TFT Set 17 Guide: How to Play Dark Star

How to Play Dark Star — TFT Set 17: Space Gods

Dark Star is a vertical trait of Set 17 that creates black holes and has a great theme! There are 6 units with the Dark Star tag: Cho’Gath, Lissandra, Mordekaiser, Kai’sa, Karma, and Jhin. There are champions of each cost for this trait which means that this trait can be capped out with Legendary units. The trait has 2, 4, 6, and 9 piece options where the 9 piece is a chase trait that wins the game at level 10. However, in order to get this, you would need 3 spatulas which is incredibly hard to get. 

This trait will likely be played as a 6 piece most often due to the strongest unit going Supermassive which will often be your itemized carry. The 6 piece also creates 2 minor black holes. I cannot wait to see this trait play out!

This trait will likely be a fast 8 trait where players carry Karma as their main carry and hope to hit Jhin on level 8. It is also possible that the 4 piece of Dark Star is played until level 9 where a player then rolls down for Jhin to get the 6 piece of the trait. On top of this, Jhin looks like he will be a strong carry for this composition as we had a similar Jhin in set 10 who was very strong.

This guide was written by Silverfuse.

Explore all of the new Set 17 traits here!

Dark Star Trait Bonus

Champions: Cho'Gath 1g / Lissandra 1g / Mordekaiser 2g / Kai'Sa 3g / Karma 4g / Jhin 5g

• (2) Dark Stars create a Black Hole that consumes enemies at 10% max health.
• (4) AND they gain 30% AD & AP.
• (6) AND the strongest Dark Star unit goes supermassive, gaining 100% effectiveness from Dark Star, and creates 2 minor Black Holes.
• (9) All Dark Stars are supermassive. At level 10, CONSUME EVERYONE.

Dark Star Champions and Synergy

There are several options for creating trait webs with the Dark Star trait:

• Cho’Gath (1G) - Brawler
• Lissandra (1G) - Shepherd + Replicator
• Mordekaiser (2G) - Channeler + Vanguard
• Kai’sa (3G) - Rogue
• Karma (4G) - Voyager
• Jhin (5G) - Eradicator + Sniper

Cho’Gath (1G) - Brawler

[Link to Champion Page]

Cho’Gath is a Brawler with the ability to deal (Health & AP) magic damage to the lowest health enemy in range and permanently gains bonus maximum health. If Cho’Gath’s ability kills them, devour them and permanently gain maximum health on kill as well.

This makes Cho’Gath a fun unit to play early in the game as well as a great early game unit to star up as well as potentially rerolling him to a 3-star unit. 

Lissandra (1G) - Shepherd + Replicator

[Link to Champion Page]

Lissandra is a 1 gold unit with 3 traits: Dark Star, Shepherd, and Replicator. Her ability, Dark Matter benefits from all of these. With her ability, she hurls a dagger toward the current target, dealing (AP) magic damage to the first target it hits.

After hitting its initial target or at its final destination, the dagger explodes dealing secondary (AP) magic damage to nearby targets. If the Replicator trait is active, then it does this ability twice. 

Mordekaiser (2G) - Channeler + Vanguard

[Link to Champion Page]

Mordekaiser is a two gold tank with Channeler and Vanguard trait. His ability is Indestructible where he gains (AP) shield. Each second for the next number of seconds, gain (AP) more shield and deal (AP) magic damage to adjacent enemies. When the ability ends, consume the remaining shield and heal for a percent of its value. 

Mordekaiser will likely do a lot more in the early game than in the late game where in the early game his shield is less likely to pop and the health refund will do a lot for him. In the late game, the shield likely pops and the health refund does not do much for him.

Kai’sa (3G) - Rogue

[Link to Champion Page]

Kai’sa is a Rogue with a passive and active ability in Bullet Cluster. For the passive, on takedown, she gains mana per a kill. For her active, she fires missiles in a hex radius around the current target, dealing (AD) physical damage for each missile. 

Karma (4G) - Voyager

[Link to Champion Page]

Karma is a Voyager where she gains damage amplification. With her ability, Singularity, she gathers the force of a black hole, dealing (AP) magic damage split between the target and a number of enemies closest to them. The target takes an additional secondary (AP) magic damage.

Jhin (5G) - Eradicator + Sniper

[Link to Champion Page]

Jhin is a Sniper with Eradicator which means enemies have 14% less armor and magic resistance which essentially makes him shred and sunder on a stick while being a legendary unit. His ability is Space Opera which has a passive and an active ability.

For the passive, Jhin has a fixed attack speed which converts every bit of bonus attack speed into bonus attack damage. The active is to summon spectral hands that fire alongside Jhin for the next number of attacks.

Each hand deals (AD) physical damage per shot and removes armor. The final shots deal more damage and pierce through the most enemies in a line, dealing reduced damage per a target hit. 

Look to play Cho’Gath as your early tank on top of Lissandra as your early carry. If you get a lot of these units, maybe even look to reroll them to 3-star. Play around Brawler as well as Replicator and Shepherd for a strong early game to get to level 8 to then play for Karma.

Finally, look to go to level 9 to play around Jhin 2-star in order to cap out the composition. A 2-star Xayah as another sniper to pair with Jhin will also help the composition get as strong as it can be during the late stages of the game.

Thanks for reading! If you want to try and come up with your own team comps for Set 17, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview on the new set, check out our TFT Set 17 Reveal Page.