TFT Fast 9: When Level 9 Is Worth It, What It Costs and How It Fails

TL;DR: Level 9 is worth it when you want 5-costs. Riot last printed 5-costs at 3% per shop slot at level 8 and 15% at level 9, while 4-costs barely move, from 30% to 33%. From level 8 with an empty bar it costs 68 gold, and from level 7 it’s 124, less any free XP. That’s 34 rolls at level 8, at 2 gold a roll. Before you push, you need a level 8 board that holds its fights, HP for the rounds the push takes, and gold to land with. It fails when you arrive broke, when the push costs you the game first, when your 5-cost is contested, or when you pushed for 4-costs.

The worked examples are hypotheticals: sums on Riot’s numbers, not records of real games. Every gold figure is before the free XP you get each round, because we found no Riot page that prints that amount. Averages assume a full pool.

What does fast 9 mean?

Riot’s 18.2 notes use the phrase without defining it. Here’s how we use it: you reach level 8, roll little or nothing there, and keep putting gold into XP until level 9, where you make your main roll.

Riot has said what level 9 is for. Its notes for 13.23 (November 2023) put it as the level for the 5-cost that finishes your board, and its 16.1 notes (December 2025) describe a cheaper level 9 as paying you back for a level 8 board that already works. That’s the shape of the line: a good board first, then a level bought to finish it.

This page replaces our archived Set 17 fast 9 guide, whose units and augments don’t apply now.

What does level 9 cost?

68 XP from level 8. Riot’s 18.2 notes (September 9, 2026) cut it to 64, along with level 9 to 10. The mid-patch update there, headed September 14, put both back to 68. Riot’s reason: the cuts had taken 12 gold off the road to level 10, which was too much with players also saving 5 to 15 gold on cheaper Wisps. Its notes from 18.3 to 18.6 list no change since, and the game showed 68 on 18.5, on October 29.

An XP buy is 4 gold: “Buy XP 4”, seen on the Reroll and Buy XP buttons in a patch 18.5 game on 29 October 2026. That’s the figure in Riot’s 2021 Hyper Roll article too, and it buys 4 XP, as our fast 8 guide explains. The XP that arrives by itself each round isn’t printed on any Riot page we found, so take what your bar shows off these figures.

From, with an empty bar	XP to level 9	XP buys	Gold	The same gold in rolls at 2 gold each
Level 8	68	17	68	34
Level 7	124	31	124	62
Level 6	160	40	160	80

The 124 adds the 56 XP step from 18.2, and the 160 adds the 36 XP step on Riot’s 14.15 list. The 2 gold a roll is “Reroll 2” from those same buttons, with a line in Riot’s 17.2 notes as support. With 20 XP on your bar at level 8 it’s 48 gold, with 40 it’s 28, and with 60 it’s 8.

How long does the push take, and what does it cost?

Start at level 8 with an empty bar and 50 gold. Each round, spend everything above the bank you’ve chosen on XP. Income is 5 gold of base income, Riot’s last printed figure, plus 1 gold for each 10 you hold, a rate we work out from a 2021 Riot line. We found no Riot page that prints the normal maximum, as our economy guide explains, so nothing here relies on one. No win gold and no free XP.

Bank you keep	Level 9 on round	Gold when you arrive	Gold by round 8
50	8	52	52
30	7	30	38
20	7	24	31
10	6	12	24
0	5	2	18

Two things stand out. A flat bank of 50 still takes eight rounds without help, and even spending the whole bank takes five. And winning changes this a lot: a win on a run of 6 or more pays 4 gold a round, which takes 2 rounds off every line. That’s the arithmetic reason fast 9 suits a board that’s already winning. A long loss streak pays 3, but in Stages 5 and 6 you’re paying for it at 10 or 12 damage a loss, with each enemy unit left adding 1.

Free XP moves every line earlier, and so do cheaper Wisps and any augment that pays gold or XP.

What do the odds at 9 change?

Riot’s Set 18 pages print no odds table, and its notes up to 18.6 print no change to these rows, so these are the last it published, not a live table: levels 8 and 9 in 16.1 (December 2025), and level 10 in 13.23 (November 2023). Riot’s notes don’t catch every change: 16.1’s own “before” values for levels 8 and 9 (17/24/32/24/3 and 12/18/25/33/12) match no earlier row we found in them, and the level 10 row is nearly three years old. The game data behind our champions list held these same rows on November 4, in a file not yet updated for 18.6. The whole table is on our champion pool and odds guide.

Cost, per shop slot	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
1-cost	15%	10%	5%
2-cost	20%	17%	10%
3-cost	32%	25%	20%
4-cost	30%	33%	40%
5-cost	3%	15%	25%

So 5-costs are five times as common at 9 as at 8. 4-costs barely move, and everything cheaper gets rarer. Twenty gold is 10 rolls, and with every other shop holding a Wisp that’s about 45 champions:

Seen per 20 gold	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Any 5-cost	1.4	6.8	11.3
Any 4-cost	13.5	14.9	18
Any 3-cost	14.4	11.3	9

Should you level first or roll at 8?

Rolling everything at 8 shows your gold times the low odds. Leveling first shows what’s left times the high odds. For 5-costs those lines meet at 1.25 times the gold left to level. With an empty bar that’s 85 gold, and with 40 XP on the bar (28 gold left) it’s 35. Above that, level first.

For 4-costs they meet at 11 times, or 748 gold from an empty bar. So don’t push 9 for 4-costs. The 68 gold is better spent as 34 rolls at level 8, which show about 46 4-costs and about 3.3 copies of one named 4-cost. In other words, level 9 costs about one 2-star of a named 4-cost in rolls you didn’t make at 8. That’s the trade to weigh.

What are you hunting at 9?

A short list of 5-costs, not one name. Each 5-cost has 9 copies, Riot’s 14.15 figure, restated for its Legendary units in 16.1, and Set 18 has 10 of them, by the game data behind our champions list. Riot doesn’t publish how a slot picks within a cost, so we assume every copy left is equally likely. Each copy costs 5 gold to buy.

Goal	Average gold at level 9	Average gold at level 8
One copy of any of three named 5-costs	15	54
One copy of one named 5-cost	35	153
Last copy of a 2-star, holding 2	42	191
A 2-star, holding 1	80	361
A 2-star from nothing	115	514

Two lessons come out of that table. A 2-star 5-cost is a stretch even at 9, at about 115 gold from nothing, so plan on one-star 5-costs first and let 2-stars come if they come. And a short list does far more than a big bank. Here’s the chance of finding at least one copy:

Rolls	Gold	One named 5-cost at level 9	Any of three at level 9	One named 5-cost at level 8
5	10	29%	65%	7%
10	20	49%	87%	13%
15	30	64%	96%	18%
20	40	74%	98%	24%

Copies gone push the price up fast, and Riot describes the shared pool as information for exactly this. With the other 5-costs all in the pool, a named 5-cost at level 9 costs about 30 gold of rolls per copy with 9 left, 37 with 7 left, 51 with 5 left and 83 with 3 left. Our scouting guide covers how to check.

Set 18 adds other ways in. Riot’s notes print the Wisp prices and the augment lines, and the game data says what the Wisps do:

• All Fives. 18.2 put this Shop Wisp at 8 gold. By the game data in our Wisps guide, it fills your shop with 5-costs. Five 5-costs would take about 15 gold of rolls at level 9 and about 74 at level 8, so it’s worth more the lower you are.
• Smurfing. 18.2 put this Wisp at 6 or 5 gold, with Riot’s 6/5 line not saying which applies when. The same game data has it giving a random 5-cost.
• Augments that pay at 9. Riot’s 18.1 notes rework Birthday Reunion to hand you a 2-star 5-cost, picked at random, on reaching level 9, and Max Build to give 10 free shop rerolls, then 3 more plus a Champion Duplicator once you reach 9. Read the card in your game, since these can change.

What do you need before you push?

This is our reasoning, from the sums above:

• A level 8 board that holds. The push takes several rounds in which you aren’t rolling, so the board you have is the board that fights. That’s the point of Riot’s 16.1 line about the level 8 board coming first.
• HP for those rounds. With 5 enemy units left, a loss costs 15 in Stage 5 and 17 in Stage 6, using Riot’s 14.9 base damage and the 16.1 rule. Three Stage 5 losses is 45 HP. If the push would leave you with fewer than two losses in hand, it’s too late to start. Our HP management guide goes further.
• Gold to land with. Riot’s 16.1 notes remind players to bring some gold to levels 8 and 9. From the table above, about 20 gold finds one of three named 5-costs 87% of the time, plus 5 to buy it. A bank of 30 to 40 on arrival gives you 15 to 20 rolls, which show about 10 to 13.5 5-costs.
• A short list you’d actually field. Know which 5-costs fit your traits and items before you press. If nothing on the list fits, you’re buying a level for the extra unit alone.
• A pool that isn’t taken. Check your list against what other players hold.

Should you keep going to level 10?

Only with gold to spare. It’s another 68 XP, and 13.23 frames level 10 as the place to chase 3-star 5-costs. 5-costs go from 15% to 25% and 4-costs from 33% to 40%, and a named 5-cost falls from about 30 gold of rolls per copy to about 18. But for 5-costs the level-first line sits at 2.5 times the gold left, or 170 gold from an empty bar. That’s more than three 50-gold banks. Riot’s 13.23 notes also make 10 the highest level you can reach.

How does fast 9 fail?

How it fails	What the sum says	What to do instead
You land with no gold	On 2 gold you earn 5 a round: 2.5 rolls, about 1.7 5-costs seen, and about 0.17 copies of a named one	Keep a bank through the push, even at the cost of a round
The push costs you the game	At 30 HP you survive one Stage 5 loss with 5 enemy units left, and you have no gold to fix it	Stop pressing at two losses left, and roll at 8
You pushed for 4-costs	30% to 33%, and 68 gold of XP is 34 rolls you didn’t make	Stay at 8 and roll
Your 5-cost is contested	With 3 of 9 copies left it’s about 83 gold of rolls per copy	Move to the next name on your list
Cheap upgrades stop coming	3-costs fall from 32% to 25%, so a named one goes from about 19 gold of rolls per copy to about 25	Finish your 2-stars before you press
The patch moved the line	Riot nerfed its level 9 and 10 comps five days after the 18.2 notes	Read the notes before you rely on last week’s line

If the push stalls, level 8 is still a fine place to roll: 20 gold there shows about 13.5 4-costs. Our rolling guide covers where to stop and what to do when you miss.

What has Riot said about level 9 in Set 18?

These are what Riot wrote at each point, not a list of what to play. Balance moves every patch.

• 18.1 (August 25). Riot described Riftbeast (7) as a trait for either starring up 1-costs or climbing levels to fit flexible 5-costs.
• 18.2 (September 9). It set out to make levels 8, 9 and 10 easier to reach with cheaper levels and Wisps, and buffed almost all its 5-costs.
• 18.2 mid-patch (September 14). It said 18.2 was meant to open up fast 9 after a reroll-heavy 18.1, that boards full of 5-costs then took over, and that it was nerfing its level 9 and 10 comps and restoring the XP costs.
• 18.4 (October 6). It buffed AP Nidalee to give fast 8 and 9 another AP carry, and gave Ashe and Draven some Mana back when their abilities miss.
• 18.5 (October 20). A note on an augment change calls this set’s scaling 5-costs very strong.
• 18.6 (November 3). Its balance pass adds small buffs aimed at 4-cost lines.

What should you do in your next game?

Your spot	The call
Winning at level 8, with 5-costs that fit	Push with gold above your bank
Gold past 1.25 times what’s left to 9, hunting 5-costs	Level first, then roll
Hunting 4-costs	Stay at 8 and roll
Two losses or fewer left	Stop pressing and roll at your level
Your top 5-cost has few copies left	Move down your list
Just reached 9 with no gold	Field your best board and rebuild before you roll

If you want a second opinion while you play, TFTSense gives econ and leveling calls.

Sources

All read November 4, 2026.

• Riot Games, Teamfight Tactics patch 10.6 notes, published 2020-03-17, for base income.
• Riot Games, Teamfight Tactics: Hyper Roll, published 2021-04-14, for the 4 gold an XP buy costs and the XP that arrives by itself in standard TFT.
• Riot Games, Gizmos & Gadgets Set Mechanic Overview: Hextech Augments, published 2021-10-21, for max interest of 7 at 70 gold, which gives the rate of 1 per 10 used here.
• Riot Games, patch 13.23 notes, published 2023-11-20, for what levels 9 and 10 are for, level 10 as the top level, the level 10 odds and the shared pool.
• Riot Games, patch 14.9 notes, published 2024-04-30, for player damage by stage.
• Riot Games, patch 14.15 notes, published 2024-07-30, for copies per champion and the XP step to level 7.
• Riot Games, patch 16.1 notes, published 2025-12-02, for the level 8 and 9 odds, player damage and Riot’s reasons.
• Riot Games, patch 17.2 notes, published 2026-04-28, for the line that supports the reroll price.
• Riot Games, Enchanted Wilds Overview, published 2026-07-27, for Wisps in the shop.
• Riot Games, patch notes for 18.1 (2026-08-25), 18.2 (2026-09-09, with the mid-patch update headed September 14), 18.3 (2026-09-22), 18.4 (2026-10-06), 18.5 (2026-10-20) and 18.6 (2026-11-03), for XP costs, Set 18’s Wisps and augments, and what Riot said at each patch.
• To check that the odds rows, XP costs and copy counts stayed the same, we also searched Riot’s other notes from 13.24 to 17.9, including the 2025 notes numbered 13.3 to 13.8 and 14.1 to 14.8, and 14.14, which sits at a different address.
• The game itself on 18.5, on October 29, 2026, for the XP step from level 8 to level 9, and for “Buy XP 4” and “Reroll 2”, seen on the Reroll and Buy XP buttons in a patch 18.5 game on 29 October 2026. The game’s data files, read November 4, 2026, in a version not yet updated for 18.6, for champions per cost, as a cross-check on the odds and copy counts, and for what the Wisps do.

Update log

• 2026-11-04: First version.