While the Astronaut trait has been warmly welcomed by players, the Mech-Pilot trait seems to be completely overlooked. The unit from this trait that is used most frequently and effectively is probably Urgot, but the reason isn’t due to the trait’s strength; it stems from its overpowered ability and its synergy with the recently hot Aurelion Sol – Guardian composition.
The Mech-Pilot trait requires your champions to deal or receive damage 10 times to activate healing or damage effects. This means that to activate continuously, your champions must attack extremely fast or be incredibly tanky; however, the reality is that this is not the case. Units like Viktor and Cassiopeia have very “weak” attack speeds, while Illaoi is just a one-cost champion. Therefore, players have gradually recognized the many limitations of this trait and abandoned it.
Perhaps Riot Games’ policy when designing Teamfight Tactics is “no one gets left behind,” so in their latest moves, they have made comprehensive adjustments to the Mech-Pilot trait. Specifically:
Mech-Pilot
6-unit threshold: Healing or damage increase from 325 to 450.
8-unit threshold: Healing or damage increase from 600 to 900.
Guardian
Shield amount at the 6-unit threshold decreased from 55% to 45%.
Ekko
Skill damage at 2-star reduced from 200 to 150.
Kog’Maw
Skill damage at 3-star increased from 7% to 8% of the target’s maximum health.
Cassiopeia
Skill damage at 3-star increased from 3000 to 4000.
We can see that the primary units in the early and mid-game of the Mech-Pilot trait have all been given a damage increase, but only at the 3-star level. Is Riot encouraging a slow roll strategy at levels 6-7 to “gold-plate” these units?
Additionally, it makes sense for Ekko to be slightly nerfed. The Guardian trait has been relatively heavily nerfed due to the dominance of the Aurelion Sol – Guardian composition, and even these updates have been applied to the official server since the “dragon god” has also received significant nerfs. You can find more details HERE.