Top 6 Best Innovators in Teamfight Tactics – In-Depth Guide

As you all are probably aware by now, a new patch is out, and it’s a good one! Many new elements have been added, some champions removed, and some reworked. We have seen significant rework of some traits, and we got some new ones as well. We have said goodbye to Guardian Angel, which, let’s be honest, was heavily abused by hyper carries on Sniper, Chemtech, and Assassins comp.

Since some of you are new to the game, and as new players tend to get lost by the sheer complexity of the game itself, we are going to make In-depth guides for every set of traits playable in patch 6.5. 

Today we are going to be focusing on Innovators. Relatively unplayed but powerful composition, which isn’t much Augment-dependent, unless you want to go seven innovators. Still, as the game is coded to provide you the augment you need, you are most likely to get one.

Innovators build a mechanical companion to join the battle. The companion receives bonus Health and Attack Damage based on allied Innovators’ star levels.

Innovators offer an interesting playstyle as they summon a mechanical monster that will fight by their side. The Mechanical Bear is relatively easy to get and is powerful considering the investment required & with a bit of luck via +Innovator Augments or Trait Emblem, you’ll be able to get the Mechanical Dragon which devastates everything in its way.

Innovators build a mechanical companion to join the battle.

3 → Mechanical Scarab
5 → Mechanical Bear
7 → Mechanical Dragon

The Mechanical Scarab creates a barrier on itself and the ally targeted by the most enemies, then taunts all enemies who have the Scarab within their attack range. The barrier lasts for 4 seconds, reduces incoming damage by 25% and enemies attacking the barrier take 50 (× Ability power icon.png AP) magic damage. Enemies may only take damage from a barrier once per second.

The Mechanical Bear surges with power, gaining 100% bonus attack damage and granting 25% bonus attack damage and ability power to your team for 4 (× Ability power icon.png AP) seconds.

The Mechanical Dragon casts Electryfing Roar which causes all enemies within 3 hexes to flee for 2 seconds. Its team is energized, gaining 75% critical strike chance and 10% bonus critical strike damage for 8 seconds.
PASSIVE: Every 3rd attack is charged with lightning, dealing 750 (× Ability power icon.png AP) bonus magic damage to 3 enemies.

Well, let’s meet the Innovators!

1. Ezreal

Ezreal is, in my opinion, the weakest link in this whole build since he doesn’t do much damage even with full items and on level 3. But he is the cheapest champion, along with Singed in this composition, and unlike Singed, who is also used in Chemtech comp, Ezreal isn’t being built as much. 

You can turn this in your favor by rerolling on early levels since you can quite quickly get level 3 Ezreal on your fourth level in the game. Although not being strong later in the game, early game Ezreal at max level can still do some damage to his foes who are lower level than he is. Just don’t equip him with items because you will probably regret it later in the game unless you have magnetic remover.

Ezreal’s Ability and Stats:

Mystic Shot

Ezreal fires a missile at his target, dealing magic damage. If the missile hits, he grants himself 30% bonus stacking Attack Speed, up to 150% at 5 stacks.

Damage:

125/200/350

Health – 500 / 900 / 1620

Armor – 15

MR – 15

Damage – 50 / 90 / 162

Speed – 0.65

DPS – 33 / 59 / 105

Mana – 0 / 40

Also read: TFT Slow Rolling – The Ultimate Guide

2. Singed

Singed is also a very cheap champion like Ezreal, starting with just one gold coin. Unlike Ezreal, he can be pretty useful for both Chemtechs and Innovators, and he has a relatively strong early game, to decent mid-game, but as expected, fragile late game. 

Again, unlike Ezreal, which doesn’t attract much crowd in the early stages of the game, Singed is quite important for those who decide that Chemtechs are their choice for the current game, so you won’t be able to get level 3 Singed in the early game as you would like.

As far as the items are concerned, Singed isn’t a waste of items like Ezreal is, and he can benefit from Warmogs Armour or Brambles vest.

Singed’s Ability and Stats:

Fling

Singed flings a nearby enemy towards the largest cluster of enemies, stunning his target for seconds when they land. All adjacent enemies take magic damage and are briefly stunned.

Stun:

1.5/2/2.5

Damage:

125/175/250

Health – 650 / 1170 / 2106

Armor – 40

MR – 40

Damage – 60 / 108 / 194.4

Speed – 0.55

DPS – 33 / 59 / 107

Mana – 100 / 150

3. 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.

Zilean’s Ability and Stats:

Time Bomb

Zilean places a bomb on the closest enemy, stunning them.

When the stun ends, or the target dies, the bomb explodes dealing magic damage to adjacent enemies and applying Attack Speed Slow for 3 seconds.

Stun:

1.5/2/2.5

Damage:

200/300/450

Attack Speed Slow:

20/35/50%

Health – 600 / 1080 / 1944

Armor – 20

MR – 20

Damage – 40 / 72 / 129.6

Speed – 0.6

DPS – 24 / 43 / 78

Mana – 40 / 80

Also read: TFT Champion Pool & Draw Chances

4. Ekko

We have been seeing Ekko for a while now since he was part of patch six. But now that Heimer was removed, he took his part in innovator comp, and it helps him synergize with Ezreal since they are both also Scraps. 

Even though his ability on first look doesn’t deal much damage, it actually does, and he benefits from AP and Omnivamp items like Hextech gauntlet. He is your prime damage dealer, so it is obvious that you should rush him to level 3. Place him on the lower edges of the board, parallel to the place where you would expect the enemy’s hyper carry.

Ekko’s Ability and Stats:

Parallel Convergence

Ekko invokes an afterimage that bats a device towards the largest group of units. Upon landing, it deals magic damage to enemies within and applies reduced movement speed for 4 seconds. Allies inside gain bonus Attack Speed for 4 seconds.

Damage:

200/325/450

Movespeed Debuff:

35/35/50%

Attack Speed:

30/50/70%

Health – 700 / 1260 / 2268

Armor – 40

MR – 40

Damage – 65 / 117 / 210.6

Speed – 0.7

DPS – 45.5 / 82 / 147

Mana – 80 / 120

5. Seraphine

My god, she is strong. She has aoe damage and heals. Even after receiving some nerfs, she still is an excellent pick to buy. I mean, in this comp, she is inevitable, of course. But even as a fill champion, when you have completed your synergy, you could benefit significantly from her aoe heal, even if it didn’t have damage! 

She benefits from mana and AP items such as Blue Buff and Rabadons Deathcap. She is ideally positioned somewhere on the lower end of the board, ideally having some less powerful and less significant champion in front of her to take damage until she has enough mana to use her spell. She is pretty quickly bursted down, so be careful!

Seraphine’s Ability and Stats:

Encore

Seraphine projects her song towards the largest group of enemy units, dealing magic damage to enemies. Allies it passes through are healed and gain bonus Attack Speed for 4 seconds.

Damage:

200/300/1000

Heal:

200/300/1000

Attack Speed:

30/50/100%

Health – 750 / 1350 / 2430

Armor – 30

MR – 30

Damage – 40 / 72 / 129.6

Speed – 0.7

DPS – 28 / 50 / 91

Mana – 80 / 150

6. Jayce

This guy is so strong and versatile! He is an Innovator, Transformator, and Enforcer (basically anything that ends with an R). He can carry, he can tank, he is good just to fill a number if you get a spatula or you already have your comp finished. 

But the problem is that he costs five golden coins, and you need to be fairly high level even to have a chance of getting him, not to mention about leveling him to level two, let alone three.

He benefits from any item you put on him. I’m not even joking. You have Titan’s resolve, and no problem put it on, you have Rabbadons? No sweat, it will do some damage!

He is ideally placed, well, anywhere, really. You can put him on the lower part of the field and equip him with some AD or AP items to shred your foes from far away, or you can go head to head against your opponent’s tanks on the front of the field with some Warmogs or Titan’s. If it is possible, get him to level two.

Jayce’s Ability and Stats:

Mercury Cannon/Mercury Hammer

Melee form: Jayce slams his hammer down onto nearby enemies, dealing damage and reducing their Armor and Magic Resist. Ranged form: Jayce deploys an acceleration gate, granting bonus Attack Speed to allies in the same row, then fires an orb of electricity at the largest enemy group.

Ranged AD Bonus:

45/70/1000

Ranged Spell AD:

170/180/500%

Melee Spell AD:

170/180/1000%

Melee Bonus Armor / MR: 40

Melee Shield:

375/550/3000

Innovators can be added many other champions to complete some kind of synergy, but in my opinion, they benefit the most from Orianna and Senna completing Clockwork, Enchanter, and Socialite synergies.

Also read: Best Strategies For TFT Set 6.5

IN-GAME GUIDE

Early Game 

In the early game, your focus should be on leveling your low-cost champions and getting three innovators so you can benefit from the mechanical crab. I would avoid equipping any items to champions since you probably can get some better basic items for good item combinations.

Mid Game

This is the part where you hopefully have 5 innovators. This is also the time you equip some tanky items on your Singed and some AP items to your Zilean and Ekko. Once you reach five innovators, you should focus on getting four cost champions to unlock some traits.

Late Game

In the late game, it’s make it or break it. You are heavily dependent on your augment if you want to reach seven innovators. In case you don’t get it, selling Singed would be your best choice and getting some higher-cost tank.

Your finished composition should look something like this:

Final Thoughts

Innovators are quite a versatile composition that can be paired with many other traits. It also isn’t highly augment dependant since the late game, and since being underplayed, you could probably climb on your rank while playing it. Time to get out of the bronze, ha?

While playing Innovators, try experimenting with positions and items since you can find out something new, maybe even some bug that Riot failed to see! Just kidding, but that’s the beauty of TFT. You can always try new stuff: different positions, different items, and different compositions of traits. Good luck!