New TFT patch takes another swing at its reroll meta, and the reworked Morgana will beef up your frontline

The Teamfight Tactics patch 17.3 notes have finally arrived, and boy am I glad to see them. The past several weeks have been rather miserable, as I’ve continuously faced the odious choice between multiple low-cost reroll lines, Marauder Yi, or, if I get a cheeky little emblem, Dark Star. The current meta has been one of my least favorite in a hot minute, but that could be about to change. Alongside a rebalancing quite literally across the board, certain augments are now banned depending on the opening encounter, six Anima Squad actually looks playable, and Morgana’s a four-cost tank now – I know, wild.

I was honestly surprised that Leona and Teemo managed to avoid nerfs on TFT 17.2, and while the auto chess game’s b-patch knocked The Radiant Dawn’s shielding capability down a notch, its scalability with the right Arbiter enhancement continued to ensure comfy top fours. The bigger shock was that Primordian managed to make out like a bandit in both patches, and seeing multiple players hit their three-stars nearly every game has been a constant source of frustration.

With so much early tempo, trying to manage a Fast 9 spot has been tough without a dream augment combo to say the least, and my Mortdogged-to-hit ratio on Vex has left much to be desired when I do manage to make it there. It also doesn’t help that Set 17’s five-cost pool has largely felt lackluster, with the likes of Shen and Sona kind of, well, sucking.

The good news is that there are changes at every tier, and I’m hopeful that this should do enough to shift the meta back into a healthier spot. The aforementioned five-costs have gotten sizable buffs, with Shen now scaling better with HP, while Sona now hits harder. Riot always intended for Shen to play like a traditional bruiser, but it just hasn’t worked out. Now, you can play him “like a tanky version of Riven,” which I’m a fan of.

Down at the lower tiers, overperformers Briar, Twisted Fate, Teemo, Akali, and Bel’Veth have all received damage nerfs, while Leona and Jax won’t be as tanky. This should, hypothetically, ensure that a capped Level 9 board will always win-out, but we’ll see how it all lands. I’ll just be glad to not get out-DPS’d by a nine gold three-star unit.

Where reroll could really get spicy this patch is in the three-cost department. Diana-Miss Fortune reroll has already been seeing some play, and with buffs to both coming in I can see it becoming the premium option. Serpent Stargazer Lulu has been taken down a peg, so we could start seeing a bit more versatility there.

Then, of course, there are the four-costs. As Master Yi-Kindred and Corki-Riven have become the default Level 8 boards, AP lines have struggled to have a similar impact. Yi’s Omnivamp has been tempered, and Marauder’s AD bonus slightly stifled, you won’t be mowing down everything in sight as consistently. For the spellslingers, Aurelion Sol, Karma, Leblanc, and Nami now have a little more mystic might.

While we’re on the topic of four-costs, let’s talk about Morgana. Riot has historically been against switching up unit costs mid-set, with Set 1’s Elise being the only real example I can think of. However, the four-cost tank scarcity issue has continued to proliferate, despite buffs to Tahm Kench and the Mighty Mech’s base form last patch, so Riot’s clearly felt the need to shift things around in a big way. Morgana was always going to be the best candidate for a rework, due to her already being traitless (no synergies messed up there) and, frankly, lacking a clear identity.

As of 17.3, Morg’s been recast as a four-cost Magic Tank, granting your team durability while she’s in her Dark Form. She still deals AP damage to the three closest enemies while transformed, but she also now heals the closest two injured allies, helping your frontline stay up for longer. It’s a great change, and I’m excited to see how she lands, especially on Rhaast boards if he can leverage her unique trait.

Speaking of traits, playing Anima vertically could now be a viable strat. Whereas before you only got loot after every win, you now get it after every combat. You’ll still need an Emblem and a Fiora to make it work, but should you find yourself with a decent cash-out, then this could easily propel you to an absurdly strong cap, even if you take the odd loss here and there. As noted, Marauder’s taken a hit, while the resists gained from dealing damage with the relevant Arbiter modifier active has been slightly reduced – Diana can’t have it all, I suppose. The Fountain Stargazer’s also been re-enabled, now granting max health restoration every two seconds for all units, and bonus AD and AP to Stargazers in the hexes. It looks to be a great jack-of-all-trades option, helping the trait be a little less situational.

Finally, Augments. We have four new ones coming in hot, as well as a tweaked, re-enabled version of Heart of the Swarm. These are all focused on specific traits, so there are now more spots to play verticals, which have been largely lacking – good stuff. To combat some of the snowballing we’ve seen on certain encounters, like getting double dupes into Heroic Grab Bag, or Artifact Anvil into Forged in Strength, Riot has now made it so these hyper-synergistic combinations can’t happen. So, if you’re looking to play Diana with dupes, don’t expect a grab bag to come and save you if you low roll.

This could very well be the patch that gets me locked back into TFT Set 17, provided everything in the patch notes lands where it should. If this ideal state materializes, we’ll see less low-cost reroll dominance, an uptick in Level 8 versatility, and more of an impetus to Fast 9 than before. Nature is healing, and it’s a great day if I never have to see Bel’Veth chop down my board ever again.