Teemo is quite an annoying trickster when it comes to playing ARAM and League of Legends in general.
Although I can’t pretend that Teemo is my first pick when it comes to characters that can carry an ARAM match, I will say that Teemo provides players with enough of a troll and an annoyance to enemy players, making him a top choice.
Teemo can be played as both a mage or AD carry in ARAM, though choosing which type of Teemo build will highly rely on what kind of champions you are up against and whether or not your team is comprised of predominantly magic damage dealers.
Although Teemo’s ultimate, Noxious Trap (R), places Mushrooms that deal AoE damage over time. Noxious Traps are exceptionally powerful, though enemy players can easily avoid bumping into Teemo’s traps by using Oracles Extract, making Teemo “useless.” Due to the late-game “uselessness” of Teemo’s Noxious Traps, many players look past Teemo’s other strengths.
Teemo’s other abilities include Blinding Dart (Q), which is a long-ranged attack that both blinds enemies and minions and Toxic Shot (E), which simply raises the amount of damage over time enemies will receive from all Teemo’s attacks.
Teemo’s final ability Move Quick (W) is nothing to write home about as it merely gives Teemo players increased movement speed. Go figure!
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash, Clarity, Heal or Ignite (depending on preference)
RUNES: Dark Harvest, Cheap Shot, Eyeball Collection, Ravenous Hunter // Triumph and Coup de Grace
ABILITY POWER UP: Q, E, W
FIRST BUY: Lost Chapter
BUILD ORDER: Luden’s Echo, Sorcerer’s Boots, Nashor’s Tooth, Liandry’s Torment, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Morellonomecon
COMBOS: There are no real combos when it comes to using Teemo, however, it’s important to note that Teemo’s damage over time does not stack, so try not to hit the same champion with multiple Noxious Traps.
Teemo is effective when auto-attacking champions who already have stacks of Toxic Shot (E). So, a “combo” would be to place a Noxious Trap (R) in a bush, stand in the bush to remain invisible (as Teemo cloaks himself when hiding in a bush or standing still without attacking for short periods of time) and attack the enemy with a quick Blinding Dart (Q) and some auto-attacks to secure a kill.
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR TEEMO IN ARAM
FLASH
As is with most champions, taking Flash as part of your build is a necessity. While it’s true that Teemo experiences faster movement speed than the majority of champions, especially with his ability Move Quick (W), however, when stacked with Move Quick, Flash can secure a takedown or can get a Teemo out of a tricky situation.
When getting out of a tricky situation, I would recommend using your Flash before using Move Quick, Flash will get you where you need to be faster. Though, players may also have to gauge the best decision based on what champions are on the enemy team and what is currently happening.
CLARITY
Though Teemo doesn’t usually run out of Mana when players are in ARAM, it can still be pretty aggravating when you do. I sometimes struggle with Mana in the early-mid game, especially if I haven’t died for a long time.
I don’t really want to throw anyone under the bus but… you know those games where your teammates are always dying, so you have to stay alive so someone is at least protecting the turret? Well, you’re going to need Clarity in games like that for sure.
Teemo players are going to want to put as many Noxious Traps they can place at a time and will actively want to be throwing them into enemy champions, so expect a regular amount of Mana use, even if you have a good team.
I shockingly find myself running out of Mana with the amount of running that I do with Move Quick, so I find Clarity especially helpful in allowing me to keep that up. Basically, Clarity helps support my obsession with being an overly aggressive Teemo.
HEAL
There’s no secret why players may want to take Heal on their roster of Summoner Spells.
Heal provides a quick boost in your movement speed as well as gives you some of the health you were missing.
The reality is that a good chunk of players take Heal or Clarity as their Summoner Spell, so you’re going to want to make sure that there isn’t an oversaturation of one or the other. If there is an over-saturation, players can also take Barrier, which tends to be more aggressive, but less team-oriented.
IGNITE
While I admit, Ignite is ultimately the most aggressive Summoner Spell in ARAM settings, I can’t seem to get the hang of using it because I’m focussed on so many other things.
Ignite can be used on extremely low health champions in hopes of securing a takedown or can be used on enemy champions that have a soul that needs to be harvested (if players use Dark Harvest).
I fully see the advantage, but I know there are going to be players out there who feel the same way as me with Ignite. Especially when you’re playing further back as Teemo.
RUNE TREES FOR TEEMO IN ARAM
Teemo plays like many other mages such as Veigar, Morgana, Twisted Fate, Heimerdinger, Brand, Karthus, Anivia, Zyra, Soraka, Ziggs, AP Miss Fortune, and Malzahar where he can either use domination runes or sorcery runes.
There are two runes trees players can choose to use when playing Teemo. The two most popular rune tree builds include:
Domination/Precision – Burst Damage Heavy
Sorcery/Domination – AP/Mana Sustain
Domination/Precision tends to be more aggressive than Sorcery/Domination, especially if players are able to harvest a good amount of souls by securing enemy takedowns.
Domination/Precision is recommended for players who build high amounts of Ability Power as well as players who want to build a hybrid Attack Damage Teemo.
Sorcery/Domination is recommended for players who would like to build high amounts of Ability Power.
Players can also choose to player Domination/Sorcery if they are dealing with Mana issues or want to focus on health/burn items. Sorcery tends to be more of a support tree than an aggressive one.
DAMAGE HEAVY/BURST RUNES FOR TEEMO (DOMINATION/SORCERY)
DARK HARVEST
Damaging champions below 50% deals 20-60 (+ 15% AP) damage based on your level. Each soul that you harvest adds +2 AP.
Players will only be able to collect souls every 45 seconds or can reset Dark Harvest’s cooldown to 1.5 seconds by being part of an enemy takedown.
Players can trigger Dark Harvest regularly by using Teemo’s long-range ability Blinding Dart (Q).
Players will also regularly trigger Dark Harvest when enemies step on Teemo’s traps, which tends to be the most common and frightening moments for enemies.
If players build enough ability power on Teemo, chances are they will take down frail enemy champions with one Noxious Trap (R) or in a more aggressive situation a Blinding Dart (Q).
CHEAP SHOT
Cheap Shot will deal 10-45 (based on level) bonus true damage to champions who have impaired movement or actions. Cheap Shot has an extremely short cooldown, being 4 seconds.
Cheap Shot can be triggered by Teemo’s Noxious Traps, though players will have to rely on allied champions in most other cases when trying to get Cheap Shot off.
Cheap Shot will deal quite a bit of damage if players are regularly attacking enemy champions, but it can be traded for Taste of Blood, which will heal players when damaging enemy champions.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
I love Ravenous Hunter so much. I think that it is one of the best Runes mages can take while trying to still remain aggressive.
Ravenous Hunter has helped heal me in desperate situations as Teemo, especially when escaping or in a team battle.
Although healing is reduced to 1/3 when damage is dealt in an AoE fashion, I can’t stress how overpowered Ravenous Hunter can be, especially if placed in tandem with Triumph.
Simply put, due to the amount of damage over time, range and the sheer damage Noxious Traps (R) do, you’re going to be healing your ass off while wreaking havoc on all of the enemies.
Why does healing matter so much to me? Well, as someone who never takes heal and tries not to rely on building health items or the health on the map (in case it’s inaccessible), I like to have a backup. Mages are especially tough to get health back on and while players can build Teemo with some Attack Damage and Life Steal, in most situations players will still to an Ability Power build.
TRIUMPH
Triumph is one of the most powerful runes that players can take while playing ARAM, especially if your team gets a number of kills in a row.
Players will receive 6% of missing health as well as 10 Gold every time they participate in a champion takedown. Players will experience a 1-second delay before they get their health from securing a takedown.
As mentioned, Triumph works hand in hand with Ravenous Hunter, healing Teemo players in extremely clutch moments.
Having Triumph versus Sorcery Runes will make it easier to tease enemy champions or bait them into walking into your Noxious Traps (R). If players are lucky they will get some kills while baiting greedy players.
COUP DE GRACE
Coup de Grace because provides players with 8% more damage to enemy champions below 40% health.
Paired up with Dark Harvest, Coup De Grace gets very scary. I switched to playing Domination/Sorcery Teemo for a while, but as soon as I put Coup de Grace on, I remembered how fun it was to take down unexpecting victims.
MANAFLOW BAND (ALTERNATIVE SECONDARY RUNE)
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
Players can also use Gathering Storm which will output more damage over the duration of the game. The only reason I’m not a big fan of Gathering Storm is I find it most useful in late-game, especially when paired up with Rabadon’s Deathcap. If players expect a short game they should stick to Manaflow Band.
TRANSCENDENCE (ALTERNATIVE SECONDARY RUNE)
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
It’s a great idea to get Teemo’s CDR up to 40%, especially for his Noxious Traps (R), though having a shortened cooldown on all of Teemo’s abilities is useful to have.
SUSTAIN DAMAGE FOR TEEMO (SORCERY/DOMINATION)
ARCANE COMET
Damaging enemy champions with an ability causes an Arcane Comet to be thrown at the enemy’s current location. The Arcane Comet can deal between 30-100 plus 20% AP. Damaging enemy champions with abilities will help reduce the cooldown of Arcane Comet, though the cooldown sits between 8-20 seconds based on player levels.
Arcane Comet can be fairly easy to avoid when players are using it on Teemo as the only ability that slows enemy champions is his ultimate.
Arcane Comet is just the best ability players can choose when using Teemo.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
It’s a great idea to get Teemo’s CDR up to 40%, especially for his Noxious Traps (R), though having a shortened cooldown on all of Teemo’s abilities is useful to have.
GATHERING STORM
Gain adaptive damage for every 6 minutes of gameplay. The stats are as follows: 0, 8, 24, 48, and 80 AP
Gathering Storm is a nice passive way to gain damage, though at the end of the day it takes quite some time for players to receive enough amplification from Gathering Storm. Gathering Storm is notably powerful if you have Rabadon’s Deathcap, especially as time goes on in the ARAM game.
I personally don’t like using Gathering Storm unless I have hopes of building Rabadons, simply because Rabadon’s is what really makes it overpowered.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes. Players can also choose Cheap Shot if they please.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
I love Ravenous Hunter so much. I think that it is one of the best Runes mages can take while trying to still remain aggressive.
Ravenous Hunter has helped heal me in desperate situations as Teemo, especially when escaping or in a team battle.
Although healing is reduced to 1/3 when damage is dealt in an AoE fashion, I can’t stress how overpowered Ravenous Hunter can be, especially if placed in tandem with Triumph.
Simply put, due to the amount of damage over time, range and the sheer damage Noxious Traps (R) do, you’re going to be healing your ass off while wreaking havoc on all of the enemies.
Why does healing matter so much to me? Well, as someone who never takes heal and tries not to rely on building health items or the health on the map (in case it’s inaccessible), I like to have a backup. Mages are especially tough to get health back on and while players can build Teemo with some Attack Damage and Life Steal, in most situations players will still to an Ability Power build.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY TEEMO IN ARAM
When playing Teemo players ultimately only have two ways to power up their skills: Q, E, W or E, Q, W. Players will want to make their choice based on what champions they are up against.
BLINDING DART (Q)
Blinding Dart is a long-ranged targetable ability that deals 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+80% of AP) to enemy champions.
Enemy champions will also become Blinded. Blinded champions will miss their attacks for the duration of 1.5 / 1.75 / 2.25 / 2.5 seconds.
Players will be able to use Blinding Dart every 8 seconds for the cost of 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 /90 Mana.
Players can also target enemy minions in ARAM, which can be extra useful when trying to avoid taking damage. Minions will be blinded for double the duration mentioned above.
I recommend powering up your Blinding Dart first, especially if you’re someone who is comfortable hopping in and out to do damage to enemy champions.
Upgrading Blinding Dart first is especially useful against tanks or enemies with higher health as it will help burst enemies so they don’t have a chance to heal.
Blinding Dart is extra annoying to deal with when you’re on the receiving end of it.
Simply due to the high damage Blinding Dart deals and the bonus damage it receives from the player’s Ability Power.
In most ARAM settings I would recommend using Blinding Dart on enemy champions and the only time I would recommend players use it on minions is when you’re up against super minions and no one else.
Players can also use Blinding Dart to proc Luden’s Echo in order to get a Dark Harvest stack off an enemy champion. The possibilities are endless.
MOVE QUICK (W)
Move Quick passively grants 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 % increased movement speed until players are attacked by enemy champions or turrets.
Once players have been targetted by either an enemy champion or turret, players will have to wait 5 seconds for Move Quick’s passive to reset.
Once activated, Teemo players will receive double the passive movement speed for 3 seconds, even if hit.
Move Quick allows players to move at this speed even if they are hit by enemy champions or turrets.
Since Move Quick doesn’t provide that much of a bonus when upgraded, players can safely always choose it to level up last.
Movement speed is nice, but what are you really going to do with it.
TOXIC SHOT (E)
Every time players attack an enemy they will become poisoned, receiving an initial 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 (+30 of AP) and an extra 6 / 12 / 18 / 24 / 30 (+10% of AP) each second for 4 seconds.
Although players cannot stack the effects of Toxic Shot, they can refresh the effects with each subsequent attack.
Toxic Shot is essentially Liandry’s Torment built into a champion. While 4 seconds might not seem like a whole amount of time, Teemo is effectively dealing a minimum of 120 AP over the span of 4 seconds when fully upgraded.
Toxic Shot should be upgraded first if players are up against squishy enemy champions. Toxic Shot is especially useful against Assassins and Marksmen since they tend to get away in fights and may heal before the next battle.
If you see more than 1 Tank on the enemy team, chances are you are not going to want to max out Toxic Shot first.
NOXIOUS TRAP (R)
Teemo places a trap that hides and arms after 1 second.
Upon being stepped on, the Noxious Trap will detonate dealing 200 / 325 / 450 (+50 AP) by poisoning enemy champions.
Noxious Trap will also apply a 30 / 40 / 50% slow revealing enemy champions for 4 seconds.
Traps last for 5 minutes while playing ARAM and there is no cap as to how many traps are laid out.
Teemo stores a trap every 30 / 25 / 20 seconds and can have a maximum of 3 / 4 / 5 stocked up at a time.
Teemo always respawns with 2 mushrooms.
Players can also strategically throw Noxious Traps on top of other Noxious Traps to make them bounce 3 / 4 / 5 times further in the direction they were initially tossed.
As mentioned earlier, players should always make sure to place a Noxious Trap when there is one charged up, however, another great strategy is to throw Noxious Traps at enemy champions or the minion wave to guarantee its explosion.
Since enemies will often buy Oracles Extract, chances are they are going to be destroying the majority of your Noxious Traps. I would still recommend putting your traps out on the field just in case someone forgets that you placed one in a bush or they mistakenly flash/crash through one.
Noxious Traps shouldn’t be taken lightly. Use them to your advantage gamers.
GEAR BUILD FOR TEEMO
There are a few different gear builds players can choose from when it comes to building a powerful Teemo, however, as is with most things the build that you choose to use will depend highly on your playstyle and the team composition of the enemy team.
This is my most common build when it comes to playing Teemo. The build provides high attack speed for shredding a Tank or two and comes in very handy for players who need to help their team take down turrets.
If players are looking for a “damage over time” build, this isn’t really the one for you. It’s more for the “I’ve got to be aggressive and end this fast or they’ll win” kind of situation.
LUDEN’S ECHO
90 Ability Power, 600 Mana, 20% Cooldown Reduction and can cause extra AoE damage to help proc Dark Harvest? Yes, please.
Luden’s Echo is so perfect for Teemo players, especially because of his Noxious Traps (R). As soon as you build Luden’s Echo be ready to deal some massive damage to enemy champions!
Spoiler Warning: WIth Luden’s Echo, your Noxious Traps (R) may kill enemies who are adjacent to the champion who walked into the Trap. Meaning… be ready for a “/all report” message or an early surrender from the other team if they continuously do it.
SORCERER’S SHOES
The only shoes you’re going to want to use for Teemo is the Sorcerer’s Shoes as he can benefit from magic penetration.
NASHOR’S TOOTH
80 Ability Power, 50% Attack Speed, 20% Cooldown Reduction and 15 (+ 15% AP) bonus magic damage on-hit.
Nashor’s Tooth is an ADC Teemo’s dream, though Nashor’s Tooth does not provide any Attack Damage, making Teemo the Mage equivalent to an ADC if there was one.
Nashor’s Tooth is especially useful for its Cooldown Reduction as well as the high Ability Power and Attack Speed it provides.
If enemy champions are not building any magic resist, Nashor’s Tooth can help peel Tanks without the need to build Attack Damage.
LIANDRY’S TORMENT (or Hextech Gunblade)
Liandry’s Torment gives 75 Ability Power and 300 Health. As a passive Liandry’s Torment will also deal 2% more damage per second in combat with enemy champions, up to a maximum of 10%. Spells will also burn enemies for 3 seconds dealing 1.5% of the player’s maximum health per second. If enemies are experiencing movement impairments they will receive an extra 2.5% damage from the burn.
Liandry’s Torment will essentially make the passive from Toxic Shot even nastier to deal with and will help secure kills on squishy champions.
The only thing I’m not a huge fan of when it comes to using Liandry’s Torment on Teemo is the fact that Teemo doesn’t have a whole lot of health. So, if I’m not feeling up to it and I’m more interested in building “Attack Damage” this is when I build something like HEXTECH GUNBLANDE.
Hextech Gunblade deals 80 Ability Power and 40 Attack Damage healing for 15% of the direct damage dealt and 5% of the AoE damage dealt.
Upon being activated the Hextech Gunblade will deal 175 − 253 damage (based on level) (+ 30% AP) slowing enemies by 40% for 2 seconds.
Hextech Gunblade will ultimately grant the Teemo player more sustain than Liandry’s Torment, but again it depends on their playstyle.
MORELLONOMECON
If you ever have issues dealing with Tanky champions and need some magic penetration, you need to look no further than the Morellonomecon.
The Morellonomecon provides players with 70 Ability Power, 300 Health, 15 Magic Penetration and Grevious Wounds for 3 seconds.
Morellonomecon will help fill out Teemo’s health and will also help boost Liandry’s Torment’s passive stats.
Players will probably want to focus on magic penetration rather than magic resist or armour.
RABADON’S DEATHCAP
120 Ability Power +40% total ability power. Rabadon’s Deathcap boosts all stats. No shock. No surprise. Buy it.
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