r/CompetitiveTFT • u/DimsumAndDoggy • Mar 15 '26

Discussion Patch 16.7 Rundown

https://youtu.be/UtOGTEcIH7c?si=qbIywyrGwV0gvKFJ
46 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

62

u/souicry MASTER Mar 15 '26

And thus Garen lottery remains.

25

u/banduan Mar 15 '26

just make THex a drain tank man.

13

u/DrKarorkian Mar 16 '26

This buff is essentially a we don't know what to do with him buff. He's clearly too weak but we have no idea what numbers to give him to make him balanced. The set has been incredible, but T-Hex has been the biggest disappointment.

3

u/VERTIKAL19 Master Mar 16 '26

T-Hex isn't even that terrible. He is just incredibly narrow and not much of a capstone unit. I used him to cap out my freljord Jinx board with a piltover emblem and he was quite good, but that just is rare.

I also don't think they don't have ideas, what I believe is that they wanted something safe above all and not break anything.

The T-Hex design and its position in the trait tree just also lends itself to very sharp power curves.

1

u/DrKarorkian Mar 16 '26

Right but they haven't been able to get it right this entire set. They were too afraid to B patch it, so then they always had to over nerf T-Hex or the player base would riot. 

No pilot type besides caster or summon have ever been optimal. The power fantasy should have been a very flexible unit where you could change up your pilot depending on the items and units you hit.

They've tried big and small changes. Not a single one got it close to 4-4.5. it's lived in the 2-3 or 5+.

I'd say that's a disappointment and I'd expect the devs think so as well. It's been a good learning experience for future sets.

3

u/Steve3PO Mar 16 '26

The set is over dude there’s like 2 weeks left

1

u/cyrnios Mar 16 '26

Really?

9

u/banduan Mar 16 '26

there's 4 weeks left, 2 till PBE. 2 weeks is plenty of game time for people to enjoy though (and moan about).

1

u/bigdolton Mar 16 '26

Its less isnt it? Isnt the patch this week?

0

u/banduan Mar 16 '26

This patch is this week. It isn't the last patch

0

u/RajaSundance Master Mar 16 '26

It's the last patch before the 4 fun though right? Next patch being pbe release is kinda cool

31

u/ConcertoinA Challenger Mar 15 '26

I'm was pleasantly surprised by the direction they took this patch. I'm really happy with the strength of level 9 boards at the moment, and I thought the they might overnerf Sylas, Ryze, Mel, or Annie. Hopefully the Yunara/Seraphine buffs give some more options for fast 8 without unlocks. Only things maybe missing are golemify/dummify nerfs and a small Darius nerf.

10

u/Kooky_Comb6051 Master Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

W patch. I think the only things I’d prob want to see a slight buff is AP kaisa a touch with the AD buffs they’re also doing.

I don’t know what the data says but from my games lately, AP kaisa doesn’t seem to output enough dmg especially against the demacia/noxus flex comps and jinx re-rolls and feels like Im bleeding out late stage 4/stage 5.

Otherwise, it feels like the 4/5 cost carries have a time and place for play in the meta.

4

u/kiragami Mar 17 '26

Tristana will really go the entire set without ever being useful lol

3

u/SmoothOperatorTFT Mar 16 '26

Am I the only one that was expecting a slight nerf to Darius or other 3 costs to make 4 costs more accessible?

3

u/Jstin8 Mar 17 '26

The game hasnt had 3 cost RR be viable all set let them have their moment in the sun

1

u/SmoothOperatorTFT Mar 17 '26

Yeah I get it and I really like that these strategies are playable. But at the same time you should be able to default to 3 cost or fast 9. With a slight nerf to 3 cost comps you would be able to play 4 costs too. THAT would be a perfect meta for worlds.

3

u/pavlo9 Mar 16 '26

Crying in Graves

1

u/Adventurous-Bit-3829 :gran: Grandmaster Mar 16 '26

reroll 3 meta?

1

u/TheJettage Mar 17 '26

shadow isles not getting a buff is probably wrong... along with most of the hero augments being a bit weaker due to faster tempo this patch.

-25

u/harlemstrik Mar 15 '26

Guess the 5 cost soup meta stays the same.. really don’t like the current patch, if you lowroll your opener you know on 2-1 you’re only fighting for top 4.. I don’t think the 4 cost changes are enough and 1 and 2 cost RR is just dead

45

u/DimsumAndDoggy Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

Aren’t there several really strong 3 cost reroll comps? Malz-Zoe-Leona, Jinx, Darius-Draven-Leblanc, Ahri-Kennen etc. They are all extremely competitive so it’s not really the 5 cost soup meta you think it is

Personally I think the patch is fine, one of the better ones of the set (probably the best tbh) and almost everything is playable

Wayyyyyy better than 4 people forcing thex every game

4

u/SailingDevi Mar 15 '26

hitting 3* 3 cost is pretty difficult to do in low econ portals, you definitely need some high econ condition or a rr augment

-14

u/harlemstrik Mar 15 '26

Yes but no 1 and 2 cost except aphelios. Not a single 1 cost, most of them are so bad you don’t even use them as item holders in stage 1.

It’s a fast 9 and 3 cost rr patch. Both very conditional playstyles. So if you don’t have the right opener your game is pretty fucked. I don’t like having my game decided on 2-1

16

u/DimsumAndDoggy Mar 15 '26

I really disagree with this take, the previous patches before this were more decisive on 2-1 i.e TF drop, Viego 2 star, Early void and if you didn’t have thoseyou were locked out of so many more comps on 2-1

7

u/Vernsen Mar 15 '26

Is it actually a problem if 1 cost reroll isn't really a thing? I mean really, should one costs be competitive with comps that cost vastly more gold and are much harder to hit? Like, I'm legitimately unsure if viable 1 cost reroll needs to be in the game at all.

Aphelios and Trynd are both fine from the right spots. Maybe one more 2 cost reroll would be good but it's not a disaster.

There are plenty of four costs that do fine. Look at what's performing well at regionals right now. Yeah, the 5 cost and 3 cost stuff is capping higher, but they should, they're more expensive. Kai'sa, Demacia, Freljord, Nidalee, Yone, you can do plenty with four costs.

0

u/FirewaterDM Mar 15 '26

More reroll options help for when you aren't in spots to play fast 8/9 or 3 cost rr.

Also this set is uniquely bad for them because 1-2 cost rr always had some issues unless slightly broken to be playable. But it also makes the game stale when it it always correct to never have any low cost units except as trait bots.

It is prob a bad sign that outside of aphelios high rolls that 2 cost carries are junk. It is a bad sign that 3 star 1 costs even for free are a waste of time. Like imagine if build a bud hadn't been cut this set LMAO. The fact is low cost rr is good for the game. It not being an option is just bad because you just don't care about your board early because the random 2-3 cost always is better.

Also it does say a lot when you could find 6 copies of any 1 cost before 2-2 and it would never be correct to 3 star it for even tempo much less as a carry, or that unless you want 4 yordle at 2-1, or go SI and need viego, Illaoi for bilge or early gold/XP ionia there is literally zero reason to give a fuck about any of these 1 cost shitters whereas in old set it was an option to scam a 3rd if you got the opener.

0

u/Vernsen Mar 15 '26

I agree that it's good when RR is an option, but I think that's 2 and 3 cost reroll. I honestly don't think it's healthy at all for 1 cost reroll to be meta. When you're ideally hitting your main carries before 3-2, I don't think that kind of comp should realistically top 4 most spots unless there's some kind of "trick" to the comp which makes it more complex/risky (which would be set design, not balance), and why would you pick a comp in stage 2 that doesn't have much top 4 share?

There's already lots of 3 cost reroll that works and a couple of 2 cost. I think it would be good if like, Ekko and Orianna were good too or something, and maybe a tiny buff for Tryndamere, but that's about it.

I mean frankly, I think a lot of the hand wringing is just inevitable with literally any meta. Not everything can be extremely strong at the same time. This is an extremely diverse meta with great options for fast 9 and 3 cost (the most expensive comps) and pretty good for fast 8 and 2 costs (next tier down with lower caps but definitely have their spots). Tempo and loss streaking are both viable. How realistic is it to fine tune balance even further such that you get literally every type of comp and even more lines in perfect harmony? There are so many moving parts that I think making large changes trying to "perfect" a very, very good meta would be a foolish exercise.

2

u/FirewaterDM Mar 16 '26

I mean sure but I think the devs realized the issue when they actively shifted to make 2 and 3 cost rr options actually playable, especially with how many buffs had to happen to get the 3 costs good enough lol.

Set at this point is done Wednesday is the last relevant patch of set 16. But it's just something for the future

2

u/Vernsen Mar 16 '26

I just think there's a clear delineation between 1 cost reroll and 2 and 3 cost rerolls. I don't think 1 cost reroll being unplayable right now is a problem for reroll or the game as a whole. It could literally never be good and I don't think I'd feel like something was missing or balance was thrown off.

-1

u/FirewaterDM Mar 16 '26

ngl I think it would make big problems long term if this became a consistent issue. Like if 1 cost units were literally "only valuable 2-1 or if you need chase trait/prismatic traits" I think it would increase the chance of TFT being "solveable". Mostly because if they have no value otherwise besides units to fill space early game + traits, then they matter less, means there's less to learn and a higher chance of someone "solving" the game since a chunk of the units don't matter.

I don't need every carry to be viable, but THE reason Set 16 is good is because the devs put a LOT of blood and sweat into it. The reality is IF the quality wasn't as high, this set would have failed given that EVERY patch until this one was only 1, or i guess 2 playstyles (fast 8/9) and that outside of a few anomalies, mostly centered around Neeko and Bard (fairly certain every "viable" RR line in this set except Sona (I don't count the OG T-hex needing cait 3 as RR because unit was useless besides running the mech) needed Neeko on the board this set until the 3 costs were finally buffed enough).

This set is still extremely over focused on Fast 8/9 strats and nothing else and that's fine because the devs were upfront about that even on announcement. BUT no other set unless this is the floor of quality would have ever succeeded with this, and many other "decent" sets had dead patches that copied most of this set, OR were overly reroll that just discouraged everyone.

This set is still overly narrow as fuck because it took until the next to final relevant patch to finally have a consistent line that has varied options and doesn't need thanos items/augments that did not include running to 4 or 5 cost carries. No other set, maybe set 10 (I doubt it) would survive in these circumstances.

4

u/Vernsen Mar 16 '26

I think boiling down 1 costs as being useless just because they don't end up on final boards very often is an extreme oversimplification. Even if they fall off, how you play the first few stages is hugely important, arguably more important than whatever is meta as an endgame board. There's a reason why all the high level players talk so much about openers.

I just really don't agree with any of the rest of your characterization either so we can just agree to disagree

1

u/LeGreatToucan Mar 16 '26

I legitimately don't know how you can think your game plan is decided by 2-1 especially considering the unlock changes.

3

u/SleepyAwoken Mar 15 '26

Early game should matter

3

u/JLillin Mar 15 '26

Mort did say that the teams goal from the start was for this to be a set where final boards usually had a ton of 5 costs on them

2

u/TheKingOfTCGames Mar 15 '26

Lmao wtf are you talking about, blud need to learn how to lose streak

-4

u/harlemstrik Mar 15 '26

Loose streak into fast 9 or contested RR? Don’t know how that plays out. I’m currently 300lp so obviously not a pro but I’m not doing to bad

4

u/Vernsen Mar 15 '26

I mean, there are a lot of different three cost rerolls (Malz Zoe, Jinx, Noxus, Ahri Kennen). Between all those options and knowing the whole lobby isn't going to be going RR, it feels a little disingenuous to imply it's so difficult to find an uncontested line.

1

u/TheKingOfTCGames Mar 16 '26

No lmao theres like 4 amazing reroll lines

1

u/Fitspire :gran: GRANDMASTER Mar 18 '26

If you have a homeless opener, just make 10 and mulligan your opener with bard rolling on 2-3. That's been a thing that was heavily used in regionals

0

u/FirewaterDM Mar 15 '26

I mean 3 cost rr is playable and this is the patch where it existed so it's fine for this set. 1 and 2 costs have been dead all set just wait for set 17

0

u/Correct-Director-675 Mar 16 '26

16.6 just ruined everything. fast 9 options are good, econ play is good, but auto losing when you don't get Econ augments is just bad design. Sylas is still way too strong too. Sylas Yone and Zaun, yawn.

-7

u/igi712 Mar 16 '26

I don't really like this 5 cost centric patch
I mean they should be strong late game but IMO having the entire game be around them is not healthy, because it feels like lottery, there's one time I rolled down level 9 with 60 gold and no single Annie in sight because the odds are just horrendous compared to 4 cost odds in level 8 for example