Teemo Build Guide by Bigfootmech

Pros / Cons

Pros:
Hidden Passive Global Taunt (You're Teemo!) while being incredibly tanky.
Get kills early because of unexpected build. Pick up any kills like Karthus because of poison + diving ability.
Late pushing with mushrooms + own AD.
Multi mushroom map control
Incredible escape if you've been diligent with your mushroom field - to quote Get me Teemo over here...with a blowgun, "you have to drop mushrooms like they're hot"
Decent damage, while also being really difficult to kill off.
You can be an Easter Bunny
Your enemies think you're trolling

Cons:
Really weak early pusher, and susceptible to getting pushed back to turret/losing out farm because he doesn't do enough damage.
Not good if you're used to damage teemo. He won't be able to output as much damage as you like, and you need to get used to taking the heat off team mates in battle/chase.
Not as good vs very tanky teams, as it's straight damage you're dealing (one of the only Teemo builds NOT using a Madred's Bloodrazor)
Your allies think you're trolling. Until you get first blood, and stay 2 for 1.

Introduction

Word of note: I'm currently 950-1050 ELO, this build might not apply very well at higher ELOs. This is also my first guide.


I solo queue occasionally, and as last pick, you get some interesting choices. To counter Irelia, I decided to pick Teemo (a champ I had yet to play successfully with any 'classic' builds).

My higher skill friends have talked about tank Teemo top, but none were online, and there were no builds on mobafire - so I made up my own. Then somehow carried 13-5-14. I've played more games since then on normal, and played with the build.

Runes and masteries started as my Mordekaiser AP tank ones, but were changed once I realised how well the build works. There might be better combos, and suggestions/debating is welcomed in the comment section.

The strategy is to last hit, hit the enemy when they're going in for last hits, and put down shrooms when you have them. I'm planning to include a special mushroom section to this guide when I have the time, so stay tuned.

And without further ado

Summoner Spells

I roll with the generic Flash (over the wall escape) Ignite (stack deadly DOTs with your poison)

However there are merits to other spells too.

Ghost: Stack your W Move Quick with this for the real rammus-type "Oh holy ****, he's coming" factor.
Exhaust: more of a team spell, I expect it to work better than the phage, but not as well as Singed's flip Fling. Single target more anti carry Randuin's Omen Active. available from the start of the game. Good against Trynd/Sion(ignite works too), and chasing early. Shutting down carry late.

Spells less viable:
Heal: you have 3.5K Hp, what do you expect to do with a surprise 300?
Teleport: as much damage as you do, you're not likely going to be needed anywhere in a rush if you've been keeping an eye on the map. Special strategies excluded.
Revive: you could argue this gives your team more of a chance if you're dying late game, to protect your nexus, but I haven't seen a valid use of revive outside 3v3 or SivHD videos. Still it might be worth a try if you get bruiserfed enough.
Cleanse: With your health, you'll either be chain CCed and won't be able to get away, or you'll be CCed once and they won't be able to kill you. This won't really help anyone. If you're really that worried, go for a Quicksilver Sash

Absolutely godawful:
Surge: just no. You don't need any of that
Promote
Smite: you're no jungler, and there are better ways to steal dragon / baron
Clairvoyance: even supports don't roll with it these days. Use your Noxious Trap instead to keep map overview
Clarity: As long as you don't spam Q Blinding Dart in lane, you don't need any more mana or mana regen.

Skill Sequence

For a while I thought "I know teemo's passive, it's invisibility", right? Well, almost.

It's a two part passive, the second being easily missed/forgotten when starting up teemo, and means the difference between pathetic starting stats - and something you can actually work with.

Ok, 2 seconds isn't a very long time, but a bonus 40% attack speed is not something to laugh at, and is most likely what would inspire the use of Wit's End and Malady, maybe even The Black Cleaver or Sanguine Blade, as you can get those stacks up fairly quickly, then just keep them there.

If you look at the statistics, you have to stand still for 2 seconds (without being hit) to gain 2 seconds of 40% attack speed. That means you go from 4 seconds of 100% attack speed to 2 seconds of 0% and 2 seconds of 140%. That's a net loss of 2 seconds of 60% attack speed. Or 1 second of 120% attack speed. Very bad efficiency.

However if you've nothing better to do in 2 seconds (last hitting), there's nothing stopping you just sitting there in s mode waiting to go invisible. Not very good against skillshot champs, but very good for farming and poking. It could mean the difference between getting farmed enough and winning lane, and being so outharassed, that you can't do anything at all.

In my opinion, it's one of the hardest things to master on Teemo.

The range of Blinding Dart is 680, outranging Teemo's auto attack at 500. This makes it very tempting to spam, but at 70 mana, it's just under a third of teemo's base mana. Making it expensive, and impossible to sustain.

However, it does
A: Blind the opponent. Making them miss last hits, or stopping them doing a lot of damage to you if they've closed the gap.
B: Apply on-hit effects. Such as the Phage/ Frozen Mallet proc, making it easier to chase down targets.
C: Do damage. Meaning you can harass/trade with it.
D: Reset your attack animation. Allowing you to effectively get a triple hit off with an autoattack before and after the Q. Good for laning against Gangplank or Vladimir.

Max second, as the damage/usability is inferior to E.

It's the inferior get away/chase skill to the damage of your other skills, but it's a good idea to reserve enough mana for a quick escape. Keep in mind that w also gives you a passive move speed bonus until you're hit by an enemy champ or turret, making it similar to Boots of Mobility or Strut.

Also, depending on how worried you are about their jungler, or if you need to chase ( Gangplank, Volibear, Darius), you can choose when to pick it up.

Take 3rd/4th, max last.

Teemo's base attack is one of the weakest in game (a tiny bit more powerful than Karthus, and the same as Tristana, without the range). This skill will automatically add some magic damage to your base attack, and apply a ticking poison to whatever you hit.

You really need this ability to make Teemo viable at all, otherwise last hitting is nigh on impossible.

It'll also help your harass early as you keep doing damage to enemy champs after they've walked away from you.

Pick up first, Max first.

R Noxious Trap should be maxed as soon as you get it. Place them as soon as you can (I cannot reiterate that enough with Teemo!) It gives you massive map control, escape, kills from fountain, chase if they're unlucky... etc etc etc.

You can also use it for clearing particularly large minion waves, or picking up extra gold while out of lane, if positioned right.

Always take ult when available.

Items

Core Build

This popular combo will give you a tonne of health, decent damage, and teemo's famously annoying slow/chase. Non bruisers beware.

Starting items

Usually I'll go for Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions for the harass, grabbing Sight Wards (and hopefully upgraded boots) on my first b.

If I've done really well, I'll generally go straight for a Giant's Belt, as that's what I'm aiming for, sometimes even buying only wards/pots if I think I can get it next buy without too much risk.

If I'm not doing great, I might instead go for the Phage in stages, as it's only a bit more expensive than the Giant's, we still use it, it's got a great passive, and it gives a bit of both HP and AD.

If it's going really badly, I might even ignore health and go Berserker's Greaves + (up to) 2 Doran's Blades in the hope that I can get back the farm and maybe out harass the other player.

After that, the general goal is to rush the frozen mallet as it gives AD and HP, for the true bruiser you need to be.

Warmog's Armor is usually built Giant's Belt first.

Other items/resistances are situational (you might want to get 1 Chain Vest or Negatron Cloak after finishing the Frozen Mallet, or the Giant's Belt of the Warmog's if someone's putting a real hurt on you.

Otherwise, go for the Cloak of Agility after Frozen Mallet


If you haven't bought Mercury's Treads, consider getting them later on as the teamfighting starts. Chances are, you'll have CC on you.

Additional build items

Boots:

Gives you early attack and movement speed. Both of which I feel teemo lacks to dominate lane without being touched. The attack speed is actually not for damage output, but to increase Teemo's incredibly slow attack animation.


An obvious one, reduce the CC time on you.



Extra armour.



Gives you a lot of chase and roam.

Armour:

To boost the armour of your Atma's, you can use this item. It will also help late if their AD carry gets any feed at all, as it'll stop them just eating through all that health you've nicely stacked up.


Don't care if your teammates die? Or are they somehow managing to focus you down from full HP? Maybe you REALLY want to tower dive? It gives you a second disguistingly high HP life, but you'll be focused even less, and they'll be attacking your teammates more because of it.

If the carry's focusing you, you get to dock their attack and movement speed. Then if you get the active on them, you dock them further, making them a target.

Be careful about using Randuin's active. The range stated is 500, the same as teemo's auto attack range, but the carry may run out before you hit them (teemo only starts running when he wants to shoot again and can't), and the spell distance might be calculated from the centre of the model rather than the edge, so you might not hit.

The alternative to Randuin's - more armour, and cooldowns for you. It has less slow on their AD, but they don't have to be focusing you, and there's no active (if you forget/is on CD)

MRes:

% Health regen on top of your disguistingly high HP, and a speed boost to chase down any runners. Oh, and did I mention? One of the highest AP resist items in the game.


Mordekaiser, Malzahar, Warwick... etc etc problems? Say no more, with this nifty little item. Bonus: it'll remove ignite and the heal disable (for all that's worth).

Damage:

It's a very bruiser/hybrid item, with the only down sides being the cost, and the slow not stacking with Frozen Mallet.


Not afraid of their squishy APs? This gives you extra move and attack speed, using more if your Frozen Mallet slow while bringing your move speed up. What's not to like?


Gives you some extra AD with some magic resist. A bit expensive, but still a viable item in the right situation.

Other:

Another? Why not.



I've been rolling with this item on a lot of champs recently, and it gives a lot of chase, as well as a little of everything bruiser teemo could use to make him a more rounded champ.

---

Honorable mentions:

I haven't tried it yet, but I have a feeling it doesn't work. Feel free to prove me wrong.



Yes there's a HP bonus, but the one time pop shield won't protect you all that much in the thick of things. I consider this a sub par item for this build.


Or any other "classic teemo" on-hit items that you build. Your attack speed's not really high enough to justify the on hit versus more tankyness, or other bruiser items.

We're not building AP, so don't go for:

Rod of Ages Rylai's Crystal Scepter Hextech Gunblade Lich Bane

Suggested Builds Explained

Classic/Fratmogs Teemo:

This is my normal build on teemo top right now, and if I win lane, I can quite happily go 2 for 1 while being incredibly tanky.

HealthMo:

Irelia causing issues? Their AD just too powerful? Try this recipe.

HealthMo was initially thought up as the "tank teemo", but against most top champions, you don't need the health that quickly. It has since been relegated to it's own subcategory.

PokéMo:

AA - Q - AA, oh, there goes half his health.

After taking on a Gangplank top with my normal build, I thought about what I might do better. His Parrrley hit pretty hard, and though I managed to out harass him, if he'd focused me better, he might have won. So I thought - if he can get a Q off, and I can just about get 3 moves - auto attack - Q - auto attack off, wouldn't it be better if it had a bit more punch? Say Sheen?

Since the Trinity Force slow doesn't stack with the Frozen Mallet, it replaces it in this build. Remember that if you don't get that aa off after Q, you're not doing anything with the sheen/Tri proc.

UnexpectedMo:

What's that enemy mid/bot? You didn't want a Teemo in your lane? Too bad, have one anyway.

Synergising well with a full teleport team, or a normal meta, you can use Teleport early for ganking; getting to fights, or preferably, back in lane without losing farm/getting pushed. The Revive only starts kicking up a notch after you're a tanky beast who's warded/shroomed up the entire map, securing you any late game teamfight or runners, and shatter the enemies flagging morale.

With the damage you pack along with full health, it should be worth it if you get fed.

Top Lane Mushroom Domination

As Teemo, you're actually better off on Purple team.

I know, I know, "I'm Top lane, it's easier for the jungler to come in behind me". Yes. That's true. Unless you've been diligent with your shrooms/wards.

As Purple team, you can actually place your ward further away, and still see the jungler (unless they have a really clever and sneaky lee sin) coming and back off in more than enough time - you also get to ward baron at the same time.



The blue team isn't all bad either. you can ward without risk to yourself. If you come in to your jungle, you can ward over a wall in to river near the 3 rocks.



Now, let's talk about Noxious Trap

Practically every bush and entery way is a candidate for your little slowing wards. Not only do you see them, do damage with them, and slow your opponents, you also screw with their head. When they hit a shroom it's instantly "am I going to be jumped on", slowing down their progress, maybe even deterring them entirely from what they were going to do.



For now: Green is both teams shroom, Blue is blue team shroom (such as defending blue for your jungler/mid), and Purple is purple team shroom (more aggressive shroom warding).

*More info coming soon*

Counters

Strengths:
This is a build that's mainly meant to be played against a 'meta' team, and it has the potential to absolutely crush an AD carry heavy team.

As it has a lot of health, the build has the potential to soak up a lot of true damage. Thinking Olaf, Vayne, Ahri, Irelia, Darius ... etc

As stated in the Pros: Kills, Zoning, Tanking Objectives, map control, and great escape/chase.

Weaknesses:
However it does have it's weakspots.

It would do particularly badly against an Tanky/AP heavy team Galio, as the whole point of Atma's Impaler is to resist Attack Damage while dealing out straight attack damage.

Another possible way of countering the build is for their AD carry to build Madred's Bloodrazor for the %health magic damage on hit. Some players will be reluctant to do this however, as it's an expensive, and very situational item.

With the way your kills function, you stack badly with other "finishing" champs. Karthus

Doesn't start well against strong early pushers ( Mordekaiser/ Yorick/classic mids) as his poison can't get through minions that quickly. This weakness goes away 5-10 mins in, after you can use shrooms to push, and they start being wary of tank teemo.

Unique Skills

This build allows you to play your favourite little critter while still being able to:

Engage teamfights, then blind the opposing AD carry, making them useless for a short time.

Be the tank on the team if noone else has picked one.

Tank Dragon / Baron , and get people to fight if they're being slow.

Actually carry if you go more bruiser than tank. Even full tank you can still pick up kills with your poison and Atma's.

Final note:
Make sure you drop them mushrooms yo!

Summary

Thank you to
Commercialized and Dendee for guide guidelines :3
All the other commenters for contributions

And please comment/rate, it would really help me out :)

HealthMo (Legacy build explained)

Early Game:

Start with a Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potion- standard loadout these days

You can go for a Heart of Gold, but remember it's setting you back 13 mins in gold before you get a return on it. The modest health is a nice inbetween nudge though.

Remember to Sight Ward your river. You can even do it over the side if you're blue.

I go straight for Berserker's Greaves. You can however go for Mercury's Treads if they're heavy CC, or Ninja Tabi if they're heavy AD and you really want that extra tank.

If you're doing badly, you can opt for a Doran's Blade or two, but I haven't needed any.

Here's where it gets interesting (you can say nooby), instead of building a Phage to kite people, I go straight for a Giant's Belt. Irelia can no longer kill you, and you can poke her all you like. After the next Warmog's Armor, and Giant's Belt, no AP carry can really burst you either.

That leaves people telling their AD carry to sort you out.

Mid Game:

People will start leaving lanes, and you want armour ( Chain Vest) to stop the hurt on teemo from said AD carries.

If they're not hurting much, you can go straight for the Atma's Impaler, however if their AD carry's racked up a few kills, go with a Thornmail. With all the health you're packing, they won't keep attacking you unless they really have to.

If you got the Thornmail, get the Atma's Impaler now for even more armour and AD Carry ownage. If not, consider your position again: if they have no basic attacks, you can skip the Thornmail altogether, or save it till later.

Late game:

+ 1/2


Next you want to finish building the Frozen Mallet, this'll allow you to start chasing those AD Carries who are running away from you now - and any of their buddies while giving you extra health to tank their attacks AND bonus damage from your Atma's Impaler on top of it's own damage.

From here, they should all be covering their lower regions at the sight of you - and you should be looking to build your last item (or the last two items if you didn't build a Thornmail).






I swear to God, it worked.



Stats with full stacks
(mobafire doesn't calculate them properly - like ignoring Atma's AD)

Health Health Regen Mana Mana Regen Armor Magic Resist Dodge Tenacity Movement Speed Gold Bonus

4327 175 920 15 245 120 0 0 470 (521 with boost) 0

Attack Damage Attack Speed Crit Chance Crit Damage Ability Power Life Steal Spell Vamp Armor Penetration Magic Penetration Cooldown Reduction

198 1.26 (in game) 18%S 0% 23 0% 0 0 9|10% 0%

Note: this is with the original Mordekaiser Tank Mid Runes/Masteries