-Pros-

All-round laning skills with his diverse Pick A Card
Ranged so can easily shut down Katarina Akali and other squishy champions
A very good option in Ranked Solo Queue, because he can win his own lane and help other lanes with his Destiny
His Gold Card can create synergy with any ally champions

-Cons-

Not many cons, but a few 1v1 champions such as LeBlanc or Ionian Fervor are lethal
Squishy, compared to those Mid laners building Liandry's Torment
His ultimate does not deal damage, so usually you need food for thought for 1v1

Hello! I have been playing League since some time in Season 2 and Twisted Fate has been my main. I am currently Diamond in EUW (ID: Codeihamster) and here I want to share some comprehensive tips on Twisted Fate. I omit some basics and go into details, so this guide would be appropriate if you played Twisted Fate for more than 30 games or so. The highlight of my guide would be Vs. Champions section so please read that.

For Twisted Fate I currently hold the highest win rate in EU West with over 400 games played -

EUW Champion Master's ranking

or less preferably



First and foremost, Twisted Fate must be played offensively in order to carry as a mid laner. Flash is essential as it will give you an escape when you are heavily camped, or allow you to engage with W Pick A Card, Q Wild Cards, E Stacked Deck, Ignite combo (Make sure you have Stacked Deck before engaging like this for extra damage). This will kill an enemy Mid laner with 300-350 HP with MR less than 35, depending on your Ability Power. This does not require any skill shot and I think this is what makes Twisted solid and strong.

I saw a lot of players replacing Ignite with Ghost. I guess their plan is to chase enemies with a gold card with extra speed... but I am not sure if it is worth losing extra bit of true damage in early game. Your main role is to KILL your enemy mid laner Katarina and you need extra bit of damage to finish her off. Also, Ghost + Gold Card is very predictable and chasing enemies for a few seconds puts you at risk.

I also tried using Exhaust against fast, melee AD champions like Yasuo (who also often uses Exhaust) but it kind of slowed down the mid lane and it ended up 0/0/0 until Level 6. That is not what you want, you need to play aggressive and get the First Blood (if you want to stick with this guide!)

The must bans are (if you can)
you must ban her O______O
You can fight, but you will have to play passive to stay alive

Optional bans are
can kill you one-shot, unless you activate Zhonya's Hourglass with good reaction
hardly picked but will destroy you
she will be much more useful than you in late game
Very strong champion, she is very easily fed unless you can shut her down

Staring at the base, your first items could be
+ x2

Also viable are
Boots + 3 Health Potion for dodging enemy skill shots Xerath Viktor
Amplifying Tome + 1 Health Potion for fast building Lich Bane
Cloth Armor + 5 Health Potion for fast building Zhonya's Hourglass

However, Doran's Ring + 2 Health Potion is recommended as it will give a significant boost to your survival in laning with a slight boost to Ability Power and mana per kill. Avoid selling it until late game, unless you want to complete Zhonya's Hourglass.

Laning is very different depending on enemy Mid laners. I recommend reading individual guides in the Vs. Champion section. However, in general, your Pick A Card will be the match decider. A Red Card will allow you a chance to fast push the lane, get out of the enemy midlaner's sight and then roam to Top or Bot. It can also be used to gain a little bit of extra range to damage enemy champions (by using AOE on a minion) or attack several minions who are both low health. A Blue Card will be your main harrassment against melee champions like Talon as it will return the mana cost and can be thrown indefinitely. Unlike what many believe, blue card is for MAINTAINING harrassment rather than RESTORING mana - level 1 Pick A Card restores only 10 mana and level 5 Pick A Card restores only 50, which will be only possible in LATE GAME. So don't be afraid to carry mana potions. Gold Card is the signature of Twisted Fate. The stun duration increases from 1.00 sec to 2.00 sec depending on skill level, and 2 sec stun is one of the longest stun available in LOL, only rivalled by strong skill shots such as Enchanted Crystal Arrow but its CD is ridiculously low, that can be further decreased by Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Use it when your jungler is ready to strike before level 6, but beware that holding a gold card or rolling Pick A Card for an extended amount of time gives an indication to the enemy that your jungler is nearby.

Another important thing, which most people know, would be Level 3-5 gank. Level 3 gank is pretty unexpected and effective, particularly if the fight at bot is quite intenstive and a small intrusion can make a big difference. Enemies may notice you walking towards their lane and back off and you lose CS at mid, but it may be a small sacrifice for the potential reward. So take risks if you think you might arrive in their lanes unnoticed. This will only work if you pushed your lane at level 3.

Enemy jungler will eventually gank the mid lane. Usually, if the enemy jungler decides to gank you for the first blood, you will be hit by his first skill shot at 03:20 which would be after the jungler took down wolves/golems + a red/a blue. In unusual cases, I saw some jungler ganking mid at 2:20-2:30 after doing wolves/golems only but usually you don't need to worry about it.

Below are the 4 essential ward positions
I saw some videos by Faker playing Twisted Fate, and he seems to enjoy getting Raptors whilst waiting for the next wave. I really don't recommend this, as Twisted Fate loses a lot of HP and loses roaming potential. Ok, you will level up faster but for what? Unlike other champions, reaching level 6 does not give you a damaging skill, like Shadow Dance. You may use Destiny a few seconds earilier, but your enemies know this regardless.

If you have done well in lane, you will have sufficient CS, more than 75% HP and the enemy mid laner will have less than 50% that forces him/her to go back to base. It is time to use Destiny to either Top and Bot, but this is kind of predictable once you reach late Gold/Platinum tiers, and enemies will stop pushing the lane because of you. If enemies keep pushing the lane when your Destiny is up, it may be an indication that their jungler is ready for your arrival or they got a plan for your arrival. Upon using Destiny, and indeed it looks like your introduction will only cause 50-50 chance of winning the subsequent fight, do not activate it. Probably think fast whether you can activate it at another lane or activate it to get back to your original lane or to blue buff... don't throw the game.

But if your Destiny is likely to net you a kill (such as an over-extending supporter level 4-5 Alistar Karma at bot or a vulnerable Top laner Cho'Gath, go for it after activating Pick A Card. But beware, do not target Champs like Ezreal who can easily blink to his tower. Morgana can negate your gold card, so throw it to Morgana if she decides to shield her ADC. Also, do not immediately throw a gold card after teleportation to Vladimir as he can become invulnerable. Also, be careful targeting strong melee champs such as Riven as she can easily get a double kill if your Top laner is not ready/low health. So think fast/smart.

If you have not done quite well in the lane, it is likely you are about 50% health and the enemy mid Laner is watching your movement intently. You need to be careful when using Destiny, as a midlaner such as Diana can not only cancel your Destiny but also follow you and kill you. However, you can still teleport if you manage to lose the enemy midlaner and change the tide of a fight at bot or top. If there are seperate fights in both Top and Bot, teleport to Bot for a bigger reward.

Also, whilst roaming, DO NOT be afraid to lose a few cs. It is not important for Twisted Fate. Even with 100 less CS compared to the enemy midlaner at the end of the game, you may obtain more gold due to passive and extra assists.

2v2 teamfight (midlaners, junglers) can take place at any time in early games. One instance is when a jungler decides to gank mid but the other jungler is prepared for the arrival. In this situation, you role is to quickly identify your stun target and inform it to your jungler by pinging.

Target the enemy champion with lower health. It is usually the jungler, who got his HP down by neutrals. Also, junglers seem to have an 'obligation' to take you down as he spent a lot of time travelling there. So they are likely to take more risks and you can more easily deal damage. At this stage, junglers and midlaners deal the same amount of damage and whoever goes down first will lose the overall team fight.

[/list]Target the enemy champion without escape. For instance, Katarina can ward-blink. However, if she is on CD, this won't matter and you may use this to your advantage.

[/list]Another instance of this 2v2 fight would be when your jungler invaded into the enemy jungle. The important thing here is the speed. You need to help your jungler quickly in order to take their jungler down and make the fight 2v1, as the enemy midlaner is sure to follow. Do not hestitate to use flash to gain early advantage, as an initial 1.25-1.50 stun can be crucial to the fight.

5v5 teamfights can take place in late games (Level 12-18). Twisted Fate can either decide to stay front to throw an opportunisic gold card and initiate the fight, or stay far behind in order to not get caught. Against strong 1-shot champions like Annie, you must stay behind because your death means your team are unable to stop strong melee champs like Talon from free kills. Once the fight starts, you need to be prepared to receive some significant damge to yourself but you must stun their carry, rather than the front lane such as tanky Shyvana, who are baiting you to target her. Target the enemy ADC if you can, but ADC is usually very behind the line and the best compromise you can make would be to target their Mid laner. If you can land a gold card + Wild Cards, you are in a serious advantage because their midlaner not only receives a significant damage but is also unable to attack. Use Zhonya appropriately to negate incoming attacks. But if the enemy can also stun you... but with more damage then it would be bad, which is why I avoid playing Twisted Fate against Annie.

A unique teamfight can arise due to Twisted Fate combo, which is Destiny + Pick A Card + Wild Cards + Zhonya's Hourglass. This is a very effective initiation if one of the enemy champs decides to push a lane alone and some of your teammates are willing to cooperate in your combo. This can be devastating if you use Destiny and gets insta-killed, so try read the game. A chinese player Misaya seems to be known to do this.