TFT items: a cheat sheet for combining items

All the latest items in Set 3: Galaxies

Guide by Dave Irwin Former Guides Writer

Published on March 25, 2020

Teamfight Tactics is now in its third season, which means that we now have an idea of all of the items that will feature in the Galaxies season. Strap yourselves in, because there are some major changes.

TFT items guide

There are lots of item combinations and it can be tricky to know what you're looking for when choosing champions from the carousel.

So our TFT item cheat sheet is here so that you know what to look for at any given time. The items used will be those at the beginning of Set 3 - Galaxies. You can use them any time you need when playing the game, and they include all the stats for the basic items.

TFT items work in very different ways from most auto-battlers. Instead of just equipping an item onto a champion, you will be able to combine two items together to not only make an item with both the bonuses of its ingredients, but also a unique bonus for the item itself. You obtain items by either defeating minions or drafting them pre-equipped from drafted champions.

There are certain chances of how often items drop in the minion stages, which you can find in our TFT gold guide. As for how to equip items, just left-click and drag onto the champion of choice and release the mouse button to give that champion the item.

Cheat sheet created by Dave Irwin and Ollie Toms.

TFT item cheat sheet
B.F. Sword tips
Recurve Bow tips
Needlessly Large Rod tips
Tear of the Goddess tips
Chain Vest tips
Negatron Cloak tips
Giant's Belt tips
Spatula tips
Sparring Glove tips

TFT Item Cheat Sheet — Click the image to enlarge to full size.

TFT items cheat sheet

You can save the TFT items cheat sheet above to use alongside your matches. This includes all of the combined items, what they do, and the items you need to combine in order to make them. It also includes all of the Sparring Gloves items.

Just to completely clarify, all combined items retain both of the combined basic item's stats. The biggest change from the beta period is that the Spatula no longer doubles the other combined item's stats, so mixing the B.F. Sword and Spatula will only give you a +15 Attack Damage boost and the Blade of the Ruined King will give that champion "Blademaster" in addition to their other syngergies. Here are all of the base weapon stat upgrades, which are added together when combined:

Base weapon stat upgrades

B.F. Sword: +15 attack damage.
Recurve Bow: +15% attack speed.
Needlessly Large Rod: +20 spell power.
Tear of the Goddess: +20 starting mana.
Chain Vest: +25 armor.
Negaton Cloak: +25 magic resistance.
Giant Belt: +200 health.
Spatula: No effects.
Brawler's Glove: +10% critical strike and +10% dodge chance.

When you combine the Sparring Gloves with another item, the stats become either "+20% critical strike" if it's an attacking item or "+20% dodge chance" if it's a defensive item that you combine the Sparring Gloves with. Both the Berserker Axe and Thief's Gloves get both buffs. The attacking items are B.F. Sword, Recurve Bow, Needlessly Large Rod, and Tear of the Goddess. As for the defensive items, they are Chain Vest, Negaton Cloak, and Giant Belt.

B.F. Sword tips

B.F. Sword items are good for Assassins, but there are a few niche cases where some are universally beneficial, and other specific edge cases. The items that the B.F. Sword can be combined into focus on dealing damage and living long enough to maximise damage potential.

If an Assassin can easily kill their target, this makes things get crazier.
Guardian Angel can be stuck onto your most valued champion to make them survive for longer. That champion keeps its Mana and de-aggro attackers upon revival.
Zeke's Herald is universally decent for team comps that need that extra attack speed.
Attack boosts based on maximum health does seem to benefit bulkier champions more than Assassins, but it's still a good fit.
Spear of Shojin allows for certain champions to use high damage abilities more often.
Bloodthirster is good for high DPS champions, while Hextech Gunblade is better for defensive ones.
Infinity Edge is particularly good for Assassins as it makes their critical strikes deal more damage.

Recurve Bow tips

Out of all the basic items for item recipes, Recurve Bow makes the best item in the game overall. They're especially good for Rangers and other champions that attack at range, though individual champions benefit from certain items. In fact, if you just want to avoid damage dealt to you and inflict lots more on enemies, the Recurve Bow combined items are the way to go.

Giant Slayer is best suited to bulkier champions with lots of HP.
Titan's Resolve is a newer item that can snowball out of control. Stick on tankier champions for the most effectiveness.
Zz'Rot's Portal can be a nasty surprise for late game. You can put it on an enemy with high defence and HP for maximum effectiveness.
Guinsoo's Rageblade should be put on the champion with high attack damage to increase their DPS.
Rapid Firecannon is one the best items in the game, particularly if you slap it onto champions with high DPS.
Statikk Shiv should be reserved for champions with high attack speed so that it triggers often. It affects more champions the higher the rank of your equipped champion is.
Runaan's Hurricane is a lot better now than it was and is a lot more playable.
Adding more attack to ranged champions each time is crazy, especially as it stacks.
Last Whisper is a great ranged counter to tanky champions that rely on armor to survive.

Needlessly Large Rod tips

Champions that care about magic. Sorcerers and Elementalists are the main beneficiaries for most of these items, but these items can be used for other champions that use abilities often. This is where some of the most powerful items in the game can be found.

Locket of the Iron Solari is a great item for vulnerable Sorcerers for countering the initial burst of damage from Assassins.
Hextech Gunblade can help defensive champions with its healing.
Morellonomicon is fantastic to use on champions with AOE abilities.
Guinsoo's Rageblade should be reserved for champions that need attack speed boost to deal lots of DPS. Several high-tier champions are good candidates for this.
Luden's Echo makes spells from Mages, or other abilities for other champions even more potent with splash damage. It now also features increased damage tied to champion ranks.
Critical Strikes on abilities is a godsend for all spellcasters.

Tear of the Goddess tips

Items made from the Tear of the Goddess rely on having mana abilities to care about. Sorcerers and Elementalists are obviously good ones to equip them to, but there are decent items that are useful for other champions. These ones are a little more defensive in nature, but it is also home to a couple of magic damaging effects tied to champion ranks.

Spear of Shojin is good for champions who you'd like to use their abilities more often.
Frozen Heart is one option for countering anyone running Ranger builds.
Redemption for any champion that you have in the centre of a team comp or bulky tanks such as Wardens.
Luden's Echo is fantastic for Mages and magic users, particularly those with AOE spells.
Chalice of Favor should be put on champions that cast spells often.
Statikk Shiv is best given to those with high attack speed so that the sparks fly a lot more often, even more so if equipped to a high rank champion.
Seraph's Embrace is another fantastic item for Mages or any high-damage ability used frequently.
Hand of Justice can be placed on your main DPS for either damage dealing or life-restoring properties.

Chain Vest tips

Chain Vest items are particularly good for Wardens, though they also have universal benefits that any champion can use. Focus on defending your champions and debilitating your enemies with these great items.

Guardian Angel is good on the champion you'd like to keep alive the longest. You keep Mana and de-aggro attackers upon revival.
Titan's Resolve is a newer item that can snowball out of control. Stick on tankier champions for the most effectiveness.
The new Bramble Vest makes critical hits useless and basic attacks more dangerous for enemies you block.
Red Buff is great for countering defensive builds.
Locket of the Iron Solari on the other hand is great for bolstering more vulnerable champions.
Sword Breaker is a bit more of a niche case, useful against high-damaging melee attackers but not much else.
Frozen Heart is mostly for countering Ranger builds.
If you know how an enemy player is positioning their champions, Shroud of Stillness can shut down certain combos easily.

Negatron Cloak tips

Items using Negatron Cloak are mostly universal as they have some of the most powerful abilities in the game. There's only one item where the ability may not benefit the wearer, especially good against magic users, particularly mages.

Bloodthirster is great for high DPS champions, so try to have them on key champions in your comps.
Sword Breaker can do decent work for defensive champions trying to break through.
Zephyr can be good for getting rid of problematic champions, though reliably hitting the correct champion isn't possible.
Ionic Spark may have seen damage reduction, but it still triggers often.
Dragon's Claw's magic resistance has been reduced a lot, but when combined with Mystics, it becomes insanely good.
Runaan's Hurricane got a big buff, so slap that bad boy on your high DPS ranged champions to deal with multiple threats.
Chalice of Favor should be put on champions that cast spells often.
Quicksilver makes crowd control a thing of the past.

Giant's Belt tips

Giant's Belt items tend to lean towards champions with higher HP totals. But there's also a lot of items that affect other allies and enemies on a more permanent scale. There's something here for every type of champion.

Zeke's Herald is a generally useful item if you have multiple champions that need that extra boost.
Red Buff is great for countering defensive builds.
Warmog's Armor is insane when equipped to your bulkier champions, but any high HP champion benefits from it.
Zz'Rot's Portal can be a nasty surprise for late game. You can put it on an enemy with high defence and HP for maximum effectiveness.
Morellonomicon is item designed to counter bulky champions and is particularly good on AOE abilities.
Redemption should be reserved for allies that are in the centre of your team or bulky tanks. Wardens can be good candidates for this.
Trap Claw is also another one for any champion who gets killed easily.

Spatula tips

Since most of the Spatula items merely make up numbers for their respective trait, there isn't really much to say about them other than craft them if you need to make up numbers or give a specific trait perk to a champion. None of these items are outstanding unless used in correlation with your build.

If you ever, ever, have two spatulas in your inventory, make a Force of Nature for a free extra champion slot on the battlefield. You can thank me later.
All other Spatula items make extra champions of their respective trait, but they also grant that champion the applicable bonus that the class gets when reaching thresholds.

Brawler's Glove tips

The newest of the basic items combine into gear that doesn't really fit in anywhere else, but all have some rather incredible powers fit for the item they're combined with. So the Infinity Edge is great for Assassins, Repeating Crossbow for Rangers, etc.

Infinity Edge is particularly good for Assassins as it makes their critical strikes deal more damage.
Last Whisper is great for rangers and those that attack by long range.
Jeweled Gauntlet is fantastic for spellcasters and those with high critical hit potential.
Hand of Justice is a good option for any champion if you don't have a lot of options. It's a bit random though.
If you know how an enemy player is positioning their champions, Shroud of Stillness can shut down certain combos easily.
If you find a champion gets surrounded too often, Quicksilver helps out.
Another great item for all champions is the Trap Claw, particularly ones that get killed easily.
Thief's Gloves are truly random, so put it on any champion.

Teamfight Tactics guide series

We have a whole host of other useful Teamfight Tactics guide pages for your convenience. Why not take a gander?

TFT guide - Overview of TFT and top tips to win you games.
TFT comps - A collection of the best team comps to invest in.
TFT champions tier list - The complete champion's tier list with all the skills and stats.
TFT synergies - Learn about Champion drop rates and their Classes and Origins.
How to play TFT Set 2 - The basics of how to play TFT and an explanation of the user interface.
TFT gold - Tips for making money as quickly as possible in TFT.
TFT beta pass - Learn everything about the beta pass, upcoming champions, and eventually all about the upcoming Season Pass.
TFT 9.24 patch notes - Get info on the latest updates to TFT.

TFT Set 3 guides

TFT galaxies - Information on the upcoming third season of Teamfight Tactics.
TFT Set 3 champions - All the new champions confirmed for TFT set 3.