5 TFT Critical Early Game Mistakes That Kill Your Game - Set 11 Challenger Guide

Have you ever found yourself in that desperate situation in TFT where you're struggling to survive in the early game, but you feel like you're going in circles, without a clear direction? Don't worry, we've all been there!

In TFT, the early game can be a real minefield where the slightest mistake can cost you dearly. In this article, I'm going to reveal the five crucial mistakes to avoid, mistakes that could be the cause of your premature defeats. So, get ready to take some notes, because I'm going to show you how to avoid these pitfalls and establish a solid foundation for victory.

I am Frobei and I have been a Challenger player for multiple sets in a row, I have been playing in multiple tournaments against the best players of the world and I'm here to help you as much as I can!

If you've ever tried playing chess, you know how crucial it is to start the game well. However, it's also the easiest time to make mistakes, given the infinite number of choices available.

In TFT, it's pretty much the same. From the first round of the game, we have to choose the first units we want to play, and there are always good and bad choices. So, how do you differentiate between good units to buy and bad ones?

In this exercise, let's assume the game is fairly balanced and that all units are equally valuable. In this case, there are a few rules to follow that usually work.

Generally, the first units you'll want to buy are those that can be upgraded to 2 stars. A two-star unit is on average 1.8 times more powerful than its one-star version, and you'll have no chance of winning stage 2 fights if you don't build a board with these units. So, it's essential to buy duplicate units to increase your chances of getting a third copy and improving your board with additional statistics.

Of course, this must also strike a balance between offense and defense. For example, you'll still get crushed even if you have three 2-star units, but they're all ranged units, and you have no one to hold the front line. To illustrate, imagine if in the movie "300," Leonidas had an army of 300 archers and no melee warriors. We can say that the movie would have lasted 30 seconds instead of 120 minutes.

The mistake to avoid is therefore refusing to buy pairs of champions, even if these champions don't necessarily share the synergies of your current board.

But let's not forget that champions are just one aspect that makes up the power of your army; you also need to equip them with items, and we'll address this in the next section.

Having an army of 2-star units is good, but equipping these units correctly is even better. It's a bit like adding a soundbox to a guitar; it amplifies the instrument's full potential. In TFT, items are hugely important and can multiply your team's power. The problem is, you don't always have the item components you'd like to have, so you might be tempted to wait for better ones while leaving components lying around. That's where the mistake lies.

Let's take an example: suppose you have a good start to play a composition focused on AD carries like Kaisa or Ashe, and you have 4 components sitting on the bench because you have more offensive AD items than AP offensive items.

**However, if you don't place items on your champions, you're likely to lose upcoming fights, putting yourself in a difficult situation and increasing the risk of losing the game before even finding your famous late-game AD carries. **

In this kind of situation, it's still recommended to combine an item, even if it's not the perfect item for the moment or if you don't have the perfect unit to use it. This is why I used Red Buff on Volibear. It's a good item but it's not the best item for him and it didn't really matter because I managed to win fights thanks to that and save HP to bring me to the late game to play Kaisa!

So as a rule of thumb, avoid having 3 or more components on your bench waiting to be used as much as possible, and always try to have as many items on your units as it makes sense with activated synergies and your late-game plan.

If you have any doubts about what are the best items to build for any character of the game, I recommend you looking at this cheat sheet I'm maintaining weekly: https://www.tacter.com/tft/guides/best-items-for-all-champions-in-tft-set-11-36d59dfe

You're probably already aware of the different ways to earn gold in the game, but I'll list them just in case:

• You automatically receive 5 gold coins per turn.
• You earn 1 gold coin when you win a fight against another player.
• You can earn up to 3 gold coins per turn if you chain multiple victories or defeats against opponents, this is called a streak.
• And, most importantly, you can earn up to 5 gold coins per turn through interest.

It's crucial, in the early game, to quickly reach the 10-gold threshold, then aim for 20 gold to access the first interest tiers and thus accelerate gold generation per turn. If you fail to reach 10g then 20g quickly during stage 2, you will have a severe issue with your economy and you will most likely never find your units simply because you don't have enough cash to buy your levels and roll!

Although the temptation to keep as many units on your bench as possible to increase your chances of getting 2-star units and having an even more powerful board is tempting, it's imperative to make sacrifices. Avoid buying all available units to reach interest tiers and build a better economy than your opponents. It's this economy that will allow you to surpass them in the late game by having more resources.

In essence, it's often better to always prioritize interest tiers as long as it doesn't force you to sell important pairs of units or if it doesn't prevent you from adding an important unit to your next level up.

And precisely, we'll go a little deeper into details with the next error that costs a lot of gold to those who commit it.

Everyone would love to have a good early game with the right units and the right items, which allows you to win all fights and end up with 100 HP and a big win streak.

Unfortunately, this rarely happens, and you must be able to assess the power of your board well and apply the correct strategy. As I explained earlier, it's crucial to reach gold tiers quickly to accelerate gold generation per turn and simply have more resources than your opponents, and there's a fairly effective way to achieve this: achieve a streak of 6 wins or losses.

The best streak is still the 6 consecutive wins, but it's obviously difficult to achieve. If you aim for this goal, you must be sure that your army is stronger than your opponents', so you probably already have quite a few 2-star units, with appropriate items and good synergies. In this case, here's the strategy you should apply: you want to push level 4 at stage 2-1 and push level 5 at stage 2-3 or 2-5, but above all, you must regularly look at the other strong players in the lobby to be 100% sure that you will win if you encounter them. If you apply this strategy, you will aim to be level 5 at stage 3-7 with at least 20 gold in savings.

On the other hand, if you have weak start because you can't find any 2-star units, you would rather play the lose streak, meaning you will aim to lose the 5 fights of stage 2 to have more gold than your opponents. For this, you'll never spend gold on experience, and you'll also regularly check the other players' boards to make sure no one else is trying to do the same thing. Be careful because this strategy is dangerous since you're exchanging health points for money in a way, which means you need to go for a comp that can come back like Yone reroll or Bard reroll

If you aim for this strategy, you should be level 4 at stage 3-7 with at least 40 gold in savings.

The mistake to avoid is therefore misidentifying the strength of your army and applying the wrong strategy, such as trying to win streak with a bad board or trying to lose streak when you have a strong board.

If you have any doubts about which leveling strategy you should apply, I have made a full guide about it here: https://www.tacter.com/tft/guides/how-optimize-your-economy-in-tft-set-11-economy-guide-3784208a

Despite all the errors mentioned earlier, don't forget that the objective of the early game is to put your team in a favorable situation for the mid game and late game.

Having more HP and gold is great, but always remember that it's only useful if you can capitalize on this advantage during the mid and late game. So, it's pointless to try to win the early game at all costs, and to avoid this mistake,** it's necessary to give yourself a direction for the late game.**

To do this, you need to ask yourself the right questions and consider which comps are playable based on your items, units and augments. What are the simplest transitions to reach these compositions? Obviously, if you start with a Duelist composition with Yasuo, Qiyana, Darius, and Volibear, then the transition to a Volibear Tristana reroll comp with 6 Duelists seems obvious. But the transition to an Ashe or Kaisa composition is not to be ruled out either because these two units can also carry AD items like Tristana.

It's also important to know whether you can aim for a reroll comp or a fast 8 comp. This mainly depends on your leveling strategy you need to apply based on your situation and hopefully the guide will help you do so.

So, the idea is to constantly ask yourself the right questions but above all to choose a direction fairly quickly so you can play the early game while planning for the late game.

And there you have it, you now have the keys to avoid these crucial early game mistakes in TFT. By prioritizing 2-star units, using your items wisely, skillfully managing your economy, applying the right leveling strategy, and keeping a focus on the late game, you'll be ready to dominate the tactical battlefield.

Remember that TFT is a game that rewards strategy, patience, and adaptation. Take the time to improve, experiment with new compositions, and learn from mistakes. With practice, you'll become a master of tactical combat.

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