🟢 TFT 5-YEAR BASH COOKING GUIDE - HOW TO ABUSE THE BEST TRAITS 🟢

The new 5-Year Bash game mode for TFT goes live on June 12! If you're interested how this mode works I recommend checking out this guide: https://www.tacter.com/tft/guides/tft-5-year-bash-all-portals-explained-ac72f146

For this guide I want to showcase several strategies with some of the new traits for you to play around with and hopefully find success. This guide will be updated with more strategies and a video in the future, so make sure to save it!

Phantom used to be one of the most controversial traits that ever existed in TFT and it continues its legacy in the 5-Year bash mode. If you want to play around Phantom, then it’s usually recommended to max out the trait, to set 2 enemies’s Health to 100 at the start of combat. While the targets are completely random, there are a lot of ways to both maximize and counter this effect.

Arguably the most useful synergy is to combine Phantom with the Umbral Trait. Umbral units can execute low health enemies and this effect can proc off item effects as well. This means items like Statikk Shiv, Ionic Spark or Tattoo of Bombardment are perfect on Umbral units with Phantom, since you only need a single damage on a low HP unit to proc the execute effect. Careful though, the execute effect doesn't work if the low HP unit has a shield!

Outside of traits like Umbral you can also utilize units like Kha'Zix or Kog'Maw, as both of them will prioritize low HP targets with their abilities. Later on it can be enough to run large AoE Abilities from Hwei or Sett, since the phantom targets are very unlikely to survive them.

While this can sound quite overpowered, there are tons of ways to protect yourself from Phantom. Here are a few examples:

• Boss Knuckles from Boss trait will proc immediately and return after 4 Sit-Ups
• Disco Balls count as possible targets for the Phantom effect and can therefore completely negate the effect
• Items like Bloodthirster, Sterak’s or Protector’s Vow will all proc and help to keep the low HP unit alive
• Run as many units as possible with Augments like Crash Test Dummies to minimize the chances of your carry getting hit

One last strategy you can aim for against Phantom is to make use of the Golden Magnetic Remover that you receive at the start of the game. Build any HP item like Warmog or Sterak’s and scout if any of your upcoming opponents is running Phantom. If yes, move the HP item on your bench and place it reactionary on whichever unit had its HP reduced.

This trait had to be reworked a lot to fit into the new game mode. Selecting it grants you a consumable that allows you to make any unit on your board into the Mech-Pilot. Maximizing the trait adds an additional two Pilots, who all get ejected once the Mech dies.

There are a ton of interactions surrounding the Mech and it can be easy to fall into a lot of different traps. First of all, while the Mech receives a percent of AD and HP from its pilots, you can’t increase the AD amount with items and only the base AD is currently taken into consideration. This means if you stack a Sett with a lot of AD, the mech will actually have a very low amount of AD, because it only takes a percent of Sett’s very low base.

It’s also important to remember that every single trait from a Pilot is taken into consideration. This means it can make sense to include weaker units as part of the mech, if they have incredibly useful traits. For example having two Bruisers might be less efficient than 1 Bruiser and 1 Warden.

Currently you have to be careful about sacrificing Heavenly units, because the transformation happens so early, that the bonus from the Heavenly units is gone until the Mech dies. For example if you make Khazix into your Mech-Pilot, then no Heavenly unit on your board will receive a bonus critical strike chance. You could solve this by running a second Khazix that isn’t part of the mech, but for now it’s not recommended to use Heavenly units for this trait.

While the Mech has a decent ability, most of the damage will come from his physical attacks. The mech can receive some very impressive AD numbers and his attacks cleave around the target, usually hitting multiple units at once. This also makes some Artifacts like Vampiric Scepter incredibly efficient for the Mech.

Other useful mechanics to remember are:

• Sett can lift up the Mech, but only if he himself isn’t part of the Mech. Considering the Mech can easily reach over 10.000 HP, this is the fastest way to stack AD on Sett. You just need to reset the Connection every single round, to ensure Sett is next to the Mech, but not a pilot.
• Thief’s Gloves is great on the Mech, especially the radiant version, because he receives three items total and the bonus critical strike chance from the Gloves. One of the items from Thief’s will be a duplicate, which potentially can be useless if the Thief’s rolled something like Edge of Night.
• The Mech counts as an additional unit for the Mascot trait
• Inkshadow items on the Mech will currently disappear and are therefore not recommended

Activating this trait grants you an item called “Boss Knuckles”. The first time the holder drops below 60%, they transform into Sett and leave the board to do 4 Sit-Ups on the side. Each Sit-Up restores maximum Health and grants Attack Speed. If you max out the trait the unit will deal true damage with attacks and abilities if it finished all Sit-Ups.

As far as I can tell, it is not possible to exceed more than 4 Sit-Ups with the Boss. Even if a unit gets hit by something like Phantom, the unit will simply heal to full after 4 Sit-Ups and return to the fight. However it is possible to reduce the amount of Sit-Ups with the help of healing from items/traits like Redemption, Virtue of the Martyr or Mascot. A reduced amount of Sit-Ups can still result in true damage, but the unit will have less Attack Speed.

When going for the Boss, it’s usually recommended to always max it out, as the true damage part is invaluable compared to any alternative. The most common strategy is to isolate your main carry with the Boss Knuckles in the first row, to proc the effect as fast as possible. This is to ensure your carry will return to the fight right away and have the damage converted to true damage.

While in theory any carry unit is great with this interaction, it’s usually recommended to put it on Reapers like Yone, Kayn or Duelists like Irelia or Lee Sin. Irelia is especially interesting, because she continues to deal damage with her Blades during the Sit-Ups and returns in your last row, keeping her safe from any harm.

Another strategy that’s very recommended is to build items like Quicksilver and Edge of Night. Use the Golden Magnetic Remover and keep one item slot on your main carry with the Boss Knuckles open. During the Sit-Ups you can decide which third item is the most likely to help you win the fight. For example, if the opponent has Shimmerscale and you are afraid of the Crown of Champions, you should prioritize Edge of Night. If the opponent has a lot of CC, you can choose Quicksilver when your carry returns to the fight and maximize the CC immunity.

While it is possible to have more than one Boss with the help of Suspicious Trench Coat (or Mech in some cases), only one unit can do Sit-Ups and the process gets interrupted, so it’s very likely to have more than one pumped up unit on the board at the same time.

In concept Hellion is a very simple trait. Every time an allied champion dies, a lower star version without items joins the fight. Initially you can only receive a total of 3 Hellions, but it goes up to 9 if you decide to max out the trait.

The first thought everyone has with this trait is to combine it with Augments like Inspiring Epitaph, Gifts of the Fallen or Martyr, but these Augments don’t work for summoned units. Speaking of, it is possible to receive a Hellion from a Zz'rot Voidspawn or an Azir Soldier. The Zz’rot doesn’t appear to benefit from the stage scaling and is therefore completely useless, but the Azir Soldiers are quite useful, as they are even able to move around the board, probably due to a bug.

The best use case for Hellions is definitely traits, because all the Hellions can utilize them. Three traits worth trying out are:

• Ghostly Hellions will spawn an additional 2 spectres
• Behemoth Hellions can transfer their bonus MR/Armor, which works especially well with the Raid Boss Augment
• Fated Hellions receive the buff from 5+ Fated, for example every fated Hellion can spawn with a Yasuo shield

Outside of traits, good units to utilize are Udyr, Ornn and Annie. Hellion Udyr can proc his passive again, while units like Ornn and Annie are likely to cast because of their high starting mana.

In its current state the Yordle trait is extremely powerful. While you can technically use the trait to help 3 star some units or simply for some bonus gold, the main goal for most players will be to max out the trait and aim for Veigar 3 Star.

The goal for a Yordle game is quite simple. You can max out the trait in Stage 3-5, meaning this is the point where you want to have 5 of your units as 3 Star. The only real way to accomplish this is by aiming for Tier 1 units, preferably frontliners. For example you can roll for Kog’Maw, Malphite, Caitlyn, Chogath as your core and any additional Tier 1 unit that you manage to find.

To achieve the early Veigar you want to have strong Reroll Augments like Rolling for Days or Prismatic Tickets. It doesn’t matter that much if you drop a lot of HP in Stage 2 and 3, since the moment you reach Veigar*2 and have 3 Star Frontliners you are likely set for the rest of the game.

If you find Hwei, you can also accelerate the process for Veigar'3 slightly, Veigar is considered a 5 cost unit and it will therefore take Veigar 5 rounds to create a copy. While Veigar'3 is usually strong enough to win the lobby, he is considerably weaker compared to normal 3 Star Legendaries and can be countered sometimes by strong single target tanks, like a Mech-Pilot with a Dragon’s Claw.

Here is a collection of other strategies you can aim for that haven't been mentioned yet:

• Luden's Tempest used to work with Crown of Champions, which is why the Artifact is disabled in this game mode
• Combine Trainer with powerful combat Augments like Jeweled Lotus, Pumping Up or Magic Wand
• Bilgewater bonus damage works well in combination with Ghostly
• Malphite, Qiyana and Mech all have AoE attacks for Glacial Mallet (and Kayn spin)
• Rebel works with Target Dummies and ZZ'rot Voidspawns
• The Boss resets all negative effects, including HP/Star reduction from Cursed Blade
• Zz'rot Voidspawn can respawn with Hellion, but they don't have the stage scaling and are extremely work
• Azir Soldiers can respawn with Hellion and will move around the board and try to attack