This guide was originally written as our initial impressions of Set 18 at the time of its reveal, prior to the PBE launch. For up-to-date guidance, click on any champion links, or check out our Meta Comps section below.
Everyone loves a good reroll trait, and this set we have Solar!
Once you have 3 Solar activated, your champions gain a max Health Shield and will also do bonus magic damage. But here's where the fun comes in! You will gain additional bonuses for each unique 3-star champion on your board, so the more the merrier.
Some of the effects are crazy, to name a few, you can increase the shielding and magic damage for each 3-star, Convert the bonus magic damage to true damage which can be insanely strong against tanky frontlines. Lastly your 3-star champions ascend to 4-star during combat, yeah you heard that right, you can have a bunch of 4-star champions on your board at once, sign me up!
So let's get into the champions and learn more about the Solar Trait.
This guide was written by Oli.
Solar Meta Comps
Most of the time, if you’re building around Solar, you’ll want to reroll several cheap champions, as each different 3-star unit makes the trait stronger. These don’t all have to be Solar units, giving you more options for your carries and the supporting units you upgrade.
Here are a few comps that play around the Solar trait.
The Eclipse
First, we have our Eclipse comp. Kayle is your main Solar carry, with Sejuani holding the frontline and Aphelios adding another source of damage later on.
In this comp, you’re combining 3 Solar with 3 Lunar to activate Eclipse. This lets you start picking off enemy units in longer fights, so having an upgraded Sejuani with tank items gives you more time to benefit from it.
This comp works best with an early Kayle alongside Leona, Shen, and Varus. They give you Defender, Rapid Fire, and Inferno while you look for Sejuani to activate Solar. You’ll also want to hold their extra copies, as upgrading these cheap units improves your Solar bonuses.
Once you’ve hit a few 3-stars, you can push levels to fit in your Lunar units. If you’re far away from your remaining upgrades, activating Eclipse can give you a bigger boost than continuing to reroll.
One of the biggest indicators to play this version is finding a Lunar Emblem, as it lets you activate Eclipse without waiting for Alune. Sun and Moon is another good reason to play it, giving your Lunar champions extra Health and Damage Amp for each different Solar champion you field.
Carries: Aphelios, Kayle, Sejuani Leveling: Level 6 Slow Roll
Solar Yunara
Our Solar Yunara comp plays around Yunara and Sejuani, with LeBlanc supporting from the backline. Although Yunara isn’t a Solar unit, she still benefits from the trait’s teamwide bonuses.
The aim is to build a board with five different 3-star units, then add Kayle and Leona alongside Sejuani to activate Solar. This converts part of Solar’s bonus damage into true damage, giving your upgraded board another boost.
This comp works best with a Blossom opener, especially if you find early Yunara copies alongside Karma and Yorick. You can put your AD items on Yunara and use Karma for AP items, giving you options depending on the components you find.
You’ll mainly reroll at level 6 for Yunara, Sejuani, and LeBlanc while collecting your cheaper upgrades. Keep an eye out for Kayle and Leona copies too, as they can help you reach five 3-stars if you’re struggling to finish your other units.
One of the strongest indicators to play this board is hitting your main units early, while also getting a reroll augment so you can hit your three stars even faster.
Carries: Yunara, Sejuani and LeBlanc Leveling: Level 6 Slow Roll
Rise and Vine
Our Rise and Vine comp plays around Kayle and Xayah for damage, with Ornn and Sejuani taking your tank items. Leona completes your Solar trait, while the rest of the board gives you plenty of cheap units to upgrade.
You’ll ideally want at least five different 3-stars to unlock Solar’s true damage bonus. This makes your supporting units important too, as upgrading Ornn, Leona, or Rakan strengthens the trait even if they aren’t holding your main carry items.
This comp works best with early Ornn and Xayah copies alongside Kayle and Leona. You’ll have Defender for your frontline and Rapid Fire for your backline, giving you useful synergies while working towards your upgrades.
Getting Ornn itemised early is especially valuable, as the damage he blocks builds towards an Artifact Anvil. Upgrading him to 3-star also makes it so he gains stacks even faster.
The biggest indicators to play this board are natural copies of your units, an uncontested lobby, and good Kayle items. Portable Forge can also give you direction if it offers a strong Kayle Artifact, such as Flickersblade or Seeker’s Armguard.
Leona’s ability Shield Bash has both an active and a passive. The Passive is pretty strong and makes Leona start combat with bonus resistances that decay over time. This is perfect and will be great with the solo frontline strategy, as Leona will be at her strongest at the start of combat, so you’ll want as many units as possible focusing her.
The Shield Bash active makes it so Leona bashes her current target, dealing magic damage and also stunning them for a short period of time.
Set 11 Kayle was everyone's favourite, along with set 15, with certain power-ups, as the unit can become a damage-dealing machine. In set 18, it's no different, as Kayle can ascend based on her star level, granting her stacking bonuses. Let's get into them.
Her 1st Ascension makes it so her attacks deal bonus damage, not bad for a 1-star. Once 2-star Kaye’s attacks shred enemies, making it so you don’t need to build Void Staff or Ionic Spark. 3-star Kayle attacks fire waves, dealing magic damage to all other units hit, which will significantly increase her damage input. Lastly, her 4th Ascension makes it so Kayle gains infinite range, and every 3rd wave is much larger, which will make her easily one of the strongest 2-costs of this set.
Seijuani’s ability, Sun’s Wrath, grants her a shield which will decay over a period of time. Then, cleave in a cone, dealing magic damage and strike in a line, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit. With 3 items and potentially 4-star with the Solar trait, that will be one tough boar to take down.
Lastly, we have our 5-cost Solar, Lux. Similar to Set 2 Lux, Lux can fit into almost any comp as she can be bought, sharing the same trait with most origin traits.
Solar Lux passive makes it so whenever Lux casts her Final Spark ability, all allies that share a trait with Lux gain mana, making all your over Solar units even stronger in team fights.
Lux’s Final Spark spell fires a massive laser towards the largest group of enemies, dealing loads of magic damage. The Solar Bonus weakens enemies hit by the laser as well, which reduces the damage dealt, making the enemy have an even harder time getting through your frontline.
Thanks for reading! If you want to try creating your own team comps for Set 18, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview of the new set, check out our TFT Set 18 Reveal Page, or explore all of the new Set 18 traits here!
