TFTraitsTFT Set 18 Trait Ladder guide: how to hit 14+ active traits
The Trait Ladder augment hands you an emblem and pays you every time your board reaches the next active-trait milestone. We compared every possible Set 18 comp to find the exact ceilings, the three routes to 14 traits, and the one champion who breaks the level-9 wall.
Trait Ladder is a Set 18 augment that pays you for going wide. On pickup it hands you a random emblem, and from then on it rewards you each time your board reaches the next count of active non-unique traits: the first reward at 2, then more traits for a bigger reward, step by step. The 12-trait step pays out a crown that lets you field an extra champion. Because the augment always starts you with an emblem, every number in this guide assumes you are holding at least one.
The exact ceilings, level by level
Counting only non-unique traits (the ones the augment counts), here is the exact ceiling of every route at every level. The augment always starts you with an emblem, so every column includes it. Crown columns field one champion more than your level, and the Kha'Zix columns field a fully evolved Kha'Zix (all four evolution traits):
| Level | Emblem | Emblem + crown | 2 emblems + crown | Emblem + Kha'Zix | Emblem + Kha'Zix + crown | 2 emblems + Kha'Zix + crown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
| 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
| 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 7 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
| 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| 9 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 10 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
Each cell is the highest number of active non-unique traits any comp can reach on that route at that level.
You can verify any cell yourself: here is the crown board with an Inferno emblem (14 traits) and the fully evolved Kha'Zix crown board reaching 16. One quirk is worth knowing: which emblem you are given matters. Coven is the only trait that needs 3 units to activate instead of 2, so a Coven emblem often trails this table by one.
What each step pays
The ladder climbs one trait at a time, from 2 all the way to 14, and every step drops loot the moment your board fields that many active traits in a player combat:
| Active traits | Reward |
|---|---|
| 2 | 1 Reforger |
| 3 | 1 gold + 1 Magnetic Remover |
| 4 | 3 gold |
| 5 | 1 item component |
| 6 | 9 gold, or two 3-cost champions + 2 gold |
| 7 | Thief's Gloves, or 3 component anvils + 5 gold |
| 8 | 1 completed item anvil, or 2 components + 1 Reforger |
| 9 | Three 5-cost champions + 5 gold, or 4 completed item anvils + 2 gold |
| 10 | 25 gold |
| 11 | 2 completed item anvils, or six 4-cost champions + 3 Lucky Item Chests |
| 12 | Tactician's Crown, Cape, or Shield (the extra-champion slot, about 1 in 3 each) |
| 13 | Radiant Thief's Gloves + Magnetic Remover, or Radiant Lucky Item Chest + Magnetic Remover |
| 14 | 3 Masterwork Upgrades |
The ladder ends at step 14, and its last two steps pay the best loot in the game. The rest of this guide is about reaching them.
The three routes to 14 traits
For the emblem routes there is a floor: with 9 champions they cap at 12, even holding two emblems, so 14 needs a 10-champion board. A fully evolved Kha'Zix is the one thing that breaks the level-9 wall. Three ways up, from the augment's starting point:
| Route | What you need | 14 unlocks at | Ceiling with the crown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The crown itself | nothing extra | level 10 + crown | 14 |
| 2. A second emblem | one more emblem | level 10, or level 9 + crown | 15 |
| 3. Evolve Kha'Zix | a fully evolved Kha'Zix | level 9 | 16 |
Route 1: ride the ladder itself. At level 10 your emblem board can reach 13 active traits, which clears the 12-trait step and pays the crown. The 11-champion board then reaches 14 with no other help: here is the Inferno emblem version, and you can open one of those boards in the Team Builder to plan positions.
Route 2: find a second emblem. The right two emblems reach 14 on a 10-champion board, so this route unlocks 14 a full level earlier: at level 10 before the crown, or at level 9 once the crown lands. Here is a level-10 search with Blackthorn + Blossom emblems hitting 14. On the crown board two emblems reach 15, shown here with Blackthorn + Lunar. Emblems keep stacking past this point, but then you are describing luck rather than a plan: with three actual emblems and no Kha'Zix at all, a single board even reaches 16.
Route 3: evolve Kha'Zix. Each Kha'Zix evolution lets you pick one of Executioner, Rapidfire, Ravager, or Spellweaver, and a fully evolved Kha'Zix carries all four. On top of Rival activating with him alone, that makes him the strongest route on the ladder: with your free emblem he reaches 14 already at level 9, 15 on a 10-champion board, and 16 on the crown board. That crown search is the image at the top of this article, with Kha'Zix in every comp. Land a second emblem on top of all that and a single board reaches 17, the absolute ceiling of the set.
Plan your own ladder climb
Open the Set 18 PBE explorer, pick the Bronze scoring style (it maximizes the count of active traits, which is exactly what the augment checks), set the level to your real board size (11 once you have the crown), add whatever emblems you are holding, and press Search. The result list shows every ceiling comp, each with a Build button to plan positioning. When the PBE patches, the searches recompute automatically, so a saved link always reflects current data.