Welcome to my guide on the little devil everyone loves to hate (and play!) There is nothing more satisfying then having a barely living enemy hit one of your shrooms. On the flip side their is nothing more infuriating then hitting a shroom when you thought you made it out! And even though Teemo is known for his shrooms, his blinding dart is the bane of ADCs and hist wave clear, split push, and team fight damage is a force to be reckoned with. Teemo is just too fun and despite people groaning when you pick him, he will always be a benefit to your team.

This guide recommends the same runes and masteries for all damage builds. The reason is so we can take any route against any opponents with any teammates. If your team needs ad, you are ad, if your team needs ap, you are ap. Hybrid usually works best, but pure ad or ap works with these runes and masteries just fine. This allows you to not let your opponent build to counter you. You get to do the countering!

I will update matchups later. I just added to me the most important ones first.

Pros:

Highest damage top as of this point.

Even when behind shrooms are a force of vision and damage.

Shrooms can give you dominance in the vision game.

Shrooms can protect you from ganks in laning phase.

Blind neutralizes most ADCs for large chunks of a team fight.

Good maneuverability between fights with passive on w.

Team fight damage with Runaan's is absurd.

Can camp and assassinate carry's.

Global Taunt

Adorable

Who doesn't like to role play as Satan?


Cons:

Squishy, can be harrassed in lane by champs like pantheon.

Global Taunt, increases gank occurrence of your lane by enemy jungle.

W is poor escape, its just not great.

Placing shrooms can get you into trouble or put you out of position.

Placing shrooms takes time and can keep you away from where you are needed.

A good enemy team will use sweepers during team fights, making shrooms worthless.

Passive: GUERILLA WARFARE: Teemo's passive allows him to go invisible even outside of bushes (though faster in bushes) and set up a camping surprise attack anywhere. It also increases Teemo's Attack Speed when coming out of the invisibility. This allows Teemo to nuke any unaware carry.

Q: Blinding Dart: An incredible ability that lets you damage and blind your target for up to 2.5 seconds. That is an eternity for an adc not being able to participate in a team fight. As great as this is, it gets better. The Q resets your auto attack. This means if you auto attack then q, you can instantly auto attack again right away. This AA+Q+AA combo lets you apply thunderlords almost instantly. This can often result in your opponent to be over half dead before they realized Teemo is even there. Get This Ability second and max it second!

W: Move Quick: Teemo's W passive allows him to move faster out of combat. This allows him to shroom and move between lanes quickly with less time lost. The active allows him to chase opponent's or escape (though not as well as other champ's abilities). Take this ability at level 3 and max this ability last.

E: Toxic Shot: Teemo's E adds a poison dot to his auto attacks. When he gets a Runaan's Huricane this is applied to all three targets. His E is the highest source of damage and the reason Teemo can shred all opponent's and can be a threat in a team fight. Get this ability first and max it as soon as you can.

R: Noxious Trap: Teemo get to place a mushroom trap. This Mushroom Trap gives vision and explodes when an opponent or neutral monster comes into contact with it. The trap does an initial burst damage and applies a dot that does significant ap damage. When placed well, the shrooms can control the battle field and change even the most disadvantageous situations to victory. This is the reason teemo is hated and loved so strongly. Get points in this whenever possible.

Quints:
Attack Speed Quints are the only way to go here.
Marks:
I prefer pure ad runes to make laning last hitting easier, but hybrid are also good.
Seals:
Armors seals are standard for most champs. For top laners its pretty much a must. Since all champs auto attack and turrets do ad damage, armor is good on all champs.
Glyphs: I like MR here. Most champs do some magic daamage, even most adcs. MR gives more dueling ability. Scaling MR is better as ap is slower to build then ad in general. These can be swapped for ap glyphs or CDR glyphs for more shrooms. If I go CDR, I go with 6 scaling CDR to get the 10% cdr then still go scaling MR runes. More CDR means more blind duration and shrooms.

Not much play here for Keystones. Thunder lord's Decree is just too broken with Teemos AA+Q+AA combo. There are 3 places where changes are viable:

1. Secret Stash or Assassin: Secret Stash is better with Corrupting potion. Assassin is better otherwise.

2. Double Edge Sword or Bounty Hunter: Double Edge sword is better for higher ELO. Higher ELO games are shorter and Double Edge Sword can be utilized to get ahead faster. Also Higher ELO players are better at dodging and avoiding damage, minimizing the negative. Gold at the minimum should use double edge, but its better for platinum and above. Bounty Hunter is better for lower ELO. Lower ELO games (unranked, bronze, silver and lower gold) tend to last longer. Bounty hunter is likely to get stacked considering Teemo's already high damage and gives you even more bennefit with less drawback.

3. Green Father's Gift or Dangerous Game: Dangerous game is better for team fighting, but it ends there. Green Father's Gift is very useful for laning phase. You can dance in and out of the bushes to increase your damage a lot. Also Green Father's Gift allows you to lie in camp and nuke most who walk into your trap.

Knowing how to properly split push is a must for Teemo. Split pushing is how most people think that you have to play Teemo, but a good Teemo split pushes AND team fights. So here is split pushing 101.

In lower ELO you will see people who think that split pushing means they pick a lane that is different from the rest of the team and then push until someone shows. You fight them or retreat and then push or fall back. Rinse and Repeat. While this is SOMETIMES the way to split push, it is NOT the purpose to split push. You are playing a team game. Split pushing is part of a TEAM strategy. The goal of split pushing is to split your opponents. not to split your team. This screws up combos, causes people to get caught out, and causes uneven team fights.

Generally, you want to push a lane differently then your team and when a team fight is about to happen, join your team. If you do it right, you can often cause at least 1 opponent to break off to come take you out. But while they were traveling to you, you left to join your team via teleport or moving quickly when they don't have vision. This allows your team to push 5 against their 3 or 4. You kill the 3 or 4 with your advantage and then you either push as a team or split up and push multiple lanes as they are unable to stop you or take major objectives like baron. Rinse and repeat.

If they don't split off to handle you, push like a madman and backdoor them while your team plays safely and not letting them force the 4v5 disadvantageous fight. This defensive stance will slowly get pushed back while you back door. Usually they won't be able to stand this and the above situation will eventually happen. Kill them off piece by piece and win.

If you are fed and they only send 1 or 2 to stop you, you can kill them and keep pushing while your team ties them up. This will eventually cause them to send 2 or 3, leave a 2 or 1 to defend against 4. Run like a little demon and have your team push hard and kill the 1 or 2. This gives you the numbers advantage again.

With Teemo you have 1 more option, the fake retreat. You can push and when your out of vision go invisible in the path between the lane your in and the lane your team is in. When the enemy team splits your team pushes hard as above. Those that split try to rush back with abandon. That's when you pop out of invisibility and nuke them. They will be focused on the team fight and probably will be dead or on their way to it before they realize you were there. Then you join the team fight for a 5 V few and push to take at least 1 objective.

Also when Splitting with Teemo, shroom the lane your pushing. This makes it easier to escape over the shrooms AND if you leave and the try to push the lane back, the enemy minions will hit your shrooms and die causing the minions on your side to push themselves. This allows for a split push without even using a champion. You can also use this to set up a camp to catch people going to stop the minion waves.

Just remember two things:
1. You are never split pushing to win the game by yourself. You are split pushing to achieve favorable odds for your team to win the game.

2. Always be planning your next move. Split pushing is like a chess match. You are not doing something just to do it. You are doing something to control the behavior of your opponents and use the controlled behavior to your advantage.

Flash is a super useful spell. A staple for most champions. Teemo is no exception. Flashing to do your AA+Q+AA combo can finish lots of foes. Flashing out of the way of enemy spells that mean certain death also is very useful. A trick with Teemo is to flash over a wall into a bush and then go invisible inside the bush. This can result in some good surprise attacks.

Ignite is my usual second spell. Ignite on top of your poisons cause most people's death to be assured before they even realize they should have run sooner. It also helps shut down some counters like swain and mundo.

Teleport is another amazing choice for your second spell. This allows for even more split pushing. Never take teleport if you don't plan on doing at least some split pushing. You can take it against a hard lane opponent like pantheon to give your more backs, but you should try to split push even if your behind. Just make sure not to fight while split pushing. Just draw them off then teleport to team and push a team fight against the reduced enemy numbers.

Hybrid/ap Items:
Liandry's is the god item (or in this case devil item since its teemo) for teemo. It is amazing. You melt your opponents very fast the second you get it. It ticks with teemos e and shroom dot. It provides magic penn. It provides some hp for survivability. It provides flat ap. It's amazing. Most important item for AP/hybrid. Though I don't recommend it for AD builds, if you have to get a little extra ap or % health damage in, I could see an argument but I believe there are better items for pure ad. If you want % health shred, go hybrid.

Runaan's is how teemo wins. This gives teemo team fight ability and the ability to push a lane HARD when split pushing. The only time I don't get this is when I get a Rageblade instead and I end the game early, because if I do get rageblade I go back for hurricane as a 3rd or 4th item.

Gunblade is a must for ap and hybrid teemo to duel. Its use ability provides chase or escape and the healing effect allows teemo to trade really well. Lastly its flat hybrid damage which is always good for dueling.

Nashor's Tooth is a great item! Lots of damage, provides CDR for shrooms and blinds, its great for dueling. It is a little expensive and doesn't bring enough return for a first item in my opinion and other items are too important otherwise so this usually ends up being my 5th or 6th item. That said its amazing.

Rabadon's Deathcap is pretty sweet for damage output, especially for pure ap builds. It provides the most damage of any item for your e and second most for your q, though it comes in third for your shrooms. This is of course ignoring Liandry's which is the best in pretty much all the categories and is pretty much non-negotiable on whether you get it or not if your not pure ad. (Even then it might be on the table. Seriously Liandry's is that good.)

Void Staff is the primary alternative to Rabadon's. Void staff is more damage for shrooms then Rabadon's but less for e and r. Get void if you plan to focus shrooms or if they have 2 or more stacking MR to 150 or above. Its worth getting no matter what in my opinion if they have a galeo.

RageBlade is a great item if your fed. Its really expensive though and unless your fed it will delay your build too much. Don't get this with pure AD or AP builds, it just doesn't perform as well in those builds compared to other items. Also if you do get this as your second item, don't forget to pick up runaan's as a 3rd or 4th item. If I do get this, I usually run either nashor's or GA as my 6th maybe 5th item, since as a fed teemo your global aggro increases.

Luden's Echo is a powerful item for bursting foes. It really amps up shroom and q damage. Get this if they are squishy and watch them disappear. If you get this, I recommend getting Rabadon over void staff for the synergy.

AD only Items:
Blade of the Rune King can be gotten as a hybrid, but it's always a 5th or 6th item and is usually only gotten if halfway through they start stacking MR and you need to shift to more AD. It's usually my first go to AD item. Provides great damage, sustain, AS, and its use can be used for chasing, escaping, or strait dueling. AA note to beginner players, become good at using the active. It's not a great item if you don't use its active.

I know Runaan's was already mention, but its just that good. It gives AS, crit strike, team fight, and wave clear. It synergies well with Infinity edge too.

Infinity Edge is your primary damage item on AD teemo. It works well with the crit of Runaans and provides a nice chunk of ad. It's a huge damage boost getting this.

Guardian's Angel is an optional 5th or 6th item for hybrid, but I considerate critical for AD teemo. It provides flat AD, some armor (ALL CHAMPS auto attack. I have been killed with APC auto-attacks, it happens and is extremely annoying on any champ.), and and its passive revive can change the game. Also as AD teemo you cant just poke with q or shroom and run. You have to fight, this makes that a safer prospect.

Lord Dominik's Regard is the go to anti-tank item for teemo. Get it if they have 2 or more with lots of armor.

Get Mortal Reminder against high healing champs like mundo. That's it!

Bloodthirster is my go to item against teams with lots of ad and few tanks. Good for dueling and since teemo is usually the initiator thanks to his passive, it allows his first few bursty hits to still take advantage of life steal.

I rarely get Statik. But it is worth mentioning for squishy opponents if you are the type that likes to hide in a bush and surprise attack. The increased burst damage (note its ap) can help you melt an opponent before they even know your there. Worthless against tanky teams though. The crit will synergize well with IE. If you are only doing solo split push, not reccomended, you can use this in place of runaan's as it helps push the lane and allows for the bursting of champs that come to challenge you.

Defensive Items:
Banshee's Veil is better then ever on Teemo. It provides damage now too! AP is never bad, even on AD teemo as it always provides more damage with e. It's just not as good on AD teemo. That said if they have a good initiator like blitz or malphite this could be a god item on any build.

Teemo is squishy and cannot duel champs with serious nuking power not dependent fully on auto-attacks. Champs like zed, talon, veigar, fizz, and akali can nuke teemo before he realized they were there or can be nuked even if he gets the surprise. Zhonase prevents some of this when facing things like Zed's ult. Just like Banshee's Veil it can be a life saver in any spec and provides damage in any spec but is better in ap or hybrid builds. If the absolute worst should happen and your laning opponent is zed, take this as your first item and then continue as normal with liandry's etc. It's your only chance to survive.

I mentioned GA above in the AD section but Ill mention it again here. Armor is never a bad thing for any champ in the game even facing all ap champs as ap champs auto-attack and turrets do AD damage. AD is good in all builds as your auto-attacks is how you apply your e. Might as well do some bonus damage initially right? Finally the passive. With teemo's global taunt as a hidden passive, sometimes this is your only way to make it through a team fight. Also works great if you zhona's is on CD and zed shows up. Good item on any build. Great item on hybrid builds, godly item on AD builds.


Boots:
My go to for APC build's when I dont need the CDR from Boots of lucidity. The other time to build this is when going hybrid and the enemies are building some MR but not enough to justify void staff, which is usually the case. This is my most commonly purchased boots.

Berserker greaves are the primary choice for AD teemo. Also they make a good choice for hybrid teemo against all squishy champs team.

I buy these when I need the 10% to reach max CDR for maximum shrooms and maximum q uptime. Best boots for teemo support and for apc teemo against a nontanky team.

Only get these if your opponents are all ap and/or they are CC heavy. A CCed teemo is a dead teemo.

Not a common choice for me. Good if they have very little hard CC and you want to split a lot.

Almost never get these. Only get these against opponents that can destroy your shrooms easily like Yorick or Zyra. The reason for this is that Shrooming in lane becomes pointless and its better to push your lane out and then go shroom your jungle while they push it back in. You wont win those lanes so at least secure a safe jungle or grant vision to your allies (mid mostly) so they can win their lanes. Once you have Runaan's you can easily push it out enough to gank mid and shroom on your jungle and return in time to protect turret/CS the minions. This is the only time to get these.


Super Situational:
Wit's End is Solid versus AP tanks like Maokai if your playing as a hyrbrid or ap that plans to duel. Its also decent as an AD if they are all squish APC. Lastly it's good for fighting tanks going with a damage build like AP alistar no matter your spec. The reason for this is the passive will reduce the enemies base Magic resist and give it to you. This allows you to survive them much easier and causes you to do either true damage or close to it with your e or other spells after a few auto-attacks. Any other situation, this is lack luster.

Some People swear by frozen mallet. It provides some tankiness and allows you to control champs without gap close or ways to clear the slow completely. Lastly it provides some ad for ad build teemo. Very situational. I'd only use it against champs like Udyr for example. Not my cup of tea but some people love it. It's a solid choice for tank teemo builds though.

For the AD teemo that likes his bushes. Let's you do some serious nuking if you are in a bush or your passive has triggered. A fun item to play around with but I find there are better ones unless you are a camper.