Teemo Build Guide by noiree

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my first guide. Teemo was one of the first champions I ever played and to be honest, the only reason I tried him was because he was so damn cute! I quickly learned that his cuteness is only matched by how fun he is to play. While exceeding at stealthy sneak attacks and getting the heck out of any sticky situation with ease, he is also an excellent support or can carry a team to victory!

This build order is by no means done. Unfortunately I do not have as much time to play League anymore.. therefore I am looking to YOUR comments in order to improve as much as possible!
Please make a suggestion before down voting, thank you!

UPDATE - 12-04-2013
Added Mastery section, Match-ups section, and new pretty layout o.o. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Q&A and Suggestions from Commenters

Questions and Suggestions which are asked in the comments section may be added to this section. If you wish to remain anonymous, please ask your question via the messaging system. Thanks!



stanboy67 asked:
Can u add like a map of the recommended bushes or places to place shrooms XD Thanks a lot and love the build super fun to play Teemo now.
Coming Soon!!



Xolgorim suggested:
I would suggest to take in Guardian Angel as an Option.
Good point. I don't have very many defensive items in this build! A reason I have found for this is because so many defensive AP items include large chunks of mana, which are pretty much wasted on Teemo. There are a few exceptions however, I have now added them in the Situational Items list.



koanaa suggested:
I like this guide, good choices on items^^ but I would like to add a situational item to the list:
Morellonomicon, it inflicts Grievous Wounds to enemies <40%HP and is triggered by Toxic Shot which can help secure a kill if ignite is on CD / you didn't take it.
Thanks for the suggestion! This is indeed an excellent item for Teemo, it's also pretty cheap! I've added it to the Situational Items list.



Smiddy suggested:
First of all great guide. My only concern is the Rylai's Crystal Scepter. I prefer the Frozen Mallet just from the sheer fact that your Toxic Shot no longer activates the scepter. With the added affect of Runaan's Hurricane I like the continues slow to 3 enemy team members during team fights. I do understand that it strays from the full AP build but just thought it would help others.
You are correct that Rylai's Scepter does not proc from Toxic Shot. I use the scepter's ability when chasing, slowing, or escaping from enemies using Blinding Dart. The mallet is a decent item when paired with Runaan's Hurricane because of the added AD and 2 additional slows, however is more suited for a hybrid build. This guide does start out hybrid, however the end result is AP heavy, and frozen mallet just doesn't fit in. However, if you DO want to explore hybrid, I definitely recommend this item.



Saintz920 asked:
Quick question: Liandry's Torment proc Teemo's toxic shot?? Please confirm thank you in advance!!
Liandry's Torment does not proc from Toxic Shot or Malady - a very important item in this build. This item however does have its place for Teemo to consider. While it doesn't proc from Toxic Shot, it does proc from both Blinding Dart AND Noxious Trap. Most importantly, it does MASSIVE damage with Noxious Trap due to the slowing affect and the damage over time. This has now been added to the Situational Items list!



shamas888 suggested:
I think its a great guide....my only knock is that i think Teleport is a great summoner spell for Teemo considering that he can TP to his shrooms for an easy gank. So I think its a very useful spell for him. besides that, great job!
Teleport is a nice summoner spell for Teemo due to his ability to shroom jump. However I would only recommend this for a Summoner who does not have access to both Flash (for escape) and Ignite (for offence). Because Teemo has such amazing speed, ganking and running back to your turret is quite easy. Ganking on Teemo is especially easy because many people just assume he is using his passive, Camouflage and they don't bother calling MIA.

Thank you!

This is now the #1 Teemo guide on Mobafire!

I never thought that my love for Teemo would make it this far. Teemo will always and forever have a special place in my heart =). I wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to all of you out there who voted, commented, or even destroyed me in combat while testing many different builds :P. This guide would be nothing without your support!

As always, please, please, please message me here on Mobafire or even in-game (Noiree) if you have any questions or would even like to suggest anything to make this guide better!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Noiree - 25-10-2012

Pros / Cons - Teemo in general

Pros

+ Excellent escape abilities (shroom slow, increase speed skills)
+ Blind (shuts down melee)
+ One of the fastest champs in the game (great for ganks or turret saving)
+ Practically free wards
+ Great farming ability

Cons

- Extremely squishy
- Always focused
- Short range (compared to other ranged)
- Can be shut down by Oracle's Elixir/ Vision Ward

Skills

Camouflage
If Teemo stands still and takes no actions for 2 seconds, he becomes stealthed indefinitely. After leaving stealth, Teemo gains the Element of Surprise, increasing his attack speed by 40% for 2 seconds.
I think this passive is fantastic! Use it to rush to your lane at the start of the game and become a living ward, providing sight for your teammates in the bushes, or for a sneak attack. Remember the 40% increase attack speed for 2 seconds! (Note: to prevent your auto attacks from hitting anything in range, press 'S' where you want to Stop.)




Blinding Dart
Obscures an enemy's vision with a powerful venom, dealing damage to the target unit and causing all attacks to miss for the duration. Deals 80/125/170/215/260 (+0.8 AP) magic damage and causes the target to miss all of their attacks for 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 seconds.
I put an early level 2 point into this skill. It extends the range of our harass, does decent damage and blinds - which is great against any melee who chase you or for preventing gold farm in your lane. I find that one point is enough and our other skills are much more important to max first.




Move Quick
Passive: Teemo's Movement Speed is increased by 10/14/18/22/26% unless he has been damaged by an enemy champion or turret in the last 5 seconds. Active: Teemo sprints, gaining twice his normal bonus for 3 seconds. This bonus is not lost when struck.
Fourth point goes in here and max it third. I place higher priority on this than dart because of the amazing movement speed boost. Plus it's Active will allow you to escape almost any gank.




Toxic Shot
Teemo's basic attacks poison their target, dealing 10/20/30/40/50 (+0.3 AP) magical damage upon impact and 6/12/18/24/30 (+0.10 AP) magical damage each second for 4 seconds.
First point here and this skill should be maxed first after our mushrooms. The majority of our damage will come from this skill. Remember that the DoT does not stack, but it is refreshed upon auto attack. This skill also let's us run away from a fight and still end up killing the enemy with the DoT. With the recent buff to this skill, attack speed is now even more important. Our on-hit damage with a +30% AP ratio is pretty good, taking chunks of life away like a boss. I like to put our first point here because it makes getting last hits extremely easy.




Noxious Trap
Uses a stored mushroom to place a trap that detonates if an enemy steps on it, spreading poison to nearby enemies that slows movement speed by 30/40/50% and deals 200/325/450 (+0.8 AP) magic damage over 4 seconds. Traps last 10 minutes, Teemo can store a maximum of 3 traps on his at once.
Being our ultimate, you should put a point in here whenever it become available. As an AP Teemo, these mushrooms hurt. They hurt A LOT. I can't even count how many kills I've received while back at my base - make sure place them in high traffic areas where minions are not likely to burst them. I'll cover placement more in depth in another chapter.

Runes

Greater Glyph of Ability Power x9 - As an AP carry, glyphs offer the best boost to Ability Power. I choose the flat AP glyphs as I believe that both runes and masteries offer the best advantage in early game and lose their efficiency in late game.
or
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power - If you'd like to build for a late game, I would recommend these instead. They become as effective as the Glyph of Potency at level 6 so you wont be sacrificing all that much.



Greater Seal of Attack Speed x9 - Teemo and Attack Speed have both an on-screen and off-screen love affair. Both AD and AP Teemo benefit from attack speed in many ways. While AD Teemo benefits from faster auto-attack damange, AP Teemo benefits from faster on-hit due to our Toxic Shot.
or
Greater Seal of Armor x9 - Teemo can play any lane decently. If you are running up top lane to take on that Darius, a bit of armor will make you feel a little more comfortable. Not recommended for mid lane.



Greater Mark of Magic Penetration x9 - Marks offer the best magic/armour penetration. As an AP carry build, these are the best choice to nullify any early magic resist your opponents may have.
or
Greater Mark of Attack Speed x9 - Even more attack speed if you find that you don't need as much magic penetration.



Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed x3 - Teemo is one of the faster champs due to the passive his Move Quick gives. These quints will only help you in evading any skill shot, any gank, and out of any sticky situation you can imagine with proper awareness.
or
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power x3 - If you find that our Move Quick offers enough movement speed for you, feel free to pick these babies up for a huge bonus in our early game presence.

Masteries

Offensive

Fury : +1 / 2 / 3 / 4% Attack Speed
This build is focuses heavily on attack speed. There isn't too much more to take at this tier.. if you like to spam your summoner spells, you can put a point into Summoner's Wrath instead of maxing this.

Sorcery : +1 / 2 / 3% Cooldown Reduction
CDR is pretty nice to keep harassing and dropping mushrooms on the map, however this doesn't offer very much CDR. Simply taken because the other choices in this tier are less beneficial.

Blast : +0.25 / 0.50 / 0.75 / 1.00 Ability Power per level.
Provides a very nice little chunk of AP into late game. Including Rabadon's Deathcap this nets up 23 additional AP!

Arcane Knowledge : +8% Magic Penetration
Magic Pen is a very helpful (and hard to come by) stat. It decreases the enemy's resistance to all our spells, increasing our damage. This paired with Sorcerer's Shoes, Void Staff, or Abyssal Scepter lets us do a lot more damage to the opponents, especially to tanks.

Mental Force : +2 / 4 / 6 Ability Power
Straight up additional ability power is a must take. Increases our early game damage quite a bit and is the one of the only AP choices at this tier.

Spellsword : +5% of your Ability Power added to your Auto Attack
This mastery was made for Teemo! It is identical to the way Malady works (a key item to this build). Since most of our damage comes from our auto attacks in combination with Toxic Shot, this is a must have mastery.

Archmage : +1.25 / 2.50 / 3.75 / 5% Ability Power
This is the best option for any ability power champion. Increases our AP by +5% which means it gets stronger the more AP you have!

Executioner : +5% Damage to targets below 50% health
Pretty self explanatory, you deal 5% more damage if the enemy is below 50% health. This is a very nice mastery for Teemo as our poison damage, shroom damage, and ignite can all be dealing additional damage while we run away laughing from a fight.

Utility

Summoner's Insight : Reduces the cooldown of Flash by 15 seconds
Flash is one of the most power escapes in the game, and one that you should always be using! Reducing the CD on this spell is very handy to escape tight situations.

Wanderer : + 0.66 / 1.33 / 2% movement increase when out of combat
Teemo is one of the fastest champions. Increasing his movement speed is the most beneficial choices out of both the Utility and Defensive Trees.

Improved Recall : Reduces the cast time of Recall by 1 second
This point is most added because the other option is to increase mana regen which is mostly useless for Teemo. Ever hid in a bush and started Recalling while an enemy starts marching towards you? Its a scary place to be, but this can up your chances of survival!

Mastermind : Reduces the cooldown of Summoner Spells by 4 / 7 / 10%
Allows us to use both Flash and Ignite more frequently which is extremely handy.

Biscuiteer : Start the game with a biscuit that heals 80 Health and 50 Mana over 10 seconds
This is a great mastery! It allows us to start any early build and still allows us the option to regenerate health if we take early game damage. If you are starting Doran's Blade then this is a must because you won't have any gold left for Health Potions.

Summoner Spells

Preferred

Provides an escape more beneficial than our Move Quick as it allows you to jump over walls and out of slows. I ALWAYS take this spell regardless of my 2nd choice.

Getting an enemy to low health is a pretty easy task, however most people will carry a Health Potion, Heal, or have an health regen ability. This spell allows your Toxic Shot to keep dwindling down their health without having to worry about them recovering.

A nice way to defend yourself against a gank or to focus down an AD carry in a team fight, however with our Noxious Trap the slow isn't as useful as our other spell options.

If you find yourself being the target of early harass or ganks, take this spell to ensure your survivabiltiy. Also ensure you use it in team fights to provide a heal for your entire team!

This, in combination with our Move Quick, will make you so fast that the enemy will be baffled. Can also be utilized to run across the entire map in just a few seconds to score a gank or to save a turret!

An excellent choice for new players if you find yourself the focus in a team fight. Just pop this spell and continue owning the Field of Justice!

Not Recommended

Revive - You save 20-60 seconds per death. You should not be dying very often due to our ability to escape so you will not benefit from this extra time.

Surge - The extra attack speed could be useful, however we already build all the attack speed we really need. The AP is also nice, however with the long cool down and for how low it actually gives, there are better options.

Smite - You are not a jungler.

Teleport - Not a horrible choice, but we have tons of movement speed with our Move Quick that it wont save you that much time.

Cleanse - Teemo is a very squishy champion, if you get hit by a stun chances are you are already dead. If you really like this effect, pick up a Quicksilver Sash instead.

Clarity - You should be poking with your auto-attacks, not your Blinding Dart so you should not have any mana problems.

Promote - Super minions? You can get those without using up a summer spell slot.

Clairvoyance - This spell is mostly taken on support champions. Not to mention you should be planting shrooms in any high-traffic areas and will know the general location of the enemy most of the time.

Items

Core Items - AP Teemo

Doran's Blade While taking Biscuiteer and relying on this baby's on-hit HP regen to sustain us, this can be a nice change from the standard below. Adds quite a bit to our HP pool and makes our harassment stronger. Also it can be fun to watch the enemy stack armour only to find that our late game is AP.


Boots of Speed + Health Potion x3 A standard starting build. Offers amazing mobility with your boots to escape from ganks or to keep up your pokes with Toxic Shot. Makes up for your low HP with health regen with your health potions.


Mercury's Treads Pick these up next if you are against a heavy AP team or you have to deal with CC. I like to play mid so the magic resist is really useful, however pick your boots depending on who you are up against. If you are taking a lot of auto attack damage get Ninja Tabi instead, or if you are facing no harass and the other team is not providing a threat, take Sorcerer's Shoes for magic pen or Berserker's Greaves for extra attack speed. Always choose your boots depending on the makeup of the other team.


Runaan's Hurricane This is the focus of the build. The passive of applying on-hit effects (such as Toxic Shot and Malady) to two additional targets makes you suddenly a very large threat in team fights, as well as an amazing farmer. Picking up a Doran's Blade first just gives this a little more kick to damage as well as providing 15 HP back instead of 5. The reason we rush this item is the insane farming potential. We will sacrifice early game damage, but its worth it in mid/late game when you can complete a full build much faster than anyone else.


Malady With the changes to the on-hit damage with our Toxic Shot, attack speed it one of our most important stats. I choose this over the other attack speed items because it also includes some ability power and the magic resist debuff help. As Teemo, you should be finding and taking out the other team's AD Carry as fast as possible. Carries usually don't stack much MR, so this is all we should really need. * Malady's on hit damage IS applies to three targets when paired with Runaan's Hurricane.


Nashor's Tooth I absolutely adore this item! This gives your mid game a big boost with the attack speed it offers. Toxic Shot provides on-hit magic damage, so building a more attack speed on Teemo is never a bad idea for both AD or AP builds. The cool down reduction will also help with getting more shrooms out on the field. However with our first two core items, we already have lots of attack speed so feel free to replace this item with another from the situational items list.


Rabadon's Deathcap The icing on the cake. Now that we have built a decent amount of AP, lets give it a massive boost! Most people like to take this item first, but as it scales with the amount of AP you have, I prefer to take it mid game when you can farm the gold within a few minion waves. This item speaks for itself and is a must for any champion who focus's AP.


Rylai's Crystal Scepter Getting to late game, we require a little larger of a health pool. The HP will allow you to survive a few more hits while you get your damage in. Offers quite a bit of AP and a decent passive. Since we already have slow from our shrooms, our movement speed is already huge, and our abilities are ranged, if you feel like taking another item from the situational list below that is completely acceptable.

Other / Situational

Liandry's Torment While this item does NOT proc from Toxic Shot, this will give your shrooms a MASSIVE punch as the the ticks will whittle down the poor enemy's HP much faster than usual due to the additional DoT and slow. A Highly recommended item - replace Nashor's if you don't mind losing attack speed, or Rylai's for a loss in survivability.


Morellonomicon This item will put you at the CD reduction cap and offer quite a bit of AP. The passive is where this really shines with the healing reduction from Grievous Wounds which will be applied from our auto-attack Toxic Shot. Very nice against heroes like Soraka, Taric, or Swain. A Highly recommended item - replace Nashor's if you don't mind losing attack speed, or Rylai's for a loss in survivability. If you decide to build this item, consider buying a Kage's Lucky Pick fairly early to make use of the Gold per 10 sec bonus!


Guinsoo's Rageblade I sometimes pick this up for fun! This is a true hybrid item and its passive stacking bonus works really well with Teemo and a free Surge! However due to the low Ability Power, I don't recommend this in the core buid.


Wit's End This syncs really well with our Runaan's Hurricane. However unless you really require the additional MR, I suggest taking another item as the lack of Ability Power will hurt.


Lich Bane This item offers a lot, but it comes with a pretty expensive price tag. Pick up a Sheen first to help with the extra damage in our harass. The passive is actually proc'd off of Blinding Dart, Move Quick, AND Noxious Trap! So in a fight, even our defensive abilities suddenly become very offensive. Make sure to space out using your abilities by 2 seconds as that is the cooldown on the passive. And in case you weren't fast enough, this offers some more movement speed!


Hextech Revolver -> Hextech Gunblade Buy the revolver first as it will provide a nice little chunk of AP and some spell vamp for more lane stability. Upgrade to the gunblade and you will be able to take out most opponents with ease 1v1. This item offers both AD and AP which is a bonus as we rely on our on-hit/dots for our damange, the AD will give it an extra kick! Also with the slow that the gunblade's Active has, you can make sure that your enemy won't escape their death sentence.


Deathfire Grasp More AP is always welcome, the cooldown reduction is a blessing and you will now have no excuse for planting mushrooms EVERYWHERE. The Active will also ensure you a HUGE chunk of damage when engaging.


Void Staff The other team has probably realized you are quite the threat and should be building up some magic resistance. Nab this beauty to make 40% of their magic resist useless >:).

Defensive

Rod of Ages Can be great early game to provide you with some bulk. But as this build takes Move Quick fairly early, you should be able to dodge most skill shots and avoid all ganks easily, so being more bulky is a bonus but not required (we have tanks for that). In addition, you shouldn't have mana issues, so the extra mana is just wasteful.


Abyssal Scepter Provides magic resist and nice AP. We should already have magic resist from our boots if you go with Mercury's Treads. With the recent range nerf, it wont be as beneficial as before.


Zhonya's Hourglass The armour (while not a whole lot) WILL help you stay in a team fight a little longer. Remember that it's Active can save your life so don't be stingy with it! Even 1v1 sometimes your Toxic Shot can take out the enemy while you're safely behind the immunity of this item. The extra 100 AP is amazing.


Guardian Angel Teemo is very squishy and will be targeted often. If you find that you end up dead too soon in team fights: #1 Stop getting into trouble. #2 Revive while your teammates initiate the rescue with this baby! The added armour and MR will help you stay alive a tiny bit longer.

AD/On-Hit Teemo

Although this guide doesn't go into much detail with other Teemo builds, here are some items which synchronize well with AD or On-hit Teemo (these are not actual builds):

AD Teemo

I don't tend to play AD Teemo as none of his abilities scale with attack damage. Though shroom slow and our blind can come in handy when facing a one-on-one with another carry, I simply believe that there are other AD Carry champions which can fill the roll more efficiently.

On-hit Teemo

On-hit Teemo can be fun! He is really strong early-mid game, however once the enemy team builds a little magic resist, your on-hit effects practically don't exist anymore =(. I've played many on-hit Teemo games and have found that too many times I just can't put out any decent damage late-game.

Mushroom Placement / Farming

Noxious Trap is our ultimate skill and you should take full advantage of its uses. In addition to providing massive damage as an AP build, these babies act as a ward! Use them to provide sight into bushes, protect buffs and even slow enemies who are chasing you:

Match-Ups

Team up with

Cassiopeia's Twin Fang has scary amounts of damage but comes with a 5 second cooldown, however the cooldown is reset to 0.5 seconds if the target is poisoned. This resets with Cassiopeia's own spells, but also resets with Teemo's Toxic Shot! Because we are constantly auto attacking, this means that Cass can spam this spell and take down any enemy extremely fast!

All 3 of these champions are melee and have abilities which allow them to jump to our shrooms like an instant, short ranged Teleport. Teaming up with these guys will provide them with a lot of mobility if you keep your shrooms in key locations.

Blitz is a champion that every hates to go up against due to his Rocket Grab. However, if he is on your team, he can position himself to grab an enemy right into a shroom which will provide an extra slow and tons of damage!

Stay away from

Yorick can spawn multiple ghouls to help him attack you. These ghouls will slow you, healing him, and increasing his movement speed to catch you =(. Also, his ghouls can set off our mushrooms before Yorick is close enough to even take damage from it.

Pantheons's passive ability Aegis Protection nullifies our auto attack damage which is the source of most of our damage. He also can leap on top of us and stun with Aegis of Zeonia and deal tons of damage. He's considered a 'melee caster' fighter which means that most of his damage comes from his abilities and not his auto attacks, which means our blind is also useless.

Another 'melee caster' meaning your blind is useless against his abilities. He's got a shield to negate ticking poison damage, a speed increase to either chase to run away from you, and long range poke (longer than ours), and a long range slow. An all-round bad Teemo match-up.

Good against

After you fight a few times again Darius, you learn the range of his Apprehend very fast. If he can't pull you in, he does very little damage. Keep poking him down but don't stay around if you are low on health! His ultimate Noxian Guillotine does a shocking amount of damage to a squishy Teemo.

Garen is one of the most easy champions to fight as Teemo. All his abilities are melee, and he doesn't have any gap closers to get to you. One of his most damaging abilities is Judgment but this slows him down when going through minions! Keep a decent range on him and poke him down. The key is to overwhelm him early game so he has to go back and lose experience points.

Skins

Summary

Thank you for taking the time to read through my guild! This is still a work in progress so please provide any feed back in the comment's section!