Gwen
Unlike in League of Legends, Gwen in Teamfight Tactics is somewhat underwhelming compared to other champions in the Mystic trait. In fact, Gwen is not featured in many team compositions and is mainly used in 3 Mystics – 3 Divine, 6 Celestials, and 4 Zombies. However, in no composition is Gwen chosen as a primary carry; rather, these setups include Gwen solely to activate the Mystic trait. This means that the 5-cost champion from Riot serves only to enhance the team’s defense while other champions provide damage and durability.
Although appearing in 1 S-tier and 1 A-tier composition, Gwen is also present in a composition rated as D-tier in patch 11.16. Notably, according to many players, starting from round 6-1 onwards, Gwen should only be used when the necessary champions are fully assembled, and players should not force rolls to get Gwen. Given her cost, players have many more useful and easily upgradeable options than Gwen, who does not offer much benefit to the composition aside from trait activation as mentioned above.
Ashe
Since her introduction alongside the Dragon tribe, Ashe has never been rated highly. Even in the Ranger composition, she cannot be considered a primary carry as her role in battle is merely to fire as many Enchanted Crystal Arrows as possible. Moreover, if Ashe is given energy regeneration items, another Dragon champion, Zyra, is significantly more effective. In the Ranger setup, Ashe serves almost exclusively to activate the trait and is typically upgraded to 2 stars solely to maximize her arrow output in fights.
Currently, despite still being retained in season 5.5, Ashe’s role remains unchanged. Even in the Ranger composition, Ashe still cannot serve as a primary carry and players tend to prefer a 4 Ranger setup consisting of Vayne – Varus – Aphelios – Akshan over Ashe, as the aforementioned champions all contribute to damage alongside Aphelios and Akshan. Ashe, aside from activating the Dragon trait, offers no other benefits and players often prioritize selling her late game when they acquire Heimerdinger early on.
Karma
Karma’s power formula is quite simple: multi-target spell casting ability, low energy cost to cast spells, enabling her to cast in short intervals, and Garen’s spell reduces magic resistance while providing healing from the Divine trait. However, Karma is currently one of the worst 4-cost champions, and many players have stated they will not upgrade Karma late game.
The reason is that at this point, the Blue Buff no longer benefits her as Karma becomes energy-locked between spell casts, whereas items like Spear of Shojin or Hirana’s Spear are much harder to acquire, and champions like Vel’Koz interact with these items far more effectively than Karma. Even in the Divine setup, an upgradeable and more useful champion like Soraka is prioritized over Karma. Moreover, players favor champions that can deal damage quickly, such as Lucian, Jax, and Nidalee, making it difficult for Karma, as she cannot secure kills immediately, and she is easily targeted for damage in return.
Karma is losing her standing compared to when she was first released, and in patch 11.17, she is not on the buff list, so it is likely that Karma will continue to cause players to “sink” in low elo for a long time.