LOL strategy spin-off
Riot Games, the brains behind the popular MMORPG League of Legends, dropped yet another game. Teamfight Tactics: League of Legends Strategy Game is a PvP auto-battler wherein you need to draft, deploy, and upgrade a revolving roster of League of Legends champions. A round-based battle for survival, Teamfight Tactics is a standalone mobile title that mirrors the auto-battle mode in the PC version of LOL.
LOL meets chess
Like any other auto battler, Teamfight Tactics: League of Legends Strategy Game is an eight-player battle with chess pieces. And since it is a spinoff, the pieces and game board are LOL-themed. Players will need to place these pieces on a hexagonal board and watch them battle against enemy players. To get the pieces, players will need to buy them with in-game gold.
The goal of the game is to outplay and outlast your opponent by building an elite squad of LOL champions ready to fight on your behalf. Each battle simulates a fight between your army and a random enemy player. The random drafts and in-game events ensure that no two matches play out the same.
To make it better for you, everything you need to win matches is unlocked from the get-go. With this, you don’t need to struggle due to a lack of tools or characters. You can also go all-out in the competition from Day One.
A social auto-battler
Auto-battler games are not social games. They are strategy games, where you think about your moves when you’re not watching your unit’s battle. And when the battle starts, the game is only ever about you and your current opponent. The other six players building their armies do not matter.
Teamfight Tactics: League of Legends Strategy Game keeps the core strategy of an auto-battler intact. However, it also made the genre fun to play with friends. It fixes the PvP clone issue by allowing players to always fight head-to-head. If you and your friends are in a match, you’ll see the same thing. Unlike Dota Auto Chess, you don’t need apps like Discord to see what is going on between each other’s screen. Both players have eyes on the game and can watch the battle unfold in real-time.
But the most social feature of Teamfight Tactics is the Shared Draft. It is what the game community calls the Carousel, and every match starts with it. Every player will spawn into a neutral area of the board game. After ten random units spin in a circle, a player will get to choose whichever area they want. Once a player already claims an area, no other player can pick it up.
Struggle in RNG
The Shared Draft feature of Teamfight Tactics: League of Legends Strategy Game is a great way to let the worst-performing player catch up. By giving them the first pick of a new batch of champions and items, they can at least choose characters that have more chances of winning the battle. However, while it is a great twist, it is not enough to make up for the game’s frustrating RNG.
Item randomness is particularly awful in the three opening phases. The problem even persists later on when, after beating roaring bosses like Drake or Rift Herald, you will only be rewarded with the gear equivalent that does not have much value. With this, falling behind in the arms race can put anyone in an untenable position, as items can have dire strategic consequences.
Complexly satisfying game
Like League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics: League of Legends Strategy Game is a game that you’ll enjoy playing hundreds of times. Each match in the game is fresh, and playing with your friends adds another unique layer. Sure, it still needs work, but it’s a struggle that is worth enjoying. All in all, it is a complex strategy game that is very satisfying.
