TFT Set 16 Guide: How to Play Demacia

How to Play Demacia — TFT Set 16: Lore & Legends

Every set always needs a vertical trait that gives a lot of stats and Demacia is that trait! Demacian units rally when they get low health by increasing their resistances alongside reducing the cost of their abilities.

Demacia is what Demacians are expected to be - resilient. This is what I think of when I think of Demacia. A lot of dudes in shiny armor like Garen, Xin Zhao, and Jarvan IV ready to go into battle! Something very interesting about Demacia is that it has an 11 chase trait to get the prismatic Demacia.

This means that you will have to have a tactician’s crown or other way to gain an additional unit on the battlefield on top of 3 Demacia Spats. If I had to guess, this trait must be one of the strongest chase traits in the game as we have never had one that required you to fill 11 spots. Not even out of cashout traits in the past. I wonder how often we will get the pleasure of seeing this chase trait.

This guide was written by Silverfuse.

Explore all of the new Set 16 traits here!

Demacia Trait Bonus

Each time your team loses 25% max Health, Demacians RALLY, reducing the cost of their abilities by 10%. Demacians gain Armor and Magic Resist.

• (3) 12 Armor & MR
• (5) 25 Armor & MR
• (7) 25 Armor & MR. On Rally, smite enemies for 5% of their max Health.
• (11) 150 Armor & MR. BATTLE FOR DEMACIA!

Demacia Champions and Synergy

Demacia has a lot of units which means a lot of options for trait synergies:

• Sona (1G) - Invoker
• Jarvan IV (1G) - Defender
• Xin Zhao (2G) - Ionia & Warden
• Poppy (2G) - Yordle & Juggernaut
• Vayne (3G) - Longshot
• Lux (4G) - Arcanist
• Garen (4G) - Defender
• Galio (5G) - Heroic

The Demacia Trait

Demacia is filled with multiple utility champions. There are champions that shield, stun, root, and give attack speed. This is great for Demacia because this means that you are able to capitalize off of your Demacian Rally where you gain armor, magic resistance, and get ability cooldowns reduced. This is a very grindy comp who wants to outlive and outscale your opponents.

You can expect to use scaling items such as Archangels on your carries as these fights are expected to go long - especially if your opponent doesn’t have shred or sunder!

Sona (1G) - Invoker

[Link to Champion Page]

Sona is a 1 cost unit with Invoker which gives her additional mana regeneration. Her ability POwer Chord deals (AP) magic damage to 2 nearby enemies and restores (AP) Health to the lowest Health Ally. This makes her an okay unit to have in the late game due to her Invoker tag.

Jarvan IV (1G) - Defender

[Link to Champion Page]

Jarvan is a tank unit with the Defender tag. He gains (AP) Shield for 4 seconds with his ability, Demacian Standard. He also grants all allies (AP) attack speed for 4 seconds. At 100 mana, this will be a cast that often happens later into fights making him more of a supportive tank at 1 gold.

Xin Zhao (2G) - Ionia & Warden

[Link to Champion Page]

Xin Zhao has 3 tags: Demacia, Ionia, and Warden. His ability Three Talon Strike lets him strike a target 3 times. Each strike deals (AD) physical damage and restores (AP) Health. The final one stuns the unit for 1.5 seconds.

If you have played TFT, then you know that crowd control is king in late game especially if you can hit it on the back line. However, Xin Zhao will most likely be stunning the front line unless you are able to position so he wraps to the back line units.

Poppy (2G) - Yordle & Juggernaut

[Link to Champion Page]

Poppy is another 3 tag unit with Yordle and Juggernaut on top of her Demacia tag. Poppy is also a 2 gold unit with the ability Hammer SHock. Hammer Shock’s cast gives her (AP) shield for 4 seconds and deals (AD) physical damage to the target. After a delay, briefly knock them up and deal damage again. Bucklers fly out from the target, grinding 2 nearby allies a percent of the shield gained.

This is a really fun ability - it will be fun to watch Bucklers fly out and shield your allies! Her ability is 80 mana, so unfortunately it won’t be a very spammable ability, but it should proc enough to make Poppy a solid support unit.

Vayne (3G) - Longshot

[Link to Champion Page]

Vayne is 3 gold and has the ability Tumble - where she rolls to a nearby hex, and fires a bolt at a target that deals (AD & AP) true damage. This ability is exactly what you expect from Vayne as it is a large part of her kit from League of Legends. The tumble plus true damage that she is well known for!

Lux (4G) - Arcanist

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Lux returns as an Arcanist which was seen back in Set 6, but her ability is different this time. Final Spark fires a ball of light at the most enemies, dealing (AP) magic damage to the first 2 enemies hit and rooting them for 1 second. Then, she fires a beam dealing (AP) magic damage to enemies hit by the ball and (AP) magic damage to all enemies hit.

Lux is everything you could want in a 4 cost carry. She deals a lot of damage and to a lot of enemies. She does have a root which is nice, but it is important to note that this isn’t a stun so auto attacks and abilities will still go off as long as there is a unit in range.

Garen (4G) - Defender

[Link to Champion Page]

Garen, the Defender of Demacia is a Defender in this set which pairs him nicely with Jarvan IV who has strong utility for Demacia. Garen’s ability Judgment is spin for 3 seconds, gaining Durability and healing for (Health & AP) over the duration. Each second, deal (AD) physical damage to adjacent enemies and reduce their armor and magic resistance. 

Garen and Lux, brother and sister, will likely be 4 cost duo carries for vertical Demacia!

Galio (5G) - Heroic

[Link to Champion Page]

Galio, the statue who awakens to defend Demacia has the tag Heroic. His ability Inspirational might have a passive and an active ability. His passive is every 4 attacks he deals (MR) magic damage in a circle around the target. Clappio from set 6 is back! You can build magic resistance and deal a lot of damage! 

With Galio’s active, he dashes into the largest group of units and inspires all allies within 2 hexes, granting them (AP) shield for 4 seconds. Then he crashes down dealing (MR) bonus magic damage to all enemies with 2 hexes.

Galio scales off AP and MR to make your Demacian army as strong as possible. On top of this, Demacia gives MR which will make Galio the cherry on top for the Demacia trait!

Thanks for reading! If you want to try and come up with your own team comps for Set 16, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview on the new set, check out our TFT Set 16 Reveal Page.