Esports
Learn from Cloud9’s Khroen and k3soju what it takes to compete against the very best in the world of TFT.
It’s easy to blame luck if you play a few bad rounds of Teamfight Tactics and start falling down the ranked ladder. There is certainly a luck-based element to TFT, but you also need a lot of skill, especially in order to climb to the top and possibly make it to the finals of Red Bull M.E.O. Season 3 later this year.
There’s no better evidence of this than professional players, especially those who have been at the pinnacle since the game was released last year. Khalif ‘Khroen’ Hashim and Michael ‘k3soju’ Zhang, two of Cloud9’s pro players, have consistently ranked among the best in the world, so we asked them what sets them apart from the rest.
Preparation is key
First of all, you need to stay ahead of the competition by being more prepared. The game is forever changing as new things get added and others get balanced. The pros will be reading the upcoming patch notes and already be formulating strategies in their mind.
“You can already tell what’s going to be good, unless they do a huge patch,” says k3soju. If a lot is getting changed, it all comes down to practice and experience. Top players will be playing many hours a day to stay at their best and make sure they’re not falling behind on any new compositions that arise.
“The meta evolves as in different level timings and optimal compositions, but the general mechanics of the game have been the same between balancing your board, the bench and your items," he adds. So, once you have the basics down, improvement is just around the corner if you’re willing to put in time to learn the best tactics on each patch.
K3soju came to TFT from Dota Auto Chess, so already had a good understanding of the way auto battlers work, however he admits even he will have to do some research if results aren’t going his way. He says: “I watch Twitch streams when I’m underperforming on a given patch.”
Tournaments need tournament experience
Of course, playing at the top level is different to your average ladder game of TFT. Pros will often find themselves coming up against familiar faces and so can plan around that.
“Playing in tournaments is different from playing on ladder,” says Khroen. "But not because of the quality of players in the game. On ladder, I’m often facing the same players I’m playing with in tournaments. I think one of the major differences is how to approach a round of a tournament that spans four or five games, as opposed to a singular ladder game.”
In a standard competitive game, you’ll gain or lose ranking based on your placement. If you come in the top four out of the eight players, you’ll generally gain ranking, and if you come in the bottom four you’ll lose ranking.
Before tournaments I will often look through the recent match history of my opponents to see what compositions they’ve been running
“A lot of players will play with a ‘first or eighth’ approach, which, if you’re getting first more often than eighth, you’ll climb on the ladder,” Khroen explains. “But, that’s very risky for tournament play with a limited number of games. I personally heavily prefer a more consistent top four playstyle and I think that has led me to reaching the finals of either every, or almost every single tournament that I’ve competed in, since the inception of TFT. As long as it has a format that doesn’t eliminate you for one bottom-four placement.”
If you do end up playing in tournaments, you’ll not only need to know the current meta inside-out, you’ll also want to get to know your opponents beforehand too.
“Before tournaments I will often look through the recent match history of my opponents to see what compositions they’ve been running,” says Khroen. “If there’s a lack of a certain composition being played, I may decide to lean towards trying to play it myself, as I would assume it wouldn’t be very contested, if even contested at all.”
You make your own luck
Teamfight Tactics has a luck-based element to it as the random shop might not give you the champions you need to improve your composition. However, k3soju has no sympathy for those who blame their losses entirely on the roll of the dice.
“Over 100 games, the better player will always have a higher placement,” he says. “Anyone who says they’re low elo because of luck is bad. What sets professional players apart is consistency. Almost all consistently high ranked players have been recognised and picked up from a professional organisation other than a few exceptions.”
That said, k3soju knows that on the rare occasion, you can simply get unlucky, and sometimes that might ruin a whole tournament for a pro.
“Tournaments have a lot of variance assuming they invited strong contenders,” he says. “Your edge over another player’s skill only shows in ladder where hundreds of games are played for your placement. Tournaments only have a set amount of games, and though there is a lot of skill expression in TFT, there are ways to get unlucky to ruin an entire tournament’s performance.”
Anyone who says they’re low elo because of luck is bad
K3soju’s parting piece of advice to players looking to improve is to “not dwell on getting unlucky, when there are infinite mistakes every game that can be optimised".
Just like any other game, practice makes perfect and there are resources out there that can help you improve if you’re willing to do the research. Put in enough time and you could also eventually reach top tier tournaments like Cloud9’s Teamfight Tactics maestros.
Show the world how good you are at Teamfight Tactics: sign up to compete in Red Bull M.E.O. Season 3 now.
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