League of Legends: Teamfight Tactics Patch 9.19 breakdown – Sparring Gloves and Kai’Sa hit the arena
By Josh Tyler
With new items and a new unit coming from League of Legends to Teamfight Tactics, how will the TFT meta shift with Patch 9.19?
A new League of Legends patch means a new patch for Teamfight Tactics, and 9.19 will likely prove to be a doozy. New items and a new champion all in one patch are sure to completely change which strategies are most viable. Read on to learn more about Kai’Sa and all the new items building out of the Sparring Gloves!
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Kai’Sa
"Origin: Void Class 1: Ranger Class 2: Assassin Cost: 5 Health: 700 Armor: 20 Attack Damage: 55 Attack Speed: 1.25 Starting/Total Mana: 50/125 Ability – Killer Instinct: Kai’Sa dashes to the furthest enemy unit, shielding herself for (300/600/900) and gaining (30%/60%/90%) attack speed for 3 seconds."
We discussed what the introduction of Kai’Sa means to TFT here but I think it’s very interesting to have a Ranger/Assassin hybrid in the game. She also adds another late-game Void (to go along with Cho’Gath) so now I think void comps tend to scale a lot better.
New Items
Sparring Gloves
"New Component: Gives +10% Critical Strike chance and +10% chance to Dodge chance. When building an item out of Sparring Gloves, the item will convert its core stats to either the offensive (20% Critical Strike chance), defensive (20% Dodge chance) option. Thief’s Gloves and Mittens get both."
Infinity Edge
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + B.F. Sword Stats: 20% Critical Strike chance Effect: +150% Critical Strike damage"
Repeating Crossbow
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Recurve Bow Effect: On death, this jumps to an allied champion and grants an additional 20% Attack Speed & Critical Strike chance."
Jeweled Gauntlet
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Needlessly Large Rod Effect: Your spells can crit"
Hand of Justice
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Tear of the Goddess Effect: On round start, either gain 40% more damage or 40 life on hit."
Iceborn Gauntlet
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Chain Vest Effect: On dodge, create an expandable zone that lowers Attack Speed by 35%."
Quicksilver
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Negatron Cloak Effect: When CC’d, cleanse the CC. 5 second cooldown."
Trap Claw
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Giant’s Belt Effect: On combat begin, gain a spell shield. When it breaks, stun the champion who broke the shield."
Thief’s Gloves
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Sparring Gloves Effect: This item takes all three item slots. On round begin, copy two random items."
Mittens
"Recipe: Sparring Gloves + Spatula Effect: This champ also counts as a Yordle"
Deathblade
"Recipe: B.F. Sword + B.F. Sword Effect: On a kill or assist, gain an additional 15 Attack Damage until end of combat (Stacks infinitely)."
Giant Slayer
"Recipe: B.F. Sword + Recurve Bow Effect: Attacks deal an additional 5% enemy max Health as True Damage."
We previewed the Sparring Glove items as well when they first dropped onto the PBE. Generally, though, the RNG that is being brought to Teamfight Tactics by these items can be quite problematic. Some of the stats may have changed since the PBE, a few item names have changed (Arcane Gauntlet has been replaced by the Jeweled Gauntlet, Lord’s Edge with Deathblade, Last Whisper with Giant Slayer, and Backhand with Trap Claw), but generally the overarching points are the same.
Systems
Player Damage Adjustments
"With the loot changes, we’ve noticed a slight acceleration in game speed leading to players going out much quicker than we intend. So we’re lowering player damage slightly. 1 Star, Tier 2: 2 ⇒ 1 2 Star, Tier 2: 3 ⇒ 2 3 Star, Tier 1: 4 ⇒ 3 3 Star, Tier 2: 5 ⇒ 4 3 Star Tier 3: 6 ⇒ 5"
Games have tended to snowball and end much quicker, but frankly, I’m okay with that. Maybe it was worth adjusting early, but I don’t like the idea that in the late game it’s going to take that much longer to take out enemies.
Mystery Box System Adjustments
"The new system has been a positive addition to the game, but needs some fine tuning, so we’re making a few adjustments. – Common boxes average gold value decreased. – Uncommon boxes average gold value decreased very slightly. – Slightly lowered the odds of Gold Boxes showing up. – Tier 4 units can no longer drop from Uncommon boxes. – Slightly increased the odds of Neeko’s Help dropping from all boxes"
I think all the balancing changes on how item boxes drop items make sense (Common Boxes should be much worse than Uncommon Boxes). I’m actually quite happy that they’re increasing the odds of getting Neeko’s Help. I think it’s a fantastic addition to TFT because it gives players more opportunities to control their strategy that are less RNG-reliant.