TFT Devs Reveal Fresh Secrets Behind 2025 Lunar Festival Balancing & Cosmetics!

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The popular game Teamfight Tactics kicked off its yearly Lunar Festival on January 23rd. This event is a grand occasion for the community, as the game offers an abundance of rewards for the multitude of global fans who join in celebrating the Lunar New Year. In the endeavor to make their celebration unique, Teamfight Tactics takes up the task with a plethora of resources at its disposal from the developers.

The upcoming Lunar Festival is anticipated to conclude on March 31, 2025. To gain insights into the festivities, Game Rant had a chat with key team members including Christina Jiang (senior project manager), Theo Gallois (senior cosmetics producer), Julien Camaraza (game designer), and Kent Wu (set finalization lead). They shared some valuable information about the Lunar Festival and their approach to designing it within the context of Teamfight Tactics. For clarity and conciseness, the following transcript has been edited.

How Teamfight Tactics Keeps the Lunar Festival Feeling Fresh with New Content

Q: How do you keep the Lunar Festival feeling fresh each year? What sets the 2025 Festival apart?

The Lunar New Year is a significant occasion for our gamers, so every year we aim to provide both fresh gameplay and an in-game experience that reflects the festive mood. This year, we reintroduced a beloved set, Fates: Festival of Beasts, which is also themed around Lunar New Year (LNY). Besides introducing new Augments and Prismatic attributes to enhance players’ gaming experiences, we also embellished the revival with LNY decorations on the Opening Encounter VFX and Augment card art. Emphasizing the theme greatly distinguished this year’s Lunar Festival, and we hope our players appreciated the set comeback, themed cosmetics, and free rewards during this special period.

Q: How do you choose which Champions to give special attention to during the Lunar Festival?

Working in collaboration with our Cosmetics team, we decide which characters or Little Legends would suit the current year best. Factors such as their popularity and whether they already have Chibi versions are among those that influence our selection of champions.

It’s fortunate for us to inhabit a vibrant universe like Runeterra, which serves as an endless wellspring of inspiration. The Lunar Festival is a cherished event for countless players worldwide, and we put in extra effort to offer numerous Cosmetics experiences. Whether it’s the quirky Snek, the playful Zoe, or the formidable Dark Cosmic Jhin Unbound, we aim for each Tactician or Arena to resonate individually with our players.

Question: The Chibi Champions have played a significant role in this year’s Lunar Festival. What prompted you to go down this path, and which one do you prefer the most among them?

When selecting Cosmetics suitable for this year’s Lunar Festival, we often ponder on “What can captivate players?” We are well aware of the immense affection towards our champions, as evident from all the comments we receive! Particularly, Zoe and Seraphine have been highly requested in the Chibi-adoring community, both online and through surveys.

We aimed to offer diverse experiences with our tacticians. Mythmaker Zoe aligns more closely with the Lunar Festival’s theme, whereas K/DA Seraphine is particularly cherished by our community. Regarding Prestige, Porcelain Ezreal seemed a suitable choice, not only because of the Porcelain motif but also due to our previous Ezreal release being in Set 11. The moment felt perfectly timed!

I’ve got a special fondness for the Chibi version of Mythmaker Zoe, and her finisher particularly has me giggling every time. The designers did an excellent job portraying Zoe’s playful side in all aspects of her Chibi design. I can’t help but use her emotes excessively on the Carousel.

Zoe, the Chibi Mythmaker, has a special place in my heart, and her finisher always brings out a smile. The team did an impressive job of capturing Zoe’s playful spirit throughout her Chibi design. I find myself using her emotes liberally on the Carousel.

How Teamfight Tactics Continues to Evolve with New Champions and Balance Updates

As a dedicated fan, I often ponder about the intriguing process behind the selection of new Champions for Teamfight Tactics. To me, it seems that they carefully consider champions who didn’t quite shine in League of Legends and find ways to make them thrive in this strategic battle arena. It’s fascinating how they manage to breathe new life into these characters!

As an enthusiast, I kick off each set by establishing the central motif (Magic, Arcane, Music, etc.) and sift through our collection of skins spanning both League of Legends and Wild Rift. In this exploration, we carefully pick out the ideal factions to embody that theme. Furthermore, we ponder over the champions’ roles within the game from a mechanical standpoint. For a harmonious 6 Enforcers team, it’s essential to strike a balance between damage dealers and tanks.

In this stage, we’re jotting down the major flaws of the given sets and brainstorming solutions to rectify them. For instance, Set 10 (Remix Rumble) K/DA and Set 13 (Into the Arcane) Chem-Baron. The K/DA set featured a lineup of popular champions, however, none of them possessed the silhouette or profile suitable for a tank. To address this issue, Lillia and Neeko were given Superfan skins because they have larger character models that made them viable as tanks. As for Chem-Baron, we aimed to create a significant trait with strong connections to the show, but we only had Singed, Silco, and Renata initially available. To truly embody the Chem-Barons as a faction, we decided it was best to include characters directly from the series. Notably, Sevika, who was a highly favored character among fans, received a 5 cost treatment in this set.

While it’s not always the case that everything is mechanical, there are instances where we can utilize champions or skins we’re already familiar with. However, there’s often a character that our team has a deep connection to, and we can’t resist the chance to incorporate them into the game. Characters like Alune and Norra hold a special place in our hearts, and we were eager to give them life within TFT as an expression of our creativity. As TFT evolves and serves as a bridge between players and the League of Legends universe, it’s crucial for us to discover new methods of storytelling beyond what’s already been represented in LoL. From a development perspective, we aim to continually push ourselves to deliver unexpected surprises. In Set 11 (Inkborn Fables), Kobuko and Alune were introduced, and in Set 12 (Magic n’ Mayhem), Norra made her appearance. It’s hard to imagine that we would create a staggering 10 original champions for Set 13!

In addition, it’s not accurate to assume that characters who debut in TFT will never show up in League of Legends. We collaborate closely on all our games, and if a suitable chance arose, we’d be thrilled to incorporate those characters into our universe, just as they frequently share their creations with us.

Q: How do you stay on top of balancing challenges with each patch?

Wu: We rely on three different sources to try to make the best balance decisions:

  1. Data: We look at data to inform what looks obviously out of line. Data never paints the full picture since it is always contextual, but it both gives us a good sense of what to look for and also confirms our (and players’) reads on the set content.
  2. Experience: We play the game and watch players play the game. By experiencing the content ourselves, we get a good baseline of what seems over or under the power bar.
  3. Sentiment: We keep tabs on player sentiment about the meta. This may point to things to investigate further that arenʼt captured by the first two sources. Ultimately, even if player sentiment doesn’t match data (if players think a unit sucks, but it performs well in data), there has to be a reason that players feel that way, so itʼs worth at least looking into.

Merging these three pieces of information allows us to form a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, enabling us to identify what requires fixing or updating (patches).

Q: What set was the most challenging for you to balance?

Each set comes with its own unique difficulties based on the type of content we create for it, and these challenges are amplified by the mechanics specific to each set. For instance, Set 6 introduced augments as a new element of power that players could optimize around, while Set 13 (Into the Arcane) allowed for an extra item to be equipped through Anomalies. These changes necessitate a reevaluation of our power structures and require significant modifications to the units and traits, as they deviate from the norms we’re accustomed to.

In essence, I believe Set 9.5 (Horizonbound) was the trickiest to fine-tune due to Legends. Giving players the ability to compel certain augmentations which in turn enabled specific builds created a balancing challenge, particularly with characters like Twisted Fate and Pandora’s Items. We aim for TFT to offer exciting chase moments, such as securing 3 Rapidfire Cannons on Mordekaiser, but when these power levels become commonplace in every game, it not only dilutes the excitement but also introduces balance problems.

As a gamer, I’m always on the hunt for new and powerful sets or units to add to my collection. So, are there any sets or units you anticipate seeing a surge in popularity? If so, I’d love to know which ones I should keep an eye out for!

The game set “Camaraza: Set 13 (Into the Arcane)” has been around for some time now, and as it matures, it’s becoming more balanced. I don’t anticipate significant changes in the upcoming patches. However, a recent adjustment was made by taking away the Chem-Baron emblem, which allowed us to significantly increase the strength of the trait.

Earlier, Chem-Baron was significantly more powerful when used with the emblem compared to without it, which required us to adjust its balance considering the outlier scenario. Now that the emblem has been removed, I anticipate a surge in professional games featuring Chem-Baron. Pro players excel at handling risky characteristics, and in a balanced environment, employing a risky trait can provide a substantial edge in competitive settings. Therefore, I strongly advise players to observe the Tactician’s Crown tournament in March and witness how the meta has adapted post-emblem removal.

Question: Which project did you enjoy the most during our collaboration? Is there a particular aspect of the game development process that you feel deserves more recognition, where you take special pride in your contribution?

In Camaraza’s words: I am incredibly proud of the Form Swapper trait and the four units it encompasses. By building upon Jayce’s distinctive Transformer trait and applying it to a smaller group, we aimed to honor Gizmos and Gadgets while still fostering innovation. Players have demonstrated remarkable creativity in choosing which form suits each champion at various stages, surprising us with unique combinations that we hadn’t even considered and led to success.

I am equally proud to have been part of the team that worked on Mel. She is a significant figure in “Arcane” and made her gaming debut as a 6-cost character in “TFT.” Since both Mel and Viktor were designed to inflict substantial magic damage, it was crucial for us to differentiate Mel from Viktor while maintaining her authenticity. I believe we succeeded in creating an exciting quick-casting and agile mage character. Furthermore, Mel’s shields and ability to safeguard the player from death are reminiscent of her protective nature towards Jayce and Caitlyn in the series, so I think our objectives were met effectively.

In this stage of the game, there isn’t much more that feels underexplored, considering how many options players have already discovered. The one exception is Rumble’s distinctive ability, Junker King. While players are certainly familiar with it and there has been conversation within the community about which versions to choose in different situations, I’m taken aback that a comprehensive guide from professional players delving deep into its strategies hasn’t surfaced yet.

How Teamfight Tactics Handles Reworks

Question: What has been the reaction of the Teamfight Tactics fanbase towards Viktor’s rework, as well as other reworks within the community?

After the end of Arcane, Viktor made his appearance and his rework was consistent with the overall mood and narrative of the collection. Unlike TFT players who usually express dissatisfaction with changes, they seem more accepting this time due to their familiarity with us giving characters unexpected interpretations. In the context of the set, they were more open to the transformation.

What clues help you determine if a team requires adjustments, and specifically, what factors make them stand out as having significant issues or falling short of expectations?

In a game context, our goal is to ensure that each unit possesses an engaging “3-piece fantasy” where players eagerly equip three items for them and witness their effectiveness in action. This could involve annihilating the battlefield with a single powerful spell, serving as an unyielding tank throughout the fight, or displaying thrilling near-death experiences followed by dramatic resurrections. Unfortunately, some units may encounter issues with unclear success criteria or difficulties in achieving success altogether.

To excel in Set 12 (Magic nʼ Mayhem), Ahri players were required to arrange their entire game board specifically, with three particular items, which enabled her to eliminate numerous units simultaneously using her true damage. If players didn’t adhere to this layout, Ahri wasn’t effective. Balance adjustments would have influenced the effectiveness of the successful scenario but wouldn’t have addressed the success requirements, so a rework was chosen instead. We can now test this objective earlier in the development process, with the aim that in future, players won’t encounter units being changed during a set.

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2025-02-23 19:30