New TFT Set 9 Stillwater Hold Portal has players surrendering en masse

Teamfight Tactics’ Set 9 introduced the Stillwater Hold portal, which has players surrendering their lobbies en masse.

Riot’s ever-popular auto battler Teamfight Tactics is primed to enter its 9th set, Runeterra Reforged. The newest set, currently on Riot’s Public Beta Environment (PBE) features portals from all over Runeterra, that can drastically affect how a game is played out. These portals can affect games by giving players insanely powerful items, or change up how a player needs to position.

At the start of each game, players have the opportunity to vote for a portal of their choosing. There are 3 portals that will spawn instead of a carousel, and standing in them counts as a vote for that portal.

However, not all of these portals are made equal, especially in the eyes of players. Stillwater Hold’s special effect seems to be making players ragequit as many severely dislike what it brings to the table.

Stillwater Hold Portal was picked and 6 people ff’d by 4-1
byu/Poncho142 inTeamfightTactics

Stillwater Hold causes 6 players to surrender ASAP

Stillwater Hold removes all augments from the lobby. Augments, like portals grant various bonuses throughout the game, which provides a good amount of variety from game to game. These augments are personal to the player and can be chosen three times a game. These augments can be specific to the player’s comp and massively increase its power.

It seems that many players on the PBE are not a fan of this, as players have been surrendering as soon as possible.

Removing these augments from the game severely reduces the amount of variety and strategy within the lobby, as players are no longer forced to play around their augments choices. Players can instead choose to force certain compositions.

There are many potential reasons why players are leaving the lobbies when Stillwater Hold is chosen. One such reason may be due to augments providing power to players that would otherwise be normally unobtainable. This results in fewer stand-out moments that many players love.

Set 9 is still on the PBE as of writing, which could mean that Stillwater Hold receives changes before it heads to live, reducing the severity of its effect.