TFT Damage Guide: The Three Sources of Damage & Why Your Carry Feels Useless

TL;DR — Why your carry feels useless even with the right items. All TFT damage comes from three sources — base damage (AD/AP), frequency (attack speed/mana), and multipliers (crit/amp) — and if any one is missing, your carry does nothing. This guide breaks down all three and shows how to diversify your damage buckets instead of stacking one stat.

Damage is Base x Frequency x Multipliers — three buckets, multiplied together. The carry that does nothing is almost always missing one of them. The fix isn’t more stats; it’s more multiplication.

Introduction

Have you ever had a carry with items that look correct on paper, good combat augments, and good traits active — and they still do absolutely nothing?

Today we’re covering one of the most important and fundamental concepts in TFT: how does damage actually work?

Part 1 — The Three Sources of Damage

All damage in TFT comes from three sources:

#	Source	What it means
1	How hard you hit	Base damage (AD/AP).
2	How often you hit	Frequency (AS/Mana).
3	How much your hits are multiplied	Multipliers (Crit/Amp).

The core idea — If any one of these three is missing, your carry will feel useless — no matter how good the items look on paper.

Part 2 — Source 1: Base Damage

AP (Ability Power)

How it works

• Every unit starts with 100% base AP.
• All AP added is a percentage multiplier.
• If a spell deals 200 damage at 0 AP (100% AP), then at 110 AP it deals 220 damage.

Items that offer AP

Item	AP value
Rabadon’s Deathcap	High AP
Archangel’s Staff	Scaling AP
Jeweled Gauntlet	AP + Crit

AD (Attack Damage)

How it works

• AD is a percentage multiplier of the unit’s base AD.
• Base AD varies by unit.

Example

Scenario	Calculation
Unit has 50 base AD	Base AD = 50.
Add BF Sword (10 AD)	+10% damage (not +10 flat).
New AD	55 (not 60).

Why this matters

• Some units have low base AD (a low-base-AD carry, for example).
• Adding AD to a low-base unit is multiplying a very small number.
• This is why a 5 AD nerf is actually huge — on a 50 AD unit, that’s a 10% nerf.

Items that offer AD

Item	AD value
Deathblade	High AD
Infinity Edge	AD + Crit
Kraken’s Fury	AD + AS
Sterak’s Gage	AD + Survival
Titan’s Resolve	AD + AP (stacking)

Part 3 — Source 2: Frequency

Frequency is how often your unit deals damage. It’s based on a combination of attack speed (auto-attacks) and mana generation (spells).

Caster Carries: Mana Generation

How casters work

• Gain 7 mana per auto-attack.
• Gain 2 mana per second (passive regen).
• More autos → more mana → more casts → more DPS.

Why attack speed matters on casters — Attack speed isn’t just about auto-attack damage — it’s the rate at which you generate mana to cast more spells.

Mana-generation items

Item	Best for
Spear of Shojin	Units that auto-attack a lot.
Nashor’s Tooth	Units that already have crit.
Blue Buff	Units with extra AD/AP sources.
Adaptive Helm	Units with other mana generation.

Marksman Carries: Attack Speed

How marksmen work

• Generate 10 mana per auto-attack.
• Damage is primarily tied to auto-attacks.
• They care a lot about frequency.

Attack speed math

• AS is a percentage multiplier of the unit’s base AS.
• Base AS varies by unit.

Example

Scenario	Calculation
Unit has 0.75 base AS	Base AS = 0.75.
Add 10% AS	Increase by 10% = 0.075 (not 10).
New AS	0.825.

Attack speed items

Item	Effect
Guinsoo’s Rageblade	Premier AS item (stacking).
Red Buff	AS + anti-heal.
Kraken’s Fury	AS + AD.
Quicksilver	AS + CC immunity.

Part 4 — Source 3: Multipliers

Critical Strike (Crit)

How crit works for autos

• Every unit starts with 25% base crit chance.
• Auto-attacks deal 140% damage on crit (a 40% bonus).

How crit works for spells

Spells cannot crit unless it’s enabled by one of these:

• Infinity Edge.
• Jeweled Gauntlet.
• Traits that grant ability crit.
• A crit-granting augment.

Damage Amp

How it works: Simple — whatever damage you were going to deal, multiply it by the percentage.

Example	Calculation
100 damage	Base.
20% damage amp	100 × 1.2 = 120 damage.

Part 5 — The Most Common Mistake: Tickle Monsters

The Problem

Low-elo players love creating tickle monsters — units that go “pew pew pew pew” really fast but do zero damage.

Scenario	Problem
Stacking attack speed	Attacking fast.
No AP/AD	No base damage to multiply.
No crit	No multiplier.
Result	A tickle monster.

The truth — Frequency doesn’t matter if the base is bad or you have no multipliers.

The Solution: Diversify Your Damage Buckets

Situation	What to build
Unit has built-in AS	Build base damage + multipliers.
Augment gives amp	Build AD/AP + frequency + crit.
Unit has high base damage	Build frequency + crit + amp.

The principle — You don’t want more stats — you want more multiplication. Don’t overinvest in one stat.

Part 6 — Good Item Combinations (Across Sets)

Riot may change item names and balancing, but the concepts have stayed the same since Set 1.

The Anti-Tickle Formula

Core	Synergy
Guinsoo’s + Kraken	Stacking different things (AS + AD).
Guinsoo’s + Titan’s	AS + AD/AP (stacking).
Third item	Add a multiplier (crit/amp).

AP Casters

Many AP/caster comps have a crit bonus, so you want to invest in crit, amp, and frequency — not just raw AP.

Best combination

Item	Role
Jeweled Gauntlet	Crit (multiplier).
Striker’s Flail	Damage amp + AP.
A mana item	Frequency (Shojin / Nashor’s / Adaptive).

Why this works

• It diversifies your damage buckets.
• It avoids over-stacking one stat.
• Crit + amp + frequency = maximum DPS.

Understanding Augment Synergy

Augment	Enables	How
A crit-granting augment	Crit without JG	Frees an item slot.
Glass Cannon	Amp on AP casters	A big damage increase.

The key insight — Good itemization plus good combat augments comes down to understanding which damage bucket your unit wants. Fill the weak buckets — don’t stack already-strong stats.

Part 7 — Quick Reference: The Damage Equation

The Formula

Total Damage  =  Base Damage  ×  Frequency  ×  Multipliers

The Checklist

Component	Check	Fix if missing
Base damage	Do they have AD/AP?	Deathblade, Rabadon’s, Archangel’s.
Frequency	Do they cast/attack enough?	Shojin, Guinsoo’s, Nashor’s.
Multipliers	Do they have crit/amp?	IE, JG, damage-amp augments.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Problem	Fix
Stacking AS only	Tickle monster	Add AD/AP + crit.
Stacking AP only	One big hit, then nothing	Add frequency + crit.
No crit/amp	Damage is flat	Add IE/JG or amp augments.
Ignoring trait synergy	Missing free stats	Build around your units.

Final Thoughts

If your carry does no damage, it’s almost never random — you just need to fine-tune your damage equation.

The three questions to ask

1. Does my carry have enough base damage? (AD/AP.)
2. Does my carry attack or cast often enough? (AS/Mana.)
3. Does my carry have multipliers? (Crit/Amp.)

The golden rule — Diversify your damage buckets. Don’t stack one stat.

Even in future sets — new characters, new traits, new mechanics — this principle will always stick.

Good luck on the Convergence — may your carries always deal damage.