2 Bandage toss beats your hook, even if you manage to flay one of them. Avoid fighting amumu without a minion wave, dodging his Q is key to having a chance in this lane.
Alistar
This is a skill matchup, but you are playing with a handicap since Alistar is a better tank than Thresh. If you can RELIABLY flay Alistar's engage, this matchup becomes easy. If you can't flay it, this matchup becomes extremely difficult with Alistar making you feel miserable.
Anivia
Very rare to see this as support, but when it does, PLAY EARLY GAME. This champ is a mid/late scaling champion, so abuse her early game and lack of an ultimate ability in lane. Hook and flay can prevent anivia from reactivating her Q stun. If you can put anivia behind early, this becomes easy game.
Annie
This is a coinflip matchup. Annie has 625 auto range, which makes trying to auto or flay her rather difficult. Her speed up from shield makes hooking hard as well. Best chance for this lane is to wait for stun to be down, or cheese bush pre-6.
Ashe
Support Ashe: Pokes a lot with arcane comet, quite literally a Hook = Kill lane. If you cant hook her, look for bush cheese or roam.
Bard
Skill Matchup. Bard is a squishy champion, but is great at baiting fights. Always be aware of ways that bard can connect his Q stun. 1 or 2 Hooks should be enough to kill this guy. If he runs for a tunnel, you can flay/hook him out of the tunnel with a quick reaction. NEVER FOLLOW BARD INTO A TUNNEL (unless you have full vision of it).
Blitzcrank
Fellow Hook champion, only his hook is more devastating. If he hooks you, you can survive, your Carry can not. Bodyblock whenever possible because adc's cannot dodge blitz hook for some reason. Walking up and flaying blitz is optimal so you can hook the carry. Save Lantern for your helpless team mate when they misposition.
Brand
Hook = Kill
With Brands E this matchup is difficult. Focus on dodging his W then looking for an engage. Brand CD's are long enough for Thresh to punish a missed skillshot. Dont stack with minions or team mates post-6.
Braum
Braum Shield and Passive are the main things to worry about. Hooking the enemy carry will usually result in hooking Braum. Dont bother flaying him with his shield up, save your mana. Instead save your flay for when he tries to jump towards you or away to safety. This is a slow burn matchup, it will take 3 to 4 hooks before you can kill this guy.
Galio
Honestly Easy matchup for thresh with the ability to flay away galio charge and his taunt. But adc's seem to struggle in staying out of his range. Save flay for galio engage to peel your carry. Hook for enemy carry or additional peel on galio. Watch for galio Flash taunting.
Janna
Most Jannas play behind their adcs, so you can just go for their carry. If they are the aggro W max janna players, you can flay them instead and make them regret stepping up. Pre and post-6 Janna is a hook = Kill/Summoner spell burned. Dodge her tornados, and punish her being aggressive.
Karma
She pokes, she sustains, she shields. She will poke you out of lane, and if you try to punish her she has a Heal and Shield. You can only try to kill her pre 3 when her ult/q has just been used. Pray for jungle help, or go roam.
Leona
Somewhat similar matchup to Alistar. Are you able to flay her E? Good makes this matchup a lot easier. You basically never want to kill leona. Even before she gets her W this champ is tanky beyond belief. Just go for their carry or try poking her for 10 damage. Post-6 Avoid clumping with a carry or get smited by the sun.
Lulu
Shields, Polymorphs, Slows. Lulu is a nightmare for everyone to play against. Play around her shield cooldown best you can. Look for short fights with lulu. Hook+Flay and 2 autos are the extent of your trades, anything past that and lulu will start winning usually. Whoever you hook in this lane is who you focus. She will destroy Thresh late game.
Lux
Hook = Kill
Lux is extremely squishy. Wait for her E, then look for hooks. No escapes aside from Flash. Even if she binds you or your carry, a hook can still result in her dying. Post-6 she can 100-0 so beware of her binds.
Maokai
Great matchup for Thresh. If maokai jumps onto you, flay after he lands, he won't be able to hit you back towards his team. If maokai jumps onto a team mate, hook or flay works.
If your team can click lanterns, you can bait maokai into tower shots with a well timed lantern.
Miss Fortune
Support MF: Usually spams her E slow for decent damage. Pre-6 you can usually ignore her and completely focus damage on the carry, however you need to engage before you are poked down to 50% hp.
Morgana
Avoid her bindings best you can. This is a skill and mind matchup. Most morgana's will Black Shield their carry on instinct from hearing thresh hook. Use this to your advantage and hook the morgana instead sometimes. You can also take the hook on a Black Shield for a lantern play.
Nami
Skill matchup, Nami has heavy sustain with her W healing. Hooks do not equal a kill in this matchup. Best time to fight is level 2, All-in before the nami has Q and E to secure an early lead. Once nami hits level 3 you will have to play towards your tower waiting for them to misplay/ misposition. Post-6 Thresh can hook ult flay combo to 100-0 Nami or the carry. Lucian Nami combo makes this lane a different beast. wait for abilities to be used before attempting a hook or flay.
Nautilus
Rough hook champ with a broken hitbox that riot wont fix. Save your flay for Nautilus Q. Flay him off when he engages or flaying him towards you when he tries to Q away. Poke when you can against him, this champ is tankier than Thresh, so beware of long fights. Will take several hooks before being able to kill Nautilus. Never all-in Nautilus unless he is under 40% hp. Otherwise he will likely survive.
Pantheon
Used to be an easy matchup, but they made Pantheon stun lightspeed. Difficult to flay, one of the weird instances where it is better to flay towards yourself rather than towards the enemy. Focusing Pantheon in this lane is actually good since he has no escape and you can hook him rather easily during his shield. If you cant flay the stun, this matchup is extremely Pantheon favored. Try to roam before he does.
Pyke
skill matchup, whoever hits enemy carry usually wins. However, it is REALLY easy to flay Pyke Q. Whenever Pyke walks up to throw his dagger, instead of running away like some headless chicken, walk close enough to flay him as soon as he starts charging his Q. Pyke has to E out, or E in. If Pyke goes in with no Q, you can focus the carry. Carry out of range? Kill the Pyke. Thresh can also hook Pyke out of Q.
Flaying Pyke E is difficult but possible, can save your carry in most instances.
Rakan
Always look to auto/poke his passive shield down, so he loses that advantage. Play around your minions to avoid his Q damage. Flaying his W+E are difficult but possible. Its usually a better play to dodge Rakan W, and saving your flay for when he tries to jump back with his E, or better yet, flaying the enemy carry. Unless the Rakan is running away, you NEVER flay him with all his abilities up. Hook first and keeping Rakan at a distance is much safer and lets you deal damage without losing health.
Post-6 clumping on top of your carries is usually bad, but will also make rakan engage predictable. Making it much easier to flay his W.
Rell
Play for Flay. When Rell is mounted on her horse, be ready to flay her jumping at you or your carry. If Rell is dismounted from her horse, her flash engage is unavoidable for you or your carry. Respect the flash.
Renata Glasc
Avoid her Q poke best you can. Look for fights whenever her abilities are on cooldown. Be especially aware of her W, its a long cooldown and can save her teammates from death. An extra auto or two doesnt hurt when dealing with the W'd teammates.
Senna
Support Senna: Severely outranges Thresh. Has heavy poke and sustain. The shorter the fight you have with Senna the better. Avoid her snare and Q snipes as much as possible. Letting her stack her passive early is never a good idea. Look for early fights where Senna Q or W is on cooldown. If you dont 100-0 Senna she will eventually heal back up with her Q. So look for a repeat engage before that happens, otherwise go back to base.
Post-6 Senna ult takes a bit of time to cast, so focusing her in lane pays off. Most Senna players wont use their ult early and end up never using it before they die.
Seraphine
Fight seraphine early in lane. Once she has ult avoid clumping up with team mates. Look to fight her once her E is down or right after she uses her double ability.
Sett
Hexflash Phase rush Sett is a jump scare. Thresh can set Sett aside with a flay and go for the carry. Although Sett has no escape, focusing him is a nightmare. Deceptively tanky, and has a rather large shield with W. Keep Sett off of your carry and avoid getting sandwiched with your minions.
Post-6 Always be on the lookout for hexflashes, and where you are in position to Sett. Make sure you arent in a position to get ulted by Sett into your team.
Shaco
Just annoying. Dont bother trying to kill Shaco or focus him unless he uses his Q to go in. Shaco will always have a trap to block Thresh Hook, so go for carry like usual. Thresh can Flay Shaco traps, so you can avoid the fear with a well-placed flay. Fighting Shaco early is purely dependent on whether you can get to the enemy carry. Buying an early Sweeper is great for this lane.
Sona
Hook = Kill
The longer you stay in lane with Sona alive the more poke she gets to do. Fight before she pokes you out, and before she heals up the damage you've done.
Post-6 Doesnt change much, just dont clump on your carry.
Soraka
Early game is where you punish soraka. Always focus the soraka until you, or your carry gets grievous wounds. Soraka healing will make you question that you even did any damage. Just kill the banana user and make the enemy carry watch. Dodging her Q in lane helps massively in ensuring you are healthy enough to fight the 2v2.
Post-6 Fights are difficult with her ult. Need ignite or grievous of some sort to have a chance.
Swain
Support Swain: Bit of a skillshot dodging game. Dodging Swain snare is essential in winning this matchup. Without his snare, Swain loses a large amount of damage. So whenever Swain misses the snare, look to fight immediately and punish his cooldowns. Still want to focus the carry in the 2v2, as Swain cant contribute as much pre-6 with no snare.
Post-6 Try to avoid fighting in Swain ult even with Grievous wounds.
Tahm Kench
Play towards your tower. Tahm kench has a lot more health and shielding than Thresh. Save your flay for chain cc with your hook. If you Flay Tahm Kench, he can W onto you for free. Flay should only be used with hook on him.
Taric
Straightforward matchup. Dodge Taric stun and avoid getting autoed by Taric. Taric has a lot of damage if allowed to auto attack with his passive. Fighting Taric with his stun down is optimal timing. If Taric does stun you or your carry, focus on disengaging.
Post-6 Peel anytime he ults, and wait for it to expire.
Thresh
This should only apply in normal blind pick or arams. Purely skill matchup. whoever hooks the enemy carry first wins.
Trundle
Avoid fighting this 2v2 straight up. Trundle will out damage you, and out tank you in lane. Focus on peeling, and poke when available with hook+auto.
Post-6 This gap of tankiness and damage gets bigger.
Twitch
Support AP HoB Twitch : Basically a weaker AD twitch, early game is still weak. Punish him for walking up to auto. Flay into hook will usually kill before he gets any real damage out. Beware for stealth whenever he leaves vision.
Post-6 AP twitch ult isnt scary at all. Just walk away if Twitch is max range, or engage and kill Twitch if he walks too close.
Veigar
Support Veigar: Engaging onto Veigar is not recommended. Veigar cage is too big and will stop Thresh Q follow-up as well as Thresh W to bring a team mate. Sit back and look for mispositions, wait for your jungler, or roam as soon as you get boots. You can fight while the cage is on cooldown but still would not recommend.
Post-6 Veigar does a lot of damage, even if focused will likely get his ult off.
Vel'Koz
Lot of poke and damage to be careful about. Squishy target that usually dies from being hooked. Use minions to block Vel'koz Q, and make sure to dodge 2nd proc of Vel'koz W to avoid the passive true damage.
Post-6 Hook and flay can stop vel'koz ult, but if you are not able avoid stacking on top of team mates.
Xerath
Big range advantage, with lots of poke and damage potential. Get up in Xerath's face for flay/hook early laning. Pre-3 usually Xerath won't have stun yet, so walking up to flay or hook is easier. Avoid Xerath Q+W as much as possible to keep your HP up for engages. Look to fight Xerath before he pokes you or your carry out of lane.
Post-6 Hook/Flay can stop Xerath ult as well as Q.
Yuumi
This is not a champion. This is not a cat. This is a rat. This is a 2v1 lane. Anytime Yuumi jumps off her carry, go for the flay, Hook will take too long to wind up. Don't look for poke damage in this lane unless you plan on farming for a while since Yuumi will heal all the damage over time. Depleting Yuumi's mana pool is another option if she never jumps off her carry.
Post-6 Don't fight without grievous wounds. The healing is excessive.
Zilean
Simple early game advantage. Go for engages anytime Zilean misses his bombs/stun.
Post-6 Try to avoid doing all-ins when Zilean has ult up. All-ins can be used to force the ult and then back out for a reengage.
Zyra
A Thresh can play this out of their mind and still lose to a zyra playing OSRS on a second screen. The only chance you have to win this lane is killing Zyra before level 3. Flash Flays, hooks early levels are the only hope before Zyra gets enough damage to 1v2 the lane. Once that happens you have to roam and get top/jg/mid ahead. Pray your bot laner can farm under turret.
Post-6 Thresh never wins this fight unless zyra is completely alone and out of position. Otherwise Zyra will kill someone before she dies.
Aphelios
Aphelios has a big range advantage with his sniper gun. Avoid his poke as much as possible. Never fight him with his Chakrams (white gun). Pre-6 and without his Gravity slowing gun, its pretty easy to walk up and flay this guy for damage or a kill.
Ashe
ADC Ashe: A bit less annoying than support ashe since they actually have to cs. Stay behind minions to avoid her W poke. Pay attention to her W cooldown, look for hooks after she uses it.
Caitlyn
She will poke you, A LOT. Play around her greed for cannon minions, She will use her Q to secure the cannon so you can throw hook straight at her. Careful of stacking behind minions, since she will likely Q the wave. Try to delay your flay after hooks, might get lucky and flay her out of her E.
Corki
This champ is irrelevant but someone might pick him. His range is short, you can trade autos with him and flay him out of dashing. Be aggressive and make him regret picking Corki.
Draven
Flay is your best friend in this matchup. Draven heavily relies on using his axes for damage, Thresh can flay Draven away from catching them. Utilize this anytime Draven wants to fight. Can also throw your hook at Draven's axe indicators to make him drop the axe or get hooked. Try to avoid fighting him with 2 Spinning Axes.
Ezreal
Ezreal has horrible early game, especially when rushing tear. Flaying first is optimal when engaging, since Ezreal can E away from hooks rather easily. Anytime Ezreal throws out his Q, look to hook him, this will either force him to E away or risk death.
Heimerdinger
Extremely boring farm lane. Never fight him with his turrets. Try to level 2 all-in otherwise, build Mobi boots and just roam ASAP.
Jhin
For short trades, wait for Jhin to be reloading his gun, or basically whenever he does not have 4th shot.
For all-ins look for Jhin to be on his 3rd shot, as this lowers his damage output since he can only shoot twice maybe once if you time it well.
Jinx
Hypercarry with no escapes. Hook = Kill/Flash. Always focus the jinx in a 2v2, or she will get her passive from you or your team mate dying and just run away. Avoid clumping on minions to avoid her rocket form aoe.
Kai'Sa
Avoid being isolated from minions to help reduce the damage from her Q and getting hit by her W. Try to save your Hook/Flay until she uses her E to minimize her buffed attack speed.
Kalista
This can be an extremely easy matchup if you can hit your hooks. Kalista jumping around can make this difficult if you miss the hook. Flay also slows, which makes Kalista auto attack slower. Be aware of Kalista spears stacking on a minion, as she may use it to stack E.
Karthus
Hitting hooks on this guy is easy enough, however going in on the hook will end up with you taking a ton of damage. Look for Hook poke damage, dont all-in unless you are 100% sure you will kill. Typically avoid fighting 2v2, avoid giving karthus a free early lead. With any skillshot reliant champion like Karthus, every Q you dodge is helpful in keeping this Karthus from pressing R and wiping your team.
Kog'Maw
Kog'maw gets all of his damage from his W. Only fight when this is on cooldown. Use minions to help block his Q from lowering your resistances. Pressuring Kog'maw into using his E is a great way to make him use up mana.
Lucian
Despite the lore, Lucian is great at punishing Thresh for missing hooks. Usually better to wait for Lucian to use his dash before trying to hook. Short range means walking up to Flay is easier. Lucian with Nami is a much higher threat due to the burst potential, never fight with all of Lucian's abilities up.
Miss Fortune
ADC MF: Moves fast from her W, but similar to Mobi boots, taking damage from champs will make her lose the movespeed. Avoid standing behind minions to dodge her Q. She has no escapes, so Hook/Flay will make her immobile.
Nilah
Nilah gets a bit extra exp, so beware your level 2 all-in won't work like usual. Look to try and fight after she uses any of her abilities. Even just a 4 second window is good enough advantage to go for a hook/flay. Becareful of her auto attack immunity, when she uses this walk along side her instead of autoing pointlessly.
Samira
Depending on your adc, fighting Samira level 1 can go pretty well, since she lacks her escape and damage. Samira does more damage in melee range. Flay and hook can stop her ult. Avoid fighting Samira without Ignite/Exhaust. Her windwall is a long cooldown, punish her for using it.
Senna
ADC Senna: Outranges Thresh easily. Avoid getting hit by her Q so she doesnt stack passive. Fight when her Q or W is on cooldown. Beware of Senna using E to bring in the jungler/support for a surprise attack.
Sivir
Spell shield is very annoying to deal with. Sivir early levels is best time to fight her. Flay first then hold your hook until she uses spell shield. Can also just hook the support instead if Sivir refuses to use spell shield.
Swain
APC Swain: Has a surprising amount of damage and sustain. Avoid fighting swain with his snare or ult up. Grievous wounds is your friend in this matchup. If you or your carry dont have grievous wounds, dont all-in.
Syndra
Easy to kill with a hook, but otherwise has a ton of damage that makes her scary. Rushing MR is a good idea. If you are going to fight, do it before Syndra hits level 6. Easier to try and sidestep her Q rather than run backwards.
Tristana
Tristana has great follow-up for CC'd targets, but her jump makes her predictable. Save your flay for whenever Tristana tries to use her jump. This will make Tristana miserable and unable to get anything.
Twitch
ADC Twitch: Hook = Kill/Flash pretty much every time. Twitch has no escapes as a Hypercarry. Putting twitch behind early is optimal in keeping him from doing Twitch things. Use control wards to help keep his stealth in check.
Varus
Immobile ADC, but has quite a bit of Burst. Flay/Hook can stop Varus Q before its fired. Staying behind minions will help reduce the damage of his Q. Fight Varus before he pokes you and your carry down with Q+E.
Vayne
Vayne has short range and a short tumble. Look to fight her early or pressure her out of lane. The less farm Vayne gets the better. Always focus Vayne in the 2v2.
Veigar
APC Veigar: Extremely similar to Veigar support. His Cage prevents all types of engage. This is a farming lane. Roam or attempt to Bush cheese.
Xayah
This lane goes either way depending on how well Xayah plays around feathers. Hook/Flay can alter the course of feathers returning to Xayah, which can reduce the damage and even avoid the root. Avoid standing in front of more than 2 feathers so Xayah can't throw a 3rd for a quick root. Fight when her feather recall is down (E) and/or her W is down.
Yasuo
Abuse Yasuo before he hits level 3. He is Melee with his escape/engage completely reliant on minions being there. Auto Auto Auto. Break his passive shield whenever possible. Save Flay for when he starts dashing in/out. Post level 3 or first item, never fight Yasuo near a minion wave.
Yone
Yone doesnt become a real threat until level 3. So abuse him before that with autos and flays. Anytime Yone jumps in with E he leaves a ghost behind showing exactly where he will snap back to. This makes it rather easy to hook him once the E duration ends.
Zeri
Early game is your game. Fight Zeri early before she gets any items or movespeed. If you can, save your flay for her dash over walls, otherwise flay with hook works fine. Careful of her W poke through walls and structures, the slow is perfect setup to get ganked.
Ziggs
Ziggs will push the wave constantly. His objective is to take your tower and farm. Threshs' objective is to stall Ziggs from taking tower as long as possible while roaming to help his team. You will likely never kill Ziggs without a gank. Focus on roaming and letting your Bot laner farm.
Aphelios
Good synergy with Aphelios range and slows from his gravity gun. Great at setting up for his chakrams.
Ashe
amazing combo, ashe autos slow making it easier to hook/flay targets. Ashe ult into hook, or vice versa makes for easy picks.
Caitlyn
I would put this at Ideal synergy, but this depends on how good the Caitlyn is at using her traps. Hook into trap is difficult even for amazing Caitlyns. It ends up being the Thresh is responsible to flay the enemy onto traps, which is much easier than Caitlyn traps onto a hooked person.
Corki
No one plays this champ because hes bad, but corki burst is decent if you land hooks.
Draven
Strong synergy if both players are aggressive. Draven does exceptionally well at going all-in/running down enemies. Be careful of lanterning Draven as it may make him drop axes.
Ezreal
Ezreal is the go-to "I dont play ADC" ADC, so chances are they aren't that good at Ezreal. Ezreal relies entirely on landing his Q ability over and over while running away. Thresh doesn't really synergize with that playstyle of running away while poking. Better to roam ASAP than sit in lane farming with this champ.
Heimerdinger
Farming simulator until the enemy mispositions or tries to engage. Never try to engage with Heimerdinger, unless they are walking into Heimerdinger turrets. Thresh sits there with Heimer like another turret.
Jhin
Jhin is a strong ad with great follow-up CC and damage to match it. Play around Jhin 4th shot for poke, or when he has all 4 shots for an all-in.
Jinx
Hypercarry ADC, can follow-up CC with W slow or E traps. Great at 2v2 but lacks an escape. Pray they click on your lantern to save their life, or secure a kill.
Kai'Sa
Kai'sa has amazing follow-up with Thresh engage. Hook+flay can isolate targets for Kai'sa Q+W. 3-5 Kai'sa autos+Q+W during a hook+flay CC chain can provide a burst of damage. Kai'sa ult is amazing at getting into the fight when the lantern isn't clicked.
Kalista
Kalista kit is actually Ideal for a Thresh, but many people that play Kalista don't actually push her lead properly. Kalista jump mechanic from her passive is great for follow-up on Thresh engages. Kalista can ult a Thresh in for a secured flay+Hook, or ult Thresh out for a quick lantern getaway.
Karthus
zzzzzz Farm fest with Karthus. Pretty much never fight unless you are under your turret, or the enemy seriously mispositions. Thresh Hook+Flay can make Karthus miss Q which is more of an Anti-Synergy.
Kog'Maw
Hypercarry that does much better with enchanter type supports. Still a decent combo, but heavily relies on Kog'Maw having his W up for Thresh to engage. Otherwise, just farm.
Lucian
Lucian has his own dash :O Which means Lucian can easily follow-up on Thresh Hooks and Flays without the use of a Lantern (not that they would click it anyways). Lucian burst is ideal for short trades, usually a hook+flay and 2 autos before disengaging.
Miss Fortune
Short trades and playing around the minion wave for Miss Fortune to bounce Q off of. Basically let MF poke the enemy with her Q before you go in. Hook+flay enemies to stay inside of MF ult.
Samira
Difficult to say exactly where Samira lands on this synergy as this champ was banned almost every game in 10.24. However, her kit is exceptional for getting into the fight and gunning people down with her sword? Passive knock-up is gone so Samira is pretty meh now.
Senna
This is another farm fest champion, but also farming for Senna passive. Never really have to kill anyone, can just hook people for Senna to get passive stacks.
Sivir
There is not a worse ADC to play with Thresh. Sivir has 0 follow-up, 0 escape, and very little damage. All Sivir does is make people angry that spell shield exists, and pushes minion waves. Just dodge the game, you'll have more fun looking at your dodge timer than playing with Sivir.
Swain
Any hook or flay you hit Swain can pull off of. Get 2 CC for 1! Play around each others hard CC cooldowns. Swain should wait for Thresh to hit flay/Hook before snaring, or vice versa.
Tristana
Tristana jump is amazing for Thresh. Hook someone? Trist can jump in.
Flay someone? Trist can jump in.
Ult slows someone? Trist can jump in.
One of the best 100-0 ADC's to play with.
Twitch
Twitch Thresh is bad combo. Twitch is a hypercarry similar to Kog'Maw in the sense that he does much better with enchanter supports. Just let the Twitch farm while you go roam.
Varus
Varus follow-up is decent with his E and Ult. Capable of popping a target off of 1 hook, but lacks auto range and an escape. Heavily reliant on Thresh to land Hooks and flay enemies away.
Vayne
A Feed or get Fed Lane. Vayne laning is weak, always has been, BUT thresh can get vayne early kills. Early vayne is often underestimated and results in people focusing the support instead. Become a martyr for vayne in lane.
Veigar
Can Hook and Flay enemies into Veigar cage, but other than that its a farm lane. Roaming is better.
Xayah
Xayah does well to follow-up CC with her feathers, has good damage early game and can survive mid/late game with well timed ults. Flaying people into feathers is a big plus.
Yasuo
Stall for Yasuo to atleast hit level 3, or get his boots/first back before fighting if possible. Hook+Flay can be used to help Yasuo use Ult. Lantern for when the Yasuo uses E too deep.
Yone
Stall for level 3 or first back. Play around Yone E and make sure you dont get baited in too deep by Yone.
Ziggs
Ziggs is great bot laner for farming and pushing lane/towers. Hook+Flay is bad for Ziggs to hit his bombs as it moves the target around too much. Better to roam, or stay in lane and try to push for early tower.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Aphelios
Good synergy with Aphelios range and slows from his gravity gun. Great at setting up for his chakrams.
Ashe
amazing combo, ashe autos slow making it easier to hook/flay targets. Ashe ult into hook, or vice versa makes for easy picks.
Caitlyn
I would put this at Ideal synergy, but this depends on how good the Caitlyn is at using her traps. Hook into trap is difficult even for amazing Caitlyns. It ends up being the Thresh is responsible to flay the enemy onto traps, which is much easier than Caitlyn traps onto a hooked person.
Corki
No one plays this champ because hes bad, but corki burst is decent if you land hooks.
Draven
Strong synergy if both players are aggressive. Draven does exceptionally well at going all-in/running down enemies. Be careful of lanterning Draven as it may make him drop axes.
Ezreal
Ezreal is the go-to "I dont play ADC" ADC, so chances are they aren't that good at Ezreal. Ezreal relies entirely on landing his Q ability over and over while running away. Thresh doesn't really synergize with that playstyle of running away while poking. Better to roam ASAP than sit in lane farming with this champ.
Heimerdinger
Farming simulator until the enemy mispositions or tries to engage. Never try to engage with Heimerdinger, unless they are walking into Heimerdinger turrets. Thresh sits there with Heimer like another turret.
Jhin
Jhin is a strong ad with great follow-up CC and damage to match it. Play around Jhin 4th shot for poke, or when he has all 4 shots for an all-in.
Jinx
Hypercarry ADC, can follow-up CC with W slow or E traps. Great at 2v2 but lacks an escape. Pray they click on your lantern to save their life, or secure a kill.
Kai'Sa
Kai'sa has amazing follow-up with Thresh engage. Hook+flay can isolate targets for Kai'sa Q+W. 3-5 Kai'sa autos+Q+W during a hook+flay CC chain can provide a burst of damage. Kai'sa ult is amazing at getting into the fight when the lantern isn't clicked.
Kalista
Kalista kit is actually Ideal for a Thresh, but many people that play Kalista don't actually push her lead properly. Kalista jump mechanic from her passive is great for follow-up on Thresh engages. Kalista can ult a Thresh in for a secured flay+Hook, or ult Thresh out for a quick lantern getaway.
Karthus
zzzzzz Farm fest with Karthus. Pretty much never fight unless you are under your turret, or the enemy seriously mispositions. Thresh Hook+Flay can make Karthus miss Q which is more of an Anti-Synergy.
Kog'Maw
Hypercarry that does much better with enchanter type supports. Still a decent combo, but heavily relies on Kog'Maw having his W up for Thresh to engage. Otherwise, just farm.
Lucian
Lucian has his own dash :O Which means Lucian can easily follow-up on Thresh Hooks and Flays without the use of a Lantern (not that they would click it anyways). Lucian burst is ideal for short trades, usually a hook+flay and 2 autos before disengaging.
Miss Fortune
Short trades and playing around the minion wave for Miss Fortune to bounce Q off of. Basically let MF poke the enemy with her Q before you go in. Hook+flay enemies to stay inside of MF ult.
Samira
Difficult to say exactly where Samira lands on this synergy as this champ was banned almost every game in 10.24. However, her kit is exceptional for getting into the fight and gunning people down with her sword? Passive knock-up is gone so Samira is pretty meh now.
Senna
This is another farm fest champion, but also farming for Senna passive. Never really have to kill anyone, can just hook people for Senna to get passive stacks.
Sivir
There is not a worse ADC to play with Thresh. Sivir has 0 follow-up, 0 escape, and very little damage. All Sivir does is make people angry that spell shield exists, and pushes minion waves. Just dodge the game, you'll have more fun looking at your dodge timer than playing with Sivir.
Swain
Any hook or flay you hit Swain can pull off of. Get 2 CC for 1! Play around each others hard CC cooldowns. Swain should wait for Thresh to hit flay/Hook before snaring, or vice versa.
Tristana
Tristana jump is amazing for Thresh. Hook someone? Trist can jump in.
Flay someone? Trist can jump in.
Ult slows someone? Trist can jump in.
One of the best 100-0 ADC's to play with.
Twitch
Twitch Thresh is bad combo. Twitch is a hypercarry similar to Kog'Maw in the sense that he does much better with enchanter supports. Just let the Twitch farm while you go roam.
Varus
Varus follow-up is decent with his E and Ult. Capable of popping a target off of 1 hook, but lacks auto range and an escape. Heavily reliant on Thresh to land Hooks and flay enemies away.
Vayne
A Feed or get Fed Lane. Vayne laning is weak, always has been, BUT thresh can get vayne early kills. Early vayne is often underestimated and results in people focusing the support instead. Become a martyr for vayne in lane.
Veigar
Can Hook and Flay enemies into Veigar cage, but other than that its a farm lane. Roaming is better.
Xayah
Xayah does well to follow-up CC with her feathers, has good damage early game and can survive mid/late game with well timed ults. Flaying people into feathers is a big plus.
Yasuo
Stall for Yasuo to atleast hit level 3, or get his boots/first back before fighting if possible. Hook+Flay can be used to help Yasuo use Ult. Lantern for when the Yasuo uses E too deep.
Yone
Stall for level 3 or first back. Play around Yone E and make sure you dont get baited in too deep by Yone.
Ziggs
Ziggs is great bot laner for farming and pushing lane/towers. Hook+Flay is bad for Ziggs to hit his bombs as it moves the target around too much. Better to roam, or stay in lane and try to push for early tower.
Hi my name is Takitsu, I have been playing League since season 2, reached Masters season 7 and 8, reached Grandmaster season 9, 10, and 11. I've mained Thresh since Season 4. Mained every role except for top lane. Haven't played a ranked Duo game on my main since the end of Season 6(Duoed some in S13). I'm making this guide due to the fact that I see so many Thresh guides that are incorrect or are just spreading bad information.
Supporting
The main job of the Support is to protect/enhance the Carry players of their team. However each and every game varies with what exactly you, as a support, are supposed to do. Some games require you to be the frontlining tank, others may need you to be a bodyguard for a Carry, and some games may just need you to be a ward that wards. Regardless of your specific role in the game, as long as you are able to analyze and play according to that role, you will win more games.
Start of the Game: Invades/5 Point
INVADES
Every single game probably has someone that wants to invade the enemy jungle at the start. If someone on your team is AFK or busy shopping for items when they had all loading screen and champ select to think about it, you should forget about invading, or trying to defend against an invade. Fighting Level 1 with a numbers disadvantage is never a good idea. Thresh Level 1 Death Sentence is great for invading but only with team mates to back him up. Going through bot lane tri-bush, or mid lane into river are the usual invade paths. As Thresh you should be leading the invade, unless someone else on your team has a more reliable hard CC ability level 1, like Pantheon Shield Vault . Always go for your hooked target on invades, if they Flash away quickly, DO NOT CHASE. You just got a free flash, take your advantage and walk away before you lose it.
COUNTER-INVADE
These usually only happen when you know the enemy team has a champion that has a good level 1 invade. Something like Blitzcrank , Nautilus , Pantheon , Swain . A hard CC ability that can put someone out of position. When this happens your team can stack in a bush waiting for the enemy team to invade, before killing whoever is leading the invade. In most cases this results in multiple people using summoner spells and/or recalling after the fight. Just make sure your team also has decent single target burst or "level 1 potential" before trying to counter invade.
5 Point
The much safer and standard way of preventing any level 1 shenanigans from happening.
Top lane goes to topside river, usually their tribush or just outside of it in river, Or inside the top lane river bush.
Jungle goes top side of midlane inside the dot brush or towards the ramp leading to raptors/red buff depending on which side they are on.
Mid lane goes to sit mid lane.
ADC/Bot Laners will go to the bottom side of the river basically mirroring what top laners do. Standing in tribush or just outside of it, Or in the river bush on the opposite side.
Supports will go to the bot side of midlane in river dot brush, Or standing by the ramp leading to Raptors/Red buff. Basically mirroring what Junglers do topside.
DO NOT AFK OR ALT TAB OR WHATEVER DURING THIS, YOU WILL DIE AND YOUR TEAMS MENTAL WILL PLUMMET
Hurray you know how to deal with invades, invading, and 5 point!
Laning Phase
There are 3 different types of laning phases. 2 of them are more common than the 3rd.
The first one is when both the enemy Bot and Support are Ranged champions. Level 1 is usually pretty rough for Thresh in these matchups due to poke and just being outranged in general. Instead of trading level 1, Thresh should be focused on keeping the minion wave in the middle of the lane or towards Thresh's tower. This allows Thresh to have more room to pressure the enemy laners, while being less likely to die from any jungle ganks. Simply having the minions closer to your own tower will apply pressure on the enemy bot lane since they have a farther distance to run back to their own tower. This also makes it much easier for your teams jungler to gank. Focus on avoiding the poke from the enemy while looking for opportunities to punish mispositioning with a hook/flay.
The 2nd type is a Ranged+Melee matchup with the melee typically being the support. Level 1 you can use Thresh auto range to poke the melee while using bush vision to pressure them off of the minion wave. The position of the wave in this matchup will usually be as close to your tower as possible, or keeping them under tower. Staying under your tower is optimal when the enemy melee support has a better early 2v2 than Thresh. Shoving the minions into their turret over and over is optimal when you are able to easily poke or pressure them off the wave. The goal of this lane is to put the support low enough to either all-in and kill the support; or when you all-in the carry, to make the melee support feel unsafe to help.
Laning phase will "end" once one of these 2 things happen. A top or bot tower falls. If top/bot tower falls, you will want to shove the minion wave into enemy tower before swapping lanes. There are exceptions to this, for example, your top laner does not want to swap their lane, Dragon is spawning soon, OR you are able to stay bot lane and draw mid/jg pressure to bot lane to help your team.
Level 2 All-in
This is a huge advantage for any bot lane. Being level 2 against level 1 is basically a guaranteed kill or Flash from the enemy. Getting level 2 bot lane comes from the 3rd melee minion on the 2nd wave (assuming you got all the exp from the first wave). The plan is to help your Bot laner kill these 3 melee minions to gain the level advantage. While the 3rd melee minion is about 50%hp, Thresh should start walking up to the enemy laners to Flay or Flash + Flay into Death Sentence . This will result in a kill, or at the very least summoner spells being burned by the enemy.
Warding
Vision will win you games. Literally. That being said, warding random bushes and having a bunch of wards on the map won't do any good without a purpose. For example, you can have the entire bot river warded, but their is no dragon or scuttle within the next 2 minutes. All that vision is basically useless. Vision needs purpose.
When warding anything you need to think "Why am I warding this?" and "What is this ward supposed to do?" If you dont know the why or what of warding something, you probably shouldnt ward in that place.
General good places to ward: Tri-bush, river(in front of Dragon / Baron pit), Enemy Red Brambleback / Blue Sentinel , Dot brush in river, and enemy Raptors .
Bad places to ward: River brush next to lane, middle brush of bot lane, alcove.
Whaaat? warding river brush is bad?! Technically its not a bad ward, because it gives some vision into river, but most of the time if you see anyone on that ward, its already too late to escape the gank anyways. So its much better to ward deeper in the river or in the enemy jungle to give you and your laner time to react.
The biggest thing about warding and vision is timing. Having vision at the right time gives you and your team information needed to make the right decision about how and when to take fights or objectives. So when you have vision setup a full minute before Dragon spawns, you know where the enemy team is, you know where your team can walk in safely, and most importantly you can back before the Dragon spawns to get more wards! This same idea applies to Baron , Rift Herald , and planning a tower dive/push. So, where should you be warding for these objectives?
Dragon (Red Side Team) Control Ward should go in the dragon pit or in the Dot brush. Trinket wards(if you still have them) should be used initially for over the dragon pit wall or in the brush behind red buff. Normal wards should be used for bot lane tri-brush, bottom of red buff brush, raptors brush, or the dot brush.
Dragon (Blue Side Team)
Control Wards should go in dragon pit or in the Dot brush. Trinket wards(again... if you still have them) should be used for the brush leading up to blue buff, the brush leading into enemy jungle left of blue buff, bot river brush, or midlane bot brush. Normal wards should be used for Brush behind Greater Murk Wolf , path between the mid tower to river brush behind blue buff, Blue buff brush, and Dot brush.
Baron is essentially a copy of dragon pit on the other side of the map. Same warding rules apply, but since the pit is on the opposite side, the warding will be reversed as well.
Baron (Blue side Team)
Control Wards should go in the baron pit or in the Dot brush. Normal wards should be used for over the baron pit wall or in the brush behind red buff, top lane tri-brush, top of red buff brush, raptors brush, or the dot brush.
Baron (Red side Team) Control Ward should go in Baron pit or in the Dot brush. Normal wards should be used for the brush leading up to blue buff, the brush leading into enemy jungle right of blue buff, top river brush, midlane top brush, Brush behind Greater Murk Wolf , path between the mid tower to river brush behind blue buff, Blue buff brush, and Dot brush.
Tower Diving/Pushing
These wards are pretty straight forward.
Bot Tower
Tier 1: Brush close to towers, Tri-Brush, Ancient Krug Brush, and Brush near Red/Blue Buff.
Tier 2: Path/Brush Parallel with Tower, Just outside of enemy Base going into jungle.
Inhibitor: Inside the enemy base by the Gate.
Top Tower
Tier 1: Tri-Brush, Krug / Gromp , Red/Blue Buff Brush.
Tier 2: Path/Brush Parallel with Tower, Brush just outside the Enemy Gate.
Inhibitor: Inside enemy base near the Gate.
Mid Tower
Tier 1: Raptor , Raptor Brush, Murk Wolf , Brush behind Greater Murk Wolf .
Tier 2: Raptor Brush, Brush near enemy Gate, path between enemy base and Murk Wolf .
Inhibitor: Inside enemy base on both side of the tower near Gates.
Roaming
This will be short :D
WHEN YOU CAN ROAM
1. It is a farm lane.
2. Wave is shoved into enemy tower.
3. You & Your Bot laner recalled, can do a quick roam mid/top.
4. You have pressure in your lane and your Jungler is botside.
5. Bot laner is dead, and wave is on enemy side of the lane.
WHEN YOU SHOULDNT ROAM
1. You are down 2 levels or more in EXP from enemy laners.
2. Bot Laner wants to push the wave.
3. Your mid/top lane is dead/recalled.
4. Your Jungler is dead and the enemy is all alive.
5. The person you are roaming for has no way to help(too low Health/mana).
6. The enemy has already roamed to the other lane, while you are still in lane.
Objectives
What are Objectives? Objectives are basically things you and/or your team wants to take like Dragon , Rift Herald , Baron , and Turret . There are smaller objectives that will help in these which we will call sub-objectives. Sub-objectives are usually things that dont necessarily help your whole team, but can help nonetheless. Taking enemy jungle camps, securing Vision control, pressuring off/killing enemy champions.
So when someone calls for an "Objective" on your team, the most common one being a Dragon , What is your job? As a Support the main thing everyone thinks is "WARDS!", which is true, you do need vision and wards to help secure objectives. However you also need some help to do these things. Sure you can walk in all by yourself into fog of war and throw some wards down, but you might die in the process. Well you did your job of getting vision right? Wrong. Because you died, now your team gets to watch the enemy team take the Dragon , maybe your jungler tries to smite steal it, instead of having a skirmish or team fight for it if you had simply waited for a team mate to help you secure vision.
The point of objectives as support is to get vision, but also apply pressure while doing so. NEVER ward alone, unless you can see or know where the enemy team is at on the map. Otherwise you are quite literally face checking fog of war.
Whenever you setup vision for objectives, you want to do so before actually going for the objective. If you plan on taking a Dragon , Rift Herald , Baron , or Turret , you should be putting wards down at minimum, 30 seconds in advance. At most 2 minutes in advance, which will give you a chance to reset and get more wards incase the enemy clears out your vision.
Wave Management helps greatly in applying pressure for objectives as well. If you are trying to take a Dragon or a Baron , and you have minion waves pushing into the enemy towers, you are forcing the enemy team to make a choice. Do they go contest you at the Dragon / Baron and lose Turret / Turret health, or do they clear the minion waves and let you take the Dragon / Baron ? Ranked Solo Q lacks a lot of teamwork, or even having someone that will shotcall. So when a team of 5 random people is forced to make a choice, they commonly make mistakes with that choice, or even with their play.
Do a quick double check before you start an objective on where your team is at. Is your whole team there? If someone is missing do they have a Teleport , or some other way to quickly join the fight? Numbers advantage plays a big factor mentally and literally.
Mid-Game
When is Mid-Game? Mid-Game does not have a set time for every game, it all depends on when laning phase ends. You can consider Mid-Game has started once bot has moved to mid lane, or a tier 2 Turret is being pressured.
How to play Mid-Game
Warding around the next objective. The point of this is to secure vision around whatever objective you are trying to take. This can be Turret , Dragons , or Rift Herald . Vision around your objective helps your team know where the enemy is and isn't. If you don't see the enemy on your wards, you can assume two things; they are not in your vision yet, or they are not coming to the objective to contest.
Play to your numbers advantage as much as possible. Even with proper setup on vision and pressure for an objective, fighting a 4v5 or a 3v4 is fighting with a disadvantage.
Late-Game
"wE sCalE lAtE gAmE"
As Thresh , pray you never get to this part of the game, as it is extremely difficult to win from here as Thresh . Thresh technically scales infinitely with his passive Damnation souls, however it only raises his Armor + Ability Power . Because of this Thresh only "scales" into full/Heavy AD teams.
Role in Late-Game
Support and Thresh identity does not change much from mid-game. You still are the primary source of vision control, and are likely the only person on your team still trying to peel your carry(s). Basically never want to be alone while warding at this point in the game, otherwise you risk being caught and throwing the game. Minimap is your friend! Check this constantly to double check where your team mates are at, as well as enemies. Having a numbers advantage or disadvantage is devastating in late-game.
Teamfighting
Generally team fighting as a support does not change throughout the entirety of the game. You always have 1 of 2 jobs, and in some rare unlucky cases both, peeling your carry or carries, or initiating the fights. The most likely job you have as Thresh is to peel rather than engage. Do not confuse engaging a team fight with picking someone with a Death Sentence + Flay . As long as you peel back after the initial Death Sentence and are not front lining, you are successfully doing your job.
Peeling does not just mean using your CC type abilities ( Death Sentence Flay The Box ). Bodyblocking skill shots, simply auto attacking enemies near your carry, or helping your carry reposition are all a part of peeling. Help your carry maximize their damage by delaying the enemy from damaging them, its that straightforward. Saving abilities for a better opportunity is also a great option. This is most prevalent with Thresh Flay since you can use this stop almost all gap-closer or dash type abilities in the game. Keeping track of enemy gap closer abilities is crucial in being effective at peeling.
CLICK THE LANTERN!
Honestly this ability is useless about 85% of the time because other people think its a visual warning to use Flash . HOWEVER, if you are lucky enough to play with the 15% Dark Passage can change fights around or simple save a caught out team mate. The shield is rather small in comparison to other shield type abilities in the game so generally want to save this for repositioning an ally.
Updates to Guide
11.1 Update
- Slighty changed matchup descriptions on Samira and Rell.
- Changed Full Item Builds and mostly replaced Redemption with more viable items.
- Added Updates.
11.2 Update
- Massively revamped the item sets to include Moonstone Renewer.
- Sunfire and Shurelyas have become obsolete on Thresh sadly.
- Added new rune set specifically for Moonstone build.
- Currently in progress of updating matchups as people find out moonstone is broken.
11.5 Update (finally hurray!)
- Another revamp on item sets since moonstone got nerfed, and Turbo Chemtank became pog.
- Adjusted runes to reflect the item set changes.
- Changed some item and ability notes.
3/14/21 update
- Changed Rell and Seraphine matchups slightly to better show threats.
11.7
- Updated item builds, removed Gargoyle Stoneplate from Tank
- Removing Rell Matchup until I can actually understand how to play it. Either im just playing against #1 Rell World everytime or I just suck at the matchup. :smile:
- Changed Morgana matchup due to her being played with guardian a lot more and her spell shield being maxed now.
11.9 Update
- Changed most item builds as well as notes for them.
- Changed Runes, and abilities to fit current thresh nerfs.
(5/12/2021)
- Reworked Guardian rune page to include precision tree instead of inspiration.
- Changed Karma matchup description
- Updated Rell matchup (finally!)
11.10 Update
- Added in Shurelya's to First Item slot and description.
11.21 Update (hiya been a bit)
- Revamped item builds
- Essentially removed Zeke's Convergence and Knights Vow from builds.
- Added Thornmail and Dead Mans Plate
- Changed Primary displayed Item Build
- Changed description for matchups on Lucian & Nami
11.22 (11/13/2021)
- removed vigilant wardstone from "PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DONT BUILD THESE EVER"
- added vigilant wardstone to preferred personal build :D
- Added Predator rune page with description.
13.6 (3/29-31/2023)
- Reworked the entire items set.
- Remade all the Runes.
- Updated Threats for all support picks. (except Milio*)
- Updated Yasuo, Yone, Ezreal, and Heimerdinger Synergies.
3/31
- Updated Threats for all champions.
- Added in Milio*, Nilah, Amumu, Zeri, Renata Glasc.
*Don't have enough information on Milio matchup currently D:
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