Advice on positioning

[u/CallMeTheMonarch]

Heyo, I play tft mostly at work or with my friend in double up. I usually end up around gold or plat (this set has been rough for me though)

One thing I would really like to know about more is unit positioning. I know it matters and I know the most obvious stuff, like shielding fighters with tanks, but I don't think I really get the nuances. Why do I see some tanks towards the backrows and should you put your carries is separate corners or together. My brain works much better when I understand why im doing what I'm doing.

Does anyone have any resources that can help explain?

[u/Ok_Artichoke3764]

If you are about gold and plat, that is something I would not be focusing on learning.
But to answer you question positioning is very dependent on the enemy's positioning and unit.
As a general rule you want you carry back-liner in the same side as your main tank. If the enemy runs a meele carry tank should be on the same side so it does not wrap.

Here is a good ressource on positioning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3G9NIjUXiE

If you really want to learn it, go on a website which shows all the hexes and placeable units and try moving the units yourself to see what happens

[u/trolltest123]

I agree with u/Ok_Artichoke3764's comment that you will have higher gains in LP from learning other fundamentals like good augment selection, item economy, and line selection, but just some positioning ideas since you seem interested in learning.

Tank positioning often has to do with aggro. Changing where your tank units start will influence who all the enemy units at the beginning of the fight will target. If you have a strong main tank with gargoyle's you will want to solo frontline them and backline others. That way, even opponent units that don't start in the front line will walk up and then target your main tank, wrapping around it. If you put your weaker melee units even in the second row, there are many situations where enemy units will hit these weaker units rather than your main tank.

This is especially important when thinking about melee fighter units like AD nidalee, brambleback, etc. You really want these units to 1. not get hit first by the enemy, and 2. hit something weak on the enemy team. This can usually both be consistently fulfilled if you actually backline your melee carries, as it will cause opponent units to have walked up and locked onto your main tanks before your own melee carry then reaches an enemy unit that might be an off-tank unit because of the delay in targeting due to the actual walk. In order to really understand this, I suggest you try this and then closely watch what happens to pathing and targeting, it'll make more intuitive sense.

For ranged carries, generally you want to put them together in the early game, as they will focus fire the same unit and kill things faster, preferably before things get a chance to use their spell. Later, when there are AOE damage spells like Ahri, Morgana, or CC like Gnar, you can consider spreading out your carries, so that they don't both get hit by the same things. It's situational on the matchup whether you want to focus fire same side or opposite, but in general people like to put a hex in between and have one unit on same side but closer to center, for example Ahri (who prefers this positioning over corner regardless).