After the second season of Teamfight Tactics nears its end, we can see Riot Games’ direction is to limit the buffs for entire team compositions like in season 1. Therefore, damage dealers are at a significant disadvantage without much “insurance” as before; if you’re not lucky enough, they can be taken down easily.
However, recently, with the buff to the Iron Solari Chain item, the playstyle of stacking multiple of these items on a single champion to maximize shield is being utilized by high-level players like Best Udyr. Recently, this player posted a video of his comeback from last place to top 1 thanks to this item, impressing viewers.
As mentioned above, the traits in season 2 no longer provide direct defensive capabilities for the entire team, hence many compositions like Fire, Summoner… are extremely risky to build without a strong enough frontline. Even if you manage to get 2-star or even 3-star champions with 1-cost units, your composition doesn’t gain much strength and may die before their abilities even trigger.
Therefore, Iron Solari Chain, especially stacking multiple of these items, is used as a defensive option for the entire team. On average, a unit holding this item will be at 2 stars, providing 275 shields, two would give 550, and three would offer 825 shields, an incredibly large number. It’s like adding an additional 1/3 to 1/2 of your team’s health.
With such a large amount of shields, your team can withstand opponent attacks even without a bulky Guardian frontline. As seen in the video above, there were moments when Udyr had to place low-health units like Kindred and Varus in the front line to benefit from the shield provided by this item, something that no one would expect. Even if he loses, the shields help the team survive longer, and you would also lose less health.
Because of this strong defensive capability, the playstyle of stacking multiple Iron Solari Chains is extremely suitable when you’re not lucky enough to upgrade your team early. In cases of “bad luck” like this, having your team wiped out due to full 1-cost champions is normal; however, with the high shields from Iron Solari Chain, your team won’t die as easily as before, you may not win, but you would lose significantly less health.
As for the champion holding the Iron Solari Chain, it depends on the team composition you are choosing. In Best Udyr’s video, he gives it to Diana, a unit that requires AP to deal damage but also needs armor to survive longer, plus since she is an assassin, Diana always stands at the backline to buff the Iron Solari Chain for the other backline units. Additionally, Sion in a Brawler composition or Kindred in a Marksman team are also good choices for this item.
