TFT Set 12: How to Play Vanguard

Welcome to our trait guide, where we’ll be covering the new Set 12 TFT trait: Vanguard.

In this guide, we’ll explain how Vanguard works, cover the different champions, provide notable Augment choices, and cover some potential team comps.

1. Vanguard Trait Bonus

Vanguards gain 10% Damage Reduction Durability while Shielded. Combat start and at 0% Health: Gain a Shield for a percent of max Health for 0 seconds. (2) 18% max Health (4) 35% max Health (6) 50% max Health; 15% Damage Reduction while Shielded

Vanguard is another frontline trait, focusing on shields instead of the usual Armor/MR/Health. This makes them weak to items like Guardbreaker, but less susceptible to Giant Slayer. The only 2-star Vanguard that goes above the Giant Slayer threshold is Tahm Kench. (At the time of writing)

This opens up more interesting decisions in game. If you see opponents with Vanguard frontlines, you can consider Guardbreaker as a high priority item compared to Giant Slayer.

Vanguards generally have abilities that shield themselves, but you can further empower them by providing other sources of shields.

2. Vanguard Synergy

Here are all of the Vanguard Champions and their other traits:

Blitzcrank (1G) – Honeymancy Warwick (1G) – Frost Galio (2G) – Mage + Portal Rumble (2G) – Blaster + Sugarcraft Mordekaiser (3G) – Eldritch Tahm Kench (4G) – Arcana None of the Vanguard units have any overlap, and the trait as a whole is fairly low-cost. There’s one 4-cost, one 3-cost, and two 1/2-cost each. This could mean that the Vanguard frontline is generally used in reroll comps compared to default 4-cost carry comps.

Tahm Kench is a flexible frontline, so flexing 2 Vanguard might not be too bad. Even still, adding a 2 or 3-cost Vanguard for your frontline in the late game isn’t ideal.

When it comes to the Vanguard Emblem, it’s a bit of a niche pick compared to others. While many traits benefit greatly from going vertical, Vanguard needs more specific comps to make use of their trait.

Simply splashing in 4 Vanguard won’t be ideal since you have to run a lot of low-cost units. However, if you’re playing Warwick reroll, having more Vanguards to buff him up can be beneficial.

The same can be said if you build your team around Rumble and have his Hero Augment. Even splashing in 2 Vanguard isn’t the biggest deal since you’re not buffing up your entire team, just two units.

The Vanguard specific Augment follows a similar logic to the Emblem. If you’re playing around Vanguards like Warwick or Rumble, going deeper into the trait can be beneficial. This Augment grants some extra Shield and CC immunity, both of which are very strong for melee carrys like Warwick/Rumble.

If you’re just playing Galio/Tahm Kench for your Mage team comp, this Augment won’t provide that much compared to others.

For this section, I’ll go over some team comps that utilize the Arcana trait. Keep in mind that metas shift quickly, and things will change as patches come and go.

To stay up to date on the best team comps, be sure to check our full TFT Tier List covering all the best comps.

This first team comp combines the Blaster trait and Vanguard trait to make a simple yet effective team comp. Having a Blaster Emblem for Mordekaiser will cap out the board, leading to a very strong late game team comp.

You can still reach 6 Blaster by reaching level 9 (Tristana), but it can be hard to stabilize at level 8 against other strong team comps without an Emblem.

When it comes to other comps, many teams will splash in 2 Vanguards, but I want to show team comps with higher Vanguard count. For these comps, they generally are played when your main carry is a Vanguard unit.

For this team comp, we have reroll Warwick along with Twitch and Blitzcrank for a supporting cast.

Rumble is our next Vanguard that can be a main carry with the “Molten Caramel” Hero Augment. We pair him along with Tristana for a 2-cost reroll duo.

We don’t go all the way to 6 Vanguard and instead flex into Faerie, Preserver, Sugarcraft, and Scholar.

Lastly, we have another Hero Augment, this time for Galio. To empower Galio, we simply need to add in 2 Mage units and fill the rest of the board with Vanguards.

Galio will scale up with Rageblade while the other Vanguards stall the fight.

Thanks for Reading! Good luck to you! - Cheng