TFT Bruiser Build Beginner's Guide
Bruisers offer a very tanky playstyle as you barely have any squishy units in the team composition to worry about. Most often the main issue is actually the damage output of this team (as without proper itemization it is quite low). This is where Urgot and Jinx come in handy as they complete several synergies in this team, whilst also offering a very substantial increase to the damage department of this comp. In this Teamfight Tactics Bruiser Build Guide we'll showcase the most popular beginner-friendly TFT Bruiser build and how to play it throughout the early, mid and late game, which are the best Hextech Augments for this build, as well as how to gear and position your units.
OTHER POPULAR BUILDS
Academy • Arcanist • Chemtech • Innovator • Scrap Enforcers • Challenger • Syndicate • Yordle • Imperial Colossus • Mutant • Clockwork Sniper
Bruiser Synergy Bonus
Bruiser: your entire team gains bonus maximum Health (counts per unit). All of the Bruiser units on your team gain double the bonus.
2 → 125 Health
4 → 250 Health
6 → 450 Health
8 → 700 Health
Best Bruiser Build
- Dr. Mundo
- Mundo injects himself with “medicine”, restoring 40% of his maximum Health and becoming energized for 5 seconds. While energized, he restores an additional 100% of his maximum Health over the duration and deals magic damage to a random nearby enemy each second. When the "medicine" expires, Dr. Mundo expels a burst of electricity that deals % of his current Health as magic damage to all enemies within 2 hexes.
- Illaoi
- Illaoi slams her target, linking her soul to it for 5 seconds and dealing magic damage. While linked, Illaoi is healed for % of the damage taken by her target.
- Tahm Kench
- Tahm Kench devours his target, storing them in his belly and dealing magic damage damage over 3 seconds. During this time, they are invulnerable to other sources of damage and Tahm Kench takes 40% less damage. If they die while inside, Tahm Kench either spits out a random item component they were holding, or the cost of the unit in gold. Otherwise, he spits them towards the farthest enemy, briefly stunning targets they impact. If a target is immune to crowd control. Tahm Kench will instead deal 35% of magic damage.
- Trundle
- Trundle bites his target dealing 150% of his Attack Damage, and reducing the target's Attack Speed by 50% for 3 seconds. Each bite also steals Attack Damage for the rest of combat.
- Vi
- Vi empowers her next attack to blast through her target, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a cone and reducing their Armor for 8 seconds.
- Zac
- Zac stretches his arms up to 3 hexes to pull the 2 most distant enemies towards him, dealing magic damage.
- Jinx
- Jinx rides her rocket into the sky, then comes crashing down near the center-most enemy, dealing magic damage to enemies around the epicenter, and 50% to all other enemies in in a large area. The epicenter burns every unit except Jinx for 5 seconds, dealing % of the target's maximum Health as true damage, and reducing healing by 50% for the duration. She then swaps to her rocket launcher for the rest of combat, causing her attacks to explode for % of her Attack Damage in a small area around her target.
- Urgot
- For the next 5 seconds, Urgot attacks the closest enemy at a fixed rate of attacks per second. Each attack deals physical damage. (This Ability's damage scales with Attack Damage and Attack Speed.)
Bruiser Team Comp Guide
Early Game
Start the early game by getting a few Bruisers paired with back-line damage dealers. You'll want to go with something like this: Vi, Caitlyn, Illaoi/Trundle, Tristana and Zac. The Caitlyn synergizes really well with Vi as you unlock Enforcer-two (super useful in the early fights) as well as being a great source of additional damage, especially due to her strong ultimate that one-shots most level one enemies. Overall, this team comp relies on a lot of early synergies such as Bruiser-two, Sniper-two and the previously mentioned Enforcer-two.
Mid Game
The middle game of this team composition is rather tricky because you'll start lacking damage very quickly! This is why the recommended team core is now going to be made of: Vi, Trundle, Zac, Illaoi, Caitlyn and Miss Fortune. As you hit level seven towards the end of stage 4-1, consider adding Gangplank as the seventh unit because he grants you the Mercenary-three synergy and can perform rather well as an item holder for Urgot. Keep a healthy economy and stack up on Gold as you'll most definitely need it.
Late Game
Whether you're gonna win or not will solely depend on your luck right now as there are a few key units that make this build strong. Urgot, Tahm Kench, Zac, Trundle, Vi, Illaoi and Dr. Mundo are must-have units for the Bruiser build. The last unit being Jinx. Even though Jinx doesn't seem to add much to the team, she completes a few rather useful synergies such as Twinshot, Sister and Scrap so it is definitely worth trying to get her.
Recommended Items
Urgot → Runaan's Hurricane, Infinity Edge, Hand of Justice/Giant Slayer.
Dr.Mundo → Warmog's Armor, Dragon's Claw, Bramble Vest.
Jinx → Giant Slayer, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Hand of Justice.
A variety of Hextech Augments can work great with the Bruiser build which makes it very versatile and highly performant in most games. Plus two to Twinshot, Bruiser and Chemtech are great Hextech Augments, with any other ones that improve unit damage or defensiveness coming at second place. Omnivamp, health regen or burning the enemy units also being solid lower tier choices.
Unit Positioning
Place Trundle, Illaoi, Dr.Mundo, Zac, Tahm Kench and Vi in the first row because they're all the Bruisers that are melee and need to start dealing damage as fast as possible to fill up their ultimate abilities. The third row is reserved to Urgot, with Jinx being in the edge of the fourth row as the main backline. Urgot's positioning allows him to charge up his ultimate without being focused by back-line Assassins (as they'll jump on Jinx) which is exactly what we want! Once his ability has been cast, he'll melt everything on the screen.
