LoL: The Best Teemo Counters – And How To Play If You Can't Pick Them

No matter how bad it is to play against certain champions in League of Legends, none of them ever lived up to the same reputation as Teemo. The Yordle Scout is one of the most infuriating champions to play against thanks to his damage over time and his blind. It is time to end Teemo's reign of terror – we are here to explain how to keep this fluffy demon contained, and which champions are the best Teemo counters.

Have you ever survived an intense team fight on a slither of health? Did you then mindlessly walk into the jungle while licking your wounds, just to step in a Teemo shroom and subsequently watch your health bar fade away, unable to prevent certain death? Because we surely did. 

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League of Legends is a game with 164 champions. The champion roster consists of ravenous void monsters, literal gods and death-defying warriors. How is it that a hamster with a blow dart is the most infuriating champion to play against? Let us explain. And while you are here, have a lesson on how to wipe Teemo mains off Summoner's Rift, and who the best Teemo counters are.

Before We Dive Into The Best Teemo Counters: Why Is Teemo So Annoying To Deal With?

Teemo is part of the old guard of League of Legends, having been released with the game itself in 2009. That is right, there are no 'good old times' before Teemo happened. Even the oldest veterans had to deal with him.

Teemo is a simple champion. He is an immobile, low-range marksman that works with on-hit builds and ability power alike. With every basic attack, he poisons a target, causing them to take additional magic damage over time. If he idles for 1.5 seconds or spends that much time in a bush, he becomes invisible and can not even be revealed with a control ward. When Teemo exits his invisibility, he gains attack speed for five seconds.

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His Q – Blinding Dart is where it really starts to get infuriating. Teemo fires a point 'n click-projectile, blinding you for up to three seconds. This causes you to miss all your basic attacks, which, depending on your champion of choice, will cost you the majority of your damage output. 

His R – Noxious Trap places a shroom on the ground that becomes invisible after a short delay. If stepped on it, it poisons every enemy champion unlucky enough to stand right next to it, dealing damage over time and slowing them. Teemo can store up to five shrooms at once, they last for five minutes AND he gains multiple shrooms per minute. He can turn the entire map into a minefield and gain his team a strong advantage in map control.

Due to his lack of Area of Effect damage, Teemo does not enjoy team fights a lot. He prefers to run around, placing shrooms around your escape roads to catch you out when you are trying to run away. Nothing in League of Legends feels worse than getting out of a fight on low health just to stomp into a shroom and to die from the subsequent poisoning. Having a Teemo pop out of nowhere to assassinate you is a close second, though.

If You Can't Pick The Best Teemo Counters: How To Stop A Teemo Main In Their Tracks

Against the beliefs of some desperate top laners in solo queue, Teemo has clear weaknesses. As a marksman, he does not have a great laning phase. While his range helps him keep his distance in many matchups, he is rarely able to seek a fight and prefers to poke with his Q and basic attacks. He rarely wins all-ins, even against champions that he counters in lane.

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Apart from that, he does not have much room to use his spells at levels six to ten. His shrooms cost 75 mana each, which depletes the comparably small mana pool of the Yordle Scout rather quickly. The fact that Teemo usually does not opt into a mana item as his first item choice makes this even more difficult to deal with. This hurts him a lot, especially if he loses a shroom to minions or to control wards and oracle lenses.

He is also rather prone to getting ganked, as his mobility is very limited. While his W – Move Quick grants him a decent amount of move speed, it is no replacement for a dash and rarely saves him from crowd control heavy junglers. His only chance to stay safe is to cluster his lane entrances with shrooms to slow the enemy jungler down. 

If you play a melee champion into Teemo, you should definitely start the game with Doran's Shield to help you regenerate faster whenever you take damage from him. Consider picking the Second Wind rune in the Resolve tree for the same purpose. Your main goal is to survive so that Teemo can not take over the game with extra gold and experience. As a ranged champion, you can bait out his Blinding Dart and outtrade him once the blind has worn off.

LoL: The Best Teemo Counters

Teemo is not a particularly big fan of champions that get to him easily or outrange him. Kennen belongs into both categories, making this matchup particularly difficult for the Yordle Scout.

Kennen can keep a safe distance from Teemo at any point during the lane and trade against him with an easy Q – Thundering Shuriken into W – Electrical Surge combo. Things get especially difficult for the Yordle Scout once his energetic opponent completes his Hextech Rocketbelt. That allows Kennen to quickly close the gap at any point to let Teemo feel the full potential of his R – Slicing Maelstrom. Teemo will have no chance to escape unless he has Flash.

Keep in mind that Kennen deals more damage with each subsequent Slicing Maelstrom instance he hits on an enemy. Sticking to Teemo is the preferred option, but do not worry if he manages to flash away – your R has a much lower cooldown than his Flash.

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Another option is to fight poison with poison! While Cassiopeia is usually picked on mid lane, she still makes a great option in top lane if your opponent is greedy enough to pick Teemo blind. Apart from farming in the early laning phase, Cassiopeia does not have to rely on basic attacks at all, which reduces Teemo's Blinding Dart to a pure damage spell. Additionally, she outranges him by a lot, with her E – Twin Fangs having 40% more range than the Yordle's basic attacks. 

Whenever she hits her Q – Noxious Blast on Teemo, she gains a lot of bonus move speed, which helps her kite away or run down the helpless Yordle. If that was not enough, she can also slow or stun him with her R – Petrifying Gaze and prevent him from flashing away with her W – Miasma's Grounded effect. While Yordles might not be the seductive snake's favorite toys, she gives Teemo no room to breathe in lane and blatantly outdamages him in the late game.

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That concludes RiftFeed's quick guide on how to beat a Teemo main. Make sure to teach those annoying Yordles out there some manners, and good luck on your climb!