TFT veterans may notice at first glance that Executioner looks a lot like the problematic Valkyrie origin from set 3. Kayle as the main carry makes the comparison even easier, but game designers believe that this version will be easier to balance. Executioner activates with 2/3/4 units on the board:
“Executioner attacks and spells always critically hit targets below a certain percent threshold (33/66/99%) of health.”
This means that running 4 Executioner will effectively give all 3 champs an Infinity Edge and Jeweled Gauntlet. (Hint: because executioner builds get this crit buff on both attacks and spells naturally, IE and JG are not great items for them.)
Kindred
Spirit/Executioner (3 Cost)
“Wolf mauls Kindred’s target, dealing (400/600/1000) magic damage and reducing their healing by 50% for 5 seconds. Meanwhile, Lamb leaps away from Kindred’s target.”
Kindred is the exact same unit as in set 4, but now she’s an Executioner instead of a Hunter. I expect she’ll still be a great midgame carry with blue buff, but JG is no longer an option.
Kayle
Divine/Executioner (4 Cost)
“Kayle Ascends, causing her attacks to launch waves that deal (100/175/600) bonus magic damage.”
Kayle’s design is almost exactly the same as set 3 and therefore her builds are likely to be the same as well; BIS items are Rageblade, RFC & GA.
Xayah
Elderwood/Executioner/Keeper (4 Cost)
“Xayah leaps into the air becoming untargetable, invulnerable, and throwing out a fan of feather daggers which deal (300/325/375%) of her AD as physical damage to enemies within the cone. Xayah then recalls her feathers, striking enemies hit for (100/200/400) magic damage per feather.”
Executioner class and Keeper class on the same unit makes Xayah a jack of all trades. She’ll be able to do damage without being a hypercarry, but also be an important defensive positioning unit when activating the keeper shield. Each opposing unit can only be hit by 1 feather when she initially throws them, but can be hit by multiple feathers when she recalls them. This means that units closer to her will take more damage. Additionally, the range on her ult is limited and only reach the middle of the board if Xayah is positioned on her own back line. Adding all of this together makes Xayah a unique positioning puzzle – one I’m excited to try out.
