League of Legends: How to play Thresh

Today we’re looking at a support champion that can carry games all on his own, as we take a look at Thresh.

The support role is one that is constantly changing and has seen a lot of different play styles throughout ten years of competitive League of Legends. Together with the jungle role, these players must adapt the most, as their roles are the most subject to change. Today we will take a look at one of the supports that has been in the meta since his release and has always been a top pick in competitive play.

Thresh hit the rift on the 23rd of January 2013 and was one of the most innovative champions released at that point in time. His abilities did not undergo any major changes through the years; however, he has been nerfed quite a few times.

The basics

Thresh is a support that can both look for an engage but also has great peel for his teammates. He is the most picked and banned support in the European Regional Leagues of all time and is now also seeing a high presence in the other major regions as well. To further understand why, we have to deep diver into his kit.

He has a hook called Death Sentence, with which he can start a fight at any time if he manages to hook someone. Whenever an ally is in danger, you can use your Dark Passage, also called the lantern, to save someone. As you throw the lantern to your ally, he or she can click it to be repositioned towards Thresh’ current position.

Next up Thresh has Flay, that knocks back or pulls in enemies depending on which direction he fires it at. After the brief knock-up or pull-back, the enemies are slowed for one second. Lastly, Thresh has The Box, his ultimate ability. He literally places a box around him in a pentagon of spectral walls. The box lasts for five seconds and anyone breaking the walls by walking into it, is slowed by 99% for two seconds. Basically impairing all their movement.

Soul collector

Thresh harvests souls that drop when a minion (33,3% chance), monster (33,3% chance), large minion (guaranteed), large monster (guaranteed), epic monster (guaranteed) or champion (guaranteed) dies. He can pick up these souls by walking near them or when he throws his Dark Passage (lantern) towards them.

These souls affect his abilities and stats. He gains 0,75 ability power and 0,75 bonus armor per soul. You should always try to collect as many souls as possible without putting yourself in too much danger or wasting your Dark Passage. This way, you can get a lot of free stats and especially the armor can be helpful in later stages of the game.

Which kind of Thresh does your team need?

We talked about it earlier but Thresh is the most picked support in all competitive League of Legends especially in Europe. That is because he has such a versatile kit and can either peel for his teammates or set-up plays for his team. The first thing you must recognize is which Thresh your team needs.

• Playmaking Thresh

If your team lacks a lot of engage and has almost no crowd control, you must take on a more engaging role within your team. You are now a playmaker and should look to itemize as such. Take some extra movement speed and ability haste in your runes and build. Include things as Aftershock, Hexflash and Cosmic Insight in your runes for extra playmaking potential, but also build mobility, swiftness or lucidity boots to roam around the map and make plays. Combine it with a Turbo Chemtank or Shurelya’s Battlesong for extra movement speed as your mythic item. Teaming up with your jungler in the early game when you completed your boots to set your team up for successful ganks, roams or invades is key here.

• Peeling Thresh

When looking at your team composition and seeing an immobile marksman or mage in your team, you should always consider teaming up with them for most of the game. Especially if you have primary engagers like Malphite, Ornn, Sejuani or many other heavy crowd control toplaners or junglers in your team. Your task is to keep your immobile carries safe.

You do this by using your abilities to keep the enemy team as far away as you can from your carries or by helping them reposition with your lantern. You need to keep the enemy at bay and let your carries hit them whilst they can not hit your allies. Selecting the right runes and building the right items will help you a lot. In your runes, you can go more supportive with Guardian as keystone and Font of Life. For your build, you should consider Locket of the Iron Solari, Knight’s Vow and Redemption to fully support your backline from all damage.

Madlife Thresh

Lastly, if you have mastered Thresh and want to do more or be more stylish, you can always look for something called “a Madlife”. Predicting someone’s movement and throwing your hook where you think the enemy will be one second later by using their flash or any other form of dash. A good thing to do is to track the enemy’s flash cooldown to not look like a complete idiot when whiffing your hook when the enemy Ashe has no flash available.

Overall, playing Thresh can be a real difficult task as a lot of your teammates depend on your roams and positioning in teamfights. But in the end, Thresh is a very satisfying champion to play and master and always comes in handy. After banning Morgana, your worst nightmares are over, and you can safely blindpick him in the botlane as well. Of course, some matchups are more difficult than others but if you know what you are doing you should be fine.

Also read:

• League of Legends: How to play Gwen
• The 5 best marksmen to climb in season 11 soloqueue

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Image credit: Riot Games