How to rush level 8 in Teamfight Tactics (TFT)

In every TFT: Teamfight Tactics set, there are times when five-cost units are ridiculously powerful, which leads people to save a bunch of money and rush to level 8 as quickly as possible to increase their chances to own one. However, the process isn’t always as easy as you expect, so here are some tips on how to get yourself the Heimerdinger, Kayle, or Viego of your dreams.

Early choices

Keep a very close eye on your shop in the first couple of rounds, because your goal is to buy and turn a handful of easy one-cost, two-star units into a comfy, safe-enough team. You don’t precisely care about getting a win streak — some people even prefer loss streaks to gain money — but losing too much health is a problem. It could sink your build before you get very far.

For example, did you get three Olafs, three Udyrs, and an Irelia? Congrats, you have a set of Skirmishers that you can buy errant pieces for as the game goes on just to help yourself survive. Otherwise, focus your funds on saving.

Also, it’s important to pick up items that are vital to those four-cost and five-cost heavy-hitters. In set 5, the majority of them are AP mage champs that love things like Hextech Blade or Blue Buff, so save up rods and tears. However, if you are going for AD carries like Kayle, Draven, or Jax, swords, bows, and negatron cloaks are also important early items for your builds.

Building an economy

Whether you’re relying on a loss streak or just compounding money, the entire early and mid-game is all about saving. For your health, it might make sense to rush level 4 or even 5, but otherwise, save your cash all the way up to fifty gold. Once you are keeping over fifty gold each round, that’s when you can start using your excess money to level yourself up. After all, once your economy count is over fifty, the extra money does not buff your earning potential.

You can buy champions during this period, but only purchase ones that bolster your build. Avoid the reroll button — that is something you can play with later. If you are feeling behind or in danger though, your economy is still fairly healthy if you leave thirty gold in your inventory and boost yourself up a level before going back to saving again.

Activate your money

Roughly around the time you are mid-level 6, you should be rolling in cash. This is when you start pumping all excess gold into your levels, pushing yourself from the lower tier of players in the game all the way to level 8. The idea is to get a chance at the five-cost units before anyone else, letting you pick your perfect high-cost carry.

Now, once you are at 8 with your well-cultivated economy, it’s up to you what you do with it. If your health is a little dangerous, start finally using the reroll button to try to get two-star versions of your units. If you feel safe, maybe continue your trek upwards and push yourself to level 9. But the biggest point here is to start collecting the five-cost champions that fit the build you want and putting them out there. Hopefully, you’ll either chance upon them because of your level or you’ll reroll until you get two-star versions of those rare, powerful units.

This kind of system can be somewhat risky as it means you gamble your health through the early and mid-game, but if you get a two-star Heimerdinger or Gwen with the right items? Well, even at 10 health, you’re suddenly unstoppable. Some great builds in set 5.5 for this playstyle are Knight Skirmishers, Revenant Invokers, and Revenant Mystics.