Across the seasons of Teamfight Tactics, there have been many champions with incredibly powerful abilities. Some 5-cost champions even have skills that deal area damage, such as Lux (season 2), Swain, Karthus, Yasuo (season 1), Yone (season 4)… However, there are some names among the 5-cost champions whose skill sets can wipe out an entire enemy team in just one strike.
Karthus Season 1
With the traits of Undead and Sorcerer, Karthus in Season 1, with his ability “Requiem,” was truly a nightmare for Teamfight Tactics players at the time of his release. With just one ability, along with items that increase ability power, Karthus could easily wipe out at least half of the opponent’s team even at just 1 star. If he was under-equipped or at a lower level, this champion could still reduce the enemy’s health by more than half.
Karthus’s “broken” power was such that Riot had to quickly nerf him in subsequent updates, but it still didn’t significantly reduce the effectiveness of this champion as players continuously found suitable strategies to maximize Karthus’s potential. Perhaps that’s one reason why Karthus has been completely absent from Teamfight Tactics since Season 1 until now.
Gangplank
The champion from the Pirate – Mercenary – Cannoneer traits is truly one of the most dominant names in Teamfight Tactics Season 3. In this season, players noted a total of 3 champions with strong area damage capabilities: Gangplank, Miss Fortune, and Ekko. However, in terms of effectiveness, “the Saint” cannot compare to the other two as her skill set, while wide and multi-target, has a fixed hitbox and is very easy to counter. When compared further, Gangplank stands out significantly with his ability to “one-hit wipe.”
Looking back at Gangplank, in Season 3 there was a mechanism that made this champion very powerful, allowing players to use gold to upgrade Gangplank’s strength, in addition to equipping and star upgrading. Therefore, as long as Gangplank was upgraded, at around 2 stars with items like Hextech Gunblade, Rabadon’s Deathcap, or Statikk Shiv, Infinity Edge, and Guardian Angel, he could wipe out the entire enemy team with just one use of Cannon Rain.
Sett
The Boss – Brawler Sett is perhaps one of the most interesting champions to appear in Season 4. Even though he may not have a skill to eliminate a champion like Lee Sin with just 2 hits, Sett in Season 4 is much more dominant. This Brawler will use his ability “Showstopper” right in the middle of the enemy formation, and with a perfectly timed strike, fully equipped, and at least 2 stars, Sett can wipe out the entire enemy board.
Moreover, he also has a mechanism where below 40% health, he dashes out of the battlefield and starts to regain health, then he returns to the battlefield in a “Battle Ready” state, converting all damage from attacks and skills into True Damage. Therefore, it’s not surprising that in Season 5, Riot had to remove Sett’s “Showstopper” and replace it with the “Goredrinker” skill to reduce the power of this brawler.
