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Hello viewer. My name is jjoxuu and I main bot lane in diamond level. I enjoy playing ADC the most, but I also play the role of support. Since season 3, I've mained Thresh and during this season, it's my most played support. You can get away with Thresh pick against/with any team composition and it's a great pick for both solo queue and team ranked.

This guide will be for utility/bruiser Thresh. The build, masteries and runes are the most efficient ones in my opinion and I will try to explain why these picks are the most viable ones in my opinion. I will also try to cover as much information as I simply can while making this guide so that it can benefit most of the readers.





I want to discuss a little of the support role's playing style, why would you want to play support and some generic thoughts on the role. One big point I would like to make first and clearly: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THE BOTTOM LANE. Bot lane in the current meta is a 2v2 lane, meaning you have to deal/work with someone else in your team. The most common mistake I see is supports who forget that.

You want to have communication and you can't just go shooting off alone and then flame the ADC for not following since you didn't mention anything about going in. One of the worst things you can do is blame your teammates for your own mistakes or deaths. By behaving negatively, your ADC in the lane WILL play a lot worse and stop trusting your calls. Usually the ADC comes first due as support; you usually won't be as good of a damage source so you’ll want to take damage for your ADC whenever possible.

You don't have to think yourself of worthless and only think of the ADC however. You should avoid dying and just leave the ADC in some situations where you have no tools to help them at all. You are a much more valuable asset in the early game than the ADC. Always remember that. Most of the plays and escapes are started by the support.


I play support because I enjoy communicating with someone in the same lane. I like landing the game-changing CC or escape tool. It's also a very strategic and important role where one good play can win you the game. I also enjoy the overall combination of different compositions you can put bot lane, for example: you can combine 2 different kits into one strategic move to kill someone off.[/columns]


Support can be an effective way to climb if you know how to play support relatively well. The skill levels of supports vary quite a bit, especially in earlier elos. You can win the bottom lane even if your ADC is total garbage, as long as you land the game changing hooks, grabs, stuns and roots. It doesn't matter if the enemy ADC is better than yours if you can close that gap. I'd say everyone should at least learn one generally good support and I'd say Thresh is a very good candidate.


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>High CC >Escape >Kiting >Tanky

Explanation >> Thresh is a good support overall and was considered to be the best for a long time. Thresh has really good kit due high amounts of CC and they all allow allies to catch the enemy easily. Thresh also gives an escape and re-positioning tool for an ADC without escape. Your team can get away from many crazy situations thanks to that. Thresh is pretty bulky thanks to his passive and scalings.

Explanation >> I could argue that Thresh is one of the hardest supports to master out there. Every one of his abilities is a skill shot, making them more difficult to use correctly. The Box is pretty simple to use, but that's it. One of the greatest weaknesses he has is a lack of sustain and his high ability cooldowns. This also leads to a lack of poke besides short-ranged auto attacks. You pretty much need to land your things to get something done

>Hard >CDs >Sustain >Poke

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Attack dmg marks I take 9 of these marks to increase Thresh’s damage. He benefits from AD due to Flay’s passive. I prefer having full 9 AD marks so it's easier to use Relic Shield and deal great damage with AA.

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Magic resist glyphs I take 9 of these glyphs to gain defense against magic damage abilities and attacks. Some supports build AP heavy items and we could include enemy jungler there and there is always the mid laner too so really basic value glyphs to take.

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Health seals I take 9 health seals to be tankier early game. Thresh already gets armor from Damnation's passive so I feel I don't need extra armor much. You can take armor seals situationally, if you prefer it.

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Armor quints I take 3 of these quints to be able to take more damage. Having AD quints makes me feel too squishy and I don't like hp quints. Those are great situational choices, however; it’s down to personal preference in the end.

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>> Block + Recovery are obvious picks from tier one as there are no better choices. Block is much better than you may think, given that it’s tier one. >> Then we take Unyielding + Veteran Scars . Small amount of health for early game and a highly undervalued mastery in the earlier elos: Unyielding . It's surprisingly good if you do the math. >> Next a group of three Juggernaut + Hardiness + Resistance . They all give a mix of some kind of defense. Resistance is often not picked but the next tier picks are not all that good. >> Round off with Reinforced Armor . That's the best mastery for the remaining point. 10% can mean a lot if the critical strike is around 700 damage, for example.

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>> Start off with Phasewalker + Fleet of Foot. Reduced recall is just to get to the next tier but you can spend it in other tiers if you like. Fleet of Foot is to gain movement speed as it is an important stat to catch someone. >> Next Summoner's Insight + Alchemist . I really like the reduced summoner spell cooldown because if you use summoner spells at the same time as top lane for example, you may just get yours up earlier thanks to the mastery. Alchemist gives nice amount of extra sustain. >> Continue with Culinary Master + Greed . Cookie mastery follows the same path as Alchemist so you get small amount of extra sustain and gold generation mastery is no-brainer out of the picks left. >> Finish off with Scavenger + Wealth . To get the extra potion or ward, Wealth is necessary and Scavenger gives you a great deal of gold throughout the game.

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Flash is the most important spell in the game and is also the most used. It's especially good on Thresh due to the chance to make awesome plays with it. Flash + Dark Passage can also save your teammate a Flash, which is nice. It also makes a great escape or second gap-closer, if needed.

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Exhaust is really good pick and also a great advantage for late game team fights. It's not that useful early game. I can see why people would take Ignite over this, but Exhaust is so much more useful late game, especially in team fights, as it has a massive damage de-buff.

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Ignite is still a decent pick if you have the possibility to dominate bottom lane. It adds a great deal of pressure and counters healing and sustain. It's not an ideal pick, considering late game team fights, because it's more of a tool for pressure than damage for supports.

S T A R T

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W I T H

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>> Relic Shield + potions is a pretty standard start for any supports. Don't skip or save gold on the wards though. Always get a pink ward when you have enough cash and you need normal wards before you can afford Sightstone which will then save money every time you place a ward.

C O R E

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I T E M S

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>> The very core items of Thresh or basically any supports. Both can end up being huge in a team fight. The order depends on the enemy team composition. Usually Locket of the Iron Solari is better against double AP comps whereas Mikael's Blessing is good cleanse if the enemy team has one ap or high amounts of CC lockdown.

F O L L O W

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W I T H

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>> Usually Randuin's Omen helps more at this stage of the game. I think Frozen Heart should be taken earlier to make a bigger impact but I don't want to replace the core items. Frozen Heart is good against AA reliant team but I feel like randuin's helps overall and is a better general item.

M O D A L

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B A S E D

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talisman of ascension

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>> talisman of ascension is not that popular because Ancient Coin is really bad item. You'd be forced to start with Ruby Crystal, Sightstone and then get talisman components. Its active is sometimes better which is why it's taken. I'd recommend Ancient Coin start only for beginners. Ruby Sightstone is situational item when you just have enough gold lying around after full build to get the extra ward. It's good if you have a lot of vision wars.

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The ability sequence maximizes utility. You can max Flay first if you prefer to play a really aggressive Thresh, but I prefer to maximize his utility. Death Sentence is maxed first in order to lower its cooldown. You can land one hook in between Morgana's shield by doing this, for example. Dark Passage is maxed second, mainly for the reduced cooldown, but it does give more shield as it's leveled up as well. Flay is maxed as last because the build focuses on utility so offensive ability is maxed last. The Box is taken whenever possible, it benefits greatly from levels.

Damnation: Pretty good passive actually. This gives a great amount of both ability power and armor. I really value the passive armor gain which basically allows the twice as many magic resist items while still remaining tanky vs AD. Death Sentence: The ability which makes Thresh a great champion to make a pick-up kill happen. Re-activating this ability actually makes the CC time longer and it's often better to re-activate to close the gap. Don't re-activate if it makes you lose a trade! Dark Passage: Great escape tool and shield for your ADC, but also great ability to throw at your jungler so the two of you can close the gap together instead of the jungler walking to the lane. Flay: Good ability to help with Relic Shield proc since Thresh doesn't get to execute the minion at half hp. It's also great ability to poke enemy support, especially if against melee one. Usage of flay is tricky since it's reversed and when you want to pull enemy towards you, you have to aim behind you. The Box: Really strong ability to catch several opponents. This can also be used defensively BEFORE enemies get in range to attack you. They're simply forced to go around it or through it. Usually used best when you first land Death Sentence and use it when the enemy is in the middle.

Every ADC above that list has good synergy with Thresh. You can basically make any lane work with him, depending on the enemy bottom lane. These picks are generally always good. Everything out of this list is still OK. I can't think of a truly bad ADC to play with Thresh.

Usually you want to have some kind of early pressure from your ADC so you can make plays and play aggressively. All of the above should do fine in early game more or less thanks to their playing style and kit. The ADCs listed above should have lots of damage, burst, long range, poke or just lane dominant thanks to their kits.

Everything out of the list can still work, but these are not always played as offensively. Kog'Maw needs an escape and a safe laning phase, for example. Thresh can do that job by providing pressure + escape with shield. Tristana is pretty much the same but she can propably be a little bit more aggressive with Rocket Jump, for example. These are just examples and everything out of that list can certainly work better than those above of it in certain situations.

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>> It is time to explain some gameplay. I put this section in three different sections: early, mid and finally late game. >> I will also cover the usage of active items like Locket of the Iron Solari, Sightstone and Mikael's Blessing. >> In addition, I will try to give small tips on warding when you're laning or fighting for an objective like dragon and how the fight should be executed. >> Credits to -NA- Veng Lmfao for the layout.

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>> Early game / Laning phase Thresh doesn’t have a great level one unless you can get a catch in the enemy jungle with Death Sentence. Otherwise you probably just want to help ADC push for fast level two and get vision in the enemy bottom lane brush. Level two is really strong due to the fact you usually don't have a huge minion wave against you. Thresh is if you can hit level two first because that usually means they have no answer to your CC. The following levels are just playing around with your CC, using your Flay passive to poke enemy ADC. Engage if you land CC and know the enemy jungler won't come and you win the trade. Don't ever let your ADC feel like they are 1v2. Remember that you can still provide pressure even if you miss CC.

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>> Level 6 / Towards the end of laning phase After level 6 you can provide really good ganking potential (as you did before). You can ask for lantern ganks. It's really good if you're ahead in cs or you've gotten kill or stayed even in lane. Since you have Sightstone, you want to have vision what's happening around enemy blue, river + dragon and your tri-bush in case of mid lane gank. I'd say you can all in pretty much against everyone accept fed AP carry supports that can burst. (Assuming no summoner spells are used)

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>> Mid game / Dragon Around mid-game and after you leave your laning phase, you will have lots of dragon fights. You want to do preparations for the incoming fight. Get pink wards, have a sweeper, and ward so you know what will be coming from mid lane and from enemy blue. In case you get jumped on, you want to make sure your ADC is safe. Using The Box defensively and hooking the biggest threat of enemy team is welcome at this point. In case you are initiating: You want to land a good hook on an enemy carry and keep your ADC safe (or any fed carry basically). Exhausting the biggest damage dealer is also really good if you have it up.

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>> Team fights / Initiation The fights will basically go like previously mentioned dragon fight. You usually have to make a thinking progress whether you can go all in after you land a CC on an opponent or do you need to stay with your fed carry because that will win you the team fight. Death Sentence + Dark Passage to your bruiser towards enemy squishy will often be the best initiation. Then you use The Box to stop escape and Flay enemy towards your team or interrupt ability like Valkyrie or Crowstorm. At the middle of this, pop Locket of the Iron Solari and use Mikael's Blessing on an ally who is CC’d.

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>> Team fights / Protect ADC Second option is to protect your fed squishy that can carry the fight. Let's say you get initiated on for example. You want to immediately used locket + mikaels on a squishy ally being targeted, also try to predict which enemy will do the most damage and use Exhaust on them. Then use The Box to give time to get distance and time to kite. Dark Passage can also work here if you can get a targeted ally to safety. Flay should be used to kite for your team.

Thank you for reading dear viewer. I hope you have learned the ropes or at least thing or two about Thresh. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to say so in the comment section. Unfortunately I probably won't be making a screenshots section but you can always post them in the comments and you can also contact me by sending me a PM here.

Huge thanks to;

• The_Nameless_Bard - For fixing the grammar and spelling mistakes.
• Oxide110 - Helping out with sentence structure.
• Latest Legend - Some wording fixes.