Kai'Sa joins TFT for patch 9.19 along with other buffs, nerfs

Syed Mujtaba Naqvi Published 27/09/2019

The latest patch to Teamfight Tactics has added Kai’Sa, new base item, balance changes, and improvements.

League of Legends patch 9.19, with its long list of balance changes, has also implemented various changes to TFT, including adding new champion Kai’Sa, making minor changes to more than 20 champions, and adding various gameplay improvements.

Kai’Sa joins TFT champions

The TFT version of Kai’Sa is a new 5-cost champion. She belongs to the Void origin and is classified as a Ranger and Assassin. Kai’Sa’s Killer Instinct ability allows her to dash to the furthest enemy unit, giving her a shield blocking up to 300/600/900 damage, and adding 30%/60%/90% attack speed for three seconds. She has 700 health, 20 armor, 55 attack damage, 1.25 attack speed, and 50/125 starting/total mana.

Just like most other champions upon release, Kai’Sa might quickly become one of the game’s favored picks. Even at the highest level of cost, Kai’Sa’s potential damage output might turn the tables on her opponents.

Adjustments to traits, player damage, and mystery box

With the patch going live, the traits of origins and some classes have been changed with minor updates.

Dragons’ magic reduction has been lowered to 75% while Yordles’ dodge chance is increased to 30%/60%/90%, Assassins gain a lower crit chances, and Ninjas have higher damage. Nobles now heal for 30 on hit, while Shapeshifters gain less bonus health.

The Glacial stun duration has been lowered to 1.5 seconds, but the stun chance has been increased to 20/33/50 to compensate.

Rangers’ chances to double attack speed have also been lowered, as Riot is looking to weaken this class overall.

To make sure Void’s power doesn’t become too much with the addition of Kai’Sa, and to open the origin towards a greater variety of builds, having two Void champions now grants one of them true damage, while having four will grant true damage to all of them.

Player damage has been slightly lowered across some tiers to slow down the speed of the game.

Riot felt the mystery box system needed tuning, so the developer has slightly decreased the average gold value of common boxes, lowered the chances of gold boxes appearing, but increased Nekko’s drop rates in all boxes. Additionally, tier four units now can’t drop from uncommon boxes.

Patch 9.19 nerfs Gnar, Swain, buffs Anivia, Miss Fortune, and more

To make Mordekaiser’s start of the round more impactful, his mana and spell damage have been considerably increased to 50/150 and 250/500/750, respectively. Braum and Ashe have also gotten their mana increased.

More minor stat buffs were implemented to Tristana and Veigar’s spell damage, Yasuo’s health, Blitzcrank’s health and ability damage, and Rek’Sai, Akali, Jinx, and Kindred’s attack speed.

Katarina now deals more damage per tick, and Vi has more spell damage along with having more health.

Volibear has gotten health and attack speed buffs, but his damage has been lowered.

Anivia’s stats were slightly buffed so that she would perform as well as is expected from a five-cost unit. Similar to Anivia, Miss Fortune received the stat buff she needed to be a strong attacker, and her ability targeting was switched to better prioritize her furthest target.

The opposite has happened to Kassadin, who has shown to be too problematic and needed some of his damage taken away. He does now have higher armor and shield power, though.

Sejuani’s stun now lasts for a shorter duration, but she has a bit more health to make up for it. Swain has also gotten nerfed, with lessened damage and heals per tick. Moreover, Gnar’s health has been decreased in both forms, and so has Shyvana’s burn damage.

Patch 9.19 adds Sparring Gloves, updates a number of items

The patch updated a number of TFT items. Sparring Gloves is a new base item that gives critical strike and dodge chance, and converts to either 20% crit chance or 20% dodge chance when made into an item. Sparring Gloves is used in recipes for Infinity Edge, Repeating Crossbow, Jeweled Gauntlet, Hand of Justice, Iceborn Gauntlet, Quicksilver, Trap Claw, Thief’s Gloves, and Mittens.

Thief’s Gloves, an item made from two Sparring Gloves which takes all three of a champion’s item slots, will copy two random items at the beginning of a round.

When equipped, Infinity Edge gives a 20% crit chance and 150% critical strike damage, ideal for new addition Kai’Sa’s burst potential. Repeating Crossbow will make the champion jump on its opponent upon death, granting additional attack speed and crit chance. Jeweled Gauntlet will allow champions’ spells to deal crit damage.

Hand of Justice will bring players a stronger start, as it gives either 40% more damage or 40 life on hit at the round start. Once a champion dodges an attack, Iceborne Gauntlet will create an expandable zone lowering the attack speed of everyone in it by 35%. Similar to the version of Quicksilver Sash found on Summoner’s Rift, the TFT version of Quicksilver Sash will cleanse crowd control effects.

Once combat begins, Trap Claw will gain a spell shield that stuns the opponent that takes it down. Equipping Mittens will make any champion count as a Yordle.

Deathblade, which is built from two B.F. Swords, will give an additional 15 attack damage for every kill and assist, stacking until the end of combat. A champion equipped with Giant Slayer will deal 5% of the enemy’s max health as true damage, which might make it one of the most wanted items in the game for its high damage output.

Item changes also come with decreased magic reduction for Dragon’s Claw and decreased crit damage for Infinity Edge, a greater attack speed slow for Frozen Heart, and a change making Rapidfire Cannon’s attack dodgeable. Titanic Hydra now deals 3% of the its target’s maximum health and spreads to enemies behind it.

The patch also implemented various bug fixes. Full notes are available here.

Syed Mujtaba Naqvi

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