Many League of Legends players will agree that Teleport is one of the most powerful Summoner’s Spells in the game. But only a few of them can tell you why it’s really OP when used the right way.
When I first started playing LoL, my Teleport usage was so horrible that I gave up on it and ran Ignite all the time.
Thankfully, my knowledge of this spell has since increased, and I am ready to pass the knowledge on to you.
Here I will explain how Teleport works in League, how you should use it, as well as when you should not use it.
Let’s begin.
Understand How Teleport Works
As we all know, Teleport is a Summoner’s Spell that can transport us to allied units. But until the 14 minutes in the game, it can only be used on ally turrets.
At minute 14, Teleport becomes Unleashed Teleport, and it can be cast on the following ally constructions:
- Turrets
- Minions
- Wards
- Jarvan’s Flag
- Thresh’s Lantern
- Zac’s Passive (Blobs)
- Rek’Sai’s Tunnels
- Illaoi’s Tentacles
- Pets (Annie’s Tibbers, Ivern’s Daisy, Malza’s Voidlings, etc.)
- Traps (Shaco’s boxes, Teemo’s shrooms, etc.)
Teleport has a 360-second (6-minute) cooldown initially. Later, it has a 240-second (4-minute) cooldown. Once cast, the spell automatically goes on cooldown even if you get interrupted.
And you can get interrupted by a CC spell (root, stun, suppression, etc) while teleporting because the spell requires 4 seconds of channeling when used.
Additional Things You Should Know About Teleport
Here are some general tips for using Teleport more effectively in LoL:
- Teleporting will always put you on the side of your nexus after transporting you.
- Teleport will make the minion you are targeting immune to damage.
- Teleport cannot be canceled by yourself, only by an enemy using CC.
- You can select a target for teleporting by clicking on the minimap.
- When you use Teleport, you will be transported to the location you initially selected. So if you TP on a Thresh’s lantern, for example, and the lantern gets used by an ally in the meantime, you will still be teleported to the position the lantern was prior to being clicked on.
Teleporting Back to Lane
If you know how the Teleport works, the next most important thing is knowing when to teleport back to the lane. Teleporting back to the lane is something you will be doing the most, especially as a top laner, so you definitely want to learn that first.
To do this effectively, you will want to teleport when there is a wave building down under your turret. This is done to ensure you don’t lose out on the gold and experience from the minions.
You should also teleport when your minions have stacked and are significantly outnumbering enemy minions. When there is a higher number of ally minions, enemy minions will die at a higher rate, making you lose more resources.
Another good time to teleport is when the enemy laner is roaming. You can simply teleport to your lane and try to push. This will usually get you a few plates, and make the enemy miss out on some sweet CS.
With time and experience, you will learn to recognize when you should teleport and when you should not. In general, you will want to use this spell to save resources or pressure the enemy laner.
You should, however, never teleport if it is only 2-3 minions. It’s simply not worth it.
Read Also: How to Carry as a Top Laner in League of Legends?
Teleporting for a Gank
Teleporting to gank is a great way to make use of this Summoner’s Spell.
You will mainly want to perform this when the enemy team is pushing your allies. To make a great teleport gank, you will always need to look if bushes on the enemy side of the map are warded by allies.
In the bot lane, you can teleport in the first bush that is near the enemy tower. And in top lane, you can teleport to the tri bush near the enemy tower. This will allow you to flank the enemies, and it will give them less time to respond.
A good way to make teleport gank more effective is to wait for the enemy to commit to fights.
To make things easier, you can make use of the “Bait” ping and have an ally bait for you. When the fight starts, the enemy will usually be too preoccupied to see you teleporting in, especially in lower elos.
Teleporting When Split Pushing
One of the most powerful things you can do with Teleport is to use it for a split push. Using it this way will make the enemy feel like they are playing versus one extra person.
So let’s say you have Teleport and Baron is coming up. What can you do as a top laner, for example?
Well, an excellent thing to do is to go to the opposite side of the map and start split-pushing. This will force the enemy to send at least 1 or 2 people to defend against your pressure.
When you see that enemies are getting closer, you simply retreat to a safe position and teleport back to Baron. Now you will have a window of time where you can make a play since you will be outnumbering the enemies.
The same can be done when you are taking any other objective. If your team is contesting Elder Dragon, you can simply go top and repeat the process. This can also be done when your team is pushing for inhibitors.
Read Also: In-Depth Guide on How to Split Push in League of Legends
Playing Against Teleport
Playing versus Teleport in League of Legends can be challenging. This is especially true if you happen to be playing against someone who knows all the ins and outs such as those outlined in this article, you will definitely not have an easy time.
There are, however, some things you can do to make it easier for yourself. The first thing would be to pay attention to enemy Teleport timers.
Remember, Teleport has a 6 minutes cooldown early on and once your enemy uses it, they can do so again for some time. So, use this window of time to make plays elsewhere on the map, somewhere where they cannot follow immediately.
For example, if the enemy top laner has just teleported back to lane, you can ping your allies that their spell is on cooldown. So, they can play relaxed, knowing that the enemy top laner won’t teleport behind them.
Another good example would be an enemy using our split-pushing teleport strategy. They will try to force you into a fight where you will be outnumbered. But if you know their plan in advance, you will be able to retreat or play the fight on different terms.
At the end of the day, all these things will come with experience. The most important thing is that you will be able to recognize these patterns having read this article.
When NOT to Use Teleport
Despite Teleport being really strong, there are still times when you should not even take it into a game. This can be due to skill reasons or practical reasons.
Skill reasons are mainly concerning beginners. If you are a beginner, there will be plenty of things you will need to learn, and having to learn Teleport on top of it can be overwhelming. And using a simpler Summoner’s Spell will usually be more rewarding.
When it comes to practical reasons, it will be just common sense. There are simply times when Teleport is not the right option.
If you are playing against Warwick top, for example, there is no reason not to take Ignite instead of Teleport. And if you are a Darius player, you will always want to run Ghost instead of TP.
So in general, there are some times when Teleport just does not cut it, and you have to choose a better option.
This too will come with experience. And as you get better at using Teleport and the rest of the spells, you will easily see what works best for you.
Read Also: 5 Best Ways to Ward as a Top Laner
Conclusion
Teleport is one of the most impactful spells when used correctly. It allows you to get more resources early on as well as gank enemies on the opposite side of Summoner’s Rift.
I’d definitely recommend you to practice using Teleport as much as possible. Try to incorporate the things you read in this article in your own games but also try to analyze each situation and determine how your Teleport should be used.
And even if it should be used at all.
Read Also: The Best Role for New Players
