Although both core champions of the Duelist composition, Kayle and Xayah, are no longer usable due to the heavy nerf on the Hyper Rolling strategy, making it difficult to attain a 3-star Xayah, while Kayle has completely disappeared from Teamfight Tactics along with the Divine tribe. However, it cannot be denied that the Duelist composition remains one of the strongest compositions at the moment with the core champion Master Yi.
Aside from the mandatory items that need to be equipped to this champion such as Guinsoo’s Rageblade or Rapid Firecannon, players can currently be divided into two schools when it comes to Master Yi: Master Yi with the 6 Duelist activation and Master Yi with the 6 or 8 Time Traveler activation.
6 Duelist Strategy
Let’s recap the stats of the Duelists in Teamfight Tactics. With 3 – 6 – 9 champions, Duelist champions will have an additional 2 attacks with rates of 33% – 55% and 100% respectively. The 100% rate at 9 is perfect, but with only 7 Duelists currently available in the champion pool, players need at least 2 Spatula items to reach this power threshold. To achieve this, players need to have “infinite luck”, so we will only consider the 3 and 6 activations here.
33% and 55% are not bad figures when compared with other tribes. Moreover, with the cost distribution from 1 to 4, gathering champions to reach the required activation levels is not too difficult. Not to mention that the two cancer champions Irelia and especially Riven, who were added in the late season, have significant power if equipped with the right items.
Time Traveler Duelist Strategy
One of the other compositions that synergizes extremely well with the core Master Yi is the Time Traveler composition, especially at the 6 and 8 activation levels. With its passive that increases attack speed for the entire team every 8 seconds / 3.5 seconds / 1.5 seconds / 0.75 seconds for every 2/4/6/8 activated Time Travelers, particularly at 8 with additional attack speed every 0.75 seconds, this composition allows Master Yi to quickly reach the maximum attack speed of 5.00, the fastest at the moment.
Similar to the Duelists, the Time Traveler tribe has a champion pool ranging from 1 to 5 cost, and notably, it is the only tribe with all 8 champions to reach the maximum power threshold. Additionally, with support from strong tanks like Shen and Wukong, Master Yi with Rapid Firecannon can deal damage from the backline, making it common to secure a top 1 position.
However, the biggest drawback of this strategy is having the 5-cost champion Thresh and only being truly effective at level 8 – 9, requiring players to have good luck. Not to mention that in the early levels, Time Travelers are relatively average compared to other tribes as it takes 8 seconds just to increase attack speed by 15%.
In summary, the Duelist strategy is strong in the early game, while Time Travelers shine in the later stages, especially at the 8 activation level. Therefore, to maximize effectiveness, it is best to combine both compositions with Duelist champions in the early game and gradually transition to Time Travelers in the later stages of the match.