How to play Ao Shin TFT Set 7

Win-streak in Teamfight Tactics Set Seven Dragonlands to a capped legendary board featuring the storm dragon and guardian of the natural world. 

After failing to make the cut as a League of Legends champion, Ao Shin has taken over TFT Set Seven as the king of dragons. Prior to getting a champion slot within the Dragonlands set, the storm dragon was included in the auto battler as a popular Little Legend. Now he lives up to his name in Set Seven as a tier-five dragon that costs 10 gold, takes up two slots on the battlefield, and provides three Tempest.

Ao Shin fires a barrage of lightning strikes that deal significant magic damage while draining 20 mana from their target. It’s common for players to surround him with a clump, making it harder for enemy units to pile up on him all at once. The storm dragon needs time to pop off with his powerful spell since Ao Shin’s mana is 0/200.

Upon getting played, Ao Shin provides three Tempest, a trait that stuns, deals a small amount of damage, and grants attack speed. At four Tempest, the standard breakpoint for an Ao Shin build with the addition of Ornn, the damage from the Tempest trait is 20 percent of the enemy’s maximum health dealt as true damage and 50 percent attacks speed. 

How to know when to play Ao Shin in TFT Set Seven

Three TFT Set Seven comps utilize Ao Shin, all of which have expensive final board states. Running Ao Shin as a primary carry or secondary carrier in a Dragonlands comp requires high health from win-streaking and over 50 gold at level seven heading into Stage 5-1.

Using Ao Shin as a primary carrier requires an AP (ability power) board. In the traditional AD (attack damage) legendary Set Seven build, Ao Shin is a support unit that provides four Tempest with Ornn in addition to Pyke and Yasuo as the main carriers. 

Best Ao Shin support traits

Tempest and Mage are the two main TFT Set Seven traits within a standard AP Ao Shin build. Mage units like Nami and Ryze are good item holders for the storm dragon, while Sylas synergizes with Ornn to provide a strong Bruiser frontline. Players can also opt to run Heimerdinger as an early game mage in conjunction with Lulu to activate the Trainer trait, providing additional frontline support via Nomsy.

When you add the Evoker trait via Lulu and Sona, it provides mana ramp while also synergizing with the Mystic trait. And the addition of Bard adds plus-two mana per attack via Guild while stunning the enemy team.

The AP legendary comp with Ao Shin deals out massive amounts of crowd control, stalling the enemy team until the storm dragon can pop off his massive spell. Zoe, Lulu, Sona, Ornn, and Bard all provide crowd control.

An alternative to the Ao Shin AP build is the TFT Set Seven Alliance/Horde comp, named after the Dragon Alliance and Dragon Horde Draconic Augments that allow players to put any number of dragons on the battlefield. The Alliance Augment provides armor and magic resistance, while the Horde Augment grants attack damage and ability power. Both Draconic Augments grant a random tier-four dragon.

The AD legendary board uses similar Set Seven champions as support while focusing on attack damage carriers like Yasuo and Pyke to carry the build. Ao Shin is typically added to hit four Tempest with Ornn while finishing off any enemies Pyke and Yasuo may have fallen to during combat. 

Team Liquid’s Aleksey “Goose” Tvorogovcreated another Ao Shin Alternative build during the Twitch Rivals Tag Team event, placing a Dragonmancer emblem on Ao Shin with a six Dragonmancer board.

Best Draconic Augments for Ao Shin

Getting to levels eight and nine with Ao Shin as a primary carry requires a player to achieve a win-streak throughout the early and mid-game stages. Draconic Augments play a major role during all stages of a game. The two best Augments for the Ao Shin TFT comp are Ascension and Ludens Echo.

Ascension has your units kick into overdrive after 15 seconds of combat, dealing 50 percent more damage. Ludens Echo is the premier AP Augment, dealing additional damage bonus upon a champion casting and dealing ability damage to the first target hit and a nearby enemy.

Second Wind is a solid Draconic Augment, providing healing after 10 seconds of combat. An Evoker crest is a great Augment to pick up if offered, along with a Mystic Heart. And Portable Forge is a solid choice due to the power level increase you get from an Ornn Artifact. 

Alternative options are Ancient Archives, providing a Tomb of Traits. Meditation is also a solid choice that synergizes well with Set Seven Mage champions without equipped items. Likewise, the Makeshift Armor Augment can provide additional defenses via armor and magic resistance, especially on champions with high mana costs.

Jeweled Lotus is great with the Mage trait and Ao Shin, providing additional critical strike chance while allowing units that deal magic and true damage to critically strike. Blue Battery is good with Ryze as a primary carry, and High-End Shopping is the high-roll Augment that has Set Seven champions to show up in the shop as if you were one level higher while also granting 10 gold upon choosing the Draconic Augment.

Best Ao Shin Set Seven TFT items

Two main items to equip Ao Shin with are Spear of Shojin, ramping up the storm dragons mana, and Quicksilver to prevent getting stunned repeatedly. The best third slot item for Ao Shin is either Archangel’s Staff or Hextech Gunblade.

Alternative items Ao Shin can still use are Deathcap, Jeweled Gauntlet, Hand of Justice, and even a Mage Spatula or emblem on the storm dragon himself. 

Defensive items are also important within a TFT Set Seven Ao Shin comp, specifically on Sylas first and then Ornn. An early Sunfire Cape is great for win-streaking. Other solid defensive items are Warmogs, Gargoyle Stoneplate, Redemption, and Ionic Spark. 

If playing the Alliance/Horde Ao Shin comp, Aurelion Sol and Shyvana are the two best secondary carriers. Shyvana wants defensive items like Dragon’s Claw, while Aurelion Sol pops off with items similar to Ao Shin via Spear of Shojin, Archangels’s Staff, and various other AP Set Seven TFT items.