How to determine mobility creep in Top Lane

EDIT: TL;DR found at the bottom now

It seems as if many people are complaining on the boards about how "mobility creep", "damage creep", etc. are ruining the game. I think I've determined one way to at least semi-reliably see how far mobility creep has really crept in Top Lane.

Top Lane is determined to be the 1v1 lane, right? That means it's a great place to determine how champions perform against each other on a 1v1 basis. There are also 3 bushes up top, and a curvature that allow for other gameplay dynamics. such as vision, that should be taken into consideration.

Let's examine a popular top laner, Teemo. Teemo is usually universally hated as a meme because of the constant harass that Teemo gets, from his E, and now, Summon Aery. However, his kit's effectiveness is about the same from 500 range to 50 range, which makes him a great reliable control.

In order to understand how mobility creep is "creeping", let's examine how to define mobility creep. I'll define it as: "The increase in the amount of movement a champion is able to undertake in a given amount of time, leading to an advantage during a fight." This means that Boots of Mobility do not count under "mobility creep", because they only contribute movement speed when out of combat, and their impact on a skirmish is rather minimal.

Looking at some classic examples of "mobility", we can isolate a few key components. Let's examine Yasuo's E. Yasuo gets to dash around every 0.5 - 0.1 seconds, and is able to dash into enemy minions and champions. This means that not only does Yasuo get lots of movement, but he also gains a lot of mobility. This makes him gain a lot of "mobility". However, it is limited in the sense that he can only dash into an enemy once every 5 seconds (or something i forgot and im too lazy for research). Within these 5 seconds, his mobility is limited slightly, in the sense that he cannot dash into the same enemy twice. All of this still makes for a very impactful ability, so I would say that Yasuo has a lot of mobility.

Examining recent top laners, Ornn, Camille, Reworked Irelia are the three that come to mind. Ornn has a dash that produces a knockup, and that's as far as Ornn can go in terms of mobility. He's not very mobile. Examining Camille, she has a hookshot that stuns, and can go over walls over long distances. That qualifies as a lot of mobility, and has even contributed to her being played as a jungler. Irelia has a t o n of mobility. Her dashes are reset upon killing an enemy. If marked by E or R, Irelia can dash up to 3 times onto any given enemy. Keep in mind that she can do this to any number of enemies that land within her skills, so Irelia gains: Dashing to enemy minions, resetting if killing a minion. Dashing to champions. Dashing to champions multiple times if they are marked. This makes Irelia a mobility queen, and is a large part in the "mobility creep" argument.

However, simply because a champion has mobility doesn't mean it's actually effective. If a champion has mobility but has to trade off something in return, then it doesn't actually count as "mobility" for the mobility creep argument.

Let's examine how Yasuo does against Teemo, someone who is reliant upon targeted abilities and autoattacks. Yasuo's E allows a lot of weaving and gap-closing, but fails to eliminate the targeting of Teemo's damage. This means that Yasuo will take a lot of damage, but once Teemo's Q fades away, will also be able to deal big damage back to Teemo. In addition, Yasuo can get out of Teemo's AA range once he gets hit by a Q, and then go back in, assuming enemy minions are still alive. Therefore, Yasuo's mobility forces Teemo to manage his wave by letting Yasuo get his Q stacks in on enemy minions, effectively killing them off earlier, before engaging to ensure safe harass.

Ornn has a dash that also provides knockup when used near terrain, including his Q. Due to the curve of Top lane, there is more likelihood of a skirmish near one of the walls compared to a lane like mid lane. However, this is only one dash, and the power of Ornn's kit doesn't come from the dash mechanic itself. Ornn's mobility is actually pretty low, especially after taking into account his W causes a self slow. Looking at him fighting against Teemo highlights situational mobility. Sure, Ornn has a dash, but it's useful only to engage while near terrain. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, his movement speed and his dash aren't enough to negate a lot of damage against Teemo, enabeling Teemo to get free harass, as long as he avoids Ornn's Q.

Irelia gets multiple dashes, as I have already gone over. The fact that she gets to dash so much, and so many times, creates excessive mobility. If Teemo fails to dodge Irelia's E, Irelia can engage against Teemo, retreat and wait out the blind, and then re-engage Teemo. Looking at Irelia's mobility, because of the absolute lack of a cooldown as long as it kills a minion, it enables Irelia to dash around extremely quickly, and back and forth between Teemo and the minion wave. Much like with Yasuo, Teemos facing Irelia have to manage their minion wave, although to a lesser extent.

Looking at the different forms of new champions, there are certainly some champions that really push the envelope, but there are other champions that have already existed that have just as much mobility. Looking at how well mobility serves against Teemo is useful, because Teemo's damage output from 500 range to 50 range is basically equivalent. In taking into account how a champion's mobility can engage, disengage a range of 500+, and potentially re-engage, combined with how fast they can do such things, combined with how often, and then assessing how much damage they have taken, we begin to get the basis for a semi-reliable gauge for mobility creep for top lane champions.

TL;DR: Teemo's damage output consistancy at ranges 50-500 provide the basis for the ability to determine how "mobile" a champion is, by assessing how much damage they might potentially take from Teemo.