TFT: How Shades Have Taken Over TFT in Patch 10.24
By Josh Tyler
Patch 10.24 has seen a massive swing in the TFT meta, as Shades have taken over.
Back in my initial TFT tier list, I noted that both Ninjas and Shades were trending upward as synergies. Shades moved up to the A tier and Ninjas to the A+ tier. Yet, I did not include any heavy Shade-based comps, nor any Ninja/Shade comps. That’s proven to be a mistake.
What I did not foresee was that Zed, who got a 0.05 attack speed buff that patch, would become a monster (also due to the fact that Chosen odds for 2-cost units went up at Levels 5 and 7). This, in turn, caused a ripple effect that has brought Shades and Ninjas to the top of the TFT meta.
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Per Lolchess.gg‘s latest meta trends, the top-performing TFT comps in Diamond and above is currently a 4 Ninja/4 Shade/3 Cultist comp that is wrecking teams. With an average win rate of 65.4% and a top-four rate of 98.4%, this comp has become essentially a guaranteed victory for TFT players lucky enough to hit it.
Even in scenarios where a player is not lucky enough to hit a Chosen Shade (required to hit 4 Shade), the 4 Ninja/3 Cultist/3 Shade has a 34% win rate and 80.7% top-four rate. That’s pretty nuts and it’s a reason this is currently one of the most popular comps per TFTactics.gg.
This comp revolves around hitting a 3-star Zed, which is difficult enough if others are contesting it. If you’re able to hit 3-star Zed, you’re basically guaranteed to hit top-four if you get any sort of decent items on him. Ideally, you want Runaan’s Hurricane, Rapidfire Cannon, and Quicksilver Sash, but Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Hand of Justice, and Guardian Angel are also fine alternatives.
From there, you load up any AP items onto Evelynn and any excess items onto Kayn and you’re cooking. You can also put any tank items onto Aatrox (for your three cultist) or other AP items onto Akali if you can’t find a lot of Eves.
If, however, you are not able to find a lot of Ninjas, particularly Zeds, there is an alternative. The 9 Cultist comp that I recommended is still very much a viable alternative. If you’re able to load up Eve with her two key items (Ionic Spark and Hextech Gunblade), she can become a monster even if she’s only paired with a Kayn. Per Lolchess, this configuration has a 26% win rate and 82.1% top-four rate.
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One key distinction to remember between the two, however, is that Evelynn’s itemization will change massively depending if you are on your way to 3-star Zed. If you are and Zed is the primary carry, you’ll actually want to swap her preferred items for Locket and Zeke’s Herald to empower Zed.