Q: What is Untargetable in TFT?

An untargetable unit cannot be picked as the target of a new effect. It is no longer a valid target for auras, unit-targeted, auto-targeted, direction-targeted and location-targeted effects. Basic attacks, abilities, items, and runes that need to pick a target simply cannot pick the unit. The unit stays on the board and stays fully visible. Every buff and debuff already on it keeps running. What untargetable stops is a new effect trying to pick the unit as its target. Whether it can still move, attack, and cast depends on the effect that granted the window, not on untargetability itself. Note: Untargetable is a targeting filter, not a damage filter. By itself it does not reduce damage that gets through other paths. See the AoE and DoT questions below.

Q: What's the difference between Untargetable, Invulnerable, and Stealth?

There are two protection layers, and one older name for the first of them. Untargetable: effects that need to pick a target cannot pick this unit. Stealth: an older name for that same untargetable state, not a third layer. Invulnerable : a damage filter, and the genuinely different one. With Untargetable, attackers and target-acquiring abilities have to drop the unit and re-acquire someone else. The unit still takes damage from debuffs already on it and from some splash. Older patch notes and a lot of community writing say "stealthed" for exactly this state. It is the same state, so both names point here. It does not hide the unit. TFT has no fog of war, so the unit stays fully visible on the board. Untargetable is a targeting filter, so on its own it says nothing about whether the unit can act. Item-granted stealth windows let it keep attacking and casting. Stasis-style effects also freeze the unit for the duration. That freeze comes from the effect that granted the window, not from untargetability. Losing the enemy's target-lock is part of untargetability itself, not an extra that only the older name carries. Invulnerable "reduces all damage taken to 0 ," including true damage. The unit can still be selected as a target and can still be CC'd (crowd controlled). Note: A single buff can grant both layers at once. Stasis-style effects, for example, apply Untargetable + Invulnerable in the same window.

Q: Does Untargetable block AoE damage and persistent ground zones?

Mostly no. Untargetable is a targeting filter . It stops effects that need to pick this unit as a target. Persistent ground zones (burn pools, searing fields, location-effects already laid down) keep ticking on whoever is standing in them. AoE (area of effect) secondary damage from an ability that hit a different primary target can still splash into an untargetable unit nearby. The protective rule of thumb: if the damage source needs to acquire your unit before it fires, untargetable blocks it. If the damage source is already on the ground or already chose a different anchor, untargetable does not save you. Note: One thing muddies the test in practice. Some effects bundle heavy damage reduction into the same window as the untargetable buff, so you may see no damage land at all. That is the bundled damage reduction doing the work, not untargetability.

Q: What happens to an in-flight projectile when its target becomes Untargetable?

Most targeted projectiles are destroyed. The wiki rule says "the act of becoming untargetable will also interrupt any effects that have already acquired the unit as a target". Target commands are its example of such an effect. It adds that "most untargetabilities will additionally destroy all incoming targeted projectiles". The wiki's listed examples of destroyed projectiles: long-range targeted ultimates. bouncing-blade-style auto-attacks. single-target slow-projectiles. turret shots. Note: Skill-shots that travel as ground hitboxes are not target-acquired projectiles. That means a line, a cone, or a circle landing on a hex rather than tracking a unit. The same rule does not destroy them. They keep traveling and can still clip a unit standing in their path.

Question 1

What is Untargetable in TFT?

Accepted Answer

An untargetable unit cannot be picked as the target of a new effect. It is no longer a valid target for auras, unit-targeted, auto-targeted, direction-targeted and location-targeted effects. Basic attacks, abilities, items, and runes that need to pick a target simply cannot pick the unit.

The unit stays on the board and stays fully visible.
Every buff and debuff already on it keeps running.
What untargetable stops is a new effect trying to pick the unit as its target.
Whether it can still move, attack, and cast depends on the effect that granted the window, not on untargetability itself.

Note: Untargetable is a targeting filter, not a damage filter. By itself it does not reduce damage that gets through other paths. See the AoE and DoT questions below.

Question 2

What's the difference between Untargetable, Invulnerable, and Stealth?

Accepted Answer

There are two protection layers, and one older name for the first of them.

Untargetable: effects that need to pick a target cannot pick this unit.
Stealth: an older name for that same untargetable state, not a third layer.
Invulnerable: a damage filter, and the genuinely different one.

With Untargetable, attackers and target-acquiring abilities have to drop the unit and re-acquire someone else. The unit still takes damage from debuffs already on it and from some splash. Older patch notes and a lot of community writing say "stealthed" for exactly this state. It is the same state, so both names point here. It does not hide the unit. TFT has no fog of war, so the unit stays fully visible on the board.

Untargetable is a targeting filter, so on its own it says nothing about whether the unit can act. Item-granted stealth windows let it keep attacking and casting. Stasis-style effects also freeze the unit for the duration. That freeze comes from the effect that granted the window, not from untargetability. Losing the enemy's target-lock is part of untargetability itself, not an extra that only the older name carries.

Invulnerable "reduces all damage taken to 0," including true damage. The unit can still be selected as a target and can still be CC'd (crowd controlled).

Note: A single buff can grant both layers at once. Stasis-style effects, for example, apply Untargetable + Invulnerable in the same window.

Question 3

Does Untargetable block AoE damage and persistent ground zones?

Accepted Answer

Mostly no. Untargetable is a targeting filter. It stops effects that need to pick this unit as a target.

Persistent ground zones (burn pools, searing fields, location-effects already laid down) keep ticking on whoever is standing in them.
AoE (area of effect) secondary damage from an ability that hit a different primary target can still splash into an untargetable unit nearby.

The protective rule of thumb: if the damage source needs to acquire your unit before it fires, untargetable blocks it. If the damage source is already on the ground or already chose a different anchor, untargetable does not save you.

Note: One thing muddies the test in practice. Some effects bundle heavy damage reduction into the same window as the untargetable buff, so you may see no damage land at all. That is the bundled damage reduction doing the work, not untargetability.

Question 4

If a unit becomes Untargetable while a damage-over-time is already on it, does the DoT keep ticking?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The wiki's rule is explicit: "Effects that have already been applied, such as buffs or debuffs, are not invalidated by untargetability". Damage-over-time is called out as a notable example.

A burn that landed before the untargetable window will keep ticking through the window. It runs for its full remaining duration and deals its full true-damage payload.

The same logic applies to other pre-applied debuffs. They all persist:

Note: To strip a pre-applied DoT (damage over time) or debuff you need a cleanse, not an untargetable buff.

Question 5

What happens to an in-flight projectile when its target becomes Untargetable?

Accepted Answer

Most targeted projectiles are destroyed. The wiki rule says "the act of becoming untargetable will also interrupt any effects that have already acquired the unit as a target". Target commands are its example of such an effect. It adds that "most untargetabilities will additionally destroy all incoming targeted projectiles".

The wiki's listed examples of destroyed projectiles:

long-range targeted ultimates.
bouncing-blade-style auto-attacks.
single-target slow-projectiles.
turret shots.

Note: Skill-shots that travel as ground hitboxes are not target-acquired projectiles. That means a line, a cone, or a circle landing on a hex rather than tracking a unit. The same rule does not destroy them. They keep traveling and can still clip a unit standing in their path.

Question 6

Does the enemy's attack target re-pick when their current target becomes Untargetable?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The rule is: "Non-champion units (e.g. turrets, minions, monsters) will lose aggro if their target becomes untargetable". The same applies to TFT board units. Once the current target is invalid, the attacker re-acquires per the standard targeting rules: closest valid enemy in range, otherwise walk toward one.

This is why a brief untargetable window on a frontliner can buy a full attack-cycle reset on the enemy carry. The carry has to drop the old target, pick a new one, then start a fresh wind-up.

Note: Plan finishers around the moment the window expires. That is when targeting locks back on.

Question 7

Can a unit still be healed or buffed by allies (or itself) while Untargetable?

Accepted Answer

Partly, and one piece of it is genuinely unknown.

What keeps working:

Everything already on the unit. A heal-over-time, a shield, or a buff that landed before the window started is not invalidated, so it runs out its full duration.
Whatever its own window came with. The untargetable buffs meant to repair a unit carry the healing inside the same effect rather than waiting on an outside caster.
Its own actions, when the granting effect leaves the unit free to act. It can keep attacking and casting through the window.

What is genuinely open is the case people ask about most. That is a brand-new heal or shield cast after the window is already up, by an ally or by the unit itself. The written rule says an untargetable unit is not a valid target for aura, unit-targeted, auto-targeted, direction-targeted and location-targeted effects. It carves out no exception for allies. Where an effect really is one-sided, the wording says so out loud ("untargetable to allies only", "untargetable to enemies who are outside of it"). No TFT source states the outcome either way. Treat it as unknown, and do not build a line whose survival depends on a friendly heal reaching the unit mid-window.

Note: One thing is settled. The stasis-style window (untargetable + invulnerable + the unit's own actions paused) locks both sides out for its full duration. Nothing gets in, and the unit does nothing.

Question 8

Does becoming Untargetable cleanse existing crowd control, or only block new effects?

Accepted Answer

It only blocks new target-acquisitions. It does not strip what is already on the unit.

To clear an in-progress stun you need a cleanse-class effect, not an untargetable buff. A cleanse-class effect is one that explicitly removes existing crowd control.

Note: Many TFT mechanics deliberately pair the two: a one-shot cleanse plus a follow-up untargetable window. They do so precisely because untargetability alone cannot save a unit that was already locked down.

Untargetable

Items that grant Untargetability (3)

Champions that grant Untargetability (1)

What enables Untargetable (1)

Wisps that benefit from Untargetability (1)

What benefits from Untargetable (1)

What Untargetable counters

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Items that grant Untargetability (3) #

Champions that grant Untargetability (1) #