Riot Games detail new League of Legends ‘Teamfight Tactics’ game mode

Riot Games is launching their own entry in the hit auto-battler genre Teamfight Tactics as another mode to their League of Legends client that will introduce a completely new way to compete with their giant cast of champions.

Auto-battlers took off with the popular DOTA 2 iteration called Dota Auto Chess and the Riot Games developers didn’t shy away from the comparisons, instead saying the game “inspired” their new take to the mode.

In a June 10 post, the developers announced Teamfight Tactics (TFT) and gave a whole breakdown of how the new component to League will work, revealing a fresh twist to the formula people have come to love.

Riot described the game saying players can expect a normal round-based strategy game, but they’ll go up against seven other players in a “free-for-all race to build a powerful team that fights on your behalf.”

The mode will have players will shop to recruit champions onto their team who’ll get stronger if they “share origins and classes to unlock trait bonuses”. Furthermore, players can build up powerful allies by combining three of the same character to make a “super” champion, then combine three supers to make an “ultimate” champion.

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After accumulating a strong team, players will send their champions to other player’s board to kick off an engagement. Positioning and finding a chemistry between champs will be pivotal in winning a fight.

There will be special events throughout a match to give players falling behind a chance to come back. The goal of the mode is to be the last player standing after all the bloodshed.

Little Legends coming in big update

Furthermore, the Riot team are coming out with adorable additions to TFT in the form of Little Legends. These companions will serve as a special personalization option, and will be the players avatars in TFT.

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Every player will get their first Little Legend for free after a “few games” with additional specials costing 750 RP in the store.

Little Legends will launch in six varieties, and players can expect more with every patch. There will also be Rare Little Legends Eggs going for 490 RP that will have variants of the species, which can eventually unlock powered up models and effects for them.

League of Legends fans can expect TFT to launch with the upcoming 9.13 patch but the game is very much a work in progress.