Patch 6.5 is out As you may have guessed. It’s an amazing patch! There are a lot of new elements, champions have been eliminated and some have been revamped. And we have got a bunch of new ones too! Certain traits were significantly modified, some of them were removed but they have been substituted by some other ones. Guardian Angel has been rescinded. It was extensively used by Chemtech and Sniper hyper-carries and Assassins comp.
We are working on in-depth guides for each set of Origin and Class available in patch 6.5 because many of you are unfamiliar with the game. These guides are focused on helping both new and experienced players to become masters of the game!
Introduction
Today, we’ll be focusing to Innovators. Pretty straight forward composition that holds decent amount of power, while also being one of the easier ones to play. It is somewhat Augment dependent if you are going for maximum power with the composition of 7 Innovators. It can seem like a tricky thing to achieve. However, the game is designed to provide you with the boost you need, and you’re likely to receive it.
In-game The Innovators bonus trait is seen as a summon via mechanical companion. Depending on how many Innovators you have assembled, depends the type of the mechanical buddy you are going to receive.
The mechanical companion is a strong buff to this trait since you basically have an additional unit on the board, seeming like you are one level ahead of your enemies. You are going to need The Innovators Emblem to experience the maximum potential The Innovators have to offer.
The Innovators trait
Innovators build a mechanical companion to join the battle.
3 → Mechanical Scarab
5 → Mechanical Bear
7 → Mechanical Dragon
The Mechanical Scarab creates a barrier on itself and the ally targeted by the most enemies, then taunts all enemies who have the Scarab within their attack range. The barrier lasts for 4 seconds, reduces incoming damage by 25% and enemies attacking the barrier take 50 (× Ability power icon.png AP) magic damage. Enemies may only take damage from a barrier once per second.
The Mechanical Bear surges with power, gaining 100% bonus attack damage and granting 25% bonus attack damage and ability power to your team for 4 (× Ability power icon.png AP) seconds.
The Mechanical Dragon casts Electryfing Roar which causes all enemies within 3 hexes to flee for 2 seconds. Its team is energized, gaining 75% critical strike chance and 10% bonus critical strike damage for 8 seconds.
PASSIVE: Every 3rd attack is charged with lightning, dealing 750 (× Ability power icon.png AP) bonus magic damage to 3 enemies.
Champions
- Singed
- Ezreal
- Zilean
- Ekko
- Seraphine
- Jayce
Singed
Singed is also a inexpensive champion, much as Ezreal that starts with just one gold coin. Singed can be very useful to Innovators and Chemtechs in contrast to Ezreal. Singed is an impressive early game and mid-game. But, he’s vulnerable in the late game. In contrast to Ezreal that doesn’t draw much crowd in the early phases of the game Singed is quite important for those who decide Chemtechs are their choice in the current game and you’ll not be able to get Level 3. Singed in the early game as much as you would like.
His fling is a gamechanger since it impacts both the target champion and does aoe knock-up in the place where enemy champion lands. This can be handy in the situations where enemy’s champion is about to cast the ability and is interrupted by the knock-up , leaving your champions a little bit of time to react and possibly turn the fate of the fight in your favor.
When you are in the early games of the fight and you don’t have enough champions to make 5 Chems composition, i always put 2 Singeds on the board because of the knock-up effect.
He is also a good frontliner and can tank some nice amounts of damage.
As far as the items are concerned, Singed isn’t a waste of items like Ezreal is, and he can benefit from Warmogs Armour or Brambles vest.
Ability: Fling
Singed flings a nearby enemy towards the largest cluster of enemies, stunning his target for seconds when they land. All adjacent enemies take magic damage and are briefly stunned.
Ezreal
Ezreal is pretty bad. Scrap that (pun intended), he is rubbish. Possibly the worst champion in the current patch along with Ziggs, with whom he shares The Scrap trait. Along with being a Scrap, Ezreal is also an Innovator. If I am being honest he sucks in both of those compositions and can not contribute to any of them in any way what so ever, apart from having to fulfil an empty spot that is needed to activate the bonus of the said trait.
He is a pretty cheap unit, costing just one gold coin, but in my opinion that doesn’t justify the fact that he is simply awful. There are many more units that cost exactly the same and they are much more powerfull, like Caitlyn or Illaoi for an example. They could wipe level two Ezreal while they being on the first level. His ability is his In-game Q from The Summoners Rift, but simply doesn’t work nor does it deal any decent amount of damage.
For items, I would say nothing. He simply can not make them work. But if you are feeling dary, or you just hate yourself and want to lose, then you can equip him with The Rabbadon’s Deathcap, The Blue Buff and The Infinity Edge.
Depending on the fact are you equipping him with items or not, depends his positon. If you do no use any items on him then put him in the second row, behind the tanks so he can die quickly and you can use that time to burn enemies with your prime damage dealers from the back. If you, by any chance are crazy enough to use items on him, then put him in some corner so he wouldn’t die instantly.
He is pretty cheap, and people are not playing The Innovators nor Scraps too much so at least you can level him pretty quickly to level 3.
Ability: Mystic Shot
Ezreal fires a missile at his target, dealing magic damage. If the missile hits, he grants himself 30% bonus stacking Attack Speed, up to 150% at 5 stacks.
Zilean
Zilean is a low-cost champion starting with the price of two gold coins. He was released with the Set 6 called The Gizmos and Gadgets and he was among the lucky bunch to stay with the arrival of The Neon Nights.
I personally quite like Zilean, and I can’t say why. I mean he is old man that’s throwing some kind of bombs or rocks, I’m not even sure. His look’s are definetly due for some upgrades, and I hope Riot is going to finalize that project in the days that are coming.
Even though he is on the relatively lower end of the champions spectrum, I have always had the difficulty of getting him to level 3. And he isn’t even played that much since Clockworks aren’t something that people usually decide to play since it is a weaker strategy compared to some others.
But in case you are among the lucky ones, and you get him to the max level, he can do some serious damage with his bombs. He will work well with any kind of AP items you can grab. Try positioning him behind your tanks so the focus won’t be on him but still won’t receive much damage if the enemy is playing assassins.
Zilean can benefit the best with The Blue Buff, The Jeweled Gauntlet and The Rabbadon’s Deathcap. If he is your carry try to protect him the best way you can, but it is not something I would do, If I were you. At least have some backup carrie behind him, possibly some ADC would be the best choice.
Ability: Time Bomb
Zilean places a bomb on the closest enemy, stunning them.
When the stun ends, or the target dies, the bomb explodes dealing magic damage to adjacent enemies and applying Attack Speed Slow for 3 seconds.
Ekko
Ekko has been around from the beginning of the set 6, and he is a decent pick. He rocks three traits, with them being The Innovator, The Assassin and The Scrap trait. That is the thing that makes him a decent pick since without the third trait he isn’t the best choice there is.
His colours shine the brightest with The Assassin comp, but he works well with Innovators too. The Scrap trait is strong but a risky one so I would say that is the one where you never know what to expect.
At the cost of three gold coins, the is somewhere in the mid range when it comes to the price, but his cost isn’t , unfortunately backed up with a great power. He is the champion that isn’t picked as much so he will be an easy unit to level up to the max, but that’s something that you should do only if you have some gold to spare, since he really isn’t worth the investment.
His position , like any other Assassin is in the back line, right across the hex you want him to jump on when the game commences.
Items should be focused on Ap, Mana and Omnivamp, so the best choices are The Blue Buff, The Rabbadon’s Deathcap and The Hextech Gunblade.
Ability: Parallel Convergence
Ekko invokes an afterimage that bats a device towards the largest group of units. Upon landing, it deals magic damage to enemies within and applies reduced movement speed for 4 seconds. Allies inside gain bonus Attack Speed for 4 seconds.
Seraphine
Seraphine is one of the better picks both for The Innovator as well as The Socialite composition. She has been around from the beginning of the set 6 and has stayed with us all the way trough the current patch 6.5 The Neon Nights! She is an epic unit and she has the power that can back up her high cost of four gold coins.
Her ultimate spell is pretty strong, and as she increases her level, so does the power output that she has. But damage is not the only thing Seraphine brings to the game, since her ability also has built in AOE heal for all allies that her ultimate passes trough. This is the thing that makes her a valuable pick for both of her traits, but she could also work great in compositions where she is just a fill champion and she could benefit greatly from some Augment Emblems equipped on her, such as The Arcanist emblem or The Scholar Emblem.
As I said earlier, she is quite an expensive treat for any player so levelling her to the maximum level is something that most of the players won’t be able to achieve, but if they manage, that would be great!
Her items should be focused on Mana and Ap, so The Archangel’s Staff, The Rabbadon’s Deathcap and The Blue Buff are great options on her. But she can also work with The Jeweled Gauntlet too!
Her positioning should be somewhere, where she is protected from the direct attacks both from the enemies front and back line. So somewhere in the middle of the field, so she can have enough time to fire her ultimate at least twice with full items.
Ability: Encore
Seraphine projects her song towards the largest group of enemy units, dealing magic damage to enemies. Allies it passes through are healed and gain bonus Attack Speed for 4 seconds.
Jayce
With the arrival of The Gizmos and Gadgets along came Jayce. A great high costing, high damage champion with the most universal kit right now. Riot decided that he should be present in The Neon Night patch as well, and we couldn’t be happier because of that.
My God, this guy is so strong and versatile! He is an Innovator, Transformator, and Enforcer (basically anything that ends with an R). He can carry, he can tank, he is good just to fill a number if you get a spatula or you already have your comp finished. But the problem is that he costs five golden coins, and you need to be fairly high level even to have a chance of getting him, not to mention about leveling him to level two, let alone three.
The great thing about Jayce is that he can work with almost every single composition out there and he is a great choice to put your crest or emblem onto if you have one to spare along with the free spot on the battlefield.
He benefits from any item you put on him. I’m not even joking. You have Titan’s resolve, and no problem put it on, you have Rabbadons? No sweat, it will do some damage!
He is ideally placed, well, anywhere, really. And let me tell you why. If you place Jayce somewhere in the backrows his weapon is a plasma rifle and apart from damaging his opponents, he also increases the attack speed of his allies. If he is placed somewhere in the front rows of the battlefield, Jayce’s weapon becomes a hammer that he uses to smash around and disrupt his foes.
You can put him on the lower part of the field and equip him with some AD or AP items to shred your foes from far away, or you can go head to head against your opponent’s tanks on the front of the field with some Warmogs or Titan’s. If it is possible, get him to level two.
Ability: Mercury Cannon/Mercury Hammer
Melee form: Jayce slams his hammer down onto nearby enemies, dealing damage and reducing their Armor and Magic Resist. Ranged form: Jayce deploys an acceleration gate, granting bonus Attack Speed to allies in the same row, then fires an orb of electricity at the largest enemy group.
Supporting champions
The Innovators themselves are decent composition, but as you climb you are going to see that they alone are not enough against some stronger and more experienced players. So that is where we should focus on adding some supporting champions to our Innovator composition, carrying the much needed traits that can turn the tides of the game.
- Senna
- Orianna
Senna
Senna The Socialite Enchantress, was born in the long-awaited patch 6.5. The abilities she has to support players in game are extremely effective and can be seen throughout combat in the TFT areas. If used properly she could also cause severe damage. If the game permits, with making the spot somewhere in the backline, you should place her in the Socialite place.
Apart from damage to her enemies, she also has a built-in healing kit like Seraphine so she is pretty gold efficient champion, that has many uses in game and she is a must have pick for any of her traits. Also she works as a glue that connects two very compatible synergies, The Socialite and The Enchanter traits.
While she’s an easy squishy champ, and the damage that she has won’t be as strong until she is at her highest level. Her price is 3 gold coins. It is expected that she will appear at some point in the middle of the game. It will take lots of money to get the third level on Senna. If you do not have the ability to manage the economy in game effectively, you will not be able to fully utilize her potential.
Her placement should be somewhere in the back of the field, but she might go even somewhere through the middle of the arena if The Socialite spot is placed there. The more she is placed at the front of the map, the higher the chances of her being killed off early in the fight. You will need to find a balance for her placement and have some strong front line if you want her to survive and heal your other champions while dishing out tons of damage.
She benefits mostly from AP items, but this can be upgraded with some form of sustain or Attack speed as well. I would recommend The Hextech Gunblade as your primary item since she deals damage, heals her allies, and if you have this item, she will heal herself as well. That is the core item for her build, whether you are going for The Socialite or The Enchanter composition. The Second item can be some form of AP, with The Rabbadon’s Death Cap being the best solution for obvious reasons, but it can even be a mix of AP and mana, with the items in question being The Chalice of Power or The Archangel’s Staff. The third item is decided by the current game you are playing. It should ultimately be a decision between The Guinsoo’s Rageblade and The Edge of The Night or The Quicksilver.
As I said earlier, she should be a priority for leveling and levelled to level three as fast as you can, but that won’t be an easy task, so be prepared to lose a lot of HP until you manage to do that.
Ability: Piercing Darkness
Senna fires a beam in the direction of her target, dealing 160% of her Attack Damage as physical damage to all enemies hit. For each enemy hit, she heals the lowest health ally for 50% of the damage dealt.
Orianna
One of the best midlaners of The Summoner’s Rift, on the arenas of TFT, comes Orianna.
Her power doesn’t stop on The Summoner’s Rift. Oh no, she brought that power in TFT as well. Being The Clockwork Enchanter, she is no lady you want to mess with. It is incredible what riot has done with her ability since you get A STUN, A SHIELD, AND DAMAGE AGAINST YOUR OPPONENTS. I mean, what the hell? Who, for the love of God, just who in Riot Games has sat down and said: ‘’Hmm, a stun, a shield and TONS OF DAMAGE, yup sounds perfectly balanced to me.’’ Lady Orianna wrecks havoc around the world of TFT since the start of Set 6, where she secured her place as a Clockwork-Enchanter.
Since you can understand what I am talking about, you should abuse it as well until they understand what they have done and nerf her to the point of uselessness. She does have a huge power spike after hitting level two.
A powerfull mage to carry your games, Orianna is great champion for a late game with incredible damage output and shielding potential. She is definetley a game changer.
Her place should be somewhere in the middle of the board so you can maximize all of the perks in her ult.
For items, I would go for The Rabbadon’s Deathcap, The Spear of Shojin, and The Blue Buff.
Ability:Command: Shockwave
Orianna sends out her ball towards the largest group of champions, then commands it to release a shockwave. Allies within two hexes gain a shield for 4 seconds, while enemies within the area are briefly knocked up and dealt magic damage. Enemies adjacent to the ball are drawn in, stunning them.
The Innovator Composition
The In-game guide
Early game
Your aim should be to improve your low-cost champions, and get three innovators so that you can benefit from the mechanical crab. Since the more expensive units can benefit from the items you get early on in the game, I would not recommend you equipping any low costing champion with items, and instead I would focus on saving them for some champions that can abuse them much more.
Mid game
This is the part where you hopefully have 5 innovators. Now would be the best time to start equipping some champions with items, and your choice should depend on the compositions your oponnents are playing, as well as the diversity and type of items you have, whether you are going with Ap or Tanky composition. Once you reach five innovators, you should focus on getting four cost champions to unlock some traits.
Late game
This is the part of the game where you are the most Augment dependent, since Augments will be the thing that decide are you going to play with the bonus of 5 or 7 Innovators. This is also the time where you focus on buying and upgrading your epic and legendary units. Your end game traits should be 7 Innovators, 2 Scraps, 2 Socialites, 2 Clockworks, 2 Enchanters and 1 Transformer. As you can see there will be a lot of traits active so you should expect to win that game!
Conclusion
The Innovators class is among the stronger ones in TFT. If you use them wisely and combine them with some traits that are in harmony with them, you will be able to create a great composition for your team. The victory is secured.
Stay in touch and expect many new guides about every Origin and Class in The Teamfight Tactics set 6.5, only on The Games Cabin!