With the latest mid-set update in Teamfight Tactics around for a month, lots of new aspects of the game have come to fruition, from the new traits to the new heroes you can choose. However, the items from Set 8 have carried over to Set 8.5, even though some have changed effects over the mid-set.
As players have gotten used to these updated items, a meta of which are good and which are bad has solidified. With that knowledge, here is a tier list of the items in TFT Set 8.5, a rundown of each bracket, and where each item lands on the tier list.
What are the best items for TFT Set 8.5?
S-tier items: Jeweled Gauntlet and Sunfire Cape remain the best
It’s safe to say that the first two items in the S-tier are great examples of consistency over time. The Jeweled Gauntlet will always be a strong item for magic damage carries, while the Sunfire Cape is the prototypical tank item in TFT.
Whilst still requiring proper placement, both the Shroud of Stillness and Zephyr are amazing items to win fights given their unique abilities. Ionic Spark is a tank item that helps your carries by whittling down magic resist, and the Spear of Shojin helps those carries use their abilities faster. Dragon’s Claw gives your unit a passive heal over time, while the Hextech Gunblade is the best healing item in the game for your carries.
A-tier items: Hero-specific items can help carries do their job
The A-tier is the biggest one for this set so far, as there are a ton of strong items within. From the Guardbreaker to the Archangel’s Staff, these items are great ones to use on heroes that fit their strengths.
What separates these items from the S-tier is that a few of them are only good on specific units. For example, the Morellonomicon is great for magic dealers that do area-of-effect damage, but not as good on single-target heroes. Almost all of these items fall under that description, but they are still very strong to use casually in TFT.
Related: Best team comps for TFT Set 8.5 Patch 13.8
B-tier items: Replacement items that are good, but not great
The B-tier is full of items that are rarely the items you need but are handy when the carousels and items just haven’t gone your way. The Infinity Edge is good if you can’t get the Jeweled Gauntlet for your magic damage dealer, but it won’t be as strong as the Gauntlet.
The same thing applies to the Protector’s Vow and ZZ’Rot Portal for tanks, they’re handy if you can’t get the strictly better Sunfire Cape or Warmog’s Armor.
C-tier: Barely useable items for the current set
To put it mildly, the items in this set aren’t nearly as useful as the ones in the tiers above. Quicksilver is the best item in the tier simply due to crowd control removal, but you won’t be able to fit it in over the other items you need to make your units strong.
Plus, out of the three healing items available, the Bloodthirster and Hand of Justice are both here, for slightly different reasons. The Bloodthirster is extremely unit-specific, essentially only for physical damage carries. The Hand of Justice relies on a coin flip to see if you get the strong but necessary healing bonus. Also, if you get a healing augment, the items don’t get as much value as before.
D-tier: Just don’t.
The Rapid Firecannon, Runaan’s Hurricane, and Deathblade are the worst items in the set. Not just were they unit-specific when they were at their strongest, but they received heavy nerfs in recent patches. In the end, the carries you need to focus on in Set 8.5 receive no benefit from these items.
Related: All TFT Set 8.5 champions and Hero Augments: Updated abilities and stats
