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I would consider thresh counter to alistar but a good alistar can be very annoying agianst a thresh. One way to feel more safe against alistar is to learn when to flay Alistar's engage combo. Once you've learnt it, laning phase against the COW is a lot easier.
If you let Alistar combo go through, it can be a very unpleasant experience.
Bard
Bard's can be annoying with their range poke. They win the early levels since they are range but once you have your levels, you should be able to hook and kill him. Just be careful - bard's tend to do a lot of damage!
Additionally, bard's offer health regen due to their W ability. Careful with your engage against that - they can heal a lot.
Blitzcrank
Blitzcrank isn't a threat t o thresh unless the blitzcrank is super good, as always. The only ability you have to be cautious of is his grab. If you are able to dodge it, you can counter engage and get the kill. As soon as his grab is on cooldown, you have about 15 - 20 seconds time to engage. Use your time smart.
Brand
Brand is the master of fire and master of ''I WILL ONE SHOT YOU AND YOU HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS JUST TO DIE''. Yes, that's Brand. In other words, you have to be careful of his poke and abilities. Once his abilities go on a cooldown, you can hook and engage on the target. If you can, it is very advisible to dodge his abilities and engage whenever he is low on mana. He might do a lot of damage but if you are good at dodging his abilities, it will make Brand's life very hard.
What beats a poke? A HARD ENGAGE and that's what Thresh does. Do it once or twice and Brand's gone.
Braum
Currently there aren't a lot of players who lock in braum due to his lack of tankiness. He has alot of great potential to peel and CC but overall he is just a melee low damage support who doesn't really do much in the laning phase.
Janna
Janna either maxes her Zephyr (W ability) or Eye of The Storm (E ability) during the laning phase. Mostly it is her W to do more damage and poke but all poke champions have one common weakness - it's health. Janna is very squishy and easy to burst due to lack of HP.
One thing she is very good at - peel and protect. She can very well disengage a fight and be very annoying with her ulitmate ability being up but you can burst her before she uses her abilities.
Karma
Empowered Mantra (Q ability) is one of the highest damage abilities early in the game. Playing against a karma can be a pain but once her Q is on the cooldown, she cannot trade as much. Finding a great window for an engage is very critical in this matchup. Cannot engage when her ultimate and damage abilty is available because you might fall down and lose the all-in.
Finding an engage is the KEY!
Leona
Leona isn't very big of a threat early game until level 6. Her Zenith Blade (E ability) is very easy to counter as Thresh by using flay. Whenever Leona decides to engage, flay her away to keep you and your AD safe. Keep in mind, if you ever use your flay in lane, leona will see it as a ''GO'' signal for her to engage since your flay is on cooldown. Don't let it happen.
After level 6, the game turns into a skill matchup. If Leona manages to hit her ultimate and stun you or any of your teammates, there is no way you can flay that. That's a free engage and a free stun - all Leona wants to do. Sometimes even hitting a slow can work for leona, so, be very CAUTIOUS!
Lulu
Lulu is a champion that scales very well into mid-late game and is mostly picked with hypercarries. She can do a lot of damage during the laning phase, especially early into but she has to get in the range to do it, which isn't very safe for her. Once you manage to land a hook, there is no way out for Lulu.
Lux
Lux is one of the other AP damage dealer support champions that people decide to play. She does very well in terms of poke since she can get a safe distance and throw her abilities at you. Due to her low CD on her ultimate ability, she can burst anyone pretty well since all LUX players build AP to make her shield bigger and damage higher.
There's one counter to her poke - finding a way to hook her and punish her for it. Remember - lux has no escapes. Her only escape is flash. Once the flash is burnt, she has no way of escaping a hook. Once you land a couple, you will able to kill her over & over again leaving her usless and weakened.
Morgana
Morgana is Thresh's nightmare. That's why a lot of Thresh players decide to ban her during champion select. Her blackshield is very annoying to play against since it counters Thresh's entire kit. Her Dark Binding works very well with most of the carries in the botlane which can lead to a very one sided botlane.
One way to play against Morgana is to hope she uses her blackshield early and you have approximately 15 - 20 seconds time to engage.
Other way is to max your flay or hook to break the blackshield. A lot of the Morgana players will ONLY blackshield whenever you channel your hook, so if you walk up to her and flay her, she won't use it. If there is a chance to burst her - do it! Get early lead in the botlane and morgana's blackshield won't matter as much. If that doesn't happen, it can lead to a very unpleasant experience in the botlane.
Nami
Nami comes with a full package - heal, peel, damage and disengage. She has a solid laning phase in terms of keeping you in it, always having that heal and poke ability up.
While that's good thing, there's something that she doesn't have - tankiness and defense stats. As a Thresh, that's the perfect target to burst and kill. One hook on her fishy legs, she dies. As long as you don't get hit by her Aqua Prison (Q ability), you win the matchup.
Nautilus
Nautilus - THE BIG CC TANK MACHINE! He has his strenghts - engage with a hook, his auto attack is also a stun, ultimate abilty sends you to Mars and his E slows you down easily in your tracks. With ignite & aftershock up, Nautilus can one shot anyone, it feels.
While he can do that, he has a weakness - he cannot engage through minions so he has to walk up and if he hits a wall, he gets pulled to the wall and you can easily punish it, also is very vulnerable to poke. If there's a way for you to poke Nautilus (Example - Varus poke, Kaisa poke), it will make the engage a lot easier for you. If you are running guardian, it will for sure tank most of the Nautilus damage and won't hurt your AD as much.
Also, you have one sweet counter to his pull - you can flay it during his pull. Once Nautilus tries to run away and hook the wall to get away, flay him while he is pulling himself towards the wall, the flay will stop him and can be easily killed if damage applied.
Pyke
Pyke is an interesting matchup. In terms of kits, Thresh counters him. In terms of damage, Pyke wins this by far. Whoever gets the lead early, wins the matchup. It is important to play smart and start an engage when Pyke's Q is on cooldown. Whenever that's the case, that's your window to find a pick and engage. Very important to have ignite up as well to lower his healing.
Rakan
Rakan is very strong if paired with Xayah. Without Xayah, Rakan isn't as strong and isn't as big of a threat to Thresh. His laning phase isn't as strong and his engage isn't as easy to land. He has poke ability but it isn't doing much of a damage anyway. You can cancel his jump with a flay and easily lock him up with your Death Sentence (Q ability). After getting lead against Rakan, there is no coming back.
Sona
Sona is a very strong champio n towards late game but in early game - squishy and very vulnerable to a hard engage. Her poke is pretty annoying as it isn't a skillshot and can be easily landed but for her to do it, she has to walk up. If you have a chance you can flash and flay her, follow by a hook and burst her down. Sona is second squishiest champion in game besides Yuumi. While Yuumi can hide in someones belly, Sona can't which makes her one of the easiest targets to farm kills from. Losing a lane against Sona isn't acceptable as Thresh.
Soraka
Soraka offers very safe laning phase to her ADC. A lot of heals and sustain. All your poke gets healed instantly and you can't do anything about it... unless you manage to find a hook towards her and burst her down. A good suggestion is to buy mobility boots against her - it will make life easier to dodge her Starcall (Q ability) damage and close the gap between you and her for an easy flay/hook. As of recent she received a small Astral Infusion (W ability) buff, making her heals a bit stronger but if you pick up a ignite as a summoner spell, it can be very game changing. Overall Soraka has a great level of sustain but low damage and no way of escaping a hook. Once it lands, she has no escape.
Tahm Kench
UNBENCH THE KENCH! Tahm is a tanky, melee support that protects his AD with his THICK skin. Despite being annoying swallower, he has very hard time to play against poke champions. As Thresh, you don't poke as much but with extra help you can kill Tahm. Later into the laning phase, he can become so tanky to the point where he isn't affraid to anymore. Early game is where Tahm is the weakest. If you can get early advantage of him, lane goes into your favour.
Taric
Taric is the only melee enchanter support in game. He is good at disengaging and his ultimate is a counter to a lot of the damage coming their way but other than that he is very underwhelming during the lane. If the stun misses, he has very hard time of running away, doesn't have a dash or any other tools to escape a hook. Once it lands, you can kill the GEM MASTER. Additionally, Taric struggles against a poke, so any poke champion will have easier time against Taric, especially with huge range.
Most of the Taric players prefer playing a bit agressive, so they use their stun first. Let them do that, dodge it and engage on him.
Vel'Koz
Laning against Velkoz can go both ways - very good and very bad, no inbetween.
As a mage poke champion, it is very hard to outdamage the champion and hard to engage. Due to Velkoz abilities hitting you from far away, she doesn't need to be any near you to hit them thus making it harder for Thresh to find an engage.
Despite doing a lot of high damage, it's very clear that Velkoz isn't tanky at all. If she misteps once, you follow with an engage and punish it. Once you get lead, laning phase will get easier and you can snowball of it.
Xerath
Xerath - the God of poke. We've all been there where Xerath pokes us from 2 screens away. That's Xerath for you. His high AP damage is very annoying and undodgable W ability is also one of the reasons you hate playing against it. All Xerath players buy the blue support item thus the only way of making money in lane is by poke. Xearth's Q ability is a charge up ability and most of the time Xerath's have to walk up for it. That's your window to engage. If you have a chance to dodge the ability, that would be a great time to use it, flash over his stun and follow with flay & hook combo. Once it's done, there is no chance of Xerath's survival. He is squishy and very reliant on his positioning. One misstep can lead to a death.
Yuumi
Killing Yuumi is one of the most satisfying moments in game. She is a champion that hides inside of a ADC's bellies. She is invulnerable while inside of the carry but once out, she is. A lot of the Yuumi players unattach from their ADC to poke and get money for their support item but you can easily cancel her attach ability by flaying her mid-air. That comes with practice but once you master it, it's very easy to play against the CAT.
Keep in mind that Yuumi has the lowest amount of HP in game dus making her very squishy and unprotected if caught wondering around.
Zilean
Zilean can be very annoying to deal with due to his slows and bombs. While he has the damage and movement speed to run around the lane, he has no dash or jump to avoid the hook. As long as Zilean's Q ability is on the cooldown, it is easier to engage since he cannot double stack the bombs and stun you. To dodge bombs even easier, it's suggested to buy mobility boots. Once you have them, makes the laning phase even easier. Movement speed doesn't increase the chance of hitting a hook but increases your will to engage >:D
Zyra
Zyra - strong in poke, weak against engage. Good Zyra will know how to play against a Thresh. Her plants make Thresh's life a nightmare. Since Thresh Q is a channel ability, it is easy for Zyra to notice the animation and spawn plant infront of her, so you don't hook her but hook the plant instead, making it very annoying to find a good engage against zyra.
Her damage might be high but her poke range isn't. it is hard for her to find a good poke without her plants. If she oversteps and has no plants to spawn, it is an easy engage.
CAREFUL THOUGH, she is super strong in allins, she can burst enemies very easily, so you have to wait until her abilities are on cooldown or she is left alone without any assistance.
Aphelios
Aphelios is one of the best ADC to pair with Thresh. His range and different weapon sets can benefit any hard engage support. With all the peel and engage follow up thresh offers, Aphelios makes a perfect pick.
Ashe
Currently ashe is not one of the most picked champions in game. Her poke range is big enough and annoying enough to play her but safety of the champion is lackluster. If you play with an Ashe, in perfect world, ashe pokes her enemies to make them low enough, extra slow gives you an easier time to land your hook and follow with an engage.
After level 6, ashe follows your hook with her ultimate and it's an easy stun chain for multiple seconds making you a deadly duo botlane as long as you have the necessary damage.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn and Thresh - the ultimate HEADSHOT duo!
Both of these champions make a wonderful duo. With the high autoattack range, caitlyn is a great pick for a poke and can play pretty safe due to her range. The ultimate combo paired with Thresh is to wait for thresh to land a hook, place a trap, thresh uses his flay to flay the target into the trap while Caitlyn uses all her abilities to damage the target. Very satisfying and easy combo to do.
Draven
WELCOME TO THE LEAGUE OF DRAAAAAVEN!
We all know Draven players tend to go psycho mode and all in since minute 1, so who could follow that kind of aggressiveness? Hard engagers, such as Thresh, Nautilus, Leona, Blitzcrank etc. Due to his high early damage, you have a strong laning phase and control over most of the lanes. Just don't try to killsteal - Draven might run it down right after.
Ezreal
Ezreal is one of the AD carries to have if you really want to roam and play on your own as Thresh. Ezreal is pretty safe due to his E ability (in built flash, basically). He scales very well and is able to farm from someone safe range which gives you the opportunity to roam if needed/ if time allows you.
As for engages, he isn't the very best. Pretty weak early until midgame, as Thresh you want to play agressive and in some cases you can't do that with an Ezreal nearby making it very boring and unfun laning phase.
Jhin
Jhin is a great pick with Thresh. Due to his Deadly Flourish (W ability) it is easy to follow with a hook and if you have a chance to slow the enemies down with The Box ability (Thresh ultimate), it makes Jhin's ultimate easier to hit.
Also, Captive Audience slows down the target and makes it easier to follow with a flay & hook combo and playing around Jhin's abilities.
Keep in mind to look after Jhin's ammo. Do not engage when Jhin is about to reload but engage when he is full.
Jinx
Jinx & Thresh - great duo botlane with a lot of follow up CC. Jinx isn't as strong alone due to lack of range and safety. Thresh makes her feel a bit more safe with lantern and ability to Hook and flay into Flame Chompers (E ability) makes it a very punishing lane if someone gets caught. With the movement speed passive that Jinx gets after a kill makes her go WILD and can chase for another kill!
Additionally, her Zap (W ability) is a great way to start an engage. Any slows will benefit Thresh and it is easier to hook once the target is slowed.
Kai'Sa
Kaisa currently is one of the strongest hypercarries out there in game. With the damage she can do on multiple targets is huge. Due to her ultimate ability and easy way to follow up hooks, makes Kai'sa and Thresh the ultimate killer botlane. Her waveclear makes her somewhat safe in lane and is pretty strong in trades. She has her own style of mobility with ultimate and her E ability dus making her semi safe carry to play. She scales very well and can be played not only AD but AP.
Kalista
Kalista & Thresh. The DREAM combo. Despite Kalista not being strong in the current meta, she definitely is a great combo with Thresh. Due to her agressive style of play, Thresh can CC the enemy target while Kalista puts spears in, dus resulting in lots of damage. Kalista can also start a fight by ulting you and delivering you right into the face of the enemy or saving you whenever you get caught if she is in range to use her ultimate. All in all, safe & strong lane in most cases.
Kog'Maw
Kog'Maw is known for his amazing mid-late game damage. Mostly you'd see Kog'Maw paired with an enchanter style of support, such as Lulu or Janna due to their ability to scale and protect. As a Thresh, you can't peel, can't protect or boost Kog'Maw's abilities, so Kog'Maw is mostly on his own and not being the hypercarry he could be along the side of any other enchanter style support.
If you ever see a Kog'Maw pick in your team, Thresh for sure wouldn't be the best pick.
Lucian
Lucian & Thresh - like brothers in lane. Thresh likes to play aggressive so does Lucian. With his dash ability is he is safe, he can also dash forwards to use his passive, active the rest of the abilities to throw all the damage he has. Lucian overall has great poke, good waveclear and great followup on engages.
Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune can be paired with Thresh. They have some synergy together. If Miss Fortune slows the enemy down, it's easier to follow with the flay and hook, although, keep in mind that Miss Fortunes ultimate ability can/should be used from far range. She wants to stay away from the enemies as far as she can to hit all the bullets of her ultimate. Isn't the best at following the engages either but despite having no dashes, she is somewhat okey playing on her own due to her movement speed but that doesn't make her absolutely safe.
Synergies
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Aphelios
Aphelios is one of the best ADC to pair with Thresh. His range and different weapon sets can benefit any hard engage support. With all the peel and engage follow up thresh offers, Aphelios makes a perfect pick.
Ashe
Currently ashe is not one of the most picked champions in game. Her poke range is big enough and annoying enough to play her but safety of the champion is lackluster. If you play with an Ashe, in perfect world, ashe pokes her enemies to make them low enough, extra slow gives you an easier time to land your hook and follow with an engage.
After level 6, ashe follows your hook with her ultimate and it's an easy stun chain for multiple seconds making you a deadly duo botlane as long as you have the necessary damage.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn and Thresh - the ultimate HEADSHOT duo!
Both of these champions make a wonderful duo. With the high autoattack range, caitlyn is a great pick for a poke and can play pretty safe due to her range. The ultimate combo paired with Thresh is to wait for thresh to land a hook, place a trap, thresh uses his flay to flay the target into the trap while Caitlyn uses all her abilities to damage the target. Very satisfying and easy combo to do.
Draven
WELCOME TO THE LEAGUE OF DRAAAAAVEN!
We all know Draven players tend to go psycho mode and all in since minute 1, so who could follow that kind of aggressiveness? Hard engagers, such as Thresh, Nautilus, Leona, Blitzcrank etc. Due to his high early damage, you have a strong laning phase and control over most of the lanes. Just don't try to killsteal - Draven might run it down right after.
Ezreal
Ezreal is one of the AD carries to have if you really want to roam and play on your own as Thresh. Ezreal is pretty safe due to his E ability (in built flash, basically). He scales very well and is able to farm from someone safe range which gives you the opportunity to roam if needed/ if time allows you.
As for engages, he isn't the very best. Pretty weak early until midgame, as Thresh you want to play agressive and in some cases you can't do that with an Ezreal nearby making it very boring and unfun laning phase.
Jhin
Jhin is a great pick with Thresh. Due to his Deadly Flourish (W ability) it is easy to follow with a hook and if you have a chance to slow the enemies down with The Box ability (Thresh ultimate), it makes Jhin's ultimate easier to hit.
Also, Captive Audience slows down the target and makes it easier to follow with a flay & hook combo and playing around Jhin's abilities.
Keep in mind to look after Jhin's ammo. Do not engage when Jhin is about to reload but engage when he is full.
Jinx
Jinx & Thresh - great duo botlane with a lot of follow up CC. Jinx isn't as strong alone due to lack of range and safety. Thresh makes her feel a bit more safe with lantern and ability to Hook and flay into Flame Chompers (E ability) makes it a very punishing lane if someone gets caught. With the movement speed passive that Jinx gets after a kill makes her go WILD and can chase for another kill!
Additionally, her Zap (W ability) is a great way to start an engage. Any slows will benefit Thresh and it is easier to hook once the target is slowed.
Kai'Sa
Kaisa currently is one of the strongest hypercarries out there in game. With the damage she can do on multiple targets is huge. Due to her ultimate ability and easy way to follow up hooks, makes Kai'sa and Thresh the ultimate killer botlane. Her waveclear makes her somewhat safe in lane and is pretty strong in trades. She has her own style of mobility with ultimate and her E ability dus making her semi safe carry to play. She scales very well and can be played not only AD but AP.
Kalista
Kalista & Thresh. The DREAM combo. Despite Kalista not being strong in the current meta, she definitely is a great combo with Thresh. Due to her agressive style of play, Thresh can CC the enemy target while Kalista puts spears in, dus resulting in lots of damage. Kalista can also start a fight by ulting you and delivering you right into the face of the enemy or saving you whenever you get caught if she is in range to use her ultimate. All in all, safe & strong lane in most cases.
Kog'Maw
Kog'Maw is known for his amazing mid-late game damage. Mostly you'd see Kog'Maw paired with an enchanter style of support, such as Lulu or Janna due to their ability to scale and protect. As a Thresh, you can't peel, can't protect or boost Kog'Maw's abilities, so Kog'Maw is mostly on his own and not being the hypercarry he could be along the side of any other enchanter style support.
If you ever see a Kog'Maw pick in your team, Thresh for sure wouldn't be the best pick.
Lucian
Lucian & Thresh - like brothers in lane. Thresh likes to play aggressive so does Lucian. With his dash ability is he is safe, he can also dash forwards to use his passive, active the rest of the abilities to throw all the damage he has. Lucian overall has great poke, good waveclear and great followup on engages.
Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune can be paired with Thresh. They have some synergy together. If Miss Fortune slows the enemy down, it's easier to follow with the flay and hook, although, keep in mind that Miss Fortunes ultimate ability can/should be used from far range. She wants to stay away from the enemies as far as she can to hit all the bullets of her ultimate. Isn't the best at following the engages either but despite having no dashes, she is somewhat okey playing on her own due to her movement speed but that doesn't make her absolutely safe.
This is one of my favourite rune pages. It offers you massive shield during mid-game, it can be around ~ 500 HP shield in total if you collect a lot of souls and max your W ability (lantern).
Guardian - shields are always annoying to deal with, if you can't beat em - join em. You can make guardian shield insanely huge towards the game by building some HP and AP since that's how you can make it bigger. To know what to build, check out "Items'' tab under "Guardian MAX'' list.
Font of Life - this rune will help you in trades whenever you land a hook or flay. Your ADC will be able to heal for the next 2 seconds of the trade which can lead to a kill in some scenarios.
Conditioning - I personally prefer his rune over any other, although you can also use BONE PLATING if you are playing against burst duo lane (champions that throw all their abilities, such as Brand, Xerath etc). Having extra armor & MR helps moving into the game.
Revitalize - the whole goal of this runepage is to create a big shield for the carry. This rune will definitely help you out since it makes your shield even bigger.
Presence of Mind & Legend: Tenacity - it is pretty annoying when you run out of mana very often since you always try to hit those Q's during the laning phase and you can't do it no more after couple of tries... I understand. That's why PRESENCE OF MIND is very good as soon as you get someone killed. Since you want to play aggressive in the lane most of the time, can help you keep your mana pool alive.
Tenacity is very good if you are playing versus hard CC team, whoever it may be. Always good to get that extra CC off from the TENACITY.
Additionally, you can swap one of the adaptive runes to MR if you are laning against an AP support, such as Karma, Brand, Zyra, Xerath etc. It will help you out to survive the laning phase and make you a bit tankier against AP targets.
More information about this rune page you can find bellow my ''Abilities'', under "Lantern MAX'' ability skill tree.
Summoner's Spells
Most of the Thresh players prefer using Ignite due to thresh mostly playing agressive and going for the kills. Not only it adds to the damage whenever you decide to trade or go all-ins, it also gives you lane pressure.
Exhaust can be used in the lane as well. The reason why some Thresh players decide to go for Exhaust summoner instead of the Ignite is due to assasins that enemy team might have (such as Zed, Kayn, Talon etc). While you lose some lane pressure/damage in early game, Exhaust can be very good in teamfights. Focus on the assasin, Exhaust him, make him do less damage.
For the rest of the game, you go into Locket of the Iron Solari which gives you extra shield in teamfights for ALL the teammates. Locket of the Iron Solari shields from 230 - 385 HP + Guardian + Dark Passage will make it into a astonishingly MASSIVE 600HP shield if not more for a single target in mid-game.
Afterwards, build Zeke's Convergence since it gives you HP & armor for that tankiness and extra survivability, also, you can link it to your AD to do extra damage to enemies.
Redemption is always a solid option to help your team. Healing is always nice and during a big fight, can be very crucial. Using it at the best of times can never be easy but with a little of practice you can make Redemption into pretty overpowered item.
Lastly, finish off with a Knight's Vow. Solid item to tank for your teammate you've marked and extra HP never hurts thresh, also, anything linked with AP or HP makes your Guardian shield bigger, so all the items with HP or some AP - works!
Xeptron's ultimate Thresh guide [SEASON 11]
Build Guide By Xeptron
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Guardian - shields are always annoying to deal with, if you can't beat em - join em. You can make guardian shield insanely huge towards the game by building some HP and AP since that's how you can make it bigger. To know what to build, check out "Items'' tab under "Guardian MAX'' list.
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