To start: I have played hundreds of ranked Twisted Fate matches, with an overall win rate of around 60%.
In season 6 I peaked at the promotional series to Platinum, though unfortunately did not make it. After that, I slowly started playing less LoL, coming back around season 9 and back in ranked in season 10 (because Corona...). Even though the guide was first created a few years ago, the core game play of Twisted Fate has not changed. He hasn't had any big nerfs or buffs, and most of his core items remain the same.

I love Twisted Fate for his unique kit and his relatively rare occurrence in ranked, especially in lower elo. Master the master of cards, and you will at least get yourself out of elo hell in no-time.

Don't forget to vote if you like this guide :)

And if you have any questions or remarks, let me know in the comments section :)

Even though Twisted Fate has only seen minor direct changes lately (small Wild Card nerf), he has been heavily affected by changes like overall mobility reduction, removal of boots enchantment and overall item changes. Now with the removal of the classic runes and masteries it will take some time to find the right balance again.

The one key to playing Twisted Fate, and carrying your team, is map awareness. I cannot stress this enough. You should be checking on top and bottom lane at every possible moment, to see if the situation allows a gank. This is especially essential when you have a tough lane opponent. As Twisted Fate you shouldn't be looking for kills in your own lane, but rather get ahead of your direct opponent on assists and kills in other lanes. This allows you to get ahead of your direct lane opponent without too much risk of being assassinated yourself.

With this build I try to maximize mobility, both for dodging and chasing.

+ global presence
+ high burst potential
+ lots of utility with W
+ lots of fun to play

- squishy
- lack of mobility without items
- can have a hard laning phase

• Luden's Tempest There are arguments for all three item (Everfrost, Luden's and Hextech). Hextech is useful as a mini-flash into Gold Card, and Everfrost can extend the effective stun duration. Luden's gives the most raw power, and is especially useful when dealing with procable shields. Shields like those of Yasuo and Malphite get dispelled when taking damage. Luden's secondary damage can conveniently poke down that shield while focusing on CS.
• Lich Bane: still the item that makes TF a turret shredder and a monster in his combo's.
• Boots of Swiftness: too bad there is no distortion enchantment anymore. You need shoes upgrade for more movement and a bigger punch. Sorcerer's Shoes are useful when the enemy starts getting MR.
• Zhonya's Hourglass: Decent base stats with a strong protection active. Just don't forget to use it. Prioritize when you get targeted a lot. Don't use it when death is unavoidable.
• Horizon Focus Interesting new item, especially with your Q. Very useful against stealth champions. Synergy with Gold Card as well.
• Rabadon's Deathcap: Doesn't need an explanation.
  
  
  

  Situational items

  
  
• Twin Shadows: RIP Spooky Ghosts (again). Maybe Horizon Focus can pick up the gap a bit.
• Everfrost It gives similar sustain as Rod of Ages, and it gives an extended root for your Gold Card, which is especially useful against melee champs. Stun with Gold, root with Everfrost, and then your Gold Card should be almost back up again.
• Cosmic Drive Get 10 + 20%AH for 4 sec after damaging with an ability. Convenient in combination with Wild Cards to catch up a running target
• Void Staff: A lot of people consider this item a must for mages, but that is only valid when the enemy team (or your lane opponent) has MR. Void Staff only reduces additional MR, it does NOT act as penetration boots (similar to Last Whisper for AD).
• Banshee's Veil Strong against first-ability-burst champions or CC
• Mercury's Treads When facing a lot of AP.
• Sorcerer's Shoes Against high MR targets
  
  
  

  Mobility poke build items

  
  
  This is a highly experimental. With some interesting new items with passive mobility surges there is a possibly viable path to hit-and-run tactics. TF is notoriously slow, but very dangerous when given movement speed bonuses to chase down enemies with a gold card.
  
• Boots of Swiftness 60 MS
• Lich Bane: 10% MS
• Night Harvester: 25% MS for 1.5 sec per champion hit
• Rapid Firecannon 7% MS and long range poke
• Cosmic Drive Get 10 + 20%AH for 4 sec after damaging with an ability. Convenient in combination with Wild Cards to catch up a running target
• Nashor's Tooth 50 AS to increase poke speed and E stacking
  
  Special mention: Control Ward: always have a red on the map. I try to get a red on my first back, together with Boots and Aether Wisp. Best place is in the bushes of the first southern entrance to the enemy jungle or the bushes on your own northern jungle entrance if you get ganked a lot from behind. Be sure to place them as close to the river as possible, to have vision over the little river brush as well. The reason for a Red over normal ward is permanence, like the old pink wards.

Skill sequence

Level 1: Pick A Card for mana sustain in lane.
Level 2: Wild Cards: your main source of damage for huge wave clear and scary poke.
Level 3: Stacked Deck, can also be postponed one level. I like it for its proc together with Blue Pick A Card

After that, max Wild Cards first, since this is your main source of damage at huge range (and not diminished through minions) and take Destiny whenever available to reduce its cooldown.

Skill use

Wild Cards

This is your main source of damage. Your Wild Cards have the longest poke range of the game without diminishing damage after first hit. This means that you can poke from a distance and absolutely shred through a tightly packed team fight from up close. When going in for an assassination, this can two-shot many ADC/APC's when combined with Gold Pick A Card.

During laning, use this point blank on an incoming wave, to cut through the whole line. Around level 3 you will be able to take out the caster minions with Red Pick A Card after using Wild Cards this way.

Pick A Card

As a starting TF player, you may need to spend some time in learning to pick the right card; being able to pick Gold can mean the difference between life and death. Some TF players will argue that your Red Card is nearly useless, but I use all three cards throughout the game:

• BLUE - this is what keeps you poking in lane while keeping your mana topped up. Use this with a Stacked Deck on your opponent for heavy poke and mana refill. Also very useful for last hitting as its mana refill is not a percentage of damage, but keep in mind that you will be vulnerable for about 4-6 seconds until your Gold Card becomes available again. Try using Stacked Deck for last hitting; your opponent will mostly leave you alone as long as you have access to your stun. Pick A Card also works on towers, and when fed, a Blue Card can take a turret down 50%. When low on mana you can safely top up on the river crab, which will not fight back.
  
• RED I normally use this for fast wave clear in combination with Wild Cards. Sometimes useful in team fights when there are low health enemies, but mostly Gold Card is preferred in team fights to take out the carry. It is also very useful when you are ulting behind retreating enemies, to slow the group down to allow your teammates to catch up.
  
• GOLD After gate, this is Twisted Fate's most dreaded ability. A 2 second stun at max rank, which takes half your health on hit. Use it wisely and make sure you have enough mana before a team fight to keep throwing Gold Cards. If not, fill up before the fight, for example on the river crab.
  Special note: some champions can dodge or block your Gold Card (Yi, Fizz, Fiora, Jax). To bait their defense, lock in Gold Card, throw Wild Cards, then throw your stun. 9/10 they will flinch and use their dodge, so you can stun them afterwards. Remember that your Q will be on cooldown then, so this tactic is best vs low health targets or when you have backup in your chase.

Stacked Deck

Increase your Pick A Card proc damage by stacking first, also before a gate gank. Also try to use this against cannon minions instead of Blue Card. That will leave you with access to Gold Card, should your opponent try to challenge you.

Destiny / gate

Mastering the use of Destiny and gate is essential if you want to be a good Twisted Fate player. If you haven't played many champions with global ults, like Gangplank, Shen or Ziggs, you will probably need a period to develop a higher level of map awareness. Normally, map awareness is mostly about positioning, but with global ults you need to be aware of the exact situation over the whole map. You need to know who is fighting whom, at which health level: can you set up a gank? Is somebody getting away on low health? Does one of your team mates need help getting away? Do you suspect a drake or baron, but are you lacking vision? Aside from the necessity of this awareness for Twisted Fate, the developed habit of this high awareness also helps you getting better in general, but especially in jungle.
The decision to gate is simple when you are chasing a running champion. Just get into range, activate Pick A Card, activate Destiny, gate (preferably) into a bush or around a corner in front of the running enemy and while channeling, lock in Gold Card. On arrival, W-Q combo to secure the kill.
Another matter is when preparing a gank. Make sure you communicate beforehand on your intended port location, which should be either directly in between the enemy and his escape route OR the bushes to the side. Make sure to push your own minion wave and retreat out of vision for your lane opponent before you move towards your target lane. Preferably stack up Stacked Deck before you ult, which you can do in the jungle if needed.

Some special notes on Destiny/ gate:

• Activating Pick A Card triggers Lich Bane, so your W will always be empowered.
• You should use Destiny whenever your team's lack of vision becomes a possible threat. It gives you full vision and probably scares off the enemy from whatever they were planning.
• The preferred place to gate is where your animation is not (very) visible, like in bushes. The BEST place to gate onto is ON TOP OF an enemy who has activated recall. The animation and sound effect of recall nearly fully mask the animation and sound from your ult, making you arrival a complete surprise.

- Use offensively with Gold Card, or defensively to dodge CC. Keep in mind that you are squishy and will most likely die when focused with hard CC.

allows us to swap out Summoner Spells. When swapping to a new one, it reverts to the originally chosen spell until another swap becomes available. Taking Teleport as our default spell gives insane map presence and still allows you to swap for situational spells after your first back. I rarely swap out Flash, but that's a lack of skill on my side.

After your first back, TP back into lane and swap to one of the following, depending on the situation:

If you are planning on a gank or think you can kill your lane opponents. Later on useful against regenerating champions, like Mundo.

If you are planning a kill vs a Zed, Ezreal, Katarina or other slippery enemy. Or if you expect to be jumped by them.

If you are afraid to die versus a long-range ( Lux) or multi-attack ( Syndra). Also an option after you already used Exhaust and need to cycle through other spells.

For more aggressive plays, or when you TP and ult are down and you want to spit push. This gives you an escape.

Cleanse has limited uses, but is powerful against a CC-combo team.
If you need Clarity as Twisted Fate, you are doing something wrong. Of course you can run out of mana in team fight, but then all other spells would be more useful. Sure, maybe you would get an extra kill if you would already be winning, but then it's a matter of "want", not "need".


My usual cycle (after TP) is: Ignite, Exhaust, Ghost, Barrier and then situational. Always keep Teleport active between swaps to jump around the map. Just don't forget to swap it out before engaging in combat.

A section on skins? "Why?" you ask? Because it's important, that's why.

Twisted Fate has one of the most notorious skins ever, which has been tweaked since. Underworld Twisted Fate used to have highly transparant and small particle visuals on both the AA animation and Wild Cards. For those that were not around back in the day: imagine light green transparant Wild Cards on a green background. The low visibility made it very hard to dodge, especially during skirmishes. The particles were changed around two years ago, making them better to see. Still, it is a tactical advantage to have green cards instead of multicolored ones for your Q.

Read about the change here.

Aside from the obvious Underworld skin, there are others that have a slight impact on gameplay:

• Tango: no cape = lower visibility
• Red Card: no cape = lower visibility
• Cutthroat: green clothing on a green background = lower visibility
  
• Blood Moon: special visual and sound effects can make it confusing for your opponent to recognize your abilities. High Noon also has slightly changed sound effects, but not nearly as noticeable.

The opposite can also be desirable: higher visibility to be able to find yourself easier when it gets messy. Think about Jack of Hearts (red skin on a green grass background), Blood Moon (dark red) or Magnificent (high hat).

My current favourite is Odyssee, which feels most balanced in recognizability and ease on the eyes during game.

Baron double kill:

I suspected a baron rush, so I ulted to get vision. After the double kill we went on to finish Baron who had only 1-2k hp left.
Play Video

As soon as I have them I will add:

* Ulting onto recalling enemy
* Wave clearing with Q and W

08-07-2021: Back to Everfrost in main build. Switch to more experimental build as default.
25-12-2020: Everfrost to Luden's for poking down shields
14-11-2020: Main build around Everfrost for sustain
13-11-2020: pre-season update. Item changes and Unsealed Spellbook cycling explanation.
19-06-2020: major rune update, updated Spells section accordingly to include Unsealed Spellbook choices. Items changes to more aggressive.
05-05-2020: rune update, item order update, chapter header images
31-01-2020: updated for season 10
08-04-2018: updated for season 8
14-08-2017: updating, removing references to older patch changes. Added some clarification on Stacked Deck and Pick A Card. Added a section on skins!
05-05-2017: added Adaptive Helm and Banshee's Veil
29-01-2017: changed build order to Luden's second instead or Morello
20-01-2017: added item to try
27-12-2016: added remarks on Rod of Ages
17-11-2016: bit more clarification on Morellonomicon, fixed some links. Added Syndra
12-11-2016: updated masteries and wards for patch 6.22. Removed old damage calculations.
23-10-2016: added pink ward map + some small layout changes
19-10-2016: added pink ward
28-09-2016: changed masteries: Natural Talent to Vampirism for sustain

- Threat assessment of new champions