Tel'Annas — Patch 1.62 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: C] Pro play (RPL 2026): 10 picks, 40.0% WR, 3.4% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked.
Tel'Annas — Marksman Guide
Tel'Annas wins by never being in the wrong place, not by winning a 1v1 knife fight. She is the longest-range marksman in the game, and her job is to sit at the very edge of a fight and rain arrows on targets who can't reach her, chipping down tanky frontlines before the teamfight properly starts. She pokes first and DPSes second, and that is exactly why she sits at B tier on a 40% win rate this patch.
The current Thai-server meta has gone dive-heavy. Quillen and Murad are everywhere, bruisers front-load more burst than ever, and fights end in two seconds instead of dragging out. Tel'Annas wants the long, messy skirmish where her range compounds. She suffers when the fight is over before it starts. Her 3.5% pick rate says experienced players still trust her in the right draft, and the 0% ban rate says she is not scary enough to remove.
Play her if you already have marksman positioning down and want to use range as a decision-making tool, not a crutch. If you are hovering around Diamond and consistently hold safe angles, she rewards you. Still learning to kite? Start elsewhere and come back.
Strengths
- +Tel'Annas's exceptional passive attack range lets her deal consistent damage in teamfights from angles that most assassins and divers simply cannot reach without blowing multiple dashes.
- +Her poke pattern through Q and W allows her to create a meaningful HP deficit on the enemy carry or frontliner before a dragon or dark slayer contest even begins, shifting objective odds in her team's favor.
- +Multishot delivers enormous sustained damage in prolonged teamfights against compositions that lack a reliable interrupt, effectively acting as a channeled turret that shreds grouped enemies.
- +She has a relatively smooth laning phase against standard melee frontlane matchups because her range edge makes trading entirely one-sided, the enemy dragon laner simply cannot walk up to her without taking free poke.
Weaknesses
- −Tel'Annas has no mobility ability whatsoever, no dash, no blink, no speed steroid, which means a single uncontested dive from a Quillen or Murad is almost always a guaranteed death if the support is not nearby.
- −Multishot's channel is interrupted by hard crowd control, so a single stun from an Aleister or a knock-up from Maloch completely negates her ultimate in the middle of a fight.
- −Her damage output is almost entirely reliant on auto-attack range and skill shots; against compositions with high mobility or screens of minions, landing her skill shots consistently becomes genuinely difficult.
- −The current patch's dive-heavy meta punishes her lack of escape tools specifically, if the enemy drafts two assassins, Tel'Annas requires a dedicated peel support to function, which limits her draft flexibility.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1q | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
2w | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
Rr | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Core Combos
Standard Poke Rotation
Used in laning to maximize damage per mana spent, Q opens the trade, auto attacks weave between skill casts to leverage passive range, and W extends the poke before the enemy can close the gap.
Teamfight Multishot Setup
Use W to slow or debuff grouped enemies as they cluster, Q to spike a primary target's HP, then activate Multishot from max range while the enemy team is still in formation, the channel deals maximum value when enemies cannot instantly scatter.
Flicker Escape into Poke
When a dive assassin closes the gap and your support cannot peel, burn Flicker to create distance immediately, then re-enter the poke pattern from a safe angle, do not tunnel on damage before confirming you are out of burst range.
Gameplan
Tel'Annas is weakest in the first few minutes before her first damage item, where she pokes but cannot burst. Her first spike is that first full attack-damage item, when her poke starts genuinely eating HP bars instead of just annoying people. Her real window is mid-game teamfights at Dragon and Dark Slayer, where the range advantage matters most. She falls off in the ultra-late game once the enemy has stacked enough armor and sustain to walk through her damage.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Play at absolute maximum auto-attack range from the start of the laning phase — use your passive range edge to chip the enemy dragon laner every time they step up to last-hit, building a slow HP deficit that compounds into an unanswerable lead by level 5.
- →Use W through minion lines to poke enemies who think they are safe behind their wave; this is a free-damage tool most opponents do not respect until they are already low.
- →Prioritize pushing the wave quickly after a successful trade so you can back, buy, and return to lane without losing tower plates — Tel'Annas has no comeback mechanic if she falls behind early.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →Rotate to dragon spawns with your team and use your range advantage to apply damage on the enemy team from outside their engagement range — let your frontline initiate, then channel Multishot from the back.
- →If the enemy assassin is roaming, call it out and stay grouped; never split-push or lurk in a side lane alone without vision — you will die for free with no escape tool.
- →Use Q and W in skirmishes around the jungle to pick off targets who overextend, then immediately convert the tempo advantage into a tower or objective rather than chasing.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →In late-game teamfights, identify the enemy's interrupt or dive threat before activating Multishot — begin the channel only when that threat is either dead, CC'd by your team, or committedly out of position.
- →Hug your team's frontline at all times and let them absorb incoming crowd control before you unleash your damage; a Tel'Annas who dies in the first three seconds of a dark slayer fight is a five-versus-four.
- →Target the enemy carry or primary damage dealer with your Q poke before the full teamfight begins — if you can bring them to half HP during the approach phase, Multishot becomes a cleanup tool rather than a gamble.
Matchups
Never first-pick her in this meta. The 0% ban rate means the enemy always gets to answer with Quillen, Murad, or Butterfly, all of which make her nearly unplayable without dedicated peel. Draft her third or fourth, after confirming you have a reliable CC support and the enemy has not locked a stealth assassin. Against dive comps your main tool is communication: ping your support, play behind your frontline, and treat staying alive through the first fight as the goal. Win the second one with Multishot.
Tel'Annas gets countered by
QuillenQuillen's stealth and point-and-click gap-close bypass Tel'Annas's range advantage entirely, and with no mobility ability to escape, she is a guaranteed kill target every time Quillen has his ultimate available.
MuradMurad's untargetable ultimate and extended CC chain mean he can reach Tel'Annas through any peel attempt and lock her in place long enough to burst her before supports can react.
ButterflyButterfly's rapid multiple dashes let her close Tel'Annas's range advantage in a fraction of a second, and her built-in sustain and evasion make the 1v1 unwinnable even if Tel'Annas sees her coming.
MalochMaloch's tower-range initiation and knock-up interrupt Multishot at the worst possible moment, and his bulk means Tel'Annas's poke does not meaningfully threaten him even in extended trades.
Tel'Annas synergizes with
AleisterAleister's binding chain provides exactly the kind of long-range, reliable CC that lets Tel'Annas channel Multishot safely, he peels divers before they reach her and locks targets in place for her skill shots.
BaldumBaldum's Tackle and ultimate create a massive displacement zone that groups enemies together perfectly for a Multishot channel, and his bulk absorbs the dive threat that Tel'Annas cannot handle herself.
LumburrLumburr's ground-pound CC and knock-up give Tel'Annas a dedicated bodyguard who punishes anyone that walks up to engage her, directly countering the assassin dive problem.
GildurGildur's shield and crowd control provide both a damage absorb for Tel'Annas and a reliable stun setup that lets her land Q and W on immobilized targets, maximizing her poke efficiency.
Pro Tips
- →Learn to 'pre-channel' Multishot, start the cast half a second before the enemy frontline reaches your team so that by the time the fight is fully joined you are already dealing damage, rather than losing precious channel time to a reactive cast.
- →Against compositions with a single hard-engage initiator, track that hero's ultimate cooldown visually in your memory and only activate Multishot during the window when their CC is confirmed to be on cooldown.
- →W through the minion wave as a harassment tool even when the enemy is standing several steps behind their caster line, the piercing trajectory means you can hit champions the enemy assumes are safely screened, and consistent chip damage from this pattern snowballs into a Dragon lane advantage without you ever having to overextend.
- →At high ranks, opponents will watch for the Multishot animation and immediately dash in the moment they see it begin, learn to angle the channel toward terrain choke points so that fleeing enemies naturally funnel back into the cone rather than simply sidestepping.
Tel'Annas is for a Diamond-plus player who already holds a high positional standard and wants range as a macro advantage. Her B tier is an honest read of the meta, not a flaw in the hero. In a slower or more poke-friendly draft she climbs higher. The thing to master is the exact moment to fire Multishot: too early and you get interrupted, too late and the fight is already decided. Get that read right and she is worth a lot more than her 40% win rate suggests.
Tel'Annas — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tel'Annas good in the current ROV patch?+
She sits at B tier on a 40% win rate on the Thai server, so viable in the right draft but not a blind-pick. The dive-heavy meta this patch specifically drags her win rate down. She works, but she asks more of your team comp and your positioning than most marksmen do.
What is the best build for Tel'Annas?+
Prioritize attack damage and crit to get the most from her extended auto range and the Multishot channel. Standard marksman offensive builds apply, but check current item stats in the client since patch-to-patch tuning shifts the order. Add at least one survivability item if the enemy has two assassins.
How do you counter Tel'Annas?+
Pick a stealth or high-mobility assassin like Quillen or Murad and kill her before teamfights form. She has no escape and will burn Flicker early under pressure. A hard-engage support like Maloch also works, interrupting the Multishot channel with CC undoes her whole damage window.
Is Tel'Annas hard to play or good for beginners?+
Medium. Landing the skill shots is straightforward, but the positioning and game-sense bar is high because she has no mobility to fix mistakes. Beginners still learning to hold safe distance under pressure will struggle. Players with solid marksman fundamentals get a consistent, rewarding pick.