Hey! There’s somebody I’d like you to meet. This is Thresh. He works as a Chain Warden. He rips the souls loose of his victims, trapping them in his sickly green lantern and leaving hollow corpses in his wake. Haha! Imagine that! His head looks like a gnarled tree branch and moves entirely independently of his torso, but I’m sure you two’ll have loads in common. I’ll be over by the buffet table if you need me.
We took a look at Thresh when he was first revealed a couple of weeks ago, and found his crowd control and trapping abilities to be the perfect choice for the co-operatively minded. Read on for the official rundown of his skills, as well as some expert advice from his creators.
Damnation (Passive): When Thresh stalks the Fields of Justice, minions, monsters and opposing champions occasionally manifest their essence as souls after they die. Gather the souls of fallen foes to power up Thresh’s Armor and Ability Power. Thresh gains no Armor per level normally.
Death Sentence:
- (Passive): Thresh winds up his attacks, dealing more damage the longer he waits between strikes.
- (Active): Thresh throws his scythe forward, dragging the first enemy struck a fixed distance toward him. Activate Death Sentence again to hurtle towards the bound unit.
Dark Passage: Thresh hurls his lantern towards a target location. Nearby allies gain a shield while inside the lantern’s area of effect. Teammates who click the lantern will be pulled to Thresh.
Flay: Thresh sweeps his chain, knocking all enemies in the direction of the blow.
The Box: Thresh creates a prison of walls around him that slow and damage enemies that cross through.
At his best, Thresh can control fights by displacing enemies and repositioning allies. Reaching that point, however, will require exemplary team cooperation.
During laning, Thresh can use the range of his basic attack to terrorize opposing champions with his Death Sentence passive.
“He shields his lane partner with Dark Passage and – with well-executed positioning – offers them the unique benefit of the lantern’s escape potential,” says Riot’s NeeksNaman. “Flay’s versatility lets Thresh push enemies into range for further harassment or swat them away to protect an ally.”
In the mid game, Thresh is able to use his abilities in combination, to astonishing effect.
“An opportune lantern can bring a teammate along for the ride when Thresh hooks an enemy with Death Sentence,” explains NeeksNaman. “Flay can chain into a mid-range Death Sentence to knock an opponent up and grab them out of the air.
“Thresh can put enemies in an even scarier situation by isolating them in The Box or can cast The Box and then drag or knock enemies into it to trigger the damage and massive slow from breaking its spectral walls.”
Thresh can transform from key support to damage-soaking tank in the late game thanks to Damnation. A dedicated soul harvester can dive into the fray of team fights, muddling enemy positioning with Flay and Death Sentence and using The Box to inflict burst damage.
“Optimize Thresh by collecting souls and protecting your allies before wreaking havoc in team fights,” advises NeeksNaman. “Your opponents better listen carefully for the scraping sound of his encroaching chain, or it may be the last sound they hear!”
For more of Thresh’s nightmarish lore, check out Riot’s blog post. Are you contemplating a career switch to ‘soul devourer’?