My name is Tyler “ecco” Spesick and I am the mid player for team MRN. This guide is for Twisted Fate, one of my favorite champions, and is for players who are looking to improve and refine their game play. I like this champion because he is extremely versatile and arguably the strongest mid champion in the game currently. He can be really annoying to play against because of his ability to gank around the map using his ultimate. A god-tier Twisted Fate player has the ability to go at least even in every possible lane match-up and he brings so much to every team composition.

Here's a video I made to accompany this guide just to show you how I play Twisted Fate. If you want to see more, be sure to follow my stream. I play Twisted Fate every game it is open in solo queue.

Pros

1. Strong laning phase.
2. Global map presence.
3. A spammable stun.
4. Best split pusher in the game.
5. High burst late game.
6. A global CV

Cons

1. Weak to high burst champions.
2. Very punishable if out of position due to no built in escape.
3. Easy to mess up pulling out the right card in high pressure situations.

Twisted Fate fits well in every team comp but he really excels in global comps. Keep in mind, it's also nice to have wave clear on another champion which allows them to defend 4v5, allowing Twisted Fate to easily split push.

Specifically, champions like Shen and Nocturne work really well with Twisted Fate because of their ultimates and overall kit. Shen ulting onto Twisted Fate as he gates in allows for very strong engages. Nocturne and Twisted Fate allows for very strong lane pressure but weaker team fights.

I wouldn't really say there are comps you should avoid picking Twisted Fate with. He is an S-tier champion and does well with and against everything when played right.

For summoner spells I like to play with Flash and Barrier. I think these are the most useful because they allow the player to play confident and to be an initiator. Twisted fate doesn't have a lot of kill potential in lane and doesn't have a real built in escape.

The other option besides barrier is to go the standard Ignite. However, it should only be chosen for the extra pressure in lane if you can be a lane bully. With that, I use ignite when I go 21/0/9 masteries as it gives me extra presence in lane. Otherwise, default to barrier because it is overall the better choice.

9x 9x 9x 3x

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Greater Mark of Magic Penetration Greater Seal of Armor Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

I take these runes because I feel they give Twisted Fate everything he needs. Movement speed is very important on him so I take that over flat AP. You have other options for runes, though. You can take scaling health yellows as opposed to armor but I very, very rarely do it anymore due to the option of being 2v1ed in mid.

This is the mastery page that I have begun running in season 4. I have stopped using the utility tree mastery page because it is just too support focused now. You don't get enough out of it to make it worth losing all of the AP damage that you gain from the offensive tree now. This is just the standard AP mastery page that I run on almost every AP mid now. It gives you everything you need out of the offensive tree to scale as hard as you can and then the utility helps your laning out by picking up the biscuits.

This is my standard skill sequence for Twisted Fate. I never change depending on match up, it always stays the same. The one thing I recommend you look out for with these abilities, though, is to try to be careful that you don't pick the wrong card or use your ultimate in an improper spot. Both of these just takes experience and practice to master.

Loaded Dice (Passive) Twisted Fate and his allies receive an additional 2 gold per kill. This is one of the strongest global passives in the game as it allows lanes more gold opportunities than their opponent. They will be naturally gaining more gold if they're at least even on CS, allowing them to slowly gain a gold advantage. Eventually this will stack up to 1-2k gold for doing absolutely nothing different but having a Twisted Fate on your team

Wild Cards Throws three cards which deal 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+65% of ability power) magic damage to each enemy unit they pass through. One of Twisted Fate's signature moves as it allows for very early pushing potential in lane and also serves as fantastic wave clear and poke.

Pick A Card Cast once to shuffle the deck and again to choose your card, enhancing your next attack. When first activated, cards flash over Twisted Fate's head in the following order: blue, then red, then gold (this cycle repeats itself). When he uses the ability again, he picks the current card over his head; the card picked converts his next attack to magic damage and adds a special effect. This attack cannot miss or crit. Blue Card deals 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+1.0 per attack damage) (+40% of ability power) bonus damage and restores 65% of the bonus damage in mana to Twisted Fate. The Blue Card has the largest single target damage out of all of the three choices and allows for Twisted Fate to have infinite mana in lane if used properly. It is great for harassing as well as poking turrets for a lot of free damage while also gaining mana. Spam this ability almost every time it is off cooldown early in lane to help you push the lane and to also stay topped off on mana. Ideally, this is the card you use on turrets when split pushing as it does the most damage. Red Card deals 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+1.0 per attack damage) (+40% of ability power) bonus damage to units around the target and slows their movement speed by 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% for 2.5 seconds. Red Card has the second highest base damage out of the three cards and also does it in an AoE around the target. This has a multiple of uses. First it can be used to harass in lane. If the opponent is hugging near their caster minions you can use a red card on the caster minions for harass. It can also be used to help push the lane quickly. If you are pushing the wave as it is still lined up and first meeting the lane, be sure to target the 2nd melee creep to allow the red card AoE to hit every melee minion. This card is used sometimes in team fights but not very often. Usually it would be used in synergy with something like a Sona ultimate where the enemy is very clumped up. Gold Card deals 15 / 22.5 / 30 / 37.5 / 45 (+1.0 per attack damage) (+40% of ability power) bonus damage and stuns the target for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds. This will be the card you want to use the most when ganking lanes and in team fights. It stuns the target, allowing for an easy follow up of wild cards giving a lot of guaranteed burst. Pick A Card is one of the strongest moves in the game and also one of the most spammable stuns. Gold card is part of the reason why I consider Twisted Fate to be a god-tier champion.

Stacked Deck Passive: Every 4 attacks, Twisted Fate deals an additional 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 (+40% of ability power) damage. In addition, his attack speed is increased by 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15% and his cooldowns are decreased by 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15%. The most overlooked of Twisted Fate's abilities, but it is also very, very strong. Scaling attack speed and CDR is extremely helpful and it also gives a decently scaling auto attack enhancement that will help with your burst.

Destiny Reveals all enemy champions (including stealthed champions) for 6 / 8 / 10 seconds. While Destiny is active, Twisted Fate can teleport with Gate. (5500 range) And now, the ultimate. The main reason why Twisted Fate has been gaining a 100% pick/ban rate in competitive play lately. It allows him to never leave his lane yet still have the potential to be anywhere on the map at the snap of a finger. In conjunction with pick a card and lich bane, it allows for him to be the strongest split pusher in the game. Use this ultimate to instill fear in other lanes. If you can ever use your ultimate to blow a lane's summoners it is worth it. You don't have to use it on cooldown but always let your teammates know when you have it up and always be on the look out for opportunities to use it. You can also use it to get out of sticky situations that you normally can't get out of. Make sure to wait for CC to be used before using your gate so they can't stop your way out!

You have two choices for starting items on Twisted Fate. The first is the flask start and the second is the boots start. I usually go with the flask route as Twisted Fate has no way to regenerate health other than health pots so it is very cost efficient.


Twin Shadows and Lich Bane are core on my Twisted Fate because they both give movement speed which is the most important stat for him. Twin Shadows also gives chasing potential when roaming, and also chasing/kiting potential in team fights. It is overall a cheap item that gives a lot of utility to Twisted Fate. Other than the movement speed on Lich Bane, it is core because it has great synergy with his Pick A Card ability. It will proc on the card and also gives him better split pushing due to Lich Bane passive proccing on turrets.

Zhonya's Hourgalss is the last core item and it is core because of the things it lets you due with Twisted Fate's ultimate. It allows for the infamous Misaya patented initiate (ulting in, using gold card + wild card and using Zhonya's) and you can also do the less common trick where you can stop your port mid-cast with Zhonya's and not port in. Overall it is just an amazing item that allows Twisted Fate to have much more versatile play and to be able to survive longer in team fights.

Against burst AP champions such as Xerath or Syndra you want to start off with Twin Shadows and then go either into Lich Bane or Zhonya's next depending on how hard you need to be engaging. Against AD assassin mids, such as Kha'Zix and Zed usually I will get a Doran's Ring into Sheen into Zhonya's. Then you go back and finish Lich Bane and also acquire your Twin Shadows. In match ups where you won't be taking a lot of damage and have more kill potential you can start with Lich Bane first.

In almost all of my builds, 99% of the time I get at least 1 Doran's Ring at some point.


These are great items to get after your core has been completed. The Rabadon's Deathcap gives you a huge boost in AP and your overall burst and poke damage. You'll be hitting waves, turrets, and enemies like a truck with this item plus your core. The void staff is another great supplement for AP damage. Around this time the opposing team will most likely have a good amount of magic resist. This item not only gives you more AP but more importantly allows you to ignore a lot of the magic resist the enemy has built up.


These items serve as replacements for Twin Shadows once you get into late game. Go Deathfire Grasp when you're not being focused very much in team fights and want to output more damage to one of the enemy's priority targets/threats. Rylai's is good for the extra chase/kite potential. If you have a hyper carry on your team and you're against a team with multiple divers, this is usually a good choice to help your team kite these threats. The Guardian Angel pick up is when you find yourself getting focused very hard in team fights and have trouble positioning correctly.

Most of the time Twisted Fate is picked for the middle lane, but has been used a couple of times as a support champion in Korea. However, this guide is for Twisted Fate middle lane so I'll be explaining it with that in mind.

To start you have two options. Like I mentioned above these are either the flask start (flask + 1 health pot + 1 ward) or the boots start (boots + 3 healh pots). I usually go the flask start for the extra sustain.

Be expecting to go up against one of the common mids you will be laning against such as Diana, Kha'Zix, or Zed, etc. Champions with high burst such as Ahri, or Annie can give you trouble in lane. A god-tier Twisted Fate player will go at least even in the worst of lanes, but it takes a lot of time to get to this point and few do.

In lane you want to push the lane 24/7 and constantly be on the look out for roaming opportunities. Keep both side brushes of your lane warded at all times so you can be more aggressive and to be pushed up further safely.

Once you're level 6 you need to constantly pay attention to the map to see when lanes are overextended so you can ult into them for good ganks. Make sure to ping and communicate with lanes to at least stay on top of the opposing laner's summoners.

When you have your ultimate, keep in mind that it is a strong ability to use against invisible champions like Twitch, Evelynn, Vayne, or Akali because your ult gives vision of invisible champions. Make sure to use your ult during team fights for the vision when you're up against a champion like that.

For CS, you should aim to be getting as much as possible obviously, but 80-90 is pretty okay at the 10 minute mark. From there, you want to be trying to get at least 10 a minute in an ideal game scenario.

For Mid Game, you want to again constantly keep your lane shoved and be on the look out for opportunities to roam and gank using your ultimate. The pace of the Mid Game really depends on what direction your team wants to take. Do they want to stretch lane phase out or do they want to focus on objectives? Usually you will just be sitting in a lane split pushing unless you are needed to group as 5 for an objective or a vulnerable tower. While you're split pushing you want to always buy a couple of wards so you can make sure it is safe.

During team fights you want to be holding hands with your AD Carry to chain-stun the enemy front line. If a squishy is out of position, though, feel free to help your team dive them with a Flash + gold card as you add a lot of burst. Remember, during team fights your most important job is to stay in the back, throw as much damage as you can, and peel for your AD Carry.

Mid Game you want to constantly exert pressure across the map with split pushing and your ultimate, so one of your main focuses for this phase will mostly be on turrets. You want to always ask yourself where your opponents are and what position your team has before continuing to push down a lane (am I safe to keep pushing?).

During this phase, you're still mostly split pushing unless you are a lot stronger than the opponents and they have a stronger late game. If that's the case, group with your team and try to force fights ASAP. Also, the most important thing for this phase of the game (as with most champions during this phase) is to not be out of position!!

At this point in the game, your Zhonya's Hourglass becomes even more important. How you use this item will make or break plays. It becomes very, very important so use it wisely.

You want to aim to have map pressure through your ultimate as usual. During things like splitting bottom while your team clears Baron is a very strong play.