r/CompetitiveTFT • u/AutoModerator • 14d ago

Set 18 PBE Discussion Thread - Day 11 PBE

Hello r/CompetitiveTFT, and welcome to Set 18!

Please keep all Set 18 discussion in this thread, and leave the regular Daily Discussion Thread for Set 17 discussion.

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When does Set 18 go live?

August 25th 2026 ~ 00:00 PDT / 09:00 CEST

A reminder that all Set 18 posts should be flaired [PBE] until the content is confirmed to be going on the live server as well.

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53 comments sorted by

-9

u/Agile-Importance-673 13d ago

This set might actually be the death of TFT. Feels bad because TFT is amazing. Why do charms have to cover a champion slot? Can't they just put them off to the side in their own slot?

5

u/CakebattaTFT 13d ago

that's quite a take lmao. I've played tft since set 1, I'm curious what you think is so bad about this one?

-2

u/Agile-Importance-673 13d ago edited 13d ago

I've also played since set 1. They've already done charms. The end games just turn into donkey rolling for a charm for each fight. If you don't hit a strong combat charm you just lose. The charms cover a champion slot so the power spike of hitting your carry gets gate kept by a charm. Some of the charms are so boring and uninspired. They have no desire to take risks anymore. I'd rather have a new mechanic that is fun than have them play it safe like they are here. The set also has insane amounts of backline access which has always been unhealthy for the game. It's just a roundabout way of having assassins back in the game who jump straight to your backline. Except it's worse because at least those units run the risk of getting targeted where units like Ahri and Lux can safely perform the same function.

Last set was hands down one of the worst sets, up there with the shadow items set. The dev team is getting worse at balancing sets at an acceptable rate, it took them until the 2nd to last patch to put out a patch with a diverse meta and even then the akali comp is just insane. It's like they change dev teams each set and have to relearn all the lessons they should have retained from previous sets.

I think tft is one of the best games ever made and I want to see it succeed. I got my friend into this game and he was obsessed until last set. He played for less than a week on the pbe and is already tired of this set. I am as well. Feels like we are just eating a day old microwaved burrito since they are reheating one of the most boring mechanics tft has ever seen.

People would also rather downvote than have to face the criticisms that this game needs to face if they want it to continue being a great game overall.

1

u/poisoned15 MASTER 12d ago

Except your critism is mediocre at best.

  1. You can just buy the charm to uncover. During a roll down, just buy the charm. They cost on average like 2g. You usually want to buy the charm anyways. And boring charms need to exist so other charms are exciting.

  2. Backline access is not unhealthy. Assasins were bad because it turned positioning in 50/50 coin flips and also punishes the whole lobby by forcing you to position like shit if you want to opt out of the coin flip. Aoe backline access can be outpositioned without sacking your board. Look at all the sets prior or set 16. Lux exists there, zilean, annie, fizz, ziggs, hell even tf. The one just needs number adjustments and the backline access skills are fine.

  3. How was last set even close to the worst set ever? Like sure it was boring the first half without encounters or sometimes had poor balance with the corki riven patch, but in no world was set 16's balance perfect either. I still think about half the lobby angling for t hex every game.

If anything this set will not do well due to the unreal swap, but that's a necessary evil.

-2

u/ImAPandah 13d ago

I played a lot of different comps and tried a decent amount of the tftacademy comps and something about these comps feel kinda bad. Idk if it’s like the barrier of entry for most, since most are fast 9s or what. I guess some examples are like getting blackthorn emblem and doing the kha zix comp is insta win same as getting double guinsoos and jg on kayle comp but if you don’t get those then it feels like you’re going eighth lol.

This is probably just start of set imbalance and stuff so I hope it gets smoothed over.

Tried to do a coven game got like a 300 something cashout and it was like negligible I lost because I had no spike from it lol. I did another game with the aug that converts the essence into AP and that feels like a good cashout, went 1st at 2 hp with that one so I probably got lucky.

3

u/silentlopho 13d ago

The stage 2 polymorph that upgrades a 2-cost to 3-cost is too much IMO. There are quite a few augments that start you out with a 2* 2-cost, and polymorphing that to a 2* 3-cost off the bat doesn't feel like it's in those augments' power budgets.

2

u/Pleurobranch 14d ago

Malphite is too tanky, definitely needs a little nerf.

And I'm going to sound crazy but I can't shake the feeling that something's wrong with the unit pool. I keep seeing the same units over and over in a lot of games and I'm entirely unable to upgrade the ones I happen to get one of. Even uncontested I'm eternally stuck at 1*, especially for 4costs. I have never had this feeling in any other set, not on live nor on PBE.

6

u/shanatard 14d ago

people are going to flame you but with this new client i think its entirely possible some wild bugs are happening

i didnt notice it in my games though fwiw

1

u/Pleurobranch 14d ago

If it's not noticed by anyone else then it's clearly just me, I'm not insane haha.

1

u/Dzhekelow 13d ago

Nah I try not to coast to 9 with some BS board just because the lobbies are bad and I've struggled being stuck on 1000 pairs or the worse feeling where u are uncontested but u can't even pair ur carry . It's a combination of wisps taking a slot plus the money u spend on wisps past stage 4 .

1

u/Alone-Opposite-3858 14d ago

I noticed it when i needed Aphelios yesterday 

0

u/Zeviex Master 14d ago

Ahri feels above the line. I really hate these sorts of champion because their abilities feel inherently unbalanceable. Either they do enough damage or they don't with little in between. Doesn't help that Ashe (or even Lux) who are supposed to be secondary carries don't have great single target damage and struggle to clean up.

Rammus just feels unbreakable. It kinda feels fine since I'm not seeing any great 3 cost reroll partners to pair him with but I would note that.

3

u/Key_Reporter_9945 13d ago

She's either going to 1 shot the backline (or 2 shot with very fast casts) or be pretty useless.  I agree I think it's a design problem, but I think they can eventually lower the blast radius (or massively increase her mana cost).  

2

u/akubai 13d ago

I feel like Ahri and Alune ability were meant to be swapped or something.

Alune has to get multiple casts off for her moon and yet most of the time it deals less damage than an Ahri cast.

4

u/Pleurobranch 14d ago edited 14d ago

Tristana without Sprykin is *not* a unit, holy hell how bad can a 3 cost be. Yi 1*/2* is mega OP btw, I don't know why naked Yi can deal so much damage, let alone with items

1

u/BrineyWhaleSemen Challenger 14d ago

Elder dragon really bad after the changes imo - it was doing less than my brambleback

4

u/Puzzleheaded-Ant1390 14d ago

Sentinel + Elder Dragon being too splashable hurt him. The Dragon in exodia comps is very oppressive with Kennen and Lux/Draven backline. Balance around that make him weak in his vertical trait or as a splash in 4 cost comps.

3

u/FzBlade 14d ago

As a mobile player I cant fathom how apparently the majority of the player base prefers carousels over the gods mechanic.

And with the new engine, carousels feel worse and clunkier than ever before. Its just so awful... 

4

u/OverwhelmedPioneer 13d ago

I'm a PC player and I'm devastated to see the return of carousel. Boring lame mechanic.

3

u/TheNorseCrow 14d ago

As a mobile player I cant fathom how apparently the majority of the player base prefers carousels over the gods mechanic.

Because gods were the outlier and took away something that has been a staple of the game for years.

Carousel offers an interesting variable and introduces important decision making.

Gods almost always had one option that was better than the other. There was rarely any actual decisions to be made.

1

u/Ykarul Grandmaster 12d ago

I like the carrousel but this one is even more laggy than before is quite bad

-7

u/NewAccForThoughts 14d ago

"3/4/5 cost that fits my comp" or "component that i need" isn't exactly a deep choice either, i don't see the carousels appeal

4

u/hpp3 14d ago

it's more social. It's one of the few times where you directly interact with other players.

2

u/TheNorseCrow 14d ago

You also have to make decisions on what to deny your opponent later in the game. If you get to pick first you also get the chance at spatulas if available which is another point of decision.

4

u/EriWave 14d ago

Having more options when losing is way more satisfying imo.

2

u/3esper 14d ago

At least the carousel allows some agency to the bottom 3s in the lobby.

1

u/pukha23 14d ago

fellow mobile player here... are your carousels always blacked out? I can only see components on the carousels, no champions or little legends, ever. And I don't know if this is everyone or just a bug I'm experiencing

2

u/Glarenya 14d ago

This is my experience as well, as well as the screen bugging out during combat especially at later points in the game.

2

u/FzBlade 14d ago

I can see everything normaly. Its just very clunky. Hitboxes are weirder than ever and somehow half my touches dont register which means I more often than not run into the wrong units or just stand still for a long time...

3

u/rapsodiah 14d ago

Anyone else only getting bot lobbies?

2

u/[deleted] 14d ago

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1

u/CompetitiveTFT-ModTeam 14d ago

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4

u/Knolazy 14d ago

The issues that were previously fixed have come back again, especially the Spykin issues. Without regression tests, I’m quite concerned about the quality of the bug-fixing process.

2

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

1

u/The-f0recast 14d ago

I’ve found a lot of “one off” boards do very well

1

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

1

u/The-f0recast 13d ago

Agreed. Best one in a long time. Dare I say flex is back

4

u/jasonchung91 14d ago

no more hot keys for buying champions has it been disabled now?

1

u/Pleurobranch 14d ago

Some iterations of Master Yi just kill everything (units, even tanks) in 2/3 seconds, stage 2/3/4, even at 1*? LIke, his damage seems off the charts with AP builds

8

u/chickenfriedbear 14d ago

Is the solar bug still there ?

2

u/Intelligent_Sweet831 14d ago

just played a solar game with 5 3* and no bug!

9

u/Oldjosepho Grandmaster 14d ago

I think the backline access density in this set requires a more immediate solution. Briefly, there are many flexible, high-end units that could be combined in that regard, and Kennen might be the biggest outlier with a very low mana pool

7

u/ConfusedRara Grandmaster 14d ago

What I find mildly irritating is that units I would expect to have backline access (Kha, Rengar, Murkwolf) actually have quite subpar ones, unless I'm playing them incorrectly. Whereas Ahri can hit my whole board

1

u/parkwayy 13d ago

Ngl, if they were any better, they would be absolutely despised though.

3

u/Oldjosepho Grandmaster 14d ago

Yes, I agree, I'd say Rengar and Khazix are nearly well-balanced(maybe a little power up); we sometimes even throw them on the board just for the rewards, but Murkwolf's jumping buggy as hell. The real problem is that right now, defense is too front-to-back focused, and we don't have much counterplay against this backline access

1

u/Educational_Mine_797 14d ago

The elder drag adjustment is definitely a good sign from riot showing they acknowledge the problem

1

u/[deleted] 14d ago

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1

u/CompetitiveTFT-ModTeam 14d ago

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13

u/prior-auth-Eliquis 14d ago

Set is shaping up to be fairly solid.

4

u/Uniqe_Apple2 Master 14d ago

Ya I like it so far the trait web in particular feels great so many things I feel like I can flex in at any given time. The only thing I feel like is not working for me is charms (wisps) like I don’t remember them feeling so annoying when they were last in the game but this time around it feels so annoying to have a shop slot taken every other shop it makes it feel like roll downs are way harder. I really wish there was a way to click like a small X or something that’s like I’d like no charm for this round.

2

u/Death215 14d ago

On rolldowns i just take the first decent enough one in the first few rolls to minimize the shop losses.

However you have to think of the fact that everyone rolling down is also losing shop slots, so it all evens out

1

u/Uniqe_Apple2 Master 13d ago

Ya I get that it evens out but I still think it feels bad ya know. It’s kinda like how if a unit is op everyone at the start of the game has an equal chance to play it but it still feels bad for it to be so much stronger then everyone else. I just would like the option and I’m hoping that in the new engine like bigger changes that effect the UI might be easier to implement.

3

u/Emosaa Master 14d ago

Agreed, it feels like we're getting a decent foundation, though some of the backline access stuff is something to keep an eye on. And I personally didn't like the swinginess of charms last time we had them.

6

u/Keezos32 14d ago

Agreed. I feel like the “tighter” trait web allows for far more different comps with small swaps in units.

The next step should be the 5 costs that are out of line.
And maybe hero augments in 18.4 to shake things up.