Welcome

Please comment and try my build before voting.
Get to know Twisted Fate first, and how to use him situationally to realize the plausibility of this build.
This build will always be kept up-to-date with metagame shifts.

Abbreviated Terms
AP = Ability Power
AD = Attack Damage
AS = Attack Speed
MS = Movement Speed
MR = Magic Resistance
ArP = Armor Penetration
MPen = Magic Penetration
DPS = Damage Per Second
CC = Crowd Control
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
OOM = Out of Mana
MIA = Missing In Action
CS = Creep Score



You have stumbled upon my 5th guide for mobafire, this time, I am attempting to reinvent Cardmaster. When I first joined this site I decided to contribute my knowledge and playstyle of my most-played champion, Twisted Fate.

• When TF first came out, I the fell in love with playing champions hybrid. That way I thought I was maximizing the champion's potential if they had a fast auto-attack but also happened to scale off of AP. However, after a while I realized hybrids fail late game as they don't give a champion enough AD to penetrate armor or enough AP to penetrate MR.
• I have been able to play all types of playstyles for him, finding AP TF to best be played as a utility carry.
• You can find my first (now archived) hybrid build I created here.
• After playing hundreds of games with TF, I have settled playing AD/DPS when my team needs a ranged carry mid. It allows for very strong advantages of being a super carry that hybrid and AP can not fulfill.

Below are the pros and cons of playing AD Twisted Fate.

Pros

• Global map control
• TF's lvl 6 presence: leads to lane dominance
• Insane damage output all game long
• Constant CC
• Great farming
• Unstoppable Ganks (anytime, anywhere)

Cons

• Extremely squishy
• Short AA range
• Renders Wild Cards useless
• Must have a team built around him
• Must have good tanks to protect him

Summoner Spells

Ghost
Fairly standard summoner spell on ranged carries. Helps you run, whether that be to the battle or away from it, it'll get you going faster. Twisted Fate has a fairly low base movement speed so this spell is quite helpful for chasing, fleeing, and re-positioning.

Flash
I like to choose this as my second spell, purely for the amazing escaping and initiating abilities it gives you. When you get really good with Flash, it's hard to not take it on a squishy. I can't tell you how many times I have gotten away from 5 man ganks with 50 or less HP with a well-timed/placed Flash.


Acceptable substitute for Flash.

Exhaust
Another cookie-cutter spell helpful for ensuring kills as well as stopping yourself from being killed. Adds a damage reduction (defensive proponent) and slow to the enemy target, providing solid CC for a short duration in case your gold card is on CD or you are about to get auto-attacked to death. Greatly increases your viability in 1v1 battles.

Runes
I find these runes to be the best choice for my particular item build.

Greater Mark of Desolation ArP Marks are always the best choice for champions looking to maximize their AA output.
Greater Seal of Vitality Extra HP over time. Seeing as TF levels up faster than most, you will be able to utilize these runes to their full potential.
A decent amount of MR goes a long ways and these runes will help you survive against pesky nukes.
Flat Health is amazing early game and continues to thrive late game. Thank them when you get away with < 90 HP left. Combined with an early set of 3 Doran's Blades and not only are you pumping out damage, you can take a few hits as well.



Masteries
I go with a standard 9/0/21. This gives me high CDR early on, buff and utility control/advantage, and low CD's on my summoner spells.

- Haste & Blink of An Eye for their respective summoner spell buffs.
- Deadliness for the additional 2% crit.
- Sorcery for the 3% CDR.
- Sunder for the extra 2 ArP.
- Good Hands to get you back alive quicker.
- Awareness to nab your ultimate faster.
- Meditation for mana regen = more use of red/gold card.
- Utility Mastery for use of the jungle buffs to increase damage output.
- Quickness to be quicker than most mid opponents (higher base MS).
- Presence of the Master for optimal use of Ghost & Flash.

Abilities

Wild Cards

I don't touch this skill until the end.
This is the disadvantage of playing AD, Wild Cards are generally useless and never leveled.
It is a long-range poke that deals tons of damage early game (if played AP), and continues to scale into late game nuking.
However for an AD TF we will only utilize this ability to drop Banshee's Veil bubbles or Spell Shields.

Pick a Card

I get a point in PaC for harass early on.
This is raised variably, I start of with it to get the last-hitting effects of blue card (costs no mana).
The red card AOE damage is also great mid-game when you can clear the wave quickly afterwards.
A repeated leveling between this and Stacked Deck is good.

Stacked Deck

I get a point in this at level 2 for easier last hitting.
This is raised variable, after a few points in PaC as it does more damage more consistently.
Remember to charge it to x3 before you go in for maximum damage in PaC harassing or ganking.

Destiny

I get my ultimate every time it is available (6,11,16)
The reason Twisted Fate is still viable in today's game, after the nerfs.
Fairly straightforward: Hit 'R' and you see everyone, hit 'R' once again and click ANYWHERE and you shall teleport there.
Useful for easy ganks, killing stealth champs, backdooring bases, and pushing lanes
You can recall back to base right when you hit level 6 (if needed) then come right back in to gank mid or any side lane.

PaC

A true Cardmaster will be able to pull any card they want, at any time, as fast as possible. When you activate the ability and it starts to cycle, you can repeat "Blue, Red, Gold" in your head while looking at the ability bar until the card you prefer shows up for you to lock-in.

What to use and when:
Blue Card for last-hitting (they do the most damage and cost no mana)
Red Card for harass (applies AOE damage + slow, great for last-hitting multiple targets)
Gold Card for ganks (annoying stun, devastating to enemy teams if pulled in rapid succession in teamfights)


Double-Tapping

Contrary to popular belief: Pick a Card is never random; from the first time you activate the ability it goes in the order of Blue -> Red -> Gold. Depending on what card you locked-in, it will start there next time. If you selected Gold Card, and you double-tap the next time you used PaC, you would get Gold Card again. The double-tap takes advantage of the "delay" between card shifts.

However you can not keep double-tapping to get Gold Cards everytime. The "delay" between card shifts gets much shorter after the first time. This means you are generally only able to double-tap for another Gold once, and only if you previously selected Gold as early as possible, giving you a long enough delay (milliseconds) to double-tap afterwards.

(The advanced double-tapping technique takes time to learn, and it applies to all cards blue, red, or gold.)

Core Item Build:

Start: Doran's Blade

Berserker's Greaves after, the early AS will increase your DPS and let you farm quicker/easier.

Doran's Blade x2: This gives you a cheap amount of health, high AD, and lifesteal. I always stack 3 now, combined with your Quints you have high survivability coupled with damage output.

Infinity Edge: Hands down best item in the game for AA's. I rush this on most the ranged carry's I play, the crits devastate people early game and the extra AD is awesome.

The Black Cleaver: This item is great on TF after the changes. It gives you the extra ArP combined with the last inch of AS you need and more AD. After this purchase, you should notice a substantial increase in your DPS.

The Bloodthirster: The icing on the cake for all your damage. This will be your final damage item purchase, and will give you the lifesteal needed to sustain a push, along with the bonus damage to tear apart any champion that stands in your way to their Nexus. Your farming is ridiculously fast at this point, so don't worry about not being able to cap that +40 AD bonus.


End Game Items:

At this point you should start to purchase more survivability as the enemy team is recognizing the threat you oppose to them.

Atma's Impaler
This seems like a suprising item choice. Everyone automatically assumes Impaler is only for tanks, or kids that use Warmog's on DPS champions (lolz). I am here to tell you that this is a common misconception. This item is relatively cheap for what it gives. And it is everything you really need on Twisted Fate. Armor, Crit chance, and a small amount of AD. This item will let you truly backdoor turrets with the armor it provides (allowing you to actually tank them!). The high crit chance is amazing as well, letting you get more I-Edge 250% procs and you have naturally higher amount of health for a carry with your rune choices. Once again, don't knock it until you've tried it, it's an amazing item for carries (and you don't need to stack HP for it to be useful!)

Banshee's Veil
BV is almost always a staple item for most champions I play. Get this and never be afraid of CC (when it's off CD). Additional HP, MP, MR and on top of that you get a bubble. Who doesn't want a bubble? Protection from enemy initiations is just what a carry needs. It's an awesome item overall.

Phantom Dancer
55% AS. 30% Crit. 15% MS. This is a great item for TF. Especially with your build you can really maximize your damage, but I only take this when I truly have a sad team and need to super carry to victory. It will give you Penta-Kills if the rest of your build is complete and you are fed, but other than that I like to buy survivability over it with the two previous items listed.

Increasing your creep score is essential to being a good carry. This will make you more farmed and more threatening.

Early Farming Basics:

Taken from JunSupport. He creates wonderful guides, and I've learned alot from him. Please check him out and comment on his builds, I started playing AP TF because of him.

This is something everyone should learn ASAP. As a carry, this is critically important, because you're dependent on your items and will fail harshly if you rely on your base stats and abilities.

1. Never mindlessly attack the minions. This will cause your minions to push closer to the enemy turret; in a bot game this is good, in a normal game it will lead to you getting ganked and crushed.
2. Let your minions attack, and watch for the enemy unit being damaged most. Attack accordingly to score gold. This will keep your wave from pushing too far ahead.
3. Always be walking around. Try to avoid the enemy, and stay behind/beside your minions. Idling will give your enemy time to aim for harass damage.
This will also allow you to stay near the enemy minions without auto-attacking them.
4. Tank minions and Melee minions give more gold. (Just thought I'd throw that in there)
5. Pay special attention to MIAs, and browse the mini-map every so often in case your allies forget or don't call them.
6. Run in closer to a target minion before last-hitting to ensure your attack hits the mark.
7. If you're taking lots of damage, stay back (turret-hugging if necessary) and soak exp. Your EXP can be just as important as your farming, so when you can stay safe, don't back out.
8. For TF if you are not able to handle your opponent mid, soak EXP until level 6 so you can port back with your ultimate, allowing you to buy an item and gank a sidelane or get back to farming.

Video on Demand


Below you will find in-game footage from a recent match of bigfatjiji (arguably the best LoL player atm) playing almost this exact build with the exception of bringing Tri-Force for fun since he is using a "REAL MAN build".

Play attention to how well he last-hits and try to mimic that in your own games.
Look for advanced PaC techniques he employs such as "double-tapping" for gold cards.
It is a quite lengthy 4-part movie, but it is very enjoyable to anyone who plays TF and likes watching high-level play.

More chapters will be added to this guide as it expands.

Look for...

Backdooring to Success
(How to direct your teammates, while you backdoor the enemy.)

Snowballing to Failure
(Why snowballing never works against any good team.)

Situational Item Builds
(What to build, when to build it, and why.)

Comment

Remember, never ever initiate a teamfight. You come in as an assassin, when they least expect it to pick off single players. Twisted Fate is an anti-carry, assassin, and support player. With this exact building preference you should be able to dominate mid against any opponent and gank opposing champions all game. Your advantage is your ability to punish champions for making mistakes. With experience and the playing of this guide you will learn how to consistently win games.

Please comment with any questions/concerns you have.

- PFP