TFT Set 12 Guide: How to Play Preserver

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

Welcome to our trait guide, where we’ll be covering the new Set 12 TFT trait: Preserver.

In this guide, we’ll explain how Preserver 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 Preserver Works

Preserver Trait Bonus

Your team heals for a percent of their maximum Health every 3 seconds. If they’re full health, they restore Mana instead. Preservers gain double the bonuses.

• (2) 2.5% HP , 3% Mana
• (3) 4.5% HP , 5% Mana
• (4) 7% HP, 8% Mana
• (5) 10% HP, 12% Mana

The Preserver trait is very similar to the Invoker trait from previous sets, but with a slight difference. Instead, the buff will grant healing to the entire team, and only Mana if they’re full Health.

For offensive backline units, the Mana generation will be very impactful to cast quickly. For more frontline units, the healing will help keep them alive. Frontline units also generally gain mana quickly by being attacked anyway.

Preserver Synergy

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

• Zilean (2G) – Frost + Chrono
• Bard (3G) – Scholar + Sugarcraft
• Rakan (4G) – Faerie
• Morgana (5G) – Witchcraft + Bat Queen

With only 4 units in the trait, we don’t expect there to be any overlap outside of the Preserver trait. Even still, two of the four units have three traits, making the Preserver trait quite flexible.

Since Morgana is a strong unit on her own, flexing in 2 Preserver into a variety of comps is quite easy. If you want to go for 4 Preserver, it likely will be if you’re using Bard or Zilean as your main carry.

TFT Preserver Champions

Zilean (2G) – Preserver + Frost + Chrono

[See Zilean’s Champion Page]

The first Preserver unit is Zilean, a 2-cost unit with three traits. His ability provides single target CC and AoE damage, making him quite the solid unit for a 2-cost.

There is definitely potential for a Zilean reroll comp, but his traits are generally more utility rather than damage based. Frost provides a team buff that turns an enemy/enemies into Ice Statues.

His Chrono trait also freezes team, benefitting the entire team. While Preserver will generate more mana for Zilean, his other traits don’t help buff his damage, which can be detrimental to his carry potential.

Bard (3G) – Preserver + Scholar + Sugarcraft

[See Bard’s Champion Page]

Next up, we have Bard, a 3-cost unit with three traits. Bard’s ability is purely damage based, making him a strong potential reroll carry. His Scholar trait also helps generate more mana for Bard. When combined with the Preserver trait, Bard will cast very frequently.

The Sugarcraft trait lets you obtain extra loot and stats for Bard as the game progresses. Even with Bard as your carry, you might not want to go all in on Preserver as you have other traits to utilize as well.

Rakan (4G) – Preserver + Faerie

[See Rakan’s Champion Page]

Up next, we have Rakan, a strong 4-cost frontline unit. His ability deals a bit of damage and provides extra shielding for your frontline. Since Rakan has good utility, he will be a strong addition to teams using Preservers even if you aren’t running Faerie.

Morgana (5G) – Preserver + Witchcraft + Bat Queen

[See Morgana’s Champion Page]

Lastly, we have Morgana, the 5-cost Preserver. Her Bat Queen trait is exclusive to her, and can garner extra loot when she kills enemies with her bats.

Her Witchcraft trait is also nice to flex into as you can debuff enemies with her ability. As a 5-cost unit, Morgana is a strong addition to a variety of team comps.

Lastly, if you’re trying to build a Fast 9/Bill Gates team comp, the combination of Morgana + Rakan will likely be a very strong addition to your board.

These two will provide a lot of utility through their abilities and Preserver trait.

Best TFT Preserver Augments

Preserver Crest/Crown

Gain a Preserver Emblem and a Zilean.

Preserver Emblem is a nice bonus to any Preserver team comp since the trait bonus increases at every +1 increment. The jump from each Preserver tier isn’t massive, but additional healing/mana generation is always nice.

However, it may be more beneficial to have other Emblems to activate different traits rather than go for vertical Preserver. An Emblem is needed for Preserver (5), so building a team around all of the Preservers can be an option as well.

Aggressive Preservation

Your Preservers always gain both health and Mana. Preservers deal 15% increased damage. Gain a Bard and a Zilean.

This is the Preserver specific trait Augment, and it’s quite good. If your backline is randomly hit by an ability, you won’t be able to generate mana on your Preservers.

With this Augment, Preservers will always gain both the Health and Mana, fixing this potential issue.

As with most trait specific Augments, you’ll gain more mileage out of this if your team has more Preservers.

TFT Preserver 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 Preserver team comps. We also will be updating our TFT Team Comps page as our team plays the PBE.

Preserver Bard Reroll Team Comp

[Link to Builder]

This team comp is a potential Preserver 4 team comp. We have Bard as the main reroll carry, and Jinx is another carry you can place AD items on.

For the frontline, I opted to put Neeko and Swain in. These two units are 3-cost Shapeshifters, meaning they will have a large Health pool after transforming. This synergizes well with the %Health healing that Preserver grants.

Milio is the best Scholar to pair alongside Bard, but he can be replaced with any other Scholar in the early game.

With this team comp, we activate a ton of traits, but this is assuming a full level 9 board. Before hitting level 9, you’ll need to decide what to cut. Adding the Hunter trait for Jinx also makes things more difficult to fit in.

In general, the Preserver trait is extremely flexible, and this may not be the best way to build a team comp around Bard/Jinx. This is mainly an example showing how to build around all 4 Preserver units.

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.