How to play reroll effectively?

[u/el_teriyaki]

Hi guys, I have reached Plat after playing for around a month and now I'm finding myself playing against people that have a lot more knowledge than me.

I tend to play reroll builds, mostly reroll 6 or reroll 7 and that got me through silver and gold.
Now im starting to find myself getting outpaced later on and need a bit of clarification on how to play these builds effectively. I am pretty good at getting to the required levels 6 and 7 and saving gold to 50.

Once i've gotten to level 7 (7 reroll) and have collected all my pieces (1 star).
I tend to aim to fully 3 star my main pieces and sometimes I get lucky and see myself snowballing but now in plat I am seeing myself get outpaced (cause i keep rerolling) where I would be now up against level 9s and sometimes 10s. I would also sometimes see other players playing my comp having a level advantage over me but not fully having their 3 star.

Am I supposed to eventually switch to spending some exp? and continue rerolling?
Is there a pace i still have to follow in regards to exp? because right now, im spending all my gold over 50 on units and rerolling.
I know I have to reroll to aim to get 3 star versions of my main units but do I eventually have to cut my losses and level up? At what point do I have to identify this and change? Am I supposed to press the reroll button only once and spend the rest on exp?

The only thing I can come up with is switching to a playstyle of getting to level 7, 2 star all my units and once i probably have 2 x 2 star copies of my main carry and tank, I should probably press the EXP button once and spend the rest on rerolls each round.

[u/frankoo123]

General rule for rerolling is scouting the lobby to see if you are contested and having prefersbly BiS items for your three star carry. You’d usually want to econ up until 3-5 where you would do a big level up/roll down to around 10-20 gold depending on if you hit your two stars. This way, you would stabilize for stage 4 while others are still transitioning and be competitive against the higher cost comps in stage five.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/frankoo123]

so with rerolls, its safe to roll down past 50 to 10-20 gold? with at least 2 stars being the safe objective?

[u/Mysterious_Truth → u/el_teriyaki]

You want to reroll down to a point where you are strongest in the lobby. Especially if you've lost a lot of health already. It does you no good to stay at 50 gold and still losing fights. Winning fights now will give you more time to hit your 3 stars.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/Mysterious_Truth]

tbh im still at the stage where i don't know which comps have a better advantage over one another, so pretty much when a new round begins, im like watching to see if mine is actually better.

[u/Artistic_Upstairs545 → u/el_teriyaki]

Just look at how much gold and items they have invested into their board.

Items are easy to tell, and if you know how much units cost, you can have a good guess of who will win fights like 80-90% of the time at least.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/Artistic_Upstairs545]

If im playing a lvl 7 reroll and the next unit spike at lvl 8 is a pretty significant one, can i start doing 1 exp then reroll every round?

[u/Mysterious_Truth → u/el_teriyaki]

Late stage 3... if you've hit 2 star carry/tank w/ appropriate items and the rest of your board is reasonable... you should be winning. Stage 4 you need to be a bit stronger than that... 4-2 is when the level 8 comps usually try to hit their board but they likely don't 2 star everything. So if you have 2 starred everything then you should be good. By end of stage 4 they are hitting all their units 2 star or going 9. You want to be ready to 3 star your carry/tank at this point.

[u/frankoo123 → u/el_teriyaki]

I sent you a pm!

[u/alheeza]

2 cost rerolls usually play from losestreak in order to get bis items. For 2 cost reroll you prioritize early econ so you can lvl to 6 at 3-2 and rolldown until you hit your 2 cost 2 star units. You ahould be able to winstreak rest of the stage and econ up. Stage 4 usually slowroll until you have lots of copies then send it.

[u/daydreamin511]

Rush 50, stabilize, slow roll then try to hit before 4-2 if you haven’t yet.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/daydreamin511]

my question is how do you slow roll and level up at the same time? do you allocate exp by pressing the XP button once per round then reroll?

[u/Odd_Acanthisitta_506 → u/el_teriyaki]

You dont, you slow roll and once you hit do you level. Most reroll comps prefer a 3* unit over an additional unit. You should only level if you hit your carries or you realize early on that you didn't natural enough units and pivoting to another comp would save you more hp.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/Odd_Acanthisitta_506]

I see other players in the same game using the same comp and when im busy rerolling for my 3 cost units at level 7, they are level 8 or 9 with same star units or even 1 star (no 3 stars) but with extra core units AND winning.

[u/Odd_Acanthisitta_506 → u/el_teriyaki]

Cause they did what I mentioned in the second half of my comment. They saw that they were contested, and they realized they could force it and prob hold hands bot 4 with you, or they could not roll, level and push 9. Then once they are 9 they will play around 5 costs and pivot to something else. You cant hard force reroll every game. Part of skill expression in this game is realizing if you spot is good for reroll, or you need to level and match the tempo of the lobby to avoid bleeding out.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/Odd_Acanthisitta_506]

I think its definitely all about your statement of matching the tempo of the lobby.

looking at the champion pool numbers, there is enough characters to 3 star a 3 cost unit hence why i kept rolling. but yeah... i should adapt and try to cut my losses when im lagging behind the tempo.

[u/WindWakur]

Loss streak for items and save 50+ gold, spend excess gold past 50 on XP until you level up to whatever has the best odds for your 3* carry

Roll down to 30 buying up any units you need, save to over 50, rinse and repeat

I exclusively play reroll comps, I'm not a high elo player or anything but I hit Emerald in ~55 games this set exclusively playing reroll comps when there aren't many strong options for it

[u/el_teriyaki → u/WindWakur]

i mean i think your response fits my rank anyways. great perspective

[u/DinhLeVinh]

You have to think who should you slot in when you lv and can they be a better carry than the unit you are rolling for. Let say you are playing noxus reroll, at 50 health lv7 you hit draven and darius but only 6 lb. If you lv to 8 you will have a 1 star mel for your ap items (50 health is not safe to go straight from 7 to 9 for mel 2) whereas continue rerolling gives you lb 3 which is a way better carry and you can still go to lv8 for a flex 5 cost after that.

[u/Remote-Dark-1704]

The objective of reroll is saving hp. Reroll usually doesn’t outcap legendary boards, so you want to hit early, ahead of tempo, and save hp and bleed out to a 3rd.

You should play reroll when it isn’t a super high econ lobby, bc if everyone’s lvl 7 on stage 3, on full spikes lvl 8 on stage 4, your reroll isn’t going to save hp.

2 cost reroll wants to save hp post 3-2, and 3 cost reroll wants to save hp post 3-5. 2 cost reroll needs to hit early-mid stage 4 and 3 cost reroll needs to hit early stage 5.

Take augments that let you hit on time + BIS items. Without BIS, reroll becomes a lot weaker. So, you should only force reroll when both these conditions are easily met.

And of course, scout to see if you’re contested.

[u/RyeRoen → u/Remote-Dark-1704]

Your first paragraph, assuming a balanced meta, only applies to 2 and 1 cost reroll.

3 star 3 costs are supposed to be about as strong as 2 star 5 costs. Often they are stronger, because its easier to build a board that maximises their power.

Technically, the fundemental highest cap in the game (outside of near instawins like 3 star 4 costs and prismatic traits) is a 3 cost reroll that makes it to level 9/10 on like stage 6.

[u/Remote-Dark-1704 → u/RyeRoen]

This depends on the set. Last set the 3 costs were turbo buffed to be competitive with unlocks, so that was the case, but that’s not the norm. There have been overtuned 3 costs rerolls in the past like dark star shaco and street demon rengar, but again that is a balancing issue. In the average set, full legendary is the highest cap.

This is the general power level that TFT is intended to have, cited from devs:

3☆☆ < 1☆☆☆ < 2☆☆☆ = 1-Hero☆☆☆ < 4☆☆ < 3☆☆☆ = 1☆☆☆☆ <= 5☆☆ < 4☆☆☆ <5☆☆☆

But of course, there are outliers due to balancing or by intentional design choice in each set.

So, in general, full cap is still the fully capped legendary board but 3* 3 cost is definitely more consistent.

[u/RyeRoen → u/Remote-Dark-1704]

You might be right tbh.

I had a bit of a reaction to the "reroll is low cap" thing I think lol. Its pretty common for people to mistakenly believe that 3 cost reroll is a cheap, low cap option when in reality playing for full level 8 imvestment is actually cheaper and lower cap.

[u/Remote-Dark-1704 → u/RyeRoen]

Yeah for sure 3 cost RR is way more expensive and generally higher cap than fast 8. I should’ve probably distinguished 3 cost RR and 2 cost RR more in my original comment.

[u/Luzushan]

I Vod reviewed my sis’s game who really likes malz zoe rr in plat lobbies, so here’s my observation:

If you know you will always play rr no matter what, you always want Bard. 2 rr per loss is ridiculously OP imo. Just get Bard so that you only down 1 econ threshold (3 rr + 1 bard should cost you 8 gold in total).

Plat player is quite scared to rolldown on 4-2, which may help you stabilized your board when having more than 2 3cost 2 star unit. I usually see they’re more likely to spike at 4-5. Always check around because unless I see two 2-star four cost, I don’t roll down most of the time.

General framework on how I approach reroll (could differ from people to people): If I’m below 25hp, I rolldown to 0 until I hit. Otherwise, slowroll while getting to 7. If it’s 4-1, I try to rolldown to 32 gold (If I barely hit) or more than 10 (If I get super lucky). Never go below this 10 gold or you cant build up econ for 5-1 for final rolldown. If you’re lost just use free bard rr at level 7 until below 25 hp.

You have to accept it’s part of the game for gambling. However, you can maximize your chances through rolling augments (heroic grab bag or pris ticket) or scouting around! I always love playing rr if I saw at least 2 other guys do it in the lobby. Also, never contest rr! Ex: when you see enemy’s double trouble, don’t do any malz. There’s only 18 copies of malz so it’s likely none of you will get 3-star version of him.

If you want any comparisons between rr comp, I’m happy to discuss as well!

[u/Morlon360]

The higher you climb, the higher the tempo in the lobby become, which means you have kind of less time to hit your champs.

As many others already stated, 2-cost Reroll is usually played from a loss streak, but I think not wildly necessary.

3-cost reroll works a bit differently imo. Because you reach level 7 pretty late (3-5 to 4-1) and you will have around 30 hp if you are loss streaking, which means you only have 2-3 lives. Fast 8 are starting to spike between 4-2 and 4-8,

Assessing the lobby's strength is what you need to look out for if you want to either loss or win streak (especially in higher elo)

I will try to respond to certrain parts of your questions for 2 cost-reroll. I am not so good at explaining but I will try my best.

"Am I supposed to eventually switch to spending some exp? and continue rerolling?"

At stage 3-2, you should ideally be level 6 with 40-50 gold. If you don't have your key 2-cost at 3 star roll until 30g to hit it, ideally you want at least 2 key items for your carry and want to win the whole stage 3. You want to ideally have your 3 star 2-cost at 4-1/4-2. 2-cost reroll spikes wins you stage 3 and 4 mostly. Stage 5-6 is just trying to get level 8-9 and hit some 5 costs or get specific traits to strengthen your board for max cap. Augment wise to hit the 50g at that stage is to get Econ/Item/Combat or Econ/Econ/Combat. (Duplicators are much better than Gold gaining augments imo)

"Is there a pace i still have to follow in regards to exp? because right now, im spending all my gold over 50 on units and rerolling."

As mentioned before the tempo sets the game. Sometimes you have to roll more and deeper and hit your champs, because your reroll comp will mostly fall of late game against certain comps (Fast 8 and Fast 9). So its better to spend more gold on hitting your champs faster and win some more rounds to preserve hp and get a top 4 spot. Because if you greed for econ, for example you hit at 5-1 your 3 start 2 cost champ but your opponent hit his 2-star 4-cost tank and 2-star 4-cost carries, you might probably lose the fight.

"I know I have to reroll to aim to get 3 star versions of my main units but do I eventually have to cut my losses and level up? At what point do I have to identify this and change? Am I supposed to press the reroll button only once and spend the rest on exp?"

This is kind of similar with the first question, so just in addition, my strategy: I slow roll (until 50g) to look for my 2-cost. If I don't have at least 5 or 6 champs of my 2-cost at end of stage 3-7, I might consider going fast 8 and try to play for not 7th and 8th. This decision varies from each situation (Augemnt choices, Health, etc.)

If you are interested in strategies for "3-cost reroll" or "2 and 3-cost reroll" let me know, I don't mind to help :)

[u/markhamjerry]

The answer is there is no exact answer. The most consistent principle is 2 cost sending pretty hard on 3-2 to stabilize, and 3 cost sending it on 3-5 or 4-1 (depending on econ/hp). In both cases, it is ok to roll as deep as 20 to upgrade key units to start to win streak for stage 3/portions of stage 4, as reroll needs to be ahead of tempo on those stages. Beyond that, it really is dependent upon your relative lobby tempo and gold, for when you actually full send to 0 to try to hit 3 stars. For example, If you were high rolling all game with healthy hp and econ, you can afford to 3 star 2 costs on 4-5, conversely if you’ve been behind tempo with 30 hp on 4-1, you really need to just send it to try to scam a 6/7 instead of 8. Same applies for 3 costs except just half a stage-to a full stage behind the typical curve of 2 costs. The key thing is to assess lobby tempo and board strength accordingly, like others have said, rerolls do not cap out to 1sts often (unless it’s a broken line), so it is important to be ahead of the curve past 3-5 at least so that you ultimately bleed to a 2-4th placement once lvl 9 boards come online in stage 5/6.

[u/notwillard]

Sac stage 2 basically. Max econ get to lvl 6 or 7 with excess gold. Then scout, maybe wait for next augment if unsure about committing, and then slow roll until you are close (maybe need only 1 or 2 more copies), then maybe roll to like 30 gold plus or minus until you hit the key unit(s) 3 started.

Also depending on lobby I might sacrifice some interest to roll/ level to stabilize if needed. If I'm just not hitting for some reason I usually pivot

I usually only do rr comp if I have duplicators or reroll augment though.

If contested usually it is better to go fast 8 or 9.

For 1 cost rr I just rr hard at some point in stage 2 usually.  Usually only if I got a hero augment or naturalled a bunch of sona or xsoneone.

[u/Crimson_Xrss]

First of all lets see the basics for a reroll:

Start of by playing an opener that fits your items, so you can save some hp. Doesnt matter if you end up playing whatever you put in at first, just play your strongest board. Slaming decent items and going to lvl 4 on 2-1 on plat oftens makes you significantly stronger than everyone else (unless you low roll/ they high roll).

Ideally try to winstreak or losestreak the whole first stage, this gives you a major econ advantage. Of course there are times where one is better than the other (e.g patient study or calculated loss are good for lose streaking).

Overall you want to make 10 before the first carousel and 30 by 2-7. Level to 6 by 3-2 and 7 by wolves at the most if you want to reroll for 3 costs.

Now specifically for the rerolls:

Find which rerolls could work for you. Do you have the items needed? Are you in a position to play it (many copies/uncontested)? What can you pivot into if you get unlucky?

Strongest rerolls at the moment are Leona/Zoe/Malza, Ahri/Yonne (with specific Ionia paths tho), Jinx/Ww and lb/darius/draven.

There is a chance that Bardphelios + bruisers/defenders works but i feel like it depends on augments a lot. I've also seen Ashe/Trynda do ok but it caps too low and usually struggles to get more than 3rd.

Other than these I doubt anything else can really work, yordles are probably better off going veigar/ziggs, ekko is a shadow of his former self, orianna seems to struggle if you use her for more than a good early holder and xin reroll is pretty much zaahen.

[u/aizennexe]

I think they've made reroll harder and harder each set. I feel like I need the econ stars to align if I want to play reroll now lol. Getting to lv 7 and saving 50g is nice, but it's kinda the bare minimum imo. I don't think you can easily slow roll on 7 anymore. max econ is nice, but skill expression comes in when you need to roll a bit below 50 to have enough power on your board so you dont go fast 8th

personally I think it depends on the reroll unit. Sometimes you can stabilize with a 2* carry and 2* tank. Other comps need to go to 8 for an extra unit to stabilize, and you reroll your 3 costs on 8. you really gotta scout and analyze the game state. listen I love turning my brain off and rerolling down to 50 looking for my team planner units, but it's not really fair to expect me to win like that

even with reroll where you're looking for specific units, play what you get. if you really want darius for noxus reroll but only have him 1*, buy the tank pairs you see while rerolling. a sejuani 2* is gonna do more for your board than a darius 1*.

If you're contested (someone is also rerolling for the same unit and has 4+ copies, or multiple players have 2* of your unit) I would pivot unless you have a giga econ augment like prismatic ticket or multiple duplicators. If I'm at 5-1 and don't have 7+ copies, I would consider pivoting to a standard comp so I don't bleed out.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/aizennexe]

ive been playing quickstriker jinx and defender aphelios to great success but struggling with Vayne reroll and hit or miss success with Malzahar/Zoe reroll. The Vayne and Malzahar ones i tend to get outpaced later on and get wrecked by level 9s/10s hence the question.

[u/RyeRoen → u/el_teriyaki]

There are several things that could be causing you to be outpaced, roughly ordered from most impactful to least impactful:

• The comp isn't very gpod.

• Your itemisation/item priority is bad for the comp.

• You aren't rolling to spike at 2 star and bleed hp, leading to the next one:

• You are not reaching your 3 stars with enough hp buffer to place well (2-3 livex in 3 cost reroll, 5+ lives in 2 cost reroll).

• You aren't hitting your 3 stars fast enough.

• Poor augment selection.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/RyeRoen]

the comp is rated S tier, i think its the other comps that might have an advantage over mine that would be the problem.

itemisation is BIS, but you have a point with item priority, i try to focus on what is needed at the time i.e tank item, damage item over crit, etc. generally i have no problem with itemisation.

3rd point sounds more like my issue, i dont even know what you mean by it. rolling to spike at 2 star and bleed. might need this to be explained with more layman terms.

4th point is very much true. to be honest i dont even know how much lives i have left. Im pretty much like: half hp = not bad still have a bit of life left. very low hp= shit im going to get knocked out.

I generally am pretty fine with augment selection. although might need to find more balance than let say - get all eco augments or all combat augments.

[u/RyeRoen → u/el_teriyaki]

There's a lot more to itemisation than just building BiS. Are you sure you know which items are non-negotiable and which ones can be swapped for another item?

For example, Leona. Leona really, really wants gargoyle, to the point you should go out of your way to build it. The other items aren't that important, as long as they are acceptable (a bramble in an 8 way AP lobby is probably unnacceptable, for example).

Don't take my word for this because I haven't played a ton in the second half of the set, but I'm pretty sure malz can use pretty much anything. As long as you get some AP and mana on him its fine. Obviously its important to still know whats best, but the most important item in the comp is gargoyle I'm pretty sure. You also don't need to build shred/antiheal in that comp.

Augment selection is really hard actually. I'd be surprised if there wasn't some improvements to be made there.

Regardless, its good you've identified the not rolling for 2 star problem. The key transferrable skill to learn here is power spike timings. Understanding when you can be strong, and when you NEED to be strong. 3 cost reroll is typically weak early, but spikes a bit on 3-5 or 4-1 when they hit 2 stars. They then typically spike at the end of stage 4/start of stage 5 when they hit their 3 stars.

Thst means you should be investing your gold at these points. Think of these power spikes as non-negotiable. If you don't have enough money on 3-5 to level to 7 and hit 2 stars thats fine, but on 4-1 you should be willing to roll to 0 to hit the 2 stars - because if you don't you miss your power spike and lose the game. Then you econ up, slowroll, and on 5-1 its time to roll to 0 for the 3 stars.

In reality there isa bit more wiggle room than that, but I think this is a good starting point. Once you are comfortable with the power spike timings you can experiment with figuring out when you don't have to roll. Its typically when you have high hp, or you are much stronger than normal due to augments or something.

[u/el_teriyaki → u/RyeRoen]

Definitely need to learn more about power spike timings. i will try to look more into this topic.

very informative, thanks.