How does mana work in Teamfight Tactics (TFT)?

Whenever you play Teamfight Tactics (TFT), you might’ve noticed the little blue (and sometimes orange) bar underneath your champions’ health bar. If you’ve ever been confused about what that means, we’re here to break down TFT’s mana system, how it works, how to get more, and how to use it to help you get a lot more first-place victories.

What does mana do?

As mentioned, you can see your champion’s mana bar below their health. The longer you spend in-game and the more you hit the enemy, the more that bar increases. Once it fills, your champion will cast a special ability. For example, when Nomsy spews bouncing dragonfire or Graves starts shotgunning and dashing around the board, that’s their mana being used.

Mana is important to every champion, but it’s particularly important to spellcasters. Think Mages, Astrals, and any champion who does the most damage with their special ability. It’s why Hand of Justice is such a good item on Lee Sin because his kick is so powerful. Ao Shin, Sohm, Swain, and Seraphine are a handful of units that love a mana boost (and can become quite frightening with it).

What items affect mana?

Since mana is such a valuable resource in TFT, there are a variety of items that affect it (positively and negatively). In particular, Tear of the Goddess is the go-to mana component. It builds into many popular mana-building items like Spear of Shojin, Statikk Shiv, Archangel’s Staff, Blue Buff, and more. If you’re looking for mana items to boost your team, be careful to collect Tears of the Goddess from carousels or dragon shrines.

There are also items that slow down mana accumulation, like Shroud of Stillness, which can ensure that your enemy can’t cast as quickly. If you’re fighting off a game full of mages, it might be a necessary addition to your team.

Augments can help with mana accumulation, too. Blue Battery, Axiom Arc, Cybernetic Uplink, and a handful of others can make a huge difference in your team’s mana. It can turn a B-tier mage team into a powerful, foe-deleting force.