Nidalee – Shapeshifter
In the recent patch 12.12, Nidalee – Shapeshifter was perhaps the only “fast-paced” composition left standing as those revolving around Ezreal and Sett 3 stars completely disappeared. The reason is that Riot boosted the strength of the Dragonborn trait, making the chance to obtain a 3-star Nidalee significantly higher than before. This allows players focusing on Nidalee to wield tremendous power in the mid-game, achieving winning streaks, leveling up to level 8, and reaching the strength threshold of 6 Shapeshifters.
Perhaps Riot Games does not want the “fast-paced” composition to become too popular, so they have continued to heavily nerf Nidalee in patch 12.13. Specifically, both her attack speed and empowered attack damage in her cat form have been reduced, greatly diminishing the damage output of this champion. Additionally, Riot has further weakened Swain, a key champion in the Shapeshifter composition during the mid-game, meaning the overall power of this playstyle will be significantly reduced.
Shi Oh Yu
Alongside SyFen, Shi Oh Yu is also an extremely powerful Dragon God champion, ensuring scoring potential for players. Unlike the randomness of SyFen, Shi Oh Yu’s method is much more reliable, so as long as players equip this champion with the necessary “core” items, this Dragon will “carry the team.” Furthermore, other pieces in the Dragon God composition like Neeko, Gnar, or Anivia provide certain versatility and help Shi Oh Yu deal significant damage.
However, this may no longer be certain in the upcoming patch 12.13 as Riot has decided to significantly reduce the power of Shi Oh Yu. First, the damage interaction rate with physical damage at the first two levels from Shi Oh Yu’s ability has been drastically reduced. Additionally, the stun duration for opponents has also been slightly decreased. These changes reduce Shi Oh Yu’s “carrying” potential considerably, and this champion is no longer a dominant piece.
5 Gold 3 Star Composition
Recently, an extremely strong composition has emerged in Teamfight Tactics, which revolves around 5 gold 3 star champions. This composition operates on leveraging the Dragonborn trait to combine the emblem of this trait onto a 5-cost champion and finding ways to push them to 3 stars. This playstyle has proven to be incredibly strong in a specific match, as upgrading Dragonborn champions has become much easier than before.
However, this playstyle will be completely removed in the upcoming patch 12.13 as Teamfight Tactics Project Director – Riot Mortdog announced that the Dragonborn emblem will be removed. This is a wise decision from Riot, as the essence of the Dragonborn trait is based on its mechanism to upgrade itself to 3 stars. Exploiting the Dragonborn emblem as described above contradicts this, and its removal is entirely understandable.