Teemo: The Swift Scout

Anyone that has ever played League of Legends (LoL) knows that you either love Teemo: The Swift Scout or you hate him. Everyone has an opinion on where and when he should be played or if he should be your number 1 instaban at the start of the draft process. So I figured I would give my two cents about where he is of his highest and best use: The Support.

First a bit about my time of the Rift. I started playing League of Legends way back when Akali was concept art, having your ADC mid was meta, Nasus was a librarian, Soraka and Warwick were the result of curses, and you could end up in a mirror match up against the same champs. I have also logged over 6k games. Not as many as some, but definitely enough to have an opinion. No, I am not ranked. This is mostly because the few times I played ranked people were pretty toxic and it sucked the fun out of the game for me. I enjoy trying champs in new ways, and I will write about my off-meta attempts here.

Back to Teemo as a support. I have 3 major reasons that I think he makes the perfect support: Blinding Dart (Q), Noxious Trap (R), and his versatility.

Blinding Dart (Q) is really the core reason you should use Teemo as support. It does high damage and prevents auto attacks from hitting. When in early lane this can seriously mess up the CS (Creep Score). It takes a bit of practice to get used to the timing, but you can hit the opposing ADC (Attack Damage Carry) with Blinding Dart right before they get the last hit on a minion. Sadly, Blinding Dart has a pretty long CD (Cool Down) early game, so if I am interrupting last hits I prefer to do it right before the ADC hits the tank minion. Since this is not a skill shot ability you do not need to worry about the aim to much just getting the timing right. Alternatively, if the opposing Support is using Bulwark of Mountain you can use this same method to prevent the healing effect of the Support's last hit on a minion. Lastly, if ganked or an intense fight breaks out between the two ADC's it can be a life saver to use exhaust followed up with a Blinding Dart. The two effects in sequence make it very unlikely that the opposing ADC could do damage or win.

Next is Noxious Trap (R). Originally in League of Legends you could buy as many wards as you could afford, but over the years this has been revamped to allow for only 3 wards at a time and only if you had the appropriate items. Needless to say having only the Support placing 3 wards (which are entirely ineffective against invisible champions) does not really help with vision; however, the number of Noxious Traps on screen is solely limited to how many you can produce before the lifespan of a trap runs out. Even though max CD rate is capped at 40% you can still get a reduced time of almost 10 seconds. Traps act as way better wards in my opinion. For starters you can still teleport to them and see the area around them. Normal wards that is about the extent of their usefulness. The traps will instead blow up causing DOT (Damage Over Time) to any within an area. This includes invisible champions such as Evelyn and Shaco. If you have good ward placement and low CD you can cover a large portion of the screen in just a few minutes with the traps. This will greatly hinder the effectiveness of the enemy team. To get the best bang for your buck I suggest you rush Luden's Echo right after your shoes. Luden's will give you a large CD boost plus plenty of extra mana and damage, and on top of that the extra damage effect can activate after the trap was stepped on if you keep walking around. While all the extra vision and damage may seem like nothing but a gold mine, keep in mind that there is a high chance of KS (Kill Stealing). Many Jungles and ADC's will get furious even if it was not intentional.

Lastly very few other champs can compare to his versatility. He is like the Swiss Army Knife of the game. You need more magic damage on the team? Build him with AP( Ability Power) increasing items. You need more physical damage? Same idea. Plus with his camo passive he can lay in wait for an unsuspecting enemy. Personally, my favorite item's that are essential are: Sorcerer's Shoes (Increased magic penetration), Luden's Echo( Major CD boost), Morellonomicon (For Grievous Wounds {lowers enemy healing for a time} applied to spells), Mortal Reminder (For Grievous Wounds applied to auto attacks), and the either Rylai's Crystal Scepter ( Slowing effect for spells) or Hextech Handgun (for an extra spell as well as healing per % of damage done).

Love him or hate him Teemo is a solid fixture in the world of Runeterra. Anyone that has spent anytime on the Rift knows the horror of thinking you got away clean, but at the last moment you step on a Noxious Trap. So next time before instabanning this poor little Yordle, maybe instead consider what my thoughts and try him as the ultimate Support.