How to Position Against Assassins and Backline Divers in TFT

TL;DR: Set 18’s role and trait text in the game data files doesn’t hand out a jump, and neither do Riot’s notes through 18.6. Look in the unit’s ability, and read three things: what triggers it, how far it reaches and who it picks. Against a farthest-enemy jump such as Kha’Zix, stand something cheap farther away than your carry and keep a neighbour beside it. Against a lowest-Health jump such as Murkwolf, your thinnest unit in range is the target, so make sure that isn’t your carry. Against a leap that needs a kill, such as AD Nidalee, a thick front line buys the time. And since 18.1, a stun no longer turns an assassin around.

This follows the positioning guide’s three goals, and it’s about the third: your carry should die last. Unit examples are from Set 18, checked against Riot’s notes through 18.6. Ability text comes from the game data files read November 4, 2026, from a version not yet updated for 18.6, so your tooltip wins over anything here. Worked examples are hypotheticals, and readings are marked as readings.

What makes a unit an assassin now?

A line in its role text, and that line isn’t about jumping. Riot’s 16.1 notes brought the Assassin role back with one rule: an Assassin takes 15% less damage unless it comes from the unit it’s attacking. The game’s role text, read November 4, says the same and adds 10 Mana per attack. Neither mentions a leap.

The Set 18 trait list in the game data files has no Assassin trait either. The files still hold an old Assassin trait whose text leaps at the start of combat, but it isn’t on that list. None of the traits on the list mentions a leap, a dash or a jump, and no line in Riot’s notes through 18.6 was found that ties a jump to a trait or role. That’s a search of the text, not a promise about every case. So “assassin” tells you how a unit takes damage, and its ability tells you whether it dives. Riot’s Enchanted Wilds overview calls AD Nidalee an assassin right after describing her leap, and warns you to position with care when you see her. The Stealthy Wisp’s text also names Assassins as a group.

What the 15% does. A unit takes about 1.18 times as much damage to kill from everyone but its target, since 1 divided by 0.85 is 1.18. Say three of your units each deal 300 a second to a diver, and it’s attacking one of them. They deal 300 + 255 + 255, or 810, instead of 900. That’s 10% less, so the kill takes about 11% longer. So don’t count on your whole backline melting it. The unit it’s hitting does the most.

Who dives in Set 18?

A search of Set 18’s unit text in the game data files, and of Riot’s pages, finds these moving to a chosen target:

Unit	Cost	Trigger	Who it picks	Where the rule comes from
Kha’Zix	3	His cast	The farthest enemy in range	Game data files, plus Riot’s 18.4 fix below
Rengar	3	His cast	Whichever enemy in range has the lowest percent Health	Game data files
Murkwolf	2	His cast	Whichever enemy in range has the lowest Health	Game data files
Nidalee, AD form	4	A kill	The farthest target up to 4 hexes away	Riot’s overview, from July. Her cougar line in the game data files calls her a melee Assassin and doesn’t mention the leap
Brambleback	4	His target dying	The next target	Game data files, plus Riot’s 18.4 line on the hop
Gnar	5	His cast, going Mega	The largest group in range	Game data files
Kennen	5	His cast	A nearby group, which he rushes through	Game data files

The files give the sentence but not the hex number for most of these, so read the number on the tooltip in your game. Master Yi works differently: by the same files, he gets a burst of movement speed on takedown and walks there. Yunara’s dash names no target, and Ezreal blinks away from his, so those aren’t dives by that text.

An augment can do it too. By the game data files, the Challenger’s Grace augment sends allies dashing at the next target after a takedown, and Riot’s 18.5 notes change its numbers, so it’s still around. So a jump you didn’t expect may come from the lobby’s augments rather than the unit.

Of the 21 lines built from our own match crawl (patch 18.6 data), 3 have Nidalee as the carry on sword items, which is what Riot says puts her in cougar form: Primal 4 (Nidalee), Primal 4 Blossom (Nidalee) and Juggernaut 4 (Nidalee). A fourth, Vanguard 4 (Nidalee), gives her two Rod items, which reads as building her toward Ability Power. So check her items before you plan for her.

When does the jump actually happen?

Later than you might think, for the units that need a cast. The game data files list starting Mana and Mana to cast, and the Fighter and Assassin role text gives 10 Mana an attack. The files don’t say which of those two roles each unit has, but both pay the same Mana. The Fighter text also adds 5% to 30% Attack Speed by stage, which would shorten these times. Here’s a hypothetical first cast on those numbers, assuming no items, no walking, no Fighter Attack Speed and no Mana from taking damage:

Unit	Starting Mana to cast	Attacks needed	Attack speed	Time to first cast
Kha’Zix	0 to 25	3	0.85	About 3.5 seconds
Rengar	10 to 50	4	0.75	About 5.3 seconds
Murkwolf	0 to 40	4	0.75	About 5.3 seconds

Those attacks land on something. As a reading, in the first seconds these units are hitting whatever they reached first, which is often your front line. So “who does it reach first” still matters to a diver, and the positioning guide’s strong side and weak side still apply. Mana items shorten this, so read their items too.

Why doesn’t a stun save your carry any more?

Because nobody changes target after one now. Riot’s 18.1 notes removed a rule that made units pick the closest enemy after crowd control. Its example was a backliner hit by an area stun, then turning on an assassin that had snuck in beside it. So since Set 18, units keep their target through a stun or knock-up.

Two things follow, and the second cuts against you:

• A stun on the diver only buys time. It wakes up still on your carry, so count the seconds rather than expect it to walk away.
• A stun on your backline hurts more. As a reading of that rule, your carry wakes up still aiming where it was, not at the diver next to it. On that reading, an area stun followed by a dive is worse than it was before Set 18.

No Riot line changing this was found through 18.6.

Taunt is the other tool, and the game data files word it as forcing enemies to attack the taunter: Rammus’s cast, Yorick’s Spirit Walker and Krug’s Kruglettes all do it. The files don’t say how far it reaches, so test it against the tooltip before you rely on it.

How do you position against each rule?

Farthest enemy: Kha’Zix, and AD Nidalee after a kill

This rule tells you exactly who gets hit: whoever is farthest within reach. So choose who that is.

• Stand something cheap farther away than your carry. A one-star unit at the far edge takes the jump, and your carry stays a hex closer. This is reasoning from the text, so check how far your opponent’s unit starts.
• Keep a neighbour beside your backline units. His text pays more against a target with no adjacent allies. Riot’s October 27 numbers are below, and the isolated hit also gives him Mana back, so he casts again sooner.
• Fill the hexes beside your carry. Riot’s 18.4 notes stop him targeting an enemy with no open adjacent hex. A middle hex has six neighbours and a back corner has only two or three, so a corner can be closed with a couple of units. No Riot page says who he picks instead, so watch where he lands.

Star level	Normal hit	Hit on an isolated target	More damage, isolated
One-star	230 AP	250 AP	+9%
Two-star	310 AP	350 AP	+13%
Three-star	450 AP	530 AP	+18%

Riot’s October 27 update says his best setups were beating everything, and it cut his damage for that. So where he stands matters as much as where you do. 18.6 changed only the Unrivaled augment’s share around him, so these numbers stand at 18.6.

Lowest Health: Murkwolf and Rengar

Distance doesn’t help against these, unless you’re out of range. They look at Health.

• Murkwolf picks the lowest Health. That’s a raw number, so your thinnest unit in range is the target. A one-star filler unit often has less Health than your carry, which makes it useful bait. Riot’s 18.3 notes tell you “positioning, positioning, positioning” on Murkwolf, for both players.
• Rengar picks the lowest percent Health. As a reading, since everyone starts full, the first damaged unit in his range is the likely pick. That’s often whatever the enemy has already been hitting, and that may be your front line. So he may not reach your carry on his first cast, and your carry’s Health bar matters more once something starts hitting it.

A leap that needs a kill: AD Nidalee and Brambleback

These don’t move until something dies. So your front line decides when they arrive.

• Don’t hand out a cheap first kill. A thin unit at the front gives them a free leap into your backline. The positioning guide’s tip on anchoring the weak side with your second tank does the same job here.
• Thickness buys time. Riot’s 18.6 notes say AD Nidalee gets stuck on frontliners, and its 18.4 notes say Brambleback needs that hop from target to target to get at the backline.
• Burst works too. Riot’s 18.6 notes also say she dies fast to Ahri and Zyra boards, and raised her heal from 300/450 to 325/550 AP and her third cast’s bonus from 125% to 140% for it. So don’t assume last week’s answer still works. Its note on Malphite describes the same fight from the other side: backliners wrapped by a Brambleback that’s nearly dead.

Largest group: Mega Gnar

Clumping feeds this one. By the game data files, he leaps into the largest group in range, damages it, lowers its Armor and Magic Resist and Stuns it. The positioning guide’s clumping section says the same about area damage in general. Kennen’s rush through a nearby group rewards a clump in the same way. If either is in your next fight, spread out and give up the neighbours above.

That’s the real trade. Neighbours beat Kha’Zix, and spreading beats Gnar. So you can’t set one formation for the whole lobby: read your next opponent.

What does moving your carry cost?

Damage, if you overdo it. The positioning guide’s second goal is that your carry gets its damage out early and in full. The game data files list range 4 on many backliners and range 6 on Ashe, Draven and Lux. A carry pushed too far back spends its opening seconds walking, or shooting something you didn’t want it to. Those seconds are the cost of the safer hex, so don’t pay it unless the diver is in your next fight.

Work it out in this order:

1. Is a diver in your next fight? The scouting guide has the routine: read your next opponent’s board late in planning.
2. Which rule does it follow, and what’s its reach? Read the tooltip, not the unit’s reputation.
3. Can you bait it for free? A spare unit in the right hex costs nothing.
4. If not, can your carry take the hit? If moving costs too much, leave it and build for it.

Which items and Wisps help?

Build for the hit you can’t avoid. Riot’s 18.2 notes set Edge of Night at 40% Health with a 15% missing Health heal, and Bloodthirster at 50% with a 30% max Health shield. Both are in the itemization guide. Those are melee-minded items, so on a backline carry they replace damage, and the damage guide has what that costs.

If the diver out-heals your damage, that’s a job for anti-heal. Riot’s October 27 update says Hand of Justice was feeding both Kha’Zix and Brambleback boards. The anti-heal guide has the sum.

Two Set 18 notes on the Stealthy Wisp:

• Against you. It makes the buyer’s three strongest Fighters or Assassins untargetable for 8 seconds, the duration since 18.4. If you see it, your carry can’t shoot the diver for those seconds. Since 18.1, a bought Wisp’s category icon sits by the buyer’s Health bar, and the Wisps guide has more on reading them.
• For you. The game data files list its Blossom-upgraded version as 3 random units on your back row going untargetable for 12 seconds, which can outlast a first jump. Read the card, since Wisp text and prices keep moving.

What should you do in your next game?

Your next opponent has	Set up like this	Why
A farthest-enemy diver	Cheap unit at the far edge, carry a hex closer, a neighbour beside it	The jump lands on who you choose, and the isolated hit is denied
A lowest-Health diver	Your thinnest unit in range is not your carry	The rule reads Health, not distance
A percent-Health diver	Protect the unit that gets hit first	Everyone starts full, so damage decides, on this reading
A leap that needs a kill	Your thickest front, no cheap unit in front	No kill, no leap
A jump into the largest group	Spread out	It rewards clumps
A mix	Answer the one holding their items	Their carry decides the fight
No diver	Your normal setup	Don’t pay to solve a problem you won’t meet

What changes when Set 19 lands?

Riot’s schedule lists 19.1 for December 1, 2026, and warns that dates can change. These units may go, and so may the numbers. The method stays: find the trigger, the reach and the target rule on the tooltip, then choose the hex that rule punishes least. Check whether Riot changes the Assassin role line or the 18.1 targeting rule in the 19.1 notes, because both are one patch away from changing this page. The Set 19 page covers what Riot has shown.

Sources

All read November 4, 2026.

• Riot Games, patch 16.1 notes, published 2025-12-02, for the Assassin role.
• Riot Games, Enchanted Wilds Overview, published 2026-07-27, for AD Nidalee.
• Riot Games, patch notes for 18.1 (2026-08-25), for targeting after crowd control and Wisp icons, 18.2 (2026-09-09), for Edge of Night and Bloodthirster, 18.3 (2026-09-22), for Murkwolf, 18.4 (2026-10-06), for Kha’Zix’s targeting, Brambleback and Stealthy, 18.5 (2026-10-20, with the update of 2026-10-27), for Kha’Zix’s damage, Hand of Justice and Challenger’s Grace, and 18.6 (2026-11-03), for Nidalee, Malphite and Unrivaled.
• Riot Games, Patch Schedule, Teamfight Tactics, for the 19.1 date.
• The game’s data files and role text, read November 4, 2026, in a version not yet updated for 18.6, for ability text, Mana, attack speed, range, Taunt, the Assassin and Fighter role text, the Set 18 trait list, Challenger’s Grace and the Stealthy Wisp’s text. The first-cast times and percentages are this guide’s own arithmetic.
• Our own match crawl, for the 21 lines named (patch 18.6 data). No tier or rating is taken from them.