Like most players that main TF, I've stuck with him nerf after nerf but completely stopped playing him when they changed his ult from global to 5500 range. I've gone through his many evolutions and game play changes and somehow figured out a way make him viable and competitive.

Yes, it's that time again to give it another shot and see if, even after all the nerfs he's been getting, he can still shine. Even though at his current state, I believe that he is underpowered but if played well, TF can be a force to be reckoned with.

Here's the most recent way I build him that I have found to be best suited for how he is at the time of this writing. Please give it an honest try and hopefully you too can become successful at playing this truly unique and versatile champion.

Get Destruction (armor and magic pen) reds and quints + attack speed yellows and blues. The first item you will be building, Guinsoo's Rageblade, is for attack damage, spell damage, and attack speed. The optimal way to take advantage of this weapon is to have it fully stacked to 8. Having a bit more attack speed in your runes and using PaC and Wildcards in addition to your regular attacks will get you to 8 in no time. The attack speed will help deliver higher sustained dps after your initial burst.

23 points in offense. Get Summoner's wrath for Ghost. Get the AD and AP branches on the offense tree covered. Then get Archmage and Executioner to help induce the freak out factor after your stun burst combo and finish touch when they get low.

7 points on defense. I put 3 points each on magic resist and armor for survivability and to help make their pokes hurt a little less then 1 point on Summoner's Resolve for Cleanse.

On top providing a quick escape from impending death, the extra movement speed will help get you to within gate distance of a gank or team fight and help chase victims down after you after your stun burst combo.

Even though TF has different types of CC that he can use with PaC to escape (gold stun for single target escape and red slow for multiple target escape if they are close together), if he is CC'd then he will die very quickly... this is where Cleanse will save your *** big time.

Also, if you are not positioned properly and it will take too long to get the right angle of attack, it is sometimes necessary to break through their tank/cc hell front line and combo b*tch slap their carry. Unfortunately, with your shorter range this could mean disaster for a really soft target like TF without Cleanse.

Many would rather get an offensive summoner spell to drop on your victim when you gate in so that it helps with a quick kill without much reciprocated damage but from my experience, staying alive and preventing your screen from turning grey during those clutch team fights more often than not displays Victory rather than Defeat right before you hit the continue button in the end.

If you are not already familiar with TF, he has an E passive that gets bonus damage from every 4th hit.

When stacked deck is ready or when it is one shot from ready, Use PaC and choose gold (stun if you can catch them wanting to trade or blue if they are very dodgy and keep running back to their tower so you can use it on a minion to gain mana back). Follow up a regular attack then wild cards after PaC everytime. Practice this stun burst combo because this is your bread and butter and you will be doing this over and over again.

Use the quick select then double tap trick to choose gold card twice without watching the rotation. (When you hit PaC, anticipate when red changes to gold and pick gold as soon as it turns so that you are in the beginning of the rotation cycle. The next time PaC is ready, just double tap it and you will get the gold card automatically.)

Just for reference, stun card is not necessarily to do damage but to just hold them in place for a second so that wild cards + stacked deck hits their mark. Even if you don't pick Gold by mistake (Blue card actually does more damage but it is harder to skill shot with wild cards since they might be on the move), just make sure that you are able to hit with wild cards + stacked deck. By the way, accidentally picking red is not bad either... you can get 2 to 3 auto attacks in there while they are slowed.

Alternate leveling wild cards and stacked deck until both are all the way then put points into PaC. As you've probably assumed, put points on your ulti every chance you get.

(procrastinated here)

(procrastinated yet again)