League of Legends - Teleport Nerf Analysis

Hi boys and girls! Our LoL Elo Boost team is here again with another great guide for you. Today we will cover a hot topic: the most optimal use of Teleport.

Teleport in League of Legends

You all know that the preseason changed a lot of things, including the summoner spells: teleport cooldown was nerfed and it is no longer reduced when you teleport to your turret. Nowadays it’s almost never picked by mid laners that usually prefer Ignite or a defensive summoner spell (Heal, Barrier, Cleanse), and we are seeing a comeback of Ignite users in the top lane (Hello Renekton, I missed you.)

Well, during our LoL Duo Queue Boost sessions one of the most asked questions from top lane mains is whether or not they should pick teleport. There is not a final answer, anyway, we are sure that teleport is not the “only viable choice” for top laners like in Season 5. q

Before starting the article, let’s try to understand the nerf and why it is so important: the cooldown used to be 300 seconds, and 240 seconds if used on a turret. As of patch 5.22, Teleport cd is always 300 seconds, even if you teleport on your turret. But is the extra minute really that important? Our answer is yes, but only if you are using it to come back to lane in the early game. It still applies the same global pressure as always after the 15 minutes mark, since you are not likely to teleport to your turret after that. The 0.5 seconds cast duration increase means almost nothing.

So Ignite is more viable now, and so are defensive summoner spells (Cleanse, Heal) on mid laners: if you want to pick one of those our LoL Boost Team will tell you how to compensate for the lack of teleport

Lane Swaps

Another big change introduced with the 5.22 patch is Rift Herald, a neutral objective that spawns in the Baron Pit and can only be taken before the 19:55 minutes mark. In the last season, Top lane was often ignored by junglers because mid and bot were closer to the dragon, the major early game objective. Rift Herald is gonna change this.

As we just said, the dragon used to be a very valuable object for teams, both in Solo Queue and in competitive.

However according to our Elo Boost Team since the preseason games are so snowbally and fast, the dragon buffs are worth almost nothing, since it’s very hard to get the fifth buff: most of the time the game will be over or decided before that.

On the other hand, the buff provided from the Rift Herald is really important in the early game and can help your team securing one or more turret easily. This means that we may see the duo lane switch from the bottom lane to the mid lane, at least in competitive, in order to secure the Herald buff early. The solo laners will be relegated to side lanes and will rely mostly on global abilities or roaming to apply map pressure.

Global Presence

Elaborating on the last sentence, our LoL Boost team thinks that we are going to see a rise in popularity of champions with global abilities, like Shen, Twisted Fate, Pantheon, and the unbenchable Tahm Kench.

Having a global ability will compensate for the lack of teleport and apply the same global pressure. We have all seen in season 5 how many cool plays can be made using Tahm Kench ultimate, which allows our frog and eventually an ally to travel a huge distance across the map. Assuming that the duo lane will go mid, we can already foresee 3 man ganks in the top lane with Kench eating the jungler and reach the top lane with his ultimate, killing the enemy solo laner and then securing the Rift Herald while the ADC is pushing the mid lane.

And if you played LoL before the teleport meta (Season 4, 3 or even before) you know how much pressure a split pushing Shen can apply.

Wrapping it up

Finally, our Elo Boost Team reminds you that teleport is not dead and not useless, just not as strong as before. Nothing is more effective than teleport engages from an Hecarim rampaging in your adc’s face. So it’s all about finding the proper balance between the global pressure of Teleport and the early game snowball potential of Ignite, at least for the top lane. Our rule of thumb is: if you think that you can kill the enemy laner in the early game, pick Ignite; if you are playing a champion with a weak early game or your team lacks map pressure, or you want to counter a global ultimate, go for Teleport.

If you are still struggling in the choice of the optimal summoner spell, consider purchasing our LoL Duo Queue Boost Service for personal advice right from the champion select: our boosters will analyze your team comps and the enemies’ abilities with you suggesting the best summoner to pick.

Remember to check our site in the next days for more guides and articles about the preseason!