It’s time to cover my all-time favorite when it comes to Set 6.5, the Sniper composition!
Introduction
The Sniper composition guide will be the second guide in our guides list, and I have decided that we should start strong. Snipers are for people who like to have fun, drink some beer, and smoke cigarettes while playing and not giving a damn about looking too much into micromanagement. Just kidding, kids, don’t smoke! But beer is fine, I guess. I mean, I turned out just fine, haven’t I?
While patch 6.5 introduced some new features, the good old snipers remain! They’ve had to make some adjustments and have seen a few champions reworks. Tristana and Kog Maw left earlier, but Ashe, Zeri, and all the rest of the party are back!
We can all agree that Kog and Tristana will be missed greatly by everyone, as they haven’t shown much potential since this patch was released. Where they stood, Ashe and Zeri are much more useful.
If you don’t have a hard def frontline, such as bruisers, snipers aren’t going to be a very powerful composition, but a rather squishy one. They can produce high burst, but they suffer from very low sustain. My favorite composition is six snipers, five mercs, two enforcers, three bruisers with Vi as Rival and Tahm Kench as Glutton.
You will need Illaoi and Vi to complete the comp. Gangplank is needed for the frontline, but he should be swapped with Tahm Kench in the late game since Kog Maw is no longer in the game, so you can not benefit from the Twinshot trait bonus.
Cait, Miss Fortune, Ashe, Jhin, and Zeri, and an augment for snipers to place on some other champion. I recommend that it should be Quinn since she is a ranged champion, and she can benefit from the trait.
You need six snipers to get a powerful power boost of 30% per hex that separates one sniper from its target.
If you are among the lucky ones and get the Mercenarie trait, Vi is a champion that you should use it on.
Snipers are pure, uncontested power. They aren’t perfect. If they don’t have any sustain items, any type of assassin Comp will bypass your frontline and wreak havoc in your backline, deleting your Snipers from the game in a blink of an eye.
Quicksilver, Edge of the Night (which replaced the GA), and Bloodthirster would be my choices for sustain. Bt? What do I mean by that? Isn’t it a damage-dealing item? It is. It is. But once you have a huge power boost with four snipers and six late-game snipers (if you get a sniper Augment), The Bloodthirster can be used as a sustain item. This will restore your HP like it was coming from your tap at home. Guinsso’s Rageblade combined with Edge of the night and The Bloodthirster are simply the best choices for any of your snipers. If you combine your attack speed and Guinsso’s, the BT will not let your HP leave the green for a second unless you are bursted by an Arcanist/Assassin’s comp.
The Snipers work with a lot of traits like Clockwork and Challenger and, of course, Enforcers, but the best trait to combine them with are The Mercenaries since you get both power, sustain, and the most important thing of all, The Loot!
Champions
Now that we have a basic understanding of the sniper comp, let’s take a look at the Snipers. They are listed accordingly to their price:
- Caitlyn
- Ashe
- Miss Fortune
- Jhin
- Zeri
Caitlyn
Cait is one gold-priced champion who has a great range like all of the snipers do. The thing that put’s her apart from others, in my opinion, is her ultimate spell. Her ultimate spell is capable of erasing even five cost champions with full items, even if she is just a fable one gold champion.
Comparing Caitlyn with other one gold costing champions, she is miles ahead since she is among the rare ones that stay relevant in the later points of the game too. This is why I like her so much, as she is so cost-effective, and she is a great investment to any player with some basic knowledge of items and positioning.
The power of Cait’s ability scales with her level, but when I say scales, I mean it quintuples. The power spike you get once you reach level three is mesmerizing. Does the enemy have a full items level 3 Viktor that threatens to erase everything on the field with his lasers? No sweat, Cait can simply one-shot that guy, and he is trouble no more!
For the placing of our dearest Sniper-Enforcer Cait, it really depends on your items and do you want her to be your carry through the game.
If she is your carry, I would suggest placing her in the corners on the lower part of your board, BUT, and this is a BIG BUT (again, no pun intended), if you do not have a Quicksilver on her, never place her at the actual corner itself, since if the enemy is playing Blitz, she is going to be grabbed and deleted in seconds, since all of the champions (enemy’s in this case) are going to focus the champion which Blitz grabbed! If she has quicksilver, the actual corner is your best choice since she is safe for the first five seconds, and Blitz will waste his Rocket grab, and later on, it is becoming less relevant since Blitz tends to die quickly. Also, if you ARE running QS, the corner is also a good hideout since she won’t be the first target for enemy assassins.
Speaking itemwise, the go-to item without which things are not good is The Guinsoo’s Rageblade. Others can be swapped, but he is essential for dealing base attack damage and for Cait to load her ult quickly. Other items can be The Bloodthirster, The QSS, The Infiniti Edge, The Edge of The Night, and The Last Whisper.
Caitlyn takes aim at the farthest enemy, firing a deadly bullet towards them that deals magic damage to the first enemy it hits.
Ability: Ace in the Hole
Caitlyn takes aim at the farthest enemy, firing a deadly bullet towards them that deals magic damage to the first enemy it hits.
Ashe
Ashe is part of set 6.5’s newest additions, alongside Zeri. Ashe, along with the Sniper trait has found her place among Syndicates. But she also benefits from the trait of snipers, which gives her far greater damage-wise.
A great new champion that replaced Kog Maw and Tristana, which were pretty damn terrible both as a sniper and their origin traits. Ashe is a well-placed replacement.
She’s quite affordable, so I recommend maxing her immediately regardless of whether she is your primary carrier. She is not part of many of the most popular compositions so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
We expected Ashe’s ability from the Summoners Rift to be her ult, but Riot guys have made it their Q. She scaled well with heavy ad items because the scaling of the spell is 100% of her attack damages.
Ashe should have Infinity Edge and Deathblade. If Ashe is your carry, you will need some sustain via Quicksilver, or The Edge of the Night. Last Whisper is a good choice if you don’t have a carry and just need a backup damage deal that can slash enemies far away. Ashe is not the greatest sniper, so I wouldn’t recommend using the items on her unless you get her at level three.
Ashe, if she is your carry is ideal placed in the corners of the field with quicksilver or on the inside of your backline if you don’t have one.
Ability: Volley
Ashe fires a volley of arrows centered on her target, dealing 100% of her Attack Damage as physical damage per arrow and slowing their Attack Speed by 15% for 3 seconds.
Miss Fortune
This champion is the core of this build. She is the bread and butter, the link, the chosen one since she is the only champion that holds both mercenary and sniper trait. She is the glue holding it all together. Without Miss Fortune the combination of Snipers and Mercenaries wouldn’t be possible.
Whatever composition you choose, she is an inevitable part of it, whether it’s 5-7 mercs or 4-6 snipers. At the cost of three gold, MF is an excellent mid-game pick, and if you manage to score her in the first couple of rounds out of fighting minions, there is a good chance you are going to win that game.
MF (shorth of Miss Fortune, and not the Samuel L. Jackson thing) is a overall great champion and one of the most universal ones in the game)
Because of the Blitz, she is best placed at the bottom of the board.
Miss Fortune is an excellent pick since she combines AD and AP so well like old Akali or Jax used to do in League of Legends. She benefits both from AD items such are The Bloodthirster or Infinity Edge, Attack speed items like Guinsso, or she can just go full mental with a Blue Buff, Rabbadon’s Deathcap, and Jeweled Gauntlet.
It doesn’t matter what items you put on her, it will work. Perhaps I am just a little confused, but I would save sustain products for Cait and Jhin and use all of the AP stuff to make MF work.
I have found out she is pretty quickly maxed to level three, so if you see her in your shop, go for it! With maxed items and at the maximum level, she can do some severe damage.
Trust me. I know what I am talking about.
Ability:Make it Rain
Miss Fortune rains 4 waves of bullets down around a random enemy, dealing magic damage to enemies in the area and reducing their incoming healing by 50% for 6 seconds.
Jhin
Jhin is a sniper ,a four gold costing champion and he does a lot of damage!
The Khada Jhin, as his stage name sounds was with us from the start of Gizmos and Gadgets and he has always been one of the top 5 champions when it come to price-quality ratio. The level three Jhin is a game-ender. If you manage that, the enemies leave the game without the fight.
Jhin is a dangerous man . But the thing is,h e doesn’t have any sustain and will likely get blasted with any assassin who crosses his path. It is your job to decide if you want to play him offensively, or if your goal is to play safe and give him a Quicksilver or some other defensive item.
He is blessed with The Sniper and The Clockwork traits!
As far as positioning goes, Jhin should never touch the edge of the board unless he has Quicksilver.
Items should always be Infinity Edge and Last Whisper no matter what, but for the last item, you have many options and combinations. You can go Blue Buff which is the highest damage output combination, since he will ult immediately as the fight starts, or you can go for Quicksilver and take some necessary precautions. If you happen to have The Rabbadon’s Deathcap to spare, you can equip that one on Jhin too.
It is very difficult to get Jhin at level one. If you can, try to make it to level two. Jhin’s, like most Snipers isn’t very good against burst formations such as arcanists and assassins.
Ability: Curtain Call
Jhin transforms his weapon into a powerful sniper rifle for his next 4 shots. Each shot deals a percentage of his Attack Damage as physical damage, reduced by 33% for each target it pierces through. The 4th shot is guaranteed to critically strike, and deals 44% more damage based on his target’s missing Health. Passive: Jhin always attacks .9/.9/1.4 times per second. He converts each 1% of bonus Attack Speed into .8 Attack Damage.
Zeri
Along with Ashe, the newest addition to our TFT universe is Zeri!
Like Ashe, Zeri came to replace Kog Maw and Tristana and fill the missing spot in the Sniper trait with the addition of the new Debonair class. I think she works great in both of them and you can definetly find a place for her in your team!
Zeri is high damage, high-cost unit, which basically tells you, you get what you pay for! In my opinion, she is too strong at the moment, and some nerfs are heading her way on Summoner’s Rift and TFT arenas as well. She has an insane burst potential, and if you manage to get her up to level, God knows how many seconds will pass before your enemies beg for mercy! Zeri is powerful at level one as a person would expect a five cost champion to be, but she shines even brighter, nope, scrap that, but she buzzes even stronger when she is at level two, and I am afraid to tell you that one-second delete you get if she somehow reaches level three.
Positioning at the back, like most of her friends, of the sniper trait, you should always try to shield your 5 cost unit with some of your other, lower-cost units.
Ability: Lightning Crash
Zeri charges herself up with electricity for 6 seconds. While electrified, she aims at the farthest enemy, her attacks pierce, and she dashes after every shot. Passive: Zeri’s attacks fire bullets, each dealing 18% of her Attack Damage as physical damage plus bonus magic damage to the first unit hit. VIP Bonus: Zeri’s Lightning Nova’s radius is doubled.
We are not there yet. Our sniper friends would be exterminated from Runeterra’s face if there wasn’t a way to sustain our board and block any potential attacks from across the field.
This is where Enforcer, Mercenarie and Bruiser traits are useful, as well as the champions who carry their marks.
Supporting champions
The list of supporting champions, listed according to their respective in-game prices goes:
- Illaoi
- Quinn
- Gangplank
- Vi
- Tahm Kench
Illaoi
Illaoi is a must-have in every composition, whether it’s snipers or mercenaries you are going to favor in that particular game. Low-cost, high damage, even higher healing, and immense sustain, Illaoi benefits from any kind of sustain and tanky items that you equip her with. But she is important the most since she is cheap and can be quite strong when leveled up.
Bear in mind that she may look weak, but trust me, she is not. Compared to the five cost champions with high levels, she is quite a decent opponent. And because a lot of people don’t know this, she isn’t used that much, so you have a pretty high chance of maxing her level as early as level four of the game.
Do a couple of rerolls, and you sure won’t regret it!
The items she benefits the most from are Bramble’s vest, Warmog’s armor, Dragon’s claw, Titan’s resolve, Zz’Rot Portal, Sunfire Cape, Redemption, and any kind of similar item. You get the pattern. I had even won some games when I had her equipped with Morello’s. Don’t ask, just don’t.
Ability: Harsh Lesson
Illaoi slams her target, linking her soul to it for 5 seconds and dealing magic damage. While linked, Illaoi is healed for a percentage of the damage taken by her target.
Quinn
This girl was so underrated through the entire Set 6. I agree with you. Quinn is not considered a damage champion. She does deal damage but that is not what you should be focusing on. Quinn is a utility champion whose primary purpose is to disable and disarm her enemies using her ult. This is why the name “Disarming Assault” was chosen.
If you use her correctly, she can be a real charm. She can be useful in any composition if you add an enhance. These benefits are huge. She not only disarms her foes but also reduces Attack damage to nearby enemies for a full four seconds.
She is very important both to the Mercenaries and Challenger compositions. Relatively low cost, starting at just two gold, this champion is the one you can max with levels, and you won’t even feel it since she is so underused and played just to fill a spot for the trait.
As for positioning, she is quite versatile. She can go in the lower end of the board, along with some Snipers, or she can go in the middle, standing behind strong tanks, while giving them her massive support!
Ability: Disarming Assault
Quinn sends Valor out at her target, dealing magic damage to the target and nearby enemies. The main target is disarmed for 3 seconds and all nearby enemies have their Attack Damage reduced by for 4 seconds.
Gangplank
Gangplank is a champion who doesn’t really take the spotlight, but does well behind the scenes of others. It’s almost like Gangplank is a tutor for the math genius. He doesn’t get any credit, but he does give one (pun intended) since he gives gold for his kills.
My guy GP was more useful in the old patch than he was there. Kog Maw was a Twinshot and a Sniper. GP was Merc and Twinshot so they would work together.
I’ve played many games of this patch, but I’ve never seen anyone use the four twinshot trait. It will be possible, I swear.
GP is mainly used to fill in the role of lacking Merc, since his utility has been cut in half by the departure of Kog Mw. He is still useful, but it doesn’t mean that he is ineffective. If you don’t have two spatulas or an extra spot for GP and you don’t have enough, you should replace him immediately after the late game begins. TheTwinshot bonus is no longer available to you because Kog Maw has been removed. Tahm is a better choice.
You can still do some damage with him and get some gold coins for each enemy he shoots using his pistol.
Because he is quick to die, he should be placed just behind the front line.
He can use the Infinity Edge or Last Whisper to his advantage, but also benefit from some sustain such as Warmog’s cape or Sunfire cape.
Ability: Parrrley
Gangplank shoots his target, dealing a percentage of his Attack Damage and bonus damage. If this kills a champion, Gangplank plunders 1 gold.
Vi
Vi is an essential part of many compositions, including the obvious, Bruisers, and Enforcers, but actually, she is a necessary part of the Sniper – Merc, or Merc – Sniper com as well. If Miss Fortune is the link or the glue that keeps it all in place, Vi would, in that case, be a nail that you, well, nailed through the glue, just in case.
She is powerful and valuable in Bruiser composition, benefiting from the HP buffs, and she is incredible in Enforcer comps, where she can glow with just two enforcers instead of four. But that’s because Enforcers are something that Riot needs to work on since they are kinda pointless to play on their own.
Vi was a very cheap champion with the cost of just two gold and she was way overpowered for her price. Riot saw this and upgraded her cost to four golden coins, as well as buffing her stats and giving her another trait.
Her newest addition replacing The Sister Trait is The Rival Trait. This trait is active when you have precisely one unique Rival unit, as Rivals refuse to work together. Vi’s mana cost is reduced by 20. Jinx gains 40% Attack Speed for 3 seconds after scoring a takedown.
Any kind of augment she gets, regardless of whether it’s Sniper-Merc or Merc-Merc compositions, can be used by her. The Merc one is more beneficial to her as it gives her more HP. This then scales with her bruiser traits if Illaoi’s on the field.
Ability: Piltover Pulverizer
Vi shields herself and deals magic damage to her target and enemies behind it. On her 2nd cast, she also dashes through her target. On her 3rd cast, she instead throws her target into the air and slams them back to the ground, dealing damage in a circle around her target.
Tahm Kench
By far one of the most powerful champions in the current set, since he can devour even the strongest of the enemy champions!
His mechanics and looks on regular Summoner’s Rift, to his use in the magical world TFT. Tahm Kench, who is hot at the price of five golds, is a game-changer. He is an integral component of Merc – Snipers and Sniper – Mercs compositions. You can’t win without him. This is how the game works.
He is a much better choice from Gangplank and you should have this in mind, even if your Gangplank is level three, Tahm Kench is a better solution, in the long run, so you should always replace GP with Tahm Kench.
While still at level one, I will admit he won’t do much, in case of doing the actual work around the field, but rather annoy you with his damage-less ability. But once he hits level two, god forbid level three, that’s where the fun begins.
Tahm Kench’s magic begins to shine once he starts eating his foes like he did in his lore. If you run Merc – Sniper composition, it is likely that you will have five Mercs by the time Tahm hits your board. And if you’re lucky, maybe even seven. It happened once to me, happy times. However, if you return to Tahm and you have five mercenaries, then you can buy Tahm if you have done well in the game. This is the final game. Since you have five Mercs, you will probably have some crazy items. There are a lot. You are expected to have three to four more items than your opponents at level eight.
You can use it to your advantage. No, abuse it. Tahm will benefit from whatever you give him. When it comes to food, he is similar to me. But I would rather not indulge in that.
The best items for Tahm come from the tank, or a section of items. My recommendations are Titan’s resolve and Warmog’s armor, as well as the Jeweled Gauntlet. You can also choose to go for Blue Buff or Rabbadon’s and Redemption. It is up to you. It’s actually up to him, since once he reaches level 2, you won’t be much of an influence on the board. Sett, you’re done. It’s The Boss, the mighty Tahm Kennech!
Ability: Devour
Tahm Kench devours his target, storing them in his belly for 3 seconds and dealing magic damage over the duration. During this time, they are invulnerable to other sources of damage and Tahm Kench takes 40% reduced damage. If they die while inside, Tahm Kench spits out a random item component they were holding or the cost of the unit in gold. Otherwise, he spits them towards the farthest enemy, briefly stunning targets they impact.
The In-game guide
Early game
The early game was much easier before Patch 12.5 where Kog Maw and Tristana were there, and Vi was pretty damn cheap. As early as level four in the game you could have Two bruisers, two Snipers, and Two enforcers on the field. Now things have changed and this composition isn’t as great in the early game as it was.
You should focus on buying Caitlyn and Illaoi as early as you can and try to get them level three as soon as you can. The next champion to focus on is Ashe. You can add some champions to fill the traits until you get your snipers. Quinn should be there in the early game as well.
Mid game
This is the time in the game where you should have a couple of snipers and at least three mercenaries in the form of Illaoi, Quinn Gp/Mf. But Miss is always a better option since she holds both The Sniper and The Mercenarie trait. In the mid-game your job is to level up your champions and survive until the high costing champions arrive.
Late game
At this point, you should have everything set if you have followed this guide. This is tame to level up Jhin and Zeri while replacing Gangplank with Tahm Kench and leveling him up as well. I know it is not necessary to say but you should try to win as many games as you can since now you are pretty much loot-dependant and it is the thing that is going to decide if you win or you lose. That is, of course, if you haven’t somehow managed to get Tahm Kench and Jhin on level three since, in that case, the game is pretty much over, in your favor.
The Sniper composition
Conclusion:
As I said, many, many times. This is my favorite composition. This composition is so versatile. You can choose to focus on Cait or Illaoi to win your early games. Or you might want to max Miss Fortune or Jhin, but you risk losing your way to your goal.
One thing is certain. You will never stop playing Snipers once you get started. In the last patch, I found myself playing them fifteen times in succession. They are so addictive.
Nothing is more satisfying than your opponent spamming the question mark emote (The SS button for those who don’t get it). Then they rush towards you with their Little Legends, as if they want to ram you Alistar-style from the board. But they can frown all they want, as you shall be the one who takes the win!