Since its first appearance, Technology Cores have been an extremely important factor in Teamfight Tactics (TFT). Not only do they shape the gameplay for players, but these Technology Cores can sometimes determine the outcome of an entire match. Many players have found themselves “lamenting” after choosing a Technology Core, only to have the game unfold in an unexpected way.
And because once chosen, they cannot be changed, Technology Cores also partly reflect the skill level and experience of TFT players. However, there are some Technology Cores that displayed “overpowered” strength in Season 6 but have clearly fallen out of favor in Season 7.
Flame Thrower
Flame Thrower was a quite powerful Technology Core in Seasons 6 and 6.5, but it has seen less usage in Season 7. The primary reason is that there are too many champions with healing abilities as well as items that provide healing. Therefore, even with Flame Thrower at the start of each match, it doesn’t have much effect.
However, the Flame Thrower core can still be chosen if players want to optimize damage from their Burn effect. Of course, it still cannot compare to its popularity from the previous season, as its appearance rate thus far is only 35.4%.
Luden’s Echo
Luden’s Echo was a very strong core last season, especially when most carries only dealt single-target damage. However, this Technology Core is currently used less. The main reason is that the champions typically selected as carries towards the end of the match (Yasuo, Xayah, Talon) deal very strong multi-target damage and their damage type is physical.
Meanwhile, Luden’s Echo may help deal a large amount of multi-target magic damage (150/225/300) but only applies to champions that deal magic damage. In reality, the champions that use Ability Power in Season 7 are not very strong, except for the Dragon Gods. Therefore, players often skip Luden’s Echo or only take the Diamond tier version. The selection rates of these three cores are 30.8%/35.7%/33.6% respectively. Among them, the tier I core appears the most (1214 times) and has been selected 374 times.
Unique Path
Remember, in Seasons 6 and 6.5, the Unique Path core was seen as a measure of player skill as well as a very strong core. Each unit not activating traits, with this core could be seen as significantly increasing power. Additionally, this Technology Core allowed players to comfortably build their team compositions without worrying about whether they activated traits or not.
However, in Season 7, activating traits is extremely important to receive the powers and buffs that traits provide. Therefore, the Unique Path core has also “fallen into oblivion.” Except for very strong 4 and 5-cost champions like Xayah or Yasuo, almost every champion in Season 7 needs to activate traits to be truly effective in combat. Thus, the Unique Path core has also faded into obscurity, even in lower ranks. All three Unique Path cores have only appeared at rates of 0.9%/3.7%/4.7% since the beginning of Season 7 to now.