TFT Guide: Why Brawlywood is a Staple Comp of Set 4

Our first TFT Guide of Set 4 breaks down one of the staples of TFT: Fates, the Brawlywood comp.

With the start of a brand new Teamfight Tactics set, it often takes a little while to get your feet under you and start to recognize which comps are going to be consistent staples of the Set. Brawlywood, a Elderwood/Brawler comp, has stood out as being a fairly simple, flexible, and consistent comp which should be at least viable going forward absent any major changes. As a result, it will be the subject of our first TFT Guide in Set 4.

Unlike Set 3 where we broke down more “flavor-of-the-month” comps like Candyland that popped up as incredibly powerful for a patch or two, in Set 4 we’re focused on making each TFT guide about comps that are going to have more staying power. As a result, we’ll be discussing itemization, dividing units into “carries” and “non-carries” (you’ll want to prioritize carries depending on which ones are strong, with add-ons only being viable if that unit gets buffed), and discussing the Chosen units and traits to prioritize.

What is the Brawlywood comp?

Core Comp: Maokai, Nunu, Ashe, Vi, Sett, Warwick

This is a very simple, basic comp of 6 Brawlers plus 3 Elderwood, buffing up the core units with extra health from the Brawler buff plus resistances and damage from the Elderwood buff. The main advantage of this comp is that Elderwood can also be given to a carry like Sett or Warwick via the Elderwood Heirloom (Spatula + Negatron Cloak), allowing you to potentially get to 6 Elderwood as well.

The main carries in this comp are typically Warwick and Sett (especially with Elderwood Heirloom) as well as Nunu and Maokai situationally. Ashe and Sett are flexible parts of the comp, to be added towards the later part of the game (you can sub in Hecarim/Lulu for Ashe and Tahm Kench for Sett in the early game). Each can serve as carries situationally.

Brawlywood is a Fast 8 comp, meaning that you are prioritizing hitting your level spikes more than holding gold to roll for early units. Instead, you want to hit Level 8 as quickly as possible to pick up those high-impact units like Warwick, Sett, and Ashe.

To round out the comp, you can go for 6 Elderwood by adding Lulu, Hecarim, and/or Ezreal. Another option, if your Warwick is particularly strong is to go for Divines to boost him up by adding Jax, Lee Sin, and/or Irelia.

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What Are the Key Units and Items?

Typically, you are going to be aiming for Warwick to be your main carry by maxing out his Brawler and Hunter traits (with Ashe). For items, QSS is mandatory, as are attack speed items (Statik Shiv is the current meta build, but Guinsoo’s, Giant Slayer, and Titans Resolve are all fine as well). If you can get Elderwood Heirloom for Warwick, though, that is ideal.

Ashe can also serve as your second carry, but her itemization overlaps with Warwick. If Ashe is stronger on a given patch, slapping a Statik Shiv, Giant Slayer, and Runaan’s Hurricane on her as opposed to using those items on Warwick is ideal.

Sett can also serve as a second carry, or even primary carry, depending on your items. Items like Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet, and Ionic Spark are all good for letting the Boss’s ult land with max impact. Elderwood Heirloom is also, obviously, good on Sett if he’s stronger than Warwick, but you can also give him Sword of the Divine as it would pair with Warwick too.

If you have other, pure defensive items, I would recommend you put them on either Nunu or Maokai. This means items like Sunfire Cape, Bramble Vest, Dragon’s Claw, or the like, to allow your frontline to soak damage long enough to get the full effect of the Brawler comp.

What are the Ideal Chosen?

The beauty of Brawlywood is that it can work with either trait – Brawler or Elderwood – as your Chosen unit. If you get Chosen Elderwood on either Nunu or Maokai you should 100% look to go Brawlywood. If you get either of those two with Chosen Brawler, this comp still makes a great deal of sense but it’s not quite the slam-dunk as Elderwood.

Getting Chosen on another Elderwood like Lulu or Hecarim also makes this comp viable to go for. That said, you don’t really need it once you have Maokai + Nunu + any other Elderwood early. The better option is to focus on getting Brawlers and hold off hoping you’ll get Chosen Elderwood on Ashe or Ezreal late game.

For Chosen Brawlers, really any unit you get works fine. Other than maybe Tahm Kench and Vi, you’ll have all these Brawlers late game so there’s no real reason to hold out hope that you will get a Brawler Warwick or Sett. That is ideal, but you can basically ride any Chosen Brawler to hit 6 Brawlers.

One slight wrinkle is that you can go with this comp if you get Chosen Divine or Chosen Hunter on Warwick. This would allow you to get the trait yourself, get an immediate 2-star Warwick, and open up the comp to a bit more flexibility. However, I wouldn’t really hold out for a Chosen on Warwick unless you’re mega ahead.

How do You Counter this Comp?

Although this is a Fast 8 comp, with a lot of strong units in the mid game, it actually falls off quite hard late. Any comp with a lot of sustained DPS like Sharpshooters or Duelists will give Brawlywood headaches.

The biggest key to stopping this comp, though, is to try and knock off the carries of Warwick/Sett/Ashe. High-burst units like Ahri and Veigar work well for this, especially if you can get their spells off early (before the Elderwood buff really starts to ramp up).

Be sure to check back next week for another TFT guide and let us know which comp you’d like to see broken down in the comments!