The game is a spinoff of League of Legends and is based on Dota Auto Chess, where players compete online against seven other opponents by building a team to be the last one standing.

On round four of each stage, there is a feature called the "Carousel", in which players have access to a free rotation of units with random equipped items to select from.

Upgrading a champion increases their maximum health, attack damage, and the strength of their unique ability.

[11][12] Items play a pivotal role in team fight tactics by providing bonuses to the holder (such as damage, health and armour) as well as granting them, or other units around them, special effects.

Completed items typically offer better stats and unique effects to strengthen the players units.

[15] Each "set" of Teamfight Tactics corresponds to a unique unit pool, collection of synergies, usable items and augments.

[16] Augments are in game effects which modify the players match through granting various buffs (such as additional attack damage or other stats), supplies (such as gold, items and units) and rule augmentations (such as reaching beyond the max interest rate, level and tactician health).

[5] Augments range in rarity from silver, gold and prismatic, each tier awarding and unlocking better potential benefits.

[20][21] The game was released within the League of Legends client for Windows and macOS on June 26, 2019, and as a standalone app for Android and iOS on March 19, 2020.

[24] Similar to other free-to-play games from Riot, Teamfight Tactics monetization base around cosmetic consumptions and season passes.

Those can be upgraded by buying from loot boxes called "Little Legend eggs" or through star shards that can either be bought in the store or earned from the season pass that lasts for the duration of the set.

[26] Since the release of the Chibi Champions,[27] Riot refers to these avatars as Tacticians, though the term Little Legend is still commonly used.

[31] a Double-Up game consists of four teams of two players, with each pair sharing a health bar.

This featured a long Training Phase in which you assemble and power up your team, followed by a tournament bracket to decide the top spots.

This revival aimed to blend nostalgia with modern gameplay enhancements, offering both veteran and new players an enriched experience.

Sets give players more incentive to play the game, changing synergies and introducing new ones, rotating various League of Legends champions into the roster, as well as dropping new season passes.