Hey Mobafire!
I'm Frixen! I've reached Challenger every season since Season 4, usually hovering around Master-Grandmaster division. I've been coaching League of Legends players since 2017, with over 3400 hours completed in doing so! I'm currently doing a guide for one champion in each lane, and TF is my choice for mid lane as I have over 500.000 mastery points with him as well as believe that he is one of the strongest picks to climb soloq due to his global presence.

You may find me over at:
https://www.twitch.tv/frixengg
https://twitter.com/Frixen_R2

Twisted Fate is a mid laner that can be played both as an AP carry and an AD carry. This guide will focus on the AP side of things!

Why would I play Twisted Fate?

• Twisted Fate has great global pressure.
• Twisted Fate is great at split pushing.
• Twisted Fate excels at wave clear.
• Twisted Fate doesn't have as many mana issues (due to Pick A Card Blue Card) as other mid laners.
  Twisted Fate is extremely proficient in SoloQ due to global presence, passive gold, point and click crowd control as well as a fairly simple kit (on the surface).

What are the problems with Twisted Fate?

• Twisted Fate is immobile
• Twisted Fate is very gankable
• Twisted Fate is hard to play when you really dig deep into the champion
• Twisted Fate has a lot of hard matchups

Twisted Fate has a great deal of summoner spells available to him, however one thing always stays the same no matter what:

Flash is a must!


However, the secondary spells vary quite often.

The default one would be Teleport. Teleport provides a lot to Twisted Fate. First and foremost it works the best with Unsealed Spellbook as it is the default summoner spell for that rune. It works well with one of the main things you will be looking to do as Twisted Fate - split pushing. It enhances the global presence your Destiny provides. You will be taking this secondary summoner spell 7 out of 10 games.


Other possible options include:

Ignite, Cleanse, Ghost, Heal, Barrier, Exhaust.

Let's talk about them!

Ignite - you will be taking this in matchups where you have kill pressure and/or in matchups where the enemy has a lot of healing. I personally take it into LeBlanc, Lux as well as Aatrox, Vladimir and MAYBE Sylas if I'm feeling confident.


Cleanse - you will be taking this in matchups where the enemy laner relies on CC to win the lane, or matchups where both the enemy mid laner and jungler have a lot of CC. I would take Cleanse into: Lissandra, Ahri and maybe Syndra and Cassiopeia.


Ghost - would only take ghost in team compositions where you will be chasing/engaging on the enemy frontline. I've seen this work into matchups that you can simply outrun to keep dealing DPS such as Lux, but personally, I wouldn't recommend taking it over Teleport if you're running Unsealed Spellbook ever. Really good against Xerath.


Heal - would only take this if you know enemy laner will not be running Ignite and you need that extra MS boost to get away from them. Example would be Malzahar mid. Wouldn't really take it either way. Try to stay away from it, and if you need defense, go for Barrier.


Barrier - take this into matchups that have high burst and kill potential on you. Mainly the champions that front load their damage such as Syndra or even Fizz. Maybe Kassadin (recommend Teleport against Kassadin).


Exhaust - the most underrated summoner spell for TF. Always take it into AD mid laners such as Yasuo, Talon, Zed and maybe Qiyana (this one will take time to get used to with Exhaust). It helps you not only avoid losing long fights but also chasing down the enemy, getting off as much DPS as possible, making anti-dive plays and such.

AP Twisted Fate has four different rune pages you will be looking at.

Important note before we get into them: If you don't know how to execute Unsealed Spellbook, do not run it.


The Pages:

against AP (as shown at the top, PLEASE read the notes next to the pages):

Primary Runes:



Secondary Runes:



Why?

You will be running this into AP matchups with the idea of sustain ( Time Warp Tonic), economy management ( Perfect Timing), playmaking ability ( Perfect Timing, Nimbus Cloak, Unsealed Spellbook), flexibility ( Unsealed Spellbook), scaling ( Gathering Storm) as well as easier wave management ( Minion Dematerializer).


against AD (as shown at the top, PLEASE read the notes next to the pages):

Primary Runes:



Secondary Runes:



Why?

You will be using the same primary runes, but the difference will come in the secondary and tertiary tree. Secondary tree you will be running Resolve, to help you not die in those long fights ( Bone Plating) as well as make use of the fact that you can push in against the said AD mid laners and get plates and turret pressure ( Demolish). The only thing you will be changing out in your tertiary tree is taking Armour instead of Magic Resist to battle the Physical Damage champions.


Rune page (as shown at the top, PLEASE read the notes next to the pages):

Primary Runes:



Secondary Runes:



Why?

You're going to be using this if you cannot efficiently use Unsealed Spellbook.
The idea behind this is heavy poking ( Arcane Comet, Scorch, Absolute Focus) with focus on playmaking and survival ability ( Perfect Timing, Nimbus Cloak) as well as wave management through ( Minion Dematerializer, Absolute Focus)

Take your last tertiary tree rune based on the matchup. Into AP matchups take Magic Resist rune, into AD matchups - Armour.


Rune page (as shown at the top, PLEASE read the notes next to the pages):


Primary Runes:



Secondary Runes:



Why?

This is what I like to call the - kill or bust page.

You take this into matchups you have kill pressure in, the ones you can confidently go in with the intention to kill. The idea is to have an instant burst of damage ( Electrocute, Cheap Shot, Absolute Focus) when you get onto someone, as well as playmaking and survival ability ability ( Nimbus Cloak, Relentless Hunter) as well as scaling via killing through Eyeball Collection.

Take your last tertiary tree rune based on the matchup. Into AP matchups take Magic Resist rune, into AD matchups - Armour.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Loaded Dice is Twisted Fate's passive ability! Each time Twisted Fate kills an enemy unit he rolls a dice that gives him between 1 and 6 extra gold. It's a very straight forward passive that allows you to gain economical advantage in lane quite easily.

Q ABILITY

Wild Cards is Twisted Fate's primary wave clear and poke ability. We max this ability first in most matchups for damage and wave clear. Once you press Q Twisted Fate shoots out three cards from his deck, one travelling directly in front, two others fading into the sides. You can try to angle the ability in a way where you clear the minions as well as hit the enemy champion with another card at the same time.

W ABILITY

Pick A Card is perhaps the most important non-ultimate for Twisted Fate. Twisted Fate draws one out of three possible cards from his deck. The three cards (Blue, Red, Gold) all have different effects, and whichever card appears first on the screen is random, however they will always go in the order shown above.
Red Card slows the enemies as well as deals Area of Effect (AoE) damage. It is primarily used to clear the waves faster in tandem with Wild Cards.
Blue Card deals the most damage out of the three as well as refunds mana. Use it to sustain yourself as well as get quick poke in the lane.
Gold Card stuns the target between 1 and 2 seconds depending on the level of the ability as well as deals the least amount of damage. Use this to gank, set up ganks for yourself, win all ins, trades, etc. Max this ability after the Q.

E ABILITY

Stacked Deck is a passive ability meaning you don't have to click it. It gives you passive attack speed, as well as stacks every three auto attacks. At the third stack you gain extra damage. Be mindful of it and use it wisely! Really good in short trades and outbursts. Max this last!

ULTIMATE(R) ABILITY

Destiny is your ultimate ability. It is the main reason why Twisted Fate has such immense pressure at all points in the game post level 6.

upon using this ability Twisted Fate gains true sight of all the enemies for 6 to 10 seconds depending on the level of the ability.

He can recast this ability to teleport to a location after a 1.5 second channel time. The range for the teleport is 5500 and it costs 100 mana at all levels (since patch 10.10).

STARTING ITEMS

Twisted Fate generally has several options available to him - Doran's Ring, Corrupting Potion, Boots, Dark Seal, Cloth Armor and even Doran's Blade in some cases. However I recommend mainly starting with either Doran's Ring or Corrupting Potion and only taking Cloth Armor when you're into a really tough AD matchup, while not touching others at all. When would I go for which though? Glad you asked!


STANDARD STARTING ITEMS



That is going to be our standard set. You will be taking this into every matchup that isn't extremely volatile with long and tedious trades. Doran's Ring provides you great sustain with the mana regen coupled with 60 health, as well as enhances your trading and poking via the 15 ability power it provides. The 2 Health Potions are a given as you will be left with 100 gold after buying it. You want the Stealth Ward at the start as that will help you get vision and protect yourself from ganks.


VOLATILE LANE STARTING ITEMS



This will be our set against VOLATILE lane opponents that we will want to trade with. You will quickly realize that you end up taking Corrupting Potion way more often than you do the Doran's Ring, simply because Time Warp Tonic works great with it as well as the fact that a lot of lanes Twisted Fate ends up in tend to be volatile, due to the fact that he is immobile which means he is easily gankable, while at the same time, has point and click crowd control in his Pick A Card ability, which makes ganking for him quite easy. Trading with him, you tend to take long trades, which means you will be looking to use that extra damage over time Corrupting Potion provides. It's a great item, and I recommend taking it as often as possible.


CORE ITEMS



These two are your bread and butter. You rush Everfrost as soon as possible to get it stacked up as soon as possible. It gives you tankiness, sustain (mana, health) and more importantly is CHEAP stats. Coupled with Loaded Dice you will get it as fast as possible.

After that, go ahead and get Dark Seal, which works great with Destiny. You will be auto attacking a lot even with AP Twisted Fate. After Dark Seal, please finish Zhonya's.


SITUATIONAL ITEMS

• This item works really well for Twisted Fate, especially if you have Perfect Timing which reduces the cost of Zhonya's Hourglass. However a common misconception is that Zhonya's is a core item for Twisted Fate. That is not true. If the game is going great, and you haven't used your Perfect Timing yet, they don't have fed AD threats and you're getting ahead, often it is more beneficial to get Rabadon's Deathcap or Mejai's Soulstealer over the Zhonya's while you still have your Perfect Timing. If you have other primary engagers on your team such as Sejuani or Leona, maybe even Blitzcrank that you will be relying on going first, Zhonya's isn't really a must in those scenarios.
  
  
  
• Deathcap is a great item for every mage. If you're ahead you can get it early, if not, you can wait until later to get it. If they are buying Magic Resist, look to get Void Staff before buying Rabadon's.
  
  
  
• This is the tank killer. Only get it if they're buying a lot of Magic Resist.
  
  
  
• A very situational item that helps you primarily against grevious wounds and squishy targets. If they're not buying MR and you want to shred their squishy targets, go ahead and get Oblivion Orb but don't finish the Morellonomicon itself. If they have a lot of healing champions such as Soraka, Nami, Dr. Mundo or Aatrox, go ahead and finish the Morellonomicon. It is a MUST against high healing champions.
  
  
  
• This item heavily relies on you being ahead and not dying. Only buy this if you have a ton of kills, and you haven't died. Only buy this if you're certain that you aren't going to die with it. It gives you bonus AP based on the amount of stacks you have, and you stack the item by getting kills and assists.
  
  
  
• Rapid Firecannon or RFC for short is an item that can help out Twisted Fate immensely by letting you have longer range for Pick A Card, as well as extra attack speed for Stacked Deck. I would only ever buy this if fights are extended, and you need to keep getting those auto attacks off, maybe catch the enemy off-guard with a very long range gold card.
  
  
  
• Only buy this into heavy AP teams or teams that have abilities that could sway the whole fight such as Blitzcrank or Nautilus hook.
  
  
  
• Only ever get this into champions like Malzahar, Skarner, Warwick. It's not a must, but it helps immensely if you plan on using your Destiny aggressively as well as using Flash for engages.

BOOTS




Boots deserve their own section as Twisted Fate has so many different options available to him.

• These boots are great on Twisted Fate, especially into AP matchups. They're not only great because of the Magic Resist they provide but also the Tenacity. So if they have a lot of hard crowd control (stuns, snares, binds) I suggest getting these ASAP. If you're playing into a volatile AP matchup such as LeBlanc, I suggest getting these ASAP.
  
  
• Get these against heavy AD, auto attacking comps. Could prove lethal into matchups like Zed, Yasuo, Talon.
  
  
• Due to cooldown reduction not only on spells but also summoner spells, these boots have great synergy with Unsealed Spellbook. If you won lane and they don't have a lot of crowd control, get these to make more plays around the map.
  
  
• I would only get these into teams that primarily rely on slows. So for example if they have champions like Karma, Tryndamere, Nasus etc. Generally very situational and not recommended in most cases.
  
  
• Recommended for mages, however not recommended for Twisted Fate, as other options are simply more appealing. You can however get this if you're far ahead and they're not buying MR as it gives you flat penetration. It will help you go for lethal bursts.

EARLY GAME

Much like most League of Legends champions, Twisted Fate's laning phase is matchup dependant. However generally the most important thing for Twisted Fate is the wave management and short trades, poke.


Key factors to winning lane as Twisted Fate:

• whenever the enemy goes for CS auto attack them.
  
• whenever you need mana, use your Pick A Card Blue Card on the enemy if you can. If not, use it to zone them off the wave.
  
• Use your Stacked Deck as a way of poking the enemy.
  
• When waveclearing with Wild Cards or Red Card, try to hit the enemy as well.
  
• Into melee matchups, freeze the wave and don't let them come next to it, build it and then crash.
  
• Into ranged matchups, look to trade them and make them CS under turret if their champion sucks at doing so.
  
• Don't forget to use Minion Dematerializer on caster creeps to be able to wave clear faster.

Once you hit level 6, look to roam to a side lane using Destiny, then Recall, get items and rinse and repeat. After you get your first or second back, ideally you should have at least a Catalyst of Aeons. After you got that, look to shove and either fake roam by disappearing out of vision, and in that time getting your own vision around the river/enemy jungle entrance areas, or taking the enemy Raptors.

Important reminder: you do not need to kill in lane to win as Twisted Fate. Your Loaded Dice passive gold generation means you win by just going even in CS, your Destiny makes sure you win by roaming and moving around the map.


MID GAME

Mid game is where Twisted Fate shines. At this point you should have Rod of Ages and look to shove and roam. This is where your champion wins games.

Once you got Rod of Ages and some sort of boots, start shoving waves as hard as you can using Pick A Card Red Card as well as Wild Cards. After you shove in the waves, look to roam as much as possible. If you can't roam, do fake roams. Just disappear out of vision, take Raptors if you can't. Place Control Wards wherever you can.

Once you roam and kill/force the opponents out of lane look to take objectives such as Turrets, Dragons or Rift Herald. Don't be afraid to go deep into enemy jungle to get vision on the enemy jungler so you know where he is later and what is his pathing.


LATE GAME

In late game Twisted Fate can act as an engager, get picks, splitpush, be a backline mage or sometimes even a peeler for the ADC.

Your goal is to create unfavourable map scenarios for the enemy team via splitpushing since you have incredible rotational power with your Destiny and Teleport.

If your team has good dive potential, for example Camille, Amumu, Hecarim, Karma, Sivir in your team, go ahead and look for Flash + gold card engages.


Split pushing as Twisted Fate can be quite complex and tough as he is not your typical split pusher with a ton of attack damage, attack speed and mobility. He relies more so on drawing the enemy pressure and rejoining your team via Destiny or Teleport.


To split push has Twisted Fate you have to make sure of these circumstances:

• The map side you're split pushing on is lit up with wards
• The enemy team doesn't have Baron Nashor or Elder Dragon pressure (champions that take barons fast, baron vision, super far ahead where they can just do it, etc.)
• Enemy team doesn't have someone that can match you and stop you before you can do anything. Prime example would be Kassadin with Teleport up. He can cancel your Destiny channel with his Q, burst you in an instant, and you cannot escape him due to his Rift Walk.

Split pushing as Twisted Fate is extremely difficult to pull off and requires a lot of practice. You need to make sure you're reacting to the map movements by your allies, by the enemies, make sure you see and seize the opportunities to rotate or push further. Do not fall into the loop of doing one or the other over and over. Patience is key.


Playing as an engager on Twisted Fate is quite simple.

The most common way of engaging if you're playing Twisted Fate, is pulling a gold card, using Destiny to teleport next to the enemy team, using the gold card and instantly going into Zhonya's Hourglass stasis mode to not get bursted down while your team kills their team.

Another way you can do it, is just teleporting in with Destiny and going stasis with Zhonya's Hourglass to bait out the cooldowns.

You can also use Gold Card + Flash to engage on the closest opponent.


If you're playing TF as a backline mage, do not ever overstep, and just keep kiting and using gold cards efficiently. You can use red cards if the enemy team is piled up, but avoid using blue cards almost ever unless you can execute the enemy with it.

No matter which Twisted Fate you're playing - minimap is your best friend.

Thank you for reading the guide! I sincerely hope it helps in your future Twisted Fate games!


It would mean the world to me, if you could click any of these links and follow me on Twitch, subscribe to my YouTube or follow me on Twitter.
If you want coaching or have any questions about anything, please join the Discord below!

https://www.twitch.tv/frixengg
https://twitter.com/Frixen_R2
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX9MhmosDuYRXnBIHQcd84w?sub_confirmation=1
https://discord.io/Frixen

I stream every day from 2 PM CET (Central European Time).