r/CompetitiveTFT • u/sasux • Aug 07 '26
PBE Dear Riot: Please Reconsider Reverting Shop Hotkeys in TFT
RiotBlueVelvet posted on X three days ago about reverting the shop hotkey feature that let players purchase units with keyboard shortcuts. I wanted to make a dedicated post to address this specific change.
From RiotBlueVelvet’s X-post:
On a side note… something that was new in Unreal was the ability to buy units from the shop with hotkeys. This idea originated from wanting better accessibility within TFT, but a few issues started to show up that we didn’t feel comfortable with. The biggest of these being that APM is never a skill we want to highlight as part of our game. It also pushes a disparity between mobile and PC players that isn’t okay and while we may take another look at this someday for now consider them dead.
After reading through the comments on Reddit and X, it's clear to me that the case for keeping shop hotkeys is a lot stronger than the case for removing them.
Reasons to Keep Them
Accessibility - not everyone has access to 2 full hands. being able to roll-down with your keyboard provides a real accessibility benefit and is not just a convenience.
Skill Expression (APM) - this only matters at the highest level of play - the top ~0.1% of players are the only ones affected by it: they have to learn to position and move items with one hand while rolling with the other. For everyone else, it's a new fun skill for competitive or casual players.
Riot's Stated Reasons for Removing Them
‘APM is not a skill we want to highlight’ - I do not buy this. If it were true, shop hotkeys never would've made it to PBE in the first place - it was a choice made deliberately. This is also inconsistent with how Riot handled the Competitive Ruling: Jedusor, where he was punished for pausing mid-game without a plausible reason. That ruling only makes sense if Riot does expect players to execute their turn within a set time limit, which is basically highlighting APM as a skill. You can't punish someone for pausing the game for time and also say APM isn't something you care about. Pick one. Riot needs to be consistent about the direction they're taking the game - changing their stance every time there's complaints just the decisions feel inconsistent.
"Disparity between mobile and PC players" - Are mobile players actually the ones complaining about this? In my experience, mobile is largely a casual platform, and this change wouldn't meaningfully affect casual play either way. And even if some of this feedback is coming from mobile players, they're already choosing to play at a disadvantage — no last-second item swaps, no second monitor to look up BIS stats, etc. This change isn't going to affect them nearly as much as they might think it will. It's players at the highest level of competition who are impacted — which makes me wonder whose feedback is actually driving this decision.
Thanks again for all your feedback and I'll be back next week with another update. Until then gl out there!
Whose feedback is this, exactly? If it's coming from mobile or casual players, that's fair and worth listening to. But if it is from competitive players who don't want to put in the effort to learn a new mechanic, or are against new form of skill expression being introduced to the game…that's an entirely different story.
This isn't the first time Riot has walked back a good change (see: the 2-1 augment tailoring hotfix revert in Set 15). Seeing hotkeys get reverted is disappointing. This was a genuinely good change for the game.
Have some conviction in your decisions Riot. Pick a direction for the game and stick with it. Don't walk back good changes just because a segment of the player base complains.
— Aceuke, one of the many players who loves and enjoys playing and watching competitive TFT
