TFT Positioning Fundamentals: The Difference Between 1st and 8th
Have you ever told yourself, you shouldn't have sacked that 1 fight in stage 3 for econ, because some guy just took your top 4 by 1-3hp? Well that's a fair decision to make, after all - TFT is about risks.
But what if that same board could have won, you literally had to do nothing different, kept making that econ - but just positioned right. In this 2 minute guide you'll hopefully be able to reap the best of both worlds afterwards.
Introduction
The difference between top 4 and bottom is usually decided by the thinnest of margins. Understanding the fundamentals of TFT positioning is essential to edge out more wins, especially in stages where most boards are equal in power level - but decided by positioning instead of outright board strength.
Positioning is a mechanic in TFT that doesn't require luck, yet isn't prioritized in player learning, whilst other high-roll aspects are often complained about.
Without understanding the basic concepts: That single fight will continue to change the trajectory of your game.
1. The 3 Pillars of Defaulting:
Your main tank takes aggro |
Your main carry aligned with your tank |
The enemy carry is accessible |
TAC — Tank. Align. Carry.
Defaulting is a safe and intuitive option when you aren’t sure of who you will play next and what the lobby’s power level is just yet. It follows the principles of team-fighting applied in every combat game:
The tank absorbs the damage
To protect the carry
With the enemy carry in close proximity to quickly shutdown their highest source of damage
Example of bad positioning
Most people will position their front-line starting directly from the corner, which makes no sense unless there's a 2 hex gap with the main tank on the outer edge, facing their main carry.
1. The fight would not last long enough for our carries to deal meaningful damage, why? Because our weaker front line without items are heavily exposed therefore will die faster. Every unit counts, if the Vi can live for a second longer - that could be the fight winning cast from your carry.
2. It's blocking your melee carry's path to the enemy carry, Nidalee would focus their item-less units before their main units here which is redundant.
The Alternative
In this example, the main tank takes aggro from both enemy carries whilst supporting tank units wrap around from both directions to cover flanks and dilute damage onto our main tank from supporting enemy units. This is possible due to TFT's aggro rule, in which the Azir and Ezreal will redirect to closest tank.
Nidalee also paths directly to enemy carry Zyra here, completely ignoring their Main tank. The enemy carry is easily accessible here.
This could be the much needed seconds for another cast from our carries to win the fight
Our tank’s cast which would be a heal or shield + item procs such as Spirit’s Redemption, compounding into much longer survival
The last thing we want is all 4 enemy backliners hitting the main tank. Units without items are still contributing, if Amumu dies faster here, the other tank units won’t survive long after
Instead, we could utilize them to absorb hits from their weaker carries.
Defaulting is about delaying the fight for your carries to do maximum damage.
Rule Bending
1. If you have the luxury of itemizing a 2nd tank - You could put both tanks on opposite sides of the frontline, buying time from both ends whilst ensuring the tanks in-between live longer.
2. If your Main tank and carry is stronger you should opt to play opposite side to their main tank and carry. This method is essentially betting on a race of DPS and damage tanking: basically betting that
Your carries will eliminate their carries first
Your main tank will out-live theirs
End result: After eliminating their weak units and main tank, yours is still alive and moving closer to the exposed enemy carries
3. Melee Carry wrapping: Similarly to above, you position your carry opposite to their main tank - giving them an alternative weaker route to the enemy carry
Anti - Kha'Zix counter positioning
As of the nerfs, Kha'Zix is still an oppressive conditional comp that cannot really be countered by traditional rules.
This is a risky counter positioning tip, but the alternative is: Kha'Zix jumps to Aphelios's usual hex and oneshots him anyway.
Against comps with immediate backline access, positioning in reverse can actually counter their ability
Give them exactly what they want and will do: Access the Backline
Meet them in the backline with your tanks instead
Make the assassin jump around the tanks - wasting their casts on tanky units
Risk their backline hitting you, however in assassin comps - item priority is usually on the assassin, making their backline less of a threat
And these are the core concepts of TFT positioning in a 5 minute read.
Later this week, there will be an advanced guide on scouting: this is going cover Strong Side and Weak Side, having both in the same guide wouldn't be effective enough because the core concepts have to be nailed down until it's second nature first.
By now reader's should be able to grasp the first principles of TFT Positioning. What their main goal in a fight is, and slight nuances in differing comps.