How to beat Teemo

Common role: Top

The best counter to Teemo in Top is Lux: 62.5% win rate over 44 ranked games on patch 26.17.

A ranged poke lane-bully who blinds attackers and litters the map with mushrooms.

What makes Teemo dangerous

Teemo out-ranges melee tops, blinds them with his Q (making their autos miss) and stacks poison. His ultimate mushrooms zone objectives and jungle paths, and reveal you. He's a lane-phase menace but a small, squishy target in teamfights.

How to play against Teemo

• 1His blind (Q) only stops auto-attacks, not abilities. If you're an ability-based champion, trade with your spells while blinded.
• 2Buy a Control Ward and Oracle Lens to clear his mushrooms around objectives — most of his mid-game power is denying vision and space.
• 3Freeze the wave near your tower to deny his short-range poke, then punish when he steps up to farm.
• 4In teamfights he's tiny and squishy — dive him first. He has no escape besides his passive stealth when standing still.

Weaknesses to exploit

• ✓Extremely squishy — dies to any burst or dive.
• ✓Blind is useless against ability-based damage.
• ✓Falls off relative to scaling carries in the late game.
• ✓Mushrooms are cleared by pink wards and sweepers.

Abilities & how to counter them

What each of Teemo's abilities does — and how to play around it.

• P
  Guerrilla Warfare

  If Teemo stands still and takes no actions for a short duration, he becomes Invisible indefinitely. If he's in brush, Teemo can enter and maintain his Invisibility while moving. After leaving Invisibility, Teemo gains the Element of Surprise, increasing his Attack Speed for a few seconds.

  Strong: stealth when standing still lets him ambush and escape. Weak: breaks the moment he moves or is revealed — sweepers and pinks expose him.

• Q
  Blinding Dart

  Obscures an enemy's vision with a powerful venom, dealing damage to the target unit and blinding it for the duration.

  Strong: blinds you, making auto-attacks miss — brutal for AD melees. Weak: only affects autos, not abilities — trade with your spells while blinded.

• W
  Move Quick

  Teemo scampers around, passively increasing his Move Speed until he is struck by an enemy champion or turret. Teemo can sprint to gain bonus Move Speed that isn't stopped by being struck for a short time.

• E
  Toxic Shot

  Each of Teemo's attacks will poison the target %i:OnHit% On-Hit, dealing damage on impact and each second after for 4 seconds.

• R
  Noxious Trap

  Teemo throws an explosive poisonous trap using one of the mushrooms stored in his pack. If an enemy steps on the trap, it will release a poisonous cloud, slowing enemies and damaging them over time. If Teemo throws a mushroom onto another mushroom it will bounce, gaining additional range.

  Strong: mushrooms zone objectives, reveal you and stack poison. Weak: cleared by Control Wards and Oracle Lens — sweep before you path through.

Itemization

His damage-over-time poison is magic, so early magic resist (Mercury's Treads, a Null-Magic Mantle) is efficient. As a melee, Blade of the Ruined King or lifesteal helps you sustain through poke and out-duel him once you're on him.

This guide covers Teemo's core kit and playstyle — advice that holds up across patches.