Teemo Ability Rework Ideas

First post here, on Teemo Rework Ideas :)

Build Examines: Weaknesses and advantages of Teemo, in addition to what makes his gameplay unique. Original intent and recent dev comments will be also taken into account.

Quote: “We started developing Teemo as this guy who would go out scouting and lead the way for his teammates. His original passive was “Pathfinder” or “Leading the Way” or something like that -- basically he left a trail behind him that temporarily granted vision and made allies faster." [COLT HALLAM, Rito man]

What makes Teemo, well, Teemo? -He’s the spawn of Satan, that obviously needs to be kept intact. -Though underutilized, stealth and bushcraft are a large part of his kit, seen in both his ultimate and passive. However, his current abilities don’t seem to make full use of the stealth feature. It’s more of a ‘it’s there’ sort of passive, rather than an ability that works in synch with the rest of his kit. -Damage over time is the other obvious part of his kit. In fact, one entire passivbility is dedicated to increasing his DoT.

Current Strengths: -Teemo does excellent damage in his early game poke, falls behind a bit in the midgame, and then makes a moderate comeback lategame. -His damage over time is great for punishing trades, oftentimes leading to him holding a significant advantage in early laning phases. -Mushrooms give vision and objective control, and when used in combo with an upgraded trinket, you can have a great deal of vision in enemy territory for long periods of time near certain camps or chokepoints. -Late game, Teemo is an incredibly fast champion when out of combat, letting him roam to help other lanes or set up mushrooms for objective control with ease. -His laugh is evil, pure evil.

Current Weaknesses: -While Teemo may be quick out of combat (especially lategame, when W is close to maxed), in combat, he has zero mobility options for quick maneuvers. In fact, Teemo has hardly any mobility at all, save for his W, which has so few uses that no sane player (however sane a Teemo main may be) would prioritize it over DoT or Toxic Shot. This lack of a dash, blink, roll, etc. really kills him, oftentimes literally, when peeling or avoiding ganks. Simply put, his W isn’t nearly enough, and it accomplishes so little in the kit besides an out of combat boost that, again, isn’t helpful until lategame. -Teemo’s passive, while unique, gives him basically no advantages, as the attack boost granted by standing still (which is hardly, if ever done in a game under most circumstances) is negligible at best. This passive is a big part of giving Teemo his own character, but at the same time, it doesn’t mesh with the rest of his kit or accomplish much besides being a fun thing to try every once in awhile. -Save for his mushrooms (which are defensively oriented items), Teemo lacks CC of any kind. This makes him a drag in teamfights that haven’t been carefully prepared for, and leaves him without a good chase option, making what could be a niche jungler pick with some advantages almost useless because of low ganking potential.

Summarization: Teemo lacks solid mobility, and his mobility ability in general doesn’t have many uses. Additionally, he lacks a source of offensive CC, lowering kill potential greatly. Finally, Teemo’s passive and stealth functionality in general do not seem to work with the rest of his kit. Here’s how I propose to solve those issues, while keeping the core functions of his abilities intact.

Passive: Being Stealthy [USAGE]: When Teemo has stood still for two seconds, he turns invisible. For every second that Teemo is still and invisible, he gains +1 Stealth charge, which can stack up to four times. When Teemo moves from his standstill position, he consumes one Stealth charge every .5 seconds, remaining invisible as long as Stealth charges remain.

Q: Toxic Shot [USAGE]: Teemo fires a powerful dart at an opponent, blinding them for 1.5s and dealing X/Y/Z/M/P damage + %AP on hit. If Toxic Shot is used when concealed from the enemy team (either due to Stealth, bushes, lack of LoS, etc.), the target is slowed by X% for Y.Z seconds.

W: Tumble [Or Trailblazer, something like that] [PASSIVE]: Activates when Teemo has not been damaged by an enemy tower or Champion in the last four seconds. Teemo gains X/Y/Z/M/P % bonus movement speed and leaves a trail behind him. Allied Champions or Minions who run in the trail also receive the bonus movement speed. [USAGE]: Teemo tumbles evasively, building up speed equal to double the passive bonus and becoming untargetable for the duration of the tumble. At the end of the roll, the speed boost quickly ramps down over X seconds.

[Since we now have Ekko's ult to showcase a path-leaving technology, why shouldn't an older champion be able to benefit from some of the side effects of the new tech?]

E: Damage over Time [PASSIVE]: Teemo deals X bonus magic damage on hit of basic attacks, and continues to deal Y magic damage every second for the next four seconds.

R: Mushroom [USAGE]: Teemo places a mushroom which turns invisible after X seconds and grants vision for Y minutes or until detonated. When triggered, a Mushroom deals Z magic damage on hit and M magic damage over the next P* seconds. [P being smaller so that multiple mushroom chains will deal damage faster rather than having a low-impact timer refresher on continuous hits]

In sum, one could see it as this: -Reworked passive to work better with stealth aspects of kit. -W Now provides a much better source of mobility in addition to a better team-help potential, in line with the original ideas for Teemo. -R cycles faster to deal same damage quicker, "increasing" damage of consecutive mushrooms. -Gives Teemo some CC.