TFT Itemization Guide: How to Build the Best Items

How to Build the Best Items in TFT

TFT is a very complex game, and itemization is a fundamental skill that you should learn if you want to improve. If you look at any team comp guide, you can learn what items you should build, but not every game will go the same.

What should you do with extra items? Or what items should you build if you can’t build your ideal items? These are some of the questions I hope to answer in this article.

Furthermore, the Item System just got a huge overhaul in the Set 9.5 update. If you haven’t seen the new items or changes, be sure to check out our Item List to familiarize yourself.

This guide won’t be covering what items do specifically, but go more in depth about combining items, why certain items are good, etc.

Let’s get right into the guide.

Scaling and Synergy

Scaling is a term that you will hear in TFT a lot, which often refers to multiplicative scaling. In the context of TFT, this means that you are combining two stats to create a stronger output than simply stacking one stat.

Note: Sometimes people will use scaling to refer to items that get stronger as the fight progresses like Guinsoo’s Rageblade or Archangel’s Staff.

Conversely, I want to use the term synergy to describe when an item works well on a particular champion.

Let’s use Sejuani as an example. Sejuani is a Freljord Bruiser tank unit. Assuming you have the Bruiser trait active, Sejuani will gain bonus percentage HP.

This makes an item like Warmog’s Armor synergize well, as you will get extra bonus from the Bruiser trait.

However, if you want to scale Sejuani’s defense, you would look to items like Bramble Vest or Dragon’s Claw. By combining Armor and HP, or MR and HP, you are scaling the effective HP of Sejuani.

You can think of scaling as combining different layers of a cake, while synergy refers to what flavors go together.

Balancing Synergy and Scaling

Ultimately, synergy and scaling are both ways to determine what items are good. Warmog’s Armor and Bramble Vest are both solid items for Sejuani, so which one is better? Unfortunately there isn’t a simple answer. Context is a huge factor as well.

If you’re playing against opponents with Vanquishers or Infinity Edge, Bramble Vest will mitigate a ton of damage. If the lobby is balanced between AD and AP damage, Warmog’s Armor will be better on average.

Even still, you likely will just build whatever item components come your way. No point thinking about which item to build when the game gives you two Belts or two Chain Vests.

However, when given an opportunity to choose between items (like an Item Anvil), you should see what will make your tank stronger. Warmog’s is great for Sejuani, but building 3 Warmog’s won’t be ideal. Combining different defensive layers will make her a stronger tank, such as Warmog’s + Bramble Vest + Dragon’s Claw.

Offensive and Defensive Layers

The concept of synergy and scaling applies to both tanks and damage dealers. Here’s a quick rundown of different layers to keep in mind.

Offensive

• Flat AD/AP (Deathblade/Rabadon’s Deathcap)
• Attack Speed (Guinsoo’s Rageblade/Nashor’s Tooth)
• Bonus Damage (Giant Slayer/Night Harvester)
• Crit (Infinity Edge/Jeweled Gauntlet)
• Mana Generation (Spear of Shojin/Blue Buff)
• Survivability, usually for melee carries (Bloodthirster/Edge of Night)
• Shred/Sunder (Last Whisper, Ionic Spark, Freljord trait)

Note: I consider survivability somewhat of an offensive layer as you need your carry to stay alive in order to dal damage. This does come at the cost of building a more offensive item though.

Defensive

• Health (Warmog’s Armor)
• Healing (Dragon’s Claw, Redemption)
• Shield (Protector’s Vow, Locket of the Iron Solari)
• Armor (Bramble Vest)
• Magic Resistance (Dragon’s Claw)
• Crit Mitigation (Unique to Bramble Vest)
• Damage Reduction (Juggernaut trait/Augments)

There are tons of different layers to keep in mind when building items, and it can be quite daunting. In general, combining different layers through multiple items is powerful, but synergy can also be very powerful.

If you wanted to, you could do the math on every item combination to find the DPS of offensive items or effective HP of defensive items. However, when considering things like Augments, trait bonuses, and character abilities, it can be quite daunting to do.

In general, just having the idea of synergy and scaling when making items is a good starting point. Ask yourself what item goes well with my carry or tank. When building more items, try and see what ways you can scale it up.

Hybrid Items

I talked a good amount about combining different layers to scale your damage or tank, but there are also ways identify what items synergize with certain units. Hybrid items are a perfect example of this.

Let’s take some of the new items and go through a thought process to see what units utilize certain items well.

Sterak’s Gage is an item that grants a Shield based on max HP, and some bonus Attack Damage. This would be a perfect item for Rek’Sai. Rek’Sai is a Bruiser, meaning she will have more HP, thus the shield from Sterak’s will be bigger. She is also an AD based carry, as her ability scales off her AD.

Crownguard is an item that provides a Shield and AP. This can be great on an early game unit like Swain, who is a frontline that scales off AP. You could also use this item on Mordekaiser, another unit that scales his damage off AP, but also can utilize the Shield well as he is a short range unit.

There are a ton of items that provide multiple effects, and certain champions synergize better than others. Protector’s Vow is great on Jarvan (Armor, MR, Mana), Warmog’s is great on Bruisers (as described above), Hand of Justice is stronger on Vanquishers (Bonus Crit Chance synergizes with Ability Crit), etc.

I can’t go through and list every single item and champion synergy, but once you understand how it works, you can start to see why certain items are recommended in team comp guides. As you play more, you can internalize this knowledge and put it to use in future games.

You may not have the right components to build the best items, but you can use what you have to try and get the most value out of every item component. This concept is the major bulk of itemizing correctly, but there are a few more tips I want to cover as well.

When to Build Items

We’ve covered how to build items that scale and synergize, but it’s also important to know when to build items. This isn’t strictly specific to itemization, but is more tied into economy building.

Essentially, if you are win streaking, you want to be more aggressive with item building, and vice versa. If you are lose streaking, you should hold off on building items until you want to stabilize.

In general, if you are win streaking, you can be more aggressive with items to try and continue streaking. You won’t always build the perfect items, but you want to leverage your high HP and extra gold to pick up powerful and upgraded late game units.

When lose streaking, you can choose to be more greedy, hold onto more components, and try to build perfect items to stabilize and swing the game around. Lose streaking also means that you will often get better picks during the carousel, allowing you to pick up ideal items or a strong unit off the carousel. In these games, you want to leverage your high item power and Gold to offset the HP you lose in the early game.

Early Game Items vs Late Game Items

When building items to win streak, you should also consider building items that are stronger early game. This would be items like Statikk Shiv or Sunfire Cape. These items can be very strong early and help you win streak. However, in the late game, these items usually fall off.

If you’re lose streaking, building an early game item is incredibly detrimental. When you try to stabilize at level 7 or 8, your lack of strong carry or tank items will become a huge liability. You can make the argument that building these items can be important to save HP. So it’s not an ironclad rule. Even still, playing around your circumstances is another important aspect of TFT. If you only play the same way every game, you won’t maximize your potential placements.

Building Items to Counter

Lastly, I want to talk about building items to counter your opponents. Scaling and synergy usually only contextualize what you the player are doing. IE: If you play Bruisers, you can build Warmog’s.

However, building items to counter your opponents is also important. If you see that a majority of your lobby is AD, you shouldn’t try and build Dragon’s Claw. If you see your opponents have Guardbreaker, try not to build items that generate shields, etc.

You won’t always have the luxury of building items to counter your opponents, but you should take advantage of the opportunities you do. If you get an Item Anvil, take some time to scout around to see what item will be most useful. If the highest HP player is building Bruisers, maybe you should take Giant Slayer. If multiple enemies have Eternal Winter, maybe consider building Quicksilver on your carry.

Once again, there are infinite scenarios of what can happen, but take some time to analyze what’s best in your situation. Should you play for synergy, scaling, or try to counter?

Closing Words

All in all, itemization in TFT is a very deep skill that you can improve upon just about every game you play. If you’re still learning the game or set, you can always leave it to other players to find out what the best items are and copy guides. You can still do very well without learning in depth itemization.

However, if you really want to push your rank higher, learning as much as you can is important.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out our meta team comps page, or head to our Team Builder to try and come up with your own comps.