Riftbeast Aphelios & Elder Dragon
Also called Elder Dragon Aphelios Fast 9 · Riftbeast Fast 9
Fast 9Carried by Elder Dragon & ApheliosA Teamfight Tactics Set 18 comp, measured on patch 18.5 ranked games.
Difficulty Easy None of the difficulty signals we could measure apply (2 of 4 measured)
Updated 21 Oct 2026, 10:18 UTC · ranked games, last 7 days, Diamond+ · Patch 18.5
Too few games to grade in Diamond+: 57 in the last 7 days, and its numbers start at 400. All ranks shows what we measured.
Too few games to grade: 79 at all ranks in the last 7 days, and a grade needs 400.
Which version?
Five comps play Riftbeast around Aphelios. They share the two below; the units only one of them plays tell you which one you are on.
Five comps play Riftbeast around Aphelios; the biggest four are compared here. They share the three below; the units only one of them plays tell you which one you are on.
1 smaller version
- Riftbeast Aphelios & Brambleback with SettNo tier yet71 games
Ranked games, last 7 days, Diamond+. A dashed portrait is a flex slot: many of its games play another unit there.
No tier yet fewer than 400 games this week Not graded played too rarely to grade
When
Others on Elder Dragon or Aphelios in the lobby, over 180 games of this patch at all ranks.
Level plan
- Stage 5 Lv 8.6 measured
- Stage 6 Lv 9.2 measured
Carries
Elder Dragon 3★ on 0% of boards
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Infinity Edge, Sterak's Gage, Hand Of Justice
Aphelios 3★ on 1% of boards
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Guinsoo's Rageblade, Kraken's Fury, Infinity Edge

Game plan
- How it’s played
- Fast 9 Players of this comp who go out in stage 6 are level 9.2 on average.
- Roll
- Level 9 around 5-1: about 33 rolls (66 gold) to 2-star Elder Dragon; about 54 if three copies of each are on other boards. model
- Contested?
- Others holding Elder Dragon / Aphelios: 1 other: #4.12 · 2+ others: #4.49
- Pace
- Level when its players go out — stage 5: 8.6 · stage 6: 9.2
- Vs its level
- Finishes at level 9.0 on average. Boards at its levels average 3.68 across every comp; this one averages 4.65, 0.97 worse. Level is partly how a game went and partly the plan, so this is context, not a grade.Finishes at level 9.0 on average. Boards at its levels average 3.67 across every comp; this one averages 4.55, 0.88 worse. Level is partly how a game went and partly the plan, so this is context, not a grade.
Final board
The whole board at level 9, where most of its games end, drawn from its games at all ranks over the last 14 days. A dashed slot is one its games fill differently; an open one, no unit holds on a quarter of them.









Positions are our rule, by attack range: melee in front, ranged behind, the most-itemed carries in the back corners. Riot's match data has none.
Elder Dragontakes 2 team slots★★
Infinity Edge
Sterak's Gage
Hand Of Justice
Taric★
Amumu★★
Gargoyle Stoneplate
Warmog's Armor
Spirit Visage
Aphelios★★
Guinsoo's Rageblade
Kraken's Fury
Infinity Edge
Sentinel★★
Protector's Vow
Gargoyle Stoneplate
Diana★★
Varus★★
EzrealflexPaste it into the game’s Team Planner to have these champions marked in your shop.
Stage by stage
What to do at each stage, from the numbers below: stages 2 and 3 are our plan, 4 to 6 the level its players were measured at.
Stage 5 Level 9 measured
Its players average 8.6 when they go out in stage 5.
Stage 6 Level 9 measured
Its players average 9.2 when they go out in stage 6.
Its games end around round 5-7 on average, with 5 gold left.
Contested?
How this comp placed by how many of the other seven players in the lobby held Elder Dragon or Aphelios, over 180 games of this patch at all ranks. We keep all eight boards of every game, so this is measured, not guessed; part of the gap is the lobby itself, so read it as how it placed, not only why.
| Others holding it | Avg Place | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| 1 other player | #4.12 | 31% |
| 2 or more | #4.49 | 61% |
Questions
What people search for about this comp, answered from the numbers on this page.
How do you play Riftbeast Aphelios & Elder Dragon in TFT Set 18?
Fast 9. Players of this comp who go out in stage 6 are level 9.2 on average.
What items does Elder Dragon need?
On its final board Elder Dragon holds Infinity Edge, Sterak's Gage and Hand Of Justice.
Is Riftbeast Aphelios & Elder Dragon good in patch 18.5?
Not graded yet: 79 games at all ranks in the last 7 days, and a grade needs 400. Its average place over them is #4.54.
Is Riftbeast Aphelios & Elder Dragon contested?
Contest costs it little: with one other #4.12 (31% of games), with two or more #4.49 (61%), over 180 games of this patch at all ranks.
Items
The three items this comp’s carry was measured holding most often, the placement of the boards it held them on, and the difference against the comp’s own average. Every board of the family at all ranks over the last 14 days.
| Champion | Item | Avg Place | vs comp | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #3.74 | -0.81 | 87 | ||
| #3.79 | -0.75 | 38 |
Augments that fit
What each augment grants, set against what this comp measured: the same rule the overlay uses when it reads the three on offer. A measured line is the comp’s own placement at a trait level; a line by rule is a fact about the comp, such as the damage its carry is built for.
Levelling and economy
By ruleSuits this comp: it averages level 8.98, so levelling is the plan (178 boards)
64 more
AD carry
By ruleSuits this carry: Elder Dragon is built for attack damage here (126 boards)
1 more
Works against it: Not a reroll comp (15), Wrong damage type (3)
By ruleNot a reroll comp: it 3-stars a unit in under 10% of boards, averaging level 8.98 (178)
3 more
By ruleWrong damage type: Elder Dragon is built for attack damage here (126 boards)
Riot’s match-v1 data does not report which augments a player took, so no augment has a number of its own on this page or anywhere else on the site. The augment reference lists what each one grants.
More about this comp
Traits
Active on the core board, with the next breakpoint the trait offers.
By bracket
Diamond, Master, Grandmaster and Challenger against the whole sample. Each board carries the tier of its own player where the sampler held it.
| Bracket | Games | Avg Place | Top 4 % | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond+ | 57 | #4.65 | 50.9% | 1.8% |
| All ranks | 79 | #4.54 | 51.9% | 2.5% |
Trend
Avg Place on each of the last 7 days. The bars are scaled to the range shown, so the shape is the comparison and the figure under each bar is the day.
Also played
Families sharing at least 4 core units with this one — the same board taken a different way.
| Comp | Tier | Shared units | Avg Place | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primal Aphelios & Nidalee | A | 5 | #4.38 | 185,262 |
| Rapidfire Aphelios & Brambleback | A | 5 | #4.43 | 21,625 |
| Lunar Aphelios with Lux | — | 5 | #4.47 | 251 |
| Vanguard Aphelios & Ezreal | — | 5 | #6.57 | 157 |
| Rapidfire Aphelios with Alune | — | 5 | #4.18 | 61 |
| Riftbeast Elder Dragon & Draven | S | 4 | #4.23 | 144,108 |
| Solar Aphelios & Amumu | — | 4 | #4.56 | 5,490 |
| Lunar Aphelios with Maokai | — | 4 | #5.04 | 3,213 |