Hi, I'm laughup. I play on NA server, name on there is laughup02, and although I don't play ranked my usual winrate is against gold/platinum so if I played ranked I'd probably be high gold. My 5 mains are Nasus, Ezreal, Thresh ADC, Lucian, and Vayne.

When I started playing League, during the level up process the two champions that just stuck to me immediately was Nasus and Ezreal, and when I discovered Thresh, I fell in love with his E passive and have been maining him as an ADC with surprising success. Although if I'm ever forced to support, Thresh is still my go-to champ for that.

Thresh is a champion that can basically cover a lot of aspects that a support needs for his ADC in his kit, and has basically been in the meta since his release, as far as I've known. Saving teammates, starting great engages, etc.

But how can Thresh ADC, exactly? He doesn't have an attack speed steroid like many ADC's do, and he has a pretty **** attack range compared to other ADCs.

His E passive is what makes it possible, which with full build and around 150-200 souls (take or give) can equal around 900-1300 damage on first AA JUST from the E passive, in magic damage, making it harder to build against.

This guide will demonstrate how to one-shot anyone that isnt a super-tank while also being a monster to kill in team fights, and tips to handle disadvantages.

Pros -Still has aspects of his support kit -Easier to last hit with -A massive lane bully once BF sword is bought -Hybrid, harder to build against -Stacking is infinite (max is actually 999,999). -Each soul increases your autoattack damage by 1. Easier to stack than a devourer! -Potentially tons of armor off passive. -Many meta supports work very well with him. -Classic Thresh/Blitz trick (it still works, you have to be fast though). -If fed, can MASSIVE carry up until late game. -Tanky in late game (vs AD) while still doing damage! -Windwall doesn't affect your AA's unlike other ADC's. Thresh ADC can survive most assassins long enough to outright murder them, or for the team to help lock them down while you take the free soul. His damage is outright insane when a BF sword is bought, usually doing more than half a squishy's health on the first AA.

Cons -Has a lousy AA range (475) compared to the usual ADC AA range (550). -Magic damage is his bane. -Easily gankable (unless Kalista/Thresh lul). -Can get bullied hard before BF sword is acquired -His late game is actually not the greatest. -Hybrid, penetration only affects half his damage. -Potential flame from teammates is higher than normal. -Smart opponents can see when you're getting ready to be aggressive and will back off (can be seen as a pro too). -Slow attack windup makes it harder to kite. -No attack speed steroid. -During the time you use Death Sentence, you can't AA. Thresh ADC also has his weaknesses, namely his AA range, inability to kite well, late game hybrid, and the fact early ganks can get the other adc/jungler fed quick if not handled well. These are the main things that can make playing him hard, specially when maining him for a long time.

The runepage I use to play Thresh ADC. Some may call me a jerk for running 1% crit, but it can make a difference in trades or fights when you don't have crit chance yet. It already has 9 times for me (4 on Nasus, 2 on Vayne, 2 on Thresh, 1 on Riven).

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Greater Mark of Attack Damage - Simple and self-explanatory, needed for damage and farming.
Greater Mark of Critical Chance - The reason I run this is simple: it turns the ability of critting from off to on, even if it's very small. Don't expect it to help often, but it does help at random times. Don't ever have more than one though.
greater mark of hybrid penetration - Viable pick, increases both sides of your damage. Makes your late game stronger but early game weaker.
Greater Mark of Scaling Attack Damage - Not recommended. Makes your early game much weaker for not too much of a boost late game. It does however surpass a standard attack damage mark at level 8.

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Greater Seal of Armor - Due to your passive, Thresh's starting armor is incredibly weak. This helps resolve the problem so that you have SOME resistance early game.
Greater Seal of Health - Viable pick. Only get this vs teams with a lot of magic damage and few physical damage dealers.
Greater Seal of Magic Resist - Viable, but not recommended since health can cover the whole magic damage territory better.
Greater Seal of Scaling Armor - Not recommended, since it makes your early game INCREDIBLY vulnerable and your passive helps cover armor late game. Only get vs 5 AD teams.

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - HIGHLY recommended to pick, you need magic resist to help against mages (since you don't have infinite scaling magic resist), and your base magic resist is enough to hold for you until the scaling gets better than the standard.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - Not recommended, since the scaling is the best amount you'll get and it will be rare to fight two AP at bot lane. Even if you do, their damage is usually not that high early and scaling will help better.
Greater Glyph of Ability Power - This isn't a full AP Thresh guide. You already get AP from your passive anyways.

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Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed - This helps Thresh proc his damage faster since compared to other ADC's, the only attack speed items we usually get are berserkers and statikk shiv.
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - Viable, but I like the attack speed better. Get this if your going with the hybrid penetration marks.
greater quintessence of hybrid penetration - Viable. Get this if your looking into doing more damage or your going top lane.

Ferocity

Fury vs Sorcery
So 4% more attack speed, or 2% more spell damage? This should be obvious, the attack speed of course! Sorcery actually does not affect our E passive damage.
Double-Edged Sword vs Feast
Alright, I'm usually someone that loves double-edged sword here but... why take it on Thresh ADC bot? Besides the fact your AA range is lower than every other ADC, you also can't really trade well until your first back. Getting double-edged sword literally has you take more harass damage than normal. Feast however helps your sustain in lane and you don't take 2% extra damage. I'm sorry, but losing lane for 2% more damage isn't worth it.
Vampirism vs Natural Talent
I prefer Vampirism due to the 2% extra lifesteal for the early game sustain, but Natural Talent is also very good. 0.55 AD per level is pretty nice for just 5 mastery points, and the 0.83 AP per level is a nice little help on all your abilities. Preference mastery I suppose.
Bounty Hunter vs Oppressor
If your support CC's them during your auto attacks, or you get in some damage while they are slowed, Oppressor is nice during the early game. However, Bounty Hunter outscales Oppressor regardless at 3 unique champion kills, which makes it a huge preference for me.

Cunning

Wanderer vs Savagery
You're not the support. You're not the jungler. There is almost no reason you should be getting Wanderer when Savagery is much better for you. This also means you're getting more lifesteal out of attacking minions than normal.
Runic Affinity vs Secret Stash vs Assassin
Runic Affinity definitely helps you keep Red buff longer, but you won't always get it, so I usually prefer Secret Stash for the sustain in lane. Assassin will almost never benefit you.
Merciless vs Meditation
I prefer Merciless much more here since it helps you finish off your opponent when he is lower health. Merciless is for champions with mana problems or depend a huge amount on abilities that cost mana. Thresh ADC, although has some mana problems, shouldn't really be using his abilities much.
Bandit vs Dangerous Game
Bandit is for low ELO people who can't farm or for supports so they can have a gold income. If you are low elo, I'd suggest stop using bandit (unless you're a support main, in which case please keep carrying me) and LEARN TO CS. I'm not trying to be mean, but trust me, it helps a lot. Dangerous Game can save you many times, or just get you enough mana for an escape, outplay, etc.
Precision vs Intelligence
I LOVE intelligence, don't get me wrong. I use it on Kha'Zix, Nasus, Ezreal, and Lucian and it's FUN. I even love it on Thresh. But you need damage, not CDR. Your ability actives do not help you deal ADC amount of damage later in the game, and the more you cast Q, the more you aren't auto attacking. Also, Precision affects your E damage as well.
Stormraider's Surge vs Thunderlord's Decree vs Windspeaker's Blessing
This isn't the Thunderlord's dominant meta anymore, but it doesn't mean it's not good. Thunderlords is still very good, and with your full combo you can 100-0 the enemy ADC after first back, if you haven't fed. Stormraiders is for bruisers and juggernauts, and Windspeakers is usually for sustain supports.

Remember to note that Thresh's AA is not a projectile, so it cannot be blocked by Wind Wall or intercepted by Unbreakable. Also, the windup time on Thresh's AA is only reduced by 0.25% per 1% attack speed, compared to the normal 1% for everyone else.

Damnation (Passive) Thresh does not gain armor per level. Instead, Thresh collects the souls of dead enemies by approaching them or by placing Dark Passages's lantern nearby. Each soul permanently grants 0.75 armor and ability power. Champions and large minions and monsters always drop a soul. Small minions and monsters only sometimes drop a soul. A soul will only drop if the enemy dies within 1900-range of Thresh. Souls are visible to allies, and only become visible to enemies if the enemy team has vision of Thresh. Souls disappear if not picked up after 8 seconds.

Tips
Do not forget about this passive, as the souls are what make Thresh. You need to remember to get your souls whenever you can, as that is free ability power and damage on your E passive, while providing armor that you don't get from leveling up (get enough souls and it starts turning into free armor).

Death Sentence (Q) Cooldown: 20/18/16/14/12 Mana Cost: 80 Range: 1100 Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 (+.5 Ability Power) Magical Damage Active: After a 0.5 second wind-up, Thresh throws out his scythe in a line and forms a tether with the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage and stunning them for 1.5 seconds. Upon hitting an enemy, Death Sentence's current cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds. While the tether persists, Thresh cannot attack and he will periodically tug on the tether, each time pulling the target a short distance toward himself. After 0.5 seconds, or instantly if he hooks a minion or monster, Thresh can reactivate the ability to use Death Leap. Death Leap Active: Thresh pulls himself to the bound enemy. This removes the stun but allows Thresh to attack again. Thresh loses the ability to activate Death Leap when the tether breaks.

Tips
Unlike Thresh support, this ability isn't as useful on Thresh ADC. The main reason is stated in the description of the ability; you cannot attack while you have a tether on the target.

However, this doesn't mean the ability is useless. We still max it third for a reason. In lane, it can be used to pull over aggressive enemies under your tower, can help start a engage, can be used as a gap closer, can be used to escape (particularly in the jungle). However, be careful when you do that because when you hit the jungle minion, you aggro it. So if you are very low health, you may of given yourself another way to die.

Dark Passage (W) Cooldown: 22/20.5/19/17.5/16 Mana Cost: 50/55/60/65/70 Range: 950 Shield Amount: 60/100/140/180/220 (+0.4 Ability Power) Active: Thresh throws his lantern to the target location where it remains for up to 6 seconds. For the next 6 seconds, the first ally to come near the lantern gains a shield that absorbs damage for up to 4 seconds. If an ally right-clicks the lantern, they will pick it up and will be pulled to Thresh's location. If Thresh moves more than 1500-units away, the lantern will return to him. Allies can only receive the shield once per cast.

Tips
We get this ability third for pulling allies into engages or saving a teammate, like any Thresh would. It can also be used to take a tick or two of ignite damage when it is still level 1. Just remember it can only shield you and one other ally, no more than that. Also, when you throw the lantern it briefly reveals any non-stealthed enemies in the area it was thrown in, making it useful to facecheck bushes.

Regardless, we still max it last because the ability doesn't provide us with any damage while fighting, and the small shield amount and cooldown reduction isn't worth it to try to max third.

Flay (E) Cooldown: 9 Mana Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 Range: 400 each side (800 total) Passive Minimum Damage: # of souls Passive Maximum Damage: # of souls + 80/110/140/170/200% of Attack Damage Active Damage: 65/95/125/155/185 (+0.4 Ability Power) Magical Damage Slow Amount: 20/25/30/35/40% Passive: Thresh's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage, increased with the time spent since his last basic attack. Active: Thresh sweeps his chain in a broad line towards a target direction. Enemies hit take magic damage, are knocked in the direction of the chains, and are slowed afterwards for 1 second.

Tips
The bread n' butter of ADC Thresh. We max this first for the pretty obvious reason: his E passive. All the others are just flavor on the icing.

When using your E, make sure to know which direction you want to be using it towards. If you pull them towards you, then it takes longer for them to retreat but might make you more vulnerable. Pushing them away however might make you less vulnerable and easier to kite, but harder to chase. Decision making is key there.

The Box (R) Cooldown: 150/140/130 Mana Cost: 100 Range: 450 Damage: 250/400/550 (+1.0 Ability Power) Magical Damage Active: After a 0.75-second delay, Thresh summons 5 spectral walls around him that last up to 5 seconds. Each wall breaks upon contact with an enemy champion, dealing them magic damage and slowing them by 99% for 2 seconds. Once a wall is broken, the remaining walls deal no damage and slow for only 1 second.

Tips
Properly using this ability can be surprisingly difficult. In a all-in, this will usually be your last spell casted in your combo. However, be careful when you do this, because if you aren't fast enough, they may be able to flash out before it does damage, ruining your combo and might lose you the fight. However, landing the full combo with your enhanced AA can kill almost any squishy immediately.

If your getting ganked, it is advised to drop this so you can escape since you have no mobility.

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Most optimal ability sequence for ADC Thresh. E first for scaling, R for burst damage, Q for cc and less cooldown, then W for bigger shield and less cooldown.

Every ADC starts this for a reason: Health, which is good for early game survivability. Attack damage, good for farming and trades. Life steal, for sustain.

One health potion increases our effective health by 150, very useful for trades, fights, or just coming back from low health. Get a few if you can with spare money on your first back, but usually no more after that.

I suggest starting with this trinket so you can have early wards to help your team's vision and tell you if you're getting ganked. Make sure to watch the minimap for it to work though.

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This is #1 priority, since it almost doubles our damage once bought. However, you might not always be able to buy it on first back.

Buy this first instead if you cannot afford BF Sword, accompanied by either another Dorans, or boots if you can.

Get this if you had to make an early back due to massive bullying or getting ganked early.

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Essential to get, try to finish this first. Helps increase our damage majorly, and if you get a lucky crit early you can almost 1-shot somebody with just this item and a fully charged E already if you aren't behind.

Second priority, you sometimes will get this before Infinity Edge, which is fine since you need attack speed. No matter what, you will be getting this item 100% of the time.

Also essential to get. Increases our burst damage, gives more attack speed and crit chance, also the passive can crit. Third item you will be getting.

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Very nice item to get, I usually get it 4th. I'd say you will usually get this 90% of the time. One problem though is your E damage will minimize possible lifesteal.

When this item was reworked, it took people a little while to figure out that it was extremely strong, and let me tell you IT IS. This item is actually very good compared to the original, and a near must get vs any comp with AP or an AP assassin that is bothering you.

Before it's rework, this item was more of a joke item for most ADC's that very few could use vs other items. Now however, it's much better and I even recommend it on Thresh ADC since it applies his E passive.

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This item, which was supposed to be for juggernaughts, is very good on ADC's right now, and even works for Thresh ADC. This item almost nullifies any burst mage or assassin's attempt to 100-0 you due to it's lovely shield passive. A near must get.

Even with the change and supposed "nerfs" this item is still very good. Honestly it's even better than before for some people, like Thresh ADC. Get this if you need to keep non-dashers away from you for they are full AD.

Very good MR item, but I prefer to get it if they have a fed bursty mage or if they are 3 AP or more. Combo's well with Mercurial Scimitar.

This will probably be the defensive item you will get most often. Get this if they have a CC that can cause your death easily or make you useless for the fight like Wither or Dark Binding. Also nice to combo with Banshee's Veil against full AP teams.

The current item I will go if I need a defensive item and they have a good mix of damage. Exceptions obviously occur, but the item gives a nice amount of MR and AR, and a 2nd life to boot! Nice to save clutch fights.

If you have to leash, leash like you would as anyone else. Just make sure your E is fully charged by the time the camp spawns (1:40 is when it spawns, it takes 10 seconds for your E to fully charge).

Focus only on last hitting, if that means you get pushed to tower then that is fine. Thresh farms surprisingly well under tower as an ADC. It is actually recommended that you have the wave at your tower, as this can cause an easy double kill for when the jungler comes to gank. Just make sure your at least level 3 before then so you have your CC.

Don't try to trade early. Pre-BF Sword, your damage in trades is pretty pathetic, specially since our E is not high level yet, which means the AD scaling isn't that great yet.

Get souls when you can. They will help you scale majorly, and are another part that makes your damage later on insane. Throw a lantern to collect two or more souls if you got a lot of mana and the enemy laners are blocking you from getting the souls.

Once you got enough money for a BF sword, if they recall push the lane to their tower and then recall. The pushed wave should be back in the middle by the time you get there, which will also deny your enemy laner cs.

If they are still in your lane and haven't recalled, coordinate with your support and jungler to see if they can hold lane until you get back.

If you can't have either of these situations, then farm up enough until you got boots, then try to push as much as you can without taking harass from the enemy laner and then recall. However, don't have it where your lane will be pushing to the enemy tower when you are back in lane, which will deny you, and put you at risk of a gank.

Got your BF sword, and your E is level 4/5? Good, it's time to be on the aggressive. Very few ADC's will be able to trade with you now as long as you take them carefully, even at same items. Continue to farm, but always try to whack the enemy ADC or support when you can with a half or more charged E passive. You'll be shocked at the damage that is done. Enough times can get you an easy kill or force them to back early, which will put them behind.

After you kill the enemy bot laners or force them to back, contest dragon. As long as your jungler knows how to smite, it should be a few easy dragons for awhile, and the first one helps a TON.

Take the enemy bot tower when possible, then roam mid lane. Get your mid laner fed if he isn't already, force objectives, help the team where you can while you still have power.

If you for some reason are not fed, but aren't behind either, then mid game is where you shine, where the other ADC doesnt have the dps to match you in teamfights yet nor the penetration to hurt tanks very well (unless it's a vayne or kog'maw). As said, use that time to try and help team get objectives while you are still ahead of their ADC.

If you fell behind or fed, don't fret! Build your three core items, then build tanky damage from there. Sterak's gage is nice, and so is Mercurial Scimitar. Building more damage without some tankiness at this point won't be very useful to your team if your behind.

Ah, late game, where it is the ADC's time to shine with their armor penetration items, mechanics, and tons of AD and crit chance making them do tons of dmg, even to tanks.

Yeah, Thresh ADC has a hard time fitting into that. Your high damage burst will basically make you always at least still 1-shot their ADC, but beyond that, you won't be as useful in a teamfight as most ADC's since your burst depends on a crit and your E passive.

You have two advantages though that you need to exploit to the fullest. 1. Almost no ADC can still 1v1 you at this point, or ever. 2. You infinitely scale! Use that to your advantage. Remember, every soul grants .75 armor and ap, and 1 damage on your AA's.

I can understand that meeting these soul goals can be hard at times due to the random nature of the soul spawnrate. If you get denied a lot, meeting these goals can also be pretty difficult.

Regardless, these are the soul amount you should be aiming for at that time. If you get over the goal at that time, great for you, you are probably also fed and are going to be a huge force in the game. Even if you don't get fed, if you have this soul amount at that time it doesn't mean your useless.

However, don't try to lose your lane just to meet these goals. If you can't get the souls, even if its 2 or more clumped, don't risk your life for it. If you can't throw a lantern towards it, then it sucks, but 3 souls are not worth feeding the enemy a kill or a burn on your summoners.

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Ashe - Tutorial Girl Marksman, Ranged, Support, Physical Difficulty Pre-6: 6/10 Difficulty Post-6: 7/10 Mana Sustain: 7/10 Gank Assists: 9/10 Kiting Potential: 6/10 Escape: 4/10 Range: 600 MATCHUP: FAVORS HER SLIGHTLY Annoying matchup. Early game you should just try to farm under tower since it is relatively easy for her to zone you out due to her superior AA range. She can zone you out quite easily, and her harass doesn't really spend on her mana too much early, so you're going to want to stand behind minions so you don't get hit by her Volley. Don't let her get 4 stacks on Ranger's Focus and then she engages you. If you're not prepared, you are going to take a heavy beating, possibly even burn on summoners. After shopping, the lane gets easier, yet harder at the same time. You will die if you are out of position, and her harass is more consistent at this point. However, a good engage will cost her, and after Enchanted Crystal Arrow she doesn't have a good way to escape us. If she has no stacks on her Ranger's Focus, she is weak to all-ins until she has it ready again.

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Caitlyn - Boom, Headshot Marksman, Ranged, Kiter, Physical Difficulty Pre-6: 9/10 Difficulty Post-6: 8/10 Mana Sustain: 5/10 Gank Assists: 3/10 Kiting Potential: 9/10 Escape: 7/10 Range: 650 (1300) MATCHUP: FAVORS HER HARD Before the ADC rework, she was the #1 counter to Thresh ADC. Now, she's even better, and was still #1 until the recent patches, now making her 3rd in my opinion. Don't expect to be able to farm if she knows how to play this game. Don't expect to get BF sword on first back. Just don't. She has basically free harass against you due to a 175 AA range difference, that can get all the way to 825 difference if you're snared by her trap or hit by her net. If she is dumb though and only harass's with a small amount of autos and abilities, then you have a chance. Caitlyn suffers slight mana problems throughout the game that aren't as noticable late game, but impact her early game. After 6, if she is low on mana, try to coordinate with your support and if possible, jungler and engage on her. Make sure you know where her traps are first! The lane doesn't get that much easier after 6, since she will get BF sword and her harass will hurt WAY more. Ask for a lane switch if possible if you get into this lane.

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Corki - ROFL Copter Marksman, Ranged, Poke, Burst, Magic Difficulty Pre-6: 6/10 Difficulty Post-6: 8/10 Mana Sustain: 4/10 Gank Assists: 3/10 Kiting Potential: 7/10 Escape: 6/10 Range: 550 MATCHUP: FAVORS HIM If you can get your jungler to gank early, or have Corki take some free tower shots early leading into a kill, you can forget the favoring him rating and have a good lane. If not, cry. This lane used to be so heavily favored in Thresh regardless, but after Corki's changes, that isn't the case anymore. You can still possibly get an early kill, and if that happens you snowball heavily. If you don't, he will poke you like no tomorrow and outscale you. That's the problem with this lane: it's heavily snowbally. His Phosphorus Bomb is pretty easy to dodge early even without boots. His only escape is his Valkyrie, which although big, is easily cancellable by your Death Sentence and Flay. His amount of magic damage however, and resistance penetration makes any extended trades horrible for you. An engage support to keep Corki locked down is recommended, otherwise don't expect to win this lane. Also please don't stand in his W. It does a lot of DoT, even without AP. If you hear a global Corki line, get ready for his special delivery.

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Thresh ADC was arguably better in season 5 early game since he could fight the dominant ADC's in lane. Now, that isn't necessarily the case. His mid to late game has gotten much better, however the problem is getting to that. The meta changes a lot though, so hopefully it gets better as time rolls around.

Thanks for reading my guide! I still have a ton of work to do, and I plan on keeping this guide up to date. I understand my English is not the greatest, and I'd appreciate some criticism on stuff I can improve, or questions as to why I think a certain way on something. I might even be wrong and be able to fix it!

I hope you enjoy surprising people with your amazing Thresh ADC damage!

5/30/15 - Created and published guide.
9/14/15 - Added ability list and tips. Reworked Pros and Cons to be a little less messy.
10/14/15 - Big update, added Runes, very basic Masteries, Ability Sequence, Soul Count, Items, and removed Warmogs from viable defensive items.
2/23/16 - HUGE update and minor guide rework. Reworked the new masteries, changed a few items, added basic matchup information, changelog, updated some text to coincide with the current season, and opinion on current state. Removed the *Under Construction* tag since it's foundations are complete. Planning on adding more detailed matchups and making the guide more appealing at later dates.
3/22/16 - Added detailed matchups for Ashe, Caitlyn, and Corki. Draven is planned next since I got some more games versus him.