TFT Set 17 Guide: How to Play N.O.V.A.

How to Play N.O.V.A. — TFT Set 17: Space Gods

N.O.V.A. is a trait where all the units come together to add to the team. On top of this at the final 5 piece trait you are able to gain a Strike selector where you can choose a N.O.V.A unit who gets a special N.O.V.A strike ability. 

The compositions for this trait will be highly dependent on how strong the N.O.V.A Strike abilities are for the units. This will depend on the meta as well as the strength of the units and items.

There may also be some cases where the 2 piece part of the trait will be used such as potentially in Challengers or with Aatrox acting as a shred and sunder bot for other compositions due to the strength of 30% shred and sunder.

This guide was written by Silverfuse.

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N.O.V.A. Trait Bonus

Champions: Aatrox 1g / Caitlyn 1g / Akali 2g / Maokai 3g / Kindred 4g

• (2) 6 seconds into combat, N.O.V.A. grant a power surge to allies based on champions.
• (5) Gain a Striker selector. The chosen N.O.V.A. activates their Strike during the power surge.

Aatrox: Ally Damage 30% Shred and Sunders enemies.
Caitlyn: Grant allies 20% Attack Speed.
Akali: Allies gain Precision (Spell Crit).
Maokai: Allies heal 15% max Health.
Kindred: Shield the strongest Tank for 800.
Emblem: Allies deal 10% stacking bonus true damage.

N.O.V.A. Champions and Synergy

N.O.V.A. does not have any natural synergies, but it does have 5 options to branch off into traits.

• Aatrox (1G) - Bastion
• Caitlyn (1G) - Fateweaver
• Akali (2G) - Marauder
• Maokai (3G) - Brawler
• Kindred (4G) - Challenger

Aatrox (1G) - Bastion

[Link to Champion Page]

Aatrox is a tank with the Bastion tag. His ability Stellar Slash heals him for (AP) health, then he deals (AD & Armor) physical damage to the current target.

With N.O.V.A. Strike Aatrox cleaves the battlefield, briefly knocking up all enemies and dealing (AD & Armor) physical damage. 

Caitlyn (1G) - Fateweaver

[Link to Champion Page]

Caitlyn does not have a regular, active ability but instead it is the passive ability Aim for the Head. Her attacks have a chance of proccing lucy where she has the chance to fire an empowered headshot, dealing damage and (AD & AP) bonus physical damage.

With N.O.V.A Strike all enemies are marked, increasing damage taken. The first time marked targets drop below a threshold health, headshot them for (AD & AP) physical damage. With Fateweaver lucky active, check twice and take the better outcome. 

Akali (2G) - Marauder

[Link to Champion Page]

Akali is a Marauder with the ability Star Strike. SHe respositions next to the target to strike the most enemies. She then throws Shurikens piercing Kunai, each dealing damage (AD) physical damage to the first enemy hit, reduced (AD) for subsequent targets. Kunai removes armor, increased if they crit. 

N.O.V.A Strike she slices all enemies applying wound and bleed that deals damage per a second (AD) physical damage each second for the rest of combat. Kunai increases the damage of the bleed.

Maokai (3G) - Brawler

[Link to Champion Page]

Maokai is a brawler with the ability Grasp of Convergence which has an active and passive ability. The passive ability is Maokai gains more max health from all sources - making him a strong tank with the Brawler trait. For the active, coverage an X-shape of vines on the target, dealing (AP) magic damage to each enemy hit and stunning them.

For N.O.V.A Strike, send forth a wave of dragons that stun all enemies. For the rest of combat, Maokai’s attacks deal (health) bonus physical damage. Maokai's Grasp of Convergence abilities means that Warmogs and belt items will be a solid choice for him.

Kindred (4G) - Challenger

[Link to Champion Page]

Kindred has an active and passive ability with the name of Cosmic Pursuit. For the passive ability, attacks and abilities mark the target. When an enemy reaches a maximum number of marks, wolf consumes the marks, dealing (AD & AP) physical damage.

For the active, Kindred jumps up to a hex away and fires arrows at the nearest targets, each dealing spell (AD) physical damage. WIth N.O.V.A Strike, Kindred gains damage amp. Now and every second after Kindred adds a mark to all enemies.

With all the N.O.V.A champions you get a lot of what you need for a successful composition. FOr instance, Aatrox shreds and sunders enemies at 30% which means you do not need to build shred or sunder which is often a big part of builds.

This gives this composition more flexibility on items. Kindred gives your team more front line with an 800 shield. The emblem of having stacking true damage almost seems like a must though. This is so strong and will likely decide how strong the comp itself is. It will also allow you to drop one of the weaker N.O.V.A. units as well. 

Kindred is the highest cost unit in the composition on top of having the Challenger tag. I expect the composition to be based off Kindred and Challengers often and maybe in some cases being a 2 piece trait with vertical challenger plus Aatrox to act as shred and sunder at times. 

For the 5 piece composition, I will expect this to most often be with the emblem. However, in some metas due to the N.O.V.A strike abilities I could see 5 N.O.V.A being strong as well. However, I do not expect this to be much of a reroll trait unless one of the N.O.V.A strike abilities is overtuned for one of the low cost units which is also a possibility!

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.