TFT Set 12 Guide: How to Play Mage

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

Mages have been around TFT in multiple sets with their staple ability of casting their ability twice and the Mage spatula wreaking havoc in the arena.

It’s Silverfuse here who will go through the Mage trait, how to play Mages, as well as to give you ideas of how to play around the Mage spatula if you are lucky enough to get one!

Explore the Magic N’ Mayhem of  ALL the new Set 12 synergies here.

How TFT Mage Works

Mage Trait Bonus

Mages echo their abilities and have modified total Ability Power

• (3) 75% Ability Power
• (5) 89% Ability Power
• (7) 104% Ability Power
• (9) 135% Ability Power

Mage Synergy

Here are the Mages and their additional traits

• Seraphine (1G) – Faerie
• Soraka (1G) – Sugarcraft
• Galio (2G) – Vanguard, Portal
• Veigar (3G) – Honeymancy
• Vex (3G) – Chrono
• Nami (4G) – Eldritch
• Norra & Yuumi (5G) – Portal, Explorer

The Mage trait has plenty of units, but you might notice that a majority of them are damage dealers with few tanks. The notable exceptions being Galio and Vex who are low cost units. This means to play vertical mages you will likely have to reroll these units in order to have a strong enough frontline to support the rest of your team. Generally, what will happen is instead of going vertical Mages you will dip into 3 or 5 Mages and branch out into other traits to get the front line you need to support your damage dealers. This will be shown further in the team comps section!

Mage Champions

Seraphine (1G) – Mage + Faerie

[See Seraphine Champion Page]

Seraphine is a low cost mage that with her ability Sharp Note is able to hit multiple units across the arena. This makes her a great early game Morello holder as well as general AP item holder in the early game.

Soraka (1G) – Mage + Sugarcraft

[See Soraka Champion Page]

Soraka is another strong early game unit with her ability Starfall that heals a nearby ally while doing damage to multiple enemies. In some cases, Soraka and Seraphine may be rerollable. Find that comp in the team comp section.

Galio (2G) – Mage + Vanguard, Portal

[See Galio Champion Page]

Galio is one of the few tanks with the Mage trait as well as branching out well into another tank, Tahm Kench with the Vanguard trait. This will likely make him common in early games as well as late game Mage boards.

Veigar (3G) – Mage + Honeymancy

[See Veigar Champion Page]

Veigar is a rerollable carry in the Mage trait as he is rerollable with another 3 cost tank in the Mage trait, Vex. He is more likely to be seen as the main carry in Honeymancy traits than vertical Mage as that will lean toward higher cost mages rather than a 3 cost Mage carry. However, there will likely be metas where Veigar will be a main carry of the comp.

Vex (3G) – Mage + Chrono

[See Vex Champion Page]

Vex is the other tank in the comp, but her secondary trait Chrono isn’t particularly strong as a tank trait. She relies on her ability, Personal Space, to gain a shield to keep her alive. She likely can’t solo tank without being a 3 star unit and will need assistance in most cases. However, in Set 6 we did see Vex be an incredibly strong tank that carried the Arcanist comp, so it will be interesting to see if she is able to do it again.

Nami (4G) – Mage + Eldritch

[See Nami Champion Page]

Nami has a unique ability – Leviathan in which she summons her ult to the largest group of enemies dealing damage and briefly knocking them up. This makes her a great unit on most late game boards as crowd control becomes much more important in the late game.

Norra & Yuumi (5G) – Mage + Portal, Explorer

[See Norra Champion Page]

Norra is the highest cost AP Carry of the Mages. This makes her part of the higher cap late game boards as well as allowing Yuumi to bind to a unit to give it more damage or to heal it up during fights for more front line.

Best Mage Augments

Mage Crest and Crown

The Mage emblem allows for more flexibility in team comps as well as for potentially broken combos as it has in the past sets. It may also allow you to drop a weaker Mage that you would prefer to not have on your final board.

Blossoming Lotus 1 & 2

This augment gives your units the ability for casts to critically strike which is a huge source of damage especially when the Mage trait casts twice.

High Voltage

High Voltage gives an Ionic Spark which is incredibly important for the comp to have magic resistance shred which can heavily increase damage output.

Replication

Mages need a lot of items to get the damage as well as defense that it needs. This means that you can’t go wrong with Replication giving you items that can fit either of these needs.

TFT Mage Team Comps

Reroll Seraphine Soraka Mage

• Slow Roll at level 5
• Primary carry is Seraphine with Soraka secondary carry
• Primary tanks Poppy and Lillia
• Once you hit your 3 stars, there are multiple options for level 7 and 8 afterwards

5 Mage

• Fast 8 to play around Nami
• Go to 9 when you can for Legendary units to round out the comp
• Position Nami so that she can hit the most units
• Primary tanks are Taric and Tahm Kench
• The additional Bastion unit is flexible and can be substituted for Diana with carry items

Mage Spatula Ryze

• Fast 8 comp that focuses on getting Ryze carry with Tahm Kench tank
• Depending on meta, Nasus may or may not be itemized – he can also hold Briar items
• Mage Spatula can start on Ryze, but for a higher cap Mage Spat on Xerath will be the way to go
• Carry the 4 cost units at 2 star until you hit 2 star 5 cost units assuming you have a way to remove the items
• It is fine to drop Eldritch or not have it active