After the 10.8B patch update and the decline of Shadow and Star Guardian, the composition revolving around Kayle and variations of Marksman has risen to become an unstoppable force. Simply put, they are the strongest remaining carries in the game after Jhin and Shaco were previously nerfed. The most annoying aspect here is that they are all ranged units, making them very hard to reach while they can freely deal damage.
However, in Teamfight Tactics, everything has its counters, and Kayle or Marksman is no exception. A player has discovered that Trap Claw is a hard counter to both of these carry types after he accidentally became a victim of this item.
Marksman Combo and Interaction with Trap Claw
I just discovered that the Marksman combo adds an attack that will stun that unit if the hit lands on an enemy with Trap Claw. Is this a previously known effect, and if so, how can we rationalize this? The Marksman combo is definitely not a skill. Meanwhile, the description of Trap Claw is: “Increases a shield that blocks SKILLS when hit; enemies that break that shield are stunned for 4s.”
I’m not entirely sure about the above occurrence, however, several attacks from the Marksman unit will trigger Trap Claw, such as Lucian’s second attack after dashing being considered a skill.
No, it definitely happens even with basic attacks, at least with Jinx. I saw my Jinx get stunned by the Marksman effect, not by the missile effect from the skill.
Trap Claw also works with Kayle’s skill.
That’s right, it can be verified that Trap Claw works on Kayle’s fire wave.
Yep, it could be incredibly ridiculous if it weren’t true, but it is.
I can understand if it’s triggered by Jinx’s missile due to magic damage, but a basic attack isn’t magic damage and isn’t a skill. I will ask Mortdog about this during tomorrow’s stream.
For a long time, Trap Claw has always been regarded as a very difficult item to use, and very few units can effectively utilize this item. This item is overly dependent on the specific situation of the match, such as what strong skills the opponent has, what your carry is, or the positioning of both teams. However, as shared and experienced by the “unfortunate” player above, this item also activates on effects that enhance basic attacks like the Marksman combo and Kayle’s fire wave.
With Kayle and Marksman becoming increasingly popular, you should learn the trick mentioned above to survive as best as possible. With champion types that rely heavily on attack speed like the two carries mentioned above, being stunned for 4 seconds is no different than losing an arm, and you can defeat your opponent spectacularly with this quirky trick.