Teamfight Tactics (TFT): Best Champion Units Tier List
The Teamfight Tactics Tier List splits the champions into six tiers based on their strength and usefulness. Find out the best units in TFT.
This tier list is an attempt to provide reliable info on the best champions in Teamfight Tactics. It isn’t based only on my personal experience, but mostly on the study and analysis of several sources.
I have split all the TFT champions in six tiers going from tier S to 5 depending on the impact they have in a game, and explained the reasoning behind their placement.
For ease of use, the units in each tier are sorted by gold cost, and I have indicated also their class and origin.
You can find also low-cost champions at high tiers because they are strong in their own time frame (early and mid game) or they are able to scale well in the late game.
Ultimately, your champion choices also depend on personal preferences and tactics. Of course, you can’t just put together a lineup composed of tier S and 1 units to win the game, but you must take into account their synergies.
If you are looking for further info such as synergy combos, best items, and team compositions, more articles are available in the Teamfight Tactics section.
I tried to create a layout as friendly as possible for newcomers by providing champion avatar, name, origin, class, and gold cost of each unit. The champions are sorted by gold cost.
Tier S
Aurelion Sol
4 gold - Dragon Sorcerer
Aurelion Sol has the highest damaging potential in Teamfight Tactics thanks to Voice of Light, a very harmful spell that hurts all the enemies in a big cone (it affects most of the board). You want him in every Sorcerer lineup.
I suggest Guinsoo’s Rageblade and Rabadon’s Deathcap to accelerate his mana gain and increase the damage of his ultimate.
Cho'Gath
4 gold - Void Brawler
Cho'Gath has the biggest health pool in the game, so he will always survive long enough to cast his ability. After a short delay, Rupture damages and stuns the opponents in a wide area.
In a brawler lineup (or just upgrading him), he will reach a massive amount of HP, which he can exploit with items such as Thornmail, Warmog’s Armor, and Titanic Hydra.
Gnar
4 gold - Wild Yordle Shapeshifter
Gnar’s ultimate charges a bit slowly, but once transformed he becomes a powerhouse.
Upon transformation, he jumps behind the furthest enemy, damaging, stunning, and knocking back the nearby units. Beside the obvious crowd control effect, pushing the ranged carries towards your team disrupts the enemy formation and can influence the outcome of the battle.
Gnar becomes a melee unit, earning bonus HP and attack damage, that combined with the Wild/Shapeshifter synergy makes him a very strong initiator and frontliner.
Swain
5 gold - Imperial Demon Shapeshifter
The idea behind Swain is making him survive for as long as necessary to activate Demonflare (which is not difficult thanks to his solid health pool).
Once Swain transforms, he becomes basically immune to damage because he constantly drains health from nearby enemies. If for any reason he can’t tank the opponents, building Hextech Gunblade will grant additional healing.
At the end of the transformation, he emits AoE damage around him for a final burst.
Yasuo
5 gold - Exile Blademaster
Yasuo is a great auto-attacker, the Exile origin grants survivability with a shield equal to a percentage of his maximum health, and his ultimate only requires 25 mana.
Steel Tempest damages two enemies in a line, while on the third cast Yasuo launches a tornado dealing damage and knocking up enemies. You want to build him with items to increase his attack speed and survivability.
I am placing Yasuo at tier S because thanks to the Exile synergy and his innate DPS, he is a solid addition in any lineup whenever there is a free slot.
Tier 1
Garen
1 gold - Noble Knight
Garen’s Judgement brings an insane amount of AoE damage to the team. At one star he inflicts almost 500 total damage during the whole spin. With Morellonomicon this ability becomes borderline OP.
While spinning he is also immune to magic damage, which increases his survivability against casters (he is still affected by crowd control skills).
Garen also possesses great stats, so you can easily use him with any lineup in the early game while finding your main units.
Nidalee
1 gold - Wild Shapeshifter
Nidalee brings an immense value to the team in the early game because Primal Surge heals her and the weakest ally (so the heal isn’t affected by the RNG nature of TFT), which can turn the tide of the battle.
The Wild synergy is useful and really easy to achieve as you need only two champions, and Warwick and Nidalee are both tier 1 units who are easy to find early on.
She doesn’t scale well in the late game, but Primal Surge boosts her damage in Cat form, so she could turn into a core with the attack speed provided by the Wild trait and an item such as Guinsoo’s Rageblade.
Kennen
3 gold - Ninja Yordle Elementalist
Kennen has a good DPS, however I think he should not be played as a damage dealer but as an utility character because his ultimate Slicing Maelstrom damages and stuns the surrounding units.
Considering he must stay next to the enemies to affect them with his ability, Frozen Heart is a good item on him to increase his survivability and debuff the opponents.
Shyvana
3 gold - Dragon Shapeshifter
Shyvana is really strong. Dragon’s Descent transforms her in a ranged unit with bonus damage and DoT (damage over time) burn damage, so she can obliterate the enemy team from a safe distance.
She works very well both in a Shapeshifter and a Dragon lineup. I prefer the latter for the magic immunity provided by the trait.
Classic Akali - Riot
Akali
4 gold - Ninja Assassin
Akali is the best Ninja in the game. She has a great DPS and only requires 25 mana to charge Five Point Strike, so she is able to dish out a massive amount of damage during the fight.
Seraph’s Embrace is broken on her because it grants 20 mana after each spell cast, so she can cast it with almost no pause.
Brand
4 gold - Demon Elementalist
Brand is the best Elementalist in the game. He inflicts lots of damage via Pyroclasm, an ability that launches a bouncing fireball that damages heavily several opponents.
Similarly to Aurelion Sol, also on Brand I suggest Guinsoo’s Rageblade and Rabadon’s Deathcap to boost his damage.
Draven
4 gold - Imperial Blademaster
Draven’s Spinning Axes grants bonus on-hit damage and attack speed, and it stacks up to two times. Keep Draven safe and build DPS items (Rapid Firecannon and Guinsoo’s Rageblade in particular), and he will become the hardest physical carry in the game.
The Imperial synergy works wonders as it doubles his damage.
Kindred
4 gold - Phantom Ranger
Kindred’s Lamb’s Respite prevents allies around her to drop below a certain HP threshold for a few seconds. Positioning is crucial to make use of this ability because she must activate it at the right time and next to champions who will benefit from it.
Sejuani
4 gold - Glacial Knight
Sejuani is a great teamfight initiator. Glacial Prison is an AoE spell that damages and stuns the enemies affected after a short delay.
Her damage is poor, but she is mostly a tank with a good health pool and a high magic resistance. The one-star unit tends to die quickly, but once upgraded to two stars she becomes very reliable.
Karthus
5 gold - Phantom Sorcerer
Karthus has a great DPS, and his ability Requiem damages a random number of opponents on the map after a long channel. Usually, you will use him in a Sorcerer lineup, so his damage will be boosted by the synergy.
He is the perfect user for Rabadon’s Deathcap, and a two-star Karthus can easily annihilate the entire enemy team. If not upgraded, you need to protect him properly or he might die before channeling Requiem.
Kayle
5 gold - Noble Knight
Kayle has an extremely high DPS, and she is the last unit required to complete the Noble synergy.
Divine Judgement is a very useful ability because it makes your lowest-health ally immune to any kind of damage, so Kayle can efficiently extend the life of a teammate. Once upgraded, the ability will target more units.
Tier 2
Darius
1 gold - Imperial Knight
Darius is a solid frontliner thanks to his starting stats at one star and the ability Decimate, as it damages nearby units but also heals him.
Healing abilities are very valuable early in the game because they give you an advantage that may be enough to start a win streak and accumulate gold.
Kassadin
1 gold - Void Sorcerer
Kassadin’s attacks do not inflict lots of damage, but they bring utility as they burn mana from the opponents. If positioned correctly, he will be able to survive for a long time thanks to the shield produced by Nether Blade, while preventing his targets from casting spells.
I consider him amazing in the early/mid game, but he doesn’t scale well in the late game.
Tristana
1 gold - Yordle Gunslinger
Tristana is a strong long-range DPS who can become your main carry.
She inflicts AoE damage with Explosive Charge, and as a Gunslinger I suggest building on-hit items on her such as Red Buff and Statikk Shiv.
Vayne
1 gold - Noble Ranger
Vayne’s Silver Bolts deals bonus true damage every third attack based on the enemy’s maximum health.
True damage ignores any form of damage mitigation (including armor), so she will be able to melt even tanks in the late game.
Stack attack speed items on her and she will turn into a hard carry able to defeat a half of the enemy team on her own. Rapid Firecannon is pretty much mandatory.
Warwick
1 gold - Wild Brawler
Warwick is pretty strong in the first 10-15 rounds. He has decent stats, and the Wild and Brawler traits provide an edge in the early game. Later on, the extra health points are less useful, and there are better options among Wild champions.
Infinite Duress is helpful to finish off opponents, and it also heals him, which increases his survivability.
Lunar Guardian Warwick - Riot
Ahri
2 gold - Wild Sorcerer
Place Ahri at a corner of the battlefield and Orb of Deception will deal lots of AoE damage.
Lulu
2 gold - Yordle Sorcerer
Lulu is an outstanding support unit as Wild Growth both heals the allies and knocks up the opponents nearby. Upgrading her will add up to two extra targets to the spell.
A two-star Lulu with Spear of Shojin can really change the outcome of the round thanks to the constant heals.
Pyke
2 gold - Pirate Assassin
Pyke is not the best damage dealer, but his main strength is the utility he brings to the team. With Phantom Undertow he dashes behind the furthest enemy, damaging and stunning all the enemies he passes through.
I suggest building tank items on him as you want to keep him alive for as long as possible in order to keep disabling the enemy team.
Ashe
3 gold - Glacial Ranger
Ashe has a good attack speed and damage, and her synergies blend well together.
Enchanted Crystal Arrow has an amazing utility because it stuns and damages the farthest enemy, and the duration of the stun is longer the farther the target.
If you place her at a corner of the map, she will end stunning the unit at the opposite side, which is usually the main long-range DPS carry of the opponent.
Leona
4 gold - Noble Guardian
Leona’s Solar Flare has a massive single-target stun duration, which basically prevents a character from fighting for a good portion of the round.
Her damage is almost 0, but she is a fundamental member of the Guardian synergy and also a great tank with 55 armor.
Anivia
5 gold - Glacial Elementalist
Anivia’s Glacial Storm deals huge damage and slows the attack speed of the enemies in an area, but the ability is quite unreliable due to TFT’s RNG system, so she might affect several opponents or just one.
Miss Fortune
5 gold - Pirate Gunslinger
Miss Fortune is a damage character with a superb DPS and a high-damaging ultimate.
Bullet Time deals lots of damage in a cone in front of her, but she suffers from a long channeling time. I suggest building her as a caster.
Tier 3
Graves
1 gold - Pirate Gunslinger
Graves doesn’t have a special ability, but his basic attacks damage all enemies in a cone in front of him. On-hit effects are also applied, so theoretically he is able to dish out a colossal amount of damage with items such as Red Buff.
Graves has a low health pool, so he relies on the protection of the team for survivability.
Kha’Zix
1 gold - Void Assassin
Kha’Zix is a great early/mid game unit with decent base stats, but he falls off in the late game. Taste their Fear produces huge burst damage to enemies who are alone and can literally one-shot most ranged opponents.
Blitzcrank
2 gold - Robot Brawler
Rocket Grab is helpful to disrupt the enemy plans by pulling the enemy carry from their safe spot. Spear of Shojin is great on him because he will keep Rocket Grabbing units from all sides of the map.
The one-star unit isn’t very strong, but his damage and health increase a lot after the first upgrade.
Shen
2 gold - Ninja Blademaster
Shen’s Spirit’s Refuge is a solid ultimate to protect the squishy members of the team: it creates a zone around him where the allies will dodge all attacks.
Varus
2 gold - Demon Ranger
Varus is a superb damage dealer in the early/mid game, and his special ability Piercing Arrow can literally one-shot the squishiest opponents.
I would not suggest him as your main carry, but he remains dangerous as a second DPS if you build Ability Power items such as Rabadon’s Deathcap.
Classic Varus - Riot
Zed
2 gold - Ninja Assassin
Zed is one of the best choices as a single Ninja. Razor Shuriken inflicts AoE damage, but it isn’t super consistent due to the limited range.
Katarina
3 gold - Imperial Assassin
Death Lotus is one of the most powerful ultimates in the game: it could annihilate the whole enemy team.
The real issue with the Katarina is her survivability as she often won’t have the time to accumulate enough mana, so I suggest building mana items on her.
Hextech Gunblade will fully heal her after casting the ultimate, Luden’s Echo adds more AoE damage, and Morellonomicon is probably the strongest option damage-wise.
Morgana
3 gold - Demon Sorcerer
Morgana’s Soul Shackles damages the nearby units and stuns them after a short delay.
This ultimate is actually quite strong if she can survive long enough to proc the stun. This is the main problem at one star because she is quite squishy, so you should upgrade her or build some tank items.
Veigar
3 gold - Yordle Sorcerer
Veigar’s Primordial Burst instantly kills the target if he is a lower star level than Veigar. For this reason, Veigar has a power spike once he reaches two and three stars, and he is also absurdly strong versus tier 5 units as it is harder to level up them.
Cursed Blade is a must-have item on him as it has a chance to reduce the enemy’s star level by 1. If you want to turn Veigar into your main killer, be sure to provide him with items that increase his mana gain, such as Spear of Shojin.
Volibear
3 gold - Glacial Brawler
Thanks to Thunder Claws, Volibear’s attacks chain between enemies, applying on-hit effects. The buff requires 100 mana to be activated, but it has a 20-second duration, so it will last for the rest the fight.
Volibear can apply both the chance to stun provided by the Glacial synergy and effects from items to several opponents with each attack.
You want to have the ultimate as soon as possible, so he requires damage items to charge his mana faster, or tank ones for survivability.
Tier 4
Braum
2 gold - Glacial Guardian
Individually, Braum isn’t a great unit, but you will be forced to use him if you need the Guardian bonus.
While his damage is almost non-existent, he does a good job as a tank thanks to his huge health pool and the ability Unbreakable, which blocks a portion of the incoming damage.
Lissandra
2 gold - Glacial Elementalist
Lissandra has a poor damage but decent survivability thanks to Frozen Tomb as she uses it on herself when below 50% HP.
Lucian
2 gold - Noble Gunslinger
Lucian’s damage is not bad in the early/mid game, but he doesn’t scale well in the late game and requires lots of items if you want to transform him into a carry. Honestly, there are many better options as a Gunslinger and a carry.
Aatrox
3 gold - Demon Blademaster
Aatrox is an average character with moderate AoE damage (The Darkin Blade) and a decent health pool. Pick him only if you are going for the Demon or Blademaster sinergy.
Evelynn
3 gold - Demon Assassin
The success of Evelynn requires some luck. Her damage is moderate, but Last Caress can burst down several opponents simultaneously if they are below 50% HP.
I would like to place her higher, but the RNG-based portion of her ultimate makes her absurdly good in some rounds and quite disappointing in others.
Gangplank
3 gold - Pirate Gunslinger Blademaster
Gangplank doesn’t deal lots of damage and Powder Kegs is totally random. You will mostly pick him only for the synergies.
Rengar
3 gold - Wild Assassin
Rengar is simply a damage dealer. He has a decent health pool for an Assassin, and his ultimate is similar to Warwick’s one as he jumps on the weakest enemy to finish him off.
Tier 5
Fiora
1 gold - Noble Blademaster
Fiora is one of the squishiest champions in TFT, so she dies very easily. I suggest using her only if you need to acquire a synergy (such as the Noble one).
Risposte is a very weak ability because it is a single-target attack with low damage and that requires a channeling time (fortunately, she is immune to any damage during the channeling). Risposte does stun the target for a brief time, but this is not enough to make it a decent ability.
Mordekaiser
1 gold - Phantom Knight
Mordekaiser has a poor damage and even a low health for a big Knight unit. I suggest avoid him unless you are building the Phantom synergy.
Elise
2 gold - Demon Shapeshifter
Elise is weak and often dies before transforming. Spider Form brings lifesteal but no added damage, so her physical attack damage remains poor.
Rek'Sai
2 gold - Void Brawler
Rek'Sai is basically a tank with no damage. Her ultimate knocks the opponents, but just one second isn’t really sufficient.
Poppy
3 gold - Yordle Knight
Poppy has a good health pool, but her stats are not good enough for a 3-gold cost champion. I would pick her just for synergy reasons.
