Design director Andrei “Meddler” van Roon outlined a few Teamfight Tactics mechanics that never shipped to the live game—and fans should be thankful.
Meddler discussed these features in today’s dev blog post, which included the ability to take control of an enemy unit, placing walls to impede positioning, and Bard’s unpredictable Tempered Fate (R).
The Riot dev said a mind control ability, which “felt really bullshit,” would let a player take control of an enemy unit and turn them against their team. The potential for such an ability to be unbalanced was definitely high, especially because you could steal an opposing champ’s spell cast. Riot thought that not allowing mind-controlled units to cast could’ve balanced the trait but it was ultimately nixed, especially since it didn’t really fit with the theme of any League of Legends champions.
Set One’s Imperial trait also had another iteration before offering double damage to one unit. In the prototype set (Set Zero), Imperials could place walls to funnel movement or tank damage at the start of combat. But since it was still so early in TFT’s production, Riot decided not to mess with their foundational unit movement. But now that Azir’s ability in Fates appears to be working well, the devs may consider bringing this trait back in the future.
And Bard’s ultimate from League was tested in Set Zero and Rise of the Elements. His AoE stasis “felt terrible when it mainly hit your own units,” Meddler said, making it a “worse version of a stun.” While it hasn’t quite made it to the live game yet, the Riot dev says they’ll “likely try again someday.”
Meddler also mentioned a day and night mechanic for Galaxies where units would’ve been available for purchase depending on what time of day it was. This was eventually deemed “overly restrictive” and took away game variance. And a Fates mechanic that didn’t make the cut would’ve allowed for five Chosen to be pre-selected before a match, making them only appear in the shop as Chosen.
