In Teamfight Tactics Season 5, many meta and “overpowered” champions have been discovered by players, most notably LeBlanc “the God of Chains” who, with just a Dark Blue Buff and a Guardian Angel, can spam spells like in URF mode with extremely high damage.
Right after Riot released patch 11.9b to tone down LeBlanc’s power, another name rose to prominence that, if compared by ratio, is even more “overpowered” than LeBlanc. This champion costs only 1 gold, and if lucky, can reach 2 stars in the first monster fight. The name being referred to here is Vayne from the Forsaken – Marksman.
The first reason Vayne is so strong comes from the 1 gold threshold, allowing Vayne to easily upgrade to 3 stars very early. Moreover, using this champion allows players to implement a simple slow-roll playstyle because hyper-roll requires more skillful calculations. In summary, Vayne’s core gameplay is a relatively easy meta, and it’s easy to upgrade the champion’s power.
Another important point is that the damage from Vayne is true damage. On the third shot, if there are 6 Forsaken and the right items, she can deal more than 1000 true damage (including bolts from the Recurve Bow). Moreover, the Forsaken Vayne build is less contested at lower ranks, so players can ensure a smooth climb to the top as well as accumulate economy when needing to pivot their team composition.
Because of this overpowering nature, Riot Mortdog – the lead engineer of the TFT project, has continued to face complaints about Vayne. The complaints were so numerous that he had to express his frustration on his personal page.
“I see too many complaints about Vayne…
Is Vayne overpowered? Yes. But she has been strong like this for 10 days before people started to discover it, right? Exactly.
Stop looking at websites, streamers and exploring. Find your own “overpowered” compositions. Be a pioneer. That’s how you become good at TFT.”
Below Mortdog’s post, there are many mixed opinions concerning this Forsaken champion and Mortdog’s statement. While some players disagree with the notion of always needing to discover new metas to improve, they all acknowledge that it’s the champion’s cost, true damage, and the nerfing of other champions that make Vayne shine.
In the upcoming patch 11.10, Vayne has been confirmed to be among the champions receiving buffs. Thus, Teamfight Tactics players will continue to see Vayne reaching 3 stars and decimating all opposing teams for a long time to come.