Weird Picks #103: Grasp of the Undying Twisted Fate

As a fan request from Facebook, this one's brought to you by David K. Popularized by the infamous Apdo/Dopa, this version of Twisted Fate is catching on like wildfire at high divisions. It sports an extremely tanky rune setup coupled with a standard TF build, which results in more gold cards per team fight and a much safer early game.

Weird Pick #103

Grasp of the Undying Twisted Fate

September 2018

Introduction

How to Play

Abilities: W, E, Q then prioritize R > Q > W > E
Summoner Spells: Flash + Ignite
Starting Items: Refillable Potion
Core Items: Rod of Ages
Sorcerer's Shoes
Lich Bane
Zhonya's Hourglass
Rabadon's Deathcap
Void Staff

Rune Setup

Grasp of the Undying Twisted Fate rune page

How It Works

Less Prone to Early Camping

This build features a large number of defensive runes. Generally speaking, Twisted Fate's main strategy is to clear off waves mid to hit level six as soon as possible and then start roaming to gank lanes. By using this rune setup, he can reduce his chances of dying to camping junglers.

On-Hit Stacking
Twisted Fate's main early game harass tool is to land auto-attacks to harass. Grasp allows him to deal extra damage even when enemies don't see a card active in his hand. When you combine Stacked Deck with this, it can result in a solid amount of burst

Huge Mid to Late Game Status

Twisted Fate generally isn't played as a burst damage mage anymore in the current meta, and instead opts for Rod of Ages to increase the number of gold cards he can dish out in each fight. Stacking his Grasp of the Undying early on gives him an even higher amount of health to work with, enhancing him without reducing his damage by building defense items.

Potential Pitfalls

Lower Damage

The usual alternative to Grasp of the Undying is Arcane Comet and the rest of the Sorcery tree. Although this tree is awesome for mages, Twisted Fate generally doesn't need the mana regeneration as a result of his blue cards. The only thing he'll really miss is Celerity, but otherwise the slight damage boost from Scorch and Arcane Comet generally go unnoticed.

Conclusions

Grasp of the Undying Twisted Fate may seem odd at first glance, but if you take a deeper look at it, everything about it makes more sense simply because of Twisted Fate's unique playstyle.

Suggested Tier: Tier 1