One of the biggest changes in patch 10.8 was the introduction of Xerath, the Dark Star – Sorcerer unit with a hefty cost of 5 gold. This allows the Dark Star composition to receive a significant damage buff in the late game, reducing dependency on the damage of just Shaco or Jhin.
However, the frightening aspect of Xerath does not lie within the champion itself; the arrival of Xerath, a 5-gold unit, suddenly expands the pool of expensive champions. Simply put, Xerath’s presence will lower the appearance rate of crucial champions for certain compositions like Ekko, Aurelion Sol… The Cybernetic trait is slightly nerfed, but what significantly weakens this trait compared to before is the reduced chance of finding Ekko, meaning the period of weakness for this trait will be longer.
This systemic change leads to the resurgence of compositions that do not rely on 5-gold units, making them incredibly powerful. We have the Duelists, Sorcerers – Star Guardians, and most notably, the Dark Stars, which indirectly reduce the strength of numerous strong late-game compositions. Indeed, Xerath is powerful, but whether this unit exists or not, the Dark Stars remain strong.
The essence of the Dark Star composition is that the more units you lose, the stronger the remaining units become. Once you have 6 Dark Stars, it is quite common to “sacrifice” 3 frontline units to allow the backline carries to deal damage, potentially obliterating the enemy team. Moreover, with Shaco still strong and everyone building Guardian Angel for this champion, it’s only natural that he takes a lot of damage and can “one-shot” opponents.
Furthermore, most units in the Dark Star composition are quite easy to find, with only Jhin – 4 gold and Xerath – 5 gold being difficult to upgrade. Therefore, players can easily build 6 Dark Stars around level 7, even with Shaco, a unit that really needs to reach 3 stars, but with the right items and the 6 Dark Star buff, it’s very normal for him to survive well even at just 2 stars.
As a result, Teamfight Tactics is truly becoming a “Dark Star League” in the literal sense, as this composition tops the meta on most statistics sites, and players are always trying to build this team comp. In fact, as shown in a post by female player Hafu from G2 Esports just hours ago, it has become quite normal for more than half of the players in a match to play Dark Stars.
Because it is easy to build and comes with the desire to experiment with new champions, Dark Stars have been flooding throughout Teamfight Tactics matches. While it’s known that playing according to the meta is not bad, it would be foolish to force yourself to play Dark Stars in every game, resulting in being dragged down by others competing for the same composition.
Perhaps before playing Dark Stars, players should take a moment to observe if anyone else intends to play the same composition. If no one else is going for it, that’s great; if there’s one person, you need to consider it; if there are two or more people, it’s best to “let it go and be a person”. After all, Teamfight Tactics is a game about survival; don’t be blindly dragged down by others to your demise.
