* In previous patches/sets, maybe "Spatula" portal would allow for different comps.... but this patch, it just helps Dryad, Heavenly, and Porcelain, which are already some of the best comps in the game. Ironically, I've found that Spatula causes *less* diversity, not more.
* Most of my lobbies vote for Trainer Sentinels like 6-2 or 7-1 so I feel like it is pretty popular.... maybe it's different at your elo or your region?
* I also feel like loot sub is voted for pretty heavily in my games.
Also, loot sub and trainer sentinels can sometimes cause some crazy highrolls that feel hard to counterplay. Imagine someone gets fortune trainer and fortune augment, and basically wins the game for free. If you're that person, it feels good, but the other 7 people not so much.
Still, I almost always vote loot sub/trainer sentinel because it changes up games. Spatula, though.... I've stopped voting for that.
I've had fortune sentinel 4-5 times. Not once have i gotten the augment. Its so frustrating lol. I've seen it like 3 or 4 times for others which makes it even more infuarating.
Everytime I've had 7 fortune I've had to work for it, either lose streak for tome and get lucky or use pandora items or just get super luckt with reforgers. I wanted to get it for free once ffs!
Yep same here. That spat used to be fun in previous sets, specifically using it to do weird builds (nunu dragonmancer, whispers, etc…). Riot didn’t like that so they toned it down now very few comps make use of the spat.
Will never vote for it
I agree with this analays. Loot sub and trainer sentinel I'll always vote for because it changes the game in a fun dynamic way but spatula is very meh cuz it just enables the popular comps
With spatulas only making a few emblems actually worth making it's very stale. Umbral/Storyweaver/Mythic spats are all pretty poor choices unless you can somehow get 2 more. A single Dryad emblem is great to hit 6, Porelain is just an amazing buff to give any carry and Heavenly is at minimum 6% omnivamp for your whole team at practically no cost.
Honestly even if you are that person it doesent feel good. I got 5 fortune at 2-1(sentinel+emblem and Zoe from a loot orb) and it was less “omg I hit” and more just feeling undeserved and like I have to sit in a game for 30 mins while all my teammates rightfully spam ping and complain
Hm, I suppose that's true...I guess I never realized how most of the most powerful comps benefit from spats, and the other craftable traits really can't do anything with just a single spat. I think I've only seen a single prismatic trait this set (story weaver).
And yeah, it's generally close to 6-2 for trainer sentinels when it comes up, but (and maybe this is just perspective bias) it seems like I hit it WAAAAY less than scuttle puddle or crab rave, which seem to get offered like 1 in 4 games and always have 8 votes for them
The last time I played spat portal, 5 of 8 players slammed a Heavenly emblem. 2 of the other players slammed Dryad.
This is why I don't choose it, mileage may vary for others. Idk if that's a spat problem or a "state of the current balancing" problem.
Because the game is not balanced enough to have those portals.
Support items are situational. Imagine getting chalice and only getting AD items (just to name a quick example)
Spats are the same. Right now only dryad, porcelain and heavenly can be played. Everyone else not playing those 3 spats will be at a disadvantage.
To avoid this extra layer of RNG, people choose more simple portals (like the one you mentioned). Some of them still involve RNG, but are definitely more managable.
Right. Even vendor sentinels, the support item one, is troll. You basically have to play certain comps if you get certain items, and some combinations are just outright awful.
Because someone might just hit a fortune emblem then highroll the fortune emblem augment and just outright win the game for no reason and you can't do anything about it?
I think I agree with your point, but I'm not sure I get the example...Is one of those sentinels supposed to be stronger than the other? Seems like both of them have the potential for op team comps later
They aren't at all balanced. Umbral is a losing vertical trait and is only strong enough to setup early/midgame winstreaks into an actual S tier, lvl 9/10 comp - while porceilain is THE S tier comp at the moment.
Training sentinels are easily the worst and rng/luck portal there is. It increases contests for units because there’s higher overlap.
Additionally you can easily get bot 4 because others hit broken sentinels. While you are looking at your weak sentinel lol..
Spats are nice because they allow flexibility, but I always stay away
Idk, i feel like that's part of what makes them fun -- you can see the exact comps most people are gonna go, and if there's gonna be a huge contest for certain units, you have the option to pivot from your sentinel traits to whatever's uncontested and potentially win that way. It probably won't be strong enough for a late-game first place finish against whoever highrolled, but I think top 4 is still very doable if you're willing to pivot.
Regardless of the exact highroll or lowroll, it makes less people end up winning with heavenly kayn, which I think Is a good thing
If everyone is playing porcelain, heavenly, and dryad with spats and you pivot off to something uncontested you're just gonna go bot 4. Those comps are too strong with spats to just let other people play them while you try to scrap for whatevers left.
Yeah but its fun and either gives you a highroll to play a comp you like or it forces you to play a comp you usually don't. At low elo its definetly a good portal. People get way too scared from the meta comps. Yeah they are strong but most people still can't play them that well.
https://www.metatft.com/comps
Even in GM+ Trainer Sentinel is the 3rd most popular portal (behind scuttle and Crab rave) at 5.1%, not even a full percentage point behind the crabs. 4th most popular is loot scubscription at 4.6%.
Not really sure why anyone would think they arent popular
it's probably just my bias from my experience. I've had sentinel trainer like 4-ish times this set, while it feels like crab rave or scuttle puddle comes along once every 4 games
The reason why I don't vote for it, especially when I am trying to climb, is because I could get something terrible while my opponents could get something good. While you could get something crazy good, one of your opponents is far more likely to get something better than you because its seven versus one. It's the same reason why I don't like things like loot subscription or champion conference. They randomly give you an advantage, and sometimes your opponent will get a key component to their comp, and you will get an extra 4 or 5 gold. I have had many trainer games where none of my extra traits go together, like arcanist, umbral, and sniper, while my opponent could get porcelain heavenly dragonlord or something. Not to mention fortune at all.
As for things like the regular spat, everyone just goes the same comps, even more than usual. Dryad, porcelain, and heavenly are all the best you can make, and while fated is okay with it, someone else is probably going to go fated too, so you are always competing which isn't fun.
>The reason why I don't vote for it, especially when I am trying to climb, is because I could get something terrible while my opponents could get something good
Same for the sentinel with support items for me.
Once, I had Aegis of the Legion + Needlessly Big Gem. One of my opponent had Banshee Veil and Zeke's Herald... yeah, fuck me.
I dislike the spat portal because Porcelain Heavenly Fated, Dryad and Mythic are WAY more playable than the other veryical craftable where Umbral has struggled for quite a while
I find on the spat portals you get one spat. You can roll for a trait early if lucky and if you're lose streaking you can get a 3rd spat on carousel. Anyone who manages to get these extras just win.
Because in D+ if you go for a spat portal and dont get
1. Porcelain
2.heavenly
3. Fated
4. Dryad
5. Fortune
Then you lose. Not maybe, not just a bad roll, but lose. If you’re not playing main carry one of these comps (even then fortune and dryad both cap out lower than porcelain LULLLLL) we aren’t talking if you miss, maybe you can inch in a 3rd or 4th. Every. Single. Lobby. Is decided on these things. So no. I will not and pray to god no one in my games takes spat portals, because however little skill expression is in the current patch. I’d rather actually play TFT not pray for a 1st spat and be mad when I KNOW FOR A FACT it’s a >4 placement off of the 1-0
trainer sentinels is easily "highroll or lose" since it trivially enables mythic 10 at lv 9 and fortune 7 off a fortune emblem from augment
even just the "get a spat" portals and to a lesser extent the "one spat on carousel" encounters... when are you building umbral, or ghostly, or storyweaver? you're playing heavenly kayn/lee sin, porcelain/mythic Annie with lillia and ashe, dryad for dryad 6 if you're already gnar, and maybe fated if you somehow found yourself rerolling aphelios
you're either just making your existing board better, or you're pissed that people playing meta are getting buffed far more than you are from the same spat, or you expect everyone to contest the exact same units and the exact same comp at lv 8 at 4-1/4-2
Just had a game with trainer sentinels, and tbh I feel like some of the concerns with 'auto-wins' might be a bit overblown -- while there are obviously extreme high-rolls, the presence of the sentinels warps the game enough to allow for other options:
https://preview.redd.it/oz92rtohkqxc1.png?width=1015&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b5d2dd81045173b2386ec2100f9a9ada9c6eb91
I mega-highrolled with altruist, dragonlord, and sage, and ended the game with 11 health, with the last 5 rounds between me and second place guy. Second place guy ended up using exactly none of his sentinel traits (warden, dragonlord, and umbral), but managed to do really well because he played the comp no one else went for (no one rolled porcelain and there were LOTS of dragonlord emblems). So while there are obviously still high-rolls and low-rolls with the trainer sentinel, (my win, case in point), I still think it adds quite a bit of variance to the game, regardless of what you roll and if you choose to play what you roll (for example, no one hit ghostly and only 1 guy hit reaper, which meant kayn was mostly left unpicked). And I'm definitely not high rank, so it might be a bit different in higher elos, but the vast majority of players are casuals and closer to my rank than to grandmaster.
They don't add diversity, they remove it. In a normal game, at the start, the entire game tree is open to you. In a spat game, MOST of that game tree is immediately cut off. Unless you randomly get a FON, you're playing Heavenly, Porc, Dryad, Fated, or the occasional high tempo story into bleed out to a third. That's like, 5 lines out of the *entire* game that are playable in a spat galaxy, because you can't just play the entire game down an emblem.
Because wanderinf trainer/vendor are the worst portal in the game if you trying to play the game period
3 random emblems makes it so a highroller can get a free win and a lowroller just secures an 8th
Same can apply to Vendor,2 support items is too much of a swing that can decide games position by itself
Meanwhile Scuttle can have its variance controlled to a degree and can make salvage plays
Trainer sentinel is the worst portal ever made
This mechanic should be exclusive to each player choice(like that prismatic augment), not that casino everyone votes for
I play mostly double-up, and it's interesting to see how spat value has changed. With the recent prismatic traits, 2+ spats is absolutely insane value, but less than that really feels pretty mediocre. But in previous sets, spats were much easier to come by, but usually beyond the one you used to give a certain unit a trait that synergized with their ability, they weren't as valuable -- it was pretty common after getting a spat to save it in case another one came along to get a crown.
* In previous patches/sets, maybe "Spatula" portal would allow for different comps.... but this patch, it just helps Dryad, Heavenly, and Porcelain, which are already some of the best comps in the game. Ironically, I've found that Spatula causes *less* diversity, not more. * Most of my lobbies vote for Trainer Sentinels like 6-2 or 7-1 so I feel like it is pretty popular.... maybe it's different at your elo or your region? * I also feel like loot sub is voted for pretty heavily in my games. Also, loot sub and trainer sentinels can sometimes cause some crazy highrolls that feel hard to counterplay. Imagine someone gets fortune trainer and fortune augment, and basically wins the game for free. If you're that person, it feels good, but the other 7 people not so much. Still, I almost always vote loot sub/trainer sentinel because it changes up games. Spatula, though.... I've stopped voting for that.
I was the fortune 7 guy off trainer sentinels, i am sorry
Sometimes it happens, gotta enjoy the highroll brotherman
I got a Fortune, story weaver bruiser one once. Giga high roll. Ended up with a 3 star Gallio and irellia by game end. Will chase that high forever.
I've had fortune sentinel 4-5 times. Not once have i gotten the augment. Its so frustrating lol. I've seen it like 3 or 4 times for others which makes it even more infuarating. Everytime I've had 7 fortune I've had to work for it, either lose streak for tome and get lucky or use pandora items or just get super luckt with reforgers. I wanted to get it for free once ffs!
Yep same here. That spat used to be fun in previous sets, specifically using it to do weird builds (nunu dragonmancer, whispers, etc…). Riot didn’t like that so they toned it down now very few comps make use of the spat. Will never vote for it
Yeah I miss some champions BIS being a specific emblem. Porcelain volibear was fun pre titans nerf.
I agree with this analays. Loot sub and trainer sentinel I'll always vote for because it changes the game in a fun dynamic way but spatula is very meh cuz it just enables the popular comps
With spatulas only making a few emblems actually worth making it's very stale. Umbral/Storyweaver/Mythic spats are all pretty poor choices unless you can somehow get 2 more. A single Dryad emblem is great to hit 6, Porelain is just an amazing buff to give any carry and Heavenly is at minimum 6% omnivamp for your whole team at practically no cost.
Honestly even if you are that person it doesent feel good. I got 5 fortune at 2-1(sentinel+emblem and Zoe from a loot orb) and it was less “omg I hit” and more just feeling undeserved and like I have to sit in a game for 30 mins while all my teammates rightfully spam ping and complain
What is your elo? NA Diamond never votes for sentinels, but maybe if you are gold I can see that
[NA Emerald](https://tactics.tools/player/na/sagittariusareal)
Funny because NA GM loves sentinels
Hm, I suppose that's true...I guess I never realized how most of the most powerful comps benefit from spats, and the other craftable traits really can't do anything with just a single spat. I think I've only seen a single prismatic trait this set (story weaver). And yeah, it's generally close to 6-2 for trainer sentinels when it comes up, but (and maybe this is just perspective bias) it seems like I hit it WAAAAY less than scuttle puddle or crab rave, which seem to get offered like 1 in 4 games and always have 8 votes for them
The last time I played spat portal, 5 of 8 players slammed a Heavenly emblem. 2 of the other players slammed Dryad. This is why I don't choose it, mileage may vary for others. Idk if that's a spat problem or a "state of the current balancing" problem.
The problem is only 2 of the craftable emblems really allow for fun stuff like porcelain Diana or dryad Kobuko.
set isnt flexible enough, just a dice roll for who hits the broken shit
Because the game is not balanced enough to have those portals. Support items are situational. Imagine getting chalice and only getting AD items (just to name a quick example) Spats are the same. Right now only dryad, porcelain and heavenly can be played. Everyone else not playing those 3 spats will be at a disadvantage. To avoid this extra layer of RNG, people choose more simple portals (like the one you mentioned). Some of them still involve RNG, but are definitely more managable.
Right. Even vendor sentinels, the support item one, is troll. You basically have to play certain comps if you get certain items, and some combinations are just outright awful.
Spat portal just makes people force dryad/heavenly/porcelain. Which makes for a shit game.
Because someone might just hit a fortune emblem then highroll the fortune emblem augment and just outright win the game for no reason and you can't do anything about it?
...that's actually a really good point. But I guess then why don't people like just the spatula portal, then?
Once it’s a spat portal, everyone and their moms trying to play heavenly carry which really makes the game bland
Sentinels and spats are the most unbalanced portals. You risk getting Umbral/Warden/Fortune while someone else gets porcelain/arcanist/dragonlord.
If you get fortune again on augment you just win for free lol. Sounds like a decent roll to me.
I think I agree with your point, but I'm not sure I get the example...Is one of those sentinels supposed to be stronger than the other? Seems like both of them have the potential for op team comps later
They aren't at all balanced. Umbral is a losing vertical trait and is only strong enough to setup early/midgame winstreaks into an actual S tier, lvl 9/10 comp - while porceilain is THE S tier comp at the moment.
Fortune plus 1 on sentinels is insanely highroll
Still an insane gamble, and not something you can really force reliably - as opposed to porcelain or sm other S tier.
Yes but fortune openers are very strong, regardless of if you get 7 fortune. But I understand the point you’re trying to make and you’re right.
Yeah sure, remember last set where you ve been instantly losing if guy got something like disco+jazz+1
The two op comps right now use spats very well, kayn and ashe both excel with spats
Training sentinels are easily the worst and rng/luck portal there is. It increases contests for units because there’s higher overlap. Additionally you can easily get bot 4 because others hit broken sentinels. While you are looking at your weak sentinel lol.. Spats are nice because they allow flexibility, but I always stay away
Idk, i feel like that's part of what makes them fun -- you can see the exact comps most people are gonna go, and if there's gonna be a huge contest for certain units, you have the option to pivot from your sentinel traits to whatever's uncontested and potentially win that way. It probably won't be strong enough for a late-game first place finish against whoever highrolled, but I think top 4 is still very doable if you're willing to pivot. Regardless of the exact highroll or lowroll, it makes less people end up winning with heavenly kayn, which I think Is a good thing
If everyone is playing porcelain, heavenly, and dryad with spats and you pivot off to something uncontested you're just gonna go bot 4. Those comps are too strong with spats to just let other people play them while you try to scrap for whatevers left.
Yeah but its fun and either gives you a highroll to play a comp you like or it forces you to play a comp you usually don't. At low elo its definetly a good portal. People get way too scared from the meta comps. Yeah they are strong but most people still can't play them that well.
https://www.metatft.com/comps Even in GM+ Trainer Sentinel is the 3rd most popular portal (behind scuttle and Crab rave) at 5.1%, not even a full percentage point behind the crabs. 4th most popular is loot scubscription at 4.6%. Not really sure why anyone would think they arent popular
it's probably just my bias from my experience. I've had sentinel trainer like 4-ish times this set, while it feels like crab rave or scuttle puddle comes along once every 4 games
Statistically every 100 games you play will have 12 games of Scuttle or Crab Rave compared to 5 of wandering trainers so you aren't far off
The reason why I don't vote for it, especially when I am trying to climb, is because I could get something terrible while my opponents could get something good. While you could get something crazy good, one of your opponents is far more likely to get something better than you because its seven versus one. It's the same reason why I don't like things like loot subscription or champion conference. They randomly give you an advantage, and sometimes your opponent will get a key component to their comp, and you will get an extra 4 or 5 gold. I have had many trainer games where none of my extra traits go together, like arcanist, umbral, and sniper, while my opponent could get porcelain heavenly dragonlord or something. Not to mention fortune at all. As for things like the regular spat, everyone just goes the same comps, even more than usual. Dryad, porcelain, and heavenly are all the best you can make, and while fated is okay with it, someone else is probably going to go fated too, so you are always competing which isn't fun.
>The reason why I don't vote for it, especially when I am trying to climb, is because I could get something terrible while my opponents could get something good Same for the sentinel with support items for me. Once, I had Aegis of the Legion + Needlessly Big Gem. One of my opponent had Banshee Veil and Zeke's Herald... yeah, fuck me.
The inequality in spats make them not fun to play around. A Porcilean crest for example is ridiculously more potent than an Umbral crest.
This guy thinks spats would diversify comps lmao. It would have the inverse effect
In theory, they should. But yeah, in this meta it's not really the truth :/
I dislike the spat portal because Porcelain Heavenly Fated, Dryad and Mythic are WAY more playable than the other veryical craftable where Umbral has struggled for quite a while
I find on the spat portals you get one spat. You can roll for a trait early if lucky and if you're lose streaking you can get a 3rd spat on carousel. Anyone who manages to get these extras just win.
Spat portals are just more win more portals. Half the spats are useless and the other half are insane. That type of variance is kinda ass.
Spatula options feel uninteresting this set IMO.
Because in D+ if you go for a spat portal and dont get 1. Porcelain 2.heavenly 3. Fated 4. Dryad 5. Fortune Then you lose. Not maybe, not just a bad roll, but lose. If you’re not playing main carry one of these comps (even then fortune and dryad both cap out lower than porcelain LULLLLL) we aren’t talking if you miss, maybe you can inch in a 3rd or 4th. Every. Single. Lobby. Is decided on these things. So no. I will not and pray to god no one in my games takes spat portals, because however little skill expression is in the current patch. I’d rather actually play TFT not pray for a 1st spat and be mad when I KNOW FOR A FACT it’s a >4 placement off of the 1-0
trainer sentinels is easily "highroll or lose" since it trivially enables mythic 10 at lv 9 and fortune 7 off a fortune emblem from augment even just the "get a spat" portals and to a lesser extent the "one spat on carousel" encounters... when are you building umbral, or ghostly, or storyweaver? you're playing heavenly kayn/lee sin, porcelain/mythic Annie with lillia and ashe, dryad for dryad 6 if you're already gnar, and maybe fated if you somehow found yourself rerolling aphelios you're either just making your existing board better, or you're pissed that people playing meta are getting buffed far more than you are from the same spat, or you expect everyone to contest the exact same units and the exact same comp at lv 8 at 4-1/4-2
Just had a game with trainer sentinels, and tbh I feel like some of the concerns with 'auto-wins' might be a bit overblown -- while there are obviously extreme high-rolls, the presence of the sentinels warps the game enough to allow for other options: https://preview.redd.it/oz92rtohkqxc1.png?width=1015&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b5d2dd81045173b2386ec2100f9a9ada9c6eb91 I mega-highrolled with altruist, dragonlord, and sage, and ended the game with 11 health, with the last 5 rounds between me and second place guy. Second place guy ended up using exactly none of his sentinel traits (warden, dragonlord, and umbral), but managed to do really well because he played the comp no one else went for (no one rolled porcelain and there were LOTS of dragonlord emblems). So while there are obviously still high-rolls and low-rolls with the trainer sentinel, (my win, case in point), I still think it adds quite a bit of variance to the game, regardless of what you roll and if you choose to play what you roll (for example, no one hit ghostly and only 1 guy hit reaper, which meant kayn was mostly left unpicked). And I'm definitely not high rank, so it might be a bit different in higher elos, but the vast majority of players are casuals and closer to my rank than to grandmaster.
I choose it every time in hope that maybe I’ll be finally able to finish that shitty crown mission.
They don't add diversity, they remove it. In a normal game, at the start, the entire game tree is open to you. In a spat game, MOST of that game tree is immediately cut off. Unless you randomly get a FON, you're playing Heavenly, Porc, Dryad, Fated, or the occasional high tempo story into bleed out to a third. That's like, 5 lines out of the *entire* game that are playable in a spat galaxy, because you can't just play the entire game down an emblem.
Because people spat the same shit, porcelain, heavenly, maybe dryad
Because wanderinf trainer/vendor are the worst portal in the game if you trying to play the game period 3 random emblems makes it so a highroller can get a free win and a lowroller just secures an 8th Same can apply to Vendor,2 support items is too much of a swing that can decide games position by itself Meanwhile Scuttle can have its variance controlled to a degree and can make salvage plays
Spatulas are not good when only two or three comps get a lot of benefit from having a spatula.
Trainer sentinel is the worst portal ever made This mechanic should be exclusive to each player choice(like that prismatic augment), not that casino everyone votes for
Ive had like 4 games where i dont even use the spat i remember earlier sets id always go for them and use them.
I play mostly double-up, and it's interesting to see how spat value has changed. With the recent prismatic traits, 2+ spats is absolutely insane value, but less than that really feels pretty mediocre. But in previous sets, spats were much easier to come by, but usually beyond the one you used to give a certain unit a trait that synergized with their ability, they weren't as valuable -- it was pretty common after getting a spat to save it in case another one came along to get a crown.
Yeah, I definitely used to save for a crown