What are Radiant Items in TFT? New Set 5.5 mechanic explained

Radiant Items TFT Set 5.5 guide

TFT Set 5.5 isn’t just adding a couple of new touches to Reckoning, it’s completely overhauling its core mechanic ⁠— Shadow Items. They’ve been replaced by Radiant Items, which offer players an even better boost without any downsides. Here’s how they work.TFT Reckoning

tested a new item mechanic that vastly expanded the pool of pre-existing picks. However, Shadow Items didn’t quite land well with players, making the game too complex for casuals. Riot are toning it back with a new approach called Radiant Items. The rare, ultra-powerful items could be the difference between a win and a bottom four. Here’s how they work, and a full list for you to look at while you grind TFT Set 5.5.

How are Radiant Items different from Shadow Items?

Radiant Items are vastly different from Shadow Items. Unlike their cursed predecessors, the new mechanic in Set 5.5 gives players insane buffs when they pick up one of these ultra-powerful items with no downside. You can only get one Radiant item per game in a special armory at 3-6. You will get a random choice of five out of 32 ⁠— all of the fully completed items in the game. This still gives players agency to dictate where their comp goes, without all the negative strings attached.

Radiant Items TFT armory
You’ll have a choice of five Radiant Items at the special 3-6 armory.
“We think the agency is still there, that’s why we’ve kept the armories on 2-2 and 4-2 to help with some of that, and the fact that you get to make a clear decision based on the five. We tried to make it so there were as many options as possible,” Mortdog told Dexerto.

“That being said, we still want you to adapt to what you’ve been given sometimes. You can’t get Radiant IE every game. There is less [compared to] Shadow, but it’s more enjoyable agency, not having to deal with the curses helps the game feel better overall.” All of the Radiant items are also viable. It’s not like Shadow where a few items will prevail in the meta. At any one time, Riot wants players to pick all 32 items, and make the choice between the five hard ⁠— rather than have players licking their wounds with underpowered picks. “With the way we’re designing the Radiant items, they’re pretty general. A lot of them can fit into just about any comp and do very well ⁠— Shroud and Zephyr are good examples of this,” Mortdog added. “Our goal is every item should be tempting, no matter the comp you’re running.”

Radiant Items allow you to boost your whole team, or turbo-charge one unit.

Why did Riot remove Shadow Items in TFT Set 5.5?

Ultimately, Riot wanted to remove Shadow Items from TFT to help reduce the complexity of the set. When Reckoning launched, the mechanic wasn’t well received, despite its innovation, so Riot took it back to the drawing board with a simpler, more fun item feature. “[Shadow and Radiant items] could have coexisted, and for a brief time, that was the idea on the table,” Mortdog admitted. “However, after reviewing how Reckoning landed with players, and how everyone was feeling about it… we wanted to use this as a good opportunity to remove the Shadow items. The cursed part of them wasn’t resonating with players. “Reckoning ended on the more complex side. We are looking to pull back and index a little bit more on satisfaction. The Radiant items in particular always feel good, so the Mid-Set is much more generally appealing.”

Vayne TFT Set 5 Reckoning
With Shadow Items off the board, the Forgotten trait will need to be reworked.

All Radiant Items in TFT Set 5.5

You can find a full list of the Radiant Items below, with values set to go live on the PBE.

Related

These may change before they hit live servers.