Champions in TFT

Champions are the core units you place on the board in Teamfight Tactics. Unlike other genres where you directly control your characters, TFT champions fight automatically once a round begins. Your strategic decisions happen before combat: which champions to buy, where to place them, and how to equip them with items. Once the round starts, your team fights on its own.

How Champions Work

Every champion in TFT has a set of attributes that define how they perform in combat:

  • Health (HP): How much damage a champion can take before being knocked out.
  • Attack Damage (AD): The base physical damage dealt by auto-attacks.
  • Ability Power (AP): Scales the strength of the champion's special ability.
  • Attack Speed: How frequently the champion attacks. Faster attack speed means more auto-attacks per second.
  • Armor: Reduces incoming physical damage.
  • Magic Resist (MR): Reduces incoming magic damage.
  • Mana: Champions gain mana when they attack and when they take damage. Once their mana bar is full, they cast their special ability.

Champion Abilities

Each champion has a unique ability that casts automatically when their mana bar fills. Abilities vary widely: some deal burst damage to enemies, others heal or shield allies, and some provide crowd control effects like stuns or knockups. A champion's ability is often the primary reason you include them in your team composition. Understanding what each champion's ability does and how it scales (with AD, AP, or other stats) is essential for effective itemization.

The Board and Bench

Your board is a hex grid where you position champions for combat. You also have a bench along the bottom of the screen that serves as a holding area for champions you've purchased but haven't placed.

  • Board Size: The maximum number of champions you can have on the board equals your player level. At level 5, you can field 5 champions; at level 9, you can field 9.
  • Bench Capacity: Your bench holds up to 9 champions. If your bench is full, you cannot buy more champions until you sell or place one.
  • Placing Champions: Drag champions from the bench onto the board to deploy them, or from the board back to the bench to remove them. You can freely rearrange your board between rounds.

Traits and Synergies

Every champion carries two or three traits, which represent their origin and class (such as a faction and a combat role). When you field multiple champions that share a trait, that trait activates and provides a bonus to your team. Building around specific trait combinations is the foundation of TFT strategy.

For example, if three of your fielded champions all share the same trait, that trait might activate at its first breakpoint and grant bonus attack speed or a shield to your team. Adding more champions with that trait can unlock higher breakpoints with stronger bonuses.

Putting It Together

The core loop of TFT revolves around champions: you buy them from the shop, place them on your board, equip them with items, and build synergies through their traits. Since combat is automated, the depth of TFT comes from the decisions you make around champion selection and positioning rather than mechanical skill. Choosing the right champions for your team, upgrading them efficiently, and activating powerful trait combinations are the pillars of competitive play.