Welcome! RedSon here with my guide to playing the newest champion of the League Thresh. As this is my first guide, feel free to get in contact with any tips or suggestions you may have. Although he's supposed to be a support (as is Kayle if you remember), Thresh is a scary champion in top lane, as you don't have to waist money or masteries on support items. You can still run around and set up amazing kills but also get them as well. So sit back an enjoy as we learn how to put fear back into the League!

Pros + First ever ranged tank + Scary as hell with Death Sentence + Highest slow in game with The Box + Great CC in team fights + Kinda like Hellraiser!

Cons - Death Sentence is hard to land - Relies on Souls for Armour and AP - Hard to Master - You have to sit through all the "Thresh can't top!" lines....

I tend to go 9/21/0 on Thresh. The armour bonus from Hardiness and the health bonus from Honor Guard really help his early game, especially because your relying on soul collection for extra armour. Picking up some extra AP as well will help a great deal with dishing of damage untill you can build attack speed and AP items

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: These give Thresh the extra damage he will need against top lane opponents, as well as adding extra power to the shield of Dark Passage
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: At his core, Thresh is an AP Caster. Therefore the Magic Penetration is useful for most of his skills.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: This will give Thresh the extra MR he needs for survivability early game
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Thresh scales armor with Souls he collects but this extra boost will improve your early game in case you find yourself unable to harvest.

Teleport: Gives great mobility around the map. Team fight kicking off at bottom? No problem! Jump to a nearby ward, cast Death Sentence and hit The Box. Turret being tkaen up top? Right! Jump onto it a hit Flay to push the wave back. An all round great spell

Flash: Although Death Sentence provides an escape, it can only be used in certain situations. Take Flash to make sure you get out alive. Can also help initiate, a quick Flash into The Box can really mess up the enemies day.

Ignite: If you don't think you'll need the mobility of Teleport, go with Ignite. The extra damage is never missed and can also help out with self healing champs like Garen

• DAMNATION: (Innate): Thresh does not gain armor per level. Instead, Thresh collects the souls of dead enemies by walking near. Souls permanently grant armor and ability power.
  Champions and large minions always drop a harvestable soul. Small minions only sometimes drop a soul.
  
  Thresh NEEDS these Souls. Early game he has lower armour then most champs and can only gain it from picking these up. But dont worry it's not that hard. Whenever you or a team mate kill a creep or enemy champ, it will drop a Soul and you can walk near it to pick it up. The first soul will grant 1 bonus ability power and armor. Subsequent souls will grant 0.005 less, down to a minimum of 0.5 per stack
  
• DEATH SENTENCE (Q): (Passive): Thresh's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage on each hit. The damage value is equal to the total number of souls collected plus a percentage of his attack damage, based on the amount of time since his last attack.
  (Active): Thresh throws out his scythe, dealing magic damage to the first unit hit and pulling them toward him for 1.5 seconds.
  Thresh can reactivate this ability to pull himself towards the bound enemy.
  
  This is Thresh's signature move. Great for starting fights and pulling enemies out of position. The passive cause bonus magic damage and goes well with items like Wit's End. However it's hard to land, as Thresh winds up the shot before taking it. This gives enemies time to see it coming and move, so try to judge where they will run to. You can also use it as an escape. When getting chased, look for enemy creeps in front of you. Then double tap Death Sentence to jump to them
  
• DARK PASSAGE (W): (Active): Thresh throws his lantern towards the target location for up to 6 seconds. If an ally right-clicks it, they pick up the lantern and Thresh pulls them both back to him.
  For the next 6 seconds, allies who come near the lantern (even while Thresh is holding it) gain a shield lasting 4 seconds that absorbs damage. Allies can only receive the shield once per cast. If Thresh moves more than ~1500 units away, the lantern will return to him.
  
  Thresh can pull his team mates out of any situation with Dark Passage. It has a large range and can be cast over walls to pull your team to your location. The shield is most handy as well, to block incoming attacks for allies or even help you out in 1vs1 situations. Dark Passage can be used to collect the souls from afar as well, so cast it when you dont want to risk walking into a creep wave. Can also handily be used to check bushes!
  
• FLAY (E): (Active): Thresh deals magic damage in a line beginning behind him. Enemies hit are pushed in the direction of the swing and then slowed for 1.5 seconds.
  Cast forward to push; cast backward to pull.
  
  Another great ability to move your enemies out of position, as well as hit them with a slow. It also cancels out ults like Katarina's. Good for escapes and initiates, depending on where you cast it. Another little trick is to disrupt people who jump to you, like Jax. Hit flay when they are close to landing to push them away. Seriously messes with peoples combo's!
  
• THE BOX (R): (Active): Thresh creates a prison of spectral walls around himself. Enemy champions who walk through a wall take magic damage and are slowed by 99% for 2 seconds, but break that wall.
  Once one wall is broken, the remaining walls' damage and slow duration is halved. An enemy cannot be afflicted by multiple walls.
  
  NO ONE ESCAPES The Box! A horrible ability that applies the highest slow in game (99%). Charge in, hit R and laugh as they try to escape. Great for defence or attacks.

> > >

Build up Death Sentence first to gain a lot of long ranged damage and to build the passive. Then max out Dark Passage to build it's shield. Flay should go last and hit The Box at 6,11 and 16

Grab these as soon as to dramaticly decrease Death Sentence's cool down.

Wit's End is a great item. The extra MR helps Thresh alot and it scales with both Damnation and Death Sentence. Get it dramatically increases your damage out put

Gives you some extra tankiness in lane. The AOE damage also sincs nicely with Abyssal Mask

Then grab an Abyssal Mask. To start with, Thresh's ability ratios are small, so the extra magic penetration will not be missed. This also makes Thresh more tanky and able to start jumping into fights

Gives a big boost in your armor and slows the attack speed of enemies enemies. Handy for dealing with the bruisers up top

Seriously boosts your health and health regen for late game plays

Great damage item for Thresh as it can scale with the passive from Death Sentence and also the Souls collected from Damnation. The extra attack speed is also great for farming and dealing sustained damage to the enemy

Burns for a percentage of the enemies health as well as giving a big health boost.If you use Flay first, the damage will increase

Gives a boost in MR and tenacity helps a lot. However, I much prefer the CD reduction on Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Take only if you really need

More attack speed, tenacity, movement speed and CD reduction. A great item for late game fights.

Early Game: Thresh is by far his weakest in the Early Stages of the Game. He has low armor and relatively low AP. Most top bruisers will dominate Thresh at this stage if you try to plays aggressive. So start by playing a very defensive game. Concentrate on last hits and collecting Souls. Once you hit level 3 use Dark Passage to pick them up from range so you don’t have to be so close to the enemy champion. Watch out for champions like Garen, Wukong, Jax and any other champ who can jump on you from distance. If it does happen, throw down your shield and hit Flay to push them away. Try to look at what abilities your opponents use on the creep waves. If you see them use their jump/speed/dash move on a creep, try to go in for so quick harassment but ALWAYS PLAY IT SAFE. The only time to get aggressive is when your jungler comes up to gank. Throw down Dark Passage and lead with auto attacks. When your jungler charges use Flay and Death Sentence to stop them running. Remember to look out for fights you can teleport to in order to pick up some cheeky kills. Your main enemy here is other AP champions. Thresh's magic resist will be quite low here so an AP champ like Teemo can really ruin your day. If they really are hurting you bad, try to get Abyssal Mask first for the extra MR.

MID Game: Thresh starts to pick up the pace in mid game as team fights start to become more frequent. Look for teleport targets always. You should now have Ionian Boots of Lucidity so Death Sentence’S CD should be a lot lower. Keep picking up Souls for the extra armor and MR. In team fights start off with Death Sentence or Flash to get you close to the enemy. Then drop The Box for the mass damage and slow, the Dark Passage for the shield. Afterwards, keep using Flay to constantly disrupt the enemy team and chase using Death Sentence. When running from a fight use Dark Passage to shield you and your allies. It will also give your team a quick escape should they need it. Malady will keep your damage constant when mixed with Death Sentence’s passive. Abuse The Box's heavy slow both in attack and defence. Try flashing in, hitting The Box followed by a quick Death Sentence and then walking them through the walls will cause massive damage

Late Game:Now the team fights come thick and fast. You should have quite a bit of health, armor and MR by now so keep trying to initiate with Death Sentence but always make sure your team is there to back you up should the fight turn. Zephyr will give you a good amount of extra damage output should you need it. Using Dark Passage’s shield can also help you tank turrets for your team.

Below is an example of a successful gank early game. Olaf pings the enemy so I know he's on his way. I run past the creep waves in order to have a clean line of sight with Death Sentence. As wukong moves behind us, I aim for Fiora with Death Sentence. After hitting her a allow on pull back wards before reactivating Death Sentence and leaping to her. I hit Flay to knock her backwards and Olaf picks up the kill. All this time I saved The Box so as Wukong runs back in I trap him and pick up my second kill of the game. A good gank!





Here, both Hecarim and Dr. Mundo try to jump me whilst I farm. I wait until the last second to flash away, putting Hecarim out in the open and under fire from the turret. As he turns to run, I throw Death Sentence and drag him back wards. I cast Flay then immediately cast The Box, pushing him into it and getting the kill.

Here is the first batch of results!

So now you have the basics of playing Thresh not support. Although he can be hard to get into, once mastered he becomes the scary face of any team. Thanks for reading and remember to send me as much feed back as possible! Thanks RedSon

SPACESPACE

// SPECIAL THANKS: Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

25/01/2013- Changed runes to Magic Resist
25/01/2013- Added Early, Mid and Late Game
26/01/2013- Edit to Early Game to cover Ap champs
26/01/2013- Sight change to the intro
26/01/2013- Results added and other items added
26/01/2013- Masteries Changed and Item Order Changed
27/01/2013- Wit's End replaces Malady
27/01/2013- Addition to the Ability descriptions on Dark Passage and Flay
27/01/2013- Video of gank added
28/01/2013- New section for Ganks
01/02/2012- Addition of Sunfire Cape and Warmog's