The Trainer origin is a newcomer to Teamfight Tactics, released in Set Seven Dragonlands, and is similar to a revamp for the Set Two Summoner trait. It brings players a way to summon a little Gromp-style dragon that starts squishy but can turn into a tanky monster, burning multiple targets in the enemy backline.
A Trainer composition works with scaling, so the sooner you get two Trainer champions, the better your composition with Nomsy will be. Starting with two Trainer champions in every round, each Trainer champion will feed the unique Nomsy unit with one Snax per star, adding Health and Ability Power. Nomsy’s star level increases every 25 Snax until achieving four-star levels. With three Trainers on the board, Nomsy’s ability deals 200 percent more damage.
Set Seven Dragonlands champions with the Trainer trait are Heimerdinger, Tristana, and Lulu. There is no way to increase the number of champions with the Trainer trait; three is the maximum, and finding all units in stores or on carousels is necessary. The only Augment of the Set Seven Dragonlands directly related to the Trainer trait is the gold Secret Snax, which grants a 33 percent chance for each Trainer champion to feed Nomsy an extra Snax, and grants a Tristana.
Trainer champions
Heimerdinger is the tier-one unit of the trait. He has the Trainer and Mage features. His skill is Egg Toss, which sees Heimerdinger lob an egg at the highest health enemy, dealing magic damage and stunning them.
Tristana is the tier-two unit. She has Trainer and Cannoneer features. Her ability is Explosive Charge, which causes Tristana to fire up to three explosive charges, prioritizing the closest targets without a charge. Charges detonate after three seconds, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and bonus magic damage to the target.
Lulu is the tier-three unit. She possesses the Trainer, Mystic, and Evoker traits. Her ability is Whimsy, which causes Lulu to enchant the nearest targets. Enchanted allies gain attack speed for 1.5 seconds. Enchanted enemies are stunned and transformed into harmless dragonlings, taking increased damage while stunned. If there are fewer than three units nearby, Lulu will enchant herself.
Nomsy is the Origin Trainer’s unique unit in Dragonlands. Its ability is Fireball, which causes Nomsy to breathe fire toward its target, dealing magic damage to enemies hit and burning them for one-percent maximum health true damage per second for eight seconds. Patch 12.13 made his ability also reduce healing received by enemies by 50 percent for the duration of the burn. The Snax does not count as an item and Augments like Makeshift Armor further increase Nomsy stats and it can still be fed Snax even after achieving four-star levels.
How to build Trainer compositions
The main way to build a Trainer comp involves deciding to use two or three Trainers, with the possibility of a reroll comp to achieve three stars on all Trainers. Two Trainers are enough to grant Nomsy, an extra unit on the field that at the end of the game can be a good tank with the burning effect of the Morellonomicon item with each activation of its ability. But three Trainers can feed Nomsy much faster, causing it to reach even higher power levels—each Snax increases its Life and Ability Power. It can reach up to four stars, and even after that, each Snax keeps increasing its stats infinitely. Getting lots of Trainer units in the early rounds and good attack damage items can be an opportunity to attempt a reroll comp, in which case Tristana is a good candidate for a main carry via the Cannoneer trait activation.
The beginning of the game is simple: activate the Trainer trait as quickly as possible while looking for a frontline unit. It will take time before Nomsy can tank. Sejuani is one of the best early-game tank units, activating the Guild trait grants bonus health to the board. Other options are Skarner, which might be good enough if it achieves two stars. Tahm Kench is a unit that can be very useful if the composition has a Tristana carry. The combination of Cannoneers Tristana, Jinx, and Corki brings the possibility of activating the synergy of Revel with Tahm Kench for extra damage. A couple of Guardian units like Taric and Leona can also help. Throughout the game, a unit that can tank must be considered and replaced accordingly. Shen is a good mid-game option for his ability to dodge attacks. He can be placed next to Nomsy to increase his survivability. Toward the end of the game, the best picks will be Ornn, who contributes a lot of crowd control and tanking very well, and a tank dragon like Idas.
Ability power items make it possible to use Heimerdinger’s Mage synergy and choose a main AP carry like Ryze that also uses the Guild trait bonus to complement the board. The best items for Ryze would be the Blue Buff, Rabadon’s Deathcap, and the Jeweled Gauntlet. But a Trainer comp is much more powerful with an AD carry. Tristana, Jinx, and Corki are the best options. They all use attack speed items like Guinsoo or Statikk that make it easy to activate the Cannoneer effect, as well as AD items like Infinity Edge and Last Whisper. A defensive item can also make a difference on your carry. In lobbies with a lot of CC, the best choice is Quicksilver. If the problem is dealing with damage, choose Bloodthirster.
Dragon options for Trainer builds
Since the Trainer trait does not naturally have full tanks, the best options for the Set Seven Dragonlands Dragons are those with the best capabilities to allow carries to deal damage. The Dragons take up two spaces on the board, similar to the Colossus trait in Gizmos and Gadgets. In addition, Dragons also plus-three a marked trait and gain 600 bonus health. They are doubled in cost when they appear in the store and are great additions to many different compositions.
In the case of the Trainers, two dragons are the best choices. Idas is a tier-four dragon with the Shimmerscale and Guardian traits and the Golden Scales ability to reduce damage, heal and grant shield and attack speed to allies, making this dragon one of the best tanks for your Trainers. As a bonus for activating the Shimmerscale trait, the player receives one of the trait’s special items. Shi Oh Yu is another good tier-four dragon option with Jade and Mystic traits. Her Jade Rush ability grants her damage reduction and crowd control resistance, as well as causing CC on the enemy team. Activating the Jade feature brings a Jade statue to the board that strengthens your backline while still acting as a dummy for enemies before they reach your carries.
Best Set Seven comps with Trainer
The Trainer trait may not be powerful on its own to guarantee a win at higher levels of play, but it does have a strong start. It can easily transition to some comps that will make it to the top four thanks to the extra unit on the field, Nomsy, which scales infinitely throughout the game, and the presence of Lulu, one of the best utility units in the Set Seven.
Cannoneer Corki
A simple composition that works is using Corki as the main carry along with bonuses from the Cannoneer and Revel traits. The addition of four Whispers is capable of lowering enemy frontline defenses so your backline can melt them down. For the composition to work, it is necessary to guarantee good items for Corki and Sy’fen since they will be your main source of damage. A start by activating the Trainer trait can help maintain health in the early stages.
Your priority for the first carousel is B.F. Sword followed by Recurve Bow and Needlessly Large Rod.
Getting a two-star Tahm Kench before the first PvP round can be an opportunity to level up to four to start a winning streak, followed by leveling up to five after the carousel. Otherwise, a losing streak can help keep the economy going. The best units to start with are the ones that can activate Trainers, Cannoneers, and Revels like Heimerdinger, which can be traded in the future for Lulu, Tristana, Jinx, and Tahm Kench. Along with Nomsy, Tahm Kench forms a good frontline for the Cannoneers to start dealing damage.
Level up to six in round 3-2. More Cannoneers can be added to the board and Lulu can also be kept with the other Trainers until Sy’fen appears and can be put in place of Tahm Kench and Heimerdinger. If your frontline looks weak, swap a Canonner for Sylas or another Bruiser.
Level up to seven in round 4-1 and try to stabilize the composition by having at least one copy of Sy’fen and Corki. From this point, it is possible to save gold to reach level eight and finish the comp with a strong board. Otherwise, roll down to find your key pieces.
The best items for Corki are Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Giant Slayer, and Quicksilver, and both Jinx and Senna can hold them for him. The best items for Sy’fen are Bloodthirster, Titan’s Resolve, and Quicksilver. Other tank items can be given to Sylas and Tahm Kench can hold items for both of them. The best Augments for this composition are those related to the Cannoneer trait: Cannoneer Crown, Ricochet, and Hot Shot.
Mages Aurelion Sol
The idea behind this composition and its strength is to make Aurelion Sol a mage so that his Black Hole ability scales twice as fast, dealing a lot of damage to the enemy team. That’s why it only works with a spatula or Augment that directly grants an Emblem or another spatula like the Mage Crown and Urf Grab Bag.
With this comp in mind, it’s important to level up quickly to find stronger mages in the shop and be able to use traits more efficiently early in the game. The best options are Mages and Trainers, especially finding a Lulu, or Mages and Bruisers with a Sylas. Vlad can also fill the third Mage slot, but a Ryze might be more efficient at holding items for Aurelion Sol.
For the middle of the game, the idea is to keep the strategy with more Mages. The other units remain mostly frontline Bruisers like Sylas and Ornn and support units like Lulu and Nami. Level up to six in round 3-2 and build the best board you can. Keep yourself with 50 gold while leveling up to seven.
Ideally, be at level eight before the end of stage four. From there, the composition needs to be with Aurelion Sol for the endgame. Eventually, Zoe will step in for a Mage to act as a secondary carry. But try to keep Heimerdinger to keep Nomsy on the board. Before Aurelion Sol appears, use Sona to hold your items instead of Ryze. Bard may also be present before the Dragon arrives.
Upon reaching level nine, it is possible to bring the Bard back to continue looking for more copies of Aurelion Sol while also activating the Mystic and Guild traits.
The best items for Aurelion Sol besides the Mage Emblem are Hextech Gunblade and Archangel’s Staff. Tank items must be placed on Sylas or Ornn, whichever reaches two stars first.
This is a powerful and versatile comp. You can easily change it to use six Astrals with Vladimir and Nami or seven Mages to make use of a lot of AP items to fully equip two carries.
