TFT patch 14.8b announced for release today

Teamfight Tactics (TFT) had one of its biggest patches of Set 11, Inkborn Fables on April 17. However, with the nerfs to reroll 3-cost compositions and Senna and buffs to Gnar, composition diversity shrank instead of widening.

There were buffs across the board to many 4-cost units, but it wasn't enough to stop Kai'sa compositions to be overwhelmingly present in the meta. The balance team is acting fast to remedy the situation and bring about more composition viability. Nerfs to many aspects of the Kai'sa line aims to achieve that goal. Here are the notes for patch 14.8b, courtesy of TFT lead designer Stephen "Mortdog" Mortimer.

As players have figured out how to optimize fortune, it became abundantly clear to use fortune rewards to play towards Kai'sa compositions. This nerf should reduce the power of Fortune in general, which also keeps the Fortune to Kai'sa pipeline more in check.

Although the maximum stack total AD is net neutral, this is a nerf as it slows down the rate at which Gnar's AD will scale throughout the duration of a fight. It's not a full revert to his previous patch numbers, but it's relatively close.

Teemo has been quite the early-to-mid game powerhouse in the Trickshot line for a long time now. He is the best Morellonomicon item holder and is still relevant in the late game on Trickshot boards. The amount of damage you can do and HP you can save with this unit has been a bit above his paygrade so this nerf was bound to happen.

For clarity, Kai'sa's ability is as follows:
"Fire 20 waves at the current target over 2 seconds, each dealing physical damage to the first enemy hit. If an enemy is hit by 10 waves, they take amplified damage per wave instead."

Alas, the star of the 4-costs for the past few weeks is being knocked off her pedestal. Kai'sa has been terribly dominant as a 4-cost carry in a meta that made single-target burst damage a necessity. With Fortune and Teemo getting nerfed as some of the premiere paths to Kai'sa, another nerf to the unit itself should really bring her down to Earth. We'll see how the meta shakes out among the 4-costs with all the changes.

In capped versions of the Kai'sa line, Ornn is the primary tank as he fits in with Udyr and Azir for their Behemoth and Dryad traits. He also serves as frontline and utility with his ability shield and item crafting. His nerf is yet another hit to the Kai'sa line. Additionally, the lowering of his power level could incentivize playing other frontline variations in the late game.

Alongside Xayah, Irelia is one of the other premiere AD carry legendary units in this set. With the Kai'sa line being dominant and the buffs to Xayah in 14.8, Irelia got a nudge to help compete as a late-game AD carry.

Kai'sa has been the real star of the show as her single-target damage is what every player needs. However, buffs to Xayah made her rather strong even at 1-star. This is a nerf just to the recall portion of her ultimate ability, slightly toning her power level down a bit.

With many tournaments worldwide happening soon, the balance team took swift action to create a B-patch that should promote more diversity in the meta. Let's hope that the goal of this B-patch is met as the meta shakes out in the next few days.

According to TFT Lead Designer Mortdog, the patch will go live onto the servers later today. At that time, he will make another post on his X account announcing that the changes have gone through.

That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest TFT news and updates.