Teamfight Tactics Playing From Behind Guide

by AlanLube

Forcing Comps with less health

Playing from behind when you just can’t seem to find the right units or combine the right items is much harder than having a healthy win streak and forcing a meta comp. Not only do you feel down because your luck is garbage that game, but you start losing health fast. Note this is just a barebones skeleton of my playstyle of course it will deviate in certain situations.

1) Keep up to level 6
Like most players who level after Krugs and roll to find a balanced midgame comp. I also suggest that after Krugs to do the same. Leveling to 6 will increase the chance you find 4 & 5 cost units that can turn your luck around at this point. Econ’ing for more gold this early is a little greedier than I personally recommend since leveling early helps you find those units you will need to transition + all in. Plus sometimes you will get lucky and find a strong midgame comp right after krugs and stabilize.

2) If still unlucky, Econ
If the game decides to keep giving you nothing this is where it gets much harder. Hopefully at this point you’ve been losing, but not by too much. This point in the game is where the tough decision is made. You don’t have to stick to a certain comp and sell everything else to make money, but I suggest you keep your options down to 2 meta comps and mainly keeping the main carries/units. If you need to make money at any point in stage 3, sell that extra rek’sai or vayne. Making money now is crucial since after wolves you will all in once again and having more money + lose streak money should help find that last ashe or kennen you might need.

3) After 3-4 Carousel, Commit:
After the carosel of stage 3 (two more rounds until wolves) you should at this point nearly decide what comp you plan to go. A bit of luck will be required but this goes for any match behind or not. At this point you should take a look at your items and see what you can possibly build toward. This should help in deciding what comp you plan to force. If you found an ashe + kindred or a cho + rek’sai along the way the decision should be much easier. At this point flexibility should not matter anymore. Try to figure out how much health you will lose in the next 2 rounds. If you believe you can stay around 30 health, DO NOT ROLL YET. Save up that income. This comes at a large risk but also is a case by case call. Sell off the units you won’t need to net that extra 2-3 gold after wolves.

4) All in
After wolves. ALL IN HARD. Level to 7 and roll all the way down (Unless you highroll super hard and find all upgrades with leftover gold) Be fast. At this point you should have around 40 gold depending how many units you found or not. The closer you are the better. Leveling to 7 may be off curve but many players with healthy economies will also level at this point and fighting someone who leveled while you didn’t is not worth the extra round of gold. You should have given up earlier rounds while people were weaker to make money. It’s too late at this point.

5) Don’t overcommit in the following rounds
At this point hopefully you have found a solid 7 unit team comp. You might be missing that last cho or that last kindred, but I advise you wait. If you can save 10 or even 20 gold while going into the first fight. See how the fight goes. Is your team strong enough? Did you somehow beat the #1 guy? Did you lose to last place? All these questions will help you decide what to do in the coming rounds. Hopefully, you find yourself winning hard or just barely losing to the strongest guy. Dont roll your last 10-15 gold for that last cho or kindred. It is unlikely at this point you will find it and only bury yourself into a grave. If you still lose hard or didn’t finish your comp then you should roll and pray.

6) Late Stage 4
Hopefully at this point you were able to survive until carosel. If you are low health you should have a decent mid pick at the carosel. At this stage pick whatever you need most. A rod for the morello? sure. That last Cho gath you need? sure. It’s case by case but identify what you need to survive the next two rounds after raptors. Even if you have lost a round or two in stage four, hopefully they were close and you can stay around 20+ health. If you can win the first round after carosel. Keep econ’ing. If you can’t maybe you should level early or roll down a bit more (BUT NOT TOO MUCH). If you roll down all your gold at this point you almost guarantee you will die after raptors. If you can’t find the unit you need fast in 2-3 rolls it’s a lost cause and you should just pray you fight a ghost at 3-5.

7) Raptors
This is the point in the game where it was important that you econ most of stage four. If you kept rolling during the middle rounds and don’t have enough money at this point you have basically lost at this point. Leveling to 8 after the raptors and going All in once more will help you win against those who rolled too much and keep up with the players with healthy econ. Putting in that last unit that rounds out your comp will be different everytime, but will help immensely. If you are still missing a cho gath or sejuani or kindred at this point it will also increase your chances of finding them after you level. While you may have less gold after leveling the guaranteed extra unit will almost always be worth it. Even finding a random yasuo or anivia will help you survive 1 more round.

8) Endgame
At this point in the game everything is case by case. If you found a strong team with full upgrades you can possibly econ and level to 9. Maybe you’re barely holding on and roll every round to find that last unit you need. Whatever the case may be if you made it to this point you should hopefully be able to finish at least 4th place which is the least you can ask for with a bad start.

Extra tips

Make use of the early units you found
Maybe you were able to find a level 2 mord early but nothing else. Look for rangers possibly. Maybe a level 2 darius? Possibly a draven game so pick up shens or aatrox. Use the cheap units you found to help decide on what comp to force. It will be cost efficient to keep in and will help round out your team after wolves.

Make whatever items you can
Sometimes the game is an ass and gives you 2 chain vests 2 belts and a negatron cloak. Make whatever items you can. We all know that the meta items are morello’s ga’s etc. But sometimes you cant make these. A simple defensive dragon claw + bt on draven can go a long way. I even once went Warmogs, BT, Dragon Claw Draven and that was able to carry me to second place while everyone tried to find cho gath.

Conclusion
Playing from behind creates a lot more tough decisions that you have to make. Sometimes you might find an early draven, but have nothing else that goes with it. Don’t be afraid to sell the draven or cho’gath by round 3-4 if you can’t envision finding everything else. If you made an early level 2 ahri or varus, try to stick to it. Selling that later will result in -2 gold and finding the other units to pair with it will be 1 less unit to look for. Sometimes you will make the wrong decision. Don’t simply curse your luck. Look at the decision you made at what point in the game and ask yourself. Did this decision set me up to be able to comeback? Maybe it did but the luck wasn’t there. Maybe it wasn’t. Take every game as a learning experience and learn from it instead of just calling next or thinking TFT is too luck based. While TFT has a lot of lucky mechanics that will decide your game, it is your job to minimize that luck and put yourself in the best position to win.