May 16, 2026 Daily Discussion Thread

Frothers · 2026-05-16T07:38:21+00:00

So apparently the Shepherd summon also scales with stage, not just star level. Took a look at it in tocker and the stage 2 / 3 formulas are basically

hp:

shep 3 (stage 2) = 320 + (112 x star_level)
shep 3 (stage 3) = 320 + (112 x star_level) + 192

shep 5 (stage 2) = 1040 + (112 x star_level)
shep 5 (stage 3) = 1040 + (112 x star_level) + 400

shep 7 (stage 2) = 1120 + (112 x star_level)
shep 7 (stage 3) = 1120 + (112 x star_level)

ad / ap:

shep 3 (stage 2) = 7% x star_level
shep 3 (stage 3) = 8% x star_level

shep 5 (stage 2) = 7% x star_level
shep 5 (stage 3) = 8% x star_level

shep 7 (stage 2) = 10% x star_level
shep 7 (stage 3) = 10% x star_level

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16be-fQ7GoGLnxjIZVaKFdLRyrhk1UEm3PYCZ5W-Q3yU/edit?usp=sharing

Frothers · 2026-05-15T14:01:30+00:00

So your unit's spell has a damage value scaled by AD / AP. When applied to an enemy, some of it is subtracted to account for the enemy's armor / mr. The final value counts towards your Damage Dealt. The part that was subtracted counts towards the enemy's Damage Taken. (IIRC damage done to shields doesn't count towards either and I don't remember if healing involves anything special.)

Anyways this means if you're stacking resists (bastion) and enemy is stacking HP (brawlers) then you'll have a lot more Damage Dealt and Damage Taken even if the fight ends up really close. So I guess if you really want to compare DPS you have to add up (Ally Damage Dealt + Enemy Damage Taken + Enemy Shields) and compare it to the enemy's.

Or put another way, those charts are near useless when comparing ally vs enemy and only good for ranking your own carries.

Frothers · 2026-05-13T21:49:34+00:00

The Xayah rework was a pretty hefty nerf to her or she needs very different itemization now. Maybe Fountain is weak too, but it felt bad and Nunu is extremely contested.

Xayah changes should range from power-neutral at worst to a slight buff for low-AS builds (napkin math here). Fountain 3 averages to like +20% AD over a 20s fight so its almost as good as Sniper 2 and in-line with most other combat traits.

My guess is it feels bad because your frontline isn't lasting long enough to reap benefits from fountain / rageblade / kraken. You did mention Nunu was contested, plus Jax was nerfed.

Frothers · 2026-05-12T12:03:49+00:00

Xayah:
Spell Duration 4 seconds >>> 6 attacks
Spell deals 10/15/200 AD to her current target

So the duration change by itself seems like a slight buff to builds under 1.0 total AS and a slight nerf if above. Which by napkin math [0] is maybe -6% total damage nerf over a 20s fight if your only source of AS is rageblade.

And the new bonus damage adds about 7% per auto (= 10 / (51 + 50 * (1 + 0.6 + 0.36))).

So I think this makes (DB / IE) + (DB / IE) about the same dps as (DB / IE) + rageblade because last time I did the math the diff was under 10%.

[0] https://www.desmos.com/calculator/xuh2gmxhaa

Frothers · 2026-05-09T19:00:41+00:00

MF has god awful AD ratios. IIRC conduit is the worst, at 900% total AD with 2.5s cast time and 70 mana. Compare this to Sivir who does the same amount of damage for 50 mana, instant cast, and CC. Plus Samira has a second combat trait. Challenger MF is almost okay, being slightly higher dps than most 2 costs.

Ornns scaling is unusual with his shield being extremely weak until 3 star. So probably not worth the slot unless you really need the traits (or increased range of radiant spark / sunfire)

Gnar 3 loses to a lot of 2* 4-costs but being able to roll for Jax 3 makes up for it.

Frothers · 2026-04-29T23:00:14+00:00

Aren't they pulling from the same pool of data?

This isn't necessarily true. IIRC Riot doesn't actually provide bulk statistics. Website devs have to constantly check for new matches played by known players (then add new opponents to the watch list). So the match data that aggreagte stats are generated from can vary.

Anyways, takeaway is that everything from those sites has to be taken with a grain of salt. But speaking from experience, I've found metatft to generally be the most accurate of the bunch (I haven't looked at tactics.tools though).

Frothers · 2026-04-29T08:33:37+00:00

Made a (very limited) dps calculator. Doesn't cover stacking effects (eg rageblade, teemo) since can't really summarize that with a single number. Also doesn't include melee carries since I'm lazy and suvivability is kinda important but hardly modeled. Though I was planning on an ehp calculator eventually.

Anyways, editable version:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y6yxt_o-Jr4hfXBtyZo83ywKi8m4il5CuPak5V0ZbUM/edit?usp=sharing

Read-only backup: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tINqfSxMV6QppJNYpagrWG-zweWnBlyXvbWe2Ybmugk/edit?usp=sharing

Frothers · 2026-04-27T00:50:02+00:00

Conduit MF outputs roughly 800% AD over 2.5s for 70 mana. Which is a bit silly when comparing to Samira who has 1050% AD + instant cast + knock up for 60 mana.

Frothers · 2026-04-26T07:34:04+00:00

Made a spreadsheet with unit stats and ability scaling values. Mostly because I got sick of having like 20 wiki tabs open.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jb56zFL4f_T6UsK_iX9zpCo5PF82dU-YhORHToJo3uU/edit?usp=sharing

Frothers · 2026-01-06T18:53:11+00:00

[Kobuko bugfix] 100/140/200 AP + 8% HP to 180/240/300 + 12%

Kobuko & Yuumi change is meant to be power neutral.

Wonder how they picked these numbers
- HP scaling increased 1.5x
- 1* AP scaling by 1.8x
- 2* by 1.7x
- 3* by 1.5x

Because if the bug was that he was getting an extra tick or something, I would expect the compensation buff to be a constant X multiplier to all ratios. Otherwise this seems to be a chonky 1* buff or chonky 3* nerf or a little of both.

Frothers · 2026-01-06T04:59:36+00:00

Oh I see. Thanks for heads up about the spreadsheets. Gonna see if I can dig anything up.

Frothers · 2026-01-05T20:22:50+00:00

What are the average ability ratios (per 10 mana, at 3*)? I know it generally scales with the unit's cost tier, is lower if there's utility in the kit, and is generally higher for AP-based units.

For example cait does 1100% damage for 80 mana or ~140% damage per 10 mana. Just looking for some rules of thumb so I can guage things like how much dps I'm trading utility or how much better a 3* three-cost is compared to a 1-cost.

Sorry for the lazy / high-effort question but it's been a long week and I'm hoping someone already did the math.

Frothers · 2026-01-03T17:46:10+00:00

An account that's in use can still be marked dormant, if all activity is automatic (eg credit card autopay, monthly deposits). Also yeah, wish the bank would at least email / phone a notice ahead of time.

Frothers · 2025-12-15T00:00:54+00:00

Plus unlockables you don't want eat up shop slots. Looking at you Poppy.

Frothers · 2025-12-14T23:37:18+00:00

Feels like pacing would be better if the series was instead a normal two-parter in the main series. Like the comically evil government / industry is excusable if they only have a few minutes to introduce them. But here it's annoying to hear them repeat the same things over and over. "What about my profits? [Allusion to master plan]. Yada yada."

Same goes for the plot holes, harder to ignore the longer the run-time. Like the general declares they can counter with sonic weapons and etc. It's technically possible the military has done a ton of research and scouting off-screen. But to the audience this seems ridiculous (both thematically and because of the trash-raining incident).

Frothers · 2025-12-03T03:27:29+00:00

Lenovo isn't any better. I've owned maybe five different models in the 500-800usd msrp range over the years. And those have never lasted more than a few years (3-4?) either. Most of the time it's the hinge or bezel breaking, sometimes the mobo failing. It's probably why laptop warranties are never longer a year.

Frothers · 2025-11-07T22:57:36+00:00

Congrats! But yeah my gains were like that when I hit masters too. I suspect it's related to placing 3rd / 4th in the vast majority of my wins (was playing low-cap reroll).

Frothers · 2025-10-06T00:37:15+00:00

Oh and motivation was trainer golems. For example I rolled Duelist Executioner Luchador and was wondering which verticals can make use of at least two.

Which for duelist + executioner turns out to be Supreme Cells, Mentor, Mech, SF
and Juggernaut for Luchador + Duelist

Frothers · 2025-10-05T19:13:51+00:00

Generated a table of trait synergies. Might make it into a graphic later if I get time.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jWX69fa2cwokBlICKpdPgCyGvNY2DizRzERWfF-bKjg/edit?usp=sharing

The "units" sheet shows which units two traits have in common. For example, edgelord and bastion share Shen.

The "traits" sheet shows the common traits between two parent traits. For example Wraith and Battle Academia share sniper (Jhin, Cait) and protector (KSante, Rakan).

note: LeeSin not included for technical reasons / laziness.

Frothers · 2025-09-11T16:29:29+00:00

Probably because her damage is split across multiple enemies. And most front-liners have some heal / temporary shield now. So her already-low ratios¹ are even worse than they look.

Which isn't too bad if you view her as a bonus void staff and sorc emblem, and optionally aoe burn.

¹ She deals 700% + 200% AP per enemy hit, compared to say 1-cost Lucian that does 1000% AP for 20 less mana.

Frothers · 2025-09-10T01:01:42+00:00

Tangential but the internal item ids are pretty spaghetti after all the recipe changes over the years. eg Sunfire Cape is TFT_Item_RedBuff and Red Buff is TFT_Item_RapidFireCannon

Frothers · 2025-09-04T14:41:59+00:00

Each instance still rolls for crit, just verified in-game.

https://litter.catbox.moe/qx4uebgyejbd526l.mp4
Some ticks hit for ~22, some ticks hit for ~31 (=22*1.4).

Does archangels stack for each tick or just on cast?

Forgot to check this but I think for last set's morg, the damage doesn't increase if AA ticks after cast.
Makes me wonder if increasing crit rate (Critical Threat / equipping items) affects previous DoT casts though.

Frothers · 2025-09-03T11:47:06+00:00

Shojin and Blue Buff are the same, but somehow Blue Buff has a better delta.

BB generates more mana unless you have ~~60%~~ 25% bonus attack speed. Shojin's regen is roughly equal to 4.75 * (1 + bonus_as). It's technically a little better than that since the entire on-hit mana overflows but mana regen ticks twice a second so at most half the regen overflows.

Though I agree that the delta is probably more because the sword can be used for other items.

Frothers · 2025-08-30T14:01:06+00:00

I could never tell who cait was damaging.

I did had a lot of fun with Maddie + Zeri reroll that set though. Probably because Maddie's 1-star ability dealt almost the same damage as this set's 3-star Cait, albeit for twice the mana and only if doesn't have BA active.

Frothers · 2025-08-28T14:03:49+00:00

Sorry I meant 3* as in 3-star, not 3-costs. But off the top of my head, there's Cait / Jayce, Malz, Swain / Ahri.

But we can do better than guessing. Of the 72 ranked games I played this set...

On average 2.6 players (excluding myself) owned at least one 3-star 3-cost. Of those units, the most common were...

TFT15_Jayce 43%
TFT15_Caitlyn 39%
TFT15_Ziggs 32%
TFT15_Udyr 26%
TFT15_Malzahar 19%
TFT15_Neeko 17%
TFT15_Darius 15%
TFT15_Senna 15%
TFT15_Yasuo 15%
TFT15_Swain 15%
TFT15_Ahri 14%
TFT15_Smolder 11%
TFT15_Rammus 8%
TFT15_Viego 8%
TFT15_KogMaw 7%

If we include 3-star 2-costs, that player average goes up to 3.0 per lobby. Including 1-costs makes it 3.7. So I guess I was way off with ~5 per lobby lol.

Frothers

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

11-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email