The Power of Teleport: a Toplaner's Guide
This article will discuss the importance of teleport and how to properly use it.
Overview
Teleport is a staple summoner spell toplane. It allows toplaners to have a global presence on the map despite being far away from most objectives. Similar mobility is only given by ultimate abilities such as Rek’sai’s Void Rush, and Twisted Fate’s Destiny. Knowing how to fully utilize this mobility is key to being a great toplaner. Teleport is also occasionally seen in the midlane but as a toplane main myself I will be focusing in on it from that perspective.
The Numbers
Teleport is a 3.5 second channel that locks you into place for the duration, once the cast time is done you are teleported to the target location. A common mistake is teleporting in view of the enemy. The enemy can cancel your teleport with Crowd Control which most toplaners possess in some form. When your teleport is interrupted or you cancel it yourself the cooldown is 200 seconds rather than the normal 300. Teleport’s cooldown can be lowered through a variety of ways. The chart below lists the ways teleport’s cooldown can be lowered. Insight refers to the tier 4 mastery in the resolve tree. Ionian Boots of Lucidity reduce the cooldown of all summoner spells by (-10%). Most toplaners do not build Ionian boots, but toplane mages such as Lulu and Lissandra almost always buy these. Being able to recognize these timers can greatly benefit you and your team.
To Teleport or not to Teleport
Teleport is incredibly simple to use, with a click of a button you can teleport to lane. However, simply teleporting to lane is a misuse of the power that teleport provides. Here is a short list of things to consider when teleporting:
• Does the enemy have teleport?
• Will you lose multiple waves of minions or possibly your turret?
• Will you be singled out right after your teleport?
• Will your team gain objectives from your teleport?
• Can you possible gain objectives by not teleporting?
Running through a checklist is not always possible in the heat of the moment but even considering one of these things can give you a great advantage. Besides normal teleports something to consider is whether you can flank the enemy. Flanking when the enemy does not have vision on a ward can give your team a great advantage in a team fight, an example of this can be seen in Week 9 of the 2015 EU LCS spring split in Fnatic vs Elements Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon teleports on a ward and catches 3 members of Elements in Chogath’s Rupture. Elements being caught off guard have to blow valuable defensive cooldowns to try to escape. The rest of Fnatic is able to finish off the already weakened Elements and finish the game. This type of play showcases how strong teleport can be.
Click here to watch Huni's Teleport play.
Forcing enemy teleport
Besides knowing how to use your own teleport you also must know how to force your enemies teleport .Forcing an enemy teleport can be done through all stages of the game whether it’s through early game aggression forcing an early recall or a mid and late game split push threat. Champions with early bullying and strong kill pressure like Darius and Renekton can force teleport very early on but might struggle once laning phase is over, the new rift herald buff in patch 6.9 also makes aggressive plays easier. Champions that build sunfire cape and have good wave clear like Maokai and Malphite can force teleport by forcing enemies to either teleport or miss out on valuable minion gold and experience. Later in the game a split push threat like Irelia or Jax can force an enemy teleport just by pushing a lane and pressuring turrets. The enemy not having teleport can give your team a lot of pushing power over the other team, so knowing how to make the enemy use it is as important as knowing how to use it yourself.
Conclusion
Teleport will be the staple top lane summoner spell unless it has a significant rework. Knowing how to use it is a valuable skill, practice makes perfect so hit the rift and make teleport plays. My name is Alex and if you have any feedback or questions you can add me on NA- Alexmanpersonguy. Thanks for reading this article.
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