Thresh’s stated aim is to “harvest the souls of Valoran’s greatest champions to fuel the armies of the Shadow Isles”. No, come back! He also offers an intensely cooperative way to play LoL.
Read on for more on that.
“Thresh is a supportive champion, a total badass male champion in fact, who brings exceptional crowd control to his team and a very unique form of utility to his allies,” explainsRiot associate game designer Bradford Wenban. “If chained properly, he can lock down a single opponent for a delightfully wicked amount of time or trap an entire team of enemies within his cage.”
The cage is Thresh’s ultimate,which flanks the championwith a set of five defensive walls. Enemies can destroy the wallsby walking through them, butare slowed and take huge damage in the process.
So that’s good. ButThresh’s signature ability is his Lantern. Thrown to a specific point, the Lantern can be right clicked by anally to be‘dashed’ towards Thresh. As such, he’s ideally-placed to offer last-minute lifelines to other champions.
“Thresh’s strength is the ability to displace his enemies and provide burst mobility to his allies,” continues Wenban. “He has some clear weaknesses: relatively low mobility, skillshot reliance, and a dependence on his team to capitalize on the moments of power he creates.”
Thresh’s Q is a skillshot grab that stuns and pulls an enemy a fixed distance toward him. He can reactivate it to pull himself towards the enemy. His E is a small directional knock that allows Thresh toeitherpushenemies in a line away, pull enemies in a line toward him, or “anything in between”.
Enemies that die in Thresh’s vicinity, meanwhile,have a chance to drop souls. The bigger the enemy, the more likely the drop. “Thresh gains no mitigation per level,” says Wenban. “He can only access that through collecting souls to fuel his rise to power.”
“Beyond support, Thresh can function top lane and jungle,” he continues. “His kit naturally favors being in an environment in which you can interact with your allies, so as a top laner he is most effective at harassing to soften his opponents and then supporting some pretty brutal ganks. As a jungler, he brings enough CC and allied mobility to burn down all but the tankiest opponents (just don’t expect a fast jungle clear).”
Here’s Reign of Gaming with a characteristically useful overview:
Thresh is recommended for players wanting a “high intensity experience”. Is that you?