If you didn’t know, player Mismatched Socks currently holds the top 5 Challenger position on the North American server. In addition to climbing ranks, Mismatched Socks often takes on the role of an online coach, guiding lower-ranked players in Teamfight Tactics. After some time as an online coach, this player has pointed out 3 critical mistakes that players often make when itemizing, as well as the most effective ways to fix them.
Overemphasizing “Core” Items
In theory, “core” items can maximize the power of key champions. However, in practice, it is very rare to perfectly assemble a “core” item build for champions. The reason is that each game has different items dropping from monster rounds, requiring you to adapt to the items you receive. Focusing too much on those items can sometimes reduce your team’s damage and waste the items you currently have.
To fix this, Mismatched Socks recommends that you start itemizing right after selecting items from the Armory. You should choose items from the Armory that allow you to create powerful items and instantly boost your team’s strength. Additionally, you should also equip component items to suitable champions even if they are not yet fully assembled. If you leave them in your inventory, those component items won’t have any effect.
Only Building Items Around One Carry
The common trend among players when building items is to prioritize assembling the best items for the carry they intend to play. This is not wrong, but if you focus too much on one champion, your team is easily countered by opponents. Moreover, such item building can sometimes prevent your current team from maximizing its power.
For example, if you plan to play a Celestial team with Karma as the carry and intend to build energy and skill damage items. However, after the Wolf round, you receive a Wooden Bow and a Silver Cloak, items that do not serve Karma at all. According to Mismatched Socks, the correct play here is to build Runaan’s Hurricane for Riven so that this champion can deal effective damage. It would be a mistake to overlook those items in order to find ways to build items for Karma.
Lack of Calculation When Building Items for Champions
Items are a decisive factor in the strength of your team, and misbuilding items can cost you dearly. To avoid this mistake, Mismatched Socks advises that you should think about the items you may acquire in the near future rather than building items based on intuition. You also need to clearly understand which champions are key in your team to avoid wasting resources.
Suppose you have 6 Doom units and receive a Giant’s Rod from a monster round. Many people might immediately give this item to Ryze because he is a strong unit that deals magic damage. However, this is a mistake in item usage, and you should give the Giant’s Rod to Viktor. The reason is that Viktor is a non-essential unit of the Doom team, and you can sell this piece to reclaim the item and build multiple other items. If you give the Giant’s Rod to Ryze, you will have very few options for item building and fall into a passive situation during the shared draft phase.
