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Teamfight Tactics has quite a few terms that get thrown around by veteran players. For new players looking to learn the language, we’ve collected a few key terms you should know.
While Teamfight Tactics does a great job of explaining some of its terminology, some terms are confusing and hard to find explanations for. Let’s go through a few aspects of TFT and explore the terminology you should learn so that next time you’re watching a stream, you’ll understand what they’re talking about!
01
Team Comps
One of the first things some players will do before they even queue up for a game is try and find out what kind of unit compositions are good. Once they start looking around, they’ll likely find some terms that are used to describe the style of each team that may seem unfamiliar. Here’s some of the most common terms you’ll hear:
Vertical Comp
A vertical comp refers to a team composition focusing on champions that all have one specific trait, requiring a high number of champions with the trait to really be effective. In set 10, a great example of this is K/DA where your final composition will likely feature all 7 champions that have the K/DA trait.
Horizontal Comp
A horizontal comp refers to a team composition that takes advantage of multiple traits and is typically well rounded as a result. These comps are usually very flexible and allow the player to change things up on the fly as needed, but lack the same peak strength as a vertical comp could provide.
Fast 7/8/9
A comp focusing on this means that the player is looking to level up and gain access to higher tier champions before the rest of the lobby is able to. These types of compositions usually require a strong early economy to work but, when it does, players will have a massive advantage.
Hyper Roll
A team comp that focuses on hyper roll means that the player will build up as much gold as possible and, at a certain point, they’ll spend as much of it as possible to rank up key champions in their composition (usually be the main carry). Overall, hyper roll comps rely on a lot of luck and, if a player fails to fully rank up their main champions, they’ll usually find themselves being eliminated soon after. Sometimes, these types of comps may also be referred to as reroll comps instead
Slow Roll
A comp focused on slow rolling means that, once the player hits a certain level, they’ll simply spend their money to reroll each turn while maintaining at least 50 gold to continue receiving the maximum amount of gold from interest (5) each round.
02
Champion-related terms
Apart from learning about the team comps themselves, there are also a few terms you should know when it comes to the champions.
Champion Pool
The available copies of a specific champion that remains during the game. The amount of champions available in the pool depends on what tier the champion is, with tier 1 champions having 22 copies in the pool, tier 2 with 20, tier 3 with 17, tier 4 with 10, and finally tier 5 with 9.
BIS
An acronym for “best in slot” which refers to the best items for each champion. Typically, when talking about a champion’s BIS, the player will be referring to the three items that make up the ideal loadout for that champion.
Item Holder
A champion, typically one that is a lower tier, that players will stick items onto that are meant for their late game carries..
Splashable
A champion or a group of champions that can be thrown into any team comp and still be effective with little to no investment. A great example of this is in set 10 is the Superfan trio of Kennen, Lillia, and Neeko.
03
Items
While there aren’t really any special terms players will use for items, there are a few items that will get shortened or abbreviated, with quite a few being carryovers from League of Legends.
Spat
The shortened term for spatula, which players will use to describe most of the items the spatula builds into (Emo spat, Punk spat, K/DA spat, etc.).
FON
The abbreviation for Force of Nature, the item that was built by combining 2 spatulas. While the item has since been renamed into Tactician’s Crown, you’ll likely still see some players refer to it as FON from time to time.
EON
The abbreviation for Edge of Night, the item that’s built by combining B.F. Sword and a Chain Vest.
IE
The abbreviation for Infinity Edge, the item that’s built by combining B.F. Sword and Sparring Gloves
JG
The abbreviation for Jeweled Gauntlet, the item that’s built by combining a Needlessly Large Rod and Sparring Gloves
QSS
The abbreviation for Quicksilver, the item that’s built by combining Negatron Cloak and Sparring Gloves.
RB
The abbreviation for Red Buff, the item that’s built by combining 2 Recurve Bows
BB
The abbreviation for Blue Buff, the item that’s build by combining 2 Tear of the Goddesses
04
In-game terms
When you watch a streamer play the game, you’ll likely hear a lot of terms thrown around to describe what they’re about to do.
Contested
When a champion or the team comp you’re planning on playing is also being used by another player in the lobby, which means you two are competing for the same champions.
Cash Out
When a player decides to receive the rewards offered by some traits. In Set 10, the trait that offered cash outs was the Heartsteel trait which allowed the player to either take their reward immediately or raise the stakes and attempt to improve their cash out.
Slamming items
Giving your champions items early on to have a strong power spike in order to increase your chances to win the earlier rounds.
Roll down
When a player spends all of his gold rerolling their shop to find a certain champion.
Open Sell
When a player sells a champion that’s currently on their board. This is a risky move that is done when the player is planning on fully committing to transitioning to another team comp in the middle of the game.
Open forting
Intentionally losing the first few rounds of the game in order to ensure a loss streak bonus and a better pick order for the first carousel. This is usually done by selling all your units in order to automatically lose every player vs player round.
Donkey rolling
When a player uses all their gold each round rerolling their shop instead of saving it up and building up an economy.
High roll
When a player gets really lucky and they either get all the champions they need from the shop or augments that compliments their team comp really well
Low roll
When a player gets unlucky and doesn’t find the champions they need in their shop or just find really bad augments even after rerolling them.
No Scout No Pivot
A term used by players who only play one team comp without checking if other players are contesting the comp as well. The term was popularized in Set 3 with the Mech-Pilot trait.
Mortdogged
This term is named after the lead designer for TFT, Mortdog, and has become a common phrase used by players when they’re getting unlucky during the game.
It’s an 8th
When a game has gone wrong and they feel like they’re going to quickly lose the game.
