Twisted Fate is undoubtedly one of the best mid lane champions in League of Legends.
He is so efficient at laning, farming, roaming, dealing damage, and applying crowd control that carrying comes easy when you play him.
But since Twisted Fate is one of the oldest champions in the game, new players often get confused about his abilities and ratios.
So here’s my guide to help those players out.
Is Twisted Fate AP or AD?
Twisted Fate is an AP mage. He mostly deals magic damage and all of his damaging abilities scale with Ability Power items.
Twisted Fate’s W – Pick a Card has AD ratios too, but the damage is magic/AP. Most people play TF in the mid lane with a full AP item build.
That said, the best way to counter Twisted Fate is to stack magic resist and health. But these tank items can sometimes be countered by TF too if he purchases Void Staff or Liandry’s Anguish.
There are two active abilities for dealing damage in Twisted Fate’s kit. His Q – Wild Cards does the most amount of damage in the early game.
But when TF has more AP on-hit effects, such as Lich Bane, his W – Pick a Card does more damage instead.
Twisted Fate’s E – Stacked Deck passively increases his attack speed. Combined with the AD ratios on the W, it’s totally viable for you to build TF full AD.
And instead of maxing out Q and dealing damage with abilities, the AD TF playstyle involves much more auto-attacking and maxing E first and W second.
In any case, the AP Twisted Fate build is much better than the AD build. It’s simpler, easier to execute, and it deals more damage overall.
So, you have no reason to build TF AD unless it’s for fun.
Read Also: Full AP Ezreal Build Guide
How Do Twisted Fate’s Cards Work?
Since Twisted Fate’s cards scale with both AP and AD and are central to the design of this champion, here I’ll explain how they work.
When Twisted Fate activates his W – Pick a Card, he shuffles 3 cards for 6 seconds. TF holds each card for 0.5 seconds before he changes it.
By pressing W again, Twisted Fate selects the card he’s currently holding. His next basic attack is enhanced with the card he has previously selected.
The blue card does the most amount of damage and it restores a portion of TF’s mana.
The red card does a bit less damage than the blue one, but it affects all enemies around the primary target. So when you strike an enemy with a red card, it deals damage and slows enemies in 100 unit radius.
And the gold card deals the least amount of damage, but it stuns the target for up to 2 seconds.
Twisted Fate’s W applies all on-hit effects (Lich Bane, Nashor’s Tooth, etc.) but it cannot crit. And this is one of the reasons why AD Twisted Fate isn’t that popular.
Each of Twisted Fate’s cards has a different AP ratio but the same AD ratio. Here’s a table to help you understand TF’s card better.
| Twisted Fate Card | Base Damage | Effect | AP Ratio | AD Ratio |
| Blue | 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 Magic Damage | 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 Mana Restored | 90% AP | 100% AD |
| Red | 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 Magic Damage | 30 / 35 / 40 /45 / 50% Slow for 2.5 seconds in 100 units range | 60% AP | 100% AD |
| Gold | 15 / 22.5 / 30 / 37.5 / 45 Magic Damage | 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 Stun for 2 seconds | 50% AP | 100% AD |
Read Also: 14 Twisted Fate Tips to Improve & Climb
Conclusion
Even though Twisted Fate may appear like a complex champion, he’s really not. The only confusing part about him is his cards. But once you see what each card does and what you should use it for, playing TF becomes pretty easy.
Since numbers change in LoL all the time, I suggest you check Twisted Fate’s official fandom page. And if Riot Games buff or nerf Twisted Fate, you’ll be able to see his new damaging numbers and ratios.
Good luck and have fun!
