TFT Guide: An Updated Guide to Slow Roll in Set 4

We are providing an update to our TFT guide about the slow roll leveling strategy here in Set 4.

And now we come to the full breakdown of the strategy for slow rolling in Set 4. As a reminder, you should be looking to acquire your primary carry (or carries) first and avoid leveling until you hit your needed 3-star units.

Stages 1 and 2

Level normally (hitting Level 4 at Round 2-3) and make sure to econ as best as you can. You should be aiming to hit at least 10g banked by the start of combat (Round 2-1) and 20g by the first Carousel (Round 2-3).

Because slow rolling revolves around slightly higher-cost units, you should buy some strong early game units so that you don’t lose too much HP in these early rounds as you’re saving income. In fact, it’s probably better to skip the 1-cost units that might fit your end game comp if it means picking up a strong early unit or hitting an interest breakpoint. Some strong early comps you can run as you econ in these early stages include:

Cultists (Twisted Fate, Elise, Pyke)
Warlords (Nidalee, Garen, Vi/Jarvan)
Enlightened/Duelists (Fiora, Yasuo, Janna)
Moonlight (Diana, Lissandra, Aphelios)
Vanguards (Garen, Wukong, Hecarim)

Stages 2 and 3

If you’re leveling naturally (which you should be unless you’re win-streaking early and want to spend at Rounds 2-2 or 2-3 to preserve that streak), you should hit Level 5 at the start of Stage 3. Once you hit Level 5, you will not spend gold on experience at all.

Instead, you will econ as best as possible (meaning sell units to maximize your interest each round while also keeping units you need for your comp) to hit 50 gold. Once you hit that 50g threshold, you spend any and all interest each round buying units and re-rolling. Again, make sure to keep your interest up as high as possible (above 50g).

Stage 4

At Round 4-1, you are going to aggressively roll your gold looking for those 3-star units. Make sure to leave yourself enough gold that you can spend experience to level and hit Level 6 right before combat starts. You’ll then repeat the process for Stage 3 of econing to 50g and only spending your interest.

As to how much gold you should spend at Round 4-1, it depends on how you have been doing in those early Rounds. If you’ve kept your health relatively high (over 70 HP), you can be a bit greedier and only roll down to 30g or so. This will let you econ back to 50g much quicker and have more chances to roll for those higher-cost units.

If, however, your health pool is very low (sub 50 HP), I would recommend that you aggressively roll (like only leaving yourself 10g). At this point, you either need to hit your 3-stars now or switch up your strategy to level aggressively. Basically, if you’re this low of HP and you don’t hit your 3-stars when you roll down at 4-1, abandon the slow roll strategy and play to hit Level 8 as soon as possible.

Stage 5

You’re going to repeat the same process at Round 5-1 that you did in Round 4-1 (roll down and then spend to level up to Level 7). Use the 60/40 HP breakpoints as your guide to let you know how much to roll down (to 30g or 10g).

Now that you’re at Level 7, you’re going to again econ to 50g and spend interest to get your needed 3-star units. However, at this point you should have hit them, know that you cannot hit them (because another player has them and he won’t be dying soon), or be very close to hitting them. Once you hit or know you cannot hit the 3-stars you need, that will be the point that you spend all your gold to level up to 8.

On the other hand, if you ever get to sub-20 HP (at any point, this applies before Stage 5 as well), you have to abandon the slow roll, roll down as much gold as you can and then level to 8 (or the next level if you weren’t Level 7). Stage 5 is all about keeping your econ up so that when hit those 3-stars you immediately level.