It's happened again. A new patch has arrived, major changes have thrown mostly everybody off their game and people still haven’t figured out what’s best for each position. Hello my old friend, Mr. Preseason.

During the 2015 World Championship it became clear that anything that wasn't an assassin in the purest meaning of the word should take Teleport to make sure map pressure all over the map could be matched by any means necessary.

As most of the league players are known for trying to bring back the good old times and read every new patch note with contempt, trying to figure out when their playstyle or Champion will eventually no longer be able to escape the sword of the developers relatively unscratched has become a nerve-wracking thing to do. And this time, a lot of players have been hit.

While most people are still trying to figure out which AD Carry might be the most potent one and how the rise of AD’s might trigger a comeback for our beloved assassins such as Zed and Talon, another question has come to mind for a large part of the solo laners: What’s next for the notorious Season 5 Teleport strategies?

Lane swaps

The way the cards have been dealt right now, it’s safe to assume that Teleport will be a lot less chosen Summoner Spell , and instead, people will have to come up with more creative ways to solve the issue of global map pressure and deal with the new objective on the map, the Rift Herald.

It was considered a general accepted theory that the presence of your duo lane determined when to go for Dragon and when not, but with another early game global objective for the taking (the Herald spawns at the four minute mark) on the other side of the map, the question remains how to manage your lanes in the revamped Season 6 laning phase.



Image courtesy of pcwallart

The self-evident answer to this is probably going to be to move your duo to the Mid Lane, put your sololaners on the sides and thus creating more map pressure, as your support is able to roam more frequently to either Top- or Bot lane. On top of that, as most Teleport strategies have now been condemned to spend an eternity in Tartarus (or until they receive a buff), being able to rally as many allies as possible to a certain part of the map will be key to most victories.

Furthermore, with the time in which an average game is either won or lost taking a relative big dive, the Herald and his buff will be of a much more importance than the Dragon, as it is close to impossible to get your team to 5 stacks of the oh so sweet Dragon Buff, which could eventually lead to the forsaking of the Dragon, as was the case quite some time ago , back when Dragon still gave everybody gold instead of the buffs.

Global Presence

Another way to improve the global map presence of your team will be the use of skills (mostly Ultimate abilities) that can cover a significant distance. Although there are no more Skills in the game that are capable of moving a Champion across the entire map (Twisted Fate's Gate or Pantheon's Mandrop), this will be one of the best options to cover large distances when Toplaners go on an Ignite rampage and eventually keep butchering the enemies up until the point they reach the Nexus of their opponents.



Image courtesy of Riot Games & megapont.ru

With the recent rise of Tahm Kench and his extremely powerful skillset, seeing his fish pop up in someone’s back and delivering a two man surprise package would be quite a familiar sight during Season 6. However, as mentioned above, other Champions also have the ability to make up for the fact that your Toplaner went on his Ignite rampage. Most notably in this class of Champions are non-other than Twisted Fate, Shen and Nocturne to name just a few.

The most important aspect of this strategy that has to be in the back of everyone's head is that whenever your team is up against a team that is capable of setting up a decent perimeter of wards in order to ensure their own safety, playing with the Globals will just be that tad harder that might cause your team to fail in matching the map pressure.

Final Word

Note that the aforementioned strategies can be put to use in any kind of situation, although there is still room for Teleport plays in the new season. There are certain type of champions that simply are the most effective when used in combination with Teleport. There is nothing as terrifying for an AD Carry than a Homeguard Hecarim or a GNAR! out of nowhere, deleting them from the fight.

In the end, a right balance will have to be struck between either going Ignite and trying to snowball your way through the game or running Teleport and participating heavily in the pressure game. Deciding between the former and the latter will always be determined by both team’s set-up rather than individual preferences.

Thank you for reading and best of luck on Summoner's Rift!

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