TFT Scouting: What to Look For, When, and When to Stop

TL;DR: Scout right before a decision, and look only for what could change it. Before you buy or roll, count copies of your key units. Before a carousel, check who holds half of what you want. Late in planning, read your next opponent’s carry, main tank and Wisp icon. When someone is low, work out who can go out this round. Then stop, because a look that can’t change your call only costs you planning time. We can’t print a scouting hotkey: no Riot page we found names it, and this year the game has changed its engine and, with 18.6, its client.

Riot publishes no data on scouting, and neither do we. This page is reasoning from Riot’s rules and numbers, and the examples are hypotheticals.

How do you scout in TFT?

Riot’s pages don’t walk through it, and we won’t fill that gap from memory. Here’s what they do say:

• A PC hotkey cycles through boards. Since 11.1 (January 5, 2021), it skips players who are out.
• Hotkeys can be changed. 12.6 (March 29, 2022) said so when it added combat recap keys, and pointed players to the settings menu.
• Your settings may not be what you left. Riot’s Unreal Engine FAQ (June 19, 2026) says the engine change wiped preferred settings.
• Riot has been fixing keys. The Follow the Fix tracker marks default hotkeys as fixed in 18.1, and 18.5 fixed two more keys for moving champions on and off the board.
• The client is new. 18.6 (November 3, 2026) brings the standalone client, and its notes say nothing about scouting controls.

So no Riot page we found names the default scouting key today, and a key we remember could be wrong on the new client. Open your hotkey settings and read it there.

What does a look cost you?

Planning time. Every second on another board is a second off your own shop and bench, so put your own things first:

1. Your shop. Polymorph Wisps only appear during planning’s first 2 seconds (18.4), and you can only buy a Wisp while planning lasts (18.1). Look there before you go anywhere.
2. Your plan. Know what decision you’re scouting for. “Am I contested?” is too broad to answer in a few seconds. “Can I still 3-star this 4-cost?” isn’t.
3. The look. Then the one or two boards that can answer it.
4. Time to act. Riot’s tracker (updated October 21, 2026) was still investigating why moving units at the last second has got harder, and what it wants back is the brief window before combat. Don’t plan your move for the final moment.

Who wants your units and items?

Our page on why everyone plays the same comp covers contest itself. Here’s the part you do while scouting: count.

A 3-star takes 9 copies. Riot’s 14.15 notes (July 30, 2024) set the pool sizes in the table below, and they explain the 18 for a 3-cost: it lets two players each 3-star the same unit without a Duplicator. 15.1 (July 29, 2025) still calls 18 standard for a 3-cost, 16.1 (December 2, 2025) still gives 9 for a 5-cost, and we found no general change in Riot’s notes up to 18.6. Riot hasn’t reprinted the full list for Set 18. So:

Cost	Copies in the pool	Spare copies after your 9	What to count for
1	30	21	Rarely worth the look, unless several players are rerolling it
2	25	16	Check if you’re rerolling and others look to be too
3	18	9	One other 3-star takes every spare copy. Another 2-star leaves 6
4	10	1	Two copies elsewhere end your 3-star
5	9	0	One copy elsewhere ends your 3-star

Read the bottom two rows closely. On a 4-cost, one rival’s 2-star (3 copies) already puts a 3-star out of reach unless you find a Duplicator or similar. So when you’re counting for a 4-cost 3-star, one look at one board can settle the whole plan. For a 2-star the pool is rarely the problem: even a 5-cost needs 7 copies elsewhere before you can’t get your 3.

Your count is the least that’s gone, not the total. By Riot’s 16.1 notes, a unit on offer has left the pool for as long as it sits there, and no Riot page we read says you can see other players’ shops. What you do with the count is on the champion pool page and in our rolling guide.

Items are worth a look too. Riot’s 14.23 notes (November 19, 2024) say you can see other players’ items when you visit their board. Two things to read there, and both are reasoning, not rules. A player holding half of an item is likely to want the other half, so they’re your competition on the next carousel. And a pile of items suited to one damage type hints at their line before their board shows it. Our carousel guide uses the first.

What threatens you next fight?

First find out who it is. The game has next and current opponent indicators, and Riot’s tracker lists a bug that made them show wrong information as fixed in 18.4. We found no Riot page that sets out the full pairing rule. 18.1 only tells us that facing the same opponent twice in a row was treated as a bug. So read the indicator, and don’t guess.

Then read that one board with our positioning guide in mind. It has the reasoning, so this is only the checklist:

What you see	What it tells you	What you might do
Their main tank on one side	That’s their strong side	Face your main tank at it, and aim at the other side
Their carry’s position	Which side you want to reach	Move your own melee carry or frontline accordingly
A melee carry on an edge	It may wrap around your frontline	Don’t leave your carry alone on that edge
Anything that hits an area	A clump can lose the fight at once	Spread out if you can
A Combat Wisp icon by their HP bar	The fight may be harder than the board looks	Look again before you spend

Read Wisp icons late. Riot’s Enchanted Wilds overview (July 27, 2026) says a Wisp’s category icon shows up by a player’s HP bar once they buy it. They can buy at any point in planning, so an early look can miss it. The icon gives the category, and the overview says most Wisps last one round, so assume it’s about this fight.

Check before you pay for one fight. Wisps grew out of Charms, and Riot’s 14.18 notes told players to scout before buying the expensive late Charms. The same logic applies here. A Combat Wisp buys one fight, so look at that fight first. If you’d win or lose either way, keep the gold.

Who can go out this round?

Who is low matters more than it first appears, and you can work it out. A lost round costs the stage’s base damage plus 1 per enemy unit left. Riot doesn’t print one current table: adding up its 14.9 and 16.1 notes, and finding no later change up to 18.6, gives this:

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

Anyone at or below those numbers can go out on one loss. The whole rule is on TFT player damage on senseos.gg. Here’s what that count changes:

• Your spending. You don’t need the most HP, only to outlast the players below you. If two players can go out this round and you can take two more losses, you have room your HP alone doesn’t show. Our HP guide has the sum.
• The pool. A knocked-out player’s units go back in. Riot’s interview with the Space Gods champion (July 20, 2026) describes a big roll timed to exactly that. So a low player sitting on your unit is a reason to hold gold for a round, if you can afford the round.
• The next roll. Riot’s 18.4 notes talk about players emptying their gold on last-life rolls. Expect a low player to roll, and expect the copies you counted to change.
• The next carousel. Low players likely pick ahead of you, by what Riot has said about the order. Take that into account when you choose a backup.

Don’t trust a stale number. As of October 21, Riot’s tracker was investigating opponent health not updating right away in the damage chart after a win, aiming at 18.7, and had loss markers beside health bars listed as sometimes misplaced or doubled. So read the health figure, not the markers, and read it once the round has settled.

When should you scout?

Moment	Look for	The decision it changes
The first seconds of planning	Nothing yet. Your own shop comes first	Whether a Wisp is worth buying
Stage 2	At most a quick pass, for who shares your pairs	Which pair to keep. Boards still change quickly, and a loss costs little
Before a big spend, such as a level or a roll	Copies of your two or three key units	Roll now, wait, or change target
Before a carousel	Who holds half of what you want	Your pick and your backup
During a carousel	The same, if you still have time	Riot’s tracker lists a bug about scouting on these rounds as fixed in 18.4, so you can look while you wait
Late in planning, from Stage 4 on	Your next opponent’s board and Wisp icon	Your positioning, and whether to buy a Combat Wisp
When you or others are low	Who can go out this round	Whether to spend now or hold one more round

When should you stop?

Stop as soon as one of these is true:

• The answer can’t change your call. You’ve decided to roll this round whatever you see, because your HP says so. Looking won’t help.
• You’ve already checked. Boards do change during planning, but a second look at the same board for the same question rarely pays.
• The count no longer matters. Your carry is a 2-star and you aren’t chasing the 3-star. Other players’ copies can’t hurt you now.
• The board can’t touch you. That player isn’t your next opponent, doesn’t share your units and isn’t low. Nothing there changes your decision.
• Your own turn isn’t finished. An unspent shop or an unplaced unit comes before any look.
• You have no time left to act. Seeing a threat with nothing left on the clock only leaves you worried. Set your board first, and treat late looks as a bonus.

What can’t scouting tell you?

Quite a lot, and Riot’s notes don’t list everything a visit shows. These are the things we can source: units on a board, items, Wisp category icons and health in the damage chart. Nothing we read says it shows another player’s shop, and no visit tells you what they plan to do with their gold. So a look gives you a count and a guess at a plan, not the plan itself.

What should you do in your next game?

Your spot	The call
Planning just started	Look at your own shop first
About to level or roll for a unit	Count its copies on the boards that matter
Chasing a 3-star on a 4-cost	Two copies elsewhere ends it, so check before you spend
Chasing a 3-star on a 5-cost	One copy elsewhere ends it
Carousel coming	Check who holds half of what you want, then pick a backup
Late in planning	Read your next opponent’s board and Wisp icon, and position
Thinking of a Combat Wisp	Look at that fight first
Someone is low	Work out whether they can go out this round, then decide what you spend
Nothing you could see would change your call	Stop looking and play your own board

Sources

All read November 4, 2026. No Riot page we found covers scouting as a topic or names the current default key, so each fact links to the Riot page that states it.

• Riot Games, patch 18.6 notes, published 2026-11-03, for the standalone client, and patch 18.5 notes, published 2026-10-20, for the hotkey fix.
• Riot Games, Follow the Fix, updated October 21, 2026, for default hotkeys, opponent indicators, scouting on carousel rounds, last-second changes, health in the damage chart and loss markers.
• Riot Games, patch 18.4 notes, published 2026-10-06, for Polymorph Wisps and last-life rolls, and patch 18.1 notes, published 2026-08-25, for buying Wisps and the matchmaking fix, and patch 18.2 notes, published 2026-09-09, for seeing units when you scout.
• Riot Games, Enchanted Wilds Overview, published 2026-07-27, for Wisp icons and how Wisps relate to Charms.
• Riot Games, 5 Questions with AUR Huanmie, published 2026-07-20, for a knocked-out player’s units returning to the pool.
• Riot Games, Unreal Engine Migration FAQ, dated 2026-06-19, for settings resetting.
• Riot Games, patch 16.1 notes, published 2025-12-02, for player damage, units in shops and the 5-cost pool, and patch 14.9 notes, published 2024-04-30, for player damage.
• Riot Games, patch 15.1 notes, published 2025-07-29, and patch 14.15 notes, published 2024-07-30, for pool sizes.
• Riot Games, patch 14.23 notes, published 2024-11-19, for seeing items, and patch 14.18 notes, published 2024-09-10, for scouting before a Charm.
• Riot Games, patch 12.6 notes, published 2022-03-29, and patch 11.1 notes, published 2021-01-05, for hotkeys.

Update log

• 2026-11-04: First version.