Teamfight Tactics Dragonlands is finally out on live servers, and the set comes a ton of new champions and traits to explore. Figuring out how to play these new options to their greatest potential is difficult, but Upcomer has it covered. Here is an in-depth guide on how to play the new Whispers trait in TFT Set 7.
The Whispers Trait
The Whispers trait in TFT Set 7 Dragonlands isn’t a stat stick trait. Instead, it takes a stick to enemies’ stats.
While the Whispers trait is active, whenever a Whispers champion hits an enemy, they shrink their target. This reduces not only their size but also their magic resist and armor for a duration. And when a Whispers champion hits an enemy that has already been shrunk, they gain additional attack damage and ability power. Oh, and that AD and AP stack on every hit.
Essentially, this trait makes it so players don’t have to look for shred, as the champions do that inherently. This lets the carry champions within the trait to focus on damage.
The Champions
- Thresh (2g/Whispers/Guardian): Thresh is back in TFT Set 7 with his most infamous ability, the hook. Most sets have a champion that is able to displace enemy champions in corners to give some sort of counter play to “safe” champions. Thresh is that champion in this set. His Death Sentence ability hooks the farthest enemy and slowly pulls them towards himself. The stun duration lasts for two seconds flat. Thresh also doubles as a good tank champion thanks to his Guardian trait. He is not a good carry, though.
- Elise (3g/Whispers/Shapeshifter):Â Â Elise is a good carry champion in the Whispers trait, though. At first glance, it may be hard to see how Elise works, but when players get their hands on her for a little bit, they will realize that Elise is just Set 3 Shaco in disguise. That’s because Elise’s ability is very similar to Shaco’s. When Elise pops into her Spider form, thanks to her Shapeshifter trait, her ability is replaced with Venomous Bite. This ability does AP burst damage and, if it kills her target, she repels into the air, drops aggro and comes down and recasts her Venomous Bite on the lowest health enemy. This allows Elise to 1v9 enemy boards if the stars align.
- Sylas (3g/Whispers/Bruiser/Mage): Sylas isn’t a typical carry champion, but he is one of those tank champions that feels like one. That’s because his ability, Petricite Burst, makes Sylas swing his chains around in a cone dealing damage and mana-reaving his opponents. Mana-reave makes the opponents next spell cost increase by 35%, making sure the frontline can’t effectively crowd control him. The interesting thing is that Sylas is a Mage, and Mage champions cast their abilities twice as long as the trait active. That’s important because when Sylas casts’ his ability on an already mana-reaved target, he shields himself. This can make Sylas an unkillable, mana-reaving carry.
- Pyke (5g/Whispers/Assassin):Â And then there is Pyke. A five-cost Assassin is scary and Pyke is even more so. Pyke’s ability is Death Fron Below, which is a low-cost spell with incredible power. This ability targets the lowest health enemy and dives on top of them, dealing area of effect damage in an X. Enemies struck also suffer reduced healing for a duration. But what makes this ability lethal is that if Pyke hits an enemy at or below a certain health percentage threshold, he executes them and recasts his ability. So that makes two Whispers champions that are able to 1v9 enemy boards through resets.
- Sy’fen (8g/Whispers/Dragon/Bruiser):Â Finally, there is Sy’fen, the Whispers Dragon. As an eight gold investment, Sy’fen does provide some serious bang for players’ buck. They synergize well with the champions in their trait, especially Sylas, who is a Bruiser just like Sy’fen. But the real reason why Sy’fen is an eight-cost is their ability, Rampage. When used, Sy’fen charges toward the farthest enemy in a two-hex radius. When they do this, they deal damage and knock up all enemies they pass through. And when Sy’fen reaches their destination, they bite the nearest enemy, dealing an insane amount of attack damage which also ignores a large chunk of their armor. Essentially, think of Sy’fen as a tank that dives the backline and executes backline carries.
Sample composition
In this sample composition, Whispers are the main focus with Sy’fen and Elise acting as the main carry champions. The extra tankiness from going a little deep into the Bruiser tree allows plenty of time for the Whispers champions to apply their armor and magic resist shred and also time for Elise and Sy’fen to clean up the board. Qiyana is added to help Pyke deal damage and provide the Tempest trait which will buy even more time for the two main stars.
