There is a nearly basic knowledge among all League of Legends players that the ultimate ability should be leveled up at the correct levels, simply because it enhances this ultimate skill with many things like damage, reduced energy cost, cooldown… Moreover, Riot Games always seeks to make the ultimate ability a signature move for the champion, so this theory holds true for all types of champions in League of Legends, every position, and almost every player knows it by heart.
However, players are always creative, and the order in which they level up their skills is no exception. A “one champ” Twisted Fate player has shared his extremely unique playstyle with the community, receiving a lot of mixed opinions. The highlight here is not a new build or mechanic; this player claims he only levels up his ultimate once at level 6.
Only leveling up Twisted Fate’s ultimate once (not leveling at levels 11 and 16)
I have been using this playstyle for a while and believe it is the most reasonable approach for Twisted Fate. I utilize this playstyle with the Trinity Force and often take Absolute Focus as well, so at level 11, I have a 30% cooldown reduction.
The level 1 ultimate has a cooldown of 180s, reduced to 126s with a 30% cooldown reduction.
The level 2 ultimate has a cooldown of 150s, reduced to 105s with a 30% cooldown reduction.
The benefit of leveling the ultimate by one level is only a 21s cooldown reduction and an additional 2s of effectiveness. I think the duration of effectiveness is often insignificant. At level 11, instead of leveling the ultimate, adding a point to the W ability increases damage, adds 25 energy regeneration, adds 5% slow (insignificant), and 0.25s of stun duration.
More importantly, you will have a maximum of 2s of stun at an earlier level. You can max W at level 12 instead of level 13, and it seems that adding stun duration has a larger impact than the 21s cooldown reduction.
Tryndamere players have done this, and I believe Twisted Fate can apply similar logic. I think it only applies to champions whose ultimate does not deal damage.
That’s right, I choose Twisted Fate for the map-wide pressure, and I will take the ultimate at the correct level; it would be absolutely crazy not to do so. If I wanted more magic damage, I would rather choose Veigar or some other champions.
I think a good TF player would place heavy emphasis on ultimate cooldown to move faster across the map and pressure other lanes.
I have tried this playstyle, and I believe you should level up the ultimate at level 13 instead of how Tryndamere has to wait until levels 17/18.
I don’t play TF, but I’m pretty sure the map pressure with the ability to teleport almost anywhere on the map will be more useful than an additional 0.25s of stun.
You also need to consider adding points to the ultimate when fighting against invisible champions due to the vision that it provides.
I don’t play Twisted Fate that much, but I think TF’s ultimate is worth much more than Tryndamere’s?
As I understand it, if you play Twisted Fate correctly, you should use the ultimate as soon as it is off cooldown, at least before the whole team starts grouping and fighting. The 24s difference is extremely important to seize the opportunity to gank before it passes. You should only do this if you can’t gank or the lane phase ends extremely early. However, this is already a very bad situation that Twisted Fate has to endure.
The greatest strength of Twisted Fate is an unmissable stun skill and the ability to teleport and provide vision across the entire map with his ultimate, Destiny. This ultimate creates a significant impact in matches with Twisted Fate’s surprise ganks; therefore, creating many such critical situations is crucial in this card master’s playstyle.
However, the above points only apply to the typical AP Twisted Fate, who pushes lanes and ganks like a pure Mage. In the post by this player, he shares that the playstyle he applies is Trinity Force Twisted Fate, which focuses more on auto attacks and farming as much as possible. Perhaps this somewhat selfish playstyle of Twisted Fate makes the continuous use of the ultimate less meaningful?
What about you? Do you use the card master in the AP style or Trinity Force, and do you level up the ultimate correctly? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.