TFT Guide: Everything You Need to Know About the Candyland Comp
By Josh Tyler
A new TFT Guide is here to break down a new Star Guardian variant in Patch 10.9, the Candyland comp.
Patch 10.9 has already given us some pretty wild comps like Space Jam and Mana Printer. But while those have fallen by the wayside, a new strong Teamfight Tactics comp has risen to the top of the ranks. In this TFT guide, we break down the Candyland comp.
What is the Candyland comp?
Core Comp: Poppy, Twisted Fate, Leona, Ahri, Syndra, Zoe
This is a variation of the Star Guardian/Sorcerer comp broken down here by Youtuber Excoundrel, which became popular following the recent nerfs to the Mana Printer comp. This is actually a hyper roll comp (one of the first in Set 3), which relies on getting 3-star copies of Twisted Fate and Poppy.
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It should be noted that, as a hyper roll comp, this comp is especially risky given how strong some of the higher-cost carries are in Set 3. If you do not get ahead on this comp early, you will get outscaled when your enemies get to eight and nine units on the board and items on their 4/5-cost carries.
This comp is also heavily item-dependent. If you do not have good items for your Poppy and/or Twisted Fate by the end of the Krug round (before 3-1), abandon this comp and transition to a different Star Guardian comp (Mana Printer) or Vanguard comp (Jhinguard).
What Are the Key Units and Items?
As noted above, Twisted Fate and Poppy are the two units that you will want to get to 3-stars and the ones you will want to load the items on. Having at least two of Zoe, Ahri, and Syndra to get the Star Guardian synergy is helpful, but it’s not necessary to get six Star Guardians to make this comp work.
Leona should be the initial Vanguard that you build in order to get the buff for Poppy, but you can later swap her for Wukong (gives you both Vanguard and Chrono with TF). If you want to go full Vanguard, just go Poppy, Leona, Jayce, Wukong.
As for items, the only necessary item is Bramble Vest on Poppy. This allows her to deal damage to units around her and frontline forever. Other good items on Poppy are Dragon’s Claw (to help against other Sorcerer comps), Rabadon’s Deathcap (it increases the strength of her shield and lets her survive longer), Warmog’s Armor (lets her heal while that shield is up), or Ionic Spark (increases the damage from your Bramble Vest).
Obviously, any AP or Tear items are going to be good to build on your other Sorcerers, but there isn’t any item that is a full-on necessity. For TF, building Spear of Shojin can be good on him, but it’s not necessary.
When Should You go the Candyland Comp?
You need, need Bramble Vest, so don’t even think about going for this comp if you don’t have at least one Chain Vest by Krugs. This is a hyper roll comp, so you are going to be saving your gold (no spending on re-rolling or leveling before Krugs).
In Stage 2, you want to only buy Poppy, TF, Ahri, and Zoe. If you need room on your bench or to sell a unit to get to the next interest breakpoint, sell them in the reverse of the order I just listed (Zoe, then Ahri, and so on). If you don’t have at least 30 gold after the Krug round (and ideally you should have 50 gold), abandon this comp.
At 3-1, you roll all your gold to see where you land, but on the Krug round I would look around to see how many other people have a 2-star Poppy. If the answer is more than one, reconsider going this comp unless you have superior items to the other players.
If you don’t hit on 3-star Poppy after rolling all your gold on Round 3-1, you can consider transitioning to a comp like Jhinguard, Chrono/Vanguard, or Star Guardians. That’s not ideal, but it’s better than hoping you can hit more Poppys as you’re already behind in levels.
How do You Counter this Comp?
This comp is very hard to stop once it gets rolling, especially if you get the Poppy with strong items. Mech-Pilot comps can do quite well into the Candyland comp because your Mech can deal with Poppy and let your Infiltrators or Sorcerers peel down the rest of her squad.
Next. TFT Guide for Beginners Part 1, the Basics. dark
Mystics can help to mitigate the damage this comp outputs, since most likely you will have Sorcerers and the Bramble Vest does magic damage. Any heavy CC units (Ashe, Lux, Zoe, Blitzcrank) that can disrupt Poppy so she cannot get her shield back up will also help in fighting her.