TFT Patch Notes: The Five Biggest Changes Coming in Patch 10.21

We break down all the changes coming to Teamfight Tactics in Patch 10.21 including big nerfs to the Shades.

TFT Set 4 rolls on in Patch 10.21 with a bevy of new changes to the traits in TFT: Fates. Shades are getting buffed, new tiers of Vanguard and Moonlight are being added, and big changes are coming to the champion shop. With all these changes, it’s tough to pick just five that are the most important from the latest TFT patch notes, but we will do our best!

1. Shop Mechanics Have Changed

"Removed the Fates change to the shop that prohibited unbought champions from repeating in consecutive shops.Modified the Chosen appearance rate to reduce some of the worst luck cases and streakiness.You are now guaranteed to see at least one Chosen by 2-2."

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For those unaware, at the start of Set 4, Riot adjusted the shop mechanic so that if you did not buy a unit in your shop, it was guaranteed not to appear in the next shop. This made strategies like slow rolling much stronger, because you were guaranteed to get the units you are looking for earlier, when the champion pool of the shop is smaller.

Now, that mechanic is gone, which greatly hurts meta comps like Zed/Shades (which are also getting a slight change that is probably an overall slight nerf), Moonlight (which was incredibly strong so thank God), and Duelists.

The Chosen mechanic change in Patch 10.21 is huge, because you should almost always be putting out that 2-star unit when you can find them. Now, everyone will have the option to put out at least one of them.

2. Cultists Scale Better

"Each star level of your cultists will grant Galio +12% bonus Health and Attack Damage. For example, three 1-star Cultists will grant Galio +36% bonus HP and AD.Galio Base Health: 1600/3800/6666 ⇒ 1000/1750/2500Galio Base Attack Damage: 125/400/1000 ⇒ 80/180/400"

Cultists have been a comp that you just sort of smash into your comp when it fits (like throwing Aatrox, Zilean, and Evelyn) in with a Dusk comp because it gives you an extra frontline unit with CC. Now, it might actually matter how strong your Cultist units are because the higher star levels of those units, the more HP and AD your Galio will get.

Naturally, this comes at the cost of his base AD and HP, so if you just stick three 1-star Cultists out there, Galio will be net weaker than before. You won’t break even in terms of the past AD and HP until you hit five star levels for your Cultists (so at least two 2-stars or just one 3-star). This means, if you’re throwing Zilean and Aatrox out there at 1-star, you’re probably sacrificing some power.

3. Divine Gets a Rework

"Rework: Upon attacking 6 times or dropping below 50% health, Divine units remove all crowd control and ascend, taking 66% reduced damage and dealing 50% bonus true damage for the duration of the ascension.2 Divine: 4 seconds4 Divine: 7 seconds6 Divine: 10 seconds8 Divine: 14 seconds"

On the surface, like with the Cultists change in TFT Patch 10.21, this makes smashing Divines (like adding Lee Sin/Jax into Duelists or Warwick/Lux into Elderwoods) less powerful. Now Divines don’t get the damage reduction and true damage for the remainder of combat.

However, Divines now get much more damage reduction (25% to 66%) and more true damage (20% to 50%) even if you’re smashing them. I think this overall makes Divines not only better to smash (particularly champions like Jax and Warwick) but it might make a 4 Divine comp a bit more worthwhile. Overall, this is a buff to Divines even at the 2 Divine level because of the increased power.

4. Moonlight Buffed but Worse

If this seems a bit confusing, let’s examine both the buffs to the Moonlight trait as well as the champion changes that hurt it so badly.

"Moonlight (5) now exists: Stars up the lowest 2 champions.Diana Orbs: 4/5/6/10 ⇒ 4/5/6/9Aphelios’ turrets now stop firing when Aphelios is disabled"

So, Riot buffed the trait itself so that if you have 5 Moonlight (meaning all four Moonlight units with one as Chosen) your two lowest-star champions are “starred up.” The problem is that is a massive investment you’re making early (meaning, if you don’t get super lucky hitting Moonlights early this is going to require you to roll down hard) plus, you’re probably not really caring about the second champion who gets starred up.

Previously, Moonlight made sense because if you had a 2-star Aphelios, Diana, and Sylas, you could get your carry to 3-stars. Now, which of those would you want to also star up (and remember, you’ll also have to include Lissandra in your comp) along with Aphelios who was just nerfed?

Next. An Updated Guide to Slow Roll in Set 4. dark

Diana is the logical choice, but she just got nerfed at 4-stars. Sylas is good as a tank option, but I’m just not sure you would want to invest that heavily to get a 4-star Sylas unless he’s super overtuned. And, let’s not forget, this also requires you to have Lissandra in your comp who is terrible, takes up a slot on your board, and you will have to level up so that you can star up an actual good unit. All in all, 3 Moonlight is probably worse just based on the nerfs to Diana and Aphelios and 5 Moonlight is probably just not going to be a thing.

5. ZZ’Rot Item Changes

"ZZ’Rot Portal now taunts all nearby enemies at the start of combat to the wearer for 2 secondsZZ’Rot Portal Construct Attack Damage: 70 ⇒ 150"

There are a lot of massive changes to items in TFT Patch 10.21, including Luden’s Echo now amplifying damage on crowd controlled units and QSS’s spell shield now lasting 10 seconds (down from 12). In my opinion, though, this is the biggest change because it makes Zz’Rot a much more viable item for frontline tanks. In particular, the taunt at the start of combat is huge because it takes some heat off your squishier carries.

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