TFT Set 8.5: All New Champions and Traits

The highly anticipated TFT Set 8.5 will be here with us very soon. What do we know about TFT Set 8.5, which will bring new champions, classes, and Little Legends that players have been eagerly waiting for? What changes should we expect to the game's mechanics? If you're looking for answers to all these questions, I want to let you know you're in exactly the right place. You can also check out our articles on champion pool rates by level and the best TFT Set 8.5 comps. Here's a step-by-step look at TFT Set 8.5..

Who Are the TFT Set 8.5 Champions? All Set 8.5 Champions!

Champions and Traits Leaving TFT Set 8

Here's a list of the champions and traits leaving Set 8:

Traits

• Civilian
• Recon

Champions

• Galio
• Sivir
• Senna
• Sett
• zac
• Talon
• Zoe
• Cho'Gath
• Soraka
• Sejuani
• Yuumi
• Vel'Koz
• Zed
• Taliyah
• Aphelios

TFT Set 8.5 Mechanic Update

Every mid-set update usually comes with a small system update to keep the game mechanics fresh. Here's the new change coming in Set 8.5.

Item Reveal

When you pick something up from the carousel, the item on a champion (or the non-champion item) will now automatically be revealed. No more automatically combining things you didn't want.

TFT Set 8.5 New Traits

InfiniTeam

Bonus: InfiniTeam opens a portal to an alternate timeline. At the start of combat, any InfiniTeam unit placed on a portal summons an alternate version of themselves with different items. They gain 1 for every Augment you have. Copies have reduced Health and damage.

• (3): 1 portal opens, 40% damage and 40% HP.
• (5): 2 portals open, 55% damage and 55% HP.
• (7): 2 portals open, 90% damage and 90% HP.

Champions: Lucian (1), Pantheon (1), Sivir (2), Shen (3), Twisted Fate (4), Ultimate Ezreal (5)

First impressions:

InfiniTeam looks like an interesting early-game trait. In Stage 2, having an extra unit with an item can be a pretty solid power spike. It also looks like the portal locations on the board are different every game (though the same for every player within a given game).

Reaching the higher InfiniTeam thresholds sounds pretty good, but slotting in units like Lucian, Pantheon, and Sivir late in the game seems like a lot of wasted unit slots. I'm predicting most comps will settle for 3 InfiniTeam.

QuickDraw

Bonus: After every 2 damaging ability casts, Quickdraw units fire a bonus ability shot. Bonus Shot Damage:

• (2): 60% total damage.
• (3): 100% total damage.
• (4): 140% total damage.

Champions: Lucian (1), Ezreal (2), Kai'Sa (3), Miss Fortune (4)

First impressions:

QuickDraw is essentially the new Recon — a backline DPS-focused trait with only a handful of units. Quickdraw is pretty nice since Lucian and Ezreal give an early bonus, and later in the game Ultimate Ezreal synergizes with Lucian for InfiniTeam while also providing Parallel with both Ezreals.

Miss Fortune looks a bit odd, which makes a 4-Quickdraw team seem unlikely to me. All the units also lean heavily on magic damage, so make sure you build the right items on them. (Mana generation, AP damage, Crit, etc.)

Riftwalker

Bonus: (3) Riftwalkers tear open a rift between dimensions and summon an ally Zac, whose power scales with the Riftwalkers' star level.

Champions: Pyke (2), Vex (3), Jhin (4)

First impressions:

Zac is no longer a unit you can buy from the shop, but you can still summon him through the Riftwalker trait. Since having an extra tank on your team is quite valuable, this is a pretty interesting trait. The catch comes with putting all the units together: Pyke is a Hacker, Vex is a Mascot, and Jhin is a Renegade.

This suggests team-building for Riftwalker comps (likely Jhin-centered) could be fairly limited. Still, if Zac turns out to be a strong enough unit, this small synergy could pay off.

Parallel

Bonus: (2) Ezreal learns from his older, more handsome self and joins him on his future adventures. Ezreal's Ability turns into a blast that hits all enemies in a line. Ultimate Ezreal's Ability summons an additional temporal clone.

Champions: Ezreal (2), Ultimate Ezreal (5)

First impressions:

When the set launches, everyone will no doubt try to play Ultimate Ezreal. The ability is too cool not to want to play. There are also plenty of transitions you can make through Underground, InfiniTeam, or Quickdraw to get you to level 8.

We'll need to see whether Ultimate Ezreal can carry the way Aphelios did in Set 8, but a regular Ezreal carry that gets stronger once you find Ultimate Ezreal already looks promising.

TFT Set 8.5 Champions

1-Cost Champions

Lucian – InfiniTeam + Quickdraw

Ability: PASSIVE: Lucian's attacks deal bonus magic damage. ACTIVE: Lucian fires 4 shots toward his target's direction. Each shot deals magic damage to the first target hit.

First Impressions: Lucian looks like a pretty straightforward early-game backline DPS unit. InfiniTeam is a new trait, and grabbing an early 3-star looks like a solid way to try for a win streak. Also, as one of the few new units, plenty of people will likely pick him up from the shop. The Quickdraw trait and his low mana pool make Lucian a good Blue Buff holder early in the game. Overall, a solid unit that can flex a lot of items well.

Pantheon – InfiniTeam + Heart

Ability: Pantheon leaps onto his target, dealing magic damage (scaling with Magic Resist) and stunning the target for 1.5 seconds. He then shields himself with a Health shield for 4 seconds.

First Impressions: Pantheon is an interesting unit. Cho'Gath was another unit whose ability scaled with MR. Given how much value is packed into his kit, I expect Pantheon to be another solid early pickup alongside Lucian. The Heart trait makes things a bit odd since he doesn't have any tank trait to help him out.

2-Cost Champions

Pyke – Riftwalker + Hacker

Ability: Pyke stabs his current target for true damage. He then summons a phantom at his current location and dashes behind the farthest enemy. After 1 second, the phantom returns to Pyke, stunning and dealing magic damage to all enemies it passes through.

First Impressions: Pyke looks like a pretty strong unit. The CC on his ability is very strong for just a 2-cost unit, and it's still a powerful ability even without Hacker. If you can weaken your front line and force the enemy to walk forward, you can almost guarantee a stun on their backline carries as long as your Pyke ends up on the other side.

Frozen Heart isn't in the game anymore, so we won't see that interaction, but I like that Pyke brings some value to the Hacker trait instead of it existing just for a carry or Omnivamp.

3-Cost Champions

Gnar – Gadgeteen + Prankster

Ability: Gnar mows down the area around him, dealing physical damage (110% Attack Damage) to enemies hit. His current target takes 300% damage, and the Ability crits against them.

First Impressions: Gnar replaces Zoe as the Gadgeteen unit, and I have mixed feelings about him. Without Zoe, the Gadgeteen trait looks like it's missing a solid damage source. On the plus side, Gnar scales well with Attack Damage, which the trait didn't have before, but I'm still a bit worried about this trait.

Zoe was also flexible between Prankster and Hacker, while Gnar is Prankster only. I'm not too thrilled about Gnar right now, but he could turn out to be a strong hybrid front-liner.

Morgana – Threat

Ability: PASSIVE: When Morgana deals damage to an enemy, she Shreds and Sunders them by 40% for 4 seconds. ACTIVE: Morgana sends dark bindings to the 2 nearest enemies, dealing magic damage and stunning them for 1.5 seconds.

First Impressions: Morgana looks like a unit that plenty of teams, or really any mid-game board, will want. Being able to apply Sunder and Shred is huge, and her ability is also a strong CC effect. I expect Morgana to be heavily contested in the midgame and even in the late game.

Shen – InfiniTeam + Defender + Hacker

Ability: Shen tethers to the ally dealing the most damage this round, reducing all damage that ally takes for 3.5/4/5 seconds. While the tether is active, the ally is unkillable, and any damage they would take is instead redirected to Shen.

First Impressions: Shen looks like a solid front-liner boasting three traits, which makes him a flexible pickup. On the other hand, evaluating his ability is interesting. In a normal front-to-back fight, it seems like his tether won't do much and will mostly just reduce damage. That said, against AP comps that skip past front lines or Hackers, Shen could be the difference between your carry surviving and dying.

Vex – Riftwalker + Mascot

Ability: Vex unleashes a burst of gloom at her current target, dealing magic damage. Every third cast, her gloom becomes unstoppable, passing through enemies and dealing magic damage to each enemy hit.

First Impressions: Vex is another Riftwalker and Mascot, meaning Riftwalker teams will likely lean into Mascot for at least one team slot. Her ability is damage-focused and she'll probably be a mid-lane unit. Yuumi isn't in the game anymore, so maybe Vex takes over the Mascot AP damage-carry role.

4-Cost Champions

Aatrox – Threat

Ability: Aatrox drains the souls of nearby enemies, dealing magic damage and gaining maximum Health (40/40/150% of his max HP). He then swaps his spell for The Darkin Blade, unleashing his demonic form for the rest of combat.

The Darkin Blade: Aatrox slams his massive sword down on his target, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit and healing himself.

First Impressions: Aatrox replaces Zac as a 4-cost Threat, and he's more of a hybrid tank-and-damage dealer than a true tank. Because his durability depends on the damage he deals and the healing he gets, he wants different items than a traditional tank would. Personally, I think Aatrox is a much less flexible unit than Zac because he needs more help to become a strong front-liner.

Garen – Mecha:PRIME + Defender

Ability: Garen slams his sword down on a nearby enemy, dealing physical damage (170/170/450% Attack Damage) to enemies within 2 hexes and stunning them for 1.8/2/8 seconds.

First Impressions: Garen takes Sett's place as the 4-cost Mecha Defender, and his ability leans more toward damage and CC than Sett's damage-and-shield kit. I expect Garen to play similarly to Sett, and his damage might end up a bit stronger than Sett's. Garen will likely be played the same way Sett was in the previous set.

Jhin – Riftwalker + Renegade

Ability: PASSIVE: Jhin's Attack Speed is always 0.8/0.8/1. He converts 80% of his bonus Attack Speed into Attack Damage and replaces every 4th attack with an Ability cast.

ACTIVE: Jhin fires a bullet at the enemy with the lowest Health, dealing physical damage (244/244/544% Attack Damage) to all enemies in a line, increased based on their missing Health. The bullet's damage decreases by 43% each time it hits an enemy.

First Impressions: Jhin is almost always a consistent backline carry in every set he's in. Riftwalker is a smaller trait that provides Hacker and Mascot. On the other hand, turning on Renegade could be trickier since you're running weaker units like Sylas or Camille until you find Leona. Maybe there'll be a Riftwalker Mecha:PRIME comp that uses Jhin as its backline carry. That's my first impression so far.

Neeko – Star Guardian + Sorcerer

Ability: Neeko hurls her familiar frog at her target. It leaps to the nearest enemy 3 times, each leap dealing magic damage to enemies in an area. The final leap is empowered and instead deals magic damage to enemies in a wider area.

First Impressions: Neeko replaces Taliyah as the exact same Star Guardian Sorcerer unit. Even though her ability is different, I expect the game plan to stay nearly identical. She'll probably be a Jeweled Gauntlet Shojin carry similar to Taliyah. It's a bit less exciting, but since Taliyah could sometimes whiff her ability or fail to hit the enemy carry, this might bring more consistency to AP comps.

Twisted Fate – InfiniTeam + Duelist + Spellslinger

Ability: Twisted Fate draws 6/6/12 cards and begins drawing another card after every basic attack. After 2.5 seconds, Twisted Fate throws all the cards he's drawn, each dealing magic damage. The last card thrown is a red card that deals magic damage to nearby enemies.

First Impressions: Twisted Fate is a unique addition to the game since he's both a Duelist and a Spellslinger. He can fit into both vertical Duelist and Spellslinger comps, though figuring out which will be tricky. His ability seems to scale better with Attack Speed than Ability Power, but we won't know for sure until more games have been tested.

Warwick – EXECUTIVE + Lasercorps + Bruiser

Ability: PASSIVE: Warwick gains Omnivamp. After his first takedown, he enters KILL MODE 2.0, granting himself 60% Attack Speed and causing him to leap to new targets for the rest of combat.

ACTIVE: Warwick strikes his target 6 times, dealing physical damage in total (459/480/800% Attack Damage). If the target dies, he gains 10 mana for each remaining strike.

First Impressions: Warwick takes Zed's place as the 4-cost Lasercorps carry, and he looks like a much better fit for that role. The Executive trait synergizes with LeBlanc, a Hacker unit, and the Bruiser trait helps him stay durable. A strong bruiser jumping onto your backline is disruptive for a lot of comps. Unless his numbers are overtuned, I expect Warwick to be a popular carry.

5-Cost Champions

Ultimate Ezreal – InfiniTeam + Parallel + Sureshot

Ability: Ezreal shatters the flow of time, summoning 5/5/25 temporal copies of himself, each firing a burst of energy toward the largest group of enemies. Enemies hit by a burst take physical damage (133/133/276% Attack Damage).

First Impressions: Ultimate Ezreal is one of the most delightful additions to the game. If you have both Ezreals, the 2-cost Ezreal's ability becomes much stronger. Ezreal himself can also add a ton of damage to team compositions. Relying on hitting Ezreal can be difficult, but since Underground is still in the game, I expect players to pick Ultimate Ezreal as their late-game unit.