Since its launch until September 2, 2023, a total of 175 champions have been released in League of Legends. This is a truly significant number, even for a long-standing game like Riot’s product. Of course, throughout the development of League of Legends, many champions have virtually disappeared, no longer appearing in professional matches, casual games, or ranked play. The reasons for this stem from various factors, including outdated designs, unappealing skill sets, or being long “out of meta.”
There are still several names among these that have disappeared for a while but later returned with certain impressions. For example, Garen in Adam’s hands left a significant mark at the 2023 World Championship. Or champions like Elise and Darius, who are rarely seen now, still get occasional use. However, there’s one very famous name that has nearly vanished from the minds of professional players and is rarely used by casual gamers: Teemo – the Yordle champion with the frustrating ability to set traps. Currently, in ranks Gold and above, Teemo is only picked 3.38% of the time across all regions of League of Legends.
The name Teemo has become hot again recently, as after nearly 10 years (since patch 4.3), this champion has made a return in Riot’s patch notes for adjustments and has been… “nerfed,” reducing his power by 4 times. Accordingly, Teemo’s R – Noxious Trap, Q – Blinding Dart, and E – Toxic Shot abilities have all been weakened by 5 – 10% compared to before this update. The reason, according to many predictions, is that the item Liandry’s Anguish is too powerful and is the core item for champions using Ability Power. In particular, this item providing a burning effect makes Teemo even more annoying.
However, in reality, reducing the power of a champion that has nearly disappeared from League of Legends just because of one item is not a reasonable move. On many forums, numerous opinions are sarcastically criticizing Riot for creating overly powerful items and then reducing champion strength to balance, while that champion is still performing well among the gaming community.
Currently, the update has officially launched, so there may not be any further adjustments. Players can only wait about a month before a new patch appears.