Intro
Teamfight Tactics, or TFT, is an 8-player, free-for-all strategy game
and an autobattler using champions and their abilities in League of
Legends(developed by the same company). It is like chess in some ways,
which is why TFT is also called an "auto-chess" game.
The goal of the game is to get all of your opponents to 0 health by
winning rounds with your units.
How the Game is Played
There is an initial carousel stage, where 9 units spawn with item
components, like a sword or bow(there are exceptions, such as the special carousels that can give
everyone the same components, or even a full item.)
In Stage 1, after the carousel, there are 3 rounds of minions,
which may drop a random amount of gold, items, and sometimes units.
The rest of the stages follow the same structure, and in
Stage 2-1 you finally face someone else after a preparation
phase(this phase happens every round before player/monster fights).
The round structure, except stage 1, is: rounds 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 are
rounds where your board faces another board; round 4 is another carousel
round, with units in a carousel and an item, just like the start of the
game; round 7 is a round you face monsters or a monster in order to get
more items and gold.
Gold and the TFT Interface
Gold in this game buys you units, refreshes your shop, or buys you XP to
take to the next level in hopes of finding better units and to put more
of them on your board.
Gold can be earned after each round, determined by how much gold you
have, and how many rounds you have been winning/losing in a row(known as
streaking).
Alternative ways to get gold is winning a round(beating your opponent),
an origin that will be brought up in Basics, and a Galaxy that will be
brought up in Basics as well.
In every round, everyone gets 5 units that you can buy/sell in order to
upgrade current units, fill out synergies, or counter opponent's boards.
Newly bought untis are placed on your bench unless your bench is
full.
There are 2 buttons on the left side of the shop, reroll(costs 2 gold
and shows 5 new units) and buy XP(which costs 4 gold to buy 4 XP). There
is a bar showing XP progress, and each level requires a different amount
of gold(level is capped off at 9, gold is not capped). Your current gold
total will be shown on top of the shop.
Units(which will be explained more in Basics)
can be placed on your board, with the number of units corresponding with
your level, or your bench, with a maximum of 10 units on the bench.
The unit's synergies will count for the units on the board only, as
those units will be the units in combat.
Luck
I feel like I have to address the luck in this game. There is a stigma
about this game where's 100% luck.
Yes, this game has a lot of luck-based elements, such as what items drop
from monsters or champions you get in your shop, but it is what you do
with what you get(in this case getting items or champions you may not
want) that makes you a good TFT player.