How to play Cypher Zed & Zeri - TFT Set 14 Challenger Guide

Cypher is a trait that encourages players to play riskily to get high rewards. The more consecutive losses you have while having at least 3 Cypher on your board, the more intel you gather and the bigger the reward you could get (if you are still alive!).

However, you cannot cash out your rewards whenever you want. You can only cash them at stage 3-3, 3-7, 4-3, 4-7, or 5-5. Most of the time, you will aim for a cash out at stage 3-7 or 4-3 because you will run out of Health to greed for more losses, but also because they provide the best risk/reward ratio. You can also aim for a quick cash out at 3-3 if you feel the game won't allow you for a big loss streak. But this is more for advanced players who understand the concept of "tempo".

"Most of the time, you will aim for a cash out at stage 3-7 or 4-3 because you will run out of Health to greed for more losses"

Make sure to absolutely lose all your fights whenever you have Cypher. Don't hesitate to position your board weirdly to ensure a loss if someone else is also aiming for a loss streak.

Concerning the cash out. I'd like to say "try to get as many Intel as possible" but sometimes you simply cannot greed more because you got grieffed, you couldn't add Cypher soon enough, you lost too much health, etc.

If that's the case, I'd say try at least to cash out 210 Intel as it gives a very fair value and can help you make a good come back. But if you have an insane game with tons of Health, lots of losses, augments like Last Stand or Tiniest Titan, you can definitely aim for 410 - 450 Intel to ensure a first place. But of course, you can always greed for more intel to get your adrenaline rush! :)

While you position and ensure your loss streak during stages 2 and 3, you also need to prepare the comp you will want to play. It means you need to:

1. 1 pick the relevant items / units at the carousel
2. 2 stack your gold and exp
3. 3 be ready to send it all at lvl 8 at around stage 4-1 or 4-2 if you have extra health
4. 4 pick relevant augments

You will find below all the information you need to prepare. The strongest comp is Zed / Zeri with 4 Bastion as shown below. Prioritize items for Zed and Zeri (Draven can hold items for Zeri if she's too contested). Normally, with your cash out, you should be strong enough to win stage 4 as long as you have your 4 cost units. Then aim to reach lvl 9 and finish your board with 5 cost units.

Here are some important tips that will help you optimize your games and increase the odds of finishing first:

• 1 The Hacked Orb that gives Health will make you want to "force" Cypher even more.
• 2 It's fine if you don't have Cypher at stage 2-1. As long as you have your loss streak, your bonus intel will be calculated properly.
• 3 You can cash out your Cypher prize even without having Cypher on your board. So if you start to be really short in Health, or if you aim for a very specific cash out (eg: the 290 intel cash out), you can remove your Cypher units from the board and field a stronger team.
• 4 If you got a win and someone stopped your loss streak, it's not the end of the world. Think about cashing out at stage 3-3 or 3-7 and move on with the same game plan or play a reroll comp like Strategist Reroll