TFT Early Game Guide: Openers, First Items and When to Slam

The early game rarely wins you the lobby, but it decides how much health and gold you take into the stages that do. The job is simple: lose as little health as you can while keeping your economy and your options open.

What the early game is for

In the first stages you're not picking your final comp yet. You're collecting three things that make that choice easy later: health, gold and direction, meaning the pairs, items and augment that point you at a few comps. A strong start keeps all three; a weak one usually spends health to keep gold, which is fine as long as you mean to.

Your first boards

• Play the strongest units you have. A two-star beats almost any one-star at this point, whatever its traits.
• Keep pairs. Two copies on the bench are one copy away from a two-star, so a pair is often worth more than a new single.
• Turn on small traits. Two units sharing a trait usually unlock its first breakpoint, a free bonus for the same gold.
• Don't lock in. Sell what stops fitting as your pairs and items show you where the game is going.

Slamming your first items

To slam an item means building it early, on whoever can use it now, instead of holding the components for the perfect item later. Early items save a lot of health, and selling a unit gives its items back to your bench, so a slammed item is never wasted.

• Slam when it wins rounds. A strong item that keeps a win streak going, or stops a losing one, pays for itself.
• Slam flexible items. Tank items and items lots of carries use are safe: whatever comp you end up in, someone will want them.
• Hold when you know your comp and the item doesn't fit it. If your carry needs that component for its best item, keep it instead of building something it won't use.

Tip Every comp guide lists its item order. Building the first item on that list early is almost always a safe slam.

Streaks in the early game

Win or lose several rounds in a row and you get streak gold. A strong board should keep winning; a clearly weak one can lose on purpose, saving gold and picking earlier in the shared draft. The expensive spot is the middle: win one, lose one, and you collect neither the health nor the gold. The economy guide goes deeper on streaks and interest.

The Set 18 openers

Every comp on our list names the units its stage 2 board starts from. These are the ones the most S, A and B comps open on this patch, so a pair of any of them keeps several strong comps in reach:

Set 18 also has Wisps, one-off buys that show up in every other shop. The Wisps guide covers when one is worth the gold early on.

Common mistakes

• Holding every component. Six components on the bench at stage 3 is just lost health. Build what helps.
• Rolling your economy away for a one-star board. Early rolls rarely change a round; levels and interest usually do more.
• Forcing a comp from round one. Decide when your items and pairs tell you to, not before.

Keep reading

• Economy guide
• Item guide
• Best comps for beginners
• Comp tier list
• All guides