TFT Set 12 Guide: How to Play Shapeshifter

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

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

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

Shapeshifter Trait Bonus

Shapeshifters gain bonus max Health. After their first Ability cast, they triple this effect.

• (2) 10%
• (4) 15%
• (6) 23%
• (8) 36%

Shapeshifters are back in TFT, and all of their abilities transform them into a different form, granting them additional Health. Some Shapeshifters like Nasus and Swain will gain Health through their ability on top of the trait, while the others gain other bonuses like Armor, MR, new offensive bonuses, etc.

While Shapeshifters are very flavorful, you can almost equate them to the Bruiser/Brawler equivalent of Set 12. These traits form your frontline and provide bonus Health, which Shapeshifters do as well.

Shapeshifter Synergy

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

• Elise (1G) – Eldritch
• Jayce (1G) – Portal
• Shyvana (2G) – Dragon
• Neeko (3G) – Witchcraft
• Swain (3G) – Frost
• Nasus (4G) – Pyro
• Briar (5G) – Eldritch + Ravenous (Briar Exclusive)

There are a total of seven Shapeshifter champions in TFT Set 12, and there is one other trait overlap. Both Elise and Briar are both Eldritch units, and they are 1 and 5-cost respectively.

This is a very common trend when it comes to overlap, having one high-cost unit with another low-cost, or having some 3-costs with double overlap.

When it comes to Shapeshifters, there is definitely potential to try for a vertical team comp, but you need some form of damage scaling, since most of your trait power gives you defense.

Outside of vertical comps, you’ll likely utilize Shapeshifters to make up your frontline and use ones that fill out other traits you need on your team.

TFT Shapeshifter Champions

Elise (1G) – Shapeshifter + Eldritch

[See Elise’s Champion Page]

First up, we have Elise as a 1-cost Shapeshifter. The Eldritch trait summons a “daisy” to help your board, so she can help your frontline quite a bit if you activate both Shapeshifter and Eldritch.

Her ability is fairly simple, stunning her target, dealing some damage, and healing. Elise also has a Hero Augment, removing the stun portion of her ability and giving it higher damage.

Overall, Elise is a nice starting point to build some frontline. You can invest further into Eldritch and play around that trait, or pivot to higher cost Shapeshifters for a different team comp.

Jayce (1G) – Shapeshifter + Portal

[See Jayce’s Champion Page]

Jayce is our next 1-cost Shapeshifter, and combining him with Elise will make a simple early frontline for your team comp. They both start out as ranged units and transform into melee champions. While they may not be as tanky as other Bastion units, they’re still a respectable frontline with their bonus health.

With two 1-cost Shapeshifters, reroll comps are definitely a consideration, especially if you have Elise’s Hero Augment. As such, finding a way to balance the three traits of Shapeshifter, Eldritch, and Portal will be interesting to see.

Shyvana (2G) – Shapeshifter + Dragon

[See Shyvana’s Champion Page]

Shyvana is the 2-cost Shapeshifter, and her ability is quite powerful. She has a knockup/stun and deals magic damage in an AoE around her once transforming. At base, she provides mainly CC, but with her Dragon Upgrade, she will also have sustain built into her ability.

However, getting the Dragon Upgrade is only possible with all three dragons, and Smolder (the third Dragon) is a 5-cost unit. Even still, Shyvana provides a premium CC ability that is not very common for 2-cost units.

This gives her strong usage throughout the early and mid game, and she can get better in the late game if you make room for Smolder in your team.

Neeko (3G) – Shapeshifter + Witchcraft

[See Neeko’s Champion Page]

Neeko is our 3-cost Shapeshifter that has a similar ability to Shyvana. She will also stun enemies in an AoE, but she also heals a bit. Much like Shyvana, the CC aspect is very strong, but she doesn’t have the same tankiness as other Shapeshifters.

With her Witchcraft trait, Neeko provides a path to use Shapeshifters as your frontline in those comps.

Swain (3G) – Shapeshifter + Frost

[See Swain’s Champion Page]

Swain is the other 3-cost Shapeshifter and he is the first Shapeshifter that is fully intended to be a beefy tank. His ability grants him max Health, which then stacks with the Shapeshifter buff upon transforming.

Swain also isn’t just a tank, his ability will deal damage after transforms and continues casting. This makes him a “raid boss” style unit. If the enemy board doesn’t have enough damage or damage scaling, Swain can become unkillable while whittling down enemies.

In the late game, Swain may not be able to tank as well, but if you 3-star him, there is definite potential.

Nasus (4G) – Shapeshifter + Pyro

[See Nasus’s Champion Page]

Nasus is the 4-cost Shapeshifter and he’s essentially the AD version of Swain. His ability will also grant him extra Health, and he has subsequent casts that deal damage. As a 4-cost unit, you won’t be planning around 3-star Nasus, as that will be very hard to find.

Even still, as a 4-cost, his stats at 2-star will be perfectly fine for the late/endgame.

Because Nasus is simply 4-cost, he incentivizes any Pyro team comps to compose their frontline with Shapeshifters. This can be 2 units, 4 units, or maybe even 6. This will largely depend on the meta and how things turn out.

Briar (5G) – Shapeshifter + Eldritch + Ravenous

[See Briar’s Champion Page]

Lastly, we have Briar, the 5-cost Shapeshifter. Her Ravenous trait is exclusive to her, and this allows you to sacrifice your player HP for permanent Health on Briar. This, when paired with the Shapeshifter trait, can make her very strong.

She have movement built into her kit, she deals damage, gains Omnivamp, and is overall as strong late game carry. However, you still will need to invest into her Shapeshifter trait to truly make her tanky.

Her Eldritch trait pairs nicely with Elise to provide some extra frontline, but we don’t know if vertical Eldritch or vertical Shapeshifter will be better.

Best TFT Shapeshifter Augments

Shapeshifter Crest/Crown

Gain a Shapeshifter Emblem and a Shyvana.

Shapeshifter Emblems do exist, but you will need to get one from an Augment. Since Shapeshifters gain Health after casting, this lets you place the Emblem on any frontline unit for extra Health. This can be quite strong on other 4-cost tanks, 5-cost units, or “fighter” type units like Fiora/Gwen.

Shapeshifter Emblem empowers your frontline, which generally isn’t the priority over your damage. Even still, a Shapeshifter 8 comp is definitely possible, maybe with a Shapeshifter Smolder or something along those lines.

Eternal Growth

Shapeshifters that start combat next to another Shapeshifter gain 30 permanent health. Gain an Elise and a Jayce.

Eternal Growth is the Shapeshifter specific Augment, and this definitely empowers a full Shapeshifter team comp. Gaining permanent Health every round is very powerful, and the more Shapeshifter units you have, the more bonus you’ll gain from this Augment.

The one caveat is that you likely will need some form of scaling damage. Even if your board is very tanky, if you can’t kill enough enemy units, you will lose in overtime. Even still, there are plenty of scaling items like Rageblade, Archangels, etc.

Spider Queen

Gain a 2-star Elise. Your strongest Elise’s Ability no longer Stuns but poisons the target and the 2 closest enemies to take 110% of the Ability damage. Her spell costs 20 less Mana.

This is the Hero Augment that turns Elise from a simple frontline unit into a carry. With this Augment, you can look to reroll for Elise alongside other 1 or 2-cost units that synergize with her.

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

8 Shapeshifter Team Comp

[Link to Builder]

This team comp uses a Shapeshifter Emblem in order to reach 8 Shapeshifter for an extremely tanky frontline. We have Smolder holding the Shapeshifter Emblem for Dragon and Varus as our 9th unit. Varus is nice because he activates both Blaster and Pyro, and he provides some very needed backline DPS.

In general, vertical frontline comps like this generally aren’t meta. It can be very satisfying to hit and win a lobby, but the comp is rarely consistent and doesn’t have too much flexibility.

However, with a Shapeshifter Emblem, you can always stop at 6 or 4 and play around other units as well. This is just an example of a team comp using all 7.

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.