TFT Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the Teamfight Tactics terms and slang you'll see across brains.gg and in-game. New to a term in our guides? It's probably here.
- Augment
- A game-altering bonus chosen at set stages that shapes your whole run, tiered Silver, Gold and Prismatic.
- Avg Placement (Average Placement)
- The mean finishing position (1st–8th) over many games. Lower is better; below 4.5 beats the lobby on average.
- BIS (Best in Slot)
- The optimal items for a given carry — the build with the best average placement, shown on each unit page.
- Board
- The set of units, items and traits a player has on the hexes during combat.
- Bench
- The row below the board where units are held but don't fight.
- Carry
- The unit your board is built around to deal the majority of its damage, and the priority for items.
- Comp (Composition)
- A recognizable team of units and traits played toward a shared win condition.
- Contested
- When multiple players in a lobby want the same units or comp, making the pieces harder to find.
- Econ (Economy)
- Your gold management — interest, streaks and spending — that funds leveling and rolling.
- Fast 8
- A tempo strategy of banking gold and leveling quickly to 8 to field high-cost units early.
- Flex
- Keeping your comp undecided early so you can pivot into whatever the game gives you.
- Frontline
- The durable units placed on the front rows to absorb damage and protect the backline.
- Backline
- The rows where fragile carries and casters sit, farthest from the enemy frontline.
- Interest
- Bonus gold earned each round — 1 per 10 banked, capped at 5 gold at 50 banked.
- Itemize
- To assign items to a unit, usually your carry, to maximize its impact.
- Level
- Your player level, which raises your maximum board size and the odds of higher-cost units.
- Loss Streak
- Consecutive losses that pay bonus gold, often used to save econ while taking free damage.
- Pick Rate
- How often a comp, unit or item appears — a proxy for how contested it is.
- Pivot
- Switching your intended comp mid-game to follow the units and items you actually hit.
- Reroll
- Spending gold at a fixed level to three-star low-cost carries by cycling the shop.
- Roll (Rolldown)
- Spending gold to refresh the shop in search of specific units or upgrades.
- Scout
- Clicking through opponents' boards before combat to adjust your units and positioning.
- Slow-roll
- Rolling only the gold above 50 to keep interest while hunting upgrades over several rounds.
- Spike (Power Spike)
- The point where your comp becomes strong — often a key level, upgrade or item completion.
- Star Level
- A unit's upgrade tier; combining three of the same unit levels it up, greatly increasing its stats.
- Tempo
- Being stronger than the lobby at a given moment, usually by leveling or upgrading ahead of others.
- Tier List
- A ranking of comps, units or items into buckets (S–D) based on average placement.
- Top 4
- Finishing 1st–4th, which gains LP in ranked. Top-4 rate is the share of games you place top four.
- Trait (Synergy)
- A shared tag on units that grants a bonus once enough of them are on the board.
- Win Streak
- Consecutive wins that pay bonus gold, typically pushed by spending to stay strong.