Before your read all this:

Please keep in mind to never rate a guide before trying it out first, unless you've already tried it.
Trying does not mean playing 1~2 games just to see what happens. :)
Really put yourself out there for trying the build, at least 5 games to really see what could happen when you use the build.

Remember to comment and be open with your thoughts!


Updates:

• Mar. 8, 2011 - Officially discontinuing this guide. If you found it... Move along, nothing to see. :3
• Mar. 5, 2011 - Archiving the guide until the Tanky DPS meta is resolved, TF can't function properly with all the bruisers out damaging him with greater defenses.
• Mar. 5, 2011 - Matched Madred's beside Rageblade as the 2nd core item.
• Mar. 4, 2011 - Made an "old updates" section.
• Mar. 4, 2011 - Incorporated Thornmail and Guardian Angel into the build as optioned items.
• Mar. 4, 2011 - Placed Guinsoo's Rageblade into the Item Sequence. Feels much more satisfying then working on life steal.
• Mar. 4, 2011 - Removed Bloodthirster.
• Mar. 2, 2011 - Added end game items to the Item-Sequence.
• Feb. 24, 2011 - Moved Pick A Card skilling earlier to match Stacked Deck. I realize now that the difference between a 1 second stun and 2 second stun is large.
• Jan. 12, 2011 - Updated "Exhaust" description (finally). It is now paired beside Ignite as viable Carry spell choiices due to it's amazing ability to shut down an opponent.

Introduction

Anyone whose seen my AP Twisted Fate build knows that I am (was?) vehemently against building AD/Hybrids. This is because Twisted Fate has a lack of range and survivability that makes playing him as a carry very very difficult.

The youtube commentator, coldturkey49, finally released a video on our beloved Twisted Fate. What I saw was quite interesting.

Going for a hybrid build, he suggested rushing an item that had completely escaped my attention during my earlier gaming with TF, Trinity Force.
Having thrown something at me that I hadn't tried yet, I gave it a whirl.

I found this type of build surprisingly refreshing, as it requires a much lower level of concentration to play with. I had found my alternative Twisted Fate build for when I just wanted to play casually.

So, now I'm attempting to summarize that build for mobafire to see how others like it. Enjoy~

Hard V.S. Soft Carry: Twisted Fate

Starting off, what is a carry?

• Carry: A champion built to kill more efficiently then other champions then others.

This separates them from:

• Tanks: Champs built to endure more damage, or punish those who attack them.
• Nukes: Champions who are able to achieve high peak damage.
• Supports(Utility): Champions of unique-focused capacities that assist Carries, Tanks, and Nukes in combat, yet don't qualify to be be any of the former three. (Healing, Shielding, CC, etc.)

However, it doesn't end there. Each of these labels only describe the main purpose of a champion. Because not all skills are exactly the same, these terms an be branched out based on various degrees.

In this case,
Hard and Soft carries.

A hard carry possesses skills designed for the destruction of their targets.
An excellent example would be Kog'maw. Even his passive is directly designed to further his damage output, even when losing a battle.
These champions are generally dependent on items, so require a lot of early-game work to succeed.

A soft carry is the default to non-hard carries.
Any carry that has skills non-offense based.
An example of this would be Ashe. Hawkshot is purely a utility skill, although it's usage can strategically further offensive goals.

Soft carries are equal or stronger in mid game, while Hard carries are often generally guaranteed to surpass them in late-game with effective builds.

Twisted Fate

If you haven't figured it out already, Twisted Fate definitely falls under Soft Carry.

• Destiny/Gate is purely a utility spell, although useful for sneak attacks.

Because his Ultimate is that of a Utility, he is definitely not a Hard Carry.
To drive the point further:
-Wild Cards is generally regarded as a powerful mid-game damage tool that loses its effectiveness as the game drags on.
-Pick A Card, with a weak AP-ratio, it's effects bear more utility than offensive traits. It's also limited to think that having 3-skills in one is an advantage in a fight, as only Gold Card generally takes priority. Thus, it's more like 1/3 of an ability.

So, I think I've proven that Twisted Fate is a soft carry.
He lacks the destructive late-game you see in characters like Kog'maw, Tristana, and Kennen. But, he has many abilities that make he both fun and vicious mid-game.

What I'm trying to say is, Twisted Fate excels in mid-game.
Late game, his usefulness drops a little bit, making it imperative that you do your best in mid-game to steamroll into an easy late-game. He is excellent at punishing people who overextend during laning and keeping control of small-group fights.

That is why I think Trinity Force, an very holistic item, is an amazing item on Twisted Fate. Now that we're done with that, time for the details of your TF set up.

Summoner Spells

Ghost.
This is taken as your standard escape mech.
Flash is better oriented for nukers who can unload their damage in a moment and need to flee asap. Ghost will let you dash in and out of the fray, letting you effectively throw in your Gold Cards.

Ignite, V.S. Exhaust.
For that extra bit of offense to ensure you grab a kill since your Ultimate has no damage component, I think this helps a carry TF quite nicely.

If your team is well-packed with Ignite, Exhaust (especially due to its recent remake Patch v1_0_0_108) is also an excellent choice. If offers you the power to shut down any target's damage output, as well as slow them down for easy winning 1v1 or succeeding your ganks.

Runes and Masteries: AS Caster type

Attack Speed Marks, since neither AD or AP is given a pure focus. The synergy with Stacked Deck is quite nice as well.
Mana Regen per Level Seals, keeps Twisted Fate on the battle field throughout the game. I like them~
Flat Cooldown Reduction Glyphs, standard for giving him full access to his Gold Cards.
Flat HP Quintessences, any Magic user's early-game crutch for staying alive longer.

As for Masteries:
The 9/0/21 set up offers many simple stat boosters to support every aspect of Twisted Fate.

-Deadliness, for higher critical chance.
-Archmage's Savvy, for a bit of AP.
-Haste, for Ghost improvement.
-Greed, offering synergy with Loaded Dice.
-Sorcery and Intelligence, for a delicious free 9% Cooldown Reduction.
-Etc., etc., etc..

Skills and Ordering Justification:

Wild Cards:

This is raised first, as it is an excellent poking harass tool.
It is also raised first because it loses its value late game. Honestly, the damage turns to total garbage when everyone gets stacked with items.

Pick A Card:

I get PaC second for the Gold Card, and occasional last-hitting with Blue Card. This is only take for the stun, so left at level1.

Review: Using this in conjunction with Destiny makes for an easy stun-and-kill. The locked card effect will last for 10-seconds, so practice in bot games as much as possible to shorten the selection process.
Tip: Just popping the card shuffle can make enemies back up when you're supporting your team.
Tip: Using this in the brush will keep your enemies from being weary of your incoming assault.

Stacked Deck:

In this case, I get Stacked Deck first.
Because it is totally passive, I use zero mana during the first little bit of my game. It makes last-hitting a lot easier with the extra damage.

Stacked Deck + Pick A Card + Trinity Force will make you an on-hit fiend! >:P

Note: If there's a jungler on the enemy team, and your team is bent on ganking them, don't put up your first skill point just yet. Wait until the fight starts, and raise Pick A Card first, so you can throw down some Gold-Card stun action. :)

Destiny:

This is why I love Twisted Fate. His Ultimate is just so much fun for both ganking and escaping.
Anyways, it's the Ultimate priority; raise it at the standard possible levels 6, 11, and 16.

Core Items:

6th Slot End Game:
This above options will only bring you up to 5 items if you sell your Doran's Blades. Along with the choice of taking the Nashor/Madreds you didn't get, here are some other possible items.

Last Whisper.
If the enemy's non-tanks start packing any armor items, using this as a 6th item will really dig your cards into their wounds.

Sight Ward Wards...
Just a healthy remindder!
Buy Wards! Place them along the river and in the brushes of golem/lizard buff camps!
Wards win games~ I can't tell you how many times I turned around a game, because wards let us see the enemy coming, and sneak attack them.


~Under Testing:
Youmuu's Ghostblade.
A little more versatile then Last Whisper. It has crit-chance, damage, cooldown reduction, and a sweet active for both running and chasing.

Hextech Gunblade.
This seems like the king of hybrid items. But, it's quite expensive.
I have yet to thoroughly test this, but as a 6th item, it's definitely awesome with the healing and active-cc it offers. Really makes you a pain to be reckon with.

Early Farming Basics:

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.

~ ~ Final Comments ~ ~

So, yeah... This is a bit of a shameless rip from a youtuber, ... bleh! :P
I don't know where to go from there, just thought I'd admit it. I tried my best to work in my own thoughts and ideas to tweak it where needed, but otherwise it's another modified copy of something I couldn't come up with myself.
Kudos to coldturkey49.

Twisted Fate isn't the strongest of ranged carries, but he is super fun. With an on-demand stun and global Teleport, you can't pick a better champion for controlling the game and playing freely.

Well, there's not much else to say. Farm smart, get some kills, and kill some more. That's the gist of being a carry. :)
I hope this guide was helpful. If you see anything wrong with it, leave a comment and I will try my best to justify myself or fix it.

Have fun out there~

Old Updates:

• Dec. 26, 2010 - Added "Exhaust" as an alternative summoner spells.
• Dec. 21, 2020 - Testing "Thornmail" as an alternative to Banshee's Veil.
• Dec. 13, 2010 - Removed one "Doran's Blade" from the stacking. It would seem taking the step to buy a 3rd Doran's Blade leads to the game taking a turn for the worse.
• Dec. 9, 2010 - Updated "End Game Items" - Several items added for choosing.
• Dec. 8, 2010 - Added "Hard V.S. Soft Carry: Twisted Fate" - After Introduction.
• Dec. 8, 2010 - Removed Stark's Fervor from "End Game Items." More competent DPS allies should always have it already, so better to get a Bloodthirster.