Teemo Top Lane Matchups: Laning Strategy Comprehensive Guide (Season 7 LoL)

Top Lane matchups for all of Teemo’s lane opponents for Season 7 League of Legends. A quick build and explanation is included for all match ups top lane in LoL. I will continue to update this guide with more champions and to reflect meta changes, so please bookmark and come back if you’re a Teemo top player! Quickly read about your matchup before your game starts to get an advantage!

These guides are intended for players in Gold and Platinum (or below.) I have mained Teemo for a couple of years, with hundreds of games from Gold to high Platinum in Solo Ranked Queue. Another super helpful resource is Twitch streamer ivan999 who is a Diamond and Master level Teemo player that streams on Twitch.

Bookmark this Guide! Regularly updated. Current: Fall 2017.

More champions are being added and information is being tweaked on a regular basis. Please bookmark and come back often! A good way to use this guide is to quickly read about your opponent during champion select and the loading screen.

Section and Matchup Shortcuts for This Guide:

• General Build: Tanky AD/AS Teemo
• General Build: AP Teemo Build
• Overall Teemo Playstyle Tips & Lane Strategy
• Champions Teemo Counters
• Champions that Counter Teemo

Shortcuts to matchups: if a guide is available for a matchup the link will be active here. Updated regularly!

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General Build for Hybrid Tanky Teemo AS / On-Hit

Runes: Attack Speed Red (Marks), Flat Armor Yellows, Scaling MR Blues, Attack Speed Quints
Masteries: 18-12-0 (Take Fervor Keystone and Greenfather’s Gift plus all damage / attack speed options)
Summoners: Flash + Teleport (OR Ghost sometimes)
Starting Items: Boots+Pots OR Dorans Ring OR Doran’s Shield OR Corrupting Potion
Default Build: Boots > Frozen Mallet > Swiftness Boots > Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane, OR BotRK
Offensive Items: Hextech Gunblade, BOTRK, Hurricane, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Wits End, Guardian Angel
Defensive Items: ZZRot, Thornmail, Dead Man’s Plate, Randuins, Abyssal Mask

• Weakness: kills require time and chasing, leaving you vulnerable to overextending and getting ganked
• Weakness: shrooms aren’t deadly, but still do okay damage + slow
• Strength: can survive almost any enemy burst, then outplay and kite
• Strength: has good sustain midgame via BOTRK or Hextech Gunblade.
• Strength: by mid game can 1v1 most top laners and split push quickly with Hurricane
• Strength: free slowing wards protect you from ganks (even if they don’t do much damage)

The general idea with tanky AD/AS Teemo is to get tanky with a permaslow using Frozen Mallet, then get lots of on-hit damage with attack speed items combined with your E autoattack poison. If the enemy over-extends you can punish it and chase them forever. Fervor is very important here mid and late game for extra AD.

General Build for AP Teemo, the Shroom Farmer

Runes: Magic Pen Reds (Marks), Flat Armor Yellows, Scaling MR Blues, Flat AP OR AS Quints
Masteries: Thunderlords Keystone, Take Greenfathers gift and all AP/Magic Pen options
Summoners: Flash + Teleport (Ghost and Ignite are options)
Starting Items: Dorans Ring + HP Pots or Corrupting Potion
Core: Liandry’s Torment, Sorc Shoes, (Often also Zhonya’s)
Offensive: Liandry’s Torment, Hextech Gunblade, Nashor’s Tooth, Morellonomicon, Lich Bane, Void Staff
Defensive: Zhonya’s, Abyssal Mask, Banshee’s Veil, Wits End
Typical Full Build Example: Sorc Shoes > Liandry’s > Hextech Gunblade and/or Nashor’s Tooth > Zhonya’s > Banshee’s or Lich Bane

• Weakness: Squishy, yet needs to be close to be effective
• Weakness: Doesn’t fit meta or team expectations – is squishy and can’t protect mid or ADC much
• Weakness: Enemies can easily get Oracles Trinket to heavily counter mushrooms
• Strength: Objective and map control with high damage shrooms
• Strength: Higher early game damage
• Strength: Late game surprise shroom damage to start or finish fights.

The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages, largely because the red trinket is such an easy and effective counter currently. In most games I recommend playing as a Tanky Hybrid Teemo rather than AP. In Silver and low Gold ranks, AP Teemo seems to be a lot stronger.

Overall Teemo Play Style Tips and Strategies

• Core Poke Combo: AA > Q > AA. Your Q resets your autoattack animation, so you can AA>Q>AA basically faster than you can auto attack twice. These 3 attacks also proc thunderlord’s if you take it – this is a great poke combo that is easy to get off. Use it every time you can while in lane. Practice the timing.
• Poke Every Time the Enemy Last Hits: Always be poking whenever the enemy comes up to last hit a creep (especially vs melee)
• Remember to CS: Don’t forget to prioritize your own last hitting. With planning and practice you can CS and poke, but don’t lose CS because you are poking.
• In & Out of Bush: Run into bushes right after you poke to drop aggro from ranged creeps, plus proc your Greenfather’s mastery
• Save Your Blind (Sometimes): for when the enemy engages on you (right after they dash to you for example). While its tempting to poke with your AA + Blind + AA combo, in some situations you need to save your Blinding Dart cooldown.
  • For example always save your blind vs Renekton or Irelia because they can dash-engage -> CC you if its on cooldown.
• Drop a Shroom at the Start of a Fight: Drop a shroom right behind you or behind the enemy when they engage on you. This will slow them so you can run–or chase them for follow up damage.
• Kite, kite, kite! You must practice this or you will lose the majority of lanes. Frozen mallet’s slow makes Teemo deadly and super annoying as long as you know how to kite!
• Shroom Wards: Use shrooms as wards in the tri-brush and river areas. Also place shrooms along the path the enemy jungler will take toward you when coming out of the river. This will save you from ganks most of the time.
• Shroom Objectives: Remember to drop shrooms around Baron and Dragon mid to late game.
• Save Shrooms: Try to save up at least 2 shrooms before any fight. The shroom damage and slow will be key in turning the tide of any close fight.
• Shroom AoE Creep Trigger: Drop a shroom on nearby enemy minions to guarantee it will explode. Shrooms have a pretty big AoE effect so the damage and slow will still apply if the enemy player is nearby. This will  ensure the enemy can’t walk around the shroom.
• Shroom Arming Delay: Remember that shrooms take about 1-2 seconds to arm, so if you drop it directly on an enemy champion they will usually have time to walk out of the way. Instead try dropping it behind them if you know they are going to try to disengage. Alternately drop it behind yourself if you know you will be running away.
• Level 1 Cheese: at the start of any games where you don’t have to help your jungle leash, rush immediately to the middle top brush and wait. When the enemy gets close to the first creep wave to CS, pop out and get 2-3 free autoattacks in.

Teemo Counters – Champions that Counter Teemo:

• Pantheon: probably the worst matchup for Teemo. Ban Pantheon!
• Vlad
• Most ranged AP Mages
  • Many mages give Teemo a problem because almost all of them either have better range or have a CC so they can withdraw after firing their burst. Teemo won’t be able to trade early game. Build tanky with frozen mallet + defense items so you can survive the burst and chase them down.

Who Does Teemo Counter? Countered by Teemo:

• Most melee bruisers:
  • Teemo counters most melee AD bruisers thanks to his ranged attack poke during CS’ing and his blind if they manage to get close and try to engage
• Aatrox
• Camille
• Dr. Mundo
• Irelia
• Garen
• Tryndamere
• Darius (Teemo moderately counters Darius by mid game)

Teemo vs Aatrox Top Lane

Teemo counters Aatrox around mid game. Play somewhat passive early.

Sumoner Spells: Flash + Ghost (Exhaust is also an option)
Start: Dorans ring + HP pots
Core vs Aatrox: Boots > Jarum’s Fist > Swiftness boots > Executioners Calling / Finish Frozen Mallet
If you are struggling in lane build: Dead Man’s Plate or Randuins Omen (defensive)
If you are doing well in lane build: Hextech Gunblade (offensive)

Short guide: take ghost, play passive until you get a bit tanky otherwise Aatrox can deal a surprising amount of damage by jumping on you, then he heals up like crazy. Get swiftness boots and executioner’s calling somewhat early to deal with his slow and healing respectively. Always save your blind for if Aatrox jumps on you. Make sure you don’t feed Aatrox kills until you have items to deal with him, so play passive early (till lvl 6-8 at least). Don’t underestimate Aatrox’s damage potential or his healing while autoattacking.

Generally a fight Teemo vs Aaatrox will go like this: Teemo is harassing with autoattacks. If he gets a tad too close, Aatrox jumps on you, knocks you up, gets 1-2 autoattacks in and starts trying to walk behind you to block your retreat, then uses his wave to slow you. Then Teemo will blind him immediately after recovering from the knockup, hit W for move speed and run to create distance. If Teemo has enough life to continue the fight, Teemo will kite backwards and AA harass him as Aatrox has to retreat. Frozen Mallet and swift boots allow Teemo to do this escape/kite/chase. However, even if Teemo survives Aatrox’s engage, kites and gets good harass in, Aatrox only needs to autoattack a few creeps and he will regain most of his health while you’ll be chunked down. So the ideal way to play is to play safe, let Aatrox push until your jungler is nearby, then you should be able to get a kill.

• Tip: at the start of the game, rush to the middle top bush and wait there. When Aatrox appears, let him start hitting creeps then jump out and get 2-3 free autoattacks. You may be able to get Aatrox low enough to keep him away from farming for a while.

Teemo vs Akali

Start: Doran’s Blade or Longsword + HP Pots
Core Build: Frozen Mallet > Wits End or Hextech Gunblade
Other Items: Hextech Gunblade, Guardian Angel, ZZrot

Poke hard and be aggressive pre level 6. Stay out of range so Akali can never AA or use her E on you. Then she will only have her Q and will probably need to use it’s cooldown to last hit minions. Take red trinket to watch her when you all in and she uses her invisibility shroud. Also get a control ward on first back, save it for a fight – it may net you a kill when you surprise Akali with it if she isn’t watching your items. Standard Frozen Mallet build should work fine. AP Teemo would have trouble with her burst once Akali hits lvl 6, so go with tanky AD Teemo build. Consider Wits End as a 2nd item here. Hextech Gunblade would also be nice early.

Teemo vs Anivia

Starting Items: Corrupting Potion
Core Items: Swiftness Boots, Frozen Mallet
Later Item Options: Hurricane, Wits End, Blade of the Ruined King, Zzrot, Hextech Gunblade

Short Guide: Play passive early and request a gank when Anivia inevitably pushes the lane. Swiftness boots would be a good early buy to dodge Anivia’s stun and get through her R slow. Frozen mallet should allow you to survive Anivia’s initial burst if it hits, then follow up for a kill as long as you can dodge her stun. One mistake on Anivia’s part with a missed wall or stun should be very punishable by mid game. Make sure your jungler is aware of Anivia’s flash cooldown and mention its a good target to pressure if she pushes the lane. Anivia has very low mobility and is very gankable. Note: this is a rare matchup, I could uses some more experience/practice with this.

Teemo vs Camille Top Lane

Teemo has significant advantage vs Camille

Start: Corrupting Potion or Dorans Ring + Pots
Frozen Mallet>Swiftness Boots or Ninja Tabi>Hextech Gunblade>

As long as you blind Camille when she engages on you, you should win this matchup pretty easily.  Your move speed should also allow you to dodge most or all of her wall jump>stuns. Make sure you don’t try to use blinding dart right as she ults (which makes her untargettable). You need the blind effect to win fights and trades. If you can blind one or both of her Q procs you will do very well. Even if she gets and advantage, you should be able to escape fairly well just using W / move quick.

Teemo vs ChoGath Top Lane

Mostly even matchup. Probably a farm lane. Teemo beats Cho’gath 1v1 late game.

Start: Doran’s Shield or Corrupting Potion
Core: Frozen Mallet, Swiftness Boots, Blade of the Ruined King, Hurricane or Wits End
Other Options: Hextech Gunblade, Merc Treads, Guinsoo’s Reageblade, ZZrot

Chogath has a ton of sustain from killing creeps, so this ends up being a bit of a tough matchup for Teemo to win. Generally it should be a farm lane – don’t push too far or you may be susceptible to ganks. Like many matchups, if you get an early advantage you may be able to punish Cho for a few waves of creeps, but he will probably take teleport and come back to lane quickly. The ideal way to play this matchup is to poke cho carefully so he has to use his aoe spells to last hit.  This will make him push lane, then have your jungler come and gank him.

Mid and Late game Teemo should be able to 1v1 Cho pretty easily with Frozen Mallet and some sustain (life steal via BOTRK or Hextech Gunblade). Just be sure to use shrooms to ward against ganks.

Teemo vs Darius

Teemo has a small advantage.  Skill matchup.

Summoners: Flash and Ghost (not teleport)
Skills: Max R > W > E > Q (Take Q at lvl 3)
Start: Boots and Refillable Pot/HP Potions
Core Items Teemo vs Darius: Frozen Mallet > Swiftness Boots
Final Build Example: Swifty boots > Frozen Mallet > Hextech Gunblade and/or BoTRK > Thornmail or ZZrot > Hurricane

Offensive (after core): Executioner’s, Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane,  Guinsoo’s Rageblade,
Defensive options (after core): Thornmail, ZZrot, Guardian Angel, Dead Man’s Plate

Short Laning Guide: Teemo counters Darius with skilled, careful play ONLY. Start boots + pots so you can dodge Darius’s spin and pull. Early game only carefully poke, don’t over extend past minions or go past about halfway point in the lane unless Darius is almost dead already. Use your AA>Q combo, then backup into bushes to drop minion aggro. Max W early, possibly even over your E for the additional move speed to dodge Darius abilities.

Early Game: Early game you can be aggressive and poke only if Darius misses skills, has no summoner spells, and/or enemy jungle shows in another location. Otherwise, just farm safely until you get Frozen Mallet + swift boots and maybe cloth armor.

Mid-Late Game: Once you have Frozen Mallet and Swiftness Boots it should be game over for Darius in a 1v1 situation vs Teemo. Any time he is past the half way point in lane you should be able to either kill him or take him down to about 20% health as he runs away. Remember to always be ready to dodge his Q and E however. Lastly, save your W active speed boost and at least 1 shroom in case Darius pulls you — use W after he hits you with his W (slow) and then drop a shroom along your retreat path.

• Ghost Note: Watch out for Darius taking Ghost, this completely destroys your kiting strategy — as soon as Darius gets full hemmorage stacks on you, you will lose the fight. (Its basically impossible to Dodge Darius’ E pull into W slow if he is ghosting for example.) If Darius takes Ghost I would consider him a moderate counter to Teemo. Ghost+Ignite on Darius vs Teemo is especially brutal. This is why I recommend taking Ghost as Teemo vs Darius.
• Consider trying Warlords as your keystone. The heal+move speed will be great early game for poking and escaping. However late game you lose out on a lot of extra AA damage from fervor so it may not be worth it. It does help the rough early lane phase vs Darius though.

Teemo vs Dr. Mundo Top Lane

AD Tanky Teemo counters Dr. Mundo

Summoner Spells: Flash + Ghost or Teleport
Start: Doran’s Ring or Doran’s Blade
Core vs Dr. Mundo: Boots > Executioner’s Calling > Swiftness Boots > Frozen Mallet OR BOTRK
Mid/Late Game Items: Blade of the Ruined King, Hurricane, Mortal Reminder, Hextech Gunblade
Defensive Items if Dying: Zzrot, Dead Man’s Plate, Wits End

Keep minions between yourself and Mundo. Poke Mundo with AA>blind>AA if he ever walks up to melee a creep, though after you poke him a bit he will quickly start using cleavers to farm instead of try to harass you.

Mundo will want to build Spirit Visage / Spectre’s Cowl early for the MR and boost to his healing, but you will be building AD Teemo so thats no problem. Executioner’s calling does a ton to negate Mundo’s ult and natural regen. Once you get Frozen Mallet + Swiftness boots you can extremely aggressive and maybe get some kills on Mundo, though it will take a while and you may have to settle for making him recall. Remember to shroom-ward deep into the river and jungle so you have a lot of warning if a gank is coming.

Teemo vs Ekko

Teemo advantage?

Start: Dorans Ring + HP Pots or Corrupting Potion
Frozen Mallet (alternately for AP Teemo start Haunting Visage>Sorc Shoes)

Get health with frozen mallet, then get some MR from wits end, zzrot etc. You could also probably do AP teemo vs Ekko–Haunting Visage rush then sorc shoes and liandry’s. Then some tankiness+ap, maybe the new Banshee’s Veil or Abyssal Scepter.

Teemo vs Fiora Top Lane

Teemo counters Fiora signifincantly

Start: Doran’s Ring or Doran’s Blade
Core: Frozen Mallet, Swiftness Boots, Hextech Gunblade

Youtube Gameplay Video: AD Teemo Tankmo vs Fiora Top Lane Matchup

This is a pretty good matchup for Teemo. You can pretty safely poke at Fiora, however save your blind until times when there is no chance Fiora will be engaging on you soon. Also, even when Fiora engages on you, don’t blind right away like you normally would. Try to bait out her parry so you can blind her afterward. Most Fiora’s will parry right after they engage on you so don’t blind instantly. Play it by ear and learn from what the Fiora does. As long as your blind isn’t parried while you’re engaging, it should be an easy trade/kill. Also, while she parries, you have free time to throw a shroom behind her. Shroom triggers are delayed so it will trigger after her parry ends. The onlty thing to keep in mind is watch out for Fiora’s ult and heals. Even if she’s down to 10% health, if she can hit her dashes on you she will keep healing up.

Teemo vs Gangplank Top Lane

Teemo has advantage.

Ap Teemo VS Gangplank Build:
Rune Keystone: Thunderlords
Start: Doran’s Ring (Preferred) OR Corrupting Potion
Core: Boots > Hextech Gunblade > Sorc Shoes > Liandry’s Torment > Zhonya’s
Defensive: Zhonya’s, ZZrot
Offensive: Void Staff, Luden’s Echo, Nashor’s, Rabadon’s Deathcap

AP Teemo seems to better than AD Tankmo when vs GP. Take Thunderlords and proc it every time it’s up using AA>Q>AA combo. Otherwise stay out of range of his Q unless he just wasted his Q (parrley) cooldown. Make sure you dodge his barrels (if safe, try to AA them right as the last tick happens.) Remember to keep in mind he will probably have barrels ready to set off hidden in bushes. You can use shrooms for bush vision so you can AA the barrels.

AP Teemo can outburst GP by far unless you make a mistake and get hit by barrels. Every 40 seconds or so you can Hextech Gunblade Active>AA>Q>AA>Thunderlords combo, plus likely chase down and get more AA’s using move quick (or if necessary, use your W to retreat.) A full combo will probably take about half of GP’s life and send him running. Just set up shrooms in the river/tribrush to guard against ganks and it should go well as long as you dodge his barrels.

Teemo vs Galio Top Lane

Teemo beats Galio pretty easily after level 6 and can farm and harass moderately well lvl 1-5.

Summoners: Flash + Teleport or Ignite
Keystone: Thunderlords
Starting Items: Corrupting Potion OR Doran’s Blade
Core Items vs Galio: Wits End, Boots, Hextech Gunblade and/or Frozen Mallet
Defensive Options: Spirit Visage, Frozen Mallet
Offensive Options: BOTRK, Hurricane

This is a fairly easy lane. Teemo needs to be a bit careful early game (lvl 1-6) especially if Galio takes ignite, but in general you should be able to CS and harass pretty easily against Galio. Stick to the top side of the lane so you can run into bushes to drop minion aggro and trigger Greenfather’s as well as your ambush AS passive. Galio’s whirlwind can harass you a bit, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It is possible for Galio to use his full combo (Q — ranged whirlwind into his dash and taunt combo plus ignite) and that can possibly kill you if you’re a bit low or early game, so it may be a good idea to wait until level 6 or 7 to really commit to fighting him.

Watch what resistances Galio builds and shoot for the opposite. If he starts spirit visage, BOTRK and/or Frozen Mallet are ideal, especially since Galio gets a magic resist shield in his kit. However Wits End is also a great first item – Wits End plus a little bit of health and some HP potions give you damage and just enough sustain and defense to safely take Galio down. Hextech Gunblade adds tons of extra burst to short trades and gives you sustain, plus makes you shrooms deadlier.

Your biggest concern here is ganks in combination with Galio’s CC, but use shrooms to ward and you should be just fine here.

Teemo vs Garen Top Lane

Teemo counters Garen significantly.

Skill Order: E > W > Q (Take Q at lvl 3)
Summoners: Flash and Teleport (Ghost is an option)
Starting Items: Boots and Refillable Pot/HP Potions
Core Items: Boots > Swiftness Boots > Frozen Mallet > Offensive Item
Offensive Items: BotRK, Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane
Defensive Items: Dead Man’s Plate, ZZrot

Teemo vs Garen Strategy: Prioritize movement speed early to poke and run away from Garen’s spin. Start boots + pots. Prioritize your W skill over Q for move speed. Make sure to constantly be poking him. You should be able to even keep him away from minions a lot of the time. Save your W for if he charges at you – don’t use it to poke him early on. At lvl 6 be sure to set up a shroom retreat path so he definitely can never chase you down. This should be a fairly easy, straight forward mathchup for teemo.

Teemo vs Gnar Top Lane S7 Matchup Guide

Teemo does well vs Gnar
Even matchup early game. Mid-late Teemo can reliably 1v1 Gnar after ~2 completed items.

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport
Keystone: Thunderlords
Starting Items: Doran’s Ring + HP Pots
Core Items vs Gnar: Jarum’s Fist > Merc Treads > Frozen Mallet > BotRK
Other Offensive Options: Hurricane, Hextech Gunblade, Rageblade
Other Defensive Options: Dead Man’s Plate, ZZrot

Early Lane Strategy Teemo v Gnar: Early game Teemo can do okay by AA>Q>AA>Thunderlords combo, but Gnar will win any longer trade. Try to wait for Gnar to miss with his boomerang, then do your AA>Q>AA combo and immediately withdraw into a bush. Early game is roughly even, but if Gnar is bad with his Boomerang you can punish him.

Frozen Mallet gives you the health to survive Gnar’s burst, and slow to chase him down. Merc treads help you deal with his stuns, though Swiftness boots would be an option if there is not much CC on the rest of the enemy team. Then Blade of the Ruined King is great vs Gnar who will usually build Black Cleaver first (a health-heavy item.)

Remember to keep Gnar’s rage meter in mind. He gets healed, tankier, and will look to stun and combo you when transforming into Mega-Gnar. Don’t all-in and chase a Gnar who is about to go Mega if you are at all low on HP.

• Tip: if Gnar misses his boomerang, the cooldown is very long. If he catches it, it will be very short. A decent Gnar should never miss his Boomerang – if you see this happen it may be a sign of an inexperienced Gnar player.
• Tip: once Gnar hits level 6, try to stay in the middle of the lane so he can’t ult you into a wall.

Teemo vs Illaoi Top Lane Matchup Guide

Even matchup depending on how many skillshots Illaoi hits and how well Teemo dodges.

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport or Ignite or Ghost
Starting Items: Boots + Pots or Refillable Pot
Core Items: Swiftness boots, Frozen Mallet > Executioners Calling / Raptor Cloak
Late Game Items: Blade of the Ruined King, Hurricane, Hextech Gunblade, ZZrot, Dead Man’s Plate

It is possible for Teemo to have a big advantage here if Illaoi misses his skills or Teemo dodges them regularly. Like a Garen or Darius matchup, prioritize move speed on Teemo. Get boots > swiftness boots early, and max W (move quick) over your Q. Early jungle pressure can make all the difference in this matchup.

Illaoi’s goal in this matchup is to push the lane super hard with her Q (Tentacle Slam) and passive Tentacle Spawns to clear waves. Even if Teemo is able to harass him, the lane will push so fast  that it will end up going to Teemo’s tower. Once minions are out of the way Illaoi will look for his E ability (spirit grab).

If Teemo gets early advantage and is able to zone and harass Illaoi, build: Swiftness Boots > Frozen Mallet > Executioner’s Calling (unless you took ignite). When chasing Illaoi for a kill she will probably be able to hit at least some of her abilities as your chasing movement is predictable. You will likely need Executioner’s calling or ignite to minimize her healing for a kill. Once Illaoi ults, always move out of the zone. If winning the fight you can run forward out of the zone, otherwise just withdraw and wait for the ult Tentacles to disappear.

If Illaoi keeps pushing to your tower and you aren’t able to harass her, build: Swiftness Boots > Jarums Fist > Raptor Cloak

• Tip: If Illaoi hits her E on you, start autoattacking and blind her. Be prepared to dodge her Q slam, and NEVER position yourself between a tentacle and the grabbed spirit. Auto-attacking Illaoi after she grabs you reduces the spirit’s duration.
• Tip: Spirit Grab: If you simply are too low on HP to fight/blind after getting grabbed, run out of the zone immediately. Never just stand in the Spirit range without actively fighting Illaoi.
• Tip: Remind your jungle and team to never stay and fight inside Illaoi’s ult area and don’t bunch up
• Tip: Always keep a minion between you and Illaoi so she can’t hit her E (spirit grab)

Teemo vs Irelia Top Lane

Teemo Counters Irelia significantly.

Start: Dorans Ring
Core vs Irelia: Frozen Mallet
Other Items to Consider: Hextech Gunblade, ZZrot, Hurricane, BotRK

Start Doran’s Ring for more blind and shroom damage, plus needed mana regen for blinds. Irelia will try to farm with her Q dash. Be quick about AA’ing her as soon as she gets in range. If she starts retreating you may consider AA>Q>AA combo, though if there is a chance she will turn after the blind ends then save your blind. Once you poke Irelia a bit and she is low and can’t engage, then you can feel free to AA>Q>AA combo at every possibility. You should be able to pretty easily 1v1 irelia at every point in the game except maybe super late.

Early-mid game should be an easy win unless Irelia takes ignite and/or you somehow get low HP. Generally you should be able to blind her as she engages. Most irelias will Q on you (or to a creep near you), then try to stun you with E, then start AAing you. If you blind correctly, she should be blinded the whole time you are stunned. Then you can start kiting once you recover from the stun.  Put a shroom either behind you or behind when you recover from the stun, depending on who is going to be running away (probably her.)

Teemo vs Javan IV Top Lane Counter Strategy

Teemo does well vs Jarvan by mid game.

Skill Order: E > W > Q (Take Q at lvl 3)
Keystone: Fervor
Summoners: Flash and Teleport (Ghost, Exhaust and Ignite are options)
Starting Items: Doran’s Ring + HP Pots
Core Items: Jarum’s Fist > Ninja Tabi > Frozen Mallet > BOTRK > probably Dead Man’s Plate
Offensive Items: BotRK, Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane
Defensive Items: Dead Man’s Plate, Thornmail, ZZrot

Jarvan can do a suprising amount of damage for a how tanky he usually builds, and has a good gap close to suprise and jump on Teemo. You need to build tanky at first to survive the initial burst. In longer fights you will be able to outdamage Jarvan so the key is surviving Jarvan’s initiation.

Early lane an aggressive Jarvan could chunk Teemo down with just one full combo, or kill him if Jarvan takes ignite. Keep that in mind and get a feel for how the Jarvan is playing the matchup. If you are against an experienced Jarvan, keep your distance until you get some tankiness. However if you are able to get Jarvan chunked down, you can be very aggressive and punish him until he backs.

• Tip: it is pretty easy to dodge Jarvan’s ult damage with flash. Just use flash while he is airborne during his ult animation.  It won’t deal damage until he lands and it won’t follow your flash.

Teemo vs Jayce Top Lane

Jayce advantage, especially early.

Start: Doran’s Shield + Pots
Core: Frozen Mallet, ZZrot or Dead Mans Plate, Swiftness Boots or Ninja Tabi, Hextech Gunblade

Don’t play AP Teemo vs Jayce. Go tanky AD Teemo and play verry passive for the first 6-8 levels. Early game Jayce can out-trade you, and if he takes ignite he may even be able to surprise burst kill you if you get close enough for his melee set of skills. Poke him carefully when he is about to last hit, but save your blind for if he engages on you. You probably won’t be able to poke him out of lane so concentrate primarily on farming until you get frozen mallet and at least cloth armor. Mid and late game you should be able to outplay and out kite him and chase him down or at least out of lane. Just make sure you don’t let him get ahead in the early game.

Teemo vs Jax Top Lane

Start: Doran’s Ring
Core: Frozen Mallet, Swiftness Boots or Merc Treads, BOTRK or Hextech Gunblade

Don’t be too aggressive here – just avoid feeding Jax and you should be great by mid game. Try to get Jax low during level 1 and 2 (hide in the middle brush at the start of the game then pop out and AA him when he starts to CS). At level 3+ he can potentially jump on you and win a trade depending on how it is played, so before that, you want to get him low enough that he can’t engage. Building a little bit hybrid here is helpful since he can’t dodge your shroom damage or blinds.

• Tip: don’t autoattack him while Jax is using his E (dodge) – each AA dodged increases Jax’s stun damage
• Tip: If Jax starts using his E, always use W (move quick) and run away immediately if there is a chance to stay out of his jump range. If you can’t get out of his jump range, save W for after you get stunned. Once Jax’s E (dodge+stun) is on cooldown you can easily win trades and fights.

Teemo vs Mordekaiser Top Lane

Summoners: Flash + Teleport
Start: Doran’s Shield or Corrupting Potion
Core Items Teemo vs Mordekaiser: Spectre’s Cowl, Frozen Mallet
Offensive Items: Wits End, Hextech Gunblade, Executioner’s (only consider if Morde builds Hextech Gunblade)
Defensive Items: Adaptive Helm, Wits End

Teemo can’t out trade Morde early so just build Tanky (Spectre’s Cowl or Jarum’s Fist) early. Once you get Frozen Mallet you may be able to find an opening and chase Morde down once his cooldowns are spent as long as you wait for the right moment. Mordekaiser is also very immobile and susceptible to ganks and he will naturally push the lane with his AoE abilities. Try to let Mordekaiser push the lane, then freeze the minions right outside of your tower range. Then call for a gank.

• Tip: Beware Mordekaiser’s 3rd hit on his Q (mace). Often you will see Mordekaiser activate it, hit minions twice, then flash + Q empowered AA + ignite + E + Ult + W onto you. The 3rd Q hit does extra damage. All these combined are a huge amount of damage, especially when you’re not used to laning against a Mordekaiser.
• Tip: Stay away from your minions while fighting Morde so he can’t gain extra shields off of minion damage

Teemo vs Nasus Top Lane

Matchup depends on how Nasus builds. Mid-late game Teemo should be able to 1v1 Nasus reliably.

Summoners: Flash + Teleport
Keystone: Thunderlords or Fervor
Starting Items: Corrupting Potion or Doran’s Ring + Pots
Core: Frozen Mallet, Swiftness Boots > BotRK or Hextech Gunblade > Hurricane or Defense Item as warranted
Offensive Options: Hurricane, BOTRK, Guinsoo’s Rageblade
Defensive Options: Thornmail, Dead Man’s Plate, Guardian Angel

Strategy for Teemo vs Nasus Lane: vs Teemo, Nasus may max E first and try to poke with it. If he does, he can poke Teemo out of lane early, but Nasus sacrifices his late game Q stacks by doing this. So Corrupting Potion gives sustain early just in case of Nasus E/poke max. If Nasus isn’t going to poke with his E, instead take Doran’s Ring and rush a hextech gunblade.

Try to keep Nasus away from minions so he can’t stack Q or lifesteal. You can also blind him when he tries to stack his Q, but keep in mind you’re vulnerable for a few seconds while blind is down. Build BOTRK 2nd if Nasus builds early MR. If Nasus builds early Armor, go Hextech Gunblade. Both give good sustain and damage, plus an extra slow.

Overall, as long as you kite properly using defensive shrooms and Frozen Mallet, then also blind Nasus before he hits his Q empowered AA, you should win trades and be constantly aggressive 1v1 sometime around level 7-10.

• 1v1 Fight Strategy: Blind Nasus’ initial Q auto attack (wait until he is close before blinding) and drop a shroom behind you. Nasus will likely use his W to slow you right away, so retreat back through your shroom when he does. Always keep your distance and have your retreat path mined with shrooms. Once Nasus’ W slow wears off you can be super aggressive and kite with Frozen Mallet.

Teemo v Nunu Top Lane Matchup

Nunu counters Teemo hard. (Rare Matchup)

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport
Keystone: Thunderlords
Starting Items: Doran’s Shield or Corrupting Potion (sometimes both)
Core Items vs Nunu Top: Spectre’s Cowl, Swiftness Boots, Wits End
Offensive Item Options: Hextech Gunblade, BOTRK
Defensive Item Options: Spirit Visage, Banshee’s Veil

Quick Summary: Rough matchup for Teemo. Build MR and sustain, farm under tower, and ask for jungle help. You will lose every trade because of Nunu’s consume heal, so don’t try fighting unless your jungle ganks and gives you a huge early advantage.

Teemo Laning vs Nunu: Nunu’s snowball is effective at doing high (relative) damage to Teemo, plus it’s slow and attack speed reduction has the bonus of completely shutting down Teemo’s standard poke > chase routine. Assuming Nunu builds AP rather than tank (which Nunu should here), Teemo will NOT be able to win trades here no matter how well he plays. Just farm and play passive near your tower. Early on get magic resist and sustain items. Always keep out of range of Nunu’s snowball, which is just slightly longer than your AA range.

Let Nunu push lane and he will be pretty susceptible to ganks. Try to throw a shroom at minions near Nunu right before your jungle comes into sight, but keep your distance in the fight. When Nunu backs or dies, try to put up shrooms on the path he would take to escape a gank.

Your general build here should be MR, Sustain, AP, then some HP, in that order, but remember to consider the entire enemy team composition for late game.

• Tip: Nunu is generally a jungler but the enemy team may swap if their original top lane pick can also jungle (for example Jarvan IV).
• Tip: remember that Nunu’s consume heals him a ton. Unless you can complete zone him off creeps permanently, winning trades does not help — within 30 seconds or less he will be healed back to full but you won’t.
• Tip: Nunu’s Ice Blast (snowball) range is 550. Teemo’s AA range is 500 and Teemo’s Q Blinding Dart is 680. Even though it’s possible to poke Nunu with blinding dart out Nunu’s range, he will easily heal up from the damage so it’s not worth it.

Teemo vs Olaf Top Lane Season 7

Skill matchup (lane depends greatly Olaf’s axe aim and Teemo’s dodging of axes)

Summoner Spells: Flash + Ghost
Skill Order: W > E > Q (1 point in Q at lvl 2 or 3)
Starting Item: Corrupting Potion
Core Items Vs Olaf: Swiftness Boots, Hextech Gunblade, some health/armor (Giant’s Belt, pieces of Frozen Mallet or Dead Man’s Plate)
Offensive Options: BOTRK, Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane
Defensive Options: Dead Man’s Plate, Frozen Mallet

Teemo should play passive early and farm until lvl 6 at least. Make sure you don’t get too far away from your tower — one hit from an Olaf axe can result in Teemo getting chased down. At level 6 Teemo can use defensive shrooms to make poking safer and can start getting aggressive as long as Olaf isn’t fed.

Don’t underestimate Olaf’s damage early game – Olaf can kill a Teemo in 3 or 4 seconds with ignite if he gets on top of him. Olaf’s axes do a great job of nearly permaslowing, this is why its important to stay near your tower.

By mid to late game when Teemo gets some move speed, attack speed, and a bit of health, he can pretty reliably poke at Olaf until he’s low enough to all-in or chase out of lane. Never go all-in against Olaf without poking him down to about half health first.

• Tip: If Olaf ever misses or wastes an axe that he can’t safely pick up, that is your opening to be aggressive and poke with AA>Q>AA>Thunderlords combo. Olaf’s Axe cooldown is 7 seconds (reduced by 4 if he picks up his axe.)
• Tip: Frozen Mallet isn’t the best in this matchup 1v1 Teemo vs Olaf, but will often still be very useful against the other members of the enemy team. (Or if Olaf’s ult is down.)
• Tip: If Olaf is using his axes to last hit (without poking you), that is a good sign that he is inexperienced or unskilled here and you should be safe to be pretty aggressive.

Teemo vs Pantheon Top Lane

Pantheon counters Teemo hard. (Possibly Teemo’s worst matchup)

Start: Doran’s Shield + HP Pots
Keystone: Thunderlord’s

Tanky On Hit Teemo Build vs Pantheon
Starting Items: Doran’s Shield + HP Pots
Core:  Boots > Dead Man’s Plate > Frozen Mallet > (Attack Speed Item)
Later Offensive Options: BOTRK and/or Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane, Statik Shiv
Later Defensive Options: ZZ’rot, Banner of Command

AP Teemo vs Pantheon:
Starting Items: Cloth armor + HP Pots (or Doran’s Shield)
Core: Sorc Shoes, Seeker’s Armguard, Haunting Guise
Later Options: Zhonya’s, Liandry’s Torment, Hextech Gunblade, Wits End or Nashor’s Tooth

This is probably Teemo’s worst matchup. If the enemy top lane can counterpick you in champ select, consider banning Pantheon to avoid this. Pantheon will probably take ignite, so check his summoners. His burst damage is extremely high and is nearly unavoidable thanks to his stun.

Pantheon has arguably better poke than Teemo. He can chuck a spear at you, then his shield will block your first auto-attack against him. If you continue to try to fight, he can easily jump on you to stun + E, then auto attack and have his spear and shield block ready again.

If the enemy Pantheon knows how to play this matchup, your only choice is to avoid all trades and fights with him and farm under or near your tower. It might be worth it to start as an AP Teemo maxing Q, and see how the Pantheon plays it. If he responds correctly and gets a kill, switch to “turtle” mode, avoid all fights, and just CS under your tower to avoid feeding him. Mid-late game if you get a bit tanky and he hits some shrooms you might be able to fight him, but generally avoid straight up 1v1 fights.

• AP Teemo consideration: One strategy to consider is maxing Q (blinding dart) and poking Pantheon ONLY with that (don’t step close enough to AA him.) Its worth a try to see how it works for you and is a good choice against an inexperienced Pantheon. However, a Pantheon who knows this matchup will still win. He’ll still be able to spear throw or flash engage on you whenever you try to poke him with Q, and a single combo will kill or nearly kill Teemo. On the other hand if Pantheon is inexperienced and/or begins by playing passively, going early AP and maxing Q could be a way to win the lane. In this situation be sure to harass him extremely heavily at level 1 and 2, you need to get well ahead before level 3.
• Tip: Remember that Pantheon’s spears will auto-crit you when you are below 15% health. That surprise damage has killed many a Teemo.
• Tip: Pantheon’s Ranges: Q (Spear): 600, W (Stun) 600. Teemo’s Ranges: Q: 680, Autoattack: 500. You might think Teemo can safely blinding dart Pantheon, but the animation makes Teemo stop for a second. If Pantheon has his Q-Spear queued up, he will be able to Q you every time you Blinding Dart him.
• Any Teemo autoattack puts Teemo in easy range of Pantheon’s stun + full combo.
• Tip: In an all-in situation, Pantheon will almost always Stun>E (heartseeker) you. If you plan to continue to fight, run forward-through and past Pantheon’s E (heartseeker) area, rather than running the long way backwards out of it.

Teemo vs Renekton Top Lane

Even / skill based match depending on who gets early advantage.

Start Options: Doran’s Ring, Doran’s Blade

Unless Renekton’s Dash is down, stay out of his single dash reach. If not, he can generally dash > stun you before you can even get your blind off. Even if you are super quick about it, the blind probably won’t reliably hit until after Renekton gets his stun off. Wait to be aggressive until you get some health (at LEAST half of frozen mallet + boots).

Always keep an eye on Renekton’s rage meter. If its over half (red), he does way more damage on his next skill and will probably be looking to engage on you. If possible try to harass Renekton so he can’t freely autoattack creeps since that builds his rage up.

• Tip: If Renekton takes ignite (likely), play a bit more passive early game until you get some HP from Frozen Mallet parts. Otherwise he can all in you and get ahead.

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Teemo vs Kayle Top Lane

Mostly even matchup

Keystone: Thunderlords
Runes/Masteries: AP / Magic Pen focused rather than AS
Start: Doran’s Ring + HP Pots
Core vs Kayle: Hextech Gunblade, Swiftness or Sorc Boots, Wit’s End
Defensive Options: Zhonya’s, Adaptive Helm, Banshee’s Veil, ZZ’rot
Offensive Options: Lich Bane,

Assuming equal skill, your best bet here is probably to go AP heavy rather than AD Tankmo and focus on quick pokes and only really go all in if Kayle has hit one or two mushrooms. In a straight 1v1 long trade, Kayle will probably win in most situations.

Early Lane: There will be a window of about 5-6 seconds after Kayle’s E (ranged attack) ability runs out. Poke only during that time with your AA>Q>AA>Thunderlords combo. Otherwise, stay back and CS. Kayle will be able to heal herself a bit, but will run out of mana quickly if she tries to both heal herself and use her Q ranged spell on you.

Mid Game: Be sure to place both offensive and defensive shrooms on the sides of the top lane that Kayle will run into during normal laning (but minions won’t hit.) Using the surprise damage and slows from the mushrooms you can take Kayle down, but without mushrooms Teemo can’t straight 1v1 Kayle unless he’s already ahead.

Late Game: Hopefully your team composition includes some hard CC / initiation. Kayle will generally be squishy and needs to be able to autoattack to be effective. Treat Kayle like another ADC in teamfights – blind her or the ADC and try to CC and burst them down. Be sure to toss in mushrooms into the middle of teamfights (always have 2-3 shrooms saved up for fights late game.)

Teemo vs Kennen

Kennen has an early advantage but Tanky AD Teemo wins mid-late game.

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport
Starting Items: Doran’s Shield
Core vs Kennen: Frozen Mallet > Merc Treads > Hextech Gunblade
Offensive Options: Hurricane, Hextech Gunblade
Defensive vs AP Kennen: Wits End, ZZrot
Defensive vs AD / On Hit Kennen: Randuins Omen, Dead Man’s Plate, ZZrot

AD / Attack Speed Kennen will generally have a bit of an early advantage due to his stun potential, though it can go either way. However after 1-2 items Teemo should be able to slowly 1v1 him with the help of shrooms as long as you don’t overextend and get caught in his ult without first poking him down.

Be sure to stay behind minions to avoid Kennens Q (ninja star) ability, which will hit creeps. If you get 2 of Kennen’s stacks (watch the little lightning balls around you), withdraw until they wear off so he can’t stun you.

Teemo won’t have a lot of kill potential in this lane because Kennen has the ability to stun you and speed away with his E. This is a problem when Teemo needs to slowly chase and poke to get a kill. Plan on just farming up and don’t overextend unless you know where the enemy jungle is and you’ve managed to poke down Kennen.

Late game during teamfights Kennen is probably more useful to his team than Teemo thanks to his stuns (Kennen with hurricane can get a lot of stuns off from his passive and autoattacks without even using his ult.)

• Tip: Kennen’s Q (ninja star) is on a pretty low cooldown, but his other abilities have a pretty long cooldown. If he wastes them you can use that time to poke at him from behind creeps.

Teemo vs Kled

Teemo has a slight to moderate advantage vs Kled.

Starting Items: Refillable Pot + Boots? or Corrupting Potion? or Doran’s Blade/Ring?
Teemo’s Core Items vs Kled: Switness Boots or Ninja Tabi > Frozen Mallet > Hextech Gunblade
Other options: hurricane, zzrot, zhonyas, blade of the ruined king, randuin’s

(Kled might have a minor advantage lvl 2-8 or so. Teemo should be able to 1v1 him reliably mid game after getting Frozen Mallet. Late game should be about even or Teemo advantage as long as Teemo hits blind before Kled’s W empowered auto-attacks.)

Start Corrupting Potion or boots + pots. play passive until you get at least half of frozen mallet (like lvl 5-6) for some tankiness. Then you should be able to trade in short bursts or especially after he wastes his W (AA buff) cooldown or misses his Q hook. Early game like lvl 2-3 you probably don’t want to try to trade with him. Kleds double E dash allows him to stick to you and makes kiting tough.

• Make sure to blind him before he gets off his 3 fast autoattacks (Kled’s W skill) on you!
• When he loses enough HP for Skaarl to run away, make sure you don’t let him AA you as he will regain “courage” extremely fast from that. If Kled is able to get his lizard mount back in the middle of a fight he will probably win.

Teemo vs Malphite Top Lane

Malphite has a small advantage vs Teemo Top Lane.

Summoners: Flash + Teleport (or Ghost + Teleport)
Starting items: Doran’s Blade or Corrupting Potion
Core items vs Malphite: Frozen Mallet, Merc Treads > Offense or Defense depending on how game is going
Offensive items vs Malphite: Hextech Gunblade, Wits End, BoTRK
Defensive items vs Malphite: Wits End, ZZrot, Banshee’s

This is a somewhat rough matchup for Teemo early on, mainly due to risk of ganks. Malphite is naturally super tanky, which moderately counters your poke. Most likely he will start Spectre’s Cowl which gives him a ton of HP regen and MR to deal with your poison. Then, Malphite naturally wants to build armor which is good VS AD Teemo. By level 6 Malphite will generally call for his jungler and one of Malphite’s ult+full combo plus any jungler damage is going to kill you, even under your own tower.

Early on, freeze lane and farm in front of your tower, let the lane push, and nicely request a gank. Don’t go aggressive unless you have a huge advantage (unlikely unless the opponent Malphite is far less skilled.)

• Tip: Watch what resistances Malphite builds early on. If he starts an armor item, you might want to try rushing Wits End. If he builds a lot of Magic Resist, go Frozen Mallet > Blade of the Ruined King.
• Tip: Jungle ganks for either team will make or break this matchup. The enemy team is extremely likely to gank Teemo with a Malph ult, even tower dive you. Try to get jungle assistance to get a lead before that.

Teemo vs Maokai

Note: this was written for the “old” Maokai before his rework and new ultimate from around May 2017. May need updating.

Maokai has advantage in matchup.

Start: Corrupting Potion
Core: Boots > Frozen Mallet
Next Options: Wits End (if enemy team is AP heavy), BOTRK (if enemy team is tanky), otherwise Hextech Gunblade as the default. Wits End if Enemy Jungle/Mid is AP and you need MR. Otherwise Hextech Gunblade will allow you to sustain in lane and also increase shroom and burst damage.

Play passive, there is no way you can kill a Maokai of equal or greater skill early on. He would have to way over-commit while low or allow you to poke him way more than he should etc. Just farm on your side of the lane, ward and watch for ganks, don’t push. Try to freeze the creeps right outside of your tower range and last hit. Autoattack + blind him if he goes up for a creep near you, so he can’t free farm, but never commit to a fight. If you get a read that he is a poor player you can play aggressive and poke him away, but 90% of the time just farm until you have frozen mallet plus half of the next item (like Bilgewater Cutlass or roughtly level 10/11.) At that point you might be able to kill him 1v1 thanks to frozen mallet’s slow if he pushes to your tower and makes a mistake or stays too long.

Teemo vs Quinn Top Lane Guide

Teemo has a small advantage.

Start: Doran’s Ring + Pots
Core: Ninja Tabi > Hextech Gunblade (or Frozen Mallet)
AP Teemo would also work well here (start 1-2 dorans ring, hextech gunblade, zhonyas)

This is one matchup where you might NOT need/want to start with Frozen Mallet. Hextech gunblade will give a big burst advantage, sustain, and here you probably don’t need or want to slowly poke and kite like you normally would against melee bruisers. Instead you’ll want to do bursty trades then retreat after 1-2 autoattacks. I found that leading with Q was the best choice, because once Quinn’s “blind” (actually its nearsighted) hits, you probably wont be able to blind him for a bit. However you’ll still blind against 2, maybe 3 of quinns attacks. After that, you can probably out damage him. Another strategy is to just stay behind your minions and Q him (don’t bother trying to get close enough to AA>Q when poking like this.) Quinn’s blind ability does hit minions if they’re in the way so use that to your advantage.

Teemo vs Riven Top Lane

Highly dependent on skill of enemy Riven. Probably Riven moderate advantage assuming equal skill.

Tanky AD Teemo vs Riven:
Summoner Spells: Flash + Exhaust
Start: Doran’s Ring, Dorans Blade, or Corrupting Potion
Core: Jarum’s Fist > Ninja Tabi > Finish Frozen Mallet >
Offensive Item: BotRK / Hextech Gunblade
Defensive Item: Dead Man’s Plate, Raptors Cloak

AP Teemo vs Riven:
Needs more testing, but I believe AP Teemo would better than above AD Tankmo. More to come on this as I test.
Keystone: Thunderlords, Greenfathers mastery
Start: Doran’s Ring+HP Pots
Summoner Spells: Flash + Exhaust (Teleport is another option)
Core: Sorc Shoes > Liandry’s >
Then Build: Hextech Gunblade / Zhonya’s / Nashor’s

If the enemy Riven is good (and experienced at this matchup) it is a lot of trouble for Teemo. Early on Riven can just max her E dash/shield to mitigate a lot of your poke damage. Later on Riven can all in you, closing the gap using Flash + all her skills (which will about do about 80% of your HP), then Riven will fire off her Ult as you retreat or flash away.

Against an unskilled Riven this is generally a pretty easy matchup. Just poke her a bunch and you should quickly get an HP advantage so she can’t all in you. However keep in mind 1v1 with both players at full HP, if Riven gets on top of you, Teemo will probably lose that fight.

I’ve found its helpful to take Exhaust in this matchup, which you pop whenever Riven tries to ult and go all in on you. Using that and retreating back through a couple of shrooms can turn the fight into a win for you. Make sure to exhaust her right when she gets on top of you, hopefully before her initial Q or Stun hits.

Teemo vs Rumble Top Lane Counter Tips

Rumble small advantage early, but Tanky AD/AS Teemo should be able to 1v1 Rumble late game.

Keystone: Fervor
Summoners: Flash + Ghost or Teleport
Start: Doran’s Shield or Doran’s Ring
Core: Frozen Mallet, Swiftness Boots, Wits End
Offensive Item Options: Hextech Gunblade, BOTRK, Hurricane,
Defensive Item Options: Spirit Visage, Adaptive Helm

Build tanky sustain with attack speed and you will eventually win fights. Try to avoid any all in fights before level 8-9 or so.

For most of early laning phase stick to just poking quickly at Rumble (AA>Q>AA) then backing up immediately, don’t get close to him. Keep minions between you and Rumble. Early lane you probably won’t be able to punish Rumble too much due to his shield and tankiness so be sure to concentrate on CS.

Mid and Late game be sure to set up defensive shrooms on both top and bottom of lane along your retreat path.

Teemo vs Ryze Top Lane

Ryze has a moderate advantage vs Teemo

Start: Doran’s Shield or Corrupting Potion
Core: Frozen Mallet, Wits End, Hextech Gunblade, ZZrot

A good Ryze will max his E which you can’t dodge, even behind minions. You also won’t be able to dodge his root, which he will be able to use whenever you get in autoattack range. Regardless, always keep friendly minions between you and Ryze so he can’t hit his Q, which helps to reset his other abilities. If he decides to chase you into a friendly minion wave, AND you have friendly minions between you and him, that is the only time you should fight him. That should rarely happen unless Ryze is clueless, so build HP, magic resist and sustain and plan for mid to late game. With a jungle gank help you should also be able to take him out easily once you get frozen mallet (or if the jungle has a reliable gap close and stun like Sejuani, Xin etc.)

Teemo vs Shen

Teemo counters Shen

AP Teemo:
Keystone: Thunderlords, also Greenfather’s Gift mastery
Start:  Doran’s Ring + Pots
Core Items: Haunting Guise > Sorc Shoes > Liandry’s > Hextech Gunblade or Nashor’s
Other Offensive: Hextech Gunblade, Nashor’s Tooth, Lich Bane, Morellos
Defensive: Wits End, Banshee’s Veil, Zhonya’s

Short Guide Version: Play aggressive, poke him constantly, with AA>blind>AA+Thunderlords combo retreat in and out of top bushes. Play a more AP focused build vs Shen since his AA dodge mitigates a lot of AA damage from on hit AD Teemo. Always keep a medium distance so you have a chance to avoid Shen’s taunt dash. If you do get hit by his taunt, run away as soon as you can, until his AA dodge bubble ends, then be super aggressive while his cooldowns are down.

Early-Mid Game: Shen will build spectral visage to start, but even that plus his shields aren’t enough to deal with your ranged harass. Shen will try to Ult/Teleport to gank mid/bot or try to get dragon. Its generally best to NOT follow this with your own TP unless you have 2-3 shrooms saved up and have a great spot to teleport to. Instead use the time to push top (use 1 shroom on a minion wave to speed it up) and take top tower early. Then you can counter Shen’s global map pressure once top tower is down by shrooming the enemy jungle and harassing jungle and mid.

Mid/Late Game: By midgame you should be setting up shrooms at objectives, getting rift herald with your jungle, harassing the enemy jungle, and assisting mid lane once top tower is down. Shen’s global ult is his only advantage here so shut it down with your own map pressure via shrooms and dominating your lane any time you are 1v1 vs shen.

Teemo vs Singed Top Lane

Teemo advantage especially mid-late game.

Keystone: Fervor
Summoners: Flash + Teleport or Ghost
Start: Boots+HP pots OR Doran’s Blade
Core Items: Boots> Frozen Mallet> swift boots > botrk > zzrot
Defensive Items: Adaptive Helm, Spirit Visage, Wits End, ZZrot
Offensive Items: Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane, Executioners Calling > Mortal Reminder, Guardian Angel, Wits End

Once you have FM you can win fights with good kiting, though you’ll likely need a jungle assist to get a kill while Singed runs away.

Feel free to poke with your AA – blind – aa combo whenever you want since you don’t need to save it to blind against melee attacks in this matchup. Keep your distance, keep in mind Singed Ult + Ghost + Slow pool and always have an escape plan while keeping those in mind. Early game if he flips you + poisons you, its definitely possible for Teemo to nearly die in just one combo. However if you position smartly this shouldn’t happen.

Remember not to chase Singed around. Some Singed’s will try to farm between your towers, just ignore that until you get Frozen Mallet. Even with Frozen Mallet it may not be worth the time to chase Singed around unless your jungle and/or mid are available and have decent CC.

• Tip: Don’t waste too much time chasing Singed. Singed’s strategy is to trick people into chasing him to waste their time or bait for his teammates to collapse.
• Tip: Hurricane, ZZ’rot, and Teleport are Teemo’s split pushing tools. Using these he can counter and ignore Singed’s map pressure, proxying and lane pushing, though it will come down to how the rest of each player’s team responds.

Teemo vs Swain Top Lane Matchup Guide

Swain counters Teemo.

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport
Starting Items: Corrupting Potion
Core Items vs Swain: Swiftness Boots, Spectre’s Cowl, Hextech Gunblade
Late Game Item Options: Adaptive Helm, Wit’s End, ZZrot, BOTRK, Hurricane

These core items ensure you can dodge Swains abilities (swiftness boots), have enough health to survive any personal mistakes or Swain all-ins (spectre’s cowl), and also sustain (Hextech Gunblade). Unfortunately you don’t really have much kill or harass potential 1v1 vs Swain as Teemo. Late game 20-30 minutes in, if you catch Swain alone with no minions nearby Teemo can 1v1 him (assuming you dodge the root), but otherwise this is a farm lane for Teemo. Play super passive, don’t go up to auto attack Swain because he will just drop his Q which will slow and damage you. Any damage you do he will heal back up pretty easily.

Your best bet is to bait out Swain’s Q, then run out of its zone immediately. It will then target minions and push the lane. Then you can call for a gank. Otherwise, Swain will trade even or ahead plus he has way more sustain than Teemo early/mid game.

• Tip: If you are duo-ing with a Jungler who will work with you, consider taking ignite if you want kill potential. Otherwise be wary, with enough minions around Swain can often 1v2 a gank with his ult’s healing.

Teemo vs Talon Top Lane

AD Tanky Teemo should have an advantage vs Talon. AP Teemo is countered by Talon.

Start: Doran’s Ring + HP Pots or Doran’s Blade
Core Items: Frozen Mallet, Ninja Tabi or Switness Boots, Red Trinket at Lvl 6 or so
Offensive Items: Hextech Gunblade, Hurricane
Defensive Items: Dead Man’s Plate, ZZrot, Guardian Angel, Control Ward

Don’t play AP Teemo in this matchup – you will be too squishy and lack CC, Talon will have fun assassinating you. You should do pretty well here as tanky Teemo, just poke safely from a distance and then back up quickly. You may want to wait until after your first back so you can buy some HP items to survive an early Talon all-in. Once you have Frozen Mallet + boots you can punish Talon. Use a control ward and/or oracles trinket to track him when he ults to go invisible. (Ideally he’ll just be using that to try to escape FM slow.) Remember Talon has the ability to jump over some walls now so try not to fight him at the top of the river where he can jump some walls. Instead try to keep to the top side of top lane.

Teemo vs Trundle Top Lane

Teemo small advantage early, should win 1v1 easily mid-late game.

Keystone: Thunderlords
Summoner Spells: Flash + Ignite or Teleport
Starting Items: Doran’s Ring + HP Pots
Core Items: Boots, Hextech Gunblade > Swiftness Boots > Frozen Mallet
Offensive Items: BOTRK or Hextech Gunblade, Executioner’s, Hurricane
Defensive Items: Frozen Mallet, Guardian Angel, Dead Man’s Plate, ZZrot

Stay in the middle of the lane and poke tentatively at Trundle. If Trundle misses or wastes his pillar (E) and/or frozen domain (W) then you can be aggressive. They have long cooldowns — 15+ seconds for both. Trundle heals up quite a bit when minions die, if you are able to safely poke at him consider Executioner’s early to shut down his healing (especially if other enemies are heal-heavy.) At level 6, set up defensive shrooms along your retreat path so you can always safely kite Trundle while retreating, this lets you be very aggressive.

• Tip: Never get close to walls if Trundle’s pillar cooldown is available. He can trap you against a wall – instead try to stick to the center(ish) of the lane so you can always go either way around the pillar.
• Tip: Blinding Dart does NOT completely block Trundle’s Q empowered autoattack/chomp. Not sure if it blocks only some or none of the damage, need testing/verification.

Teemo vs Tryndamere Top Lane

Teemo counters Tryndamere significantly.

Start: dorans ring (mana regen for blind) + hp pots
Summoners: Take flash + ghost or exhaust (not teleport!)
Core: Jarums Fist > Swiftness Boots > Frozen Mallet > Offensive Item
Defensive: Zzrot Portal, Dead Man’s Plate
Offensive: Hurricane, Blade of the Ruined King (BOTRK), Hextech Gunblade

This is a match Teemo should be able to win 1v1, but watch out for ganks at level 6. Tryndamere with ult can tower dive well, taking maybe 2-4 tower shots without dying. Their jungle will likely take advantage of that and try for aggressive ganks so beware.

Otherwise, laning should be relatively easy as Teemo v Trynd. Be aggressive and do not let Tryndamere autoattack creeps. Poke him every time he is near a minion. Use blinding shot when safe (only when Tryndamere wont be able to initiate or you will be able to easily run). Keep in mind tryndamer’s dash/spin and slow, but your blind and move quick are very good for dealing with that as long as you play smart and don’t waste cooldowns unnecessarily.

Between  your blind, flash/ghost/exhaust, shrooms, and move quick,  you should be able to stay away from Trynd easily while still poking him and last hitting creeps. This is a good matchup for Teemo unless there is a ton of jungle pressure from the enemy.

Even mid-late game when tryndamere is “scary” he is largely negated by your blind. Make sure to keep your blind cooldown for either Tryndamere or the ADC late game.

Teemo vs Vladimir Top Lane

Vladimir counters Teemo.

Start Options: Doran’s Shield, Corrupting Potion
Core vs Vlad: Spectre’s Cowl, Swiftness Boots
Offense Options: Executioner’s Calling, Wits End, Frozen Mallet
Defense: Wits End, ZZrot

Vlad can outheal and outpoke Teemo pretty easily so concentrate on last hitting instead of trying to fight Vlad. Even if you get an advantage, Vladimir will likely be able to escape and heal enough to run away unless you have jungle help. Mid game if you manage to get an advantage in gold/levels and get Frozen Mallet, you MAY be able to kill Vlad if his summoners are down and he doesn’t have ignite, but in general its best to just farm and play for the teamfights.

Late game if things go well you could 1v1 Vlad with Wits End, Frozen Mallet, Hextech Gunblade, Swift boots, and solid play. But in general play cautious and farm in this matchup. Remember that when Vladimir’s red bar is filled up, he gets super-healed if he Q’s you, so always retreat and wait out the red bar, it drains quickly. You can also dodge Vlad’s E aoe charge-up by running away quickly. Vlad’s cooldowns are low enough that you can’t heavily punish him even if he misses or wastes his abilities unfortunately.

Teemo vs Wukong Top Lane Matchup Guide

Teemo counters Wukong with an early advantage.

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport (Exhaust and Ignite are also options)
Keystone: Thunderlord’s
Trinket: Take red trinket after first back
Starting Items vs Wukong: Doran’s Ring + HP Pots
Core Items: Frozen Mallet, Swiftness Boots or Ninja Tabi, Control Ward
Offensive Items: Hurricane, Hextech Gunblade
Defensive Items: Dead Man’s Plate, Guardian Angel

Teemo can do well in this matchup, you just have to outplay, get ahead early, and be aware of Wukong’s burst. Be extremely aggressive lvl 1-2 so you get him low before he has his full combo available. Consider taking Q at level 1 to easily proc your thunderlords using AA>Q>AA combo whenever its available.

Whenever Wukong uses his combo or wastes his decoy cooldown, be extremely aggressive. It has an 18 second cooldown at lvl 1 and he needs it in order to have a chance to win trades vs you. If you play passive an let Wukong choose when to trade you will fall behind and he will be able to burst you down.

Get at least Jarum’s fist + cloth armor first so you can always survive his burst. After that, consider finishing Frozen Mallet or get Hextech Revolver for extra poke burst.

• Tip: if you start falling behind early due to some mistake, its very important to request a gank. The early levels are extremely important here. Bait out Wukong’s decoy skill right before your jungle arrives and ganking him should be easy.
• Tip: grab a control ward whenever you have the extra gold during laning. When Wukong tries to use his combo then decoy to escape, drop it down and punish him. It can chunk him so he has to leave lane or even lead to a surprise kill.
• Tip: make sure to grab the red trinket and uprade it at lvl 9. It shuts down Wukong’s ability to outplay you with his decoy. Pop it after he pokes you then goes invisible and chase him down.

Teemo vs Yasuo Top Lane

Yasuo counters Teemo (highly dependent on Yasuo’s skill however.)

Summoner Spells: Flash + Teleport or Exhaust
Start: Doran’s Shield + HP Pots
Core vs Yasuo: Frozen Mallet, Ninja Tab, Randuins
Offensive Options: Hextech Gunblade, BotRK
Defensive Options: Thornmail, ZZrot, Dead Man’s Plate, Zhonyas

Yasuo’s wind wall can block ALL of Teemo’s damage. Blinding dart, AA’s and even shrooms will disappear into the wall. Yasuo’s high mobility (when near creeps), damage, etc are all problems for Teemo who wants to just slowly poke away at his lane opponent then chase them.

Try to avoid this matchup if possible, for example Nasus is a better option vs Yasuo top if you can counterpick. If you end up Teemo vs Yasuo, plan to build tanky and turtle under your tower. Avoid feeding Yasuo at all costs and remember that he has the abilities to outplay you no matter what you do. This is highly dependent on the Yasuo’s skill so if you see he is a weak player (either via op.gg stats or poor plays in game) you may be able to press an advantage. However, a skilled Yasuo is still going to be a problem no matter what you do. Around lvl 7 or 8 he can feasibly dive you under your tower and survive if the Yasuo knows what he’s doing. Just avoid being baited into any fight thats not under your tower and hope that your jungler can help you out (even some pressure to let you farm a wave for a few seconds can be helpful).

Teemo vs Zed Top Lane Matchup

Skill based matchup. Teemo should be fine early and late, but mid game may be an issue.

Summoner Spells: Flash + Exhaust OR Barrier
Start: Doran’s Blade or Doran’s Ring
Core vs Zed: Frozen Mallet > Ninja Tabi > Hextech Gunblade
Offensive Options: Hurricane, BOTRK
Defensive Options: Thornmail, Dead Man’s Plate, Zhonya’s, Guardian Angel

• Alternate high-risk AP build: rush Zhonya’s > Sorc Shoes > Hextech Gunblade > Liandry’s Torment
  (Having zhonya’s to counter Zed’s ult and higher damge burst and shrooms is nice vs. Zed, but you become an easy target for Zed to assassinate any time your Zhonya’s is down.)

Teemo does fine early lane until Zed gets his ultimate. Then, assuming you’re playing against a confident, experienced Zed, he’ll probably be able to kill you with his ult + ignite until you get enough HP+armor around level 9-11. Late game Teemo should be plenty tanky enough to survive Zed’s all in. Just avoid feeding Zed during his power spike level 6-9 or so.

Early lane: poke aggressively as Teemo, try to make Zed lose CS or push him out of lane. Zed will have to use his cooldowns to last hit – just stay away from your low HP creeps so he can’t last hit and poke you with the same ability. Try to freeze minions on your half of the lane so you can safely zone him away without overextending and getting ganked.

Mid game in lane: At level 6 you need to be cautious, staying under tower any time Zed’s ult is up, until you are able to get some HP and armor. Zed may still be able to tower dive and kill you with his ult+ignite, but he will probably take 1-2 tower shots and also die.

Late game: Zed will go after other targets like your mid lane or ADC. Teemo should drop shrooms on Zed’s shadows during teamfights so he can’t safely return to them.

• Tip: Zed’s ultimate cooldown at level 6 is 120 seconds. Be aggressive while it’s down.
• Tip: keep in mind Zed’s ult makes him untargettable so don’t waste your blind into Zed’s ult.

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 The End?

Thanks for reading! Please post comments, criticism and discussion below. I’d be interested to hear if readers prefer a short (1 paragraph) matchup per champion, or if a longer 3+ paragraph guide per champion with more detail is preferred.

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