The Best Challenger Comp & Strategies in TFT – In-Depth Guide

The time has come to expand our list of guides for patch 6.5 of TFT. In our previous articles, we have talked about Innovators and Sniper compositions. With many more to cover, our top pick of the day is The Challenger composition. This composition is a very strong and dependent choice. If you like high-speed-high-damage compositions, Challengers are the best choice for you. 

Challenger Trait currently holds two of the most powerful units in the game: Trynda and Kai’Sa. These two are incredible powerhouses, as proper itemization on them allows you to win pretty much any matchup. 

While the Challengers tend to be relatively easy to play, most of the units in the final composition require a lot of Gold and luck to be acquired on time, so you’ll have to know how to properly transition the build into something powerful. 

In this Teamfight Tactics Challenger Build Guide, I will show the most popular beginner-friendly TFT Challenger build and how to play it throughout the early, mid, and late game, which are the best Hextech Augments for this build, as well as how to gear and position your units.

Challengers get bonus Attack Speed. Upon scoring a takedown, Challengers dash to a new target and double this bonus for 2.5 seconds.

  • 2 – 25% Attack Speed
  • 4 – 55% Attack Speed
  • 6 – 90% Attack Speed
  • 8 – 150% Attack Speed

So, without further ado, let’s meet the squad.

Ranked by ascending order of their price, the list goes:

  • Cammile
  • Warwick
  • Quinn
  • Tryndamere
  • Kai’sa

Also read: Best Arcanist Augments in Teamfight Tactics

Cammile

Cammile is that low-cost champion that, if I am being honest, you would most likely wish to avoid, unless she is an inevitable part of your composition, such as this one, unfortunately. Many times, young players make the mistake of equipping Cammile with full items, and she just simply doesn’t have the kit nor the strength to make use of it. 

And God knows I have tried every single item on her, with the best of the worst being Guinsoo’s rageblade combined with The Bloodthirster and some form of sustain, possibly in the form of The Edge of The Night, but my God, that was a waste of resources. She is both part of The Challenger and The Clockwork compositions, making that fact the only thing good about her, apart from her just being put on the field to fill the position. 

Someone might disagree with me on this one, but I just don’t see the argument of her being useful. And I am taking into account her being a one gold costing champion, but still? I mean, look at Caitlyn, Illaoi, Brand, and many others. When I think of it, she may actually be one of the useless champions in the whole set.

For her positioning, just throw her anywhere on the front of the board. Hopefully, she will take all of the aggro on herself and at least be useful in that way, so your carries can do some dmg from the back.

I wouldn’t bother maxing her for more than level two. Unless, of course, you are just that lucky that three Camille’s pop up in your shop, then go for it. I mean, it can’t hurt you (well, can’t hurt you anymore, since you are already doomed for playing her in the first place).

Warwick

This champion is one of the best champions in the game! Kappa! With the silly price of just two gold, and a champion that is so easy to the max to level three, WW is simply the best starting champion money can buy. I am serious. Whether you use him as a Chemtech or as a Challenger, or both, he just thrives. 

With The Chemtech equipped with Titan’s Resolve, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, and The Bloodthirster, I promise you, this guy will not die. I am not joking. Once you have five to seven Chemtech’s infield, the hp regeneration from the traits benefit combined with his ability, and his hp just won’t drop for a split second. 

Also, add Titan’s Resolve with the stacking of size and defensive stats, and Guinsoo’s just doing the thing you like the most on that item. He becomes The Ultimate Hunter!

With The Challenger’s you can pretty much do the same items, but I would swap The Bloodthirster with something tankier, like The Bramble’s vest, since you will already have a lot of speed and power from the trait itself, but you will lack regeneration that you get from The Chems.

 In The Challenger composition, Warwick is likely to die among the first ones, but his sacrifice won’t go in vain since he will not die quickly, leaving just enough time for his buddies to shred your opponent’s backline.

Position him on the front center of the board so he can take as much aggro possible. Max him asap to level three.

Quinn

This lady has been so underrated throughout the whole Set 6, and in my opinion, unfortunately, it has stayed like that with that patch as well. You see, the thing to understand is that Quinn is not a damage champion, I mean, she does deal damage, but that’s not the point, for she is a Utility champion whose primary role is to disarm and disable her enemies with her ult.

 Hence the name ‘’Disarming Assault’’. She is a goldfish, a genie in the bottle for any kind of composition she plays along, even if you added her an augment so she can stay relevant to the team. The benefits are immense. Apart from disarming her foes, she also reduces Attack damage to any nearby enemies for the full length of four seconds.

She is very important both to the Mercenaries and Challenger compositions. Relatively low cost, starting at just two gold, this champion is the one you can max with levels, and you won’t even feel it since she is so underused and played just to fill a spot for the trait.

As for positioning, she is quite versatile. She can go in the lower end of the board, along with some Snipers, or she can go in the middle, standing behind strong tanks, while giving them her massive support! 

Item-wise, I wouldn’t spend some of the better items on her since her primary role is not to deal damage but rather to disable and disarm. She would be most beneficial to your team if you equip her with some attack speed items so she can disarm as many opponents as she can while she is still alive in that particular combat.

Tryndamere

Trynda is really the bread and butter to any comp he is put in. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell Riot was thinking about when they decided that he is balanced. I mean, how? The power he has, and not to mention the power spike he gets when he hits level two, makes me physically sick. 

But in a good way, when I am not playing against him, of course. If you are lucky enough to get an Ascension augment, there is probably no way for you to lose any fight. Once he reaches full mana, he starts spinning like a ballerina. Nope, scrap that. We need some more powerful description, maybe like a Beyblade? 

Yeah, Beyblade sounds cool. So, once he reaches full mana, he starts spinning like a Beyblade and just wipes everything out of his merry way. He is squishy, though, but if you combine him with some good number of Chemtechs or Challengers, things tend to go in his favor.

My items of choice for Trynda are The Infinity Edge, The Edge of Night, and you can choose between The Bloodthirster (The Challenger comp) or The Guinsoo’s Rageblade (The Chemtech comp). As some of you eagle-eyed summoners will see, the last item really is there to compensate for the thing you will be missing in your comp that particular game.

Position him in the far back, and try to protect him in any way you can. After the initial five seconds of combat, he will just be flying everywhere over the arena, slicing and dicing everything on his path (sorry, Rene). 

You should max his level as soon as you can since he is an integral part of any comp he is in. He should be your priority when equipping items to champions.

Also read: Best Syndicate Augments in Teamfight Tactics

Draven

Draven is another new champion that Riot has brought us with the arrival of patch 6.5. He fits both in The Debonair and The Challenger composition. While a strong pick, I have failed to see him shine just yet. I think the reason for that is that The Debonair comp is just way popular now since it has a VIP subtrait, so he is just a rare find. 

And as a rare find, you will have difficulty upgrading him to your wanted level. And if you do manage to upgrade him, by then, you have probably already spent your items on some higher-level champion. Now, don’t get me wrong, he still does damage, but compared to the easiness of reaching Trynda level three, he is just a pale shadow. 

When comparing both of Draven’s traits, I would say that he shines brighter in The Debonair comp since there is just no place among The Challengers for him to thrive compared to the other amazing picks in that comp. The best pick for The Debonair comp would surely be VIP Draven level two at least, but that thing is harder to achieve than finding the source of the Nile.

Items for Draven would be any kind of AD item, but some are standing above others for the sheer compatibility, and those are The Infinity Edge, The Bloodthirster, and The Last Whisper.

Position for Draven is somewhere in the back of the field, or even the middle behind your frontline.

Kai’Sa

Kai’sa is one of the strongest five cost champions in the game. With her ability basically being an overpowered version of Kassadin’s ult (well, that makes sense since she is his daughter). She is definitely The Top Pick for both your Challenger and Mutant comps. She’s so versatile as well since she can max AD, AP, or even Attack speed. 

If I had to place her in the tier of five cost champions, she would be like second or third place sitting behind Tahm Kench and Zeri. If you are going for The Challenger comp, then you already have enough Attack speed, but she can benefit from Guinsoo’s Rageblade there too! As for Mutant comp, it really depends on what type of Mutation the game gives you in that particular game. The Hextech Gunblade is always a good choice for her and The Rabbadon’s Deathcap as well. 

Depending on the opponent’s composition, you should consider some sustain in the form of Quicksilver or The Edge of The Night if the enemy team favors some burst champions like the ones in The Assassin or The Arcanist composition. 

At level two, since level three is almost impossible to get, you will likely delete any enemy team after 10 seconds of the game. It is simple as that. If you have some champ equipped with items and you are going for level three of the same champion, you should probably sell the first one and just put the itemless one on the board and equip all of the items on Kai’sa. That is, of course, if you haven’t got any items left for her to equip.

Positioning should be considered somewhat like The Snipers or Assassin’s since she tends to act like The Assassin. That means far away from potential early fight aggro. To simplify, that means in the back of the board.

Items for Kai’Sa are The Guinsoo’s Ragebalde, The Bloodthirster, The Infinity Edge, The Rabbadon’s Deathcap, The Blue Buff, The Edge of The Night, and The Quicksilver.

She should be leveled as much as you can.

Now, that we have our basic composition of Challengers, we need to have some trait that is in amazing harmony with our Challengers. My top pick for that is Clockwork!

Clockwork: Your team has increased Attack Speed, with an additional increase per augment in the Hexcore.

  • 2 – 10% Attack Speed +5% per augment
  • 4 – 40% Attack Speed +10% per augment
  • 6 – 80% Attack Speed +15% per augment

Alright! Let’s meet our Clockwork buddies!

  • Zilean
  • Jhin
  • Orianna

Zilean

Zilean is a low-cost champion starting with the price of two gold coins. Even though he is on the relatively low price end of the champions spectrum, I have always had the difficulty of getting him to level 3. And he isn’t even played that much since Clockworks aren’t something that people usually decide to play since it is a weaker strategy compared to some others. 

But in case you are among the lucky ones, and you get him to the max level, he can do some serious damage with his bombs. He will work well with any kind of AP items you can grab. Try positioning him behind your tanks so the focus won’t be on him but still won’t receive much damage if the enemy is playing assassins.

His part in the comp is incredible since you can easily make him your main AP carry wheather it’s the Challengers or The Clockworks you are going for! He is so fun to play too!

Also read: How to Obtain Victorious Little Legends in Teamfight Tactics?

Jhin

Now, this is where things get serious! Four gold cost champions and some crazy amount of damage is what defines Jhin as a sniper! I can not stress enough how much damage this guy has. When he is ready to use his spell, the enemy has nothing left to do but to pray for the Heavens above and ask for their mommy! 

Although he doesn’t have any kind of sustain and is likely to get blasted by any assassin that crosses his path, it is your job and your decision if you are going to risk it all by playing him offensively or if you are going to have some reason and quip him with a Quicksilver or something similar.

As far as positioning goes, Jhin should never touch the edge of the board unless he has Quicksilver. Items should always be Infinity Edge and Last Whisper no matter what, but for the last item, you have many options and combinations. You can go Blue Buff which is the highest damage output combination, since he will ult immediately as the fight starts, or you can go for Quicksilver and take some necessary precautions.

A very difficult champion to obtain even at level one, let alone two or three, your goal is to have him at level two by the end game if it is possible. Like most of the Snipers, Jhin’s isn’t working great against burst compositions like assassins and arcanists.

Orianna

His power doesn’t stop on The Summoner’s Rift. Oh no, she brought that power in TFT as well. Being The Clockwork Enchanter, she is no lady you want to mess with. It is incredible what riot has done with her ability since you get A STUN, A SHIELD, AND DAMAGE AGAINST YOUR OPPONENTS. 

I mean, what the hell? Who, for the love of God, just who in Riot Games has sat down and said: ‘’Hmm, a stun, a shield and TONS OF DAMAGE, yup sounds perfectly balanced to me.’’ Since you can understand what I am talking about, you should abuse it as well until they understand what they have done and nerf her to the point of uselessness. She does have a huge power spike after hitting level two.

Her place should be somewhere in the middle of the board so you can maximize all of the perks in her ult. 

For items, I would go for The Rabbadon’s Deathcap, The Spear of Shojin, and The Blue Buff.

Best Challenger Comps in TFT

Early Game

The early-game team composition should always consist of Camille, Quinn, Warwick, and Trynda. This grants the team an easy Challenger-four synergy bonus and by adding Zilean as the fifth champion you’ll also get Clockwork-two which comes in handy for the Camille. 

The main goal of this build is to reach level eight as quickly as possible in order to get access to the Epic and Legendary units that you’ll desperately need.

Mid Game

You will generally be on a long losing streak at this point and that’s perfectly fine. Always try to be above 50 Gold for the maximum amount of bonus gold (via interest) and use all extra Gold to buy experience points. Rush level eight, try to get it early in Stage four, and pick up, Orianna and Jhin.

Late Game

Roll at level eight and try to get the full team composition going. If you don’t get the core champions early on during the late game you’ll likely die very fast. Ideally, you’ll want to have Camille, Warwick, Zilean, and Trynda. 

These units will be able to carry the rounds until you find Orianna and Kai’Sa which completes this Challenger build by granting it an additional bonus via Clockworks.

Final Thoughts

So we have learned that The Challenger comp is not the one you want to mess with, since in combination with The Clockworks, they make a mighty duo. I am led to believe that they aren’t picked much as well, so in the lower elos, you can abuse this to your advantage. This comp is one of the simpler comps and can be taken up rather quickly. 

If you get on the losing streak while waiting for your units and levels, remember not to worry since patience always pays off.

In the latest stages of the game, try to mix your champions a little since your opponent cant be adjusting his team to inflict as much damage as he can. Remember that your frontline is there to stall until your dmg dealing units start with their spells. That’s where the fun really begins.

Check out our list of the top Off Meta Comps in TFT.

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