TFT HP Management: When to Bleed and When to Stabilize

TL;DR: Bleed HP when losses are cheap, your board wasn’t winning anyway, and you can name the round you’ll spend. Stabilize before your HP covers fewer than two losses at the next stage’s prices. A loss costs the stage’s base damage plus 1 per enemy unit left, so it costs 5 HP in Stage 2 and 13 in Stage 5 at 3 enemy units, while the gold it saves stays about the same. That makes HP a worse deal every stage. Each round you delay a spend late on costs far more HP than the few gold it earns.

“Bleeding” here means losing rounds while you hold gold, on purpose or because you chose not to spend. The worked examples are hypotheticals: sums on Riot’s numbers, not records of real games. We have no data on when to bleed, so the choices below are reasoning. The sums count player rounds only.

How many losses can you afford?

Work out what one loss costs, then divide. Riot’s 16.1 notes give the rule: each stage has its own flat amount, and each enemy unit left adds 1. Each unit has counted as 1 since 14.8.

Riot prints no single current table. Its last complete stage list came in 14.9 (April 30, 2024), 16.1 (December 2, 2025) then moved Stages 3 and 4, and our search of its notes up to 18.6 found nothing after that. Put together:

Stage	Base damage	A loss to 3 enemy units	A loss to 6 enemy units
2	2	5	8
3	6	9	12
4	7	10	13
5	10	13	16
6	12	15	18
7	17	20	23

The whole rule, with every stage and Double Up’s own values, is on TFT player damage on senseos.gg. The 14.9 list also has 150 for Stage 8, which would end a normal game on one loss.

To count your losses left, divide your HP by that cost, round up, and take away 1, since the loss that takes you to 0 ends your game. Each cell below shows the losses you survive at 3 enemy units, then at 6:

Your HP	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6	Stage 7
80	15 / 9	8 / 6	7 / 6	6 / 4	5 / 4	3 / 3
60	11 / 7	6 / 4	5 / 4	4 / 3	3 / 3	2 / 2
40	7 / 4	4 / 3	3 / 3	3 / 2	2 / 2	1 / 1
30	5 / 3	3 / 2	2 / 2	2 / 1	1 / 1	1 / 1
20	3 / 2	2 / 1	1 / 1	1 / 1	1 / 1	0 / 0
10	1 / 1	1 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0

Read one row across. The same 40 HP is a comfortable 7 losses in Stage 2 and a single loss in Stage 7. Your HP hasn’t changed. Its buying power has.

What’s your starting HP? We found no Riot page that states it as a rule for standard TFT, so we won’t call it a fact. The nearest lines are indirect. A 2022 Riot article says the Tiny Titans augment, since removed, let you exceed 100 maximum Health. Riot’s 14.18 notes joke about 100 HP pros in Double Up. And its Hyper Roll article gave 20 for that mode only. So 100 looks like the normal ceiling, and that’s our inference. If you did start there, five losses in Stage 2 and five in Stage 3 at 3 enemy units cost 25 and 45, and the 30 HP you have left survives two Stage 4 losses. The sums above work from whatever your bar shows.

What does a loss save in gold?

Less than it feels like. Set holding and losing against spending and winning for one round. Holding keeps 1 gold of interest for every 10 gold you didn’t spend. Losing gives up 1 gold for the win and changes your streak gold. This table shows how far ahead holding and losing comes out on income that round. Base income is the same either way:

Your streak before this round	Spend 10 instead	Spend 20 instead	Spend 30 instead
5 or more wins	3 behind	2 behind	1 behind
1 to 3 wins	1 behind	Even	1 ahead
1 to 3 losses	1 ahead	2 ahead	3 ahead
5 or more losses	3 ahead	4 ahead	5 ahead

Two things follow:

• On a win streak, losing rarely pays anything at all. You give up gold and HP together, and the streak guide shows the broken streak costs more over the next rounds.
• The most a loss saves here is 5 gold. Now put the HP beside it, using the best-paid column, the 30 gold you didn’t spend:

Stage	HP a loss costs at 3 enemy units	HP per gold on 1 to 3 losses (3 gold)	HP per gold on 5 or more losses (5 gold)
2	5	1.7	1.0
3	9	3.0	1.8
4	10	3.3	2.0
5	13	4.3	2.6
6	15	5.0	3.0
7	20	6.7	4.0

The gold on offer stays the same and the HP bill climbs. By Stage 7 you’re paying four times the Stage 2 price. That’s the whole argument for bleeding early and stabilizing late.

This is income only. It doesn’t count the 30 gold itself, which the holder still has and the spender has turned into a board. And spending only saves the HP if it flips the fight. If your gold can’t change the result, holding costs you nothing extra. The HP is gone either way.

When is bleeding the right call?

When all of these are true:

1. The fight can’t be flipped cheaply. Your board was losing anyway, and the gold you could spend wouldn’t change that.
2. Losses are cheap. Stage 2 is the cheapest stage in the table. Riot’s 16.1 notes raised Stage 3 so it would count for more, and that added step is why the Stage 2 column looks so different.
3. You aren’t on a win streak. The table above is negative or close to even there.
4. You can name the round you’ll spend. “I roll at my third fight from now” gives you a bill you can add up. “I’ll see how it goes” doesn’t. The streak guide’s loss streak section covers what the run itself pays.
5. You can pay the bill and still have room. That’s the next section.

When should you stabilize?

Before you’re forced to. Add up the losses between now and your spike, then check what’s left against the next stage’s prices. Here’s our rule of thumb: keep enough HP to survive two losses at the stage you’re moving into.

Going into	More HP than this, at 3 to 6 enemy units
Stage 3	18 to 24
Stage 4	20 to 26
Stage 5	26 to 32
Stage 6	30 to 36
Stage 7	40 to 46

Two losses is our judgment, not a Riot figure. It leaves room for one fight your spending doesn’t flip, and for the round after. If your board is already winning, you can run closer than this. If you’re rolling for a unit with few copies left, your spike may come late, so keep more.

A worked example

A hypothetical. Stage 4, 48 HP, 50 gold, 2 losses in a row, and a board that keeps losing to 5 enemy units left, which costs 12 HP a round. Spending 30 of that gold would buy a board that wins. On which round do you spend it? Banks stay level to keep the sum simple, and each line assumes the spend flips every fight after it:

Over three rounds	Interest	Win gold	Streak gold	Total	HP lost	HP left
Spend now, win all three	6	3	2	11	0	48
Lose one, then spend and win two	9	2	2	13	12	36
Lose two, then spend and win one	12	1	2	15	24	24
Never spend, lose all three	15	0	4	19	36	12

Read down the Total column. Each round you wait earns 2 to 4 more gold and costs 12 HP, which is 3 to 6 HP for each gold. Now check the floor. Going into Stage 5 you want more than 26 to 32 HP. Spending now or next round clears that. Waiting two rounds doesn’t, and 24 HP in Stage 5 is one loss from trouble. Never spending leaves 12 HP, and a Stage 5 loss to just 2 enemy units then ends your game, with your whole bank unspent.

So in this spot you spend now or next round. Wait the one round only if those extra 2 gold complete something you need, such as an XP buy. If they don’t, spend now.

Signs it’s time

• You’re below the floor for the next stage. Stop paying HP for gold.
• A price step is coming. Base damage rises by 4 from Stage 2 to 3, by 3 from Stage 4 to 5, and by 5 from Stage 6 to 7. The last rounds before a step are the time to decide.
• You’re about to cross 20 HP. See below.
• Your bank can’t pay for itself. See the late-game section.

What changes below 20 HP?

Riot put a real line here. Since 18.4 (October 6, 2026), you aren’t offered Golden Goose, Major Gambit, Barter or the Wisps that hand out stat consumables (Knickknacks, Thingamajigs, Doodads) below 20 HP. Riot’s reason was that desperate last-life rolls were leaving players with nothing: no gold and no Combat Wisps.

Three things to do with that:

• If your plan needs one of those Wisps, stabilize above 20. Falling under it takes them off the menu.
• Below 20, keep a few gold back when you roll. That’s the lesson in Riot’s own note. A Combat Wisp you can’t afford won’t save you, since the shop only shows Wisps you can pay for. The same notes add 0-cost Wisps for players under 10 gold, from 4-1 to 5-7.
• Don’t treat 20 as your floor. On the table above, 20 HP is already under the floor from Stage 4 on, and it’s one loss in Stages 4 to 6.

How do late rounds change the sum?

Three things move together. Losses cost more. Boards are bigger, so you should be reading the 6-unit column or beyond. And there are fewer rounds left for your gold to do anything.

Your bank can only earn while you’re alive. If you keep losing, you collect interest for about as many rounds as you can survive, plus the round you go out on:

Losses you can survive	Rounds of income if you keep losing	Interest on 50 gold	Interest on 20 gold
3	About 4	About 20	About 8
2	About 3	About 15	About 6
1	About 2	About 10	About 4

With 50 gold and two losses left, the most the bank can still earn by sitting there is about 15 gold, and then you’re out with all of it unspent. As the economy guide says, gold left when you’re knocked out buys nothing.

Spending gets cheaper as the game ends. Dropping 30 gold costs 3 gold of interest a round. With three rounds left, that’s 9 gold. Against it, one Stage 5 loss to 6 enemy units costs 16 HP, and three of them cost 48.

Streaks matter less. With only a few rounds left there’s no long streak to protect, so the streak guide’s “lost round alone” column is the one to read.

Late gold has one more use. Past Stage 5, one Wisp in two is a Combat Wisp, and you can buy one a round. At a hypothetical 3 gold, one that flips a Stage 6 fight against 6 enemy units saves 18 HP, or 6 HP per gold. Prices move, so read the shop.

Do you need the most HP?

No. You place by how long you last, so HP only has to outlast the players below you. If two players can go out this round and you can take two more losses, you have more room than your number suggests. If everyone is healthy and you’re the low one, you have less. Our scouting guide shows how to count who can go out.

There’s a smaller effect too. Riot’s notes suggest the lower you stand, the earlier you pick on the carousel. It doesn’t publish the full order, so we can’t price that, and it’s not a reason to lose HP on its own.

What in Set 18 changes the sum?

Riot’s notes name a few things, and these are the ones we found. Read the card in your game.

• Coven pays you for losses. Essence comes in on lost player combats, so your HP buys more than gold there. The streak guide has the numbers.
• Some things give HP back. Riot’s 18.4 notes say the Healing Pool Wisp only appears when you’re missing at least 10 Health, which points to a heal, though they don’t say what it restores or how much. The Enchanted Wilds overview says Teemo’s mushrooms can give Tactician Health. Don’t plan around either.
• Hard Bargain pays HP for your carousel pick. Riot’s 15.1 text gave 6 gold and 4 player health in place of a pick, and 18.1 brought the augment back without restating those numbers.
• Comeback Story rewards missing HP. 18.1 cut the Attack Speed it gives per point of missing health from 0.4% to 0.3%.
• Some Wisps take HP. Riot’s 18.3 notes cut the Health lost on Blossom’s version of Sinister Deal from 3 to 2.

What should you do in your next game?

Your spot	The call
Stage 2, losing anyway, pairs held	Bleed. It’s the cheapest stage in the table
On a win streak, close fight	Spend if it flips the fight. Losing here costs HP and gains little or no gold
Holding gold, and spending wouldn’t flip the fight	Hold. The HP is gone either way
Planning to bleed to a spike	Add up the losses first, and check the floor for the next stage
Below two losses at the next stage’s prices	Spend now
Your plan needs a stat consumable or Golden Goose	Stay above 20 HP
Below 20 HP and rolling	Keep a few gold for a Combat Wisp
Late, big bank, few losses left	Spend it. It can’t earn much more
Others can go out before you	You have more room than your HP suggests

Sources

All read November 4, 2026. No single current Riot table covers player damage or states starting HP, so each number links to the Riot page that sets it.

• Riot Games, patch 16.1 notes, published 2025-12-02, patch 14.9 notes, published 2024-04-30, and patch 14.8 notes, published 2024-04-16, for player damage and surviving units counting 1 each.
• Riot Games, patch 18.4 notes, published 2026-10-06, for the below-20-HP Wisp change, 0-cost Wisps and Healing Pool.
• Riot Games, patch notes for 18.1 (2026-08-25), for Combat Wisps, Comeback Story and augment changes, 18.3 (2026-09-22), for Sinister Deal, and 18.6 (2026-11-03), checked for player damage changes.
• Riot Games, Enchanted Wilds Overview, published 2026-07-27, for Teemo’s mushrooms and the limit of one Wisp a round.
• Riot Games, patch 15.1 notes, published 2025-07-29, for Hard Bargain.
• Riot Games, patch 14.18 notes, published 2024-09-10, Augments, Augmented, published 2022-02-01, and Teamfight Tactics: Hyper Roll, published 2021-04-14, for what Riot says near starting HP. Hyper Roll is also the source for the 1 gold a win pays.
• The interest and streak gold figures come from our economy guide and streak guide, which link each one to Riot’s page.

Update log

• 2026-11-04: First version.