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Why do people take TP in bot lane?

Goth Thot·11/28/2014, 2:56:41 PM·1 votes·3,330 views

Lately I've played a few games where my bot lane partner has taken TP for some god forsaken reason only for it to come to absolutely no use. I've been told that bot laners are most efficient if they're in lane together at the same time (ie: recall together where practicable) taking TP only puts you at a disadvantage unless you both take it. I feel like every single time we've either done poorly lane in (forcing my partner to recall and use TP to get back in) which could have been avoided if they'd taken heal or exhaust or barrier or flash in the first place. And sometimes I feel like we could have taken kills had we had the utility of one of the above summoner spells (or heck, even ignite) but lose the chance because someone's got a useless teleport which at most nets them a couple of CS which a) they could have gotten anyway by just pushing the lane before backing or b) in the event that they weren't in a position to push the lane (other team is more dominant) they just get dived 2v1 as the enemy siege the turret. Complete waste of a slot. You could argue split pushing but supports can't really do that and 9/10 ADCs are better off staying with the rest of the team either fighting or holding while someone else splits because 9/10 times the enemy's just going to send an assassin to deal with them and again they just waste their time with teleport.

Of course if you're really good and can 1v2 without the need for any defensive spells go for it but if you're not confident you can do that stop taking TP in bot lane. Especially don't take TP in place of flash on Kog'maw jesus christ.

5 Comments

ValyrianBlade11/28/2014, 3:10:51 PM3 votes

Well, double heal has its drawbacks.

It's optimal for the adc to take heal and the support to take exhaust (at least most times), as an adc I want the heal because a) I don't know when you have it up B) I know if I'm trying to use heal to bait a dive C) I can react faster to myself being blown up than you can react to me being blown up (and possibly you need to reposition closer to me before healing) And I'm sure there are other reasons too (support can get in range to use exhaust easier?)

Anyways my point is that as an adc, if my support insists on taking heal I get completely thrown off. I don't want to take heal because it's inefficient due to the debuff. I don't want to take exhaust because I'm often not in range to use it. I don't want to take ignite because I'm often not in range to use it. Pretty much every summoner I take other than heal makes me play worse than normal. What I'm getting at is, some adcs might choose to take teleport in this case because they don't know what to do. If you're playing support and taking heal instead of exhaust, that would explain why your Lane partner is taking teleport.

Otherwise though I completely agree with you. And I never even thought of barrier (feel like it's selfish in a duo Lane but if my support takes heal I may take it next time...). Teleport is not a great bot Lane spell, unless of course you're playing an initiation support where you typically dive and die while your adc secures a kill or two and lives, so your teleport is actually getting you back in Lane together? I could understand that I guess... and I've had some supports who seem to consistently die while securing a kill or two for me (which is completely worth because it gets the adc fed enough to take out the opposing top/mid).

Tsunday11/28/2014, 3:16:06 PM1 votes

I don't use TP bot, honestly, I always go Heal + Exhaust on my supports except in extreme cases (like playing Soraka against a team with multiple dashes and a j4 because that's not the box you want to be stuck in :( ), I've been trying out smite + exhaust recently on some of the more mobile supports to smite enemy jungle (and our wolves late game with our jungler isn't using the free vision). If I'm going adc it's normally heal + flash or heal + barrier if I'm playing someone like Caitlyn again an immobile team.

I see teleport as being potentially useful though. A teleport on a splitpushing ADC like Jinx or Sivir is obviously useful for splitpushing mid to late game (because you don't have to take a summoner because it's useful during laning, laning isn't everything) and then a teleport on a support could mean that when the enemy top/midlaner tries to go in on your laner and you know they're behind/need help you can roam top/mid save them, secure the kill, and then head back down bot. Yes that means the support is leaving the adc alone, but it happens all the time when the jungler gets invaded and needs assistance or when the support goes to ward dragon or when the support almost dies and has to back. I always V ping (Sona signals to be careful) the ground by my adc and then I V ping the tower (Sona is falling back from the outer turret) before I recall or walk back a bit (if I think I need to recall in jungle to avoid a global adc ult snipe). It's the same thing 'hey Sivir be careful, I'm falling back from the turret to TP top really quick'. As long as the adc listens to the pings they should be fine alone for just a minute (but you should have boots probably tier 2s before you try to TP roam as a support though) .

It's obviously not the only thing a person can take but you shouldn't lose lane because somebody takes teleport instead of ignite.

KlNGPlN11/28/2014, 8:44:33 PM1 votes

Popular combinations of summoner spells or anything else for that matter are not necessarily "correct" or "incorrect". Everything is viable, it just depends on HOW you use it and how you address the lack of having other spells instead.

For example: Support takes Teleport over Exhaust. It is up to the players to recognize the drawbacks and react accordingly. Capitalize on the abilities you DO have and focus the play on things you are capable of, rather than what you are not capable of.