TFT 14.1 Patch Notes: Heartsteel Rework, New Portals & More

The first big Teamfight Tactics patch of the year has just been released, and it's filled with a ton of new content and balance adjustments. Patch 14.1 brings 11 new portals, a rework to the Heartsteel synergy, as well as a ton of changes to traits, augments, and units. This patch aims to shake up the meta that was formed during the holiday season while also preparing the game for the next big update coming just around the corner.

Here is the full list of changes in patch 14.1 for Teamfight Tactics:

TFT's First Set Revival
Miscellaneous
Systems
Large Changes
Small Changes
Bug Fixes

Teamfight Tactics Patch 14.1 Full Notes — Riot Games

Teamfight Tactics Update 14.1 Full Patch Notes

Here is the full list of patch notes for the new 14.1 Teamfight Tactics update:

TFT's First Set Revival

TFT’s first set revival is almost here, and we’re gearing up for galactic exploration with the revival of the Galaxies mid-set, Return to the Stars, as a temporary game mode available from patch 14.02 (Jan 24th) until the end of patch 14.04 (March 19th) during our Lunar Legacy event! You can get more information about why we are returning to the stars, and how we’ve updated the mid-set here.

Miscellaneous

TFT In-client Spectate

One of our biggest wins of 2023 will be felt with our first patch of 2024, Spectator Mode! We’re thrilled to have the feature go live this patch, which means there’s no excuses for not inviting me to your community led tournaments. On a serious note, a big thanks to the teams that worked across LoL PC and TFT to make what we thought to be impossible, possible, and another thanks to our passionate TFT community that’s been making community tournaments work for so long without this feature. We’re still in early days here, so be sure to report any bugs you may observe.

Spectate will go to our live client on patch 14.1, January 9th
Spectate will have a delay of 1 minute
Right click a pal from the friends list to spectate them and be prepared to congratulate them on their top four, or console them after their loss
Spectate will come to Riot Regions only this patch

Systems

New Portals

Some wild, some mild, some favorites returning, and one that heralds the rise of the Scuttle Crab—you’ve been warned! We’ve also updated the odds of seeing our rare Portals (such as Scuttle Puddle) to be even across all Portals!

Spatula: Start with a Spatula.
Tactician’s Crown: Start with a Tactician’s Crown (gain +1 team size).
Support Anvil: Start with 1 Support item anvil.
Crescendo: Augments this game will be silver, gold, then prismatic tier.
Decrescendo: Augments this game will be prismatic, gold, then silver tier.
Champion Delivery: Twice per stage, gain a high cost champion. The cost increases with game time.
Radiant Blessing: At 40 player health, receive a blessing that contains powerful loot. This occurs at 10 player health in Hyper Roll
Treasure Armory: On stage 4-7, choose a 5-piece package of powerful loot. This occurs on Stage 8-1 in Hyper Roll.
Wandering Trainers: Start with a Training Dummy with 3 permanently attached trait emblems.
Loot Subscription: Every stage, gain random loot from a highly varied pool.
Crab Rave: Dancing Crabs replace PvE encounters and drop bonus loot, but crabs on Stage 5+ are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Grants loot every other stage in Hyper Roll.
All Portals in the game have an equal chance of appearing.

Streak Gold

We’ve seen the Open Fort strategy (completely selling board to accumulate more gold) be much more valued than going WLWLW (win/loss/win/loss/win) and preserving Tactician Health. A WLWLW player gets 0 streak gold, while a LLLLL player gets 10 gold, which can be a lot considering the importance of early econ. We’re reducing the value of that early econ by restricting access to streak gold until later in Stage 2, as now LLLLL players will only get 6 gold (and still lose a lot of Health). Is the 6 gold completely worth playing Open Fort—maybe in some situations, but we don’t expect this to be a strategy you want to go for before seeing the outcome of 2-2, or even 2-3.

You have to hit higher streaks to make gold now
1g: 2 - 3 ⇒ 3 - 4 wins/losses
2g: 4 ⇒ 5 wins/losses
3g: 5 ⇒ 6 wins/losses

Emblem Adjustment

We’re making Country 7 easier to access, allowing you to live your cowboy dreams… or cowboy night-mares… We’ll be adjusting the power of the trait to accommodate the newfound access to its highest tier (see Traits in the SMALL section).

Jazz is at its best when it’s improvised—there’s no room for cookie-cutter recipes here. With the Jazz Emblem no longer craftable, we will be increasing the power of the trait (see Traits section).
Country is now craftable and comes from Spatula + Negatron Cloak
Jazz is now uncraftable

Headliner Rules

We’re adjusting the rules for Headliners to show up in your shop in order to prevent awkward moments where you can’t three-star your reroll carry, while also making 3-star 4 and 5-cost champions harder to hit through the mechanic. The old rule was also confusing as it led to weird situations where champions in opponent shops could contribute to not seeing a Headliner you may have wanted.

1/2/3-cost Headliners have no restrictions based upon copies you own
4-cost Headliners can’t show up if you own more than 4 copies of that champion
5-cost Headliners can’t show up if you own more than 3 copies of that champion

Large Changes

Traits

If you compare the output of a trait like Big Shot (40/72/120) versus 8-Bit which requires time to stack (45/75/120) it’s a long shot from a bit underpowered. Even with this reality, the trait isn’t too weak thanks to its powerful champions like Caitlyn and Corki. We’re going to put more power in the trait, while pulling some from its carries to keep 8-Bit from becoming 8/8 bit.

Right now 5 EDM is too strong, and Jax is the strongest version of it. Lowering the power of 5 EDM specifically also allows us to raise the trait power at 3/4, as well as some of the other EDM champions as needed.

Higher levels of Emo were certainly sad, but not in the way you’d want it to be. Now as you go up in Emo breakpoints, you can expect to cast more and more often. This should help vertical Emo Poppy and Vex mostly, as we’ll be giving Annie other adjustments to balance things out.

The way Executioner’s crit rate scaled with enemy health wasn’t very satisfying especially at 4 and 6. Now, they will critically strike low health enemies a lot more and much harder, leading to the vertical living their best crit life.

Heartsteel is getting a rework, but before we get into that it’s worth noting that we’ll also be nerfing the base trait a bit since it’s been too consistent. We’re adding a new “Raise the Stakes” option instead of automatically cashing out after four player combats. This will let players chase after massive cash outs—it’s risky though, as you will have to delay your rewards to a later time AND are punished for winning during this time.

Sentinel 6 and 8 are able to stall out a bit more than intended. We’re giving the trait a minor nerf at 6, but 8 is going down more due to the availability of Emblems from new Portals.

Spellweaver 10 has been virtually impossible to hit, so we’re just removing it as a Prismatic option, and then buffing accordingly. With the support of some of our new Portals especially, 9 should be achievable.

8-Bit AD per Stack: 4.5/7.5/12% ⇒ 5/9/14%
Crowd Diver Bonus Damage: 5/30/60% ⇒ 12/30/50%
Dazzler enemy damage reduction: 15% ⇒ 10%
EDM Jax Spell Frequency: 7 ⇒ 8 sec
EDM Spell Effectiveness: 80/100/110/125% ⇒ 90/100/110/130%
EDM Frequency Reduction: 0/0/1/2 ⇒ 0/0/1/1 sec
Emo Mana Reduction: 20/25/30% ⇒ 20/30/40%
Emo Mana on Ally Death: 10/20/25 ⇒ 20/30/40
Emo 6 Piece Bonus AP: 20 ⇒ 10
Executioner base Critical Strike Damage: 5/25/45% ⇒ 5/15/30%
Executioner max Critical Strike Chance: 15/35/55% ⇒ 25/100/200%
Guardian max HP Shield Amount: 25/40/60% ⇒ 25/45/70%
Heartsteel NEW: Raise the Stakes! - Now after every 4 turns, you can cash out like normal OR you can choose to raise the stakes. If you do, your box turns golden and you are in high risk mode. You gain double the hearts, but if you win a combat, you lose 50% of your current total. If you manage to lose 8 times in a row, gain an additional 80 bonus hearts.
Heartsteel base Heart Rate: 100/250/600/1000% ⇒ 100/225/550/1000%
Hyperpop Mana Per Cast: 3/5/7/10 ⇒ 5/10/15/20
Jazz max HP Per Trait: 1.5/2/3% ⇒ 1.5/2.5/4%
Sentinel Base Armor & MR: 16/35/60/125 ⇒ 16/35/55/100
Spellweaver changed the 10 piece (Prismatic) to a 9 piece (Gold)
Spellweaver base AP: 20/35/60/200 ⇒ 20/35/70/120
Spellweaver AP per cast: 1/2/3/10 ⇒ 1/2/3/4

Units: Tier 1

Annie does well with exact items that make her cast a bunch, but when she doesn’t get exactly what she wants, she throws a fit taking the form of bottom four—she is just a child you know. Her reliance on perfect items is due to how much power is in Disentegrate’s powered up state. We’re raising her pre-powered up form, and lowering that rapid fire state to help her control her temper, and maybe be happy with other items as well.

Nami will now cast more frequently, dealing more damage through a fight, but with a reduced stun duration, although that too should even out with how many bubbles she’s throwing.

For the remainder of the buffs here, we’re lifting the weakest 1-costs so that even they can one day dream of being a reroll carry. Special shout out for the Taric buff that should make this warm bodied tank a truly outrageous 3-star Disconaut.

Disintegrate Damage: 195/295/440 ⇒ 220/330/495
Disintegrate powered up Attack Speed: 50% ⇒ 40%
Disintegrate powered up Second Disintegrate Damage: 115/170/255 ⇒ 80/120/180

Mana buff: 15/75 ⇒ 15/60
Disco Prison Stun duration: 1.5 ⇒ 1.25 sec
Disco Prison now has a slightly lower mana lockout period to prevent cases of not getting mana for attacks at higher attack speeds (Rageblade at the Disco Nami is now online)

AD: 50 ⇒ 55
Berserker Rage Attack Speed based on missing 1% HP ratio: 0.12% ⇒ 0.15%

AD: 60 ⇒ 70
Armor & MR: 35 ⇒ 40

Mirrorball’s Blessing Damage: 100/150/225 ⇒ 250/375/565

The Harder They Fall AD%: 220% ⇒ 330%
The Harder They Fall empowered AD%: 320% ⇒ 450%
Recommended Items changed to Attack Fighter

Synthesizer Strike AD per kill: 1% ⇒ 1.5%

Units: Tier 2

Bard’s damaging notes (Doots) have more impact than his healing notes (Chimes), so we’re making sure he more reliably Doots on his foes than Chimes on his pals to raise his base power. That alongside a damage buff to his Doots will have Bard shooting and dooting his way to a Desperado collab.

While Garen Headliner has found success, his base form could use a Power-Up! We’re taking some of his Headliner power and putting it in the base to keep him more consistent.

Kai’Sa is very good at surviving and using Big Shot procs to finish out fights, but she could use better ratios to become a more reliable carry. We’re buffing her AD and AP scaling, so she can benefit more from the regular AD slams and AP from K/DA, Blue Buff, or Shojin.

With a nerf to Crowd Diver 6, reroll Katarina’s capped out board power has been lowered, and we’re compensating by giving some power back to her as AS.

Improv Doot Damage: 190/285/430 ⇒ 200/300/450
Improv will always cast 3 damage notes (Doots) and 1 healing note (Chime) while there is a valid heal target

HP: 750 ⇒ 800
Power-Up! HP gain: 200/215/230 ⇒ 215/230/245

Boogie Hour damage: 160/240/360 ⇒ 190/285/440

Got the Boom AD%: 280/280/285% ⇒ 290/290/300%
Got the Boom AP Damage: 30/45/65 ⇒ 40/60/90

AS: 0.7 ⇒ 0.75

Fires of Ascension empowered attacks bonus Damage: 35/50/75 ⇒ 35/55/80
Fires of Ascension final empowered attack Damage: 210/315/475 ⇒ 240/360/540

Units: Tier 3

Ekko is the hardest unit for me to find every game, and that’s not just a “me” thing. His utility, tankiness, and traits make him a high-value frontliner in many comps, so we’re lowering his utility in a stun duration nerf that’ll hopefully make him easier to find, for all our sakes.

Record Scratch Stun Duration: 1.5 ⇒ 1 sec

Laser Light Show Damage: 230/345/550 ⇒ 250/375/550

Face-Melter Damage over 3 seconds: 200/300/480 ⇒ 220/330/525
Face-Melter final Damage burst: 200/300/480 ⇒ 220/330/525

Units: Tier 4

Ahri’s blowing kisses like they’re going out of style, so we’re asking her to chill a bit, and reducing her Attack Speed to slow down her cast rate.

Our Karthus adjustments are to make him better at cleaning up fights with less remaining enemies, while being slightly less impactful at the start of a fight.

Twisted Fate is already okay when he gets his narrow items and you’re able to speed level to 8 with a strong frontline. By allowing bonus AS to create even more cards, we’re opening up even more build paths. If you have a strong frontline and other sources of magic damage, opt for more AS to shred enemy MR and gradually take over fights.

AS: 0.8 ⇒ 0.75

Starting Mana nerf: 40/120 ⇒ 30/120
Mortal Reminder number of targets: 5 ⇒ 4/4/6
Mortal Reminder Damage: 220/330/1000 ⇒ 270/405/900

Fate Hustle & Shuffle AS needed per 1 bonus card: 40% ⇒ 20%

Riff of the Ruined King slam AD%: 200/200/400% ⇒ 225/225/450%

Mana buff: 60/130 ⇒ 60/120
Armor & MR: 60 ⇒ 70
Let’s Bounce! Heal per bounce: 100/150/800 ⇒ 120/160/800

Units: Tier 5

Lucian’s Arpeggio hasn’t been properly scaling with Attack Speed (which should increase the number of shots in his spell). But even with that taken into account we’d be remiss not to note his other weaknesses. More AD and a better AD ratio should make this Jazz Legendary worthy of three item slots.

Qiyana’s power ceiling (printing items while also being a very strong unit) has been enabled by her strong damage ratios. We’re lowering those, but also preserving her ability to copy multiple items at once to just her three-star form.

Oftentimes when we create a champion with multiple forms, one form becomes the dominant way to play, and we have to tinker with the other forms to keep them on par. This is that tinkering moment. Our goals with these changes are to have you select a Sona form based upon what your comp needs. Need more frontline—choose Kinetic. Need to empower your AD allies—choose Ethereal for Attack Speed. Need to do more damage, or amplify your other AP units—choose Concussive.

AD: 65 ⇒ 70
Arpeggio Shot AD%: 55/55/1000% ⇒ 60/60/1000%
Arpeggio spell now correctly scales with attack speed

Sample & Remix AD%: 500/500/1000 ⇒ 470/470/1000%
Sample & Remix Itemless additional True Damage: 75% ⇒ 60%
Sample & Remix number of Items Copied: 1/2/3 ⇒ 1/1/3

The Drop Kinetic (Heal Form) Heal per auto: 4/7/100% ⇒ 5/8/100%
The Drop Ethereal (Attack Speed Form) AS per Auto: 25/35/500% ⇒ 20/30/500%
The Drop Ethereal (Attack Speed Form) AS on Cast: 125/175/777% ⇒ 100/150/777%
The Drop Concussive (Damage Form) AP per auto: 2/3/100 ⇒ 3/4/100

AS: 0.8 ⇒ 0.85
Chaos Theory smaller bomb Damage: 70/105/400 ⇒ 90/135/500

Headliners

We’re taking another pass on our underperforming Headliners, while shipping two nerfs to accommodate the buffs to their base forms for Garen and Yasuo.

Gnar’s Headliner ability had him instantly transform, jump into the enemy team, and then get focused down. Delaying his jump should prevent this instant focus, allowing carry Gnar comps to lean more heavily into offense.

Evelynn: 100 HP & 15 AP ⇒ 100 HP & 20 AP
Olaf: 150 HP & 10 Armor/MR ⇒ 150 HP & 15 Armor/MR
Tahm Kench: 225 HP ⇒ 300 HP
Taric: 100 HP & 15 Armor ⇒ 150 HP & 15 Armor
Vi: 150 HP & 20% AD ⇒ 250 HP & 15% AD
Yasuo: 100 HP & 15% Omnivamp ⇒ 200 HP & 10% Omnivamp
Aphelios: 20% AD ⇒ 25% AD
Garen: 400 HP ⇒ 350 HP
Gnar: Jump slightly delayed to after initial enemy targeting
Gragas: 15% Damage & 10% DR ⇒> 18% Damage & 10% DR
Neeko: 200 HP & 20 Mana to Ally ⇒ 200 HP & 40 Mana to Ally
Zac: 200 HP & 15 AP ⇒ 300 HP & 20 AP
Kayn: 5 AP & Increased Rewards ⇒ 10 AP & Increased Rewards

Augments

With our changes to streak gold, Consistency has been dramatically nerfed, so much so that we have opted to disable the Augment completely instead of finding a cheap way to buff it.

While the stun duration on Crash Test Dummies has been lowered the delay on their initial jump will now result in stunned units targeting them (given that they are the dummies are the nearest enemies) once they come out of the stun.

Submit to the Pit (Mosher) is getting a rework that not only makes it more thematically relevant (Mosh with your pals), but also less awkward with constantly fluctuating stats.

Cybernetic Bulk I/II/III HP: 222/333/555 ⇒ 200/300/500
Best Friends I AS & Armor: 10 ⇒ 12
Consistency has been Disabled
Help is on the Way Turns to wait: 6 ⇒ 8
Rolling for Days I Rerolls Granted: 8 ⇒ 9
Rolling for Days I can now show up 3-2 and 4-2
Stationary Support Turns to wait: 7 ⇒ 8
Crash Test Dummies Stun Duration: 2 ⇒ 1.25 seconds
Crash Test Dummies jump delayed to after initial enemy targeting
Expose Weakness (Executioner) Shred & Sunder: 40% ⇒ 30%
Extended Play (Punk) now grants 2 gold whenever a Punk champion is 2-starred.
Heroic Grab Bag Gold: 2 ⇒ 4
Little Buddies HP: 90 ⇒ 75
Ramping Rhythm (Rapidfire) starting Stacks: 3 ⇒ 4
Return on Investment Rerolls required: 18 ⇒ 16
Submit To The Pit (Mosher) REWORKED: now grants the benefits based on nearby allies at the start of combat. 5 ⇒ 3 stats.
Teaming Up II now can only show up on 4-2
Three’s a Crowd HP per 3-cost: 80 ⇒ 75
Binary Airdrop now specifies that it will grant a recommended item. (No functional change)
Tiniest Titan+ Gold: 8 ⇒ 15

Items

With a long patch full of data, feedback, and our own experiences climbing the Ranked Ladder, the live team has taken a pass on a large portion of our item roster. Nearly all AP items have received a buff, while many other items are receiving new features to make them more flexible.

Blue Buff and Red Buff have been the powerhouse core items that have enabled some of our most successful carries throughout patch 13.24. We’re lowering their power here and letting the champions they’ve enabled escape nerfs (Ahri being the exception with a small Attack Speed nerf).

Finally, True Damage Emblem has significantly raised the power and desirability of Spatulas—partially leading to the appeal of Open Forting for early priority on Carousel. We’re completely taking away its Bling Bonus of bonus True Damage, but they’ll still benefit from the base trait’s bonus.

Adaptive Helm Front Row Armor & MR: 35 ⇒ 40
Adaptive Helm Back Row Bonus AP: 15 ⇒ 20
Archangel’s Staff AP per 5 Seconds: 25 ⇒ 30
Bloodthirster now also grants 15 AP
Blue Buff bonus Damage on Takedown: 10% ⇒ 8%
Dragon’s Claw HP Increase: 5% ⇒ 10%
Evenshround Armor & MR for 10 seconds: 20 ⇒ 25
Gargoyle Stoneplate now also grants 100 HP
Hextech Gunblade base AD & AP: 10 ⇒ 15
Ionic Spark now also grants 200 HP
Jeweled Gauntlet AP: 30 ⇒ 35
Morellonomicon now also grants 15% Attack Speed
Rabadon’s Deathcap AP: 60 ⇒ 50
Rabadon’s Deathcap bonus Damage: 8% ⇒ 20%
Red Buff Bonus Damage: 8% ⇒ 6%
True Damage Emblem Bling Bonus removed

Radiant Items

Jak'Sho the Protean (Adaptive Helm) Armor & MR: 45 ⇒ 60
Urf-Angel's Staff (Archangel) AP per 4 seconds: 35 ⇒ 40
Blessed Bloodthirster also grants 30 AP
Dragon's Will (Dragon Claw) HP Increase: 8% ⇒ 18%
Dvarapala Stoneplate (Gargoyle) now also grants 250 HP
Dvarapala Stoneplate (Gargoyle) base Armor & MR: 30 ⇒ 50
Hextech Lifeblade (Gunblade) AD: 10 ⇒ 30
Hextech Lifeblade (Gunblade) AP: 40 >> 50
Covalent Spark (Ionic Spark) now grants 400 HP
Glamorous Gauntlet (Jeweled Gauntlet) AP: 55 ⇒ 65
More More-ellonomicon also grants 25% Attack Speed
Rabadon's Ascended Deathcap AP: 110 ⇒ 70
Rabadon's Ascended Deathcap bonus Damage: 12% ⇒ 50%
Crest of Cinders (Red Buff) AS: 70% ⇒ 60%
Crest of Cinders (Red Buff) Bonus Damage: 10% ⇒ 8%
Royal Crownshield (Crownguard) starting Shield: 40% ⇒ 50%
Legacy of the Colossus (Steadfast Heart) base Damage Reduction: 9% ⇒ 12%