The Champion Shop in TFT

The shop is your primary interface for building your team. Every round, you are presented with a selection of champions to buy, and understanding how the shop works -- what appears, why, and when to spend gold on it -- is fundamental to playing TFT well.

Shop Basics

Each round during the planning phase, your shop displays 5 champion slots. Each slot contains a champion you can purchase for its listed gold cost. You interact with the shop in a few ways:

• Buying a champion: Click a champion (or use its keyboard shortcut) to purchase it. The champion is added to your bench. If your bench is full, you cannot buy until you make room.
• Selling a champion: Drag a champion from your board or bench to the shop area (or use the sell hotkey) to sell it back for its full gold cost. Upgraded (2-star or 3-star) champions sell for the total gold invested in them.
• Rerolling: Spend 2 gold to replace all 5 shop slots with new random champions. The previous offerings are discarded.
• Automatic refresh: The shop automatically refreshes with 5 new champions at the start of each planning phase, at no cost.

Champion Costs

Champions in TFT come in five cost tiers:

Higher-cost champions are generally more powerful, with stronger abilities and better base stats. However, lower-cost champions can be extremely effective when upgraded to 2-star or 3-star.

Level-Based Shop Odds

Your player level directly determines the probability of seeing each cost tier in the shop. At lower levels, your shop is dominated by cheap champions. As you level up, the odds shift toward more expensive and powerful units:

• Low levels (3-5): The shop is heavily weighted toward 1-cost and 2-cost champions. You will rarely if ever see 4-cost or 5-cost units.
• Mid levels (6-7): 3-cost champions become common. 4-cost champions start appearing with meaningful frequency at Level 7.
• High levels (8-9): 4-cost champions become the most common tier. 5-cost champions appear with increasing regularity.
• Level 10: The highest odds for 5-cost champions, though 4-cost remains the most frequent tier.

This is why leveling strategy matters so much. If your composition relies on 4-cost champions, reaching Level 7 or 8 before rolling is essential. If you are building around 1-cost or 2-cost champions, staying at a lower level and rolling gives you better odds of finding them.

Locking the Shop

You can lock your shop to prevent it from refreshing at the start of the next round. This is useful when:

• You see a champion you want but cannot afford this round.
• You need a specific champion to complete a 2-star or 3-star upgrade and want to guarantee it is still available next round.
• You are managing your gold for an interest breakpoint and plan to buy next round.

A locked shop will remain locked until you manually unlock it or until you reroll (which automatically unlocks and refreshes the shop).

The Shared Champion Pool

All eight players in a TFT match draw from a shared champion pool. There is a fixed number of each champion available across the entire lobby:

• 1-cost champions: ~29 copies each
• 2-cost champions: ~22 copies each
• 3-cost champions: ~18 copies each
• 4-cost champions: ~12 copies each
• 5-cost champions: ~10 copies each

Note: Exact pool sizes may vary by set. Check current set documentation for precise numbers.

This has important strategic implications:

• Contested champions: If multiple players are buying the same champion, there are fewer copies available for everyone. It becomes harder to find that champion in your shop.
• Uncontested champions: If you are the only player pursuing a particular champion, you will find copies more easily.
• Eliminated players: When a player is eliminated, all of their champions return to the shared pool. This can create a sudden influx of previously scarce champions.
• Sold champions: Selling a champion returns it to the pool immediately.

Buying and Selling Strategy

• Buy pairs early: If you see two copies of a champion you might use, buy them even if you are not sure yet. You can always sell later for a full refund.
• Do not hold unnecessary champions: Champions on your bench that you will not use are both wasting bench space and removing copies from the pool (potentially helping opponents who want those champions).
• Sell before rolling: If you have champions you no longer need, sell them before rerolling to return them to the pool and increase your gold for more rolls.
• Know when to stop rolling: Set a gold floor before you start rolling (e.g., "I will roll down to 30 gold" or "I will roll down to 10 gold"). This prevents panic rolling that destroys your economy.

Key Takeaways

• The shop gives you 5 champions each round for free and lets you reroll for 2 gold.
• Your player level determines what cost tiers appear. Level up before rolling if you need higher-cost champions.
• The shared pool means awareness of what other players are building affects your own odds. Scout the lobby.
• Use the lock feature to preserve valuable shop offerings across rounds.
• Buying and selling is free (full refund), so holding pairs of useful champions has no downside beyond bench space.