TFT Set 13 Guide: How to Play Ambusher

How to Play Ambusher — TFT Set 13: Into the Arcane

Welcome to our trait guide, where we’ll be covering the Ambusher trait in the new TFT Set 13: Into the Arcane. In this guide, we’ll explain how Ambusher works, cover the different champions, provide notable Augment choices, and cover some potential team comps.

Explore all of the new Set 13 traits here!

How TFT Ambusher Works

The Ambusher trait is pretty straight forward, granting Crit stats to themselves when the bonus is active. The trait also allows their ability to Crit, which will be a big part of scaling their damage. While you won’t need to build items like Infinity Edge/Jeweled Gauntlet for the Ability Crit, you will still want lots of Sparring Gloves items.

These items when combined have inherent Crit Chance stats that will help get your Ambushers to 100% Crit while also granting other strong bonuses. For example, Hand of Justice will provide extra damage/omnivamp, Guardbreaker will help deal more damage against shields, Last Whisper will Sunder Armor, etc.

Ambusher Trait Bonus

Champions: Powder 1g / Camille 2g / Smeech 3g / Ekko 4g / Jinx 5g

Damage from Ambushers’ Abilities can critically strike. They also gain bonus Critical Strike Chance and Critical Strike Damage.

• (2) 20% Crit, 10% CritMult
• (3) 30% Crit, 20% CritMult
• (4) 40% Crit, 30% CritMult
• (5) 55% Crit, 35% CritMult; also gain 15% Durability

Ambusher Synergy

Here’s a rundown of the other traits you can branch into from the Ambusher units.

• Powder – Family / Scrap
• Camille – Enforcer
• Smeech – Chem-Baron
• Ekko – Scrap
• Jinx – Rebel

As you can see, there is only one overlap in Origin traits, that being Scrap on both Powder and Ekko. We may see final boards run Ambusher 3/4/5 while running Powder + Ekko + another carry or two.

Or it could also be the case that Powder and Ekko are all that is needed, and you can focus on a Scrap based team comp instead. Lastly, if you decide to play around with Smeech or Jinx as your main carry, you can forgo this synergy and instead just run Ekko or Jinx with Smeech to save board space for other units.

TFT Ambusher Champions

Powder Family Scrap Ambusher 1g

[Link to Champion Page]

Powder has a fairly simple ability, sending a monkey bomb toward a group of enemies, dealing AP damage. However, she also Wounds/Burns enemies that are hit. Wound is a great utility to have in the late game, so having this on a 1-cost unit with multiple traits is very appealing.

She may also be quite the contested unit as her Family trait incentivizes playing a reroll style comp. If reroll Family is a meta team comp, finding Powder in the early game can prove to be more difficult than expected.

Camille Enforcer Ambusher 2g

[Link to Champion Page]

Camille has a very interesting ability, dealing either AD or AP damage depending on her target, prioritizing the better damage type. On one hand, she can make use of both AD or AP items. On the other hand, you might spread yourself too thin if you don’t build around the correct damage type for a fight.

Even still, there are plenty of damage items that are good for both AD and AP, such as Hand of Justice, Guardbreaker, etc.

As a frontline/midline unit, you likely won’t be building pure damage, and her ability will be more of a nice bonus rather than a build around. But, Camille does have potential to be a reroll carry, so we can’t count that out just yet.

Smeech Chem-Baron Ambusher 3g

[Link to Champion Page]

Smeech is the most “Assassin” like unit of the Ambushers, as he has a leap in his kit. If his ability kills an enemy, he will leap to another target and recast his leap. His leap will also target enemies with the least amount of items, so you are more likely to execute enemies with his ability.

These Assassin like abilities are always balanced finely. You want him to be strong enough to carry, but not too strong that he invalidates enemy team comps. The Chem-Baron trait also incentivizes lose streaking for powerful items, so that could be the part of the puzzle that’s needed for Smeech to carry a fight.

Ekko Firelight Scrap Ambusher 4g

[Link to Champion Page]

Ekko is a fairly straight-forward frontline/midline AP damage dealer. He reduces his target’s MR with his ability, which will stack with other things such as Shred. His ability also targets multiple enemies, making him a solid build around carry in the late game.

Since he is melee, you will want some form of sustain such as Hextech Gunblade to keep him alive. As he fights and takes damage, he will generate mana quickly, letting him cast again, and hopefully heal back up to a safe amount.

Jinx Rebel Ambusher 5g

[Link to Champion Page]

Lastly, we have Jinx. Her ability cycles between three different effects. Zap will damage and stun enemies in a line, Flame Chompers will deal damage in an AoE, and Death Rocket will fire a rocket that hits the entire board. Her damage is mostly AD, but her Death Rocket will scale off both AD and AP, so bonus stats are always welcome.

All things considered, Jinx is a traditional backline carry with a strong ability, so giving her Ability Crit with the Ambusher trait will be a big buff to her damage.

Best TFT Ambusher Augments

In general, Augments like Crest and Crown will always be good, but there are definitely more notable ones to explore and discover. As we make our way to the PBE, we’ll be sure to test a variety of combinations and update this article with what we find.

TFT Ambusher Team Comps

The set has yet to even come out on PBE yet, and unfortunately, our team was unable to playtest the Set this time around. While we can’t recommend team comps at the moment, we’ll be sure to come back and update this article once we have a good feel for things.

Thanks for Reading! If you want to try and come up with your own team comps for Set 13, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview on the new set, check out our TFT Set 13 Reveal Page.