LAST UPDATED: 5/26/2026

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 17.2

PLAYSTYLE:

THE META SEEMS TO BE A MIX OF AND LEVEL 8/9. FAST 9 WINS OUT A LOT OF LOBBIES, SO THE IDEA IS IF YOU CAN’T GO STRAIGHT TO 9 YOU MUST STABILIZE ON LEVEL 8 AND THEN TRY TO GO 9. HOWEVER, CORKI IS THE BEST LEVEL 8 COMP FOLLOWED BY DARK STAR AURELION SOL AND MASTER YI. REROLL COMPS ARE MAINLY HERO AUGMENTS, LULU OR MISS FORTUNE + VIKTOR.

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:

CORKI RIVEN:

Corki is incredibly strong this patch, and this is the most reliable level 8 comp in the game by a long shot.

In the context of the current patch I think going for Corki as a default option as long as you have AD style components is the move. Because the comp stabilizes hard on level 8 for cheap, you can play it from any spot, even a heavy lose streak. This reliability alone makes it a high S tier comp as it is super consistent in top 4-ing.

If you have AD components, especially sword, you should look to either: play your strongest AD board if you have upgraded units, or look for either Primordian or Timebreaker early to start building your econ so that you can more reliably hit your 2* 4 costs on level 8.

Your capout on 9 is usually Shen to replace Poppy and Bard to fulfill 5 Meeple. Because of this though, this comp doesn’t cap super super high but can still get top 2s pretty easily.

Corki items: Deathblade, Last Whisper, Striker’s Flail, Giant Slayer, Gold Collector (Artifact), Silvermere Dawn (Artifact – must pair with Blue Buff), Infinity Edge

Rammus items: Gargoyle Stoneplate, Warmog’s Armor, Protector’s Vow, Steadfast Heart, Crownguard

Riven items: Bloodthirster/Hand of Justice, Quicksilver/Edge of Night, Sterak’s Gage, Infinity Edge, Giant Slayer

S- TIER:

FAST 9 VEX VANGUARD:

This is one of the highest cap comps if you can hit level 9 and 2* all of your 5 cost units.

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. Ideally, when you have a great AP opener, you look to play for this comp. Because Vex is a lot more reliable of an AP carry than Bard or Sona, you have to be mindful to make at least 1 Guinsoo’s Rageblade or even a Quicksilver eventually as Vex scales heavily off attack speed.

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. You really need to hit EVERYTHING to match strong Corki boards, strong reroll comps and other fast 9 boards. Plus, since Vex is a key unit in a lot of fast 9 variants, getting the extra econ is really helpful in increasing your chances of 2*ing her before others do.

Items:

Vex items: Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet, Giant Slayer, Hextech Gunblade, Archangel’s Staff, Quicksilver

Bard/Sona items: Blue Buff/Spear of Shojin/Adaptive Helm/Nashor’s Tooth, Void Staff, Morellonomicon, AP items

Nunu items: Protector’s Vow, Tank items

Blitzcrank items: Thief’s Gloves, Crownguard, Jeweled Gauntlet, Edge of Night, Hand of Justice, Quicksilver, Giant Slayer

FAST 9 AATROX + AKALI:

This is another variant of fast 9, this is something you should look to play if you have a lot of Fiora/Graves/AD items because it’s harder to fit these units in the Vanguard variant.

If you have a good spot to go fast 9, aka high HP and/or econ, you consider this comp if you have AD/hybrid damage items. The reason for this is because Marauder and Bastion are easily slotted in with Aatrox and Akali, and the fact that you don’t have to build Shred/Sunder helps a lot with your mixed damage type carries.

This variant is a lot easier to play into from a Primordian/Timebreaker opener because it’s extremely flexible and has primarily AD carries so the transition into AD fast 9 is seamless.

Starting middle of Stage 3, you have to keep at least 1 Aatrox and 1 Akali on your bench because it will be exceedingly difficult to find them at level 9 during your panic rolldown!

If you can’t find Vex, sometimes Jhin/Bard/Sona can carry her items until you find her.

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

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:

DARK STAR:

This comp is only really good if you have the Dark Star emblem. Otherwise, you’re going to have to pray for Jhin on level 8 and just isn’t as good as if you have the Emblem on Aurelion Sol.

As mentioned, only look to play this comp if you get a Dark Star Emblem either from augments or boons. In my opinion, the AP variant is far superior to the AD variant this patch. That’s because Aurelion Sol does way more damage in this comp than something like Riven + Kai’Sa. Plus, Riven is way too contested with the Corki players.

Considering this I would look to play strongest AP opener, playing around Lissandra and Shepherd early game until you get to Aurelion Sol. Aurelion Sol really likes pure non-mana regenerative items like Rabadon’s Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet and Archangel’s Staff.

The point is to hard stabilize on level 8, then go 9 for Jhin + Blitzcrank

Items:

Aurelion Sol items: Rabadon’s Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet, Archangel’s Staff, Void Staff

Karma items: Void Staff, Morellonomicon, Spear of Shojin

Tahm Kench/Nunu/Mighty Mech items: Tank items

Jhin items: Infinity Edge, Last Whisper, Deathblade, Hextech Gunblade, Giant Slayer

MISS FORTUNE REROLL:

This is a 3 cost reroll comp

You should look to play this if you have a lot of early MFs/Viktors. You can also play it if you have good econ augments like Heroic Grab Bag. A lot of times you look to play this with an early MF/Viktor.

You need to constantly check to see if anyone’s contesting your comp.

You need to stabilize at 3-5 on level 7 if you are very rich and/or have a lot of free rerolls from something like Calculated Loss. Without extra resources, a lot of times you’ll roll at 4-1 to get 2* units. It’s important at these stages to not always greed 50g because you’ll take free losses if you greed too much money.

After you stabilize, you should build your econ and slowroll above 50g for 3* units.

Miss Fortune items: Spear of Shojin, Infinity Edge, Deathblade, Last Whisper, Giant Slayer

Viktor items: Rabadon’s Deathcap, Archangel’s Staff, Jeweled Gauntlet, Giant Slayer, Void Staff

LULU REROLL:

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:

1. You have a 1 giga econ augment or 2 medium ones
2. 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

Unlock conditions: none

BARD BRUISERS REROLL:

A 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.

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.

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.

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

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: