I. Introduction
II. Skill Explanations
III. Summoner Spell Explanations
IV. Rune Explanations
V. Mastery Explanations
VI. Core Item Build Sequence
VII. Laning & Play Style
-- Early Game Phase
-- Mid Game Phase
-- Late Game Phase
VIII. Tricks & Strategies
IX. FAQs
X. Change Log





So how many Twisted Fate have you seen lately? If you're getting into the games I'm getting into, you've probably seen very few. What does this tell us about Twisted Fate? Absolutely nothing! If you follow this guide you'll be wondering why heis so underplayed (IMO) right now. This guide focusses on using Attack Damage and Attack Speed. Whatever you prefer: solomid, solo- or duolane, it doesn't matter with this build, it will work. Sceptical? You should be! But just keep reading.




Pros:
- Strong and durable early game
- Even stronger in mid and late game
- His ultimate gives view of the enemies
- His ultimate allows for great ganks / finishers
- TF has a stun and a slow
- Easy to last hit minions with
- Good pusher

Cons:
- TF is squishy, especially later on
- You need to use your cards at the right moment


Loaded Dice - Free extra gold on each kill, HURAY!

Wild Cards - Throws three cards in a cone, deals magic damage. We don't focus on this skill!

Pick A Card - Picks a card and gives a stun / slow / mana regeneration on top of extra dmg. This is what makes Twisted Fate uuhm ... Twisted Fate!

Stacked Deck - Passive skill that increases your attackspeed and decreases your cooldowns. Oh and don't forget a big damage bonus every few hits.

Destiny - This ultimate makes you pewpew across the map. Help out your teammates, or take the 20 hp Twitch down wherever he goes.


Exhaust: This spell, combined with your runes and masteries, make the difference between you dying against the enemy team carry and you killing their carry.
+
Flash: This is your get out of jail free card (see what I did there!?). Use it for escaping or attacking. This spell will make the difference between Annie disapearing behind the tower with 50 health, or Annie raging cause she died after you flash + attacked her.

You may exchange Exhaust with whatever spell you like. Exhaust is good against carries and to disable in teamfights. Just make sure to pick another Mastery if you drop Exhaust. Currenly I'm testing:

Ignite: Some consider it overkill, I consider it as a spell that helps you put out just that extra bit of damage to guarantee the kill. Extra damage never hurt anyone.. well.. you know what I mean ^^.
+
Flash: This is your get out of jail free card (see what I did there!?). Use it for escaping or attacking. This spell will make the difference between Annie disapearing behind the tower with 50 health, or Annie raging cause she died after you flash + attacked her.




These runes give you more survivability in early game, they also give you more damage than your opponents.

You deal more damage than your enemy.
You receive less damage than your enemy.
Endresult: You will kill the enemy before he kills you.

This does not mean getting into a 1v1 fight with any given champion will result in a free kill! It means you have an advantage, so use it!


Against some champions you need to play better/smarter than they do. If you manage to do this you will win. Sounds simple right ;) ?

NOTE
I advice you use these runes. I usually used Attack Damage marks. But it is your choice really. Both work just fine! If you play smart enough you can win with basicly any runes. These runes are just my personal favourites.




21/9/0 your basic damage dealing mastery build, with some defensive masteries to go with your runes.



This is my revised item build. After experimenting with different item builds, I believe these items will give you everything you need. The reason I took out Sword of the Divine was after some theorycrafting + putting it to the test. The movement speed, crit and attackspeed increase from 2x panthom dancer seem alot better (both in damage and survival)!

The item build focus on AD and attack speed. Lifesteal is very good as well on Twisted Fate.
So start out with a Doran's Blade. This helps you deal more damage and the lifesteal + health gives you plenty of survivability.
When you go shopping at around level 6 get Berserker's Greaves and 2 or 3 Health Potion if you can.
If you do not have enough gold, get Boots first.
After your boots are completed, get Phantom Dancer.
After you've gotten your first Phantom Dancer, get a B. F. Sword! Right now you are very powerful already if you haven't fallen behind (level/kill-death wise).
Now get another Phantom Dancer. Thats right! You now have two of them!

From here on out you may choose!
a) Turn your B.F. Sword into Infinity Edge.
b) Turn your B.F. Sword into Bloodthirster.

I suggest going for Infinity Edge first. With all the crit you now have, you drop 20% of their squishies health per hit at the very least.
After this the game is usually over for me. This is already quite expensive as it is. Feel free to throw in Last Whisper if you need the armor penetration. You could also go for a defensive item, but that's up to you.


IMPORTANT NOTES
These are personal preferences, I will update these as I test more things. If you have any other great item choices let me know, I will put them in the guide if they work well.



Focus on last hitting and harassing their champions whenever you can. You could go for an early kill with these runes/masteries and a good timed stunningcard. This depends on the enemy champion(s) you're facing and you're lane partner if you have one.
You will want to damage/stun (gold card) the enemy if he can CC you or does more damage.
You will want to damage/slow (red card) the enemy if he is either weaker than you or he's already CC'd by your teammate.
Use damage/mana regeneration (blue card) whenever you need mana or when you're lasthitting single minions.

NOTE
This is just an indication on how to use the cards, feel free to mix things up.

Keep focussing on last hitting minions while looking for a good moment to gank the other lanes with Destiny. Go for lizard buffs and dragon kills if you can. Whenever you want to damage an enemy champion, try to do it with the proc of Stacked Deck for alot of burst damage. Your main damage source after that is auto attacking with good use of damage/stuns (gold card) to kite, and damage/slows (red cards) in teamfights.

In a teamfight ask yourself this: do I need to stun (interrupt) one of the opponents to make us win this teamfight? If so, stun that opponent (i.e. katarina ult / xin zhao / malzahar ult). If not, you might as well deal as much damage as you can with your red card.

Ok just keep doing what you do best. In this phase of the game, teamfights will decide a win or lose. Whenever there's a teamfight about to start, step back! You do not want to get caught in the first few seconds of a teamfight, unless you outnumber them. If you attack straight away, you will die very fast. You're an assassin type of champion, act like it!
Wait untill the fight has started. Get in, throw your card + a few auto attacks, then back off. Repeat. Don't hope for the enemy team to focus your tank so that you can keep throwing cards at them. Play as if you're playing with people that are better than you!

NOTES TO BE CAREFUL OF

Be aware of fed enemy champions. If you're in solo qeue, by now you should have a feeling for what your team will do when you Destiny near the enemy. Will they run screaming, or will they help you out? Don't get too excited with your ultimate, you are squishy remember? I sometimes warp into the enemy to finish him, and get slaughtered by the enemy team instead. So keep it cool!


TRICKS AND STATEGIES

If you wish to see this build in action. Check out my commentary video below, English is not my mother tongue so I hope you understand what the heck im saying.

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If you can use something to your advantage, do it! There's no 'being lame' in war! Sure, this is just a video game. But the setting is quite the same: Player Versus Player (army vs army, commander vs commander, soldier vs soldier, depending on the game).

Oh for all those people that hate on campers in first person shooters, even Sun Tzu says campers are the smart/better ones. So stop complaining before I go Sun Tzu on you!





Let me know if there's anything else that needs explanation in the 'tricks and strategies' department.


Q. Do you have any video's or a stream to see this in action?
Q. What does the title of the guide mean?

Q. Will you answer more questions?

5th of march 2011 7th of march 2011