In the current meta, top lane is incredibly important. With the ability to play nearly anyone top lane and carry solo queue it's hard to distinguish between what makes a good top laner and what makes a great top laner. The main difference is teleport. Teleport is the summoner spell that defines a top laner almost as much as their mechanics do. A top laner's ability to see good teleport opportunity and utilize it can be game changing and, often-times, game winning.

So when, where and why should you use your teleport as a top laner?

Before you do anything: Consider your champion!

There are some top lane picks, eg. Riven or Fiora, where taking teleport is not as useful as taking other spells such as ignite. If you are playing an early game champion with good split pushing potential and the ability to duel, then ignite may be a better option as you can snowball your lane. The best champions to use teleport with are tanky laners with good CC. The perfect examples are Maokai and Gnar. They are great meta picks due to their high amounts of CC when they teleport into any fight. This CC and inate tankiness means that they will have an impactful teleport regardless of whether they are ahead or behind. When picking your top lane spells in champion select consider what is going to give you the sure-fire impact that you need to have on the game. Think about whether your champion will be able to snowball better by teleporting into other lanes or whether their dueling powers would be best coupled with an ignite or exhaust which makes them into an unstoppable split pushing force with less objective presence (better for carrying in solo queue).

When?

The number one thing to consider when you want to use teleport is 'What can I gain from this?'. In any case this has to be greater than the CS you will get in your lane. The specific cases will always be a little different but here are some general times you should always be willing to blow a TP:

1. Teamfights - Teamfights win and lose games at every ELO and understanding when to TP can win you a teamfight. You want to teleport into a fight when you can get a pick on a key target (usually this happens from teleporting in to a ward behind the enemy team) or when you can initiate a teamfight that your team can win at neutral objectives such as Dragon and Baron. This means that you have to always be aware of your team and when they are grouping so that you can decide a teamfight with a good teleport. One key thing is decisiveness. If you think you can make a pick and the enemy team's top laner is not there because they have TP then do it. The worst thing you can do when teleporting into a teamfight is be late and lose the teamfight before it even begins.

2. Skirmishes - This is a very subjective one that can oftentimes be wrongly judged. If you see your teammates in a skirmish that you can turn around then a good teleport can turn a situation from a 0 for 1 against you into a 1 for 0 or even a 2 for 0. This is very much based on split second judgement and knowledge of your champion but map awareness is key.

3. Snowballing a lane - When teleporting into a lane you always have to consider your laners and their laners. A common teleport that is always very effective is to teleport to a deep ward in the brush furthest away from your turret in bot lane. This teleport can not only earn you an advantage but also get your other lanes rolling which makes the game a much easier one to win. You always have to consider how your lane is doing in comparison to theirs and also what champions you have. The worst situation is to use TP and get nothing from it so snowballing lanes is a very high risk/high reward situation.

4. Split Pushing - This is very situational and very champion based. A teleport to assist your split push usually means that you lose pressure on neutral objectives such as Dragon and Baron. You would usually use this teleport when you have the opportunity to get turrets or when you can get a fight with an enemy you know you can kill. These teleports should only ever be used on champions like Jax, Nasus or any other champion with the ability to take towers very quickly and the ability to stay safe on their own.

Where?

There are always going to be an infinite number of situations that require your on-the-spot judgement but knowing the general places in which teleports usually garner success does always help out.

1. Neutral Objectives - Dragons and Barons usually offer up the most vicious and decisive teamfights where a good teleport to land CC on many targets or to pick off key targets can turn the tide of a fight and of the whole game. If you see both teams grouping around these objectives make sure that you have deep wards for potential teleport opportunities and that you constantly keep an eye on the enemy carries to see if you can get a pick.

2. Bot Lane - Teleporting to mid lane is always a bit risky as it is the shortest lane and its almost impossible to lock down the other laner for the entire teleport cast time. Bot lane offers you safe teleports behind the opponents that they can't see as the brush extendeds throughout the lane. This is a great place to teleport as it offers you one of the most vulnerable targets on the map in the form of the enemy team's ADC and can often snowball your own ADC which makes your job as the top laner much easier for the rest of the game. This is almost a sure-fire way to get a lead and to snowball one of your main damage outputs.

3. Top Lane - Teleporting offensively is obviously the best use of TP but do not feel that teleporting back to top lane is ever a bad idea. If there is no dragon on the map, no threat of an enemy TP (this may depend on the champion they chose or a myriad of other factors that you can judge in game) or it is still early game then teleporting back to lane is an effective way to make sure you do not fall behind. It is a good way of gaining the maximum amount of CS which makes you stronger for your following teleports.

Conclusion

Teleport is the strongest summoner spell in the entire game when it is used to its full potential. It can set up picks, turn teamfights and win games but to be able to do this you need to use it correctly. Always remember that a successful teleport can only be completed with the help of your teammates, so communication is always key. Hopefully, using a couple things you learned from this article, you can use your teleport to full effect next time you enter the Fields of Justice. Good luck Summoners and happy hunting.