The TFT meta is always evolving, but there are always some traits that stand out as the best regardless of the new updates.
In this article, we will mention the top 10 best traits for ranked play to make sure you climb the rank lander.
We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each trait, giving tips on how to build the perfect team using the traits.
10. Bastion
Bastion is one of the strongest traits in terms of defensive stats, as they gain tons of armor and magic resist especially in the first 10 seconds of each round as the trait stats are doubled.
The Bastion trait is the best one to pick if you have a champion or 2 in the backlines that you want to protect, such as the Deadeye trait. If you have Aphelios in the backlines, he would be the best pick as he will activate the Targon trait with Taric, who is also a Bastion member.
Champions that activate the Bastion trait: Maokai, Poppy, Kassadin, Taric, Shen, and K’Sante
The bastion emblem can’t be forged by a spatula, but you can always get the bastion heart or crown. You can also use the tome of traits or pick it up from the carousel.
Why is the Bastion trait great to pick:
- Bastion trait is a very underrated one that is not usually used, so you will have a huge chance to pick up many copies of its champions from the shop.
- Mixing the bastion trait with any other damage-dealing trait would be a great idea, as the bastions can sustain a lot of damage, but their damage is weak, so having the deadeye or gunner trait activated would put you at the top of the list.
- Each champion of the bastion has his own cost, so whether you are in the first round or you are at level 8, you will always have a high chance of getting them in your shop.
Bastion stats:
Bastion champions gain Armor and Magic Resist. This is increased by 100% for the first 10 seconds of combat.
- 2 +25 Armor, +25 Magic Resist
- 4 +50 Armor, +50 Magic Resist
- 6 +95 Armor, +95 Magic Resist
- 8 +240 Armor, +240 Magic Resist
9. Challenger
The challenger trait is one of the most used traits in TFT, especially in the early rounds, as you can activate it with as few as two Tier 1 champions such as Irelia and Samira.
What makes the challenger trait a strong one is that you can place it with multiple traits, or you can use it as your one and only active trait if you hit 8 challengers, which will require 2 more hearts or emblems, which we will discuss down below.
This trait is a really powerful one in early rounds as it would give you a huge advantage on most of the other traits people are playing. As we mentioned, you can activate it by only 2 champions, which would greatly increase their attack speed, keeping in mind that the enemy won’t have that huge tank who would block them.
Champions that activate the challenger trait: Samira, Irelia, Warwick, Kalista, Yasuo, and Kai’Sa.
The Challenger emblem is easy to obtain, as you can get it by combining the spatula with the recurve bow. You can also get it by all the traditional methods, such as the augments, carousel, and tome of traits.
Why is the Challenger trait great to pick:
- The challenger trait, unlike many other traits, can be picked as your solo active trait. If you have 8 challengers, they would be more than enough to take out enemies in a blink of an eye.
- The trait can be very powerful in the early, mid, and late game, so you can build up your combo starting from round 1.
- This trait doesn’t require you to have the full trait active as you can only place 6 challengers along with other traits such as the Ionia trait with Yasuo and Irelia, Void with Kai’Sa, Juggernaut with Warwick, or even Shadow Isles with Kalista.
- The best trait to have active is the Ionia trait by placing Shen, as he will make Yasuo a beast in the arena, and you can also place another bastion member along with Shen to have a strong frontline, such as Maokai.
Challenger stats:
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.
- 2 30% Attack Speed
- 4 60% Attack Speed
- 6 95% Attack Speed
- 8 140% Attack Speed
8. Sorcerer
The Sorcerer trait is one of the hardest combos to build, as it’s the opposite of the Bastion trait. It is a powerful trait in terms of damage, but it lacks tanks.
Sorcerers damage is unmatched by any other trait, as they gain tons of ability power knowing that they are all magical champions. The only tank you have is Taric, so you will need to place another tank with him so they can defend the backline.
The sorcerer trait doesn’t only add AP to the champions, but whenever an enemy gets killed by one of them, he deals a maximum health damage percentage to other enemies.
It’s hard to keep buying the sorcerers only from the shop without having any strong formation in the early rounds, as you could lose all your health. Always have a strong frontline until you are close to getting 8 Sorcerers.
Champions that activate the Sorcerer trait: Orianna, Malzahar, Swain, Taric, Vel’Koz, Lux, Ahri
If you are wondering why there are only 7 out of 8 sorcerers, that’s because you need to get an emblem in order to get the full trait active, which you can forge by combining both the spatula and the tear of the goddess.
Why is the sorcerer trait great to pick:
- Sorcerers have more than enough damage to take out the enemies, whether they are tanks or damage dealers.
- Once you hit 8 sorcerers, you will be unbeatable, but you will need to pick someone who is tanky enough to stand next to Taric, so the sorcerers have enough time to deal the damage needed.
- You can activate the trait with only 2 champions with as little as 2 gold, which are Malzahar and Orianna, so you can have the trait activated by the first round, which would give you an advantage over your enemy in case you want to stay on a winning streak.
Sorcerer stats:
Sorcerers gain bonus Ability Power.
When an enemy dies after being damaged by a Sorcerer, they deal a percentage of that enemy's maximum Health to another enemy.
- 2 25 Ability Power; 7% max Health
- 4 45 Ability Power; 10% max Health
- 6 75 Ability Power; 12% max Health to 2 enemies
- 8 111 Ability Power; 20% max Health to 2 enemies
7. Ionia
The Ionian trait is a great way to deal a lot of damage with any Ionian champion that you place, as it gives everyone a different bonus that makes him a great pick.
The Ionian trait can be either used as your primary trait or secondary trait depending on which combo you are using, so if you are using it as your primary trait, having 9 or even 6 Ionians in the arena would make you undefeatable, or if you are using it as your secondary trait, those 3 you picked would have additional stats along with your primary trait, which would give you a huge advantage.
You can use it as your primary, which would make Karma, Yasuo, and Ahri real beasts who can one-shot enemies while having Sett and Shen on the frontlines with tons of additional defensive stats.
Or you can use it as a secondary, placing Karma on the full invoker team, so Karma will spam her skill in addition to the bonus damage from the Ionia trait.
Champions that activate the Ionia trait: Irelia, Jhin, Sett, Zed, Karma, Shen, Yasuo, Ahri
In case you want to have the full trait activated, you would need to get to level 9 or have a tactician crown at level 8 along with the Ionia emblem or heart. The emblem can be forged by combining both the spatula and the B.F. Sword.
Why is the Ionia trait great to pick:
- The Ionia trait is easy to activate in early rounds as it has low-cost champions such as Irelia, Jhin, Sett, and Zed.
- In case you can’t find many copies of a specific champion, you can always use any of them as your main carry, and they would do more than enough, such as Zed with the rogue trait, Yasuo with the challenger, Ahri, and Karma.
- Set 9 offers a special augment for Sett that makes him the real boss, granting him tons of stats and making him unkillable, so placing him with the Ionian members would make him a great boss.
- You have a variety of secondary traits that you can activate while having 6 Ionians so that you can balance between your frontlines and backlines.
Ionia stats:
Each Ionian has a unique bonus within their Ability.
Every 4 seconds, a number of Ionians are enlightened to their spirit form, gaining 20 Mana and doubling stat bonuses for 4 seconds.
- 3 100% Ionian bonus, 1 enlightened
- 6 200% Ionian bonus, 2 enlightened
- 9 325% Ionian bonus, 3 enlightened
6. Shurima
The Shurima trait was very popular at the start of Set 9, and it returned in the last patch as it got buffed. It is a strong trait since it has Azir and K’Sante in it.
Shurima trait is a great way to build starting from the very beginning as it has low-cost champions, yet they are strong when placed together, so you can play it as your primary trait starting from round 1.
The Shurima trait is a really strong one as it allows its champions to heal every 5 seconds, and once you hit 5 Shurimans, all of your Shurimans will ascend, gaining huge maximum health and having extremely high attack speed.
Play Shurima if you find multiple copies of Cassiopeia, Renekton, and Taliyah in the shop so you can build up the combo.
Champions that activate the Shurima trait: Renekton, Cassiopeia, Taliyah, Akshan, Azir, Nasus, and K’Sante.
You can forge the Shurima emblem by combining the spatula with the needlessly large rod or by obtaining it by all other traditional methods, such as the tome of traits, augments, or the carousel.
Why is the Shurima trait great to pick:
- Azir is one of the strongest Tier 4 champions so far. As he summons his soldiers, ordering them to move towards enemies while he is staying in his place, safe behind tanks, he is capable of dealing tons of damage that way.
- Also, you can rely on the blue K’Sante, who is placing the blue buff on him, to make him spam his skill, which is literally kicking an enemy out of the arena regardless of how much health he has.
- The Shurima trait can always be mixed with other traits, such as the Noxus, which is one of the best traits that we will mention later on.
- Shurima's trait can be activated with only 3 champions, so you can always use it in early, mid, or late rounds.
Shurima stats:
Every 4 seconds, Shuriman heals 7% maximum Health. After 8 seconds, select Shuriman Ascend and gain 33% max Health and 50% Attack Speed.
- 3 The strongest Shuriman Ascends.
- 5 All Shurimans Ascend.
- 7 Instead, Ascend at combat start, +25% Ascension bonus.
- 9 Ascend twice, at combat start and after 8 seconds, +25% Ascension bonus.
5. Invoker
The Invoker trait has been one of the most trending and most used builds since the second half of set 9, as it became one of the strongest traits with Karma as your main damage dealer, and once you hit most of the champions at level 3, it’s a first-place victory game.
The invoker trait allows the team to gain mana each couple of seconds, which is why you should focus on having 6 invokers because the more you have, the more mana invokers gain, more than the rest of the team.
This trait allows most of the combos to spam their skills more, so if you find invoker copies in your shop, you should play them.
Invoker trait is a primary trait, but you will need to have a secondary trait to support your team as it’s full at 6, so you will need to activate a trait like Ionia with Shen and Karma, Freljord with Lissandra, or even Demacia or Bastion with Shen and Galio.
The best way to play Invoker is to have Taric add the bastion and Targon traits, along with Ahri, as she will activate both the Ionian and sorcerer traits, but you can use any other Ionian until you find her.
Champions that activate the Invoker trait: Cassiopeia, Galio, Soraka, Karma, Lissandra, Shen, and Ryze.
The invoker emblem can’t be forged but can be obtained from a tome of traits, augments, or carousels, yet you won’t really need it until you want to pick out an invoker champion, so you would need it.
Why is the Invoker trait great to pick:
- Having the full trait activated would mean that the top 4 places are guaranteed, as Karma is one of them and she has tons of damage to deal, so the invoker trait would allow her to spam her ability.
- The invoker trait wouldn’t only be beneficial for the invoker members but for the whole team, as they would gain more mana despite having the trait or not.
- The invoker trait gives you the ability to get creative, as you can remove and add many champions to your combo and still manage to win.
- The invoker trait is easy to activate as you can only use Cassiopeia and Galio to have it activated for your team with only 3 gold.
Invoker stats:
Every 3 seconds, your units gain Mana.
- 2 5 Mana
- 4 Additional 10 to Invokers
- 6 10 Mana to all, additional 15 to Invokers
4. Piltover
It's one of the strongest, if not the strongest trait, in TFT set 9, but under some conditions, as it’s not only about placing the right champions with the right items.
Piltover is made for the loss streak if you are planning on going on a winning streak, so this trait might not suit your play style.
The best use of the Piltover is to have 3 Piltover members at least at round one so you can get on a loss streak without losing a lot of health. On the other hand, if you are already below 90 HP or at midgame, it’s not recommended to play the Piltover known combo.
The trait is about the T-HEX summoned once you get 3 Piltover champions in your arena; the more you lose, the more charges it gets, and the best use for it is above 30 charges as it will level up to level 2, and at 65 charges it will get to level 3.
Always look for augments that would heal you, so you don’t find yourself getting eliminated before getting your full combo.
Champions that activate the Piltover trait: Orianna, Vi, Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger.
You can’t forge the Piltover emblem, but you can find it in augments, TOT, or carousels, but you won’t really need it unless you want the 6 Piltover traits and you are ready to lose some more rounds to get the T-HEX to its maximum potential.
Why is the Piltover great to pick:
- The Piltover trait is one of the hardest, as if you didn’t place the full combo at the right time, you might get eliminated, but if you did, it’s a won game.
- Piltover can be combined with many other traits; the best use is the gunner and Zaun traits, but feel free to try out your best combo.
- It’s not the primary trait in any combo, but it’s the one that gets you the victory, as the T-Hex would give you tons of loot once you win a game, and it would also deal tons of damage by firing a ray that hits all the enemy champions in its path.
Piltover stats:
Gain the T-Hex. Every time you lose a player combat, the T-Hex gains Charges. Winning converts the Charges to Power for the T-Hex.
The T-Hex can no longer be sold for loot.
- 3 Gain the T-Hex.
- 6 Gain bonus loot every round. Each loss counts as 2 losses instead.
3. Void
Void is the trait that you will find everyone playing once you have the scroll of knowledge that provides you with the Void emblem, as it has a low chance of being obtained.
Most of the time, this trait is played as the one and only primary trait. Having 8 voids on the arena is a guaranteed win, as it will allow you to summon the Baron, which is known for its huge health and extreme damage.
Void has its own secondary traits, which are the bruiser trait having Cho’Gath and Rek’Sai together and the sorcerer trait having Vel’Koz and Malzahar together.
If you are getting a lot of Void Champion copies in the shop, go for it, as if you get your 1-3 cost champions to level 3, you will be able to dominate the game.
The only thing that prevents people from playing the full combo is the emblem, which can’t be forged by a spatula but can be obtained from augments, TOT, and carousel. If you have the emblem, you can place it on Yasuo so that he can activate the challenger trait for Kai’Sa.
Champions that activate the Void trait: Malzahar, Cho’Gath, Kassadin, Rek’Sai, Vel’Koz, Kai’Sa, and Bel’Veth.
Why is the Void trait great to pick:
- The void trait isn’t only a primary trait; it also has its own secondary traits, such as the sorcerer and bruiser.
- Having the Baron on your side gives you a huge advantage over any other combo played by other players.
- Once you activate the Void trait, you will always have an advantage over your enemies, as you will have one of three creatures either the Remora, Rift Herald, or Baron.
- The void trait gives you a great balance between frontlines and backlines without the need to add additional champions.
- Every time you level up one of your champions, you don’t only increase its stats; you also increase the void creature’s stats, which increase by 25% for each void level.
Void stats:
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%.
- 3 Void Remora
- 6 Rift Herald
- 8 Baron Nashor
2. Demacia
The Demacia trait is the second-best trait with no restrictions; the emblem is not a necessary thing; and you don’t need to be on a losing streak like the Piltover trait.
Demacia is a really strong primary trait, as you don’t even need to have it full, as starting with 7 Demacians, you are ready to dominate the arena.
Garen has proven how strong he is from the very beginning, and the Demacia trait is about the strongest champions you place, so if you only have 3 Demacians, it will pick the strongest one and give him an Ornn item that changes each round.
The more you have demacian members, the more champions will be chosen to get an item.
Keep in mind that, as we mentioned, the trait chooses the strongest Demacian champion, so if you placed an emblem on a level 3 champion, he would get the extra item instead of Garen or whoever you are trying to make the damage dealer.
Champions that activate the Demacia trait: Kayle, Poppy, Galio, Sona, Garen, Lux, and Jarvan IV.
You can always forge a Demacia emblem in case you want to reach the full trait as 9 Demacia or you want to add a secondary trait champion such as Aatrox, who would activate the Juggernaut with Garen. You can combine the spatula with the negatron cloak to get the emblem, and you can also get it from the augments, TOT, and carousels.
Why is the Demacia trait great to pick:
- The Demacia trait is a really strong primary trait that can be used on its own. Of course, you can add supporting champions such as Sorcerer champions with Lux, Invoker with Galio, Bastion with Poppy, or the best use is to add Aatrox as a juggernaut with Garen.
- Demacia's trait balances very well between frontlines and backlines, and its champions synergize well, as Garen’s ability’s damage increases by increasing attack speed, and in the backlines, Sona would provide this as her skill increases the team’s attack speed.
- You have a high chance of obtaining the Demacia emblem, as you can forge it instead of waiting to find it.
- Demacia is a great pick in the early, mid, and late rounds, as you will always have some extra forged items on your champions, giving you a huge advantage over your opponents.
Demacia stats:
Your strongest Demacians become Elite and equip a random Radiant item for each combat. Elites grant Armor and Magic Resist to themselves and adjacent allies, but this does not stack.
- 3 1 Elite, +5 Armor, +5 Magic Resist
- 5 2 Elites, +30 Armor, +30 Magic Resist
- 7 4 Elites, +40 Armor, +40 Magic Resist
- 9 6 Elites, +100 Armor, +100 Magic Resist
1. Noxus
Getting to the most overpowered trait that has been powerful since the set started despite any nerf it has received over the patches is still good, and you will always find one of the top 4 using it in every game.
Noxus is a strong trait in all aspects of the game; it has a huge balance between damage and tanking; you don’t have to focus on pushing all the items to Katarina to deal damage, but Darius is a tank, and if he has the right items, he would be a beast dealing tons of damage, and in some cases more than Katarina.
Noxus is a primary trait that can be used on its own, and to reach its full potential as 9 Noxus, you will need 2 additional champions with 2 emblems, but once you hit 6 Noxus, it would be more than enough to win the game.
Noxus is one of its kind, as the more opponents you conquer, the more the stats increase by 5%, which no other trait offers.
You can always use other traits next to it, such as the Shurima with the Nasus and Azir, to increase your defensive stats with the juggernaut trait activated and the strategist trait activated.
In case you want to focus on Samira and Katarina, you can place Warwick as he would activate the challenger trait for Samira and the juggernaut trait for Darius. Next to him, you should place Ekko as he would activate the Zaun trait for Warwick and the rogue trait for Katarina, which would make her an assassin.
Champions that activate the Noxus trait: Samira, Cassiopeia, Swain, Kled, Katarina, Darius, and Sion.
Noxus emblems can be made, which gives you an advantage once you obtain a spatula as you can combine them with Giant’s belt. You can also get them from augments, TOT, and carousels.
Why is the Noxus trait great to pick:
- The Noxus trait has huge value in both defensive and offensive aspects, so you have enough tanks in the frontline to sustain the damage while having enough damage dealers in the team.
- You can always have different synergies with the Noxus, such as the rogue, strategist, sorcerer, juggernaut, and bruiser, which gives you a huge pool to pick from.
- The emblem is forgeable, so you won’t have to test your luck waiting for it in a carousel or TOT.
- Although your main damage dealer is Katarina, who is a melee champion that can be targeted easily, the trait gives her extra damage and health so she can sustain some more damage.
Noxus stats:
Noxus champions gain Health, Ability Power, and Attack Damage. This is increased by 5% for each different opponent that either you have conquered in combat or is dead.
- 3 170 Health, 17 Ability Power, 17% Attack Damage
- 6 340 Health, 34 Ability Power, 34% Attack Damage
- 9 700 Health, 70 Ability Power, 70% Attack Damage
