TFT Set 18: “Enchanted Wilds” Will Make You Rethink How You Play The Game

Teamfight Tactics has been a solid sibling title to League of Legends for over seven years. Debuting in 2019 as a more slow-paced and tactical approach to the world of Runeterra as opposed to the more fast-paced combat of the base game, with each new set expanding the roster of available characters and tools to achieve victory. It’s a game that rewards patience but demands risk, as staging the right attack at the precise moment is crucial to any victory.

It’s that natural push and pull between tightly knit strategy and wild abandon that makes for a compelling strategy game that reimagines the League of Legends champions in a new form. That naturally chaotic vibe is central to the game’s eighteenth set, “Enchanted Wilds.” Inspired by East Asian mythology and with a focus on the natural world, the season brings a natural touch to the game that’s been missing from some recent sets. It’s also part of a major shift for the game, ensuring that the future feels in flux in a way only the natural world can create. Here’s what to expect from the upcoming “Enchanted Wilds” set and why the technical specs behind the upgrade are such a big deal for the game.

Wisps Are The Key To TFT’s “Enchanted Wilds”

The eighteenth set for TFT since the game launched, the “Enchanted Wilds” season has a focus on the mystical and natural alike. With the setting shifting into a more wooded area, natural life and small animals are at play in the design of the set. The big mechanic of the set leans into that, reviving the “Charms” concept from Set 12 and reimagining them as Wisps. These mystical creatures are hidden in shadows for most of the game and are purchasable once per round in the shop, creating a new slot in your inventory. They come with an effect that only lasts a turn, but as the game progresses, those traits and powers become more impressive.

Once the planning phase ends, the Wisp disappears and is replaced with a hidden unit, introducing an element of random chance to the strategy game. Maybe you’ll get a minor combatant who can help you survive in a tough spot. Maybe you’ll get support for a different type of build. Maybe you’ll get the 5-cost unit you needed to win the game. It’s a fun bit of magical chance introduced into the otherwise very tactical strategy game, representing the natural chaos of the wilds that are baked into the set’s aesthetic and tone.

It also makes for an interesting contrast to the current meta, as there’s enough chance involved that the established synergies might not have an answer for what the Wisps have waiting for them. This is on top of all the new traits that can be utilized by players hoping to use the Wisps to their full potential, with the likes of “Blossom,” “Tree Spirit,” and “Coven” giving players a lot of fresh traps, weapons, and support options for combat. These traits are best utilized with the Wisps and their own unique abilities, but there are plenty of potential avenues for combining these new abilities and using them to augment established strategies. The underlying connection seems to be a focus on high-risk, high-reward effects that can either turn the tide of a game or be completely useless depending on the whims of nature.

TFT Is Entering The Unreal Era

The set also represents more than just a return of a fan favorite mechanic. Set 18 is the first edition of Teamfight Tactics to utilize Unreal Engine. It’s an understandably big shift for the developers, who had to rebuild the entire underlying framework of the game for the new system. Described as an “unprecedented project” by gameplay director Alex Cole during a preview session with members of the press (including ComicBook.com), the team behind TFT admitted that the transition was still ongoing and that fans should be more wary of bugs as the transition goes fully into effect. However, the effect on Teamfight Tactics’ visuals was already obvious from the footage shared with the press, with the cosmetic elements, larger stage, and smaller touches all breathing with a new level of natural life.

According to the dev team from Riot Games, this set is being seen internally very much as a new starting point for the game. With the shift to Unreal providing the perfect opportunity to reexamine the history of the game, there’s no telling what lessons, questions, and experiments might be awaiting players as the team fully adjusts to the new system. With a major overhaul planned for Set 20, it’s likely that the bigger changes planned for the future will be with a fully optimized Unreal engine for the game. That’s what makes “Enchanted Wilds” such a fun experiment, as the softly whimsical aesthetic and sense of natural expansion feels like a springboard for new approaches to older ideas.

“Enchanted Wilds” goes like in beta on July 28 before being released formally on the main servers on August 12.