Angel
One of the strongest Traits in Teamfight Tactics Season 5 is the Angel, but the reality is: despite its dominance, Angels are rarely “touched” by Riot. In fact, when this name shows signs of weakness, there will be another champion within the Angel Trait that takes its place. Not to mention, some champions have been too strong since their introduction at the start of the season, with Kayle being a prime example.
With Angels, players can completely overlook the equipment aspect as they have physical damage (Varus), magic damage (Lux, Syndra, Vel’Koz), and can utilize defensive items to counter many compositions and survive as long as possible in combat (Rell, Kayle). Moreover, Angels can also be combined with many other strong compositions, notably the Angel – Knight meta.
The weakness of this Trait is that while it has many damage dealers, it only has Rell for crowd control, so often players will not trigger the full 9 Angels but will combine them to utilize items while avoiding “backfire” effects.
Warrior
Warrior is a quite powerful Trait, with inherent tankiness and resilience, plus high and varied damage from champions like Trundle, Nidalee, or Viego. Even Kennen serves as a counter to healing Traits with the key item Morello’s Evil Tome. With their overwhelming power, Riot had to heavily nerf Warriors in patch 11.12 to avoid the scenario of “everyone playing Warriors” as had happened before.
The strength of Warriors is undeniable, and this Trait boasts many potential carry champions in Teamfight Tactics Season 5, with previous metas featuring Trundle as the primary carry or Lee Sin and Pantheon being capable of becoming major damage sources. Except for Nidalee, Viego, and Jax, who are familiar with carry roles, any champion in the Warrior lineup can easily “carry the team” without requiring too much in terms of items.
However, Warriors have a drawback in that they cannot quickly engage the backline of the opponent (Nidalee needs to transform into a cougar before she can start making a difference), so players revolving around Warriors must also include Assassins. Firstly, to deal damage to the opposing carries, and secondly, to trigger Viego’s trait at the end of the game. The name most commonly used is Diana, who provides damage, crowd control, and triggers the trait (Mage, Assassin, Dragon).
Shadow Isles
Another strong and diverse Trait is Shadow Isles, as in any update, there are representatives of this Trait chosen as carries to build gameplay. Notably, Shadow Isles also provides extremely strong damage (both physical and magic) thanks to its Trait activation. Some notable champions from the Shadow Isles Trait include Warwick, Viktor, Hecarim, Thresh, Ryze, Draven, and Viego. In other words, except for Vayne, who has been heavily nerfed, the remaining champions from Shadow Isles are currently and will continue to be powerful “carry” champions.
The biggest weakness of Shadow Isles is that this composition is relatively fragile, lacking champions that are truly sturdy enough to stand alone, either in terms of damage or crowd control; healing can be considered somewhat adequate. Therefore, while Shadow Isles has many carries, is easy to itemize, and build a team around, very few players have the intention of building a full 9 Shadow Isles team to maximize the benefits from this Trait.
