SCOUTING GUIDE
Oftentimes you may look at other boards, but do you really know what kind of information you’re trying to gather? If you know how to do it properly, you can gain an advantage over your opponents! In this guide I will explain the basics and the nuances of scouting.
Why do we want to scout?
Before we get into specifics, scouting in general can help you gain an advantage against your immediate opponents. Since you mostly have potentially 3-4 opponents at any given time, you can use that info to see what is the best positioning to gain an edge.
(insert me scouting and moving main tank clip)
Here, as you can see I’m looking at my guaranteed possible opponents because of the crosses under their names. I see that 2 out of 3 are on the ___ side and I move my main tank to the ___ so that they can target him first. This way, they’re stuck on the tank as my other units stay alive to do their job. This is one example of how scouting can give me a small but noticeable advantage.
There are many other similar types of advantages you can get from scouting, but let’s talk about scouting at different points in the game.
Early game
Early game, we want to scout to find out what team comps our opponents are playing and what augments they took. You can oftentimes predict what team comps players will opt into due to the units they’re playing in Stage 2 (aka Kog’Maw + Nunu = high likelyhood of playing Kog’Maw reroll). However, the more important thing to note is what items your opponents have, as the components you have frequently guide your direction for the game.
Another thing to look out for is what augments people take. If you’re trying to lose streak and you see someone take the augment Fortune Favors the Bold, you may consider not playing any units at all in Stage 2 in case you face them. Since you’re lose streaking early game anyways, might as well try to break their lose streak!
(Insert example of me scouting Stage 2)
Here, I’m gathering information to see what comps are available and how many people are looking to play the comp I want to play. I’m also opting for a ____ streak so I need to see how strong/weak my opponents are!
Mid game
What I consider to be mid game is Stage 3-2 to the end of Stage 4. Here, players usually finalize their direction for the game and have their comps set in stone. Scouting will allow you to see if you can force the comp you want or pivot. For example, if you see there are 2 other players playing your comp, you can consider pivoting to another comp that uses similar carry items unless the meta’s really unbalanced (Syndra).
It can also affect the way you build your items. If you see the lobby is Heavy AP, then you can take Negatron Cloak off Stage 3 Carousel and build Dragon’s Claw to soft counter AP comps.
If you see there’s a lot of bursty comps and you’re playing a melee fighter comp, you can prioritize Edge of Night to add safety for your carry. These are just examples of how scouting can affect your decision making if you’re gathering relevant info!
Late game
In the lategame, scouting becomes much more important. This is because having good positioning can make or break a fight, and that could be potentially lots of HP saved!
There are general rules to follow for positioning that you should check out here (link positioning guide).
As previously discussed, scouting can give you an edge. Besides putting your main tank on the same side as enemy carries, you can do other things as well if you’ve gathered info.
For example, if you’re playing Kassadin Reroll, you oftentimes don’t want to put Kassadin right in front of their main carry because then he just dies in 8 seconds. If their carry is on the right side, you’d want to move Kassadin to the middle or opposite side to avoid getting immediately targeted!
(insert a clip of me doing stuff late game cause scouted)\
Here, I
Final thoughts
Scouting is not mandatory by any means but if you’re trying to become a better TFT player, it definitely is worth considering, especially if you want to break past the Masters rank. It’s just another tool that, if used effectively, can give you lots of LP in the long run!