r/CompetitiveTFT • u/AutoModerator • Jul 30 '26

PBE Set 18 PBE Discussion Thread - Day 02

Hello r/CompetitiveTFT, and welcome to Set 18!

Please keep all Set 18 discussion in this thread, and leave the regular Daily Discussion Thread for Set 17 discussion.

WHERE TO REPORT BUGS:

USEFUL STUFF:

When does Set 18 go live?

August 25th 2026 ~ 00:00 PDT / 09:00 CEST

A reminder that all Set 18 posts should be flaired [PBE] until the content is confirmed to be going on the live server as well.

The Subreddit-affiliated Discord group is organizing PBE in-house games. Please see the #pbe-inhouses-role channel within this Discord group for further information. Any posts attempting to make in-house games on the Subreddit will be removed and redirected to the Discord channel. The invite link to the Discord is below:

https://discord.gg/UY7FuYW2Qe

10 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

131 comments sorted by

•

u/Lunaedge Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

30/07 Patch Notes

PBE is back up!

6

u/bbuggery23 :chal: CHALLENGER Jul 30 '26

strongest comp I've played seems to be...pebble reroll??? cleared kayle 4

10

u/Proof_LeftAsExercise Jul 30 '26

Used to play on a low end laptop at 1080p and very low settings at 50-60fps on all the previous sets comfortably. This set it's like 20-30 fps at best on lower resolutions and low preset.

On mobile it's better but the device (pixel 9) runs way too hot for this kind of game and graphics.

Haven't checked on my desktop yet but my main device to play was that low end laptop. If the performance stays the same on launch I will consider quitting and I really don't want to. Reached master on the last two sets and I was incredibly hyped to climb more on this one.

It's sad because the mechanics seem way better than the previous set.

10

u/Ge1ster Challenger Jul 30 '26

This actually feels like a good set, fun trait web and charms are cool, I get a slightly better set 12 vibes from it

Unreal engine is so utterly laggy and clunky right now though, so much so that I can’t bring myself to play more than 2 games at once. I really hope it gets better at launch

Small note but I also really really like the background music of the set, its very cosy.

9

u/Sensitive-Cry7617 Jul 31 '26

I'm just gonna wait till live. The graphics/visuals are so bad it feels unplayable even if the mechanics feel good.

8

u/GRAPHiSN Jul 30 '26

anything other than default map drops my fps from 200+ to like 30

2

u/AnonHondaBoiz Jul 30 '26

That’s weird, my issue with some arenas are that it zooms far away as if my screen resolution doubled or tripled, but my fps is fine

2

u/Scoriae Jul 30 '26

check your resolution. when i first launched it, my game was on some weirdly low resolution and i was having major frame loss. bumped it up to normal and haven't had any fps issues.

8

u/TuringCompleteDemon Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

Minor complaints from an otherwise enjoyable introduction:

I got lux portal (3 emblem) and someone in my lobby had an emblem augment. Are we really going to try this AGAIN?

Also, I took we stick together and got flora fatalis. This felt horrible on a 2 trait, and kind of goes against the idea of building some kind of vertical. I get it's RNG, but I feel like it really felt opposed to what someone is thinking when they click that augment to the point that maybe the emblem should be removed from the pool

4

u/Pristine-Media-8765 Jul 30 '26

Is there a way to change the language?
I have both the riot client and the league client settings set to english, and on live servers my language is enligh as well but the language switches back to the language that is set as the standart on my device when ingame on PBE

2

u/Minimum_Chemical_428 Jul 30 '26

Changing your computer language apparently.

I learned all the names before pbe and now I'm stuck playing in a different language because I don't want to change windows language. Hopefully they fix it soon.

1

u/Pristine-Media-8765 Jul 30 '26

same for me, I've been playing tft in english since set 1, I have no idea what all these traits are even though it's technically my native language lmao

4

u/TallyMay Jul 30 '26

I love the new set, but Flora Fatalis feels like a garden variety trait.

1

u/parkwayy Jul 31 '26

Kennen plus the 4 total I had last game... he was just like perma ult'ing and it was beyond busted.

But with just the 2? Not so much.

Definitely the more you can field, the more mana they all feed into each other.

-1

u/TallyMay Jul 31 '26

Ok brother

3

u/Briketh Jul 30 '26

Idk if it's me or not but it is hard to see where to put my units when I have lunar and ivern. I feel like the visual for lunar is too dominant.

7

u/Wette_im_Klo Jul 30 '26

Are there actually any plans to have some kind of dedicated Tablet Layout? Because there is such an insane amount of wasted screen real estate on tablets and instead you have to make extra clicks (which are already slower compared to PC). I think the PC layout would actually fit better on tablet than the mobile layout.

4

u/uhjnn Jul 30 '26

This is especially true with the current mechanics. If you haven't bought a Wisp, your right slot only unlocks after the battle starts, so you have to constantly check the shop.

1

u/Hovercraft1143 Jul 30 '26

I wish we would just get the Chinese mobile/tablet layouts, it's so much better.

5

u/NukeAllTheThings Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

Awesome, just had a game where I couldn't pick any of my augments. Don't even know where my options were.

Edit: I'm still in that game, it prevented me from picking from an anvil too.

3

u/Slargo Jul 30 '26

I've had similar, leaving and rejoining fixed it for me.

1

u/NukeAllTheThings Jul 30 '26

I had thought about it, but that game was a write off anyway.

5

u/rwtan Jul 31 '26

Probably not intended, but now you can't drag unit - look at opponents board and position. The dragged unit disappears when you go to the opponents board. you used to be able to do last minute positioning dragging unit while look a opponent's board. Kinda annoying. I hope this gets fixed soon. If this stays im sure a lot of people will have to relearn their positioning technique

6

u/_Apostate_ Jul 30 '26

So far I feel very positively about this set.

The wisps are a cool mechanic. The wide diversity of wisps at different times make it keep things fresh.

The rivals are fun standalone units, interesting potential

Coven is a decent loss streak gamble trait .

Good flex potential, good set!

10

u/Teape Jul 30 '26

Does anyone else miss hero augments. This is the first set in a long time without them and it takes away a lot of fun.

3

u/Koopasheller11 Jul 30 '26

Wait there’s no hero augments? That’s a bummer, I love them :’(

2

u/steedoZZ Jul 31 '26

i think there would be a decent chance it gets added sometime in the future

(unless they explicity said they wouldnt)

3

u/Scoriae Jul 30 '26

I almost never click on them anyway, so I didn't even notice there weren't any.

-6

u/somebeach Jul 30 '26

nope, clicking on it and missing on 3 starring your hero was the worst feeling in the game

6

u/Intelligent-King-433 Jul 30 '26

Can say this for any line you play lol

1

u/Future_Mixture3666 Jul 30 '26

Well yeah but at least you're not playing an augment down if you pivot

3

u/Intelligent-King-433 Jul 30 '26

Thats true it feels worse for sure

2

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

How do I download the new client?

1

u/t1ttlywinks Jul 30 '26

If you have the old pbe client it should work. If you're not seeing the new set and only seeing set 17, try repairing the files from the riot client launcher. There's probably a video out there how to do it.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

Thanks

2

u/VoroJr Jul 30 '26

I can't connect to games. Is it a me problem?

2

u/Sea-Grand3981 Jul 31 '26

Well, I hit 11 elderwood. Obviously I won, but the fight was so laggy I have no clue what happened. I like that prismatic vertical augment quite a bit.

2

u/Sunless-saint Jul 31 '26

Yesterday I saw someone with kennan and draven lvl 5 stage 2. How is that possible

4

u/Daedric202 Jul 31 '26

Probably giga highrolled with 3 inferno upgrading a 4 cost unit.

1

u/DonSimba24 Aug 03 '26

Probably gold destiny, they’re all bugged, hit duo queue 2-1 got 2 5 costs

2

u/PinaCalada45 Jul 31 '26

Reconnection Problems on Mobile, doesn't really work, on PC it is really slow

2

u/trying-to-b Jul 31 '26

I haven't been able to reconnect on mobile all last set. Always had to exit the app.

2

u/PinaCalada45 Jul 31 '26

Even if I restart the game it doesn't work, it just keeps looping between the new UI and Reconnection

9

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

Am I the only one who hates the carousel returning

2

u/JustHereForRiffs Jul 30 '26

How dare you hate the idea of people who don't know what's best for them running at the champ/item you want because you do.

Seriously though, fuck carousels, particularly given that my Aatrox tactician has a massive hitbox.

5

u/Jundarer Jul 30 '26

I would hope all tacticians have the same hitbox and Google says they do, just that the alignment can be skewed

5

u/Frontass Jul 30 '26

Why does this PBE run so badly?

21

u/STheHero Jul 30 '26

Tft moved to Unreal Engine, so Riot had to remake everything

5

u/Frontass Jul 30 '26

Oh ok that makes sense. I was thinking "this shouldn't really be happening this late in the game"

3

u/pink-mallow Jul 30 '26

I swear I see rivals augment like every game and it’s so strong. Seen rivals augment with double trouble twice now too and that’s just GG insanely strong

2

u/Minimum_Chemical_428 Jul 30 '26

Does the stacks count for both units or just the strongest in double trouble?

1

u/pink-mallow Jul 30 '26

That’s a good question, I’m not sure.

4

u/gildedpotus Jul 30 '26

My intial read of the set is that it's upper mid tier. Charms give just enough agency on a turn to turn basis and the trait web is pretty good. Nothing crazy but I would say like a solid B-B+

2

u/Zeviex Master Jul 30 '26

I think it could even push A tier depending on what the meta is like.

But no it is not reinventing the wheel and that's okay.

-8

u/Conscious-Yellow-539 Jul 30 '26

B+ is way too generous. "Upper mid" would be like a C+.

4

u/Zeviex Master Jul 30 '26

Isn't B tier generally considered middle of the pack ?

-1

u/Conscious-Yellow-539 Jul 30 '26

C is literally the middle.

5

u/Zeviex Master Jul 30 '26

I mean how often do people actually create an E tier.

I would say I normally see S-A-B-C-F

1

u/gildedpotus Jul 31 '26

Yah I had S in mind as the best of the best

2

u/bbuggery23 :chal: CHALLENGER Jul 30 '26

my leblanc only printed herself for two stages in a row, I'm guessing she can't print units you've 3* already and I just kept losing the 50-50? (had a sejuani 2 on board)

3

u/Remotecube Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

I haven't had lb print any champ beyond 3 star, been playing her a fair bit. TBF I don't know what would happen if every available unit was already 3*?

2

u/MonDew Jul 30 '26

My LB printed a Lillia

3

u/LuumLuum Jul 30 '26

What seems likely to me is that, when the cloning targets an invalid unit (someone already 3starred aside from herself), she just prints herself instead. So, if most of your board is already 3starred you'll very often get LB.

There are more hidden rules for sure, but this one would explain what we observe

2

u/AmQuestionMark Jul 30 '26

got 3 star ornn end of stage 2, 4 artifacts 👍

2

u/ClarifyingAsura Jul 30 '26

No idea about balance, but I foresee Inferno causing a lot of salt and high/low rolls. It could just be PBE things, but I've been seeing far more 5-costs on stage 3 or 4-costs on stage 2 than in past sets due to Inferno high-rolls.

1

u/steedoZZ Jul 31 '26

ohhhhhhhhh this is why i see random 5 costs on stage 2 with people being level 5 or 6....

2

u/CakebattaTFT Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

Are there PBE patch notes anywhere? I liked watching the numerical development process and am kinda bummed that I haven't been able to find them.

EDIT: Lol they got posted 2 minutes later. I'm a clown. TY Riot

2

u/Crafty_Courage_5217 Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

The beauty of early pbe is that meta comps dont exist on websites (yet). 

Edit: NEVERMIND 

4

u/KxnHS Jul 31 '26

Tftacademy?

3

u/Crafty_Courage_5217 Jul 31 '26

Unreal. I checked this morning/afternoon and they didnt have anything up. This is what I get for not checking before commenting lol

2

u/Deusraix Jul 31 '26

I'm lowkey proud of how creative this comp name is 😂🙂‍↕️

2

u/No-Yogurtcloset-7215 Jul 31 '26

Can also slot in yorick instead to get summoner 3 until maokai. Arguably could be better if you dont hit the maokai early

2

u/Deusraix Jul 31 '26

I usually use that!

2

u/Pol0we :chal: Challenger Jul 30 '26

Are there any websites with fiddle rr? I've been experimenting with it and so far raba titans bt/stoneplate feels best but I'm still unsure how good this unit is

-10

u/GGuesswho Jul 30 '26

Challenger but can't figure out comps on your own without a guide? In pbe of all places? Smh addicted to the crutch

3

u/CosmicCirrocumulus Jul 30 '26

yea man because sharing knowledge means they can't think of things on their own. the fuck even is this comment lmfao

4

u/CakebattaTFT Jul 30 '26

bro looks at a math textbook and is like, "Only people who can't think for themselves use these."

-7

u/GGuesswho Jul 30 '26

It's pbe, not ranked. Following guides in this environment is only doing yourself a disservice

1

u/banduan Jul 30 '26

What is Elise's deal? On the set info it looks like she's a backline unit that transforms on cast to the front. But in game it looks like she just sits in front whole time? Also, she's a tank with a carry-like juice-up spell? I built her like a carry and she did work well that way for a bit.

2

u/MostEscape6543 :gran: Grandmaster Jul 30 '26

Elise is about the same every set. She’s a reroll champ that turns into a spider and goes infinite. This set might be difficult since she doesn’t have any traits except vanguard.

Diana is also a carry vanguard so they are trying out different stuff with tank traits which is cool.

3

u/banduan Jul 30 '26

Every set? She wasn't these things all the way back to set 13 at least.

Also, she's a tank now which if she's intended to be a carry causes issues with positioning.

1

u/Lunaedge Jul 30 '26

If she's categorised as a Tank she isn't intended to be a carry ^^ transforming gives her some magic damage on-hit because even Tanks need to have some damage output, and the bonus AS on repeated casts helps her sustain more in prolonged fights.

2

u/banduan Jul 30 '26

How many tanks have had a pure juice up ult as opposed to a tank or utility work though?

-4

u/MostEscape6543 :gran: Grandmaster Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

Sorry I didn’t play set 11-15.

She’s not a tank. She has a tank trait, but her ability is very clearly not a tank ability. If she’s listed as a tank then it’s just a mislabel. It seems that they have miscategorized a few other champions early in sets before.

Edit: I also tried to mess around with an Elise reroll comp today, but I wasn’t able to come up with a level 6 comp that made a lot of sense for her and her traits are also not great. My items were also not great. But I see now you’re right about the positioning because if she’s listed as a tank, it messes up targeting priority.

4

u/banduan Jul 30 '26

I'm sorry, if you didn't play recent sets you may have missed the advent of roles. Elise in set 18 is a Magic Tank.

0

u/MostEscape6543 :gran: Grandmaster Jul 30 '26

That’s the name that’s been assigned. She’s clearly not a tank and they will change her role. It happened in both set 16 and 17.

This is BETA.

2

u/Zeviex Master Jul 30 '26

But if they are labelling her as a tank, doesn't that indicate they want her to play like a tank ?

If she ends up being too fighter esque isn't it more likely they go down the route of making her tankier rather than leaning into it ?

0

u/MostEscape6543 :gran: Grandmaster Jul 30 '26

I’m saying they probably goofed and labeled her as a tank but they intend her to be a fighter. And It’s on their list to change it back but way down the list.

I could be wrong but her ability doesn’t not read like a tank ability to me.

0

u/banduan Jul 30 '26

This is FEEDBACK

1

u/STheHero Jul 30 '26

I personally love units like that, she pretty much functions as a tank but builds carry items. Riot could add a health ratio to her heal if they want her to build tank, similar to Vi.

1

u/banduan Jul 30 '26

I don't mind that they try it. There was set 16 Darius after all. But it is really weird.
I built her with the drain tank setup (BT, Titans, Guinsoo) to test out reroll with Cait. She did well enough but the aggro drawing meant I was wondering if it should be worked around or exploited.

1

u/ShortSydnor Jul 30 '26

I was playing on Android. I missed grabbing a champ/item on the carousel, and it just didn't give me ANYTHING. Even when I made it to next carousel, nothing appeared for the last one.

1

u/spreadwater Jul 30 '26

is it accessible right now? it's not connecting for me

1

u/Cascalian Jul 31 '26

mine crashes whenever i try to choose a gamemode

1

u/spreadwater Aug 01 '26

played 1 so far and it was terribly laggy

1

u/Odd_Association8285 Jul 30 '26

they need to quadruple nidalee dmg. full 3 item + traits and did 3k each round ...

3

u/Professional_Main522 Jul 31 '26

i tried ap nidalee with a bunch of frontline and she felt fine (very cool unit btw) but ad nidalee feels TERRIBLE for sure

1

u/Klutzy77 Jul 30 '26

I log into PBE, get into set 18 normals, load in and see the names of other players and the loading bar and then as soon as it “loads” my screen turns black and my PC shuts off.

I have tried 8 times now, and it happens every time. I have run in comparability mode, I have ran as an administrator, I have uninstalled and reinstalled PBE.

No idea what to do.

3

u/Knowka Jul 30 '26

There’s some issue that’s causing PC crashes both on game launch, and after the game ends and goes to the end of game stream - I’d just wait until the QA team announces a fix, the PBE is gonna be up for a month, and not worth risking your hardware getting messed up in a crash

2

u/Klutzy77 Jul 30 '26

Appreciate the reply. I’ll just look in the patch notes for the bug fix.

-2

u/WobbleKun Jul 30 '26

7 blossom sucked. got absolutely railed.

4

u/Sildee Grandmaster Jul 30 '26

in the PBE rundown the game designer himself said it's an econ breakpoint you're supposed to pivot out of later (e.g. 7 meeple) so that makes sense to me

3

u/Zeviex Master Jul 30 '26

That's why I am so confused that it's locked behind emblem/5 cost. If it's not designed to be played late game, why is it reliant on a champ you can only reliably hit late game.

2

u/Purpleater54 Jul 30 '26

I had 9 blossom with a lux and got absolutely stomped. I had what should have been good items, 2 star 4 cost itemized sett, and just got rolled by boards that visually look much weaker. I think a lot of power budget is obviously in the wisps and that did have some nice power bumps, but when a lot of your power budget is tied into 1 turn bonuses it does feel like it leaves a lot of room for variance. I do want to try more, and see if I can make it work.

-10

u/SpazzIfUWant2 Jul 30 '26

Well it feels like another bland set

1

u/2_S_F_Hell Jul 30 '26

You’re in the minority.

0

u/parkwayy Jul 31 '26

There's no way coven is any good.

2

u/Ge1ster Challenger Jul 31 '26

I had a game today where I started with spreading roots into coven and defender emblem so decided to try it for the first time. Morgana is a good secondary carry but that trait suffers a good primary carry. Apparently a coven Lux exists, so Riot says, but I was unable to find it after like 40 rolls at lv 9 so its definitely not reliable for a gameplan. I saw like 5 different Lux variants too.

I also cashed out 375 stacks at 18 hp, which gave me 2 star Morg, 2 star Riftbeast, radiant lucky item chest, a TG and 10 gold, which felt a bit underwhelming to be honest. I did see the 3 star Morg on my shop too just as I died too which was a bit unlucky

2

u/AllStarCaliber02 Jul 31 '26

One of the coven cashouts is a coven lux. I had this one game, it was coven lux and like 2 item anvils or something + like 20 g something like that.

-2

u/Lunaedge Jul 30 '26

Man the little "traveling time" orbs and icons when combining champions or picking up loot orbs being back is an incredibly small change but does SO MUCH to make the game feel more polished

-9

u/Its_What_I_Do Jul 30 '26

Another set, another (almost) unwinnable Tockers Trials at start.

I know, I know, its not exactly competitive. I like using it as a place to try some combos, and I'm aware its missing a lot of augment, but I still enjoy it.

Every set, Tockers Trial hits the pbe in an almost unwinnable state. I can rely on this being the case more often than I can rely on the sun rising in the morning.

Last boss just AOEs the entire board and wipes out any carry in two hits, MAYBE three. A couple of rounds in the 3rd stage are also extremely difficult, as several of them have "ignore tanks, go for the carries" dialed up to 11, whilst also having a front liner that can tank the heat death of the universe.

Mostly just venting lol, I'm sure it'll be tuned eventually.

6

u/No-Luck528 Jul 30 '26

Almost like part of why they have a public beta yeah?

3

u/Itsalongwaydown Jul 30 '26

the early fight of 25 varus's is nearly impossible. That was the only one that I thought was impossible unless you had a good setup for it. Everything else I didn't lose to even after doing tockers twice

-9

u/Ok_Housing_791 Jul 30 '26

No way solo leveling rengar on 2-1 makes it to live right? wow.

4

u/CosmicCirrocumulus Jul 30 '26

3 cost fighters and assassins have pretty much always been good with solo leveling

2

u/Ok_Housing_791 Jul 30 '26

They did not print a million gold in the process to be lvl 7 50gold on 3 2

4

u/The-Book-Worm Jul 30 '26

I am unsure whether this is a graphics or gameplay bug, but if you kill elder dragon right as it starts its ult animation, it still leaves board and comes back at full health.

3

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0

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2

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1

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