The meta of patch 10.9 can be described with the phrase “Hyper-roll Arena” as the four most contested team compositions in Teamfight Tactics rely on the Hyper-roll style to become strong. You can find out more HERE. The reason is quite simple: Riot increased the appearance rate of 1-cost champions in patch 10.9, and the power of 3-star champions is overwhelmingly strong.
If this situation continues, Teamfight Tactics could become a “lottery game,” where players will do everything they can to hyper-roll and find 3-star champions instead of focusing on basic strategies like saving gold, leveling up, and building team compositions. Riot Games clearly does not want this, and just a few hours ago, the buff/nerf list for patch 10.10 was released. It’s no surprise that the three champions emblematic of hyper-roll—Poppy, Xayah, and Twisted Fate—are being nerfed.
In the buff section, it’s clear that Riot Games wants to bring back the Rebel trait as the two early-game carry units, Yasuo and Ziggs, have been buffed, along with the effects of this trait. However, the recent disappearance of Rebels is not entirely due to this composition being weak but rather due to its heavy reliance on Aurelion Sol, a 5-cost champion.
The two Sorcerer units, Syndra and Vel’Koz, received significant buffs, likely indicating Riot Games’ intention to revive the traditional Star Guardian – Sorcerer composition, rather than relying on Sona holding multiple Chalices of Favor in the current Willy Wonka setup. Buffs to the Pirate and Blade Master traits don’t seem to have much significance.
In the nerf section, we immediately see the three central names of the hyper-roll meta: Poppy, Twisted Fate, and Xayah. According to updates on the PBE server, all three champions will have their power slightly reduced at 2-star and much more so at 3-star. Essentially, this change will make it less effective to hyper-roll these champions to 3 stars, and they won’t be able to carry the world as they did before.
Nerfing the Chalice of Favor is also a correct choice by Riot Games, as this item made magic damage compositions too insane with its massive magical damage and continuous spell casting. Additionally, two items that counter hyper-roll compositions, Morellonomicon and Red Buff, will also receive slight adjustments in the next patch as they push the damage of certain champions too high.
Finally, the new Galaxy named Galactic Armory (tentative translation: Weapon Depot) has been introduced. According to some comments under Riot Mortdog’s post, this will be an equipment version of Neekoverse; instead of having 2 Neeko’s Help, you will receive 2 completed items right from the start of the match. The special point is that all players will receive two identical items, not random ones.
Hopefully, with this update, the current Hyper-roll meta will come to an end.