Hello, my name is Greedforce and welcome to my Twisted Fate guide.
Before I jump in to the actual guide I thought I'd make a little introduction and explain why I decided to make this guide, aside from the fact that I enjoy making guides of course.

When Deathfire Grasp was removed and Luden's Tempest introduced, Twisted Fate changed a bit in how he was built and played and a lot of the builds here on MobaFire became outdated. So I decided to make my own guide to help out new players who might get confused by the outdated guides. After that I've just kept updating the guide since it became popular. :)

I am truly grateful for your support and if you have any questions about the build or see anything that I can improve, please, do not hesitate to leave a comment and let me know.

If you are interested, you can find my other guides via my profile.

So with that said, let's get going.

Pros + Fun to play + High skill ceiling + Can hard carry games + Has extremely strong roams + Has a low CD stun + Sustains well in lane + Good poke + Good objetive control + Good waveclear + Free gold from Passive

Cons - Hard to learn - Harder to master - If you can't pick the right card you're screwed - Relies heavily on positioning - Squishy - No escapes (with low CD and cast time) - Relies on good roams - Poke lanes counter him super hard - Needs expensive items (like most mid-laners) - Has a hard time catching up if behind

Ok, before we get in-game we have a few things to talk about, namely runes, masteries and summoner spells. These might not seem like something you need to put much thought into, but they are all very important and have more effect on the game than most people realise.

Let's start with the runes.

Greater mark of hybrid penetration

(Recommended) With hybrid pen marks instead of Greater Mark of Magic Penetration you trade 2.25 magic pen (.25 per mark) for 8.1 armor pen (.87 per mark). Armor pen let's you harass and CS easier.

(VS AP) If you're against an AP mid-laner take health. By the time you leave lane these will have scaled enough to make up for your lack of armor.

(VS AD) If you're against an AD mid-laner such as Zed or Yasuo, take armor.

(Mandatory) You need the damage from these, especially if you take movement speed quints.

(Positioning) I highly reccomend you take these. I can not stress enough how important positioning is on Twisted Fate.

(Damage) If you feel that you can position yourself correctly without extra movement speed then you could take these instead for more damage, but I would advise against it unless you're a Twisted Fate veteran.

Sorcery gives you increased Spell damage.

Expose Weakness helps with damage in teamfights but if you're against a poke lane you might wanna swap this out for Feast which will help you sustain better in lane.

Natural Talent Gives you more AP and AD.

Bounty Hunter increases your damage as the game goes on. If you're not confident you'll get many kills, you should consider taking Oppressor instead, since you have both a slow and a stun.












Savagery to easier CS and push early. We take this over Wanderer because you only get its movement speed when out of combat and we already have a god-tier roaming spell ( Destiny).

Secret Stash for better sustain.

Merciless for the extra damage against low health targets.

Dangerous Game can save lives and is generally a safe pick.
OR
Greenfather's Gift gives you an extra damage tool, although situational. This is probably better for the kiting playstyle, but I'll leave that up to you. Just know that if you can pick fights near bushes without getting chased away from them, this can do some serious damage.

Precision for the penetration.

Thunderlord's Decree for trading, bursting and generally doing damage with combos.

Flash is a must have! Twisted Fate realies to heavily on positioning not to have this. Use it to positiong yourself in fights or get out of a sticky situation.


Ghost helps even further with your positioning, but this can be swapped for any of the ones below if you don't feel like you can't make use of the movement speed.


Teleport gives you even more map pressure and is becoming a common pick amongst midlaners. I do however urge you to think twice if you really need this, as you already have Destiny.


Barrier is a good choice if you're upp against a counter who doesnt care if you can position yourself properly or not, they'll just kill you anyway.


Ignite is good against champions that relies heavily on healing or lifestealing, like Trundle or Dr. Mundo. It's also a good pick if you feel like you need that extra bit of damage.


Cleanse is really useful against CC heavy team comps. If getting CC'ed means getting killed you should take this.

Ok, now that we've shed some light on our runes, masteries and summoner spells, let's jump in game and start talking about items.

The standard starting item for Mages. It gives you some nice stats such as Mana sustain, Health and of course AP.

2x health potions to stay healthy in lane. Remember to use your Pick A Card to stay topped off on mana.

or

If you are up against a heavy poke lane and you know you're not gonna be able to sustain through it with just a Doran's Ring you can take this instead.*

Since Dark Seal is cheaper than Doran's Ring we can afford a refillable instead of pots, which saves us the h***el and gold of bying pots throughout the game.

As a mid laner this should be self explanatory really, but I'll just go over it anyways, cause I feel like it.

The standard starting trinket. Ward one side of the river and stay away from the opposite bush. This'll give you more time to react to ganks.

This is why I'm saying this chapter should be self explanatory, cause anything that keeps you from having to face check, is a good thing, especially if there is an assassin meta...

I highly suggest you stick to Farsight Alteration, but in very specific situations it might be correct to pick this up. But the only time I'd ever recommend it is if nobody on your team has one and your opponent has good ward coverage, causing you to really need it, and even then I'd still just tell you to convince one of your teammates to buy it instead of you.

(Recommended) Luden's Echo*

(Recommended) Lich Bane

I buy this to further increase Twisted Fate's already good waveclear, so that I can push the lane and be ready to roam whenever I get the chance. By finnishing this item you also reach your first powerspike as it boosts your damage by a nice amount. If you're behind or just don't feel like you need this you can jsut skip it, but it's nice to have.

For our second item I choose between Zhonya's Hourglass and Lich Bane. If I'm ahead and have started to snowball I buy this as it works really well with your kit, I'll go over this in greater detail in the Combos chapter. For now all you need to now is that it increases your damage by a lot.

(Recommended) Zhonya's Hourglass

(VS MR) Void Staff

As previously stated, this is one of the two items I choose between to build after Luden's Tempest, Lich Bane being the other. This will give you more survivability thanks to the active and the fact that the armor increases your effective health towards AD champions. It is also a big AP item, so even if you build this as a second item you shouldn't fall behind in damage

Build this once you notice that the enemy team starts building MR. When you build this item is very situational as it shouldn't be built to early, because of the fact that you need AP for it to have anything to penetrate with, but you can't build it too late either as you need it to keep doing damage to tanks and eventually squishies, if they decied to get something like a Banshee's Veil.

(Late game) Rabadon's Deathcap

(Boots) Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Once you start getting a big amount of AP you want to build this, for that nice powerspike, and you will be able to dish out a lot of damage after getting this. Usually your fourth and fifth items will be this and Void Staff. Which one is built first depends entirely on if the enemy team have started building MR yet or not.

I buy these because our build path is severely lacking in CDR. There is however a good reason for that, so don't be too worried about it. This should be all the CDR you need as you already have pretty low cooldowns anyways. If the enemy team builds some early MR you could buy Sorcerer's Shoes instead, if you can't get an early Void Staff.

OR

(Defensive) Banshee's Veil or Guardian Angel

If you feel like you're getting focused and die a lot or just tend to get uncomfortably low in fights, you might wanna look into getting a Defensive item. If you start having problems early go for Zhonya's Hourglass, but if the problems persist I like to pick up a Banshee's Veil, Guardian Angel or a Rylai's Crystal Scepter (I'll explain why this is hear in the next chapter).

* Some people like to skip this item altogether and just rush Lich Bane and Ionian Boots of Lucidity. And although this is definitely viable, I'd still recomend getting Luden's Tempest at some point as it's just to good of a damage source to ignore.

Ok, we're almost done, but before we leave the item part of the guide there are some items that I'd like to go over that may prove useful in certain situations.

(VS Healing) Morellonomicon

Twisted Fate has amazing mana sustain, so we are not buying this for the mana regeneration. We buy this item for the same reason we take Ignite, it inflicts Grievous wounds on the enemy and if you're facing a fed Dr. Mundo or Trundle that is very much needed.

(Kiting) Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Before the change to AP items Rylai's would delay our build and we'd fall behind in damage, but now Rylai's has 100 AP just like any other item we build and so now the only difference is the health we get and the passive. To clarify, Rylai's makes you able to kite really well and I often end up doing just that with Twisted Fate. It also increaes your health by a good amount.

(Mobility) Hextech Protobelt-01

This gives Twisted Fate the mobility he's been lacking for all these years. Sadly it gives every other champ the same. If you feel like you can get away with building this instead of Zhonya's Hourglass and have the space for it, I highly recommend picking it up. It basically does what Zhonya's Hourglass does, but in a different way. You still get the 10% CDR and a defensive active ability, but you loose 10 AP. However having a dash is useful in far more places than a stasis effect. Basically it comes down to personal preference and what champions are in any given game.

(VS Melee) Abyssal Scepter

We really don't wanna be this close to someone EVER! But sometimes it can't be avoided. If you are facing a Diana or maybe a Akali this could be a smart choice, but the smarter option would of course be staying out of their range entirely.

(VS CC) Quicksilver Sash

What would I do without this item? Probably die... Quicksilver Sash is EXTREMELY useful if the enemy have a lot of CC. Let's say a Jax jumps on you and stuns you. Unless you have Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash you'll most likely be dead, in a very short period of time, either because the Jax killed you or because his teammates followed up. This is not a mandatory buy, but it's defenitely recommended. Don't build this into anything and sell it if you can afford to and need the inventory space.

(Survivability) Rod of Ages

This item is ridicolously powerful right now and gives you some nice survivability and sustain while still bringing a good amount of AP to the table. BUT, and this is a pretty big but, it postpones not only your much needed movement speed but also the poke and burst you get from items like Luden's Tempest making your roams close to worthless and your pushing and CSing ability second to none. I don't really like this item on Twisted Fate because it doesn't really fit his kit since he is more of a kiter and poker than anything else and shouldn't need the health and mana from this item in the first place. There might be some people who find it useful though which is why it is still in this list.

(Passive) Loaded dice Cooldown: Passive

Loaded Dice is a nice passive and it's what makes Twisted Fate so farm heavy. Don't think for a second that you can afford to miss a few CS because of this passive, instead use it to your advantage. If you and your opponent farm equally well then you will have more gold and get items faster.

(Q) Wild cards Cooldown: 6 seconds

Wild Cards is what we wanna max first because it is our main source of damage, it has the longest range (obviously not counting Destiny) and it's what we use to clear waves. Now here comes the part that makes or breaks a good Twisted Fate player. You need to position yourself so that at least 2 of the cards hit enemies in fights. If you can poke down 2, or even 3, enemies at the same time, you can set up a team fight in your favor in no-time.

(W) Pick a card Cooldown: 5 seconds

Pick A Card is not just 1 spell but rather 3. Wheter or not you can keep cool under pressure and pick the right card for the situation is another thing that makes or breaks a good Twisted Fate player.

Blue card is the card that does the most damage and it also gives you back mana, spam this in lane.


Red card slows and damages all enemies around the target. This card is good in teamfights if you can hit 2+ enemies, otherwise your stun is better. This is also your pushing card, for obvious reasons.

Yellow card is Twisted Fate's signature move, the low CD stun. This is the card you wanna use when someone ganks you or you're dueling someone. It's also good for bursting someone.

(E) Stacked deck Cooldown: Passive

Stacked Deck is a very underrated ability as most people just think of Twisted Fate as your average AP carry. It makes it easier to CS and push waves and once you've massed up some AP it deals some nice damage and pretty much works as a second Lich Bane.

(R) Destiny Cooldown: 180/150/120 seconds

Destiny is a really good ultimate. It allows you to roam to top and bot in no-time and almost guarantees you a kill each time you gank thanks to your stun. After a fight there will almost allways be someone that goes of alone, use Destiny and then teleport somewhere between them and where they're headed and burst them down once they're within range. Destiny also reveals stealthed champions so keep that in mind.

The order you use your spells are allways gonna be the same. You start of with Pick A Card, auto attack once to trigger Stacked Deck (assuming it's up), throw Wild Cards to do the main chunk of your damage and to proc Lich Bane and then finnish of with an auto attack to trigger the damage.

However whether you use your Blue, Red or Yellow card depends on what situation you're in.

Blue card should be used if you have no fear of the enemy retaliating because it gives you back mana for the Wild Cards you're about to throw.

Red card should be used when you can hit multiple enemies or minions with it and you are NOT low on mana. Allways prioritize your survival and having a healthy mana pool over damage.

Yellow card should be used whenever you get the chance. Dueling, ganking, teamfighting, escaping, you name it. As long as you have a good amount of mana this is the, arguably, best card of the three.

If your enemy is fed or just generally dangerous towards you, you might wanna skip parts of your combo and just stun and throw Wild Cards at them.

Ok, last thing before we get to the actual gameplay, I promise. In this chapter I'm gonna give some tips and tricks that will be useful to you when playing Twisted Fate, I will also clear up what I mean by good positioning.


Farming
Ok, so first of all, learn to CS! If you feel like you need to practice it, then I highly recommend going in to a custom game by yourself and practicing the timings of Twisted Fate's auto attacks and how to use your Stacked Deck, try to save it for Siege minions. Once you've mastered that try going against a bot and see if you can CS under harass and pressure while poking them down.


Blue cards
Blue cards give back more mana than they use at all levels so if you're not doing anything else, spam Blue cards.


Warding
Since we only have one trinket ward every other minute it could be smart to buy a Stealth Ward so that you allways have at least one bush warded. Stay close to the bush you've warded as it will give you time to react to a gank from the unwarded bush.


Stack the deck
Allways keep your Stacked Deck up if you're not using it. You never know when you need some extra damage.


Don't waste opportunities
Try to use Destiny as often as possible as you're just wasting time, roam oportunities and possible kills for your team by not using it. But make sure that your allies are ready to follow up!


Revealing stealthed champs
Destiny reveals stealthed champions and can be used to hunt down low health targets, that escaped with stealth, after a fight.


Positioning
Good positioning is something I've mentioned through out the guide but I've never really defined what it is, up untill now. Good positioning is staying out of harms way (often behind you tanks) yet close enough to poke with Wild Cards. However you should allways priorotize your survival, in a sense Twisted Fate is a lot like an ADC in that regard, poke who you can poke and don't get greedy.

But wait, there's more! Position your self so that you hit as many targets as possible with your Wild Cards and do as much damage as possible to the enemy team. Perfect positioning would be standing outside the range of all enemies while still being able to hit all three cards on the enemy team and at the same time waveclearing (if you're in a lane).


Double yellow card
Don't ask me how or why this works, it just does.
At 0%, 10%, 35% and 40% CDR you can pick two Yellow cards directly after another, by spamming your Pick A Card. This only works with Yellow cards and it stops working after you've picked two. After that you'll get a random card.
Shout-out to Dassmoppen for the video.


For more tips and tricks about champion matchups, please refer to the "Threaths to Twisted fate with this build" part at the top of the page.

Finally we are in-game and ready to kick some ***, so buy your items, put a point in Pick A Card and walk to lane.

Make sure you CS as good as you can because we want to use Loaded Dice to its full extent so we can get our items before our opponent.

Ward one side of the river and keep spamming Blue cards.

Position your self so that the minion wave is allways inbetween you and your opponent so that you can hit them with Wild Cards while you CS. Preferably you want to throw Wild Cards through the entire length of the wave and hit every minion while one of the cards hit your lane opponent, it doesnt matter if its one of the side cards or if they're just standing in the middle of their minion wave.

If someone ganks you, use your Yellow card and if necessary your Ghost/ Flash. If your jungler ganks, stun your opponent and it's pretty much a free kill.

Make sure that you push the lane so that the opponent needs to CS under tower and misses as much CS as possible. Thanks to your stun you've pretty much got a free escape if you get ganked. However be careful if you haven't got a ward as you are not invulnerable and there's a pretty big chance that your opponent will call for ganks on you if you are constantly pushed.

Now that you have Destiny it is more important than ever before that you keep your lane pushed so that you can roam as soon as you get the opportunity. Twisted Fate roams, if executed right, will almost 100% of the time result in a kill for you or your teammates.

Keep farming and ganking lanes and get as many items as you can before you start to group. In teamfights it is important that you poke the enemies using Wild Cards and Luden's Tempest before someone engages. Then when a fight breaks out, try to go for their backline and burst an ADC or APC. Make sure to wait for the right moment though and stay in your backline so you don't get bursted down yourself.

After the fight, assuming that you was able to stay alive, there might be someone that goes of alone, if you can kill them by yourself, use Destiny to port behind them and kill them.

Other than that you should split push and take objectives, which I'll go over in the next chapter.

Use Destiny and your pushing power to pressure the map, group when the time is right (because grouping isn't allways the answer, I'm looking at you bronze and silver players). Also make sure to keep control over objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor.

Split pushing is something Twisted Fate really excels at, as he can clear waves fast with Wild Cards and Pick A Card, and even faster if he has Luden's Tempest and melt towers thanks to Stacked Deck and Lich Bane, if you get that on him. He can then rotate to another lane, or group up with his teammates, within seconds thanks to Destiny.

This is very useful as you can push a lane, drag enemies to you and then group with your team and take a objective somewhere else while the enemies are busy with the push you caused.

As the game goes on and death timers become longer, one death can tip the game in the other teams favor, so make sure to stay alive while stil getting as many picks as you can. If you for instance find a Jinx in the jungle all by herself, assuming you can, kill her and take an objective while she's dead.

It's pretty hard to make a short summary of a champion this complex but basically Twisted Fate is a poke champion that excels at roaming and split pushing. He also has some very good utility thanks to his Pick A Card and good objective control thanks to Destiny.

As for the laning phase he is a very agressiv pick and is extremely weak against poke champions as he wont be able to farm. Your only chance is to push the lane super hard and hope your opponent starts focusing more on last hitting than harassing you. If you cant push the lane, you can't roam.

Special thanks goes out to: League of Legends, for being an awesome game. MobaFire and the hard working crew that runs the website. C9Hai and C9Meteos, I took a lot of inspiration from their guide layout. jhoijhoi, for her "Guide guide" IceCreamy, for his "How to use columns" guide Astrolia, for her column guide ...and last but not least, my thanks goes out to you guys who read my guide! I may have made this for myself as much as for anyone else, but the fact that someone actually reads it makes it so much better. So thank you! Best regards /Greedforce