Teamfight Tactics: Galaxies v10.7 Patch Notes: Dark Star trait rework, 5-cost carry rebalancing and more

The first significant update to Teamfight Tactics: Galaxies is now live and it has drastically shifted the meta.

In this update, Teamfight Tactics(TFT) patch 10.7, the majority of champions available in the third set of TFT received some changes.

The most significant changes are to several of the 5-cost units including Aurelion Sol, Ekko, Gangplank, Lulu, and Miss Fortune.

Besides this, several of the most popular traits see some changes in their strength. In addition to the nerfs to the Brawler and Mystic trait, the Dark Star and Mana-Reaver traits see a small rework in the v10.7 game update. 

(Credit: Riot Games)

The changes to 5-cost champions in Teamfight Tactics: Galaxies

(Credit: Riot Games)

The changes to the 5-cost champions of TFT Set 3 range from very small adaptions in cases like Lulu to complete rebalancing in the instances of Gangplank and Miss Fortune.

Lulu, for example, lost 0.05 attacks per second of her base attack speed in this update. A minor change, however, it might have more impact than you might expect, with the upcoming changes to Protector, namely to Xin Zhao. 

Other 5-cost champions, such as Miss Fortune, got a complete overhaul. Miss Fortune loses 0.1 attacks per second, sees her mana changed, from 50 starting / 150 total mana to 75/175. These changes, on top of the small change in her abilities damage, should make her far less reliable in the current meta.

• Read more: Teamfight Tactics - the best team compositions

However, because several of the other top performing 5-cost champions also see changes this update, Miss Fortune isn’t likely to lose her spot as one of the highest damage dealers in TFT. 

Gangplank and Aurelion Sol receive similar changes to Miss Fortune, however, on a less drastic scale. Both lose out on a decent amount of their damage, with Gangplank losing 200 to 250 damage on his ability at its one and two-star forms. Aurelion Sol, on the other hand, loses 20 to 25 damage to all its rockets.

Besides this, Aurelion Sol’s missiles now target enemies at entirely random, rather than random with a weighting towards the closer enemies. 

Trait rebalancing & reworks of patch 10.7

(Credit: Riot Games)

The majority of changes to the traits in TFT patch 10.7 are minor. However, two changes are significantly affecting the meta in the upcoming weeks. The first of these changes is the rework to the Dark Star trait.

Dark Star now grants ALL other dark star units 25 (3) or 35 (6) attack damage and ability power for each Dark Star unit that dies. The new Dark Star version, changed from the previous version of the trait, which granted 50% (3) to 80% (6) increased damage to the closest Dark Star ally upon the death of a Dark Star unit. 

While this nerf is certainly a nerf to the popular Jhin builds, it certainly is a more reliable effect. Allowing Dark Star to scale with ability power increases the strength of champions such as Karma drastically.

• Read more: Teamfight Tactics: Galaxies guide to all of the new champions

In addition to this, the new Dark Star effect gains a lot of potency for any champion that wants to make use of the item Dark Star’s Heart. Dark Star’s Heart allows any champion to become a Dark Star unit, created by combining Sparring Gloves with the Spatula item.

The most notable champions that scale well with both the increased attack damage and ability power are champions such as Irelia, Master Yi, and Miss Fortune. What new strategies players will create using the new Dark Star trait is going to be very interesting over the upcoming weeks. 

The other change is to the Sniper trait, more specifically to Caitlyn. In patch 10.7, the Sniper trait distance from target bonus increased from 12% to 15% per hexagon between the Sniper and its target. While this change is drastic on its own for Jhin and Ashe who now do more damage, the 1-cost Sniper champion, Caitlyn, also sees additional buffs to the champion.

This update reduces the Spell Cast Time for Caitlyn’s ability from 1.5 to 1.1 second. In addition to this, Caitlyn now starts attacking faster again after casting its ability. 

The change to Protector comps & Xin Zhao

(Credit: Riot Games)

In the time since the release of Teamfight Tactics: Galaxies, one comp, in particular, had success against the popular Rebel teams. The 4-Protector/4 Mystic comps, using Xin Zhao and Rakan as their primary damage sources were among the most popular counters to the Rebels strategy.

However, now the star of this team, Xin Zhao, sees a quite drastic change to the champion. Xin Zhao’s total mana increased from 50 to 60, but in turn, the damage of its spell is increased by 25 at all levels. 

• Read more: Teamfight Tactics - best items and combinations guide

At first, this increase of 10 mana seems relatively minor. However, if you are familiar with Xin Zhao’s strength, it is the number of times it casts its ability to gain the shield from the Protector trait. The increase of 10 mana means Xin Zhao requires an additional attack before it casts its ability, reducing the time Xin Zhao’s shield is up by around 20%. 
 

For the complete patch notes please refer to the Team Fight Tactics: Galaxies v10.7 patch notes.