TFT Set 12 Guide: How to Play Hunter

How to Play Hunter — TFT Set 12: Magic N’ Mayhem

In this guide, I’ll be covering the new TFT Class trait: Hunter.

I’ll explain how Hunter works, cover the different champions, provide notable Augment choices, and cover some potential team comps.

Explore all of the new Set 12 traits here!

How TFT Hunter Works

Hunter Trait Bonus

Hunters gain Attack Damage, increased the first time they get a takedown each combat.

• (2) 10% Base, 30% Increased
• (4) 20% Base, 50% Increased
• (6) 35% Base, 90% Increased

Hunters are fairly straight forward. They are all AD carrys in some fashion. Nomsy has good ability damage, Jinx is mainly auto-attack focused, Olaf is melee, etc.

Since the Hunter traits increases damage, every champion in the comp has potential to be the main carry. Because of this, trying to fit all of them in one comp will likely prove very difficult.

There’s a lack of frontline/utility within the trait, so we don’t expect many Hunter comps to go for the full 6 bonus.

Hunter Synergy

Here are all of the Hunter Champions and their other traits:

• Nomsy (1G) – Dragon
• Twitch (1G) – Frost
• Kog’Maw (2G) – Honeymancy
• Jinx (3G) – Sugarcraft
• Olaf (4G) – Frost

It’s not too common for traits to have double overlap, but for Hunters, both Twitch and Olaf are Frost. This already points the comp in a certain direction.

Furthermore, there’s other trait web possibilities for the other Hunters and Frost trait, but more on that in the team comp section.

TFT Hunter Champions

Nomsy (1G) – Hunter + Dragon

[See Nomsy’s Champion Page]

Nomsy is our first Hunter, and he has a strong ability that deals physical damage in an area. If you’re able to get his Dragon upgrade, his ability has much larger AoE and ignores Armor.

Nomsy’s best friend is Shyvana, a 2-cost Shapeshifter/Dragon. This activates the Dragon trait while also providing frontline through the Shapeshifter trait.

Twitch (1G) – Hunter + Frost

[See Twitch’s Champion Page]

Twitch is our other 1-cost Hunter, and his ability Sunders enemies, which is great for the AD focused Hunter trait. His ability also pierces, so he has AoE damage in his kit.

Most notably, Swain is a 3-cost Frost/Shapeshifter. This opens up possibilities for a Nomsy/Twitch/Shyvana reroll comp. These 4 will provide 2 Frost units, Dragon (2), and Hunter (2).

Kog’Maw (2G) – Hunter + Honeymancy

[See Kog’Maw’s Champion Page]

Kog’Maw is the only 2-cost Hunter, and his Honeymancy generally consists of lower-cost units. This also opens up more reroll potential, but the Honeymancy trait is generally more AP focused with traits like Mage or Incantor.

However, Kog’Maw’s ability provides an Attack Speed buff, which is useful for both AD or AP team comps. This makes Kog’Maw a nice addition to a potential Hunter (4) team comp even if you don’t activate Honeymancy.

Jinx (3G) – Hunter + Sugarcraft

[See Jinx’s Champion Page]

Jinx is the 3-cost Hunter and she stands out a bit compared to the other 4. This is because her Sugarcraft trait doesn’t match too well with the other Hunters.

Because of this, I do expect Jinx comps to likely only go for 2 Hunter. However, I can definitely be wrong and 4 Hunter Jinx may be a formidable team comp.

Her ability is fairly simple, granting a large burst of decaying Attack Speed. The usual AD items like Rageblade/Giant Slayer will be solid item options.

Olaf (4G) – Hunter + Frost

[See Olaf’s Champion Page]

Olaf is the last Hunter, and he’s a melee “fighter” type. He’s a melee carry that uses a mixture of damage and survivability to carry fights.

His ability grants temporary attack Speed, Omnivamp, and CC immunity. All of these are great buffs for a melee carry, and he even has a gap close as part of his passive kit.

Best TFT Hunter Augments

Hunter Crest/Crown

Gain a Hunter Emblem and a Kog’Maw.

The Hunter Emblem is the only way to reach Hunter 6, which provides a ton of Attack Damage to the entire team. The hard part is making enough space for other units when you use 6 slots for Hunters.

You’re still able to put the Hunter Emblem on a frontline/utility unit, so that helps alleviate things a bit.

The easiest way to use this Emblem would be to reach Hunter 4 in a regular team comp, and replace a weaker Hunter with a stronger 4 or 5-cost unit.

Endless Hunt

Hunters gain 8% Attack Damage for every takedown. Gain a Twitch and a Kog’maw.

Endless Hunt is the Hunter specific Augment, and it’s a decent one. I’m not a huge fan since it doesn’t provide any aspect other than additional AD, which the trait already provides a lot of.

I would prefer if the Augment provided a different aspect like utility or survivability, but a combat Augment is always nice to have.

Pumping Up II

Your units gain 8% Attack Speed. Each round, increase this by 1%.

Since the Hunter champions already gain a good amount of AD, scaling this up with Attack Speed is a good option. Pumping Up will slowly make your team stronger and stronger, but is weaker in the early game.

This can be a good thing if you’re rerolling as you want to stay weak in Stage 2 to lose streak. Then as the game progresses, you have more scaling to compete with higher-cost boards.

TFT Hunter Team Comps

As of writing this article, the PBE has yet to even release yet. While I was fortunate enough to participate in the playtest for Set 12, we definitely need more time to test/theorycraft team comps.

Be sure to check back as I’ll be updating this section with potential Hunter team comps. We also will be updating our TFT Team Comps page as our team plays the PBE.

Hunter Shapeshifter Reroll

[Link to Builder]

This first comp looks to reroll for Nomsy and Twitch as the main backline carrys. Shyvana is also a reroll target, but it might be tougher to find her since she’s 2-cost.

There are other 1-cost Shapeshifters you can reroll for like Jayce/Elise, but they’re a lower priority compared to the three above. If you don’t 3-star them, try to replace them for higher cost Shapeshifters like Nasus/Neeko.

Sugar Honey Reroll

[Link to Builder]

This second team comp uses Jinx as the main AD carry and flexes into Honeymancer to make Veigar a carry as well. Sugarcraft and Honeymancy have decent overlap with units like Rumble and Nunu both being Vanguards.

Galio is also a Mage/Vanguard, making him a nice inclusion for Veigar. I decide to fill out the remaining slots with units like Vex/Mordekaiser for Mage (3) and Vanguard (4) respectively.

It’s very possible that Jinx is better in a vertical Sugarcraft comp, and Veigar might succeed more in a Honeymancy 5 comp. Even still, this comp makes use of a lot of traits. The only issue is that there aren’t any 4/5-cost units.

You can definitely upgrade some units like Tahm Kench (4G Vanguard), but with four 3-cost units, it’s definitely possible to reroll for multiple 3-stars.

Thanks for Reading! If you want to try and come up with your own team comps for Set 12, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview on the new set, check out our TFT Set 12 Reveal Page.