Principal Teamfight Tactics lead game designer Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer announced today that big changes to Chosen may occur in Patch 11.4—and testing is starting today on the PBE server.
The Chosen mechanic has been a topic of debate since its release in Set Four Fates. Chosen champions enter the battlefield as two-stars with bonus stats. Mortdog and the TFT balance team have made several changes to Chosen odds over the last three months. With the launch of Set 4.5 Fates: Festival of Beasts, the team has added “some very experimental changes to Chosen” in the 11.4 PBE update that’s taking place today.
Patch 11.4 will be uploaded to the PBE servers around 2pm CT today. Some of the adjustments that players experience on the PBE may not end up on the TFT live servers when Patch 11.4 is released on Feb. 18.
“Patch 11.4 comes to PBE today, and with it some VERY experimental changes to Chosen,” Mortdog said. “We’re using this cycle to test out some big changes, but don’t assume they will ship.”
The design team heading up Set 4.5 Fates: Festival of Beasts has taken a slightly different approach to balance updates with the smallest post-launch patch in the history of TFT. A B-patch just after launch played a major role in the amount of nerfs and buffs within Patch 11.3, along with the balance team wanting the meta to play itself out more, according to Riot Statikk.
Major experimental Chosen changes taking place on the PBE servers just after the mid-set release may explain why Patch 11.3 was small in quantity as well. Buffing and nerfing a large number of champions and traits might become unnecessary, depending on how the Chosen changes affect the meta on the PBE servers.
Patch 11.3 launches today via the TFT live servers, in conjunction with Patch 11.4 on the PBE servers.