Thresh Support Guide and Counters

Thresh was released the 23rd of January 2013. It’s a ranged champion that is mostly played in support role. This champion is the best support for climbing in Solo Queue because of his aggressive playstyle and the ability to carry a teamfight, or often the whole game by just hooking the right enemy champion. However as it is easy to understand and play Thresh, playing it perfectly and carrying your games even more efficiently requires time and understanding him completely. In this guide we will explain exactly how to make the most out of your game as Thresh support, and fully explain your abilities, how to act in different matchups and much more !

On level 1 you should first pick E, unless your team is going for an invade ( pick Q then ). When you hit level 2 pick your Q and start instantly looking for an opportunity to hook in hope of a kill. At level 3 pick your lantern to have a way to escape for your Carry, and during the rest of the game follow this order :

• R – Your biggest priority is leveling up your Ultimate so just pick it whenever you can.
• E – You will want to max your Flay as long as the laning phase didn’t end, because the damage gives you much more then Cooldown on your Q there.
• Q – When you see that your team is starting to group up start leveling up your Q ability because you will be constantly trying to hook enemies in mid – late game to give your team an opportunity to secure a Dragon, Tower or a Baron.
• W – Leave your W as last, because it gives you the least out of all the abilities.

Dead targets drop souls, when collected they give you Armor and Ability Power. Make sure to gather as many as possible since your armor doesn’t scale with level, so if you don’t collect enough you will have less armor than others in the late game. The souls can be picked up with your lantern, but do it only if you have to, since your teammates might need the escape from your W. Keep in mind that epic monsters ( Dragon / Baron Nashor ) drop two souls instead of one.

It is a very important spell, since you can use it in almost any situation. It can be your way to both engage and disengage, an escape tool or simply a grab. Have in mind that it has a delay, so rather than aiming at the target itself, try to predict where he will move. The cast time can be reduced by using your E right after you use your grab. If you have a way to firstly use Flay, it will make hitting your Q much easier because of the slow it provides. The ability displaces champions, so if you have a Yasuo in your team, he will be able to cast his ultimate.

Same as your Q, this ability can be utilized in many different ways. It can be used as an escape for your teammates, it gives you vision so you can check bushes without having to go in yourself or use your trinket, or use it offensively by pulling towards you the Jungler for a Gank or your ADC when you want to trade or kill in the lane. It can be also used for enemies behind walls, and some champion abilities like Lee Sin’s Safeguard, Jax’s Leap Strike or Katarina’s Shunpo, and your allies can teleport to it. The spell is also considered terrain so it can in some cases block an enemy. Although it also grants a shield to the allies your limited Mana pool makes it rarely worth to use it to shield your carry in trades, it’s better to save it in case of other uses.

It can be used both defensively and offensively, one way to pull an enemy towards your team and slow them, or get someone away from your team. Since it’s a knockback it interrupts casting, it can be also used to stop enemy jumps ( like Tristana’s W or Kha Zix’s E ), or knock away dashing enemies ( like Leona’s E, Alistar’s W, Pyke’s E, or Lee Sin’s Q ). Since it deals a good amount of damage too, it can be used to poke, or it can be used before your hook to make it easier to hit.

This ability puts a Pentagon-like box around you that slows and damages enemy champions if they pass through. You always want to position it in a way so that enemies going towards you or your carries will have to pass through multiple walls. This ability is especially powerful in the jungle, where there is not much space for your foes to avoid it. You can try Flaying enemies into the walls to make their escape even harder, or hook them to disengage. It might not be a bad idea to place the box around your carry, making him more likely to survive.

Along almost all the champions having Flash, Thresh is not an exception, it an be used in many ways, such as flashing into an enemy to Flay them, or getting closer to them and using your Hook. It’s also useful when you and your ally have to flash a wall to escape, you can be the only one to flash and throw your teammate your W.

Should be used in most of the situations, especially if you are against a healer support. It can be easier to ensure a kill if you lower both the Heal summoner spell for the enemy ADC and healing from his support. Same about playing against champions like Fiora or Vladimir, where in the late game you will aim to ignite them so they don’t self-heal a lot making them easy to kill.

Can be used when you are playing against assassins or early lane bullies. Also when there is a lot of champions that will be aiming to take your ADC out of a Teamfight, because this summoner spell lets you peel for him or your Midlaner more effectively.

Your peel from the Dark Passage is very helpful due to his lack of mobility, and at the same time you will be able to chain CC your enemies easily by him using his W after you land a hook ( watch out to not Flay them out of it ).

You can always know that if you land a hook on your enemy you will have enough damage to get a kill with him. You can also surprise enemies by Draven pushing minions aside with his E making a way for you to hook the enemy who is hiding behind minions.

Her W lets you chain CC enemies very easily because she can put her trap after you land a hook which lets you put your R or Flay the target right after the trap. You can also hook someone to prevent from blocking her Ultimate.

Your big amount of CC makes it easier for her to kite enemies around, while her Ultimate let’s you get into the enemy without having to flash / hook first.

He can deal a lot of damage if your engage is timed well. You should let him poke with his ranged weapon, and then try to kill when he has his red weapon for him to be able to deal the most damage and secure a kill. He also has a root which makes it easy to land a hook or chain CC the target.

Both your E and Q are a displacement, so whatever you hit allows him to use his Ultimate, also has a good potential in bursting down enemies quickly which is also what you are aiming to do.

You will have to play a bit more passively against him, since his shield can deny your hook, so you should try to rather go Guardian and max your Flay first and aim to walk up to the enemy AD Carry while he is trying to last hit a minion and Flay + Auto Attack him for poke. Watch out to not go in range of his Q because you can get yourself killed easily.

You should always have you lantern prepared for your ally in case of her jumping in or trying to use her R, and even if she does go in with her E if you react fast enough you can Flay her away for her to not be able reach and stun your carry. You can take advantage of the fact that she is meele and try to poke her as much as possible.

Rather than bursting him down you should try poking him in the lane, since he is going to use his E. You also shouldn’t expect too much from hooking the enemy carry because he can eat them, and going in even if you land a hook is usually not a good idea.

Here you especially have to keep in mind to not stand next to your ally, because you will both get knocked up, instead try to whether flay his W when he tries to do his combo, or have your W prepared in case. Also his big amount of CC and damage reduction from his Ultimate makes it almost impossible to dive him.

In this matchup try to stand behind minions so he won’t be able to hook, and aim to hook only the ADC especially when he is not close to him. If he is trying to engage on your teammate throw him a lantern before he gets close, especially after level 6, because he will be able to CC and burst him down quickly.

Avoid hooking her if you know she has her Spell Shield, try instead to hook after she used it or flay her first. If she has a squishy support you can always try to hook him instead. Even if she doesn’t have her E, during her Ultimate you should try Flaying her first rather than hooking because she has a good chance of dodging it.

At the very start you will aim to bully your foes on the lane, you can poke them with a flay / Auto Attack combo. When you see them using their escape / CC abilities you can start searching for a way to hook or flash + flay one of them. It will make it even easier to kill if you and your ADC chain CC the target so that he can’t escape or he will have to use flash in order to survive. You should help out your jungler to secure the dragon by warding it and keeping an eye out on enemy Botlane going into the river. Once you get your Boots of Mobility you can start roaming Midlane or help your jungler with an invade. Make sure to also put Control Wards and totems on the way for some vision. Make sure to however not leave your carry alone for a longer time since your opponents can take advantage of that and push to get tower plating or kill him.

Once the Laning phase is over you want to keep warding around the Dragon and Baron / Herald Pit, River and Enemy jungler. Pay attention to spots behind walls because this is a great way to surprise a passing enemy with a hook and taking out carries or a jungler and this way secure a Dragon, Nashor or a Tower. In Teamfights you will aim to CC the important targets and peel for you ADC and midlaner. In some Teamcomps however you will have to be the frontline and tank for the team ( mostly in situations when the toplaner and jungler pick AP champions or assassins ). Make sure to check the timers for the epic monsters from time to time to go there before they spawn to ward the places around and sweep enemy wards.

I hope the article helped you understand this champion better and that it will help you in climbing the ranked ladder. If you want to learn more about how to get better, see our other guides about League of Legends or start practicing Thresh today with our Ranked-ready Accounts.