Buzz
After reaching the Grandmaster rank, the Project Director of Teamfight Tactics - Riot Mortdog, openly shared insights as mentioned above.
If you're unaware, the recent time marked the Thanksgiving holiday break in Western countries, including the USA. Many Riot Games employees took a brief break before returning to work. For the Project Director of Teamfight Tactics, Riot Mortdog, he utilized this period to climb to the Grandmaster rank in the 'virtue chess.'
Upon completing the climb to the Grandmaster rank, Riot Mortdog shared some of his evaluations on the current meta on social media and Teamfight Tactics forums. A noteworthy comment from Riot Mortdog is that the Academy team composition is nearly non-existent in the current meta. According to the 'father' of Teamfight Tactics, all the key champions in the Academy composition are stronger in other lineups. So why has the Academy team become so ineffective?
Firstly, let's delve more meticulously into the effects of the Academy synergy. Essentially, when this synergy is activated, Academy champions gain additional Spell Power (SP), skill damage, which increases when those units cast their abilities. This demands that champions in the Academy team cast abilities continuously, rapidly charging energy to establish superiority in terms of damage output.
However, upon revisiting the Academy units, they are predominantly champions that do not use Blue Buff or mana regeneration items (except Lux). This means that the Spell Power (SP) and skill damage provided by the Academy synergy are extremely low, even if you play with a full team of 6 champions. Therefore, in terms of the value of strength delivered, the Academy falls behind other races and classes.
Next up is about the powerhouses when Lux, Yone, and Garen are considered the primary three carry units in the Academy team. However, these chess pieces all require an immediate significant attack or defense stat to clean up the opponent's lineup. Meanwhile, you will spend a lot of time waiting for the Academy units to cast their abilities and gradually increase their stats. This makes the mentioned units much stronger in compositions like Sorcerer, Duelist, or Vanguard.
Being powerful carries but performing better in other compositions, Academy players often find themselves in situations where crucial chess pieces are contested. Even if you activate the 6 Academy milestone early, it's challenging to secure a top 4 finish without rolling for a 2-star Yone. Strong units like Yuumi also face fierce competition among players.
In summary, with the poorly scaling stat mechanism, the Academy race is currently undervalued compared to other races and classes. Furthermore, the fact that the strongest carries are more effective in other compositions makes building an Academy team extremely challenging. Therefore, the advice here is that you should avoid building an Academy team at the moment if you want to climb ranks steadily.
