TFT Set 9.5 Guide: How to Play Vanquisher

How to Play Vanquisher

Welcome to another in the series of our How to Play TFT trait guides.

Set 9.5 is bringing a few new traits into the game, and Vanquisher is the new class that is semi replacing Deadeye. Vanquisher is also quite unique as there are two 4-cost carries in the Vanquisher trait.

Let’s get right into the guide.

If you haven’t checked out all of the Set 9.5 information yet, check out our Set 9.5 Reveal Page!

How Vanquisher Works

Like a lot of class bonuses, the Vanquisher bonus is quite simple. The Vanquisher trait grants Crit to abilities, similar to effects like Infinity Edge, Jeweled Gauntlet, or Jeweled Lotus.

As you put more Vanquishers on board, they will gain additional Crit Chance and Crit Damage.

Vanquisher Trait Bonus

Vanquisher: Damage from Vanquisher Abilities can critically strike. Vanquishers gain bonus Critical Strike Chance and Critical Strike Damage.

• (2): 15% Crit Chance , 10% Crit DMG
• (4): 35% Crit Chance , 25% Crit DMG
• (6): 55% Crit Chance , 40% Crit DMG

Vanquisher Synergy

There are a total of 5 Vanquisher units, and there are 6 traits that they branch into. Here’s a quick list of the other traits on Vanquisher units.

• Ionia (2x)
• Freljord
• Noxus
• Juggernaut
• Bilgewater

The only overlap between the Vanquisher units is with Jhin and Xayah, who are both Ionia. This makes it extremely easy to fit Ionia and Vanquisher in a team comp, but it’s also possible Jhin doesn’t make the cut late game as he’s a 1-cost unit.

Darius is also the only frontline Vanquisher unit, who is a Juggernaut. This may mean that some Vanquisher comps will trend toward Juggernaut for their frontline over things like Bastion or Bruiser.

Vanquisher Champions

Let’s briefly go over each Champion in the Vanquisher trait and what you can do with them.

Note: These abilities are based off the PBE, so while the values may have changed, the overall champion design should remain the same.

Jhin – Ionia + Vanquisher

Jhin is a returning unit and, instead of Deadeye, he is now a Vanquisher. He’s still a strong early game unit to pick up to pair alongside units like Irelia and Sett for early Ionia 3.

His ability is also great if you’re lose streaking, as he can usually pick off one unit on the enemy team to save some HP early. For the most part, Jhin plays the same role as in Set 9, just with a different flavor now.

Ashe – Freljord + Vanquisher

Ashe is another returning unit, and like Jhin, she is now a Vanquisher instead of a Deadeye. Freljord is still a great trait to splash into many comps, so Ashe will likely become a common unit as a trait bot.

Her ability is decent, and when well positioned, she can sometimes slow the enemy backline. I don’t expect Ashe carry to become a thing this set, but you never know.

Darius – Noxus + Juggernaut + Vanquisher

Darius is getting a third trait this set, and is now a Vanquisher along with his previous 2 traits. If you build your frontline around Juggernauts, you will have an easy time fitting in 4 Vanquisher without wasting too many unit slots. (1 Vanquisher carry, Ashe for Freljord, Darius for frontline, +1 Vanquisher)

The real question comes if you want to only run 2 Vanquisher. Do you use a different frontline and use Ashe for Freljord, or drop Ashe for Darius as an extra frontline?

Lastly, you can also look to splash in Vanquisher in a vertical Noxus team comp to build around carries like Darius and Katarina. Giving a Vanquisher Emblem to Katarina is a great way to get crit abilities on both Darius and Kat for little cost.

Nilah – Bilgewater + Vanquisher

Nilah is one of two 4-cost carries in the Vanquisher trait. She is a medium range AD carry that’s similar to Gwen from Set 9, except she’s an AD carry instead of an AP one.

Nilah deals splash damage with her auto attacks, and on active, grants herself a shield and dashes away from danger. She also gains a stacking Attack Speed bonus on cast, so with enough time, she can ramp into a 1v9 carry.

Xayah – Ionia + Vanquisher

Xayah is the other 4-cost carry for the Vanquisher trait, and she’s the typical ranged AD carry. Her ability basically just deals damage to her target, but it also removes armor as well. This means she doesn’t need to rely on Shred or Last Whisper as much as other carries.

Armor reduction effects like Freljord and Last Whisper can still be useful to scale the entire team’s damage, but Xayah’s personal damage doesn’t rely as much on those effects.

You could potentially fit both Xayah and Nilah in one comp as dual carries, but since they are both AD carries, it will be difficult to itemize both properly.

Best Vanquisher Augments

Here is a quick list of some of the standout Augments for the Vanquisher trait.

Vanquisher Heart / Crest / Crown

The Vanquisher Emblem is a buildable one with Spatula and Sparring Gloves, so the Augments won’t be game breaking. Like most traits, having a +1 can be very useful, but it is very meta dependent. In some cases, having the +1 can be game winning, but in some patches, the augments can be near useless.

However, Vanquisher Crest and Crown can make for some interesting combinations. Vanquisher 2 gives the same amount of Crit Chance that Infinity Edge and Jeweled Gauntlet does at 15. While the items give you bonus AD and AP respectively, if you can go up to 4 or even 6 Vanquisher, you can have an extra carry that can crit on almost every ability.

I don’t imagine Vanquisher Emblem will be popular when the set releases, but given more time, I do expect some meta combination to be found.

Stolen Vitality

When your Vanquisher’s attacks critically strike, they heal their lowest health ally for 2% of their target’s maximum Health. Gain 2 Vanquisher units.

This is the Vanquisher specific trait, and it provides a lot of healing to your team. The more Vanquisher units you have, the more heals you will proc. This also gives healing potential to your carries to try and 1v9 fights.

Idealism

Gain a Hand of Justice. Champions with a Hand of Justice deal 25% increased damage.

Hand of Justice and other Sparring Glove items are great for Vanquishers because the items grant bonus Crit Chance. This scales with the Crit Damage you gain from Vanquisher to deal a ton of damage. The same can be said for items like Guardbreaker or Night Harvester.

Vanquisher Team Comps

With everything in mind, let’s go over some sample team comps for the Vanquisher trait. Keep in mind that these team comps aren’t meant to reflect the meta. These are simply different paths you can go down when approaching the Vanquisher trait.

As different patches come and go, different variations will be better than others, or the trait as a whole might be underpowered.

4 Vanquisher Team Comp

This comp is a carry over from the Bilgewater article, and is what I expect a 4 Vanquisher comp to look like. You have all of your Vanquishers either being useful carries (Nilah/Xayah), or useful trait/utility units (Ashe/Darius).

This comp can be quite item hungry as you want to itemize both Nilah and Xayah, but if the conditions are right, I can see this comp being quite good.

Ionia Vanquisher Team Comp

This second team comp looks to build more into the Ionia trait and have Vanquisher be a secondary focus. Xayah is the main carry, and the rest of the team simply composes of Ionia and Vanquisher units.

This comp also likely requires an Emblem to reach it’s potential. You’ll either want Vanquisher Emblem on Ahri, or an Ionia Emblem on Nilah. This will let you reach 6 Ionia and 4 Vanquisher while still having a decent frontline.

If you drop Taric, you can still fit the 6 Ionia/4 Vanquisher, but your frontline heavily suffers from doing so.

Other Team Comps

Here are some examples of other ways you can splash Vanquisher into comps. These aren’t really Vanquisher comps, so I won’t go into full detail.

Noxus – As previously mentioned, you can use a Vanquisher Emblem on Katarina or Mordekaiser (not 100% sure crit works well with Mordekaiser’s ability). This allows you to build vertically into Noxus while also activating Vanquisher (2), giving crit ability to Darius and another unit.

Bilgewater Nilah – You can likely also build vertically into Bilgewater while splashing into Vanquisher to buff up Nilah as your main carry. Having something like Darius for frontline or Ashe for access to Freljord are easy ways to splash in Vanquisher.

Bruiser Rek’Sai – Since Ashe is a Vanquisher, you can also utilize Vanquisher Emblem on Rek’Sai in a vertical Bruiser comp. This comp already runs Sejuani, so splashing in Ashe for Freljord comes at virtually no cost.

Conclusion

Overall, the new Vanquisher trait isn’t something particularly unique. It provides a simple bonus, but there’s a lot of exploration to be made when it comes to the Vanquisher Emblem.

This Emblem can make its way into a lot of different comps, so I don’t expect things to be solved early on. As more patches happen, Vanquishers may come and go, but having the knowledge to be ready at any time is important when you want to climb.

We hope you enjoyed this guide, and hopefully it helps you climb some ranks. Good luck and have fun!

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.