As a hallmark mechanism of Season 8, Hero Augments bring numerous interesting playstyles to Teamfight Tactics. Some Hero Augments can even completely alter the way a champion is played. Therefore, as long as players have enough creativity and build their teams wisely, all Hero Augments can provide certain benefits.
However, according to the project director of Teamfight Tactics – Riot Mortdog, there is one Hero Augment that currently appears to be extremely “weak”. This upgrade is called Swordstack, the primary Hero Augment for the champion Garen. Riot Mortdog even advised players against using this upgrade.
“Regarding the Swordstack augment, I must admit that it is currently too weak. This is the Hero Augment with the worst stats since the start of Season 8. You should not choose this upgrade if you are still playing on version 13.6. Wait until version 13.7 to use it because we have significantly buffed it in this update” – Riot Mortdog shared.
Essentially, the Swordstack augment increases Garen’s damage for his abilities based on 80% attack damage (AD). Additionally, this unit’s skill will have 40 less energy cost. In return, Garen’s ability will no longer stun opponents in the affected area.
The Swordstack augment requires players to build many items that increase AD for Garen. Meanwhile, with a typical item build, Garen will hold tank items and have a very low amount of AD. As a result, when players take this upgrade, Garen’s damage output is improved very little while his crowd control ability is completely lost. Clearly, this is an extremely poor trade-off for players.
In the upcoming version 13.7, the interaction with AD of this augment is increased from 80% to 180%, a very large number. This allows Garen to deal significantly more damage if equipped with many damage items. Hopefully, this buff will help the Swordstack augment no longer be too “weak” in the upcoming version.