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When playing Teemo top I often get "counter" picked by Swain. I've had trouble playing against Swain because of his high damage and not being able to harass him down like most other ad bruiser tops. Any tips on how to play against him?

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There are three basic tips for laning against Swain with Teemo. You have to understand, however, that just based on the match-up this will probably be a fairly passive/defensive lane for Teemo.

  1. Harass only with Q: In many other lanes you will be able to set up nice harassment and even ganks by stealthing in the middle of a lane and suddenly springing up and bursting your opponent down. This isn't the case with Swain, as he has far too much health regeneration. Just poke at him with your Q and be as annoying as possible. If you engage him in a direct fight, you will always lose, hands down.
  2. Dodge the Snare: This is absolutely crucial. If you can't dodge his AoE snare, you will consistently get killed. Make sure you are constantly aware of his movements and whether or not he's edging closer to get that spell off. If he does lay it down, don't be afraid to pop your W or even your Flash to get out of it; using either one is better than giving him a kill. Because this is such a passive lane for Teemo, you won't need these skills quite as much to get away from a jungle or mid gank like you might normally.
  3. Focus on the Minions: Instead of making Swain your main focus, focus on getting those last hits on minions primarily. That is what will keep you in the game and relevant. More than likely you will not be able to actually pick up a kill on Swain without a good bit of help from your jungler or your mid, so just focus on picking up as much money as you can from your lane and try to out-creep-score Swain as he tries over and over to pick up the kill on you.

If you can do all three of these well, you can stay competitive in top lane as Teemo (regardless of the Teemo build you're choosing to go with).

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    These are great tips, but his Nevermove (W) is a snare, not a stun right? When you get caught, only your movement is handicapped. Swain Ability Details "Nevermove is a ground targeted area of effect ability that marks a target location. After a 1 second delay, all enemy units in the area take magic damage and are snared."
    – Kevin Cho
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 16:46
  • Yes, you're correct. Sorry for the misuse of terminology. Editing now to change it. Regardless of this, though, if he catches Teemo in it, he's more than likely dead. :)
    – asteri
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 17:48
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Let me preface this by saying that Jeff's answer is great, and this is merely an addendum.

1) You're probably not going to kill Swain. By the time you get enough items to be annoying-Teemo, Swain will probably have his six. At that point, you just can't stop him.

2) Boots first. This should go without saying against any skillshot champ, but it's absolutely vital for getting away from Swain stun.

3) Get an early null-magic mantle. You're going to be in this lane for the long-haul, and you'll probably want merc treads (unless the rest of his team has absolutely zero cc, in which case you'll build it into something else. Like Wit's End).

4) Farm farm farm. When Swain leaves the lane, push and push hard.

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