When Should You Play Gadgeteen?
There are two major signs indicating that you should play Gadgeteen in a match. The first is having a 2-star Lucian early on (having two 1-star Lucians before the first shared draft is also acceptable). The second sign is if your items are very random and you cannot combine them into a strong item early on (for example, after three rounds of monsters, you have a Giant’s Club, Chain Vest, and Cloak of Agility).
At the 3 Gadgeteen threshold, having just a few random items for these units can help you survive well through the early game. If you manage to get an attack unit to level 2 stars early like Fiora or Lucian, you can easily maintain a winning streak from the start. The most important point at the beginning of the game is not to combine items into large items right away for Gadgeteen units.
Managing the Team Before Getting Ekko
One truth is that many Teamfight Tactics players know that the theory of 6 Gadgeteen is very strong, but the journey to reach this milestone is not simple at all. Remember that the 6th unit of this tribe – Ekko costs 5 gold and has a 1% appearance rate at level 7, so never think about hyper-rolling when choosing the Gadgeteen team; usually, you will die from losing too much health before completing the team.
Therefore, to play Gadgeteen well, you need to find a way to build a strong enough team before reaching level 8. The important thing at this point is not to let the team stop at 5 Gadgeteen units; your team won’t get much stronger and will easily lose the winning streak built from the early game. The easiest combination is to use Ezreal and Blitzcrank to supplement damage and tankiness for the team in the mid-game.
The second method is a bit more challenging and relies heavily on your “luck”, which is going for the Blademaster path. This depends on whether you can get an early Irelia; if so, you will not use Ezreal anymore but replace him with Shen to activate 3 Blademasters. This method is harder to execute, but if you succeed, your team will be significantly stronger than the Gunner path mentioned above.
Managing the Team Towards the End Game
If you want to ensure a top 4 finish, spend all your money to level up to 8 as quickly as possible (usually after the fourth shared draft), at which point you will have a full 6 Gadgeteen team and use the remaining 2 slots to add damage or tankiness. If you used Ezreal and Blitzcrank in the mid-game and upgraded them, aiming for 3 stars is a solid choice. Otherwise, you can add 2 Divine units, Kayle and Miss Fortune, to maximize damage.
In case you are trying to contest for first place, the most viable option currently is to save gold and level up to 9, at which point Gangplank is the crucial unit for your victory. You can rest assured that this captain is extremely strong and has overwhelming damage at the end of the game, so he is the key to securing the top 1 spot; the only difficulty is that everyone desires this unit, so upgrading to 2 stars becomes a significant challenge.
