How Does Double Up! Work in TFT – Explained (2022)

From competitive ballroom dancing to bank robbery, some things are just better with a partner. But what about TFT? Sure, you can queue up with your friends, but at the end of the day it’s really a solo sport. At the end of previous days, that is—because at the end of this day you can play Double Up!

In Double Up!, you share your wins, losses, and even some of your champions (more on that later) with one other player. You can queue up with someone from your friend list, or you can roll the dice and match with someone randomly. Either way, you’ll never face that player in battle.

You and your partner share the same health pool, which means that if you take a hit, they also take a hit. (No pressure.) But don’t worry, because, in Double Up!, you get double chances! The first time you and your partner go down, you’ll be revived with 1 HP so you can keep on fighting. If either of you loses again though, it’s really game over.

When one partner finishes up their battle at least 3 seconds before the other, they send their remaining champs to join the battle that’s still going. Champions who hop to the other board bring permanent stacks, item effects, and any bonuses from their traits and Hextech Augments, but they don’t gain any new bonuses or add to any traits on the new board. 

If a trait or ability grants a stack that would usually reset at the end of a round, it resets before champions arrive as reinforcements. Mana also resets, but champions keep the HP they had at the end of their own battle.

While reinforcement champs don’t add any damage to the enemy player upon victory, they do make it a whole lot easier to win in the first place.

Reinforcements are great and all, but how about something a little more permanent? Well, by equipping a Rune of Allegiance to one of your champs, you can send them to become members of your partner’s family for good. 

But that’s not all! Any items the champion is holding are sent over as well, but instead of staying equipped to the champ, they bounce over in a loot bubble so that the partner player can use them however they want. Every player receives one Rune of Allegiance at the beginning of the game, plus another at stages 4-2 and a third at 6-1.

We all need a little help sometimes. On stages 2-5 and 6-2, one player from each team gains access to an Assist Armory, then the other player gets their chance to return the favor on stages 2-6 and 6-3. This special armory lets you send each other some really helpful stuff, like item components and gold. Heck, in the second Assist Armory, you can even send over completed items and trait emblems!

The Assist Armory can really come in clutch, so communication is key. Not paired up with a talkative player? Remember that you can take a look at their board to see what they might need.

Double Up! may just be in beta, but we’re still making it competitive! Just like in Hyper Roll, every game you play will add or subtract from your Double Up Rating. Hyper Roll players will also recognize the ranks themselves, as they share the same colors and point thresholds:

But how does Double Up Rating work with two people? It’s simple, really: the player with the lower rank determines the change for both players, win or lose. So, if Player 1 would lose 80 Double Up Rating and Player 2 would lose 10, both players lose 10 Double Up Rating. That can be a bit of a double-edged sword, because while it means you fall slower, it also means that you climb slower. If you care a lot about ranking, the best strategy is to play with another player whose rank is similar to your own.

You’ll receive a participation reward just for playing, no matter how high you rank. And who knows? If you reach the higher ranks, you may just get something extra special…

Also read: How To Use Emotes in Teamfight Tactics?

Does Double Up! Xp Count Toward The Pass?

Yup! Your double battles will contribute to pass progression, so don’t worry about taking time away from the standard mode. It also counts toward LoL event tokens!

What If I Want To Surrender?

Like everything in Double Up!, surrendering is a team decision. If one player wants to surrender, they can initiate the process once the game has been going for at least 10 minutes, giving the other player a chance to accept or deny the surrender. (If the other player is AFK, they’ll accept the surrender automatically.)

The Double Up! Is Staying Permanently

When Riot Games introduced Double Up as a fun way to play Teamfight Tactics with a buddy, the developers thought they’d eventually remove it from the live servers for improvements around League of Legends Patch 12.2. They didn’t expect the beta to pop off with the player base, and as a result, they’ll be keeping the mode around for the foreseeable future.

“Double Up has exceeded all of our expectations,” Riot’s TFT communications lead Rodger Caudill said. “We’re gobsmacked by its success, and now we’re in a world where taking Double Up off of live servers would be a disservice to all of you who not only play lots of Double Up, but also those who play Double Up as their primary game mode.”

Now that Riot has decided to keep Double Up on the live servers, however, this means that changes to the game mode will take a bit more time to execute. There are multiple updates that the devs have in the works, including a unique ranked system for the mode, enhanced clarity for specific Double Up elements, and building healthy composition metas.

Riot specifically wants to balance out Rune of Allegiance’s impact on Double Up since it “adds a lot of reliability and consistency to the game.” But the devs want more variance in player builds within the meta so that they aren’t completely reliant on trading champions to guarantee high placements and wins.

Riot is also checking out the possibility of lobbies with more than two players. The complications set in once matchmaking and LP gains are considered, and because of this, the team is experimenting on a system that shuts off LP gain if there are more than two players in a given group.

Once Double Up is finally out of its beta phase, Riot is looking to add new elements that are exclusive to the game mode. One idea that the devs have been floating around is the introduction of new augments that are only available in the game mode. One augment idea, for example, was that a teammate could leave a random unit on your board after joining your army in a battle.

The future is bright for Double Up, so find your partner and get ready to climb up the ladder to victory.

Also read: Does TFT Give XP?

Here’s every change coming to TFT’s Double Up mode

Get ready for a number of big changes taking place in the near future.

A total of six big changes, along with a number of smaller improvements, will be made to Teamfight Tactics Double Up without the mode getting taken down from the live servers, according to Riot Games. 

Riot introduced the TFT Double Up mode with the release of Set Six Gizmos and Gadgets, expecting to take it off the live servers prior to the launch of Set 6.5 for upgrades and improvements. The mode allows players to compete with friends in a two-vs-two environment via a lobby of four teams and eight players. Due to the popularity of Double Up, though, the mode will remain active. And a large number of improvements and concepts are slated to take place with the release of Set Seven. 

Small changes to TFT Double Up will slowly be made throughout the duration of Set Six and 6.5, according to Riot. Some of the improvements that will take place once the mode leaves its beta include changes to the carousel and exclusive Double Up Augments, along with a goal of implementing six big alterations with the release of Set Seven. 

Here are the six major changes Riot plans to add to TFT Double Up.

Double Up Lobbies With More Than Two-Player Teams

Playing with friends against other friends via Double Up has been a huge hit within TFT. Creating lobbies that have more than two-player teams, however, “creates different complexities for matchmaking and LP gains,” according to Riot. The TFT team is working on a system that includes more than two players in which earning LP will get shut off. 

Double Up Ranked System

The release of Double Up copied the same ranked system applied to the Hyper Roll mode within TFT. The upcoming changes will allow competitors to play with whoever they want without rank being an issue while also “maintaining competitive integrity,” according to Riot. 

Double Up Communication Improvements For Solo Players

Queuing into a Double Up game doesn’t require players to have a friend on standby. Solo players are randomly paired and have the option to use voice as a means of communication. The TFT team wants to add additional communication features for players who can’t or don’t want to use the voice option. 

Also read: Best Apps for Teamfight Tactics

Double Up Visual And Reinforcement Improvements

Working together with a teammate to reinforce their board state is an integral part of Double Up. The upcoming changes will attempt to add “clarity around reinforcements, while also making team colors clearer,” according to Riot. 

Defined Double Up Rules

Inconsistencies still exist within TFT Double Up, especially when it comes to reinforcing champions that travel over to your partner’s fight that’s still taking place. Defined rules that are applied to each champion when they reinforce will help players strategize better upon aiding their partner.

Double Up Meta and Balancing

The Rune of Allegiance has played a major role within the Double Up TFT meta, allowing players to work together toward three-star champions. Riot wants to make sure the meta isn’t solely focused on three-star champions, providing a unique meta to the mode that’s fair and balanced. 

Also read: Augments in Teamfight Tactics – The Ultimate Guide

Conclusion

Double up is a great mode that grants you the opportunity to play with your buddies the game of TFT and with your combined strengths and powers win some LP. 

You will never again be condemned to finish your friend while remaining the last two in the field, since now you can celebrate that victory together and both receive the same amount of LP that you would if you won a game of TFT.

I couldn’t be happier that Riot has decided to keep this mode since it opened up so many new opportunities and brought along many new players to the world of Teamfight Tactics. Great job Riot, keep it up!