Complete guide to TFT Set 9: Runeterra Reforged with release date, champion abilities, traits and strategies
TFT Set 9 Release Date and Overview
Teamfight Tactics patch 13.12 marks the arrival of Set 9: Runeterra Reforged, introducing the most substantial gameplay overhaul in recent memory. This transformative update completely refreshes the competitive landscape with new champions, mechanics, and systems that redefine strategic possibilities.
The autonomous success of Teamfight Tactics continues to demonstrate its evolution beyond League of Legends, establishing itself as a premier strategy game with dedicated competitive circuits. Riot’s recent announcement of open-bracket LAN events underscores the game’s global competitive appeal.
Mark your calendars: TFT patch 13.12 goes live on June 14, 2023, synchronized with League of Legends patch 13.12. Prepare for server downtime during deployment as the entire game ecosystem receives this massive content injection.
While the departure of fan-favorite elements like Star Guardian Urgot creates nostalgia, the excitement for Runeterra Reforged’s innovations overshadows any temporary losses. Virtually every game element receives adjustments, creating what effectively feels like an entirely new game experience.
Beyond the numerical changes documented here, Set 9 introduces significant quality-of-life improvements that streamline gameplay comprehension and accessibility. The champion inspect tool and enhanced trait clarity represent major usability advancements for both new and veteran players.
Comprehensive Champion Breakdown by Cost
Set 9 introduces a completely refreshed champion roster organized by resource cost, each featuring unique synergies and ability mechanics tied to the Runeterra theme.
1-Cost Units: Foundation Builders
2-Cost Units: Early Game Carries
- Level 1: Attacks deal bonus magic damage.
- Level 6: Every 3rd attack launches a wave that deals magic damage and Shreds enemies for 4 seconds.
- Level 9: Every attack launches a wave and they travel farther.
3-Cost Units: Mid-Game Power Spikes
- Passive: After every third attack from Azir, a Sand Soldier deals magic damage to their target.
- Active: Summon a Sand Soldier to attack your target. If Azir already has 3 Soldiers, they all immediately deal magic damage instead. Mana cost: 40/50
4-Cost Units: Primary Carries
5-Cost Units: Game-Changing Finishers
- Bandle City: Ryze creates a portal to Bandle City underneath a random unit on your bench. After a brief delay, they arrive on the battlefield with bonus mana and are…slightly smaller?
- Demacia: Ryze creates a portal to Demacia underneath a cluster of injured allies, granting a Shield. If an ally leaves the safety of the portal, they are healed. When the portal expires, enemies within are dealt magic damage.
- Freljord: Ryze creates a portal to the Freljord underneath a random group of enemies. The freezing winds deal magic damage to enemies within two hexes over the duration and apply Permafrost, a permanent Attack Speed Slow. If enemies are already affected by Permafrost, they are instead Frozen for the duration.
- Ionia: Ryze creates a portal to Ionia, summoning forth a Spirit Tree that affects the closest units. Allies are invigorated, gaining Attack Speed and restoring Health over the duration. Enemies are pacified, causing them to dance.
- Noxus: Ryze creates a portal to Noxus’ armory that spews out a torrent of weapons and armor, granting completed items to random allies with open slots, and throwing Axes towards random enemies that deal magic damage each. If any ally would recieve an item while all slots are full, they instead gain a stacking damage increase for the rest of combat.
- Piltover: Ryze summons a portal to Piltover that launches out an enforcer grenade towards his target, dealing magic damage to enemies within two hexes and creating a containment area. Enemies are unable to leave the area, and a percentage of the damage dealt to them is also dealt to all other enemies within.
- Shadow Isles: Ryze creates a portal to the Shadow Isles, reclaiming lost ally’s souls. They return to the battlefield with a percentage of their maximum Health. If no allies have died yet, the portal remains open, waiting for an ally to die. Ryze cannot resurrect himself.
- Shurima: Ryze creates a portal to Shurima, summoning a gigantic sand tornado that travels across the battlefield, dealing magic damage to enemies hit and knocking them up briefly. The tornado has chance to unearthed burried treasures and gold as it travels.
- Targon: Ryze creates a portal to the skies above Mount Targon that beckons his target. After a few seconds, they descend from the heavens as a meteor towards the largest cluster of enemies, dealing a percent of the the initial target’s maximum Health as magic damage and knocking up enemies in the epicenter.
- Zaun: Open portals to Zuan, causing hired guns to fire a torrent of munitions at a nearby enemy that deal magic damage, apply 50% Wound, 40% Shred, and 40% Sunder The more gold you have, the more powerful the portals become.
- 25 Gold: +1 Portal. Portals fire a rocket that deals 50% damage in a one-hex radius
- 50 Gold: Double the portals. Summon +2 additional portals for every 15 Gold more
Strategic Insight: Early game composition should focus on building around 1-2 cost units with clear upgrade paths, while reserving bench space for transitioning into higher-cost carries as economy allows. The mana cost adjustments across champions require recalibrating itemization strategies, particularly for spellcasting carries.
Regional Portal System Explained
The revolutionary portal system replaces the traditional starting carousel with 30 region-specific locations that dramatically alter gameplay mechanics. Players collectively vote on three regional portals at match start, with even single votes potentially determining the outcome.
Key Regional Portals and Their Impact:
Strategic Considerations: Portal selection should align with your intended playstyle and chosen Legend. Aggressive players benefit from combat-focused portals like Yuumi’s Zoom Zone, while economy-focused strategies excel with gold-generating locations like The Sump or Glasc Industries. The removal of augments in Stillwater Hold requires fundamental adaptation to pure board strength and itemization.
Legend Augments and Playstyles
Legends introduce consistent augment pathways by guaranteeing specific power choices at each augment selection stage. While this reduces variance, it also removes one potential augment choice, requiring careful consideration of opportunity cost.
Legend Specializations and Strategic Applications:
Advanced Legend Strategy: Your Legend choice should complement both your preferred playstyle and the selected regional portal. For example, Tahm Kench synergizes exceptionally well with gold-generating portals, while Ornn benefits from portals that provide additional item components. Consider the meta context—if many players are selecting combat Legends, economy-focused alternatives may provide uncontested pathways to victory.
Origin and Class Traits Analysis
Set 9 rebrands Traits as Origins while maintaining their core functionality, though with completely reworked synergies and activation requirements. The regional theme introduces unique mechanics tied to Runeterra’s diverse locations.
Key Origin Traits
Demacia: During planning phase, your strongest Demacian(s) become Elite and equip a random Radiant Item for the next combat. Elites grant Armor and Magic Resist to themselves and adjacent allies, but this does not stack. Radiant items are upgraded versions of completed items.
Champions: Kayle, Lux, Poppy, Galio, Garen, Sona, Jarvan IV
Ionia: Every 4 seconds, your strongest Ionians are enlightened to their spirit form and gain 20 Mana. Each Ionian has a unique bonus within their ability, which doubles when in spirit form.
Champions: Irelia, Jhin, Sett, Zed, Karma, Shen, Yasuo
Void: Get a placeable void egg. At the start of combat, it hatches into an unspeakable horror and knocks up adjacent enemies. Each Void star level increases the horror’s Health and Ability Power by 25%.
Champions: Cho’Gath, Malzahar, Kassadin, Rek’Sai, Vel’Koz, Kai’Sa, Bel’Veth
Class Traits
Challengers gain bonus Attack Speed. When their target dies, Challengers dash to a new target and increase their Attack Speed bonus by 50% for 2.5 seconds.
Champions: Irelia, Samira, Warwick, Kalista, Kai’Sa, Yasuo
Strategist: Combat Start: Allies in the front 2 rows gain a shield for 8 seconds. Allies in the back 2 rows gain Ability Power.
Champions: Swain, Teemo, Azir, Jarvan IV
Trait Strategy: Successful compositions often combine 2-3 primary traits with supporting synergies. The Demacia trait provides excellent frontline stability, while Ionia offers scaling power through spirit form enhancements. Void serves as a flexible option that strengthens throughout the game, making it ideal for comeback scenarios.
Augment System Overhaul
Set 9 refreshes the augment pool with numerous new options while retiring previous selections. The three-tier system remains with Grey (Tier 1), Gold (Tier 2), and Prismatic (Tier 3) augments offering progressively powerful effects.
Tier 1 Augment Highlights
Tier 2 Augment Standouts
Tier 3 Augment Game-Changers
Augment Selection Strategy: Early augments should establish your game plan direction, while later picks should reinforce your composition’s strengths or patch weaknesses. Economy augments like Hedge Fund work best when selected early to maximize gold accumulation, while combat augments provide immediate power spikes for aggressive playstyles. Consider augment synergy with your chosen Legend and portal effects for optimal results.
Item Changes and New Additions
Set 9 introduces significant item adjustments including new Ornn artifacts and the return of Shimmerscale items from Set 7. These changes require players to adapt their itemization priorities and combination strategies.
Key Item Adjustments:
New Ornn Items:
Returning Shimmerscale Items:
Itemization Strategy: The mana generation changes significantly impact ability-reliant champions, making mana items more valuable for consistent spellcasting. Guardbreaker remains strong despite the nerf, particularly against healing-heavy compositions. New Ornn items offer strategic versatility—the positioning-based damage amplifier excels on backline carries, while the clone creation provides valuable frontline distraction.
Game System Improvements
Set 9 introduces several quality-of-life enhancements and balance adjustments that refine the core gameplay experience while addressing previous pain points.
Champion Inspect Tool: This new feature provides comprehensive champion information including stats, attack range, abilities, role tags, and recommended items. Available during carousel rounds with an eye indicator, it eliminates guesswork when evaluating unit potential.
Trait Clarity Improvements: Traits now display their emblems and crafting recipes when applicable, making it easier to plan composition completion and emblem utilization.
Experience Requirement Adjustments:
Player Damage and Overtime Changes:
Three-Star Four-Cost Buff: Three Star 4 Costs now all gain 500 health, making the significant investment required to achieve them more rewarding and impactful in late-game scenarios.
System Strategy: The increased experience requirements at higher levels delay power spikes for fast-leveling strategies, creating more balanced pacing throughout the game. The overtime changes benefit attack damage carries and melee units, providing comeback potential in close matches. The stage 4 damage increase encourages maintaining stronger boards to avoid rapid health loss during critical mid-game phases.
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