There are many hidden rules and secret tips in TFT but it's hard to find any information about them. This cheat sheet is meant to help you remember these or discover them so you can have an edge during your games!
1. Use your item anvil just before carousel
If you happen to have an item anvil, I suggest you open it just before the carousel round so you can see the options offered to you and pick the perfect item on the carousel. This helps a lot if you are chasing a specific item. In this example I saw I had a bow as an option so I tried to get the other bow to make Red Buff, if I couldn’t get that bow, I would have gone for another item to complete immediately.
Clip: https://www.twitch.tv/frobei/clip/SlickToughTroutItsBoshyTime-FNvBytvtLaoPlz_a
2. Headliner rules and how to bypass one of them
There are a couple of hidden rules with the Headliners:
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the first one is that if you see a Headliner in your shop, then the next time you will see the same unit as a Headliner, the unit will have a different trait highlighted
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if you skip a specific headliner in your shop then you won’t see the unit as a headliner before a couple of shops. Basically it means if you skip a Yone Heartsteel headliner, then you won't see any Yone headliner in your next 7 shops AND the next Yone you will see will either be Crowd Diver or Edgelord.
But there’s another secret rule. If you buy and sell immediately the headliner then you can bypass the 2nd rule and have a chance to find it faster. This is why the player in the clip bought Yone Hearsteel and sold him immediately to have a chance to find Yone Crowd Diver or Edgelord before 7 shops. The clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/BadCourageousChickenBrokeBack-PuqAMDYAPx0COJ3E
So if you play a reroll comp, but don’t get the headliner proc you wanted, buy and it sell it immediately to have bigger chances to find the headliner you want sooner.
3. Tailoring the augments you want
In TFT there are augments related to specific traits such as Too Big To Fail for bruisers, Double The Funk for Disco, and so on. These augments randomly appear at Stage 2 but can only appear in Stage 3 or Stage 4 if you activate the relevant trait. You can abuse this knowledge by specifically removing traits at stages 3-1 or 4-1 to increase the odds of finding the tailored augment you want.
In this example I only had Bruiser activated during stage 3-1. It also means I had a 0% chance to find Live for Longer, Metalheads, Bounty Hunter, Double The Funk or Raise the Tempo because I didn’t activate these traits. By reducing the augments I could find, I got a higher chance of finding Too Big To Fail.
So remember to tailor your board at 3-1 and 4-1 if you are looking for a specific augment to increase your odds of hitting that augment.
Clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/TenderRudeThymeRiPepperonis-fbP88krm2PPwz4tv
4. Keeping a loss streak with Heartsteel with "Raise the Stakes" activated
If you play Hearsteel with Raise the Stakes but someone else is doing the same, you will want to optimize your positioning to make sure you lose while keeping all your Heartsteel units on board.
Most people know they can block a unit in the corner right by adding two ranged champions but they often forget they also need to put the other melee champions on the 3rd or 4th row. In this example, the streamer forced Aphelios and Nami to move to hit Yone, leaving space for Sett to move and be unblocked. This positioning made the streamer lose the round so he could stack even more hearts.
Clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/CoyFrailMeatloafKappaPride-wlw0ProLYDWIcPmI
5. Optimizing your item drop rate in PVE rounds
There is a hidden item distribution rule. To make it short, if you already drop 1 specific item, you’re less likely to drop another one. This rule was added a long time ago to avoid having games with 5 cloaks dropped from PVE making it frustrating and unplayable.
Example: Let’s say you already dropped two swords and you made a Deathblade. Then you want to build an Infinity Edge for your AD carry and you have the choice to pick either sword or gloves at the carousel and hope to complete your item with the next PVE round. The smartest move is to pick a sword at the carousel because you have a much higher chance of dropping gloves rather than a sword since you already dropped two swords previously. This is why it’s important to remember what item you dropped before picking your items at the carousels.
6. Hover your opponents while holding a unit
If you play a comp that requires precise positioning or if you get a Zephyr or Shroud, you should use this trick to always trick your opponent.
This only works on PC but you have to click and hold on your unit then press 1 or 3 to switch the boards until you get on the board on the guy you are going to face. Then wait the last second to come back to your board by pressing 2 and release the unit wherever you want to. Some people like to reposition at the last second and this should help you to be fast enough and react accordingly.
7. Gain gold interest during Stage 1
If you get a map that makes you start with a 3-cost unit or 3 1-cost units and you dropped 6 gold on the first PVE round, you need to try to make 10 golds at stage 1-3 by placing only one unit who can solo the three minions. This allows you to get interest gold much sooner than anyone else so you can create a significant economic advantage. However, only a few units can solo the three minions. Two safe units are Tahm Kench and Olaf but you can also win with Evelynn and Lilia if you have a belt to give them
Clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/AdventurousSmoothGazelleResidentSleeper-aexeIc23MA9Z5Cws
8. Avoid weak summons when playing melee carries (Kayn, Zed, Yone, Riven, etc)
Most players know you have to put your main carry behind your strongest tank so your Riven or Zed won’t be targeted as long as your tank remains alive.
However, if you pick the augment Crash Test Dummies or if have a Zzrot, they will take the aggro away from your main tank and they will die fast right after, this will often lead your melee carry in a vulnerable position while your main tank remains untouched.
9. Pop the Arifact Anvil after Stage 4 if possible
If you get an artifact anvil from Hearsteel during stage 3, don’t open it before stage 4. There’s a secret rule that prevents you from getting some artifacts after stage 3.
These artifacts are Mogul, Goldmancer, Collector, Gambler’s Blade and Diamond Hands. And it’s good you don’t get them at stage 4 because they don’t have any real value anymore.
10. Forcing Recombobulator to appear at 4-2 to make a 3-star 4-cost unit
You might already know that if you skip an augment, you will never see it again during your game. But there’s a way to abuse this information if you are playing in the Silver Symphony map that makes you play with 3 silver augments.
There are 20 possible silver augments you can get a stage 4-2 but if you rerolled all the augments during stage 2-1 and 3-2, then you can have a fair amount of chance to hit Recombobulator at stage 4-2 if you didn’t see it at stage 3-2. It means you can roll down at stage 4-1 to make a 3-star 3-cost champion like Yone or Riven and then make a 3-star 4-cost unit, then you can easily have a 3-star 4-cost unit at stage 4-2.
Yes, this is still gambling but if you roll all your augments then you drastically increase the odds of forcing Recombobulator.
Video for the curious people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXVNEqHucU