Twisted Fate/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Due to having one of the highest non-global non-ultimate range in-game, he can harass very well. This makes him a good pick for mid lane. While the projectiles are slow moving, the long range of the cards often catch enemies by surprise. Additionally, the projectiles, unlike many skillshots and pokes, will pass through minions, and even do damage as multiple targets are passed. This disallows opponents from blocking with their waves.
 * With some ability power, using and  on a wave of minions makes  nearly unrivaled in pushing and clearing quickly.
 * Use this to gank other lanes with, as your minions will be pushed up to ensure your turret will be safe until you walk back to it.
 * You may also attempt to a minion nearby an enemy champion to slow the champion and set yourself up for harassing them with.
 * has multiple utilities. can help  stay in lane longer as he regains mana back more quickly.  is very useful when chasing down an enemy or when ganking since it stuns the enemy it hits.  can help  push, farm, gank, or chase down an enemy because it deals splash damage and slows the targets hit. The area of effect of  may also be a more useful effect for peeling allies and kiting enemies than  if it can hit multiple targets, especially when teams are fighting in the tight spaces of the jungle or at lower levels when the duration of  will be much lower than the duration of
 * The three different cards in are in a set rotation., then , then , and it repeats; the starting card may differ each time you use , but it will always follow that rotation. This rotation is very important to allow you to predict the time it will take for you to lock in a card and throw it.
 * is relatively fragile (squishy) so make sure you keep your distance. is capable of repeatedly stunning one opponent (with ) or slowing multiple opponents (with ) every few seconds, even more often with cooldown reduction. Abuse this while chasing, ganking and escaping pursuers.
 * The abilities of may have low cooldowns, but an ability power-focused  is nonetheless highly vulnerable while his abilities cooldown. Avoid committed fights against enemies with a current health count that you can't easily burst down with  and, as AP  will almost certainly lose to them.
 * and can be used to quickly backdoor enemy structures. Used in conjunction with another great backdoor ability,, as the bonus damage is applied to turrets, it's pretty difficult for enemies to defend.
 * Picking as your first ability can lead to a large amount of single target damage, combined with attack speed runes, it is a very good way to get first blood. However,  helps greatly, and so waiting until you are level 2 can give you better chances of a kill.
 * Map awareness is key to proper use of . Look around the map carefully while farming or traveling for potential foes.
 * Be sure to ping onto targets just in case your allies don't have the same map awareness as you do when you plan to use it! using  against a sole target is unlikely to work well while the cooldown of  is fairly long for a lot of the game.
 * When a team fight occurred and you already cast the at wrong timing, position or your team mates eliminated, it can be interrupted using.
 * It is generally a good plan to have a card already chosen by before using, especially if you're going to land close to your enemy. You should lock onto  and then activate  and its secondary effect, , to gank an enemy. You can also use  while channeling , allowing for a faster  due to not having to spend time locking onto.
 * Make sure not to use too early either, as having your  run out as you  will lead to embarrassment and likely a fruitless death.
 * Keep in mind that will pop your enemy's  but this will also prevent him/her from being revealed by your ultimate (you can still use  though). Meaning that against a team with multiple Veils, you can use  to pop their shields before a big teamfight. Be warned that fleeing low-health enemies will likely be guarded by their allies that remain invisible to your ultimate (and you will only know it after teleporting to kill them and be ganked yourself). Coordinate with your allies for the best time to use  to ambush enemies.
 * In a pinch, try to either juke your enemy and then run into a bush, or stun them with . If successful, pop your ultimate and start teleporting away with . By the time the enemy has a chance to attack you again, you should be a safe distance away. This technique can even work out in the open without if you wait for the enemy to pop all their crowd control first.
 * 's primary combo to harass is to activate with full  stacks, walk into attack range and stun the enemy, then follow it up with  and walk away while the enemy tries to dodge the attack.  can then use  to last hit while regenerating mana and do the combo all over again. This combo is not foolproof because enemies will realize when  activates  and be prepared to fall back, or even use 's short autoattack-range for applying the effects of  to easily predict where he will have to walk to use it to set up skillshots.
 * gains a stack for each autoattack and deals extra damage on the fourth hit, but will vary this depending on the scenario.
 * If has his at least one point in each his  and  and throws a card modified by, different things may happen.
 * If would kill its target on its own, then the  buff is not consumed or given another stack.
 * If the attack is not strong enough to kill its target with only, then the buff will be consumed, and deal extra magic damage, or given a stack.

Build usage

 * is mainly built as an ability power caster. However, he can also be itemized for either attack damage or a hybrid mix.

Ability Power
 * If using an ability power build, is a great choice due to the ability power ratios of  being fairly low and will not cause very much burst damage on their own later in the game. Additionally, the conjunction with  ensures in large damage with one attack.
 * is mandatory for, as with all AP mid laners. However, the passive makes it more viable as a second or third item, when other items have been purchased and some AP have been amassed.
 * is great for AP.
 * It provides a significant amount of ability power to scale with and.
 * The armor will likely be helpful as the short range of makes it likely  will take some autoattacks if stunning enemy ranged champions.
 * The stasis active will also give a short grace period to wait for ability cooldowns and to avoid incoming damage.
 * is a commonly purchased item on . It provides moderate amount of ability power and incredible chasing capabilities with its active and the movement speed bonus. It allows catching up to enemies and getting in range for.
 * is also invaluable, as AP, AS, and CDR are all very helpful, and the passive synergizes with  and.

Countering

 * is relatively fragile at early game, putting an aggressive pressure on the lane can make him under-leveled or under-farmed.
 * has fairly poor sustained damage with an AP build - if you can get movement-affecting crowd control on him before he stuns you as a champion with a greater sustained damage potential, you may be able to turn the trade in your favor.
 * As has no escapes (besides ) and relies on either  or  to keep enemies away from him, focusing him as a team is very difficult for  to personally deal with.
 * While has a nearly unmatched range that makes stopping  from farming while he has mana to cast it impossible, you can harass him when he uses  as it's limited to the range of his basic attacks.
 * The can be tricky to dodge as it travels in 3 lines and moves a long distance. Instead of going back, try to sidestep the spell.
 * Take care when uses his.
 * When he uses a, move away from your him and your allies to avoid getting slowed by it.
 * When he uses a, try to dodge stay away from him until the spell wears off.
 * It's better to save your channeled abilities until uses his  or.
 * When you are under the effect of, be prepared for a gank as his allows him to teleport to a huge range in the map.
 * has a noticeable channeling with a marked location - this can leave him an easy target for skillshots. If the skillshots apply crowd control, this can stop from getting you killed - or maybe even turn the gank onto him!
 * Dashes and blinks, if saved, may allow you to avoid if used while  is teleporting to a location on top of you.