We are nearing the end of our In-depth guides for Teamfight Tactics. Soon all of the traits from set 6.5 will be covered. Today we are bringing you The Hextech Composition in-depth guide for Teamfight Tactics.
Introduction
The arrival of Set 6.5 brought along many new things. Some of them were good, some of them, not so much. One of those things that weren’t that great was The Hextech Composition.
The Hextech trait was originally planned as a substitute for Academy trait which was removed with the ending of Set 6. I have no idea why Riot has done this. I mean yes, The Academy was so strong, but then again The Hextechs are pretty weak. Like there is no middle lane in here.
But, the thing that really rustles my jimmies, isn’t the fact that I preferred The Academy, I did only cause they were stronger, but there is no question that Hextechs are much better looking. But like I said, the thing that really gets me every time is the fact that on paper, The Hextechs should work, and they should be amazing. But they don’t, and aren’t. And I swear to God, I have no idea why. It’s champions are op and work with every other trait there is. The bonus of The Hextech trait is so good, again on paper, and it’s quite similar to The Debonair comp that works perfectly. So again I have no idea why it doesn’t work. My theory is that there is simply too many units in there, and Alistar is also a Colossus so he takes up additional Hex that can be used for another champion. So that brings us to the fact that even though this composition is strong, it leaves no space for additional supporting champions and traits, like Debonairs do.
Another problem with this composition is the fact that it is so much Augment dependant. You need an Augment or an Emblem to get 8 Hextechs and you will need one more if you are going for Striker supporting composition.
I would definitely not recommend this composition to anyone, even if it seems fun, it just doesn’t work. But since we already started this serial of in-depth guides, I can’t leave them behind since they are a part of this set and they are important like every other trait in this one, no matter how yucky they are.
The Hextech Trait
At the start of combat and every few seconds, the Hexcore sends out a pulse that grants a 4 second shield for Hextech champions that, while active, adds bonus magic damage on attacks. This shield does not stack. Scales 20% based on the number of augments in the Hexcore.
- 2
- Every 8 seconds, 100 shield, 15 magic damage
- 4
- Every 6 seconds, 150 shield, 25 magic damage
- 6
- Every 4 seconds, 300 shield, 50 magic damage
- 8
- Every 2 seconds, 400 shield, 80 magic damage
Champions
- Jarvan
- Nocturne
- Sejuani
- Swain
- Lucian
- Sivir
- Alistar
Jarvan
The infamous Jar Jar Binks. Nah I’m just kidding. Although Jar Jar would be a better choice then this poor soul.
Jarvan came along when the Hextech trait was introduced in set 6.5. While the set was still in beta, everyone was talking about how op he is with the buff of attack speed that he brings to the game. I just don’t see it to be honest. You see, he does give that buff, but since he is a frontline champion, he only buffs to those around him, and around him are ofc tanks, that really don’t care about his stupid buff. And if you try to be a smartass and place Sivir or Lucian somewhere near the front rows, they will get instantly crushed since they can not cope with the amount of damage that the frontline is exposed to.
He is quite a cheap unit, costing just 1 gold coin. But I really fail to see his point in game so far, he isn’t good with Hextechs nor is he good with Strikers, he is just there. Well since he is already here and we can’t really do anything about that, then there is no other option than to buy him.
Since he is pretty cheap, that means that there are a lot of Jarvans in the pool, so at least you can always upgrade him to level 3 pretty early in the game. Not like that will help you in anyway, but it’s just cool to have a lot of level three units on board.
I really wouldn’t waste items on him, but if you are feeling courageous, then you can equip him with The Bramble’s Vest, The Warmog’s Armor and The Sunfire Cape. But that would be a waste.
His position is in the garbage. Nah just kidding, place him somewhere in the frontline so he can die pretty quickly so you don’t have to look at him.
Ability: Ageless Standard
Jarvan calls down his standard to a nearby location, granting all nearby allies bonus Attack Speed for 5 seconds.
Nocturne
The demon of fear came from the nightmares of children from Runterra.
Nocturne came with the patch 12.5 and has found a place with The Hextechs. He is also an assassin. With a price of just one golden coin he is a unit that can be bought for pennies and I think he is definitely worth the money. When compared to Twitch who is also an Assassin he is much better choice.
I’m not saying that Nocturne is the best champion in the game but he can deal some nice chunks of damage in the early stages of the game. Of course, as the game progresses his damage decreases. Well, not technically decreases but simply can not cope against some stronger units, with or without items.
He does came in handy since for both of his traits you can activate the bonus early on. For Assassin’s you can have 3 Assassin bonus on the level three, and for the Hextech as well.
Speaking about items, he will benefit from some damage items that can work well with his burst. Those items would be The Infinity Edge, The Bloodthirster, The Last Whisper and some similar stuff. But the question that rises here is, is he worth upgrading with items? I would say no. He is cheapest Assassin and Hextech and there are simply better units that can use those items better. Especially in The Assassin composition where every single unit on the team uses the same items. So, just don’t waste them because they are pretty damn good items.
But, not everything is bad in here. Since he is quite cheap, that means that in the pool there are many Nocturnes. And with many units in the pool he can be levelled to level three very soon. Even without items, a unit on level three early on can win you many battles and save you a lot of gold. So he is definitely worth upgrading, for sure.
His position, like every Assassin is in the back line, across the Hex you want him to jump onto at the beginning of each battle.
Ability: Unspeakable Horror
Nocturne terrifies his target, stunning them with fear and dealing magic damage over the duration.
Sejuani
Sejuani came along with The Neon Nights patch. I think she is rather good, and deserves a place in the current patch.
Sejuani is a tank, like she is in The normal League of Legends. She is an aggressive frontliner with loads of sustain and crowd control. Riot games implemented this perfectly and she is now one of the most valuable champions in the game. When it comes to the tanky ones of course.
She holds on three traits, with them being The Bruiser trait, The Enforcer Trait and The Hextech Trait. She can work with all of them and for every single one her job is almost always the same, and the only difference is the bonuses that she will receive from the particular composition you are going for in that respective game.
She will always be a frontliner designed to take as much aggro as it is humanly possible, but instead of being just a meat for pounding (sorry kids), she also carries some utility with her kit. That basically means that her team could benefit greatly from her ultimate, and her enemies won’t, as it tends to be.
Her positioning should always be in the front two rows, taking as much damage and trying to survive as long as she can, so the more powerful units, in the form of damage, can clear the debris from the enemy’s side of the field.
Her items should always be the ones that provide the most sustain, but depending on what do you need in particular game its hard to tell. But again, there aren’t a million of them, are there? For some bonus armour you should always go for The Titan’s Resolve and The Bramble’s Vest. The Sunfire Cape works well too! For Magic Resist there is The Spirit Visage and The Dragon’s Claw. And for HP, and overall good item is always The Warmog’s Armour.
She is among the cheaper units in the game, with the price of just two golden coins so that makes her available for upgrading to the maximum level. The only problem is she does hold on to 3 traits, so she is very much needed for a lot of compositions.
Ability: Arctic Assault
Sejuani signals Bristle to charge, dealing magic damage and stunning her target. She then gains Frost Armor, granting her Armor and Magic Resist for 4 seconds
Swain
The Grand General of Noxus! Swain is my all-time favorite champion in whole sets 6 and 6.5. He carried proudly The Imperial trait however, with the changes made in the patch 6.5, he is now an Hextech Arcanist. But, that doesn’t mean that He hasn’t been changed, and I think that he’s more powerfull, versatile and effective than ever before. He’s an Arcanist. Hextech front-liner that just won’t end up dying. Like ever. It’s true. Riot has made him sick. His ability is an exact copy of his In-game Q. Also, he has The Hextech gunblade in his equipment which allows you to play without needing to purchase the item. He is the main champion for The Arcanist and The Hextech trait, and is the highest valued champion that you could purchase for just two gold coins, making him the champion with the best money-quality ratio throughout the game. The cost is so low that there are 21 Swains in his champion pool. You get what I’m saying? You can level up your Grand General to the level of three quite quickly in the early game. If you are able to do this the game will continue be extremely smooth and you’re not likely to lose much LP and HP during the game.
Swain can work with some pretty unusual items, but they work like a charm for him. The most important item for Swain is The Titan’s Resolve. I mean, he absolutely can not go for a game without this item. He rises in size, gets defensive stats, and since he gets his healing through his ability. Combine that with some AP items, and if you are going for The Arcanist comp, even more AP buffs through your augment traits, you get an unkillable machine that wipes everything on his path.
Along with The Titan’s Resolve, Swain also benefits from The Rabbadon’s Death Cap and Blue Buff or even The Hextech Gunblade, so you can really mess with your opponents.
He should be what he is, and that is an aggressive frontline that stops each of your enemies from doing any damage to your team and going any further. The center of the first row is Swain’s homeland (apart from Noxus, ofc). I will repeat. This is THE BEST CHAMPION IN THE GAME RIGHT NOW!
Ability: Death’s Hand
Swain unleashes piercing bolts of eldritch power in a cone towards his target, dealing magic damage to enemies within and healing Swain for each enemy hit.
Lucian
Lucian is the strongest unit for both of his traits. He is a Hextech Twinshot, and a pretty strong one.
Lucian costs three golden coins and you get a lot for that price. He is like a cheaper version of Zeri, but equally strong. His ultimate lets him become untargetable every time he casts his spell, while dealing damage to his enemies. With a reasonable cost and high damage output, Lucian quickly became the sensation of the set 6.5.
When we are already talking about set 6.5, let’s also say that Lucian came along with the said set and The Hextech composition. He is a main carry for Hextechs and Twinshots.
If you play your cards right he can carry you like a mother carries her newborn child. With a good choice of items and a little bit help from lady luck, you will have him at level three and with full items. It is important to note that you should protect him by all means since he tends to be quite squishy.
Since he is mid range with it comes to the price, you won’t be finding him on every corner and your best chances for obtaining him are somewhere trough mid to late game. You should definitely spend all your gold on a chance to level him up, since Lucian on level three is pretty strong unit, and that should be considered a priority.
He benefits from ADC items like The Guinsoo’s Rageblade that works perfectly with this ultimate, The Bloodthirster that works great with Guinsoo’s and The Infinity Edge that works perfectly with both of the said items. In addition to that you can always go for The Edge of Night and Quicksilver for some form of sustain.
He should be positioned somewhere in the mid-back line, preferably in the back, protected from attacks of the enemy frontline units.
Ability: Relentless Pursuit
Lucian dashes away from his current target and fires shots at nearby enemies that deal magic damage.
Sivir
Sivir, like every other Hextech unit came along with the set 6.5.
Sivir is quite a powerful unit but the problem is that she is too expensive and I don’t think she is worth the money. Okay let me paraphrase that. I think that she is really stuck in Lucian’s shadow, not because she is not worth 4 golden coins, but for the reason that Lucian is worth so much more than 3 golden coins and plus he is much easier to level up than Sivir.
That doesn’t mean that she is bad, her ultimate is pretty strong and can shred enemy’s backline units from far away. This makes her very powerful in teamfights.
She also carries The Hextech and The Striker trait making her quite compatible with Jarvan, but unfortunately for Sivir, Jarvan is trash so he won’t be much assistance to her.
In both her traits she will be the first or the second carry. With the Hextech trait, the carry position will definitely be taken by Lucian, but Sivir is a great backup for him, while with strikers she can do it on her own.
She benefits from ad items, and armour penetration combined with a dash of attack speed. The perfect items for her are The Infinity Edge, The Guinsoo’s Rageblade and The Last Whisper. Some good choices are also The Edge of Night, The Quicksilver and The Bloodthierster.
She should be positioned like a simple adc, protected from the fire. The best place for her would be somewhere in the backline while your tanks take all of the aggro. She should be on of the last living units in every battle you fight.
Ability: On the Hunt
For the next 5 seconds, Sivir grants herself bonus Attack Speed and her attacks bounce, dealing 40% of her Attack Damage to enemies hit.
Alistar
The Hextech Colossus is here!
Alistar is an amazing unit that came along with the arrival of The Neone Nights set 6.5 and the Hextech trait. He is the brightest star in The Hextech composition but unfortunately he is also the reason for their downfall.
The reason for him being the downfall of The Hextechs is his cost and his Colossus trait. There is simply too many units in the Hextech trait for him to be Colossus, when you round up all of the 7 Hextechs, you basically need level 8, and that one alone is hard to get. And if you are looking for the bonus od 8 Hextechs you need level 9. On normal and ranked game modes that can be mission impossible, since you need to have amazing economy skills, a lot of patience and you need to be strong enough for you to be even able to reach level 9. That means from the very beginning of the game, no rerolls so you can save all that gold. You see why this is a problem. No rerolls mean that you are highly unlikely to get your units to level 3, and with that, they won’t have a strength to survive the strong compositions in the late game, thus you simply won’t have enough time to get to the level nine in the first place, let alone try to fight somebody, and eventually lose since the Hextechs are miserable.
But talking about Alistar as a unit, he is so strong. Amazing defensive stats and great ability with a lot of cc and utility. He can fight 4 units at the same time and stay alive for incredibly long periods of time. So respect for that one. Shame really that he can’t be properly abused due to weakness in his traits.
He is an aggressive frontliner and that’s where his place should be. Front row taking all the aggro and disrupting enemy team as much as he can.
He is quite an expensive unit with a price of 4 golden coins and it can seem like an impossible task to get him to level 3. But that is actually not the case, since The Hextechs are not played that much, and The Colossus trait don’t even play the people from the Riot, he will be at least available for purchasing. But you will need hell of a lot of money for that treat. So save that gold if you want him in his final form.
He benefits from the tank items like The Titan’s Resolve, The Sunfire Cape, The Warmog’s Armour and The Bramble’s Vest.
Ability: Pulverize
Alistar charges through the enemy team, dealing magic damage, knocking them back, and stunning them. He then taunts nearby enemies.
Supporting champions
The Hextech composition has too many units for it to be reliable and the final bonus is hard to get. So even though you don’t have a lot of space for some additional champions, we can squeeze a single unit in there.
- Rek’Sai
Rek’Sai
Rek Sai came with the arrival of The Patch 12.5. She fits in the Striker, Mutant and Bruiser traits making her quite a versatile pick. She is quite strong and a pretty damn cheap champion with a price of just two gold coins.
She is a good pick for any of the said traits so don’t hesitate to chose her whenever you have a chance. He is great as a second option in some compositions as well like a Striker fill for Hextechs and Mutant fill for Arcanists.
She is equipped with utility kit that disrupts enemy’s front line, disabling them for some time while your carries shred them into pieces. She can hold a position for quite a long time and it is not likely to be the champion that dies as soon as the game starts.
You have to make a decision if you are going to use items on her since there is a lot of stronger picks than her in the game, but then again if you have The Magnetic remover you can always use it as the game progresses. Ideal items for her are The Titans Resolve, The Sunfire Cape, The Warmogs Armor, The Brambles vest and The Dragons claw. But I would save all of those for something stronger.
She is ideally placed in the front line taking as much aggro as it is possible and wreaking havoc with her ultimate while disabling the most important units in the enemy’s team.
She is relatively easy to level up since she is pretty cheap so you are likely to get her to level three pretty soon, and he can be very important in those stages of the game.
Ability: Furious Bite
Rek’Sai bites her target, dealing 125% of her Attack Damage and bonus damage and healing herself. If Rek’sai has already bit her target, she heals for more.
The Hextech Composition
The In-game guide
Early game
You are likely to dominate early game due to the sheer availability of your units. By the first couple of levels you should have Jarvan, Nocturne, Swain, Sejuani and Rek’Sai.
Mid game
This is where it all happens. This is the time to buy some of the units mentioned above if you didn’t get a chance before, and it would be the time to buy Lucian and equip him with some good items.
Late game
This is where you need to buy Alistar and use all of your Augments on Emblems if you got any. Try to reach level 9 if you want to unlock the full potential of this composition.
Conclusion
Although this composition is not strong as one might think, it can be fun to play. You have a lot of cheap units so that leaves you in a better place then your enemies in the first couple of rounds. The thing is that you are really Augment and Emblem dependant. And you are really dependant on items too. The sheer number of units in this composition leaves you almost no space for additional units so that can be a problem since the bonus of this composition is not in harmony with the numbers of its units like it is for Chemtech composition for example.
This was one of the many in-depth guides from our serial, stay tuned since there is a lot more to come, only on The Games Cabin!