Twisted Fate is a very, very interesting mage to play, especially when players are in ARAM. The main reason? He can actually be built as a Marksman.
If players notice that enemies are building magic resist, or if players are on a team that’s AP heavy, they should focus on building attack damage or attack speed.
Although players can build Twisted Fate as a hybrid, similar to Corki or Miss Fortune, Twisted Fate players may want to stick to one or the other as there is no real benefit to building as a hybrid when it comes to Twisted Fate.
No matter what runes you use on Twisted Fate, players will still want to become familiar with his abilities as abilities will always be the most useful part of playing Twisted Fate.
Twisted Fate’s Wild Cards (Q), throws three cards in a cone shape, dealing damage to all enemies they go through, meaning that players can hit both minions and enemy champions if they have the opportunity.
Twisted Fate’s Pick a Card (W) provides players with the option of 3 cards over six seconds, which gives his next basic attack a spell effect. Blue restores mana; Red deals area of effect damage and slows enemies; and Gold stuns enemies.
Twisted Fate’s Stacked Deck (E) provides players with extra attack speed and causes every fourth hit to deal extra magic damage against enemies.
Twisted Fate’s Destiny (R) allows players to reveal enemy champions upon the first cast and upon casting the second time will channel players to the targetted location. While Destiny (R) can be used to get in or out of battle, it is recommended that you only use it to get into battle.
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash, Clarity, Heal or Ignite (depending on preference)
AP RUNES: Dark Harvest, Cheap Shot, Eyeball Collection, Ultimate Hunter // Manaflow Band & Transcendence
AD RUNES: Fleet Footwork, Overheal, Legend: Bloodline, Cut Down // Cheap Shot, Eyeball Collection
AP ABILITY POWER UP: Q, W, E
AD ABILITY POWER UP: E, W, Q
AP BUILD ORDER: Rod of Ages, Sorcerer’s Boots, Luden’s Echo, Lich Bane, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Zhonya’s Hourglass/Banshee’s Veil
AD BUILD ORDER: Blade of the Ruined King, Berserker’s Boots, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Runaan’s Hurricane, Rapid Firecannon, Infinity Edge
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR TWISTED FATE IN ARAM
FLASH
I can’t think of a single champion who couldn’t make use out of Flash.
While Twisted Fate has a bit of “get-away” using his Gold Card from Pick a Card (W) or if players are building him attack damage/attack speed and have Fleet Footwork, players will still want to make sure that they have quick access to an escape.
Unlike most other mages, Twisted Fate players may want to use Flash to get forward as Twisted Fate can help secure a takedown by stunning enemy champions and quite frankly can deal very high and quick damage with both his basic attacks and Wild Cards (Q).
Flashing forward is most notable on Twisted Fate when he has Rapid Firecannon as Rapid Firecannon will often catch enemies off guard by the extra range it provides Twisted Fate players.
In general, it’s an excellent rule to have a Gold Card already up before you Flash forward to secure your takedown, especially if you are uncertain if you’re going to deal enough damage to enemy champions.
CLARITY
Depending on how skilled a Twisted Fate player is, they will not need to rely on Clarity as they will be able to weave Blue Cards using Pick a Card (W), which provide players with mana than they cost.
However, I will say that in many ARAM settings, players will need to rely on a number of Gold Cards, effectively depleting their mana quickly, especially if they are focussing on building attack speed or attack damage.
Realistically, Clarity is an excellent support summoner spell to take for your team, especially if they are all mana hungry, however, if you don’t feel like you need it… don’t take it! Take something more aggressive.
HEAL
Heal is an ideal summoner spell to take on Twisted Fate if you are building him with sorcery or domination.
Heal will provide you with a small speed boost as well as the obvious extra health that is guaranteed from its name.
Quite frankly, if players are using an attack speed or attack damage build, their gear and runes should support them through health-wise, making Heal a bit useless, however, this is going to depend on the player’s preference.
All-in-all, taking Heal is going to depend on whether or not your whole team takes Heal as Heal has diminishing returns on it when used in quick succession.
IGNITE
By far the most aggressive summoner spell players can choose is Ignite as Twisted Fate players should be able to easily secure a stun with a Gold Card using Pick a Card (W).
Players should stun low health enemy champions, place ignite and follow up with Wild Cards (Q) to secure the takedown. Did I just tell you my strategy? Yes, so don’t use it against me 😉
RUNE TREES FOR TWISTED FATE IN ARAM
Twisted Fate plays like many other mages such as Anivia, Brand, Karthus, Teemo, Zyra, Soraka, Ziggs, and Malzahar where he can either use domination runes or sorcery runes.
As mentioned though, Twisted Fate takes it one step further and is able to build a bit like a Marksman like Tristana, Sivir, Ashe, Varus, Caitlyn, Xayah and Jhin, though I prefer to focus on healing runes instead of attack speed runes as I would many of the mentioned Marksmen.
Domination/Sorcery tends to be more aggressive than Sorcery/Domination, especially if players are able to harvest a good amount of souls by securing enemy takedowns.
Sorcery/Domination is recommended for players who would like to build high amounts of Ability Power and have issues with keeping their mana up. Since players will not have access to Dark Harvest, players may notice a plateau of damage from building Sorcery/Domination.
However, Precision/Domination provides players with rapid attacks, steady amounts of damage and should always be used when allies are too magic heavy.
DAMAGE HEAVY/BURST RUNES FOR TWISTED FATE (DOMINATION/SORCERY)
DARK HARVEST
Damaging champions below 50% deals 20-60 (+ 15% AP) damage based on your level. Each soul that you harvest adds +2 AP.
Players will only be able to collect souls every 45 seconds or can reset Dark Harvest’s cooldown to 1.5 seconds by being part of an enemy takedown.
Dark Harvest works the best when players use Wild Cards (Q)as it is the ability that provides Twisted Fate players with the most range and damage.
Due to the fact that Dark Harvest is so powerful, players will want to make sure that they secure souls ever time they become available so that by the time mid-game comes around, players can zoom in using Destiny (R) and guarantee a quick takedown with Wild Cards (Q).
As mentioned earlier, whenever you use Destiny (R) it’s a good idea to already have a Gold Card lined up using Pick a Card (Q) as stunning an enemy champion can help ensure that you secure a takedown.
CHEAP SHOT
Cheap Shot will deal 10-45 (based on level) bonus true damage to champions who have impaired movement or actions. Cheap Shot has an extremely short cooldown, being 4 seconds.
Cheap Shot works really well with the Red Card or Gold Card when using Pick a Card (W), though players may have to rely on the help of their friends for movement impairments to regularly deal damage with Cheap Shot.
Cheap Shot can be substituted with Taste of Blood, which will allow players to heal when damaging enemy champions, though Taste of Blood is much more of a defensive rune.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Ravenous Hunter is one of the most powerful runes you can take while playing in ARAM as Twisted Fate can unlimitedly heal himself when attacking all enemies and minions.
Ravenous Hunter is one of the ultimate ways players can receive consistently health without having to build items like Rod of Ages, wait for health to appear on the field or receive from another player.
Ravenous Hunter should provide Twisted Fate with enough health sustain to avoid taking summoner spells like Heal.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Although I don’t build a whole lot of Cooldown Reduction on Twisted Fate, I do appreciate the extra 10% that Transcendence gives you.
Transcendence also comes in handy for players who are up against teams with all magic champions or all physical champions as you can build yourself Zhyonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil depending on who the other team is comprised of. Enjoy that 40% CDR or at least enjoy the 30%!
SUSTAIN DAMAGE FOR TWISTED FATE (SORCERY/DOMINATION)
ARCANE COMET
Damaging enemy champions with an ability causes an Arcane Comet to be thrown at the enemy’s current location. The Arcane Comet can deal between 30-100 plus 20% AP. Damaging enemy champions with abilities will help reduce the cooldown of Arcane Comet, though the cooldown sits between 8-20 seconds based on player levels.
Arcane Comet is fairly powerful with Twisted Fate, as he can stun enemy champions, ultimately forcing them to take damage from the Comet.
Players will gain sustained damage throughout the game, but may not be able to secure kills for their team as it is not always guaranteed that Arcane Comet will be on cooldown.
The same can be true of Dark Harvest, however, damage is ultimately going to rely on personal playstyle.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
It’s always good to have extra mana whenever you’re playing a mage, especially if you’re someone who is known to spam abilities… *cough, cough*. To combat this, I recommend taking Manaflow Band, since it allows Twisted Fate to avoid building Mana based items and instead focus on Health and Damage items.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Although I don’t build a whole lot of Cooldown Reduction on Twisted Fate, I do appreciate the extra 10% that Transcendence gives you.
Transcendence also comes in handy for players who are up against teams with all magic champions or all physical champions as you can build yourself Zhyonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil depending on who the other team is comprised of. Enjoy that 40% CDR or at least enjoy the 30%!
GATHERING STORM
Gain adaptive damage for every 6 minutes of gameplay. The stats are as follows: 0, 8, 24, 48, and 80 AP
Gathering Storm is a nice passive way to gain damage, though at the end of the day it takes quite some time for players to receive enough amplification from Gathering Storm. Gathering Storm is notably powerful if you have Rabadon’s Deathcap, especially as time goes on in the ARAM game.
I personally don’t like using Gathering Storm unless I have hopes of building Rabadons, simply because Rabadon’s is what really makes it overpowered.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Ravenous Hunter is one of the most powerful runes you can take while playing in ARAM as Twisted Fate can unlimitedly heal himself when attacking all enemies and minions.
Ravenous Hunter is one of the ultimate ways players can receive consistently health without having to build items like Rod of Ages, wait for health to appear on the field or receive from another player.
Ravenous Hunter should provide Twisted Fate with enough health sustain to avoid taking summoner spells like Heal.
ATTACK DAMAGE RUNES FOR TWISTED FATE (PRECISION/DOMINATION)
FLEET FOOTWORK
Become Energized by using basic attacks or moving. When fully Energized, 100, your next basic attack will restore between 3 to 60 (+30% bonus AD) health, based on the player’s level.
Players will also receive a 20% movement speed buff for 1 second.
Since Twisted Fate is a ranged champion, he will only receive 20% of this healing when attacking minions.
Twisted Fate players should try to stay back when in ARAM, as players will have a hard time escaping enemy champions if they are jumped on. If Twisted Fate players take any damage, they should pull back briefly while healing off of minions until it is safe to jump back into battle.
Fleet Footwork falls off a bit in the late-game, but players can definitely benefit from having it still, especially as you build attack speed.
OVERHEAL
Converts 20-100% (based on level) of a player’s excess healing as a shield for an amount of 10 (+10% of maximum health).
If players do not receive healing, do not take damage or deal damage for 6 seconds the shield will decay by 2.5% of its maximum value per second.
Overheal is a very strong rune to take on Twisted Fate, especially if you aren’t building too much health.
Overheal pairs really well with Cut Down, as it can help guarantee that you have a lower pool of health than enemy champions as there’s nothing worse than making a rune obsolete because you built gear that you thought would be useful.
LEGEND: BLOODLINE
Gain 0.6% life steal per legend stack up to 12% when players reach 20 stacks.
Each Legend stack will require players to collect 100 points to earn.
Players will earn 100 points for each enemy takedown, even if it is an assist and 4 points for each minion kill.
Bloodline is not absolutely necessary for Twisted Fate, however, similar to Overheal, it will allow players to get away with avoiding building health based items and instead will allow players to act as a glass cannon.
Bloodline, especially once players have all 20 stacks, will allow Twisted Fate players to stand still and auto-attack while taking little damage.
Players can alternatively take Alacrity for extra attack speed.
CUT DOWN
Deal 5% to 15% increased damage to champions based on how much more maximum health they have than you.
Bonus damage is linear from a scale from 10% to 100% more maximum health than you.
Oddly enough, Twisted Fate is one of the only champions I choose to take Cut Down on, simply due to the fact that his health scaling doesn’t go very far and because I build him more as a glass cannon.
CHEAP SHOT
Cheap Shot will deal 10-45 (based on level) bonus true damage to champions who have impaired movement or actions. Cheap Shot has an extremely short cooldown, being 4 seconds.
Cheap Shot works really well with the Red Card or Gold Card when using Pick a Card (W), though players may have to rely on the help of their friends for movement impairments to regularly deal damage with Cheap Shot.
Cheap Shot can be substituted with Taste of Blood, which will allow players to heal when damaging enemy champions, though Taste of Blood is much more of a defensive rune.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY TWISTED FATE IN ARAM
WILD CARDS (Q)
For the cost of 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 mana players will be able to summon three cards in a cone shape dealing 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+65% AP) magic damage.
Though Wild Cards can hit multiple enemies in a line, enemies can only be damaged once by Wild Cards.
Wild Cards has a 6-second cooldown and should be maxed out first if players are focussing on building ability power and maxed out last if players are focussed on building attack speed or attack damage.
Wild Cards should be used regularly to farm minions as Twisted Fate players will receive between 1-6 extra gold every time he kills an enemy (from his passive).
PICK A CARD (W)
For the cost of 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 mana players can activate the chance to choose between three cards by reactivating the ability.
Upon selecting the card, Twisted Fate’s next basic attack will gain a spell effect, however, it can never critically strike enemies.
The options players have are:
Blue Cards, which restore 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 mana upon hitting an enemy champion or minion, also dealing 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+100% AD) (+90% AP).
Red Cards, which deal 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+100% AD) (+60% AP) AoE magic damage damage as well as slows enemy champions for 2.5 seconds by 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%.
Gold Cards stun enemy champions for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds and deal 15 / 22.5 / 30 / 37.5 / 45 (+100% AD) (+50% AP).
Players will still be able to select which card they want even when they are crowd controlled, meaning that players should never have difficulty selecting their card.
Players can Pick a Card every 6 seconds.
As mentioned a few times now, Gold Cards are the cards you want to focus on, though Red Cards are great for last hitting and Blue Cards are obviously great for getting back your mana.
I would always max out Pick a Card second because it simply provides players with extra damage, though, when building attack damage or attack speed Twisted Fate, players may want to max it out first.
The choice primarily depends on if players are able to get off Stacked Deck’s passive often enough or if they need to rely on the perks given from Pick a Card.
STACKED DECK (E)
Stacked Deck provides players with 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% bonus attack speed and provides players with extra 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 / 165 (+50% AP) bonus magic damage every time it reaches 4 stacks (only against non-structures).
Stacked Deck is extremely powerful when players have high attack speed and are building Precision runes and should be maxed out first on a Precision/Domination Twisted Fate, though maxed out last as a Sorcery/Domination or Domination/Sorcery Twisted Fate.
Quite frankly, Stacked Deck is an ADC Twisted Fate’s dream, especially when you have runes that help heal you.
DESTINY (R)
Once initially activated, Twisted Fate players will reveal enemy champions for 6 / 8 / 10 seconds for the cost of 100 mana.
Players can then recast Destiny to channel for 1.5 seconds to the location chosen, destroying any projectiles that target him.
Destiny can be used every 180 / 150 / 120 seconds and should be used off cooldown to get from the fountain to team fights or simply up to the field.
Destiny is most notable when trying to “back door” and take down the Nexus before enemy champions respawn.
Unfortunately, Destiny isn’t the greatest ultimate to have in ARAM and quite frankly, it’s a big reason I don’t play Twisted Fate as regularly.
ABILITY POWER GEAR BUILD FOR TWISTED FATE
ROD OF AGES
Rod of Ages gives bonus Health, Mana and Ability Power every minute for up to 10 minutes. This equals out to 200 Health, 100 Mana and 40 Ability Power, on top of its already 60 Ability Power, 300 Health, and 300 Mana. After 10 minutes Rod of Ages will have a total of 100 Ability Power, 500 Health and 400 Mana. Those are some pretty sweet stats at the end of the day. Players will also restore mana equal to 15% of the damage taken from champions.
Rod of Ages is the piece of gear you want to focus on in order to well-round Twisted Fate as it provides players with
SORCERER’S BOOTS
The only shoes you’re going to want to use for Twisted Fate is the Sorcerer’s Shoes as he can benefit from magic penetration.
LUDEN’S ECHO
90 Ability Power, 600 Mana, 20% Cooldown Reduction and can cause extra AoE damage to help proc Dark Harvest? Yes, please.
Luden’s Echo not only helps deal more damage but given Twisted Fate’s long-range, Luden’s Echo can help deal damage to enemies who aren’t in direct range.
As soon as I have Luden’s Echo in my hands I tend to dance around a lot, hoping that I can get Luden’s Echo to charge a few times while passively damaging.
Make sure you use Luden’s Echo to your advantage, especially if enemy champions are a bit too far from you. You can easily attack minions who are closer to enemy champions to secure a Dark Harvest stack.
LICH BANE
80 Ability Power, 10% cooldown reduction, 7% movement speed, and 250 mana.
As a unique, after using an ability, a player’s next basic attack (within 10 seconds) will deal 75% base AD (+50% AP) bonus magic damage, which is on a 1.5-second cooldown.
Lich Bane is great for mages who also have strong basic attacks, which means that it’s actually quite powerful on Twisted Fate!
RABADON’S DEATHCAP
Need to amplify all that sexy Ability Power? Grab Rabadon’s Deathcap for 120 AP with a 40% AP increase.
Rabadon’s works best with Gathering Storm, however, is just useful no matter what.
ZHONYA’S HOURGLASS OR BANSHEE’S VEIL
Zhonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil both provide players with a chunk of ability power and 10% cooldown reduction.
Zhonya’s Hourglass also provides players with armour while Banshee’s Veil provides players with magic resist.
Choose according to what champions you’re up against, however, your final piece of gear as an AP heavy Twisted Fate should probably be some protection and cooldown
ATTACK DAMAGE GEAR BUILD FOR TWISTED FATE
BLADE OF THE RUINED KING
Giving players 40 Attack Damage, 25% Attack Speed and 12% Life Steal.
The most enticing thing about Blade of the Ruined King is that basic attacks deal 8% of the target’s current health as bonus physical damage. This makes shredding tanks fairly easy, while still giving you the same effect on lower health champions. The minimum bonus physical damage players will deal is 15 AD.
As an active, players will deal 100 magic damage to the target champion, causing them to move 25% slower for 3 seconds.
Blade of the Ruined King is a great way to get Twisted Fate started as it allows him to be a bit bulkier while still having the ability to shred enemy champions.
BERSERKER’S BOOTS
Focus on attack speed when it comes to attack-damage Twisted Fate unless you need armour or magic resist boots.
GUINSOO’S RAGEBLADE
25 Ability Power, 25 Attack Damage, and 25% Attack Speed.
As a unique, Guinsoo’s Rageblade provides players with both 15% armour penetration and 15% magic penetration.
Players will also receive 8% bonus attack speed per attack speed up to a maximum of 48% attack speed which will decay after 5 seconds.
Upon reaching 48% attack speed, players will activate Guinsoo’s Rage which causes every third basic attack to deal a bit more damage.
RUNAAN’S HURRICANE
Make sure you build Runaan’s Hurricane, especially because basic attacks deal 40% AD damage to 2 enemies that are nearby the initial target.
Runaan’s Hurricane is a dream when it comes to shredding all nearby champions and provides Twisted FAte players with 40% Attack Speed, 25% Critical Strike Chance and 7% Movement Speed, making this slippery man, very powerful.
RAPID FIRECANNON
Pairing up extremely well with Fleet Footwork, Rapid Firecannon provides players with a 35% bonus range (+150 range maximum) when players are Energized. Energized attacks will also deal 120 magic damage.
Rapid Firecannon provides players with 30% Attack Speed, +25% Critical Strike Chance, and +5% Movement Speed.
INFINITY EDGE
Infinity Edge deals 80 Attack Damage, 25% Critical Strike Chance and also deals 25% critical damage.
More damage, more power. Infinity Edge is going to be the piece of gear that sets you apart from the other team.
Leave a Reply