Description
An Encounter is a lobby-wide event that changes the game rules for every player in the same way.
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Each Opening Encounter is drawn from a weighted pool. So some appear far more often than others. One possible outcome is no encounter at all.
Note: The pool is re-tuned from patch to patch. Entries get added and others retired. So an Encounter you met a few games ago may no longer be in the pool.
Encounter is part of the game around your board, not an effect a unit carries. No champion, trait, item, or augment lists it.
Better augments
- Golden Gala6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
Every augment you are offered this game is Gold tier.
- Golden Prelude4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
The first augment you are offered is Gold tier.
- Golden Finale4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
The last augment you are offered is Gold tier.
- Prismatic Opener4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
The first augment you are offered is Prismatic tier.
- Prismatic Finisher4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
The last augment you are offered is Prismatic tier.
- Prismatic Party2.27% chance of being your Encounter this game
Every augment you are offered this game is Prismatic tier.
Free champions
- Howling Abyss6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with a board of five random 1-cost champions.
- Upgraded Start6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
Your starting champion arrives at 2 stars.
- 2 Cost Start6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with a random 2-cost champion.
- 3 Cost Start5.68% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with a random 3-cost champion.
Free items and emblems
- Completed Item Anvil6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with one completed-item anvil.
- Component Anvils6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with two component anvils.
- Item Forge3.41% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with two completed-item anvils.
- Emblem Ensemble2.27% chance of being your Encounter this game
You start with three random emblems.
Gold and levelling
- Final Showdown6.82% chance of being your Encounter this game
The last two players left alive each gain 70 gold.
- Cheaper Levels4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
Every level costs 2 less XP.
- Gold Subscription4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
Every stage, all players gain the same random amount of gold.
Extra rerolls
- Scouting Party4.55% chance of being your Encounter this game
You get one extra augment reroll for the whole game.
- Reroll Subscription3.41% chance of being your Encounter this game
You get free shop rerolls at the start of every stage.
No encounter
- No Encounter3.41% chance of being your Encounter this game
No Encounter this game. Augments and everything else proceed as normal.
Frequently asked questions
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What is an Encounter in TFT?
An Encounter is one rule drawn at random when the game starts. It sets the same rule for the whole lobby.
- Some give a one-time head start: a free unit, a unit that arrives upgraded, a completed item, or components.
- Others keep paying out: free shop rerolls or gold every stage.
- Others change the tier of augments you are offered, or reward the last two players standing.
Exactly one is drawn per game, and everyone plays under it.
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Do all players in the lobby get the same Encounter?
Yes. One Encounter is rolled for the whole game, not per player.
The entire lobby sits under the same rule, and nobody gets a better opener than you did. Official effect text is written for everyone:
- Some entries state that all players start with the same bonus.
- Others state that all players gain the same amount.
Nothing in the pool is chosen per player.
Note: that shared frame is what keeps scouting opponents useful.
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Can a game really have no Encounter at all?
Yes. "No Encounter" is a real entry in the pool, not a bug or a loading failure.
It sits alongside the effect entries and takes a low single-digit share of the draw. So a plain game with no opening rule is an intended outcome, not something going wrong.
Note: its exact share, and every other entry's, is listed on this page.
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Are all Encounters equally likely?
No. It is a weighted draw, not an even one.
- The most common entries come up about three times as often as the rarest.
- The biggest, most game-warping openers hold the smallest slices.
Riot publishes no odds table of its own. The figures on this page come from three independent community trackers that agree entry for entry.
Note: the community wiki shows an identical share beside every entry. That is a placeholder, not a measurement, so do not read it as an even split.
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Can I see, pick, reroll or skip the Encounter?
No, on all counts.
It is rolled as the game starts, not offered to you as a selection. No entry in the pool lets you preview, reroll, vote on or decline it. Augments, by contrast, are explicitly a pick: three choices at fixed points.
So there is nothing to play around beforehand. The skill is reading the opener once it lands.
Note: a free-reroll or gold opener rewards a different line than one handing everyone an item.
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Do Encounters only happen at the start of the game?
Only the draw. One Encounter is drawn at the start of the game, and none is drawn later.
What confuses this is that several keep acting long after the draw:
- Subscription-style entries pay out every stage.
- Some change the tier of augments you are offered.
- One rewards the last two players standing.
All of them sit in that single opening draw. The event fires once. Its effect can last all game.
Note: guides describing several Encounters per game, or one hijacking a Carousel, describe an older pool.
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How are Encounters different from Augments and Wisps?
An Encounter is drawn once for the whole lobby and sets one shared rule for the match. The other two work differently:
- Augments are picked by each player from their own offer of three at fixed points, so boards diverge.
- Wisps are this set's own shop buy: one per round, in the rightmost slot, taken during play rather than drawn at the start.
The Encounter is the only one of the three that is identical for everyone and involves no choice of your own.
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Why is an Encounter I remember no longer showing up?
The pool is retuned between patches. Entries judged too warping get removed and steadier ones added. So an opener you remember may simply no longer exist.
Riot's stated aim is less extreme variance, since much of a game's swing already comes from other systems. Nothing about your account or your luck changed.
Note: it also means odds lists age badly. One written for an older pool names entries that are gone and misses the new ones.