Find your patience and READ!

Hi everyone, my name is DeltaSpectre (From the Asian Taiwanese Servers), so please forgive my bad grammar because I played lol when I should have been doing my english homework. So... I've been playing lol ever since my cousin introduced it to me during the Chinese new year and I've been addicted to it ever since. So I decided to share with you the discoveries and tactics that I've developed during this time merely because teemo is me favorite champion.

What makes this build so great is because when you go top or bot lane, people usually expect an ad teemo, but in fact you are an ap champion with insanely fast attack speed. So the armor that your enemies invested with their runes would be totally useless against your magic attacks.

Pick the Chapter that you need the most help on, check out the Counter Tactics!

If you really like teemo, and you want to become a better teemo player, then you should read everything. I tried to put in some humor to keep you reading.

Pros ✔ Moderate Survivability Moderate Defensive Capabilities Fast Attack Speed High Mobility Map domination Could make you the most lethal champion in the game

SPACE

Cons ✖ Needs to be well farmed Hard to kill enemies with high magic resistance Item dependent to deal damage Last hitting early game will require practice because of low basic attack damage

Runes is perhaps the most important part in this build, because it helps you during the early game, and how well you did during the early game could determine the difference between victory and defeat.
So...

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
this is pretty standard for ap champions.

greater seal of vitality
I personally have a perfection problem, meaning that everything has to be perfect for me to feel good, so I did some math and concluded that with this extra 58 health and all the health items, teemo could accumulate up to 3001 hp (the extra 1 hp is still making my butt itch). You could change these runes to Greater Seal of Armor if you feel like it is really necessary.

Greater Seal of Armor
I chose this to provide teemo with extra resistance against ad champions.

Greater Seal of Attack Speed
to round the 3.4% form the Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed up to 4.2%.

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
to give teemo additional magic penetration.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed
to give teemo extra attack speed early game so you wont miss last hits because of slow attack speed, and to counter Frozen Heart and Randuin's Omen later game, or to provide Wit's End with extra attack speed if you didn't go for Ionic Spark.

Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration
also to boost teemo's magic penetration.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
I chose this to provide teemo with extra resistance against ap champions.


You might want to save up some influence points for these runes, because I designed this rune page to compensate for any weaknesses that I've discovered on teemo, so I hope you give a special rune page for him.

This Rune Page Provides:
-4.2% attack speed
-16 magic resistance (lv18)
-58 health (lv18)
-7 armor
-15 magic penetration

This mastery is created so you could stay in lane while facing enemies with high harassing capabilities (eg: Yorick, Vladimir).

I will highly recommend you to pick Toxic Shot first, because it offers you 10 extra magic damage to help you last hit early game. After picking Toxic Shot, you could either pick Move Quick or Blinding Dart; pick Blinding Dart if you are against a ranged ad champ like Caitlyn, Graves, Ashe, etc... If not, pick Move Quick if your opponent is Garen, Riven, Vladimir, or other spell based champions (meaning that they deal damage by spamming keyboard buttons) or champions with high mobility. However remember to invest 1 level in Blinding Dart because of its extra damage and because these champions could still auto attack you.

Toxic Shot is your main damage output before you get any damage items, so you should max it out first.

I think Move Quick is more important than Blinding Dart because a slow teemo is a dead teemo, and because using Blinding Dart to harass early game is too mana consuming.

Notice:
-If your enemy is under the effect of your Toxic Shot, and they are within the range of their tower, then don't go near them, because the Toxic Shot effect counts as you attacking the enemy champion, thus the enemy tower will attack you. Only enter the enemy tower range when the effect is over or if the enemy champion under your Toxic Shot effect has left the tower range.

-Minions would attack only you if you auto attack their champion, they will not attack you if you use your abilities on their champion. Towers will attack you where you auto attack their champion or use a damaging ability on them.

Tips:
-Use Blinding Dart to protect yourself; use Toxic Shot to harass enemies; use Move Quick to get around; use your Noxious Trap to gain map control; and use camouflage to ambush enemies, or suddenly disappear when your enemies are chasing you.

because teemo doesn't have any escape abilities like Ezreal's Arcane Shift, Corki's Valkyrie, or Vayne's Tumble, so it is best if you give this little fella an ability to escape a hairy situation.


originally I didn't like this spell, but after realizing it's potential at escaping CC, and preventing ganks, I've decided to make this a must have for teemo. When you are CCed, you could use Cleanse and Flash and Move Quick combo to get away, while the CC reduction of Cleanse reduce further slows.
I think Cleanse removes your Move Quick debuff (when you get hit by enemy champions or tower you lose Move Quick's bonus movement speed)... Probably.

Other Viable Spells:


this goes well with Move Quick, but it offers no juking or rapid escape for teemo, while Flash does.


this is excellent for this build, its bonus attack speed and ability power helps you deal more damage, but it really isn't necessary because your attack speed is already really fast, and some extra ability power wouldn't boost your damage that much.


this is a great spell for most carries, but for teemo its useless, I mean, what's the point at healing yourself when you're slowed, when you could just use Cleanse to get out of the situation, besides, Cleanse removes Ignite ( Ignite reduces Heal amount).


this is a good spell early game, it offers you a chance to kill your enemies or escape an enemy that is chasing you, but when there is 5 enemy chasing you and somehow Ashe's arrow froze your a**, Exhaust would't save you while Cleanse might prevent you from being ganked 5 ways... I don't know if that's possible, but I guess they will just have to take turns.


this is the perfect spell against fleeing enemies with low health, or against Vladimir, Dr. Mundo, Sion, or other gay a** champs with insane healing capabilities, but you don't always meet these champs, and even if you do, you could always pick up Executioner's Calling. By the way, if you follow this build, the magic penetration and extra ability power will be able to help you finish enemies with your Toxic Shot, so there is no need for Ignite.

Core Items:



this item is one of my favorites in the game, because it increases teemo's ability to escape cc with its 35% tenacity and because it also gives him early magic resistance.


provides teemo with extra magic penetration (sums up to 40 if added with rune mp -- 16+24) and bonus magic damage to his auto attacks; excellent if your enemies have little magic resistance.


this item is great in my perspective, because it gives teemo a great burst of damage (even greater than Wit's End), extra health, and most importantly, extra 50% attack speed; which is crucial for this build. Don't you just love to shoot lightning bolts out of your blowgun?


this item is the most important one in this build, because the majority of your damage comes from this item, so there is no replacement for it. You should build this item after you got your Malady, if your enemy team has health dependent tanks (eg: Cho'Gath, Dr. Mundo) or if your enemies are stacking health.


this item is crucial for this build, because it offers teemo more health, and because it keeps your enemies from escaping your attack range, thus allowing your Malady to keep a constant magic reduction on your target, So I recommend you to not replace this with other items.


I finish my inventory with this item, so I get extra armor against ad carries, and extra magic resistance against ap casters, and if I happened to get targeted in a team fight; I could still comeback and secure victory for my team. This is a good choice if you want to play it safe late game, or if you want to increase your chances of success in 1v4 situations (you are the one).


You should have atleast 2 of these every time you leave your shop during the early and mid games, because you could use these potions to survive Ignite, or get ready for a team fight without returning home to heal, and most importantly, to replenish health while your enemies are using their AoE spells to damage you while your are camouflaged (You could use potions while camouflaged)


I usually get these items after I've completed my inventory; in the order shown above.

Other Viable Items:


replace Mercury's Treads with this, if you feel like you need extra attack speed during the early game. Although I personally don't suggest you to.


replace Mercury's Treads with this, if the enemy team is mostly composed of basic attack ad champions, or if you feel like you are taking too much damage from the enemy ad carry.


replace Mercury's Treads with this if you want to deal more damage, or if your enemies are stacking too much magic resistance early game.


replace Mercury's Treads with this if you think Garen is spinning faster than you, or if you want to kite your enemies to death. I personally don't recommend you to get this because you already have Move Quick.


replace Malady with this, if at least 2 enemies are stacking magic resistance higher than 110, or if an enemy's armor is just impenetrable. Even though you lose the bonus 50% attack speed from the Malady QQ, you still gain extra magic damage for your Toxic Shot and Noxious Trap through the 70 ability power bonus, so damage wise you still deal the same amount of damage to your enemies.


replace Guardian Angel with this item, if the enemy team is mainly composed mostly of ap champions, or if the enemy ap carry is overfed. Banshee's Veil could block spells that could bring your health down really low (eg: Vladimir's Hemoplague, or Karthus's Requiem), so I suggest you to get it if the enemy ap carry is giving you a hard time.


replace Guardian Angel with this if your team is winning, or if you feel like you could use some extra attack speed, damage, and magic resistance. You could also replace ionic sparks with this if you are taking too much magic damage.


this item is actually pretty good if you are going top lane, since it provides you with free sight ward and extra damage and armor, and most importantly, life steal. You could invest in this item early game, then replace it with a core item later.


this item is good at counter enemies with high healing capabilities (eg: Vladimir, Dr. Mundo), and also it increases your chance at killing fleeing enemies, because of its after damage bonus. You could invest in this item early game, then replace it with a core item later.

philosopher's stone
this item offers you lane sustain and gold generation, which is excellent if you want to play defensively. You could invest in this item early game, then replace it with a core item later.


this item is perfect if your'e against enemies with high bursts and innate magic resistance (eg: Jax, Wukong). This item is best to be purchased and used during the early game, so you should replace it with a core item later.


get this early game if you are having a hard time surviving enemy bursts, and when you are poorly farmed.

During the early game, you would wan't to farm really well, because most of your damage output is based on your items, so without them you will be merely scratching the backs of your foes.

Scenario:
Your minions are pushing the tower, you don't have shrooms to guard river, then you could either recall and buy, or go jungle a few creeps (If you have health) and then head back to lane.

You should have at least 80 minion kills about 10-12 minutes in game, and 150 minion kills at 20 minutes in game.

So Farm Farm Farm......!!!

Tips:
-When the game begins, you should buy your items really fast, and then rush to the middle of the entire lane (the place where minions first battle), and activate your camouflage. You wait until the minions arrive (1:55 if mid, 2:03 if side lanes), and if the enemy comes toward the minions to get kills, surprise him with a couple of shots of Toxic Shot; If he doesn't come forward to get kills, then you could use your attack speed boost from your camouflage to get minion kills.

Important!!! You should buy Boots for this tactic, because if you arrive late, you might be the one getting surprised.

Caution!!! Don't get blasted by Ashe's Volley, or by Graves's Buckshot because they hurt like hell.



Check out HowToTopLane's awesome "Minion Control Tutorial" below. ☛
Play Video

By now you should have Malady, Mercury's Treads, Madred's Razors, and Ionic Spark, and you should have pushed your lane tower. So your main objective now is to help your allies push the remaining 2 front line towers to support your cause. When the 3 towers are all pushed, you should consider to push top lane yourself while your allies pressure mid or bot (bot lane is better because it takes longer for enemies to get to top lane). You are also ready to take dragon all by yourself, so if you have a good team communication, you could tell your 4 teammates to pressure your enemies while you solo dragon; the enemy usually wouldn't expect little frail teemo to solo dragon, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Ask for " crest of the ancient golem" (Blue Buff) if you want to push a lane yourself. The mana regeneration and cooldown reduction would help you secure your perimeter with your shrooms, otherwise it would be too dangerous to solo push.

Ask for " blessing of the lizard elder" (Red Buff) if your team is planning to have more team fights. The slow and extra damage could help you kill or finish enemies.

This is the time where you should have acquired all your items (if you farmed well), and it is during this time that most of the team fights happen, so stop farming and stick with your team, because they will need your Blinding Dart on enemy ad carries, and as well as your firepower. Don't forget to use your camouflage (as a lot of teemo players tend to run around instead of hide and observe the situation). So try to hide behind your allies, not too close though, wait for your team to initiate a fight and when your enemy aoe spells (eg: Kennen's Slicing Maelstrom, etc...) are used, you could come out of hiding and aim for the ap casters or the ad carries, never for the tank unless he is alone.

A good team would have 1 Tank, 2 Ad Carries, 1 Ap Carry, and 1 Support.

Tanks = blocks enemy from getting to the carries
Ad Carries = main damage dealers
Ap Carry = mainly target enemy carries (carry assassin)
Support = protect carries, heal, slow enemy, etc...

You should be able to escape with your Flash & Move Quick combo when your enemies attempts to gank you. Investing in sight wards would also prevent ganks (The average ganking time is 5:00 in game. However, the enemy jungler could still gank you right after he gets his first buff, so be careful).

When you reach lv 6 you could then plant shrooms to prevent ganks. Remember never to venture out without having vision on possible ganking entrances (eg: river, bushes, the jungle).

When your enemies have Teleport you should put shrooms on every blind spot and try to buy Vision Wards to destroy enemy wards, thus preventing your enemies from Teleporting on wards.

After all, gain vision with your shrooms to prevent being ganked 5 ways.

Teemo's Noxious Trap is one of the best ultimates in the game, because it offers vision, farming speed, and defensive capabilities throughout the game. So without further ado, lets get down to shroom placements.

Hint:
Red lines = enemy champions' path.
Red shrooms = shrooms intended for enemy champions.
Red circle = enemy champion's attack point, stopping point.
Green lines = enemy champion's path after being slowed by a shroom.
Purple lines = minion route.
Purple shrooms = shrooms intended to stop minions.
Brown strips = possible entering point for enemy (eg: Shaco with his Deceive).

Here are some example of shroom placement.


These are only some shroom placements, there are many more, but the principles are the same.

-Place shrooms in high traffic areas.

-Place shrooms in V shaped formation in lane with the bottom of the V facing your nexus (so it
looks as if your enemies are walking into a funnel).

-Have vision on possible ganking entrances, especially on the other side of walls, if the
enemy has Shaco or other champs that could jump through walls and gank.

Tips:
-Don't put lv 1 shrooms in the middle of the lane, because it will only lower enemy minion's
health enough for your minions to finish the kill, so it will be a waste of gold. So lv 1
shrooms should be placed on the side of the lane. You could start placing shrooms on mid when
you reach lv 2 or 3 shrooms.

-When the enemy is on the offensive, and their support has Oracle's Elixir, then you
should place your shrooms behind your tower, so when the enemy destroys the tower, you and
your team could safely escape; while the enemy is either stepping on your shrooms or busy
destroying them. It also prevents enemies from tower diving, since your shrooms would slow
them down.

Know your enemy and know your self, then you shall prevail in battle. (Sun Tzu)

Since teemo is best to be played as a top lane champion, he could face numerous kinds of enemies, each with unique skills and play style, so it is extremely important for you to understand how to counter them; otherwise what lies ahead is utter defeat.



Difficulty: Medium

Ok, if you ever meet him at top lane you could ask a teammate who has high lane sustain to switch lane with you, if not, then you should rush Executioner's Calling asap, because its heal/regen reduction is crucial if you want to defeat an enemy that could heal and do damage at the same time ( Transfusion), you will also need to rush your Mercury's Treads asap as well.

Your tactic against this champion is to take cover behind minions so his Tides of Blood wouldn't hit you, and when he comes close, use your Move Quick to get out of his Transfusion range. You could also hide in brushes and poke him with your Blinding Dart; the vision of you granted to him from your attack wouldn't be long enough for him to target you with Transfusion.

By the way, if he uses his Transfusion on a minion, then you should go on the offensive and poke him a few times with your Toxic Shot; this should poison his bloodstream.

Getting Banshee's Veil wouldn't be necessary unless he is super well fed. Also ask your jungler to help gank him, if you have a jungler.



Difficulty: Medium

He is perhaps the lamest champion in the game, however, if the player knows what he's doing he could easily kill you. Trust me!

Scenario: Garen has Flash and Ignite, and he is lv6. He could activate Judgment then Flash towards you, then Ignite you, and when your health is low, he could finish you with his Demacian Justice.

Sounds scary huh? Well no need to be afraid, first of all, you will need to acquire your Mercury's Treads first and try to add a couple levels to your Move Quick. When Garen does the scenario that I just gave you, you should also Flash away (because it takes time for you to gain distance from him, even when you've activated Move Quick), and if he ignites you, use Cleanse.

You might not be able to out strength your enemy, but you could out run them, so getting Boots of Swiftness could help you kite Garen

Poke him with your Toxic Shot, and run away (this should dive him crazy, and hopefully cause him to disconnect, hopefully).



Difficulty: Hard

You might think that a girl with a "broken sword" is easy to defeat, but she is considered by me to be a hard top lane opponent, because she has high mobility ( Broken Wings and Valor), stun ( Ki Burst), and a ulti that could finish you off easily ( Wind Slash).

Scenario: Riven is lv6, she could dash forward with her Valor; then swing three times with her Broken Wings; then stun you with her Ki Burst; then whack you with her blade while her Runic Blade is active; then use Wind Slash (if she activated Blade of the Exile) to finish you.

So the best way to counter her, is to keep you distance from her, or hide in brushes. Getting Ninja Tabi could help you survive a little bit longer; replace it with Mercury's Treads later. Getting Amplifying Tome early could help you harass her with your Toxic Shot.

When she is dashing towards you with her Broken Wings, you should try to run away in a zig-zag path, because it is easier for her to catch up with you if you ran in a straight path.

If she used up all 3 of her Broken Wings, and Valor; then you should go on the offensive and poke her a few times with your Toxic Shot. Don't over extend because enemy minions hurt like hell early game.

Poke her with your Toxic Shot and run away, and if she charges towards you, then use Move Quick to gain distance from her.

When you've reach lv6, use your Noxious Trap to gain map control, and limit the places she could use her Broken Wings. Remember to place shrooms behind you, so you could escape easily.



Defficulty: Hard

Never be fooled by the lamppost, because it hurts way more than Xin Zhao's spear. First of all, Jax has high mobility ( Leap Strike), stun ( Counter Strike), and a massive burst of damage ( Empower and Grandmaster-At-Arms).

Scenario: Jax is lv6. He could activate Counter Strike, then Leap Strike towards you, then stun you with Counter Strike, and then start dealing damage with his Empower and his Grandmaster-At-Arms's passive.

So, your primary tactic is to poke him with your Toxic Shot and run away when ever you can.

Never trade health with him, because he would be able to inflict more damage than you if his attacks are consistent. This is because of his Relentless Assault and his Grandmaster-At-Arms's passive.

Keep your distance from him at all times. If you see him activate Counter Strike or if he Leap Strike's towards you, then use Move Quick to keep your distance.

If he already used his Leap Strike, and he is within your attack range, then you should go on the offensive and poke him a couple of times with your Toxic Shot.

Don't auto attack him if he activates Counter Strike because attacking him would only cause him to deal more damage.

When you reach lv6, you could stand on a shroom and bait him to Leap Strike on to you. Once he does, the slow from the shroom would prevent him from catching up with you, then when you've gained distance from him, you could retaliate with a barrage of Toxic Shot while he is still slowed.

You dont't have to kill him early game, forcing him to recall is enough, because he would lose the experience and gold from the minions; thus making it easier for you to kill him later game, when your are more fed than him.



Difficulty: Medium

Although it is easy to defeat her in the early game, it would be extremely hard to do so as she starts getting more fed.

So, use your standard poke and run method, and try to keep your distance from her; because if you are too close, then you might get Bladesurged by her, then stunned with Equilibrium Strike, if you have been harassing her. If this ever happens, don't trade health with her, just use your Blinding Dart and Move Quick then run away. The reason is because she could regenerate health with her Hiten Style and Transcendent Blades, so if you stood still and trade health with her, then you will definitely lose.

After all, the only way to really kill her is either have someone gank her, or lower her health enough; then when she is slowed by a shroom, you could move in for the kill.

You could consider getting Executioner's Calling to reduce her heal.

Try to dodge in a zig-zag path when she is firing her Transcendent Blades at you.

If you are taking too much damage, then getting Ninja Tabi could help you tank more damage.

You will need to get a lot of Health Potion or Vampiric Scepter to stay in lane against her life steal spells.



Difficulty: Easy

You are born to counter this champion, if you ever face him in lane, you would probably win. Unless you have a huge ego, and you screwed up a lot.

He is pure ad, so you could avoid most of his damage with your Blinding Dart.

If he slows you with his Mocking Shout, then use Move Quick to counter his slow.

Map awareness is key, because it is easy to get ganked when you are up against him. So get a sight ward early and ward your river.

Gain map control with your shrooms, so there will be no where for him to spin ( Spinning Slash).

I don't recommend this, but if it is hard to finish him, then you could consider getting Executioner's Calling.

Just keep on harassing him until he is low on health, then he will have to get angry ( Undying Rage) and spin away ( Spinning Slash), then die from your Toxic Shot. XD

Just keep your distance from him if he activates Undying Rage, then when the effect is over after 5 seconds, you could then finish him. Don't just stand there like an idiot and let him life steal you with his critical strikes.

Have patience, patience is the most important thing of this build; without patience, you could lose to any kind of player, even AI.

So, find peace and harmony within yourself, and with patience, you shall pervail.

-Never be too greedy.
-Kill your ego, or it will kill you.
-Stay calm.
-Even when it seems like you are losing, never give up.
-Don't get taunted by your enemies "Don't get mad, get even", so taunt them when you win.
-If you didn't win, then learn from your mistakes. Then next time, its their turn to learn
from their mistakes.
-Be a humble player, and don't brag; otherwise...
-Don't talk trash, because it will only demoralize your team.
-Try not to blame others, unless they are feeding like 0/8/1

This is a reminder to myself ---

Feel free to give me your opinions about this guide, maybe your method is better than mine. Well, in that case I might just be the one being taught how to play... LOLz

Some of my item choices might have been similar to other guides, but my tactics are all based on my own idea. In response to having similar item choices to other guides, I would say that it is because both of our guides are about teemo.

Buy Recon teemo Skin!!! It gives you natural camoflague!!! It might also strike fear in your enemies, because only people dedicated to a champion would buy its skin.

MORE CHAMPION COUNTER TACTICS COMING SOON!!!

The teemo stats calculation offered by mobafire at the top of the page is all wrong, they missed a lot of hp, magic penetration, and etc... ; teemo's stats are actually higher.


-If you have time, you could check out "In-Depth Item Guide" by theBMB for more information about item choices.

-If you want learn more about champion counters, you could check out "Counter picks against each individual champion" by Slappiz.

-If you want to make a guide your self you could check out "Making A Guide" by jhoijhoi.