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Thresh Build Guide by gabmed

Tank Chaining Kills - Aggressive Support Tank (Season 5 Update)

Tank Chaining Kills - Aggressive Support Tank (Season 5 Update)

Updated on January 16, 2015
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League of Legends Build Guide Author gabmed Build Guide By gabmed 419 42 5,434,774 Views 296 Comments
419 42 5,434,774 Views 296 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author gabmed Thresh Build Guide By gabmed Updated on January 16, 2015
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Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Exhaust

Exhaust

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction (WARNING!)

~~WARNING!~~

I've only updated the cheat sheet so far. The Mastery and Items session are all prone to changing.

~~WARNING!~~

Welcome to my Agressive Tank Support Thresh guide! As the name suggests, this guide's masteries, runeset, skill order and build are geared towards making Thresh not only a good support, but, ESPECIALLY, a good tank.

This is my first guide on MOBAfire (And second overall!), so any constructive criticism will be welcomed!

Have fun, and enjoy!

~Gab.

(Update) Disclaimer: Some people have been neg-voting me for reasons I can't understand, so I have to put this here: If you're clicking a guide that has Aggressive, Tank, Support and IN-DEPTH in the title, you shouldn't be surprised to see a guide in which you don't play passive, you focus on tankiness before support, and support before damage, and, especially, you shouldn't be surprised this guide is loquacious.

Garrulous, verbose, efusive. How about "chatty"?
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Pros / Cons

Pros


+ Very hard CC
+ Great at securing First Bloods on bottom lane
+ Flay's passive (alongside its AD-to-magic-damage ratio) and his massive range makes him one of the most "hybrid" champions of the League (especially if leveled up first), and Damnation makes him one of the most late bloomers too.
+ Is both a great life saver as he is a great initiator
+GUIDE Extremely tanky early game, able to easily take harass and/or be focused while your ADC gets many kills. And, most importantly, negates the early handicap that the lack of additive passive armor gives Thresh.
+GUIDE Your Dark Passage, while commonly used only for the utility, will now be ideally used for its shield, literally doubling its usefulness and making sure your lane is gank and damage-proof.
Cons


- Dark Passage's shield is pretty much useless if not focused first. (To the point where a 100 AP Nida's trap can pass through it)
- Extremely mana hungry, a trait Thresh shares with many other tanks, unless you play a more passive Thresh.
- Starts with little to no armor and very squishy thanks to Damnation, unless starting out tanky (That's why you're reading this, most likely).
- The Box is easily flashed over / tanked through.
-GUIDE You might suffer a bit with Marksmen that prefer a more passive support.
-GUIDE You'll have to suffer through some pony references here and there. No biggie.
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Masteries


*NOT SOON AT ALL SORRY *****
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Runes

  • Greater Quintessence of Health is back on the main spot, baby! With the new Pre-Season 4 update, gold is now the least of your problems as a support! As such, you can afford to ditch the 3 Greater Quintessence of Gold for something a bit more... defensive. The benefit should be plainly obvious: Lets you take more punishment, and 75HP in the beggining is quite a lot important!
  • 9 Greater Mark of Armor and 9 Greater Seal of Armor to help mitigate Damnation's "curse", as well as help you overall at the lane. It might just be the secret for how tanky you get when following this build step-by-step. If you want another viable offensive option for marks, get 9 Greater Mark of Attack Damage to benefit from Flay's passive much more early game, giving you some harassment power.
  • 9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist generally to tank those ap carries mid-late game. The reason it's scaling is because, usually (I SAID USUALLY, Kassadin AND LeBlanc!), ap carries don't deal that much damage early on. Therefore, as they get stronger, so does your MR.
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Summoner Spells


It'll help you kill many times, and usually it negates (If combining the slow of Flay) the enemy's flash, as you and your ad carry can usually catch up to him even after he flashed. It also helps control teamfights (Throwing at the most dangerous AD champion) and chases. It's just overall a perfect spell for an agressive support.


The reason Flash works so well with Thresh is because, as any Blitzcrank or Amumu, or even Lee Sin player will attest, a well-timed and well-aimed Flash, followed by their respective gap-closer ( Death Sentence, on our case) is daring, unexpected and, therefore, when mastered, easy to land. It can make you get kills you usually wouldn't, and, after all of that, it's also a great excape option if used after The Box and Flay in a sticky situation.


Some AD carries might prefer taking exhaust themselves, and, because two exhausts are often quite disastrous (Usually, they end up both being wasted at the same time and at the same target, specially on laning phase), I'd suggest you pick up Heal instead. Its benefits are pretty obvious, and it makes a great life saver if added with your shield. A quick well-timed Heal > Dark Passage combo can almost literally turn the flow of a battle to your favour. If you do not like using/having Exhaust, then Heal is the perfect back-up plan.
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Skill Explanation (Level Order, Usage and Tips)

*WARNING INNACURATE WITH THE NEWEST SEASON WILL UPDATE WARNING*

Damnation (Passive) - Thresh uses an interestingly new mechanic called "souls". Every champion or big creep(Big wolf, big wraith, Siege minion, etc.) will drop a soul, which increases Thresh's AP and Armor by 0.75, while small minions has a 1/5th chance of dropping them. By the soul count of 100, which is generally gotten, in an average support game, by the 25 minutes mark, you will have an aditional 75 armor and AP. For those that knew Thresh's passive diminished over time, it means that he gets the same ammount of armor and AP in the same ammount of time. The only difference is that it starts off slow, then picks up the pace up to and BEYOND the 100 soul count, meaning the recent changes to Thresh's passive was, as a matter of fact, a buff for our late game, and a small nerf for our early game. However, this passive makes it so that Thresh does NOT get armor per level: It makes him vulnerable if he doesn't collect his souls, even more so if not focusing tankyness, and, to top it off, it makes you an early-game "easy" target if not sporting tank masteries/runes. It takes about 75 to 100 souls to reach the passive armor level of other level 18 champions (Which is 60 to 90, if added with Thresh's passive armor without masteries or runes). Thresh NEEDS to gather souls actively in order to catch up to champions, and is, therefore, a very important part of him.

Fun fact: You'd need about 160 souls to reach Taric with a fully upgraded Shatter, assuming neither of you have masteries, runes or items. Good luck.



Death Sentence (Q)- The guide namer, after all. Death Sentence is a small-hitbox (Meaning it's width is small, meaning it's hard to land) skillshot. After a 1 second delay, Thresh throws his Kusarigama and drags the first enemy (Minion or champion) it hits. When he hits a target, Thresh stuns it for 1.5 second, and pulls them towards him twice (Once initially and once after 1 second). While he's pulling a target, Thresh cannot auto attack, however, he CAN move, use abilities and even gains a fifth "ability", called Death Leap, while he's leashing someone: Pressing Q again will make him dash forward to the person caught in the chain, ending the stun but making Thresh's other skills easier to land, since he'll be right besides the person.

The wind-up comes from the "terror" development kit Thresh comes with. When he winds up the chain, your enemy will start being fearful, and will try to avoid it. Since it doesn't exactly show where Thresh will throw the chain (He simply faces the general position), it's even harder for the ENEMY to predict Thresh's throw. This little fearful mind-game is Riot's primary development idea for Thresh.

Unlike Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab and Nautilus' Dredge Line, however, the width of the skillshot is generally smaller, it usually deals less damage than those skills and has a longer cooldown than Naut's (Except if Naut hits a wall with that, in which case the cooldown is halved). And just like those skills, you will have to play a lot as the Chain Warden to master how it works. You can't expect to hit every Blitz grab on your first game, as you can't expect a first-time Thresh to hit an even harder skillshot reliably.

*Tips and Tricks
  • Just like the aforementioned skills, throwing Death Sentence ahead of your target is a more likely way to hit it. It's still a hard skillshot, so don't fret if you can't hit some. Just keep practising!
  • If a target is close, you can chain him/her to stun them for those 1.5 seconds, but if you're defending an ally or yourself by doing that, don't forget to Flay them away right after. Flay should knock them up farther than they have travelled with Death Sentence, if Flay hits on its tip.
  • Always remember to use Death Leap (Press Q again) and fly to your target to end the chain quickly if you need to auto attack him.
  • A good way to make the best of your skills and help teammates kill would be to wait till Thresh pulls the target twice, then flying towards them and quickly flaying them back, from which you can connect with a quick ult. If the Flay is hit perfectly, they will land on the walls of The Box, bursting them and giving them a sweet slow. This is the general Thresh combo, and is used many times to initiate a teamfight.
  • If you pull a target that is on the other side of an in-game terrain, they will not be pulled across it. Instead, they will be pulled twice into the wall, as if strangling them (Sadly, no extra damage is done), then they're free to go from the original position / from their side of the wall. If you believe you can get the kill with or without your friends, it is encouraged to Death Leap and join them on the other side. Amumu would be proud of you.
  • As of 3.11, Death Leap cannot be cast anymore if the target was hit by Death Sentence after cleansing it or similar. Considering that, before this patch, this made Thresh very unfair against people he shouldn't be as much such as Sivir, Nocturne and Morgana, I think this is a very reasonable change. It just goes here as a general rule of thumb now: Don't try grabbing people with spell shields either way, it doesn't work like that anymore.


Dark Passage (W) - Thresh throws a lantern that has no direct offensive purposes: It gives whoever touches it a shield, and, furthermore, whoever clicks it will fly right back (along with the lantern itself) to Thresh. It can be crucial for a teammate's escape, by throwing the lantern back at him or over a wall and making him cross huge gaps of space in a matter of basically one second, but it can also be used offensively: One can throw down the lantern by the bush when the jungler is in it, and hit Death Sentence right after. Thresh flies to the person with Q, the jungler right clicks the lantern and easily lands right besides the target. However, this requires huge ammount of teamwork, and usually teammates don't really know how Dark Passage even works... Which is a shame, because it is, literally, the only spell in the game that alters allied position as a main feature.

*Tips and Tricks
  • This is important: DARK PASSAGE CAN BE USED TO GATHER SOULS FROM AFAR.. This CANNOT be stressed enough. You do NOT need to put yourself in harm's way to gather souls, they can be gathered by a simple lantern toss. Always remember that when you know the harass you'd take for getting the far away souls isn't worth it! Also, this proves as a very clever counter-counter to Thresh, even though it uses a bit of his mana.
  • The lantern, as described above, can be used when initiating, but most of the times it WILL be used defensively. Throw the lantern to help your teammates out of some sticky jam they got themselves with, or even throw it down at dragon so that the person getting it can quickly come back. (Better yet, throw the lantern on the ground, hook yourself to Baron/Dragon, and do a very stylish Baron/Dragon teamfight initiate!... that is, if your other tanky teammate follows in.)
  • After the lantern's been reeled in, the shield can STILL be applied to any teammates Thresh faces in a short radius, as is shown by the light below the lantern in Thresh's... hand.
  • And this is also important: DARK PASSAGE GRANTS VISION FROM THE FOG OF WAR. And a big one, too! You can throw Dark Passage at the river for the lantern to act out as a temporary ward. I mean, Celestia, what can this lantern NOT do? It wards, it shields, it gives allies an escape, it makes soul collecting easy, it has a big range... And people still tell me levelling it up for the lesser cooldown is insane!
  • Do you still doubt Dark Passage's usefulness? Lee Sin's Safeguard, Katarina's Shunpo and Jax's Leap Strike can target allied lanterns, and a friendly champion can Teleport on it. I didn't compare it to a temporary ward for nothing!! (Thanks to AndyChanglee for reminding me of this~)

Flay (E) - The passive, formerly associated with Q, was rellocated to E. Coming from the big guys themselves, the explanation is that it makes Thresh's kit more obvious: E for damage, Q for control and W for utility.

Passive - Thresh's auto attacks deal bonus magical damage, and this bonus damage is directly affected by three factors: Souls gathered (Something you should be actively aware of for other reasons, so you naturally get strong in this factor, regardless of how you play), Attack Damage and the time between auto attacks. However, knowing that Thresh has the LOWEST base AD of the entire game (Yes, of all of League of Legends, Thresh has the lowest base AD at level 18 with an outstanding 85 AD, surpassing the former champion, Orianna, who had about 89. Hurray.), and the fact he deals mostly magical damage (And the lack of utility AD items for supports) makes him very sadly weak in this area. This is what makes AD Threshes a possibility, and in some cases even a reality. Lastly, the time between attacks should be considered a faster Ashe passive. After auto attacking, in about 1 second Thresh gains a "buff", which is a blue icon for Death Sentence. It means that the skill is on it's minimum "charge" to deal the added damage. If Thresh refrains from attacking, he'll get a green, yellow, and lastly, 10 seconds after his last autoattack, he gains the red "buff", which means his passive is fully charged.

*Tips and Tricks
  • When reaching the "red state" of Death Sentence, you should always try to auto-attack the carry or the support. Your range is good enough for you to do that, and you are tanky enough (If following this guide) to not suffer enough damage. If it's extremely not worth it, however (More than usual harass as you try doing that), you might want to refrain from trying so.
  • Although it might seem like this makes Attack Speed a no-no on Thresh, it actually heightens his DPS. However, it's unadvisable to do that as a support.

Active - Flay is a hard CC with 9 seconds of cooldown that knocks back or forward opponents, depending on their position around Thresh and where the player clicks. IF you click backwards, thresh will pull anyone in a line in front and back of him towards the cursor, and same thing if you click forwards. It means that Flay can both be used defensively (By knocking people away from you or your carry) or offensively (towards you and your carry). To add insult to injury, champions that get flayed suffer a 40% slow at max level. The low cooldown of this baby makes Thresh a very dangerous enemy against channeling champions (To name a few: Katarina; Nunu & Willump; Fiddlesticks.)

*Tips and Tricks
  • Someone that is flayed to you from the tip (or even before it) can be an easy target for an insta-box, since they will most likely land right where one of the walls would spawn. This is a rather advanced technique, however, since it requires timing and precision on The Box's range.
  • Sometimes, it's easier to just flay someone than it is to grab them or auto attack them. Flay's range is, however, exactly what it is. There is no slightly added range (As it is with Blitz's grab or Lee Sin's Sonic Wave), so be careful of that.
  • If someone who has a dash ( Sejuani, Vi, Lee Sin, Corki, etc.) is flayed as they are charging, it completely nullfies the charge. And I'm not joking: I managed to literally stop a Shen dead on track as he was using Shadow Dash away from me. It was both hilarious and awesome!
  • Apparently, you can pull people through walls! Well, technically, an elevation, but still: If Flay is used from mid's river bush on an enemy that is standing on that elevated ground, they are pulled onto the river! Tested and proved, but I'm still not sure if the opposite is true (Pulling people from the river bush to the elevated area).


The Box (R) - Your ultimate spell, The Box, when cast, creates a pentagon of walls around Thresh. Whatever enemy that goes through the first wall gets a very high burst (About 500 + 100% AP) and the biggest slow of ALL of the League... as a matter of fact, the max value of slow! (Which caps at 75%, even though the tooltip says it's a 99% slow.) After someone breaks through the first wall, all enemies can pass freely through the area, and all other walls will deal half the damage, half the AP ratio and half the slow duration. (Still a 99% slow for every wall]). The Box can be used both offensively, after casting Death Leap, or defensively, by ulting when you're being chased. This way, the chaser will be slowed to the max and, without any gap closer, they won't be able to reach you or who you were trying to protect.

*Tips and Tricks
  • The range around Thresh in which the walls activate are very little. This makes it easy to miss, and it is most likely the hardest of his spells to land. Even when you jump to someone and ult, they can still get away easily with a flash of some sort.
  • The Box can be used as an effective trolling method: When the other team's bruiser tries to jump on your ADC (Or, in general, a teamfight breaks out), ult right on top of him/her. The bruiser will be slowed too hard to be able to deal significant damage to the carry while you stop him with Flay and Death Sentence, and even if he DOES reach the carry, Dark Passage will make your carry take quite a beating before the bruiser reaches his health bar. By that time, if the carry's any good, he should be moving over to the next target, because the bruiser died some time ago.



When I first played Shen, I noticed two things in the way enemies treated me. One is that they couldn't kill me. Two is that they ignored me. The second was a very unfortunate result of my lack of damage: All tank, no damage. They could easily ignore me and I couldn't do a thing about it. The very next match, I tried giving Shen quite a lot of AD. That's when I started being feared by the enemy, started helping my teammates more by having damage than just being "immortal". My time playing with Shen also made me realize that both Feint and Vorpal Blade were viable levelling up first in different situations, depending of my matchup and how close/far I wanted it to be from me.

In a way, this is what causes us to have not one, but two different skill orders, depending on what type of Thresh you want to play or what type of carry you're playing with. It's important to note, however, that preference has a very big impact as well on the levelling orders below. I will talk about the scenarios where they can be better applied, but in the end it's up to you which you'd rather level up first, and any path you take will still benefit your carry.
Sustain
Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

While being agressive would surely imply levelling up Flay for the passive, I've noticed thata VERY agressive Thresh benefits almost just as much from a fully-levelled lantern. He can throw it more often, save more often, grab souls more often. And to be honest, Dark Passage actually becomes a bit useless if not for its utility if not levelled up first, or rushingly second. It'll also help those people that prefer a more passive support, or would rather farm than kill. After levelling up lantern, however, I do encourage to level up Flay for the same purpose I built AD items on Shen: for enemies to aknowledge you acutally DO damage, even if it's not astronomic. It should help you more than upgrading Death Sentence, which I encourage to do so last, just like [blitzcrank]]s and Nautili usually level up their gap closers last.

Harass
Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Different carries, different players, different Threshes. Sometimes, the only reason you start to lose the lane is simply because you took more harass, while you offered less. Carries like Vayne or pre-6 Corki, whose harass options are few and limited, or carries that aren't really used to that role may refrain from using skills to hurt your oponents, and if the enemy starts doing exactly that to you, it might just be a slow battle you're losing for all we know. That's where you come in. Levelling up Flay will give you all the harass you need, even though the shield from Dark Passage will be for zilch. Again, level up Death Sentence lastly, since the shield is still very much important.
However, the order of the first spells should always be Death Sentence > Flay > Dark Passage, since it'll help you get that sweet first blood, and hell, even help your carry better, as DP isn't as useful until level 3.

As usual, get your ultimate, The Box, whenever possible (Levels 6, 11 and 16).
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Item Build (Explanation and Alternate Paths)

*WARNING INNACURATE WITH THE NEWEST SEASON WILL UPDATE WARNING*

Note: I will cover most of the possilbe paths a Thresh can take as a tanky support, but just because I don't put OR explain stealyh ward / Health Potion / Mana Potion in one of those builds, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULDN'T BUY THEM IF YOU TRULY NEED THEM. A Sightstone is GOOD, but sometimes it's a more worthy investment to buy wards as well as / before Ruby Sightstone, while a healthy ammount of pots will usually be enough to save your life and sustain you in lane.

Starting Items



Relic Shield will build into targon's brace later on, and, in laning phase, will give you some much-needed health for the damage you might take while gathering souls. Am I missing something about this item? ... Oh, yeah, DOI, if you have stacks of its passive and you last hit a creep while besides an ally, you heal that ally and you give him/her the creep's gold value + 10! While retaining the original value! Even though only ranged champions can activate the executing passive, you can still take advantage of this magnificent item by using Flay's passive to help you last-hit!

The Stealth Ward is an early gank prevention. There's a chance the enemy might attempt an early gank, or a gank as soon as he finishes up with the red buff, and, even though you can deal with him easily without ward, it's always best to avoid... unpleasant surprises. Put it at around the 3 minute mark on the river bush, and it should give you two all the comfort you need ward-wise until Sightstone is bought, specially if your carry actually DOES ward with you. And always remember: If you're scared something might happen and you don't have any way of placing a ward, Dark Passage acts as a temporary ward!


First and Second returns


targon's brace

Nothing much to it. Buying Sightstone and its upgrade is quite obvious: Warding. And heatlh, to a certain extent. If, by your second return, you canNOT afford a sighstone yet, buy a simple Stealth Ward or two. By the next time you return, it's almost garanteed to have the money. Don't forget to use it once you have it!

Targon's brace should be your next order of business.


Rush the Core Items

Face of the mountain

This is the most basic, standard item set for a melee support bot.


And for a good f*cking reason.



Not only can you take even more harass with Mercury's Treads (Even if you end up ditching some of the cooldown Ionian Boots of Lucidity would give you), but you can get arguably the best teamfight support item in the game. By rushing Locket of the Iron Solari, you almost DOUBLE (I'm not joking - The standard unscaling MR for non-tanks is 30. + 20 of the aura and they get 50 MR.) your allies's MR, you get some sweet health, armor, shared health regen, and 10% CDR to top it down, and don't even get me started on the active.(DOUBLE SHIELD FTW - 600+ DAMAGE BLOCKED MOF*CKA!) Seriously, there is no greater item to do as a non-DPS tank than this item. Hell, even DPS bruisers sometimes do it! It's that good, and I wouldn't play a single game with a tank where I wouldn't buy this item. Unless maybe there were 5 AD carries. But even then I'd probably end up doing it.

...moving on.

Optional Fourth Item


Talisman of Ascension
Zeke's herald

This one is less situational and MUCH more based on preference. zeke's herald is advisable when there's a lot of ADs, who'll benefit from the life steal and the CD (which some people might think it's worth getting it DESPITE their team's primary damage) as Will of the Ancients is when there's a lot of APs, as they'll benefit from the spell vamp and the aditional AP (Which some people, again, thinks it'd be best to do for the damage than the others listed here.)

Talisman of Ascension (Formerly Shurelya's Reverie) has an amazing active, ideal for chasing or fleeing, but not suitable for teamfights, besides giving him AMAZING passive regen and a sweet combination of heatlh and cooldown reduction. A lot of Thresh players would say this is the ideal item for him. Personally, I usually don't get this item simply because you cannot have both the Talisman and Face of the Mountain at the same time. You'd have to give up on one to have the other. So, make your choice. Shield, or speed? Defense or Utility? MAKE. YOUR. CHOOOOOICE!

Then there's Mikael's Blessing, a literal support-oriented Quicksilver Sash. Not only does it give you AMAZING mana regen with its unique passive, its active kind of seals the deal: It takes any and every crowd control effect off an allied champion, be it you or your carry. Let me put it in very simple terms. Other team has Amumu? Warwick, Lissandra, Nami, basically anyone with a hardcore CC that can render your carry useless for long periods of time? Buy that. Buy that now. Well, not now, but.... oh, you get the idea!

But in the end, really, you can build any of the four items and it probably will still work properly. They all have a very nice benefit for Thresh and/or his allies, so really, it's a matter of preference just as much, if not more, than a matter of situation. Heck, you might even build a combination of them, or none at all (And build more than two of the items listed below), and it'd still probably work. As I said, it's very dependant on your preference, and how well you use this item / how much you like it / how much your team needs it!

Choose for Tank or Damage


Abyssal Spectre

Again, those are a situational build. If you're the ONLY initiator on the team (And maybe only tank, because, if you notice, ALL tanks are, some way or another, initiators.), you might want to invest into being a completely unkillable machine... It mostly depends on the enemy's team composition (Wheather it's more reliant on autoattacks and Attack Damage or Magic Damage and skills, or Autoattacks and Magic Damage -- You get the idea!)

With most balanced team comps, your objective will be achieved with Randuin's Omen, with its outstanding passive + active and overall health and armor bulkiness, Abyssal Spectre and Liandry's Torment, which I'll explain below. In the case of four or more enemies focused on autoattacks and/or Attack Damage, it might be a good idea to replace Liandry's and/or Abyssal with either Sunfire Aegis, whose passive synergizes perfectly with Abyssal Spectre as it burns whoever's near you by 60 Magic Damage per second, or Frozen Heart, that gives anything and everything a tank would ever want, from 90 armor to 400 mana to 20% cooldown reduction and an aura of attack speed loss for the enemies. In the case of four or more champions who primarily deal Magic Damage and/or Spell-Based damage, it's probably best to replace Liandry's and/or Randuin's with Banshee's Veil, and then Warmog's Armor. Banshee's Veil not only gives you MR, Health and Mana (Loads of both!), it also has an unique passive that synergizes amazingly with Warmog's Armor, since it gives you a LOT of health regen and a free get-out-of-a-Blitzcrank-grab ticket! Perfect for when you want to survive and heal against CC compositions! If there's more than two tanks on your team, however, you might want to invest more on damage than tankiness.

I used to consider Iceborn Gauntlet to be a wonderful itemization option for late game, and I still believe so... but it offers very little in exhange for its price, even though it does offer good stats for Thresh. That's when I realized how AMAZING Liandry's Torment would be on Thresh. It gives you nice AP, some sweet Magic Penetration (+ Synergy with Abyssal!), added health for your already beefy figure and whenever you deal spell damage, you burn part of their current HP, which DOUBLES against movement impaired targets, IE targets that are slowed, stunned or suppressed. (Now count how many spells you have are offensive and how many impair movement. Ohoho yeah.) Meanwhile, Abyssal works the similar way: It gives you a satisfying quantity of MR for added tankiness, a high AP value and, lastly, an aura that makes carries almost literally take true damage from The Box and Thresh's skills, not to mention any AP champion in your team will deal much more significant damage if you're around their enemies. What more can you ask of a item?

As of August/2013, we have one more slot available in our item composition (In case you don't get a fourth item :P), so it IS possible to get Iceborn Gauntlets, and I advise you to in the extreme case you get fed or your team REALLY needs that extra damage. :3

The Enchantment: Captain would come right after your fourth item is finished. By then, teamfights should be happening, and you should be tanky enough for you not to need to pull enemies to you, but rather, pull YOURSELF to the enemies to initaite a teamfight. And that added velocity to teammates coming towards is perfect for any kind of initiator! And better yet for getting out of a sticky situation, since it can be used in conjunction with the lantern for a great "trololo" moment where your friend is so fast not even Flash > Leap > Void Assault > Void Spike from a fully-evolved Kha'Zix would touch your ally!


Meanwhile, Enchantment: Homeguard will be that extra oomph you need to be able to drop in and drop out of battle as fast as you can, and it's especially useful when your base is in danger (As if the name didn't give it away enough: HOMEGUARD)

.....I don't know why I'm going to say this here and now, but while searching for hexagram colours for this guide, I discovered that #faaaab is actually the hex code for this color.

Seriously. Test it out if you don't believe me.
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Wards and You - Maps, Best Ward Spots and How to Maximize your Vision


You have four main mindsets to have when supporting: You should NOT kill creeps when your AD carry is in lane (unless utilizing Runic Shield); You should ALWAYS protect him, even if it means giving your life away for him (As long as it isn't a wasted effort); You should NEVER steal a kill from your carry purposefully; And, lastly, you should ALWAYS ward the map.

It's no mystery that a well-placed ward can literally be what stands between life and death. But sometimes it's not clear what's the best place to position a ward. This part of the guide might be able to help you with that.

GENERAL WARDING

  • The Red Stars are the crucial ward placement positions: The dragon and baron entrance, along with the tribushes and the little higher grounds between the wraith camps and mid are your most important ward placements.
  • If the enemy jungler is very agressive, or if your team/another lane is starting to lose, you might receive more ganks than usual in bot, and, as a matter of fact, everywhere on the team's map. The Orange Stars denote very good ward placement for these kind of sticky situations.
  • The Yellow Stars are situational warding spots. It's a "Just in case" per se, or maybe even a "gut feeling" type of ward spot. They're mostly for defensive purposes, but can be also used agressively (Ward the bottom/top bushes, for instance, for an offensive, usually helped by your jungler's gank).
  • These Green Stars shouldn't apply normally to you, since they're mostly used to counter-jungle, but you can try to be daring and ward their buffs (Elder Lizard, AKA Red Buff if you're supporting for Purple; Ancient Golem, AKA Blue Buff if you're an agent of the Blue side) if you have an extra ward available. After all, what better kill is there than a kill and a buff for your mid and jungle teammates?

Of COURSE, you won't be able to ward every single star, not even "just" the RED ones if you only count with Ruby Sightstone's help (And no one on your team is helping you ward), so it's all a matter of priority and situation: Keep baron and dragon warded at all times and the enemy team's respective "higher ground". If one of those two get taken, you can take out the ward there and put it somewhere else, preferably depending on wheather your team is winning (Their jungle) or losing (Your jungle).

Maximizing your Vision


You should be focusing on warding THESE spots once you get your Sightstone and/or your Ruby Sightstone. The side bushes, however (A), are very situational. Do NOT ward your side of the bush unless you are pushed into the tower, and do not ward THEIR bush unless you can't see the support / he's in the bush, "camping" in it. If it's another agressive support, such as Leona or Taric, ward that ******* bush before you get a nasty surprise. To which case, please, ward the tip closest to the middle. Warding is all about making sure you can get as many escaping routes as possible (the red arrows are a good way of showing you the routes an enemy can take above, and why these spots are favorable to ward.

OBS.: When warding with your initial ward on the purple team, please take in mind the "danger" of putting it on the tip: You will get less visibility for the usual place the blue junglers come from after getting thier red:

This should give you all the visibility you need to counter a jungler's early gank. Hell, you might even turn it around and kill him!
So remember, kids!

"If the map seems black, do not fear or despair. If you need vision of sorts..."
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In-Depth Gameplay - What do I do with Thresh as the game progresses?

Early Game


*Most Common Definition: The time period in which laning phase is still the priority. It's generally over when two or more of the same team's first towers is gone.

*General time stamp: 0 - 15/20 minutes

*Thresh's Usual Minimum Build Ruby Sightstone; Boots; face of the mountain

The game just started, and it's a bright new day! You walk with your carry to lane, gathering your starting items, and ready to have fun! ...And spoil theirs, of course.

When in lane, don't ward right away, wait for the 3-minute mark and wait until your team is pushed. Having said that, remember what this guide was built for: Tankiness. Being unkillable. And most importantly... ensuring First Blood. The next part of the guide will be several strategies I've employed to get first blood, most of them working. I advise you to skip it if you're interested in what happens if you FAIL to get first blood (As in, something unexpected happens and makes you/your ally BE the first blood) OR you don't want to risk it.


Tell your ally you're going to facecheck, and dive right in from your tip of the bush. If there IS someone there, surprise them with a quick Death Sentence to the face, drag them out, auto attack, and exhaust. If your carry had been hitting this champion (Preferably someone squishy, ADC or support), they probably lost a HELL of a lot of life that way, and probably flashed. But exhaust will keep them at bay and, if your AD carry is good / trusts in his own ability, he'll probably get the FIRST BLOOD!, even with flash. If he does NOT get the kill , don't worry... the carry won't put his face out again. Or, if he does, keep reading.

MINIONS HAVE SPAWNED!

They will probably be getting into lane by now. All matters considered, you CAN try the above by getting them from the bush, but they'll probably wait till the minions are here and stay behind them. So... when's your window of opportunity?

The moment the support wards.

Eventually, the support will go out of the lane to ward the river bush of their respective lane. They're subjecting themselves to a grab, and you should take advantage of it. Get out of the side bush and try walking right into the bush he did / he got near. Three things might happen. A) He'll Flash the **** out of there, B) He'll try going back to lane the same way he came back, to which case he'll be faced with a nice little Death Sentence with his name on it. (Your ADC must focus on the other ADC as he focus you, unless the support you just grabbed is a Soraka or a Sona. In which case, FIRST BLOOD!), or C) He'll go all the way around, making him lose XP and leaving the carry all by himself, even if briefly. If that happens, be sure to zone him out by threatening him with both Death Sentence and Flay's passive.




At the 3 minute mark, be watchful of when your team is advanced (past/besides the river, which should happen because of Thresh's zoning capacity), and ward bot's river bush. What you'll do as a Agressive Tank Support Thresh is very simple:

Support. Tank. And be agressive.

What I mean by being agressive is two of these things: Either try your ******* best to hook people, as in, Make your home in the side bushes, and KEEP TRYING to hook people. Doesn't matter if you fail, doesn't matter if it doesn't kill them, any harasss is good, and you're also stopping them from farming and often you end up stopping them from getting XP. Or, if the carry wants someone (a bit) more passive, or would rather farm than kill, keep discharging Flay's red passive onto their carry or squishy support. That way, you're helping him by harassing them. Of course, always hook if you see a very obvious entrance!

If you manage to hit someone with the hook, perform the Thresh combo: Death Sentence > let it pull twice > tug the chain (AKA Death Leap) > Flay them backwardw and IMMEDIATLY > The Box(Perhaps followed by Dark Passage just so that you can be sure to nullfy any "damage" done to you while performing such tasks). In case you don't have any of those spells, either for not having them yet or for having them on cooldown, feel free to skip the respective step. Initiating without Death Sentence is more risky of wasting your ultimate, but, once mastered, can become a wickedly surprising combo, and even punish them even MORE when they think they're safe, for you'd still have Death Sentence. Using the combo without Flay will make the more likely of simply standing still, or Flashing over the walls, so, while it's still usable, they will MOST LIKELY make your box a wasted effort. And the combo works perfectly without The Box, and is usually how you assist on killing most champions pre-6 or without ult.

Don't waste your Exhaust unless, by the end of your hook, the target is with half health or less. You shouldn't waste it, but you shouldn't miss the opportunity either!

Unless your opponent is a Blitzcrank, you can live on their side of the side bush, as long as the river bush is warded. There are usually three paths the early game might take:

1) Winning the Lane: This is the best result, of course. You fed your ADC: You hit quite a few Death Sentences, and your ADC got quite a lot of kills that way. You'll probably take the tower quickly, and the jungler will probably gank A LOT. Read the section about how to deal with ganks from different junglers below. But besides that, it's pretty much a "surrender @ 20" situation for them, unless their other lanes get fed.

To ensure and maintain this situation, you might need to know when to take dragon.

The dragon is usually gotten by the team with the most map domination: Read, the one most pushed on bot/mid. Whenever mid/their jungler/bot is out of the game, be it low-health, on top lane or dead, the jungler might request to do dragon. Refer to the ward section to prepare for dragon, since the enemy team might still attempt to steal it. Your team and you will get a very significant gold and XP boost, specially those who are behind in levels, so it's always nice to get dragon!

2) Absolutely Nothing Happens: You get a kill, they get a kill. You get a double kill, they get a double kill. Or... no one kills anyone. This is a lane that is literally TIED. The only way to avoid that is by external help: Your jungler's help. Request it once they're pushed, and make sure to tell them if it's warded or not. When initating, try to get a clear shot with Q (No matter who it is), and the jungler will come in and do the rest. Just follow the jungler's cue and throw the ADC behind with Flay, even putting 'em in The Box if you have it. If your jungler ganks enough (And you twarth their ganking attempts), you should easily start winning your lane. If your jungler is babysitting other lanes, however, be careful. One mistake and you just might end up...

3) Losing the Lane: Everything went wrong. Their jungler ganked earlier, your ADC doesn't know what your Dark Passage does, he overextended when you warned him not to, you kept missing crucial Death Sentence... whichever reason it is, the opponent ADC has more farm and/or more kills than yours, and it's quite obvious that you're losing the lane. You need the jungler's help ASAP, and even put mid in it while we're at it. They are probably very strong now, and your job in a "lanesaver" gank is to grab that ******* AD carry and don't let go. Stun him, Flay him, Exhaust, The Box, anything to protect YOUR ADC and kill THEIRS. One thing's for certain: Nothing's lost. Even if you DO end up losing the lane, if your team is any good (And not a bunch of people playing the "blame game"), you CAN turn this around. Tell your ADC to farm, and stay close to him because we're about to enter...



Mid Game


*Most Common Definition: The time period in which the teams are now much more united and ready to defend each other at any point. Teamfights are a frequency and primary indicator the mid game has come. Mid Game is deemed "over" when teamfights become scarce and one or two inhibitors are taken down, regardless of team.

*General time stamp: 15/20 - 35/40 minutes

*Thresh's Usual Minimum Build: Ruby Sightstone; Mercury's Treads; Runic Bulwark.


No one smart is ever alone anymore. There's always one or two buddies near someone who is seemingly alone. Everyone, ally and enemy, are converging into one lane to try and force a turret down, or defend one from being so. The tension is high, and teamfights are the most common thing. Welcome to Mid Game.

This is what generally will be a mid-game: Every player will gather themselves on the same lane, pushing and/or defending it. Some players will try to backdoor (Try pushing other lanes as you defend another), but most of the times the action will be in the mid lane.

Carries will be farming like hell, and they will be the MOST important asset of your team (Given the ideal team, of course). Your objectives in mid game are very, very simple...

Do not let go of that AD carry; Maintain two wards in Baron and Dragon at all times; and, if you're the only tank on your team, initiate teamfights.

He goes into jungle, you go AHEAD of him. He goes to do dragon, you protect his *** from all corners. He goes to farm, you stay right besides him. And you stop any and every single attempt against his life. You're his bodyguard for this moment of the game, and this holds true for teamfights. Now I will describe to you how teamfights will happen, how to initate one if you have to and what will be your role in it. If you wish to skip it for any reason, go to Late Game.


There's a reason why I divided the item section into the situation where you're the only tank and the situation where you're not. Thresh, as said in the "Pros and Cons" section of this guide, loses a lot of damage potential as time goes by. Unless you actually BUILD him some damage, he'll be nothing but utility. However, there WILL be some cases where there will be no initiator in your team.

An example: Zed; Ahri; Twitch + Thresh; Diana (Jungle). As you can see, the only person other than Diana that is able to intiate is Zed, and both of those are supposed to be burst assassins, not tanks! If they initiate being burst assassin's, they'll be focused down the drain. They need someone to tank that they can intiate, take all the pain and walk away smiling knowing the team won the teamfight. You're perfect for the job. And in this case, the team does not need anymore damage. They need YOU to initiate and survive, or at the very least to be in the front row when the ENEMY initiate.

As the initiator, you should focus on one thing and one thing only: Grab the ADC. Either him or any other squishy target, such as a squishy jungler, squishy top or squishy mid. Anyone is suitable. Just, for the love of god, DO NOT GRAB THEIR INITIATOR. ( Amumu, Alistar, Jax, etc.). Your team might be dumb enough to FOLLOW you if you grab an initiator, so make the message clear: Flay the initiator BACK to their team and scram from the front line. I doubt your team would think of going in if you did that. If you DID grab an important squishy target, do the Thresh combo, and then proceed (Or try to, you'll probably being focused to death, which is good) to your ADC's side, or whoever deals the most damage. If you are not the initiator, once the teamfight starts, you'll be already besides him, and the following should immediatly apply to you.

Bruisers like Vi and Hecarim have a very important, defined role besides initiating: Flying right onto the ADC with their skills and slamming them down. Well, guess they'll be having a bad day, because you'll twarth that plan of theirs. The moment one of those fellas try to fly the ADC, obviously, the ADC will defend himself and flash/blink away, to then fight at a more safer range. YOUR job is to make the bruisers not put a single finger on the ADC after the initial assault. Flay, The Box, Death Sentence, ANYTHING to stop the ADC from suffering major damage. If you manage to defend him, even if slightly, it's already a HUGE advantage, because, if your ADC survives, it means your whole damage output still lives. Once your ADC is secured, hunt down targets remaining on the teamfight (Seek out the most damaging first) and "lasso" them down to your team. Considering your team is at the very least a decent one, teamfights are bound to go well.


There are very simple outcomes to the wins and losses of teamfights: Win teamfights, and you get to push more, get more fed and get more dominance over the map. Lose teamfights, and the enemy team pushes you to your base, gets more fed and dominates the map more than you. The problem is: The losing team, to win teamfights, will need either a miracle or a baron. And the winning team will have control over it. The losing team will start avoiding teamfights as the respawn timers will be higher and higher, and all the tension will boil down to one small dot on the map. All of this marks the beggining of the...


Late Game


*Most Common Definition: It is the part of the game where both teams start avoiding conflcits as much as they can, for one loss might spell defeat. It usually begins when one or more inhibitors go down on any of the teams, and when teamfights start being scarce. Of course, it ends when the game ends.

*General time stamp: 35/40 minutes - Victory! / Defeat.

*Thresh's Usual Minimum Build Ruby Sightstone; Mercury's Treads + An enchantment of your choice; Runic Bulwark; Locket of the Iron Solari


So. This is it. The End-Game. The game is almost over, everyone is avoiding each other like the rabies, and they're fully aware that there's a lot at stake: One loss, one mistake, and GG.

The reason why is because, if it has reached this time stamp, it means most, and in some cases ALL, respawn timers will be above 40 seconds. In 40 seconds, with a stupidly strong team, you can do A LOT. Such as destroy the enemy team's structures, their inhibitors (Providing that lane with a sort of "auto push system"), the enemy's buff team, and, most importantly... Baron Nashor.

Imagine this situation. One team is clearly winning, with their ADC fed, while the other team is clearly losing. The winning ADC has 200 AD and the losing one has 150, both are level 18.

Let's say the losing ADC gets Exalted with Baron Nashor . The increase makes him have 190 AD, almost the SAME as the winning ADC. Now, let's say the winning ADC gets the buff. Well... he gets a whopping 240 AD, 90 more than the losing one.

As you can see, Baron Nashor is a game changer: A losing team's hope, a winning team's affirmation to victory. Either way, it's a very important objective of both mid AND late game, and it usually is how , and sometimes even WHERE, the game ends.

One loss of teamfight, means the winning (of the teamfight) team MIGHT have time to take baron nashor, and that might just change the tides of the game.

As Thresh, your objective remains mostly the same as Mid Game, but there is a new primary one: DEFEND BARON NASHOR AND/OR TAKE IT WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF.





THIS is the reason you always keep it warded. You HAVE to have vision of Baron on late and mid game at ALL times to stop the other team from attempting it. If they do, your job is simple: Get there as fast as you can and DISTRACT THEM. Your team will follow, and if you distract them from finishing Baron, they will take too much damage from both your team and him, and will most likely end up GIVING UP. When they do, notice the Baron already lost a significant part of his health. That's when you START BARON NASHOR, with a nice handicap to the monster himself.

If your team is winning, however, you CAN start a premature Baron Nashor: Push all three lanes, take at least one inhibitor. The enemy team might even see you attempting Baron Nashor, but they'll be slowed by your minion's invasion on their base. Either way, the following will explain the safest way for your team to capture and aquire Baron Nashor's buff. Again, you can skip it if you want to.




This map will be perfect for explaining what you should do and where you should be.


  • You are Blue: If you're going to take baron from the blue side, you'll have to protect any attempts of steal coming from ABOVE Baron Nashor. For that, you'll do two things: One, ward the spot between 3 and 6, the tribush located there. Two, you will ward literally on TOP of baron nashor, a bit above 7. And lastly... you'll put yourself in point 7. Yes, you will act as ward, and better yet, act as a DISTRACTION.

    When the enemy team comes to check / steal baron, they will be faced with you. The support, all alone, in the middle of their jungle. While your four teammates will be wailing at baron, YOU will CC them and stop them from even getting CLOSE to 2 or anywhere above 7. If they ignore you, you pull them back and keep auto attacking them, even using The Box if you have to. If they focus you, GOOD. They will forget about the baron slipping right under their noses and try to take you out. If they manage to resist your charms, however, a teamfight WILL occur at Baron, and YOU will have the VIP seats... right besides their ADC, since they all ignored you to get to Baron. You know what to do. God bless you.
  • You are Purple: If you're on the purple team, you will do something similar. However, you will ward once at 5 and once at 4. Then, you'll stand at 2. Not attacking the baron, but getting ready to FACE THEM if they get near. If they pass by any of those points, go towards it and stand your ground. They'll either be too scared, face you or ignore you. Read above and you'll understand all three would be actually BENEFICIAL.

Always remember you can hook yourself to Baron from the purple side for a quick invasion, leaving behind Dark Passage for a rather styllish baron entrance, and, hopefully, steal!




If your team managed to get baron, that's great! But you HAVE to force a teamfight now. Otherwise, they'll turtle below their towers and wait until the buff - your advantage! - is gone. Thankfully, you, Mr. Thresh, is the perfect agent for the job. I shouldn't even say how to do it. You should know by now.

If the OTHER team gets baron, however, do the exact opposite: Defend. Turtle behind your tower, and yes, I know I just told you how to avoid that, but come on, you're Thresh, you can take anyone with that stupid buff and survive to tell the story! Just do it under the turret. Or it's a world of pain to your team.
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The Ultimate Combo Breaker


(Psst... I want my money, Agoney. ;3)

Thresh is a very polarized champion: He either excels at something, or falls completely flat at another, and this is even more heightened by what mastery, rune and item build they are sporting. However, there is something every Thresh, tank or damage, can excel at and, hell, I'd even go ahead and say he's the most qualified champion for this job:

Counter ganks.

His CC arsenal, his disruption of position of both allies and enemies, nevermind the fact he has a ****ing 99% slow. Thresh can counter almost every SINGLE jungler gank and even probably make his AD carry survive from it.

But before I can get specific on each jungler, let me get some conditions on the table:

1) Your carry will be an Ashe, level 6 with Frost Shot on level 1, or level 0, and no ult, with Berserker's Greaves, unenchanted. This means that your carry has no gap closer or stopping mechanism besides their summoner spells, which, for these situations, will be Flash and Ignite.

2) Your enemies will be tower hugging, and they will be composed by a Soraka and a Miss Fortune. That means they can get next to whoever's ganking pretty fast, but would otherwise have no way to truly stopping them, despite Soraka's Infuse and Miss Fortune's Make it Rain.

3) You'll be level 6, following the guide's levelling order, and you two will be pushed far into bottom lane. You have warded, and you know who is coming to gank you from miles away, also knowing they are level 6, but your enemies are too busy protecting their tower from your minions to initiate the gank. They WILL follow when the jungler appears on their lane, but, otherwise, they will stay right where they are.

4) Lastly, we assume the jungler will go STRAIGHT for your carry, because, in the eventuality he comes for you, you can simply Flay them back, The Box and simply walk back to your tower, dodging skillshots if needed. Odds are you'll be able to tank most of the harass you take, IF you take any. For equality purposes, the jungler will have had no kills or assists or exorbiting creep score, therefore will not be fed or farmed, and neither will both of you. Thresh has Mercury's Treads, Ruby Sightstone and Targon's Brace.

Right. With all things set, let's get to counterin'! It's in alphabetic order, for those who wonder.

Quick PS.: As of Season 5, I believe ANY champion can effectively jungle. Therefore, I will keep this guide about the most common junglers. However, if you've suffered in the hands of an Irelia or even a wild Heimerdinger jungle, just post it in the comments and I'll add that champion here!




It's not very common to see Alistar jungling, but he happens to appear sometimes, and his ganks can be MEAN, specially if he can hit the timing of his Headbutt > Pulverize combo. If he can't do that, he'll have to get close to your carry to Pulverize them. Too bad he's slow as all hell, and Mobility Boots isn't worth jacksquat if you so much as simply auto-attack him. So, instead, let's assume he DOES know how to combo.

Headbutt's range is not that big, he still needs to be relatively close to the ADC. What you'll do is simply flay him backwards, slowing him and taking off Mobility Boots, if he has one. That'll make him as fast as Ashe until Mobility goes back on. To which case you'll simply auto attack him every now and then. Gank countered! I mean... he might headbutt you backwards once he sees that the ADC is unreachable, and you might even die, but... hey, at least the carry didn't die!

The GabMed corporation does not deem itself responsible for any maiming, bullet shots, raping, ganking or feeding that the player might suffer while following one of our patented guides.







Amumu is a very popular jungle choice because of the fact that not only does he get a very damaging scale on his abilities, but he also gets very scarily unkillable late game, besides having a HUGE AoE stun.

Pre-6, all Amumu does is use Bandage Toss to get to your carry and then harass him away with Tantrum and Despair, with no other way of slowing them. You can easily counter that by being a huge d*ck and staying right between him and the carry, flaying him if he tries going besides you (HUEHUE SORRY YOU MISSED THAT HUEHUE). However, when his ult is added, he can stun both you and your carry enough for even the slowest of carries and supports to reach you. What you need to do is avoid, at all cost, his ult to reach the carry. If you stay between him and the carry, he'll simply use Bandage Toss at you and then Curse of the Sad Mummy will reach the carry - you don't want to "help" him, do you? Then use Death Sentence. Hit it before he stuns you and he won't be able to reach the carry before the carry is already at turret range. Then, flay him backwards and save yourself. He might burn Flash to ult at the carry, but counter that with The Box to slow him and the enemy as they reach your carry. Gank countered!







Just like any skillshot champion, Cho'Gath relies on hitting his skillshot correctly ( Rupture) to start the gank. Rupture's knock-up and slow is enough to let him and our enemy lane to reach whoever was slowed by it, and silence prevents usual escape mechanisms. Usually Cho'Gath will wait to use Feast on a low-health target, or if he sees he is in desperate need of a burst.

Since he is very, very reliable on Rupture hitting, you can be a complete troll and Flay him backwards once he goes a bit into lane. He'll be slowed, and will probably be too far to hit rupture perfectly. He tries, he misses, gank countered! Although you CAN survive his slow and silence, you CANNOT tank a true damager (his ult), so caution if you get below 500. The Box INSTANTLY if he's near you while you're below that threshold of health, or your carry. Once he reaches you and presses R, there is no ammount of flash or blink that will stop him from om-nomming you, so be very careful.







Bastard might be OP, but anyone in top can attest to this: Whoever has range beats him. He canNOT stop anyone from afar, even though he can pretty much 1v2 you and your carry and kill your carry (Maybe even you!). So, for the love of god, do NOT use Death Sentence on him.

Flay him backwards to avoid Apprehend. If he manages to pull your carry, quickly Dark Passage to help your carry out of the deathtrap before he Decimates and uses Noxian Guillotine on the poor soul, besides Crippling Strike's slow just to add insult to injury. As long as you don't let Darius land his pull, he's literally harmless. Gank countered!







I HONESTLY think Diana is RIDICULOUSLY easy to counter - However, some people might not think so. Hell, some people are scared poopless by her! While the Scorn of the Moon can be very mean, she is another skillshot-reliant champion: If Crescent Strike misses, Di doesn't do squaaat sh*t. She CAN decide to Lunar Rush to your carry and Moonfall, but she will not be able to do as much burst as if she had hit the initial Q > Lunar Rush combo, and Diana is commonly built as an asassin, since her only CC is, well, ****py.

But since we're trying to make a very slow carry survive, assumingly without flash and gap-closers, what you'll do when she appears in lane is Flay her backwards, as always. She will probably miss her Q, and might be too far away to instantaneously Lunar Rush to your carry. Yes, that simple. Gank countered! She can decide to Flash > Lunar Rush, but she's pretty far away from her team to do squash **** against a Thresh and an Ashe, so you might even kill the stubborn b*tch if she does that.

Oh, and tip if you don't know what to do against a Diana. That Crescent Strike of hers? There's a nifty little trick to make it miss: WALK TO HER ****ING LEFT. It's a crescent moon, crescent moons comes from the right, just walk to her left/towards her, presto, she freakin' missed! Doesn't stop her from ulting, but stops her from landing the most easy-to-dodge skillshot of the game. Can't count how many times I won against a Diana as Fiddlesticks simply because she couldn't hit her Crescent Strike to burst me fast enough.







Once again, he has to hit his skillshot for the gank to truly work. Dr. Mundo is fast, however, and his Infected Bonesaw has a very low cooldown, and a very high range. Flaying him will not truly help your carry, specially knowing Heart Zapper reduces incoming CCs, and he can even use the cleaver on you to slow YOU down to reach the carry.

Then, how do you stop Dr. Mundo? Well, you don't. Mundo goes where he pleases. What he DOESN'T do is go where he pleases at the VELOCITY he desires. The Box will put him in check, and, even if he hits ALL cleavers and activates Maximum Dosage, he won't be able to reach the carry, specially because you still have your little Death Sentence and Flay. So.... Gank countered!






When I first played with Elise, I'll admit I honestly doubted she could be played well. Not because of her complexity, but because she was underpowered compared to other assassins/APs. Damn, how I wish I was right. Elise, if played well, can be devastating from long range, and deadly from close. And worse: If someone's too far away, she can reach them. If someone poses a threat, she can stun them. So how do we stop such a killing machine?

Elise's ganks can start off two ways: Human form, or spider form. If she's on human form, she'll throw a Cocoon, stunning the target (Letting the enemies reach them), take off a chunk of their health with Neurotoxin and Volatile Spiderling, and, adding insult to injury, turns into spider and mauls at them with Venomous Bite. If she starts off at spider form, she Rappels right to the side of the person and starts wailing at them from spider form already. This is usually done when the target has low health, as Venomous Bite will inflict a HUGE ammout of damage. If she starts in human form, you can block Cocoon, but nothing will stop her from Rappeling to your carry. And that's precisely what you want, and this applies for when she starts the gank as a spider: When she uses rappel to reach the carry, Death Sentence her immediatly, and Flay her backwards. She LITERALLY has no way to reach your carry without Rappel, and Cocoon is blockable, and, lastly, both have rather large cooldowns. If she blows one of those, she won't be using it in the immediate future, so, with that in mind, you can make your carry get out of this gank with little to no damage. Gank countered!






Good ol' Eve suffered a MAJOR kit change in Season 2, and that made her extremely more powerful. Her passive, Shadow Walk, makes Stealth Wards useless! So be careful of that, and plan ahead if you see Eve jungling or roaming. You`ll have to invest in some pink wards, otherwise you might just get an unpleasant Agony's Embrace into Ravage and Hate Spike right into your carry. Flaying her head-first won't do anything because of Dark Frenzy, so what do?

Eve is an assassin, and, as all assassins, she needs to be up close to your carry. Her Dark Frenzy takes off all slows, so, while using The Box or Flay AFTER she speeds up might be a good idea, a good Evelynn, or at least one that knows how Thresh works, will WAIT until you try to flay her, and her speed will make you miss the box! But she can't stop stuns and movement impair, can she? Death Sentence her when she gets near your carry, and flay her backwards, making sure to be IN FRONT of her. When she activates Dark Frenzy to catch up (If she doesn't, even with Agony's Embrace's slow, she wouldn't be able to reach the carry in time before they are protected by the tower), you can make sure she won't go anywhere with The Box, but if you think your carry can make it out, then don't worry about it. Eve's only gimmicks are speeding up and slowing down with her ult, so if you stop/counter any of these, she won't do anything else but start hitting you since you just pissed her off. Blue girls be crazy, dude. Gank countered!






Ah, Fiddlesticks... He's both my main mid and my main AP-Assassin jungler (I usually use him when mid does not use mana, because he's severely blue-dependant). And as a Fiddlesticks player, I can assure you one thing: It doesn't matter, for a Fiddle, if you're tower-hugging or pushed: He WILL gank you. And it WILL kill you if it takes you by surprise, specially at level 6.

However, he CAN be stopped. Pre-6, Fiddlestick's ganks doesn't pack a lot of punch, consisting of terrrifying you or the ADC, Bountiful Harvesting the ADC and using Reap to secure the kill. You can literally simply Flay him back, destroying his hopes of Bountiful Harvesting the ADC, or even getting close enough to fear them. However... Mark my words: As early as level 6, Fiddlesticks can, and WILL dive tower-huggers. Be very weary of that, and ward DIRECTLY ABOVE your tower in the case you get pushed down to it. And if he decides to start the gank with Crowstorm, you HAVE to act quickly: If you can't stop his ult with Death Sentence, IMMEDIATLY Flay him backwards and The Box. If he manages to land a drain, react fast with another Death Sentence. The only way a Fiddlesticks can successfully gank is if he gets the jump on you two OR if you two have slow reactions. But one thing's for certain: He won't have an easy time ganking you, not even if you were a completely bad, AP carry bot, levelling up Flay first Thresh. Gank countered!






Fiora is like a 2.0 Master Yi: She does everything he does, but faster, better, and sexier. Her ganks usually consist of Lunge onto the ADC, Burst of Speed and Riposte to auto-attack him continuously while recovering with her passive, and Blade Waltz if he`s about to get away / Fiora ends up about to die / is going for a dive. Since three of her abilities are based on auto-attacks (Passive = 1), I'm going to focus on how to avoid Blade Waltz and Lunge being used. Here`s a tip: You can't.

Well then, how do you stop her gank? If you put yourself in front of her, she will simply lunge to you and lunge / ult to the carry. Flay her backwards, she Lunges forward. The Box, she simply lunges and ults. Death Sentence will save her the effort! What do you do? The answer is stay away from your carry. Yes, stay as far away from your teammate, or his path of escape. When she ganks, get as far away from your carry as you can, Flay her to you, if she's in range, and pull her with Death Sentence. If she makes a fool out of herself and ults you, Flash or simply run away from your carry. She won`t be able to reach him, so gank countered!

Warning: We do not calculate damage made to yourself. Death and serious injury might occur, and it is a normal process of making your ADC survive a Fiora gank. We are not responsible for any injury that might occur to you.






GP is more commonly seen top, but I've seen enough on the jungle to know that they really ARE viable junglers. Luckily, he's easy to counter, since he only speeds up with Raise Morale, slows down with Cannon Barrage and Grog Soaked Blade + Parrrley, and takes away all CC with Remove Scurvy... Goddangit, it's Evelynn all over again!

Luckily, his slow is not as profound, and his speedness is not as speedy. However, unlike Evelynn, your Death Sentence will be useless if thrown head-on, since he'll get rid of it. So how about you have a bit of a mind-game-fun with your GP enemy? When he comes to gank, immediatly Flay him backwards and The Box. Done! No, really, if he doesn't remove the slow (while saving it for Death Sentence), he won't ever reach the carry, and not even slow it properly. If he does, he will have made a terrible mistake and will have no way of escaping Death Sentence. Gank countered, matey!






You better watch out with this pony. Even if you have everything warded, and even if he knows, that won't stop him from ganking, and his Devastating Charge > Onslaught of Shadows > Rampage during ult > Sheen proc combo can be DEVASTATING. He'll murder you 20% faster in 10 seconds flat. I wish I was just making an MLP reference for fun...

Don't let him brohoof your carry! Don't let him get close enough to use his ult, mainly, and that's easily avoidable by Death Sentence when he activates his charging. That will make him waste the duration (Which is actually very important for Hecarim), and simply Flay him backwards. Even if he reaches the carry, he won`t deal as much damage anymore, and he'll take too long without his little dash (SEE WHAT I DID THER). When in trouble (Or not confident in your skills with Death Sentence's aiming), you can always The Box instantly before he gets in lane. It will basically do the same as hitting Death Sentence. Only difference is that you're using an ult for that. Either way you choose, gank countered!

And Fluttershy is best pony. Always has been, always will be.







Jarvey's a very cool tank/bruiser hybrid, and his ganks can be very MEAN when played right. Demacian Standard into Dragon Strike knocks up whoever's near the flag, and, to add to it, he can, from there, use Cataclysm to trap someone and even Golden Aegis to slow down whoever is trapped / nearby.

However, you have the ultimate counter to his ultimate ability: Dark Passage. Flay him backwards and use The Box to force him to use Cataclysm. When he's about to, STAY AWAY FROM YOUR CARRY. When he jumps in, throw the lantern on top of the arena and your carry will be able to get out with no scratch. Gank countered!






Jax has been popularized as a jungler thanks to his amazing gank potential, and everyone who's played against a good junglin' Jax can attest that his ganks can be VERY tricky to counter. He starts by charging up Counter Strike, then Leap Strikes to the carry, to which he stuns them. He then proceeds to beat them up as fast as he can, and he can beat FAST and HARD, while taking MINIMUM damage.

Jax's kit is all about timing and concentration. Well... luckily for us, Thresh is made exactly to disrupt those kind of champions. Don't try Flaying him right away, as he might use you as a stepping stone for a intrinsicate Leap Strike > Flash combo onto the carry. Instead, what you should do is: Wait till Counter Strike is being charged, and IMMEDIATLY Death Sentence him. His stun will be wasted, and much of his damage diminished. If that wasn't enough, if he still tries to jump at your carry / you, wait till he blows Leap Strike and humiliate him with a quick Flay. He'll be at finger's reach from you, but never being able to land a hit. Troll successful, gank countered!







Lee Sin is still one of the most popular junglers of the game, and for good reason. He has amazing physical damage output, strong counter-jungling presence, and an extreme ganking capacity. He's the jack of all jungle trades, and the most skillful Lees can make even the most impossible stunts or dives actually work. He ganks by hitting Sonic Wave, Resonating Strike-ing, Tempest > Cripple, and a roundhouse kick to the face back to the enemies. Countering Lee Sin is NOT easy, and trust me, a good Lee Sin can work around even the most improbable situations. I've seen one use Dragon's Rage on ME to stop MY CARRY... and it ******* worked.

First of all, you should block Sonic Wave from hitting your carry, if he can't dodge it himself. Lee Sin will have to either jump to you to reach the carry (Countered by a simple Flay), or just NOT go, so it's basically gank over for Lee if you block it. However, in the occasion he DOES hit it (Or better yet, does not use it at all to gank), and he manages to hit Tempest on the carry, you have to throw a lightning Death Sentence BEFORE he ults. Flay him backwards, problem should be solved. If your carry HAS been ulted backwards, however, there's not much you can do except use your little life saver, Dark Passage. Just... be careful. A professional Lee will be completely and utterly unpredictable, so don't expect these to always work. Good luck! And, hopefully, gank countered!






Malphite is another popular tank jungler specially because of his teamfight potential thanks to his ult. He's a more fighter-esque version of Amumu. His ganks consist of using his Anal Tire of Doom to slow YOU / speed up HIM, and using that advantage to reach and ult the carry. Unstoppable Force, as the name implies, canNOT be stopped once Malphite reaches the lane, so you have to come up with a second plan.

While Flaying and then The Box should do the trick, this means you had to use an ult to avoid him using his. Who knows if you'll have yours to avoid that next time? What you'll HAVE to do if you don't have, or is avoiding using, your ult, is Death Sentence him and THEN Flay him backwards. He might blow Flash and/or Unstoppable Force to reach your carry, but they will be already safe below the tower, thanks to you. Gank countered!





arcane smash

Maokai is a VERY early-game champion, and with only two gimmicks on his pocket: his unstoppable snare and his slow/knockback. His gank consists of exactly that: Twisted Advance onto carry, arcane smash backwards, keep punchin'.

As such, he's terribly easy to counter. A simple Flay will keep him from reaching the carry with Twisted Advance... and gank countered! Seriously. Mao Kai is going to have a lot of trouble trying to gank you unless his team starts it first.






Master Yi litearlly IS a one trick pony: Activate everything, Alpha Strike to carry, wail away. Alpha Strike's a bit hard to predict where is going, but if you can identify the FIRST target, his last will be the same. The only thing we have to be careful about is that Highlander will completely IGNORE The Box and Flay's slow, so we can't really count on those.

Instead, you'll have to hit a well-timed Death Sentence and Flay, to get your carry to a safer position than they were before. While it will do little to stop Yi from reaching the carry, we will have a huge turret by our side, and no ammount of Meditate can whitstand TWO hard CCs. Bring it on, Yi. Gank countered!






You have three CCs. Nautilus has FOUR. The only thing you're lucky about is that he is slow, however, he WILL make Mobility Boots to counter that. His ganks consist of Dredge Line onto you / the carry, into auto-attack for Staggering Blow proc, into Riptide for slow, and, lastly, Depth Charge will complete the combo to make you stand the f*ck still for a total of 5 seconds.

Just like the Amumu/ Fiora dillema, blocking his gap-closer ( Dredge Line) will only help him hit his ult on the carry, unless you dodge it. However, that's what defines a good Nautilus from a bad one: Good Nautili (Plural of Nautilus. Thanks to DatGamer for correcting my latin!) don't miss Dredge Line. And if they do, they are sure there's a wall behind the target. That's why you should attempt to Death Sentence him as he tries to Dredge Line most likely YOU. That will stop him from auto attacking once you guys get close, and you can Flay him backwards before both of your skillshots' duration ends. No need for The Box, without mobility, Nautilus is extremely slow, and his Riptide won't reach you. His ult will, but I don't think he'd blow that for a tank-support that still has its ult and a shield and most likely a Flash, so gank countered!






Nocturne is quite the d*ck. His Paranoia has an AMAZING range, and it assures him that he can start the gank from literally outside of even the RIVER. You CANNOT stop it, and this is how 75% of his ganks will start. He then fears your carry with Unspeakable Horror and immediatly uses Duskbringer on them. Trying to chain him to you will do NOTHING, specially if he has Shroud of Darkness activated. Well, what the **** can we do then?!

Well... we'll have to go GP on him. Stay near your carry, and when he ults in to gank, DO NOT Flay HIM IMMEDIATLY! Wait 'till he starts up Unspeakable Horror, THEN flay > The Box him. As with GP, he will have two choices: Activate the shroud to pass through the wall (Leaving him vulnerable for Death Sentence, or simply try to "ignore" the 95% slow he's suffering. Either way... believe it or not, gank countered! Your carry suffered a bit, but hopefully no major damage.






Thanks to Consume, Nunu & Willump is a very excellent choice for junglers starting out, and might be seen sporting something other than smite (usually Ignite or Exhaust), so keep that in mind. His ganks are pretty predictable, however. He'll use Blood Boil to speed himself up, reach your carry, Ice Blast them, and Absolute Zero when he's ahead of him. I believe it goes without saying that Absolute Zero canNOT reach full channeling duration with your carry in it, unless you want to see some high-definition gore. So I'll get straight to the point.

To counter this gank, you COULD simply The Box him, and that'd make him pretty much instantly give up on the gank... but I have a better idea. Let him enter the lane, let him use Ice Blast on the carry, and, yes, let him start up Absolute Zero. The moment you see him charging up, act quickly: cast Dark Passage on your carry, enter the field and Flay him backwards. There are a LOT of ways to counter this simple gank... but to take off his ult without damaging your carry? I think this is pretty priceless. Either way, you shouldn't have problem with him at all. In fact, Nunu would be the WORST choice of jungler to pick against you. Either way, excellent work. Gank countered!






I. HATE. OLAF.

I seriously, SERIOUSLY hate that stupid dragon shouter. I main CC tanks, so it doesn't come as a surprise that I f*cking hate that bugger when he simply goes "OH MY BAD I ACCIDENTALLY ULTED *****" in my face. There is literally nothing you can do to stop him. Berserker Rage is not blockable, and will slow your carry, then he'll just come up to him and eat his face with his freakin' Reckless Swing. And I'm not even going to get started on this stupid Ragnarok...

Seriously, if you're on draft and you see THAT f*ckface jungling, I'd avoid picking ANY CC supports all togther, including Thresh. But for those that live life dangerously (Or can't predict the future), you still have one option when he comes. Run. Run like **** and leave your carry behind. Then Dark Passage them over after scaring them like that. He's immune to CCs, but your carry isn't. Take THAT, you stupid barbarian. He's... probably going to keep chasing you, but I believe (Hope...) you can take him on below the tower, specially because Ragnarok doesn't last a long time (Yeah because 6 ****ing seconds is such a short duration...). Either way, just avoid using any of your skills on him, and hope your carry can get the hint to get the lantern. Gank countered! ...sorta. ._.






Pantheon can, usually, gank in two different ways: By using Grand Skyfall, and by not. Pantheon deals a LOT of damage to whoever's low health, but he's not as strong when he's facing someone with a lot of health alone, let alone two people. You won't see him ganking unless your lane enemies are ready to jump on you, so be extra careful about that.

Pantheon, regardless of having used his ult or not, usually jumps at the arry with Aegis of Zeonia, and beats him with Heartseeker Strike and Spear Shot. Good Pantheons WILL use Grand Skyfall from BEHIND you, so be extra-mindfull of the large circle that denotes his usage of his ultimate. Throw Dark Passage if your carry can't get out of the ult, otherwise, stay with it. Panth will most likely jump right into a stun on the carry, and, if he ulted behind you, there's nothing you can do to really avoid that. So let him stun, while you go back to your tower... and throw Dark Passage behind for your carry to go back to you near your tower. Just don't let him bullseye that ult, or you're literally fried. Either way, gank countered!






Poppy is more commonly seen top, but I've seen enough jungle to know that it's... well... OP, to say the least. Diplomatic Immunity gives her immunity to CCs as well as any damage from any other source whatsoever, including the carry. Paragon of Demacia gives her insane speed, and Heroic Charge stuns your carry against the wall, something that's bound to happen if you're ganked by a good Poppy.

Usually, Poppys would ult on the support (because of the lack of damage) and would wail on the carry, but that's the single biggest mistake she can make, because you can do what you do best ( Flay > The Box after she wastes Heroic Charge, Death Sentence if she does anything else stupid, rinse, repeat). But... if Poppy really does know how you work, and how to play... she'll use it on the carry. And if she's stronger than your carry, there's nothing you can do but play it like Olaf: Go to your tower and leave Dark Passage behind for them to pick up. Poppy might (And later WILL) dive you, so be careful of that. But as long as you guys aren't exactly low on health, you can escape this gank. Gank countered!





puncturing taunt

Hey, it's my favourite and main champion! :3 Rammus was not only the first char I bought, he was also the first I jungled with and the first I played ranked with, and he is still to this day the best champion I can play as, so I know a thing or two about him. He ganks by starting Powerball and dodging everything and everyone to finally reach the carry, puncturing taunt him and use Defensive Ball Curl and Soaring Slam to deal damage to them. It can be a DEADLY gank for the carry if not stopped, specially if there are enemies nearby.

However, just like Hecarim and Jax, he relies on the duration of his skill for a gank to be successful ( Powerball). If Rammus is slowed or harmed during it, his Mobility Boots will also cease to be used. You can Flay him backwards, but he will still reach you. So here's a better idea: What you'll do is throw Death Sentence at him. The stun will make the powerball duration go to waste, and he'll cover less ground than if he hadn't been stunned by it. Then you'll Flay him backwards, and, if needed, use The Box. Even if he Flashes, he won't be able to reach you or your carry. But be careful: Most expert Rammus will bait your Death Sentence, so you can make sure he stands still with an ult or a Flay if needed, or even Exhaust. Either way, stop his Powerball and his Mobility, and gank countered!

Just one tip about Rammus for the remainder of the game. Two, really: One, he NEEDS to touch someone to taunt them, so remember that and be sure to troll him hard all game. Two, he CAN and WILL 1v1 your carry (Be it AP or AD), and that'll be his job late game. All you gotta do is make his advantage ( Powerball) go to space at the beggining of the teamfight, and that'll be enough for him to be rendered useless, even if he tries his best to reach the carry.






Rengar is probably a lot of people's ganking traumas (Specially those who played around his release date), since his Unseen Predator pretty much all but makes him a ******* jungle god. However, before he aquires his ult, his ganks are literally limited to the range of his passive, and, therefore, to the bush he's attacking from. This is why, despite having a ganking potential, Rengar isn't really a threat until getting his ult (He can be easily avoided before that with warding and Flay).

Things get tricky when the ******** becomes invisible. Not only does the duration last long enough for him to use Thrill of the Hunt OUTSIDE of a ward's influence area, but it also gives him a free Unseen Predator jump at your carry. Bonus points are awarded for him if he decides to use an empowered Bola Strike, which will immobilize the carry and just make his life even easier than it is. You have two choices to counter this gank: Either invest in some Vision Wards and Oracle's Elixir (Unadvisable, unless VERY fearful of him) or a better approach: If you realize you're in a position to be ganked by Rengar, stay very near your carry. The moment he jumps, Flay him backwards immediatly, which will force him to use his empowered stacks on Bola Strike to force a snare. Dark Passage back to your carry will pretty much frustrate kitty's gank attempt. Gank countered!






Riven is more commonly seen in top lane than in the jungle for the sheer fact that she is a Fiddlesticks kind of jungler: She only truly works if you do not expect her. Despite being fast, she truly can't reach the carry after a proper Flay, and, if having your hands forced, a The Box. So, for all intents and purposes, exclusively for her, I'll assume you did NOT ward and you DID get surprised by a Riven in your lane.

Riven is very straightforward: She'll use her Broken Wings and Valor to reach the carry, stun them with Ki Burst and wail them away, using Blade of the Exile to finish them off. As I said, she has a very large problem of not being a very mobile (Okay, not being mobile enough) champion, not relying on speed or long-range stun/gap closers to reach enemies. If she does initiate good, however, and even use Flash on you, chances are she'll start the Broken Wings combo. Pay attention when she starts it, and quickly throw a Death Sentence on her BEFORE she gets the third strike in, the knockbacking one. Along with her other ganking flaws, she also suffers from the Hecarim syndrome, in which she's very reliant on the duration of her skill. Just... remember to Flay her back, otherwise you're literally making her stun easier to hit. Overall, though, she should be a very easy one to deal with. Gank countered!






Ah, Sejuani. Along with Gragas, she is one of the champions I've seen have a very huge ratio of skill per player. In other words, most Sejuanis I've seen actually do know how to play her. And sadly, good Sejuanis are practically perfect at ganking. She almost always will start the gank with Arctic Assault, probably hit BOTH of you with it, using Flail of the Northern Winds on top of you and Permafrost you in place. Oh, and if you try to escape? Glacial Prison. She is very, VERY nasty on her ganks, and it's almost certain your carry will die... if you don't do something about that.

Firstly, it's very important that you WARD. Sejuani's ganks are brutal, but even more so if the b*tch gets the drop on you guys. If you cannot see her, she will most likely hit a perfect ult... and if she hits the ult, there is no way of countering the gank. If you see her approaching the lane, do NOT Flay her, and do NOT Death Sentence her. ANYTHING that gets you closer to her will make her life easier hitting Glacial Prison. The best, safest thing you can do when being faced with a Sejuani gank is to coordinate with your carry: If you see her coming, go back to your tower, and let your carry farm alone, then throw him Dark Passage when she reaches the bush. You can be daring and wait till she starts the gank (IE throw her ult / tramples them), and, hell, maybe you'll even get to waste her spells that way. But the important thing is that you two CANNOT be together when she ganks. As long as you aren't together, you won't be hit by Glacial Prison or Arctic Assault at the same time, and that's 75% of the way towards a gank countered!






Shaco, up until the start of Season 3, has always been one of the most banned champions in ranked and draft modes. However, after nerfed, he has suffered a loss in usage, but that doesn't make him any less of a threat. The problem with Shaco is that it's piss easy to counter him if you know what to do. His ganks consist of, mostly, reaching the lane invisible with Deceive (You might or might not see him with Stealth Ward, so be careful), backstabbing and applying slow to your carry, then using Hallucinate to avoid your skillshots, maybe even throwing a box or two to try and fear you (Though your Mercury's Treads already counters that).

If you can't stop Shaco from reaching your lane, and he manages to ult near your carry, it's pretty easy to know which is the real Shaco... and even then, there's an even easier way. Most champs try dealing damage to both Shacos - whoever takes less damage is the real one. It might prove a challenge for you ( Death Sentence), but thankfully we can use the Rengar scheme with Shaco: Flay is wide enough to hit both Shacos at the same time, slowing both. It'll force the REAL Shaco to use Two-Shiv Poison on your carry. Pay attention, and Death Sentence the real Shaco, and/or The Box him. Otherwise, Flay should be exiting cooldown right now anyway. Be sure to ping your partner the real one so he knows who it is. Either way, you still have Dark Passage to help you, and you truly shouldn't have any issues with him. Gank countered!






Another commonly banned champion, Shen is quite the b*tch because Stand United pretty much makes him not only a insta-ganker, but also a life-saver for them. In the case he ults onto a teammate that you are attacking / Is attacking you, a quick Flay and The Box will keep him from joining the fight and will give you time to run. Of course, things are slightly different if he's ganking.

Shadow Dash into, usually, procs of Frozen Mallet's slow is what consists Shen's ganks, with the taunt's duration high enough for your enemy carry and support to reach you and take it from there. Problem with that is that its range is very, very low, and it can be easily be countered with a simple Flay. This, my friends, is why he's generally seen top, and not jungle. Gank countered! Just... don't stay near your carry. It'd be hilariously pathethic if he taunted you both.






Unlike Shen, Shyvana suffers the opposite reaction: She's (with good reason) more generally seen jungle, but can also top, with smaller rewards. Needless to say, Shyvana is a bruiser that excels in team displacement with the usage of her ult, Dragon's Descent, which knocks back her enemies. Add that with the probably proc of Frozen Mallet and Burnout and she's quite the ideal jungler.

Shyvana will try to use her ult to throw you BACK onto her allies, which means she might come from behind your tower and ult you back a LONG way. (I've seen this happen countless times). She's a champion whose kit depends on enemy placement, concentration and timing. Ring any bells? (Hint: Rhymes with Fax). Use Death Sentence the moment she approaches the lane, and Flay her anywhere you want, preferably towards her allies. She can ult if she wants now, because, most likely, it'll be helping you guys. Gank countered!






What is best in life? I'd say Spaghetti, but Sion would say: "Tu staun mah enemees und sluis dem with mah ax!!". Or something. Cryptic Gaze's duration, much like Shen's Shadow Dash, is enough for his allies to reach you. Add to that his immense damage-dealing potential (And tanking potential), and you've got quite the... interesting gank. Nothing you can't handle, though.

Cryptic Gaze takes the obvious spotlight for being his only CC. You CANNOT let him throw that stun on your carry, but Sion has no way of avoiding your CCs. Really. you can even simply Flay him back as soon as he reaches the lane, and he probably won't reach the carry. Sion is another type of jungler that needs his teammates to initiate. And in that case, I don't think anyone would dare initiate on a Thresh unless they were absolutely sure they would win. Uh... Either way, if he comes in ahead of his enemies, he made a big mistake. Gank countered!





Energize

He's a pain in the Ixtal's Impact. Yes, I know he is. He's fast with Seismic Bastion, constantly slowing with Shattered Earth, and his Impale deserves no introduction. Luckily, however, he has no gap closer, or otherwise hard way of reaching your carry if you have warded. If you haven't warded, well, you're screwed. Or, more specificall, your ADC.

Skarner's gank is only powerful thanks to his Seismic Bastion. A simple Flay will NOT stop him, Death Sentence won't either. You have to take off his shield. One initial auto-attack proc of Death Sentence, followed by a Flay backwards will probably take away most of it already. You have three options now: Keep hitting him and hope it takes off his shield, leaving him too "Slow" to reach your carry, coordinate with your carry for him to take off his shield quickly, or simply The Box his ***. Either way, if he can't reach your carry, he can't do squat. And he can only do that if Seismic Bastion is up. Take that off... Gank countered!






I love playing as Trundle... I love his kit, although I have to admit it had become... stale, to say the least. He was the one that made me interested in jungling (Friend playing Trundle, started asking him how to jungle... And today, I main that role). He ganks by using Frozen Domain to speed him up and Pillar of Ice to block your ADC's path. He usually sports a Frozen Mallet too, so all he has to do is reach you and he can consider his gank successful... If you've accompanied me so far through these counters, you must have an idea of what to do by now.

It might seem Flay is all you need against him, but, as Trundle, I've managed to hit perfect pillars even despite being CC'd, so you have to be careful, for it might not be enough. If that's the case, the moment he passes you to reach the carry, use Death Sentence on him and you should be able to stop his gank for good now. Trundle's rework might have seem to be mostly artistic, but he had some serious changes to his Q, W and ult. However, gank-wise, he's still rather predictable. You shouldn't have any problem unless it's not just the troll coming to get you.Gank countered!y






...Really? Well... I do want to cover the common junglers, and Trynda isn't uncommon to see in the jungle, but... come on. Come ON. It's like making a section on a Rammus guide about how to counter an AD Master Yi.

Trynda's Mocking Shout's slow is nothing compared to your Flay, and his Spinning Slash can be Death Sentence'd or completely trolled by the dash-denial aspects of Flay. There isn't much to talk about this, because it's almost instantly a gank countered so... have some music!





Expunge

I'll admit, it's a bit... rare... nowadays to see Twitch jungling, but since it's still more popular than a jungle Quinn, it still deserves mention. As an ADC jungler (And the most suitable ADC to go to the jungle), Twitch offers little to no CC, but lots of damage. And despite that, he can sneak up on you from outside of the river, so be sure to stock up on Vision Wards, or an Oracle's Elixir. Of course, I'm going to assume you are poor (Which you should be) and that Twitch DOES get the drop on your ADC.

Twitch gains attack speed from Ambush, and besides Venom Cask's slow, all other skills Twitch has are made to stack up Deadly Venom for, finally, a very painful expunge. Your job is to stop him from attacking your carry (much). Since range isn't a problem to Twitch thanks to Spray and Pray, you should, instead, focus on simply hard CCing him away from your carry. Death Sentence the rat, followed by a Dark Passage on your carry to negate the burst expunge will do. Lastly, Flay him backwards and run back to your turret. Twitch jungle has been extinct because, of course, he wouldn't get as much farm. And with a CC tank in lane... Well, let's just say I haven't seen a Twitch jungle since 2011. Gank countered!






Udyr's principal characteristic is his relentlessness - besides the damage of Wilding Claw and Wingborne Storm, and the tankness/sustain purposes of Iron Mantle, the obvious star of his ganks is Blazing Stampede. Because of Udyr's skills having generally low cooldown, he can keep activating Bear Stance and keep dashing towards your carry. Once he's stunned, he's food for the enemy laners.

While you might think that a simple Flay should do the trick, remember what I said: It has an extremely low cooldown, so Udyr will just reactivate it to keep dashing. The Box, as with every non-gap closer champ, stops him dead on tracks, but that's only in case things get very, very complicated. The best way to deal with Udyr that doesn't waste your ult is a well-timed Death Sentence that wastes the duration of his current bear boost. That will get the carry far, but it might not stop Udyr himself, specially if he's building tanky / your carry is really low health. I'd suggest simply throwing your lantern to your carry and, depending on his position towards you, either let him grab it or simply using it for added defense if Udyr does reach him. But, to be quite frank, if you can see Udyr coming, there really isn't any danger in his ganks, because, despite how fast he is with Bear Stance, he isn't a blasted Hecarim: You have plenty of time to go back to your tower. Gank countered!






I've been testing Vi jungle in person, and she can pack quite a mean punch if used correctly. She'll use Vault Breaker on your carry, one auto attack, Relentless Force to proc Denting Blows, and, if sufficiently damaged, or with her sallies in tow, Cease and Desist will do the job of letting her stand still. It's quite a tough gank, specially if you're pushed or it catches you by surprise.

What's most important here is Cease and Desist, an unstoppable ult. While Vault Breaker can be blocked and also flayed (Making her enter a 3 second cooldown), she will still be able to ult to your carry from a large distance. My recommendation, if you see her coming, is to wait till she starts charging Vault Breaker, Death Sentence her and Flay her away, giving your carry time to escape the ult's range and making her lose Vault Breaker's cooldown long enough that she can't use it again to reach the carry. Think of her like a punker Malphite, with more attitude and less rockin'. Gank countered!






Voli is another hero hugely dependent on his movement speed, using Thundering Smash and Sky Splitter, along with the probable Frozen Mallet to reach and slow your carry indefinitely. The true problem here is not only the fact he can reach your carry pretty fast (Specially because some, if not most Volis build Mobility Boots), but there's also the super tank factor. Voli can easily tank turrets after a Giant's Belt-based item is finished on his inventory.

But the most important things you need to take notice when there's a Volibearcoming for you are A) NEVER focus him unless he's severely low on health, and even then be weary of his passive, The Relentless Storm. And B) his Thundering Smash is just like Hecarim's Devastating Charge in the sense that if you Death Sentence him during it, not only will you waste its precious duration, but you'll also make him cover less ground than if he wasn't stunned. Just be careful not to pull him near your ADC, for he can slow them and the charge is still going even after you stun him. If your carry does get caught, however, you always still have your Dark Passage. Good luck with Volibear! Gank countered!






Warwick is certainly a quite funny character to play against. He only has one way to stop you ( Infinite Duress) and one way to speed up ( Blood Scent), but for that to happen, either you or your carry would have to be low on health. Usually they even build Frozen Mallet to be able to do more, but it's generally still fruitless.

I do advise you to be cautious, however: Infinite Duress, despite being stoped with a single Flay or Death Sentence, still locks the target and him for nearly 3 seconds, way more than enough time for any enemy carry/support to get there and help take down your carry. And the fact his ult is instant is also pretty dangerous! In these kind of situations, it's best to actually LET him get in-lane (While still going back to your tower, of course) and Flay or Death Sentence him as soon as he uses his ult. There is no counter like a counter that makes him waste ult, is there? ;D Gank countered!






Xin Zhao is just as much of an excellent jungler as he is an excellent top, and his amazing ganking potential shows just that. He can actually do two things: One is to jump towards either a minion of yours / you with Audacious Charge and use Crescent Sweep to throw the carry back / towards the wall (Any units that aren't the one he autoattacked IE Challenged are knockbacked), OR jump to your carry with Audacious Charge straight away, ult to get you away (Stopping you from using Flay) and using Three Talon Strike in conjunction with Battle Cry to knock your carry up.

Knowing that, it's easy to see Xin Zhaos pimp slappin' newbie Threshes and their carries, but at the very least everypony that's played the game enough knows exactly how Xin works and how to avoid it, and so should you: When he uses Audacious Charge with Three Talon Strike, you should immediatly throw the lantern and stay AWAY From your carry, so he can escape. Usually the most frustrating thing for a Xin is to not complete Three Talon Strike, and some regular players even get used to starting a gank without Audacious Charge, so that, when people flash out of the third strike, he uses it to get it in (And knock them up. (After a backdoor a.ssaul-- THIS IS STUPID)). So be careful if he does that, and flay quickly if he tries jumping in for the third! If you're smart and you know how he works, you will manage to counter it with no trouble. Gank countered!





let's bounce
This blob has more to do with James Bond than he has to any other thing he has been compared to. He has a codename, he is adept at coming from unsuspected places, and survives against all odds. He's also muscular and pretty damn sexy handsome. Really, he's more like James Bond 2.0 than Green Majin Boo or Giant Flubber. Starting his gank with his huge-range channeled Elastic Slingshot, he stuns your carry (And will try to get you in line of fire as well), the proceeds to use let's bounce to knock him back to his allies. Also, Stretching Strikes's slows. It's a very vicious gank you don't want to be a part of, that's for sure.

That's easy to predict, but if Zac reaches your carry it's quite over, and he can be a VERY tricky fella to track down with wards if he knows how to play, because of Elastic Slingshot's HUGE range. It's best for you to ward extra carefully, such as warding the Tribush near the river as blue team or the tribush near the tower as purple team, besides the usual warding spots. But once you see him channel his jump, you just have to hit him either with a Death Sentence or with a well-timed Flay to stop his Elastic Slingshot (Just as you would stop Tristana's Rocket Jump mid-flight with a flay.). If he can't reach you, he can't use his devastating CC to stop you long enough for his lane mates to proceed. The second option would be to stay back use Dark Passage to get your carry out of there, but it's very risky and I wouldn't advise. Overall, what beats Zac is clever warding and nice reflexes. Gank countered!






Zed is not usually seen in the jungle because, as I stated above, junglers usually need to have plenty of CC to be able to do real awesome ganking. Only thing Zed has coming for him is his Living Shadow's Shadow Slash and his ult, Death Mark, that makes him invulnerable for one second or so. I've seen a lot of well-played Zeds completely troll the enemy team by a perfect timing of Death Mark, so be extra careful of that and DO NOT Flay him or try to Death Sentence him, because, inbetween Living Shadow and Death Mark, he can easily dodge your skillshots.

But as I said countless times here... there's no counter gank like one that makes the enemy waste his ult. So what I suggest, and by far the easiest way to deal with a Zed gank, is to simply... leave your AD carry, wait till Zed ults your teammate, throw him Dark Passage, and boom. Done. Zed has no real way of catching up, and his ult just went kapoot. Did I mention Thresh is amazing at trolling? Gank countered!
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Closure (Thanks, Match Histories and Recommended Guides!)


Thresh is a very, very good adition for the support roster, and has the same amazing potential as Nautilus, Blitzcrank and Leona: He can disrupt the enemy team quite easily, and help his teammates out of a jiffy with his many hard CCs. However, with the addition of Dark Passage, Thresh is not only the best guy to be CLOSE to the teamfight, he's also the best to stay OUT of it. Anywhere Thresh is, be it the center of focus, or outside of it, he can help his teammates, and that's exactly what makes him a perfect addition to your team if it needs someone who can initiate as well as save. His ratios are so evenly matched that you can build him almost anyway in any lane and it could still (theoretically) work!

Be it in mid, or top, or even jungling, if played right, a Thresh player will be helping your team's score so much you will be able to say you're...






A HUGE thank you to Snickersnacks for the maps in the warding section, iSparklez for his uplifting morale (Even though he sometimes pissed me off >w>), Agoney for his amazing tips, AndyChanglee for helping me with the headings and some help with some quite important Thresh details, and, last, but not least, YOU! Yes, you, for reading this! I hope you guys have fun playing Thresh, as I had fun writing this guide! We'll see you on the next one! (That might or not be Zac Zyra. Most likely it will~)

-Gab




It's AMAZING all the support and incentive I've received! Thank you so much, guys. Here are some match histories posted on the comments or sent to me by users of this site. I'm supposed to, apparently. It's like... the rule for #1 guides or somethin'. Don't really understand why, but whatevs, here it is! :D

...*ahem* I mean...

It's wonderful to know that people are finding my guide useful! Hope to see more of these soon!~

Massive Awesomeness Inside
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Change Log


2/12/13 - Published guide - Finished Nautilus and Nocturne in the "The Ultimate Combo Breaker" section. - Ate Spaghetti. Nothing out of the ordinary.

2/13/13 - Finished Nunu & Willump and F*ck-face. - Ate Mashed Yam. It's freakin' delicious.

2/14/13 - Finished Pantheon, Poppy and Rammus. - Did some spelling check all around the guide - Added the possibility of putting a point in Summoner's Wrath , giving a huge thanks to koridjinn for reminding me that it has a better utility for you than Safeguard. - Ate Spaghetti once again. Not my fault it's so tasty!

2/20/13 - Stayed away from the guide because, among other things, I had dental surgery. - I finished EVERY other jungler's template so I have an easier time completing them. - Ate Mashed Potatoes with Eggs because of my surgery. Remind me to make more dental surgeries.

2/27/13 - Took off my stitchest today, so I'm back typing! - Finished Rengar, Riven and Sejuani - Ate a lot of delicious meat in a buffet today. Talk about eye candy!

3/6/13 - Getting ready to go to England for 3 months. Exciting! - My Grammar Nazi senses were tingling and I realized my guide broke several guidelines of our order, so I decided to "revamp" it in terms of grammar. - Finished Shaco and Shen - Ate Pancakes. For dinner.

3/9/13 - England, here we come! Since I was bored in the plane, here's a super update: Shyvana, Sion, Skarner, Trundle, Tryndamere and Twitch! - MEGA excited for ZAC. So excited I might even do a guide for him... Watch out for that! - Ate some tasty cake, actually. Cake is best thing to eat before going on a trip! :3

4/29/13 - One and a half months later, here I am updating my guide, but it's not a simple update: Welcome to Chaining Kills 2.5! I've made changes to the skill tips (Putting Death Sentence's passive on its respective place); added more match histories; updated Trundle and Sejuani's counter gank section; made a MAJOR update to my rune selection, levelling order and the start of my item build; and FINISHED the "The Ultimate Combo Breaker" section, adding Vi, Volibear, Warwick, Xin Zhao, Zac and Zed! Onwards to Matchups!

6/23/13 - Wow, it has been a while! Aside from some minor changes, I also added the possibility of building Liandry's Torment, which actually works pretty well with Thresh, and revamped the situational "Only Tank/Initiator" build to include options for both Armor and Magic Resist, mainly Randuin's Omen and Spirit Visage. Both options offer good benefits besides those, but the core of that build in the case of a balanced enemy team is still the same ( Frozen Heart + Warmog's Armor)

02/8/13 - As the game changes, so should the guides! Goodbye, my friend Runic Bulwark... hello, Spectre's Cowl! As such, I changed a lot in my guide, specially the item phase. Go check it out!

11/22/13 - The Pre-Season is here! All the changes were accounted for on the Cheat Sheet on this day, and there are plans to continue updating all week!

11/23 - I've marked what was and what was not due to some changes, and furthermore changed the runes in the cheat sheet. Updating runes today.

03/24/2014 - Wow, been a while! I've updated the Cheat Sheet and answered the comments - Talisman of ascension really is the way to go! Bye bye, face of the mountain! :(

01/17/2015 - Welp... I should definetly re-do this guide. I'll wait for the rune overhaul, then do it, but in the mean time, enjoy the updated cheat sheet!
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