to go 9, but sometimes you can roll heavily on 8 for Ambessa 2 to get Mel instantly. The problem is, Mel is not a unit before 2*, so rolling a lot on 8 can hurt your ability to upgrade her.
Your lategame scales around your various Azir unlocks. Renekton is a fairly simple one to unlock and is great secondary carry this patch, but if you can get to Xerath, he’s a great lategame insurance with his strong ability and charms.
Items:
Mel items: Blue Buff/Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm, AP items
Renekton items: Bloodthirster, Titan’s Resolve, Sterak’s Gage, Quicksilver
Swain/Taric items: Tank items
Shyvana items: Thief’s Gloves
Lucian/Senna items: Spear of Shojin, Infinity Edge, Last Whisper, Anti-Heal
SHADOW ISLES:
Unlock conditions: Yorick: Have at least 3 components on a Viego 2*, unlock the other Shadow Isles units by accumulating enough soul stacks.
Shadow Isles is actually pretty bad this patch, but if you have a strong enough opener, you can get a pretty comfortable top 4 if you can make it to 2* Thresh and perhaps 1 or 2 Artifacts from Ornn.
Look to play this cop if you have an early Viego 2* and a good item to slam to accelerate the early game. I don’t think this comp is worth playing if your opener is not strong, as you really wanna keep your hp high because of your poor late game scaling.
However, if you can reach Thresh 2*, maybe drop Gwen and a Warden for Azir + an Azir unlock 2*, Fiddle 2* and Ornn 2*, you can potentially scale but this requires an absurdly strong early and midgame to get you there.
Items:
Kalista Items: Last Whisper, Striker’s Flail, Mana generation (Blue Buff/Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm/Nashor’s Tooth), Deathblade, Giant Slayer
Thresh items: Bloodthirster/Hand of Justice, Jeweled Gauntlet/Rabadon’s Deathcap, Void Staff, Morellonomicon
Braum/Yorick items: Tank items
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
If you ever get bored of spamming meta stuff you can check out some underrated/sleeper comps and augments here. These are not consistent or top tier in general but in the right circumstances can very well pop off! They might also be fun af, no cap.
Comps:
Augments: