Whether it’s League of Legends or Teamfight Tactics, Challenger is always the highest rank that many gamers aspire to. However, for some players, achieving Challenger rank is not enough; they want to conquer the lofty rank milestones. Recently, a player reached the impressive milestone of 2000 ranked points in the North American Challenger server, and his name is Setsuko. So, what unique experiences does he have in climbing ranks? Let’s find out.
Firstly, when looking at Setsuko’s match history, we can see that this player has almost completely ignored all the economic traits that provide gold or experience. Specifically, in his last 8 matches (24 traits), Setsuko only chose 2 upgrades that are “economic” in nature: Treasure Island and Poor Book. Notably, both of these traits were selected during the first upgrade choice. In the second and third trait selections, Setsuko always skips over the “economic” traits.
The reason for this is that the “economic” traits in season 6.5 are not much different from the first half of season 6. Meanwhile, Riot Games has added many upgrades that directly enhance champions’ power at all positions with stats like armor, magic resistance, health, energy… On the other hand, those “economic” traits do not provide direct strength, and if you do not use gold wisely, you will suffer heavy losses.
This player only chooses “economic” traits at the beginning of the game because at that time, the difference between these traits and upgrades providing stats is not significant. You can use that extra gold to upgrade champions and bridge the gap in power. However, from the second trait selection onwards, players should avoid picking traits that provide gold or experience, as you can easily find yourself in a disadvantageous position.
Another tip that players can learn from Setsuko is that he often does not “all in” on a specific composition, even if it is strong in the meta. Setsuko’s playstyle usually revolves around finding a strong carry in the mid-game and building around that unit to push up to level 8. If he can play a meta composition, that’s one thing, but if too many players are contesting it, Setsuko will opt to level up to 9 and use champions like Jayce, Zeri, Silco…
At this level, players can dominate opponents with 2-star 5-cost units without relying on any structured composition. With all the 5-cost champions in season 6.5 possessing excellent independent power, you can ignore the traits’ effects and still win with this team composition. Therefore, if you find yourself too “stuck” at level 8, pushing up to level 9 will be a good solution to turn the tide of the match.