Another In-depth guide for Teamfight Tactics is here! The Games Cabin brings you another one of the amazing guides for our favourite League of Legends spinoff game, TFT! On todays menu, The Bruiser Composition.
Introduction
The unkillable frontilne composition, or better known as The Bruiser Composition. Although some might say that they are almost the same as The Bodyguards, some players with more experience will know that they are not. I mean yes both of the champions in these two compositions are tanky units, but it really depends on what do you need in particular game.
The Bruisers are overall defensive unit since they get the flat amount of Health Points as a bonus for trait, and The Bodyguards will get a flat amount of Armour. They do use the same items, but if you are going against some strong AD units, of course The Bodyguards will be the better choice. But those kinds of game are highly unlikely to happen, as someone will always go for some kind of Ap. So that’s where Bruisers come in place since with a flat amount of hp they are designed to survive both the attacks from AD and AP champions. And you can buff them with items of your choice and depending on what do you need in that game.
The Bruisers are really powerful composition, and there is something scary when you see them.
This composition thirves in the frontline and you can make them even stronger with some cool Augments that buff the frontline champions. This composition is somewhat Augment dependent if you are going for full 8 Bruisers, but you can get that Emblem in many ways, not only from the Augment. There is the items and the Carousel too.
The Bruiser Trait
Your team gains bonus maximum Health. Bruisers gain double the bonus.
- 2
- 125 Health
- 4
- 225 Health
- 6
- 450 Health
- 8
- 800 Health
Champions
- Illaoi
- Sejuani
- Rek’Sai
- Zac
- Cho’Gath
- Vi
- Tahm Kench
Ilaoi
Illaoi is a must-have in every composition, whether it’s snipers or mercenaries you are going to favor in that particular game. Low-cost, high damage, even higher healing, and immense sustain, Illaoi benefits from any kind of sustain and tanky items that you equip her with. But she is important the most since she is cheap and can be quite strong when leveled up.
Bear in mind that she may look weak, but trust me, she is not. Compared to the five cost champions with high levels, she is quite a decent opponent. And because a lot of people don’t know this, she isn’t used that much, so you have a pretty high chance of maxing her level as early as level four of the game.
Do a couple of rerolls, and you sure won’t regret it!
The items she benefits the most from are Bramble’s vest, Warmog’s armor, Dragon’s claw, Titan’s resolve, Zz’Rot Portal, Sunfire Cape, Redemption, and any kind of similar item. You get the pattern. I had even won some games when I had her equipped with Morello’s. Don’t ask, just don’t.
Ability: Harsh Lesson
Illaoi slams her target, linking her soul to it for 5 seconds and dealing magic damage. While linked, Illaoi is healed for a percentage of the damage taken by her target.
Sejuani
Sejuani came along with The Neon Nights patch. I think she is rather good, and deserves a place in the current patch.
Sejuani is a tank, like she is in The normal League of Legends. She is an aggressive frontliner with loads of sustain and crowd control. Riot games implemented this perfectly and she is now one of the most valuable champions in the game. When it comes to the tanky ones of course.
She holds on three traits, with them being The Bruiser trait, The Enforcer Trait and The Hextech Trait. She can work with all of them and for every single one her job is almost always the same, and the only difference is the bonuses that she will receive from the particular composition you are going for in that respective game.
She will always be a frontliner designed to take as much aggro as it is humanly possible, but instead of being just a meat for pounding (sorry kids), she also carries some utility with her kit. That basically means that her team could benefit greatly from her ultimate, and her enemies won’t, as it tends to be.
Her positioning should always be in the front two rows, taking as much damage and trying to survive as long as she can, so the more powerful units, in the form of damage, can clear the debris from the enemy’s side of the field.
Her items should always be the ones that provide the most sustain, but depending on what do you need in particular game its hard to tell. But again, there aren’t a million of them, are there? For some bonus armour you should always go for The Titan’s Resolve and The Bramble’s Vest. The Sunfire Cape works well too! For Magic Resist there is The Spirit Visage and The Dragon’s Claw. And for HP, and overall good item is always The Warmog’s Armour.
She is among the cheaper units in the game, with the price of just two golden coins so that makes her available for upgrading to the maximum level. The only problem is she does hold on to 3 traits, so she is very much needed for a lot of compositions.
Ability: Arctic Assault
Sejuani signals Bristle to charge, dealing magic damage and stunning her target. She then gains Frost Armor, granting her Armor and Magic Resist for 4 seconds
Rek’Sai
Rek Sai came with the arrival of The Patch 12.5. She fits in the Striker, Mutant and Bruiser traits making her quite a versatile pick. She is quite strong and a pretty damn cheap champion with a price of just two gold coins.
She is a good pick for any of the said traits so don’t hesitate to chose her whenever you have a chance. He is great as a second option in some compositions as well like a Striker fill for Hextechs and Mutant fill for Arcanists.
She is equipped with utility kit that disrupts enemy’s front line, disabling them for some time while your carries shred them into pieces. She can hold a position for quite a long time and it is not likely to be the champion that dies as soon as the game starts.
You have to make a decision if you are going to use items on her since there is a lot of stronger picks than her in the game, but then again if you have The Magnetic remover you can always use it as the game progresses. Ideal items for her are The Titans Resolve, The Sunfire Cape, The Warmogs Armor, The Brambles vest and The Dragons claw. But I would save all of those for something stronger.
She is ideally placed in the front line taking as much aggro as it is possible and wreaking havoc with her ultimate while disabling the most important units in the enemy’s team.
She is relatively easy to level up since she is pretty cheap so you are likely to get her to level three pretty soon, and he can be very important in those stages of the game.
Ability: Furious Bite
Rek’Sai bites her target, dealing 125% of her Attack Damage and bonus damage and healing herself. If Rek’sai has already bit her target, she heals for more.
Zac
Zac is currently the champion in the S-tier. While he’s powerful, it’s not enough to warrant his position. I will not spend a lot of time pointing out his shortcomings or criticizing him, as there are many other champions who are doing a lot worse than him. Wow! That sounds like he’s a bad champion. He’s not. He’s an Chemtech Bruiser and has numerous applications for both of them.
He’s very tough and is able to take out two enemies at once with his ability. He is able to deal some serious damage up to level 3 however, that’s remarkable for an bruiser tank type of champion.
His price is decent, it’s three gold coins, and that puts him in the middle of the range. I think it’s a fair price for him, and since not many people are playing The Chemtech or The Bruiser comp, because of the hype of the new set, he is actually available a lot. Do you know what that means? Yup, you can upgrade him to level three pretty quickly.
His position is in the front. Alongside his tank buddies, he does great both as a tank and disrupter of the enemy’s front line. He also does not tend to die quickly since both of his traits are focused on sustain.
Item-wise, you can’t go wrong with The Warmog’s Armor, The Sunfire Cape, and The Dragon’s Claw.
Ability: Yoink!
Zac stretches his arms up to three hexes to pull the two most distant enemies towards him, dealing magic damage. Zac takes less damage while using this ability.
Cho’Gath
You have to be a sloppy, dumb or simply a poor League of Legends or Teamfight Tactics player to be a Cho’Gath hater. Cho’Gath is a beast! (that loves to feast and feast, the puns are real, I know). Cho is a character which was in patch 6 the entire time , and has remained on our team through patch 6.5. Cho is an amazing unit and I couldn’t be happier.
He is a beast. He grows in size, chews, and even one-shots your opponents, and when combined with the Titan’s Resolve, Cho could grow to 50% of the field once his level is at its highest. He has three traits, being The Mutant, The Bruiser, and The Colossus trait. Rek’Sai and he both wear The Mutant emblem and The Bruiser emblem This means they can work well together. This is essentially meaning that if you are playing The Mutant composition, you must have at minimum two bruisers on your team. If you are playing The Bruiser comp, the two mutant bonus is there when you need it the most. Of course Cho is better pick then Rek’Sai but that comes with the price, since to place him on the field you will need to clear 2 spots (that’s two levels) to put him, since that is a con of The Colossus trait.
Cho’Gath is a beast who makes a smile appear on any face that is playing him in the game. He brings the most important thing to the table, that is the whole point of the game. To have fun. It’s about seeing your Cho increase to the point that you almost can’t see the other champions in the table, and then just eat enemy’s team, champ by champ. No one can stay immune to that!
Let’s speak about his items. Cho without The Titan’s Resolve is just no point in playing, tbh. So that one is a must! Other items really depend on your mood and the requirements in your particular game. He benefits from The Sunfire Cape, The Warmog’s Armor, The Blue Buff, The Rabbadon’s Death Cap, and even The Jeweled Gauntlet.
He should be positioned along with some other Bruisers or tanks in the center of the frontline of the battle arena. I also should mention that if the enemy is rocking some hard CC composition, The Quicksilver is a great option on Cho as well.
He isn’t a very cheap unit, with the price of three gold coins, but he is the unit that you should prioritize since he will always be your primary or secondary carry in any composition you go for. Sit back and relax while looking at your Cho chomping on the opponent’s champions. Nom, nom, nom!
Ability: Feast
Cho’Gath devours the lowest Health enemy within range, dealing magic damage. If this kills the target, Cho’Gath gains a stack of Feast, up to. Each stack of Feast grants 2% bonus Health and size permanently.
Vi
Vi is an essential part of many compositions, including the obvious, Bruisers, and Enforcers, but actually, she is a necessary part of the Sniper – Merc, or Merc – Sniper com as well. If Miss Fortune is the link or the glue that keeps it all in place, Vi would, in that case, be a nail that you, well, nailed through the glue, just in case.
She is powerful and valuable in Bruiser composition, benefiting from the HP buffs, and she is incredible in Enforcer comps, where she can glow with just two enforcers instead of four. But that’s because Enforcers are something that Riot needs to work on since they are kinda pointless to play on their own.
My girl Vi benefits from any kind of tanky items, such as Bramble’s vest, Warmog’s armor, Dragon’s claw, Titan’s resolve, Zz’Rot Portal, Sunfire Cape, Redemption, and not too long ago, a Guardian Angel. But now you can just use The Edge of the Night. You can, but you should probably save it for some carry in the back. Saying that, it is clearly implied that Vi is a frontliner, and with that, a mighty one. Her place is in the front center of your field, with her tank buddies around her.
Vi was a very cheap champion with the cost of just two gold and she was way overpowered for her price. Riot saw this and upgraded her cost to four golden coins, as well as buffing her stats and giving her another trait.
Her newest addition replacing The Sister Trait is The Rival Trait. This trait is active when you have precisely one unique Rival unit, as Rivals refuse to work together. Vi’s mana cost is reduced by 20. Jinx gains 40% Attack Speed for 3 seconds after scoring a takedown.
In Merc – Sniper or Sniper – Merc compositions, any kind of augment you get, whether it is Sniper or Merc one, she can be equipped with it. She does benefit more from the Merc one since it provides her with more HP, which then scales with her bruiser trait if Illaoi is on the field as well.
Ability: Piltover Pulverizer
Vi shields herself and deals magic damage to her target and enemies behind it. On her 2nd cast, she also dashes through her target. On her 3rd cast, she instead throws her target into the air and slams them back to the ground, dealing damage in a circle around her target.
Tahm Kench
By far one of the most powerful champions in the current set, since he can devour even the strongest of the enemy champions!
His mechanics and looks on regular Summoner’s Rift, to his use in the magical world TFT. Tahm Kench, who is hot at the price of five golds, is a game-changer. He is an integral component of Merc – Snipers and Sniper – Mercs compositions. You can’t win without him. This is how the game works.
He is a much better choice from Gangplank and you should have this in mind, even if your Gangplank is level three, Tahm Kench is a better solution, in the long run, so you should always replace GP with Tahm Kench.
While still at level one, I will admit he won’t do much, in case of doing the actual work around the field, but rather annoy you with his damage-less ability. But once he hits level two, god forbid level three, that’s where the fun begins.
Tahm Kench’s magic begins to shine once he starts eating his foes like he did in his lore. If you run Merc – Sniper composition, it is likely that you will have five Mercs by the time Tahm hits your board. And if you’re lucky, maybe even seven. It happened once to me, happy times. However, if you return to Tahm and you have five mercenaries, then you can buy Tahm if you have done well in the game. This is the final game. Since you have five Mercs, you will probably have some crazy items. There are a lot. You are expected to have three to four more items than your opponents at level eight.
You can use it to your advantage. No, abuse it. Tahm will benefit from whatever you give him. When it comes to food, he is similar to me. But I would rather not indulge in that.
The best items for Tahm come from the tank, or a section of items. My recommendations are Titan’s resolve and Warmog’s armor, as well as the Jeweled Gauntlet. You can also choose to go for Blue Buff or Rabbadon’s and Redemption. It is up to you. It’s actually up to him, since once he reaches level 2, you won’t be much of an influence on the board. Sett, you’re done. It’s The Boss, the mighty Tahm Kennech!
Ability: Devour
Tahm Kench devours his target, storing them in his belly for 3 seconds and dealing magic damage over the duration. During this time, they are invulnerable to other sources of damage and Tahm Kench takes 40% reduced damage. If they die while inside, Tahm Kench spits out a random item component they were holding or the cost of the unit in gold. Otherwise, he spits them towards the farthest enemy, briefly stunning targets they impact.
Supporting champions
The Bruiser composition gives you a huge amount of flexibility, and that means that you can really chose from the variety of champions to be your supporting one. You can go for another Mutant since you will already have 2 via Rek’Sai and Cho’Gath, Mercenary, Hextech, Enforcer, Striker, you name it. My choice for them is Jayce since he will round up the Enforcer bonus and with a little bit of luck you can equip him with the Mutant Emblem so you activate that bonus too. In that case you will be unbeatable.
- Jayce
Jayce
With the arrival of The Gizmos and Gadgets along came Jayce. A great high costing, high damage champion with the most universal kit right now. Riot decided that he should be present in The Neon Night patch as well, and we couldn’t be happier because of that.
My God, this guy is so strong and versatile! He is an Innovator, Transformator, and Enforcer (basically anything that ends with an R). He can carry, he can tank, he is good just to fill a number if you get a spatula or you already have your comp finished. But the problem is that he costs five golden coins, and you need to be fairly high level even to have a chance of getting him, not to mention about leveling him to level two, let alone three.
The great thing about Jayce is that he can work with almost every single composition out there and he is a great choice to put your crest or emblem onto if you have one to spare along with the free spot on the battlefield.
He benefits from any item you put on him. I’m not even joking. You have Titan’s resolve, and no problem put it on, you have Rabbadons? No sweat, it will do some damage!
He is ideally placed, well, anywhere, really. And let me tell you why. If you place Jayce somewhere in the backrows his weapon is a plasma rifle and apart from damaging his opponents, he also increases the attack speed of his allies. If he is placed somewhere in the front rows of the battlefield, Jayce’s weapon becomes a hammer that he uses to smash around and disrupt his foes.
You can put him on the lower part of the field and equip him with some AD or AP items to shred your foes from far away, or you can go head to head against your opponent’s tanks on the front of the field with some Warmogs or Titan’s. If it is possible, get him to level two.
Ability: Mercury Cannon/Mercury Hammer
Melee form: Jayce slams his hammer down onto nearby enemies, dealing damage and reducing their Armor and Magic Resist. Ranged form: Jayce deploys an acceleration gate, granting bonus Attack Speed to allies in the same row, then fires an orb of electricity at the largest enemy group.
The Bruiser Composition
The In-Game guide
Early game
This is pretty basic, but incredibly strong composition with many cheap but strong units. You should start your game with Illaoi, and since she is pretty available you will try to get her on some higher level asap. In the level two, we have Sejuani and Rek’Sai, while they can be harder to upgrade since they have a lot of traits that are on high demand right now, you should give it a shot without wasting too much gold.
Mid game
This is a moment in the game where you should reach out for Augments or Emblems, whether its Bruiser, which is a must in this composition, to maybe Enforcer, Mutant, Striker or Hextech. You should have one at least. This is also the perfect time to look for Cho’Gath, and since he takes up two spots on the field, expect to lose some games at this point, but that’s ok, since you will redeem that losses a little bit later in the game.
Late game
This is a time to buy Vi and Tahm Kench and a perfect time to decide what your supporting champion will be. It should definitely be some unit from the expensive range of champions since you will need some manpower. Try to reach level 9 as soon as you can and save money for Jayce or some other unit in that cost range. Use your items wisely. Cho’Gath should be the star and the main carry of this composition. So every Titan’s Resolve you get should he receive first! Remember The Titan’s Resolve stacks so you can’t make a mistake if you put the three of them on the same champion.
Conclusion
We are nearing the end of our guides for Set 6.5 but there is a still couple more to come. After that we will do some ranking of Origins, Classes and Champions to make you get a better understanding of the game and hopefully win you some sweet LP.
Stay tuned, there is a lot more stuff to come, only on The Games Cabin!