TFT Set 6.5 details: Neon Nights champions & traits, Scouting rework

TFT Set 6.5 is here, with the Neon Nights Mid-Set update breathing new life into Gizmos & Gadgets. More than 20 new champions and traits plus 80 Hextech Augments have been added, as well as major reworks to Guardian Angel, Scouting, and more.

The most anticipated Mid-Set update in TFT history is coming. The Neon Nights patch for TFT Set 6.5 will be the biggest yet with more than 20 new champions on the way. However, it’s who’s coming that’s causing all the ruckus.

On top of that, there’ll be new Hextech Augments to try out, plenty of mechanics changes, and more. Here’s what we know about TFT Set 6.5.

New champions & traits in TFT Set 6.5

21 new champions and five new traits are being added as part of Neon Nights ⁠— Riot’s biggest Mid-Set expansion yet. The overall total remains the same as Gizmos & Gadgets at 59 champions and 27 traits.

The new champions include five debut units: Alistar, Corki, Zeri, the newly-revealed League of Legends champion Renata Glasc, and Arcane antagonist Silco. Both Renata and Silco wield the power of Shimmer ⁠— in some capacity ⁠— juicing up allies (and enemies, in Renata’s case) to do wild damage.

Traits-wise, five new ones have been added, including the Debonair trait heavily modeled based of Set 4’s Chosen mechanic and the pulsating Hextech trait. Sisters Jinx and Vi have also swapped allegiances, going from Sisters to Rivals as part of the Neon Nights update.

You can find the full list of TFT Set 6.5 champions and traits in our explainer piece.

More than 80 new Hextech Augments freshen up set mechanic

Riot are also diversifying the Hextech Augments mechanic in Neon Nights, with more than 80 new ones being added as part of TFT Set 6.5.

The goal of the Augment changes is to increase flexibility and get rid of a number of “doomed” shops, in developer Stephen ‘Mortdog’ Mortimer’s words.

“The biggest two lessons were one: generally trying to make sure there were less bad options and less games were decided by your Augment options,” he said. “There’s some exaggeration from some players, but there are legitimately some times where you look at those three and you go ‘this is doomed’, and we’re trying to avoid those as much as we can.

“The second big lesson was we didn’t launch with enough generic Augments and so we’re trying to make sure there are more times where you go ‘what does this do, no matter what comp I’m playing.’”

You can find a full list of all the new TFT Set 6.5 Hextech Augments in our explainer article.

Guardian Angel removed in TFT Set 6.5, Edge of Night takes its place

There are two major item changes happening in TFT Set 6.5, the first of which is Guardian Angel being cut from the roster. The combination of B.F. Sword and Chain Vest will now create Edge of Night, which acts more like an aggro-dropper than just a straight revive.

“Every time we get a new bug or a new confusion thing with Guardian Angel, all the way back to Ahri GA when everyone was front-lining their Ahris, guaranteeing a big Ahri cast, we were like ‘that’s not what we want at all,’” Mortdog explained. “The Urgot and Yone thing especially with this Set was like ‘I can’t deal with this anymore, we’ve got to get rid of it.’”

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Edge of Night now shrouds a unit when they drop below 50% health, dropping all aggro. When they emerge from the shadows, they get a burst of attack speed, making it a powerful item on Assassins and AD carries when combined with lifesteal.

The second major change is the change in Spatula items. Hextech (Tear), Striker (Sword), and Debonair (Vest) Emblems have been added in place of Academy, Imperial, and Syndicate respectively.

Scouting rework gives players combat counter in-game

Another major rework coming to TFT Set 6.5 is a change to in-game scouting. Riot has long allowed for the use of third-party programs to count when you last played against an enemy, and now they’re finally integrating it in-game.

The new combat tracker will allow you to track how recently you’ve faced an opponent so you can best position your board. With the Future Sight Augment, you can get that to perfection ⁠— but a tracker will be available to everyone some time after Set 6.5’s launch.

“While we see this as a necessary improvement to our UI, we want to make sure it’s done right — so expect this to launch a bit after our initial mid-set’s release,” Riot added.

Augments have also finally been added into the game’s API, meaning your match history and third-party sites will now display what Augments players had after a game is complete.

TFT Set 6.5 release date

TFT Set 6.5 and the Neon Nights Mid-Set update will go live on TFT patch 12.4, due to release on February 16, 2022.

With the patch, the base Gizmos & Gadgets expansion will be phased out forever, and Neon Nights will be kicking around for three months until Set 7’s arrival.