Teemo Build Guide by pocketherc

Introduction

Teemo is one of the most underappreciated champions in the league right now, used more for counter picking champions than anything else. I'm here to prove to you that teemo is not only viable, but excels in the position of AP carry. The rallying cry of doubters that i have to address first is that the problem with AP teemo is how susceptible he is to the enemy team getting an oracles. Yes, the champion with the oracles can clear shrooms, however there are ways to exploit players getting an oracles. With aggressive shoves, you can pin champions to a lane, and targeted ganks can make the 400 gold investment into a loss for the enemy team. I digress, back to AP teemo.

Pro's and Cons

Runes

Wont go into much detail here, pretty standard pickups for an AP carry. Sometimes when i'm feeling crazy i like to change out my ap quints for flat magic pen.

Only thing really noteworthy is my decision making behind my seals, Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration.

When the jungle was patched to make jungling much easier, a new breed of Off-junglers was formed. Rammus, Olaf, Cho'gath just to name a few. I call these characters Off-junglers, as their kit isn't necessarily for the jungle specifically, like a character such as nunu. This new breed is much more dependant on blue buff, therefore i like taking Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regenerations for my yellows, incase my jungler can't gift as often as I'd like.

Masteries

Pretty self explanatory, I like putting 9 in utility for the buff duration, as red and blue are both very on any teemo.

Items

Malady: Gives teemo a lot of good stats he needs: the stacking magic resist shred means the more you auto attack, the more damage your poison is doing, attack speed compliments the shred, and the ability power is your first step towards being the AP carry your team needs. (sold hyper-late game for your void staff)

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: The health gives you sustain in team fights, the ability power means your shrooms, blind and poison are starting to hit like a truck, and the passive slow on abilities means that your shrooms now = death if someone gets caught out of position.

Note: The passive slow applies to Teemo's Blinding Dart and Noxious Trap, but not to his Toxic Shot

Rabadon's Deathcap: Now you're carrying. The enemy team is crying when they step on a shroom, you're poison takes away WAY too much health, and blinding dart not only blinds their AD carry in team fights, but takes away a sizable portion of their health.

Nashor's Tooth: AP, attack speed for your poison, CDR and mana regen for your shrooms, this item was built for Teemo. You'll find your shrooms come up more often, and placing them doesn't run you out of mana like it used to.

Guardian Angel: I'm a big fan of the guardian angel on Teemo. As it gives you magic resist as well as armor, it essentially makes your health much more efficient in general. This item compliments the Rylai's Crystal Scepter very well for this reason.

A lot of people have asked my why i don't build a Zhonya's Hourglass on Teemo, and my answer is this. To use Zhonia's active, you are giving up your ability to kite, which i feel is one of AP Teemo's strongest tools. The passive guardian angel gives you can be invaluable in team fights where you're carrying and they decide to focus you, without giving away your ability to kite. Also you get two different types of resistances, making your health that much more cost effective.

Void Staff: Pretty easy to understand. At this point, then enemy team will have their defensive items, and the void staff makes your AP as cost effective as possible

Skill Sequence

Toxic Shot should be maxed first, you want your poison doing as much damage as possible.

Blinding Dart should be maxed second, as it becomes your single target nuke in the mid game team fights.

Move Quick should be maxed last, as it is used mainly for utility, and has small bearing in team fights.

Note: Noxious Trap should always have points put in it at level 6, 11, and 16.

Summoner Spells

Flash Your utility spell. Use it to escape that Gangplank barreling toward you every team fight, or to get that last blinding dart in to finish the Brand trying to get away.

Ignite coupled with your two different poisons creates a DOT that many champions find hard to endure. You'll be very surprised how much poison DPS goes up when a champion is also ignited.

Alternative (but lesser in my humble opinion) spells include: Ghost and Cleanse. Surge can be useful too, but I've never been a fan of it.

Shrooms Shrooms Shrooms

This section will be dedicated entirely to mushroom placement.


Without making a super in depth guide to mushroom placement and keeping this as an overview, there are two rules one should keep in mind.

• As a rule of thumb place your shrooms in high traffic areas, as shown on the above map, including objectives and tight areas such as tri bush. (these are just my favorite spots)
  
• Place your shrooms in one of two ways.
  -To trigger as an opponent walks on it
  -Off to the side enough to see your opponent walk by it, but not trigger it. Therefore you know where they are, and they don't know you know

Tips and Summary

Tips

• If you can, blind the enemy AD carry in team fights.
  
• Try to coordinate you team to initiate when enemies have stepped on traps, before they compose themselves.
  
• In the lane phase, try to keep a few shrooms placed strategically to fall back to in case of ganks. A well placed mushroom can turn a death into a double kill.
  
• Your blind is very powerful against many champions, use it as much for the blind as you will for the nuke.