T a b l e O f C o n t e n t s

1. Kaji's Guides 2. The Chain Warden 3. Introduction 4. Climbing in Ranked 5. Summoner Spells 6. Pros / Cons 7. Unique Abilities 8. Skill Sequence 9. Runes 10. Any Last Words? 11. Botlane Matchups 12. Items 13. Special Thanks 14. Update Log

Hi guys,

I am KajiŌkami.
By now I have written quite a few guides on MobaFire.

I made this guide because I think Thresh is a very fun champion and on top of that he is a very good support with a lot of engaging / play-making tools and I wanted to share my take on the champion with all of you out there!

If you do like my content, feel free to follow me on Twitch, Twitter or YouTube! You can find the links at the top of my guide!

Enjoy the guide and have fun out there on the fields of justice!






If you want to be able to climb the ladder in ranked here are a few pointers in general (counts for every role and every champion). League of Legends is, and will always be, a team game. This means that you will have to rely on others in order to win games. Some games you can carry your team, some games you will be the one getting carried by your team. Just remember: everyone can have a bad game!

Do's

+ Be positive + Be a teamplayer + Play the vision game + Take objectives + Play mastered champions + Keep your cool

One of the most important parts about being able to win consistently is being positive. If you go into your games with a clear and positive mindset it will not only help you, but also your teammates. Part of playing as a team includes going along with plays your team commits to. Even if you don't 100% agree with the play. By not joining when your team is committed to make the play you just lower the chances of a play succeeding or not! Another very important key to victory is vision! It's not only the support's job to provide vision. It is a team effort, by buying a Control Ward on every opportunity you have, you will help your team out tremendously! Once you have learned to help your team provide vision, the next step is learning to secure objectives, because they win games. Taking turrets or slaying an elemental dragon can help your team get global gold or increased stats! Next thing to keep in mind is to play champions you feel comfortable on, don't force yourself into taking the meta pick if you don't know how to play the champion through and through! Knowing everything there is to know about your champion is very important to consistently win lane! Last but not least: keep your cool! If you are having a bad game, don't start making risky plays or going by yourself. Play safe and rely on your team to help you get back into the game. Same thing goes if your team is playing poorly. Stay calm and don't blame it on them, just keep playing and help them get back into the game.

Don'ts

- Flame - Be negative - Afk farm - Surrender - Chase kills - Be a KDA player

Never flame your teammates, because this will cost you the game more often than not. For example: We've all been there, the enemy jungler seems to have a tent set by your lane and your jungler doesn't visit your lane once. What to do next, flame and blame your jungler? No! Just play safe, don't give away free kills and let your jungler have impact elsewhere on the map. The same goes for being negative, this will just have a bad impact on your teammates. It will affect their play and your chances of winning decrease by a big amount. If a game isn't going according to plan, don't go sit in a sidelane doing nothing but farm all game. Yes, farming is important, but helping your team and assisting on plays is a lot more important! Surrendering is also never an option. If you are behind, just stall out the game until your have caught up with the enemy team or at least until the difference in items and gold doesn't matter as much anymore. A lot of games can be won by just playing smart and waiting for your time, even if you are behind. One more thing to keep in mind: don't chase for kills. Most of the times you keep chasing for a kill you are just wasting your time or worse, getting yourself killed! If an enemy gets away with just a bit of health take this opportunity to take an objective or provide and clear out vision. This will help your team globally a lot more than trying to get that one kill to boost your KDA and risk dying.

In every game you will take Flash and in most games Ignite.
The reason behind taking Ignite is because it gives you a lot of extra pressure in lane. Especially as Thresh since you will be trying to snowball your AD carry with the strong all-in potential you provide.



Exhaust can be a very good option if there is a lot of burst on the enemy team. The damage reduction might just be the reason your AD carry survives an all in from a champion like Zed or Talon.

Pros + Very fun champion + Great gank setup + Provides a lot of cc + Great safety + Very strong roams + Great all-in engage Thresh is a very fun champion, he might take a few games to find the right play-style but it's 100% worth it. He possesses an amazing gank setup with his q: Death Sentence, his e: Flay, and his r: The Box, which all provide strong crowd control. On top of that he can get his jungler into the fight very easy with his w: Dark Passage. Thresh's w: Dark Passage isn't only good for setting up ganks, but also for helping your teammates escape tough situations. Due to his kit filled with crowd control Thresh is very good at starting an all-in engage. This also makes his roams super effective!

Cons - Ability dependant - No escape after engaging - Easy to poke - Provides little sustain for ADC - Terrible when in losing botlane Thresh really relies on his abilities to be able to have an impact on the game. Without them there isn't much he can do. When you engage and your team fails to follow up or kill the target, you have no way to escape. You are easily poked out of lane in the early game if you don't find an engage on the enemy botlane. What Thresh offers in crowd control, he lacks in the sustain he offers for his ADC. The only form of sustain he offers is the shield that comes of Dark Passage. Otherwise there isn't a lot of sustain you offer. Thresh is a great champion to play when you are ahead in lane, but once you are playing as the losing botlane it becomes very hard to find any success when the enemy botlane is ahead.

PASSIVE

Damnation (Passive): Thresh's passive has a two different parts: Basic Attacks: Thresh's basic attacks do not use projectiles and his basic attack wind-up is only reduced by 0.25% per 1% bonus attack speed (compared to the standard 1% per 1%). That being said, this isn't very relevant for this guide as we are not talking about AD Thresh. Innate: Enemies who die near Thresh drop souls for 8 seconds, which he can collect by either approaching them or by placing Dark Passage near them. Each collected soul permanently grants Thresh 0.75 bonus ability power, 0.75 bonus armor and increases Dark Passage's shield's strength and Flay's minimum bonus magic damage by 1. Note: Champions and large enemies always drop 1 soul, epic monsters (dragon and baron) always drop 2, but small minions and monsters have a 33% chance to drop 1 (this % changes depending on the expected collection rate).

Q W E R

Death Sentence Q: Thresh's Death Sentence consists of 2 casts. First cast: Death Sentence: After a short delay, Thresh throws out his hook in the targeted direction and forms a tether with the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage and stunning them for 1.5 seconds. Hitting an enemy reduces Death Sentence's cooldown by 3 seconds. Note: While the tether persists, Thresh can't attack and periodically tugs at his chain, pulling the target a short distance towards himself. After 0.5 seconds, or immediately after hitting a minion or monster, Thresh can cast Death Leap. Second cast: Death Leap: Thresh dashes to the tethered enemy, removing the stun but becoming able to attack again. Note: to ensure the maximum amount of crowd control you can wait shortly before using your second cast. Update: patch 9.4 slightly nerfed Death Sentence. The mana cost was increased from 60 to 70 and the early cooldown has been increased.

Q W E R

Dark Passage W: Thresh throws his lantern to the target location, granting vision off its nearby surroundings and collecting nearby Damnation souls for the duration. The lantern remains for 6 seconds and automatically returns to Thresh if he moves more than 1500 units away from it. Thresh and the first ally to come near the lantern are shielded for 4 seconds. An ally that grabs the lantern will dash to Thresh's location and shield themselves for the same duration. Fun fact: The lantern can be targeted by Teleport, Jax's Leap Strike, Katarina's Shunpo, and Lee Sin's Safeguard.

Q W E R

Flay E: Thresh's Flay has a passive and an active part. Passive: Thresh's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage, increasing with time spent not attacking enemy units or neutral monsters. This is a great tool to deal some extra damage in match-ups versus other short ranged supports. Active: Thresh sweeps his chain in a broad line towards the target direction, dealing magic damage to enemies hit and knocking them in the chain's direction. Enemies targeted by Flay will be slowed for 1 seconds afterwards. Tip: if you can set up a play by using Flay first you will be more likely to find success because this skill makes it so much easier to set up the rest of your engage.

Q W E R

The Box R: After a 0.75-second delay, Thresh surrounds himself with 5 spectral walls, each lasting for up to 5 seconds. These walls break on contact with an enemy champion, dealing magic damage and slowing the enemy champion by 99% for 2 seconds. Important: enemy champions hitting any wall beyond the first take no damage and are slowed for only 1 second!

The videos I added below are perfect examples to show the all-in potential of Thresh. Both pre and post level 6.

Pre 6

Play Video

Pre 6

Play Video

Post 6

Play Video

The Box: your ult is a very important tool with a lot of zoning possibilities, damage and crowd control, so for that reason you will want to put a point in it every chance you get. This means at levels 6 > 11 > 16.

Death Sentence: this ability is your bread and butter to find catches, stall for time or to escape tight situations when necessary, that is why you will maximize this skill first. The amount of crowd control this ability gives you is really important in Thresh's kit.
That being said you will only put a point in Death Sentence the first time at level 2. The next levels are 5 > 7 > 8 > 9.

Flay: after you have maxed out Death Sentence, Flay is next for one simple reason ~ the extra amount of crowd control it provides. The extra damage it provides is also nice, but not the main reason for leveling this skill 2nd. Having a bigger up-time on this ability makes it easier for your team to follow up on your engages and more difficult for enemies that are caught to escape.
You will put a point in Flay at level 1 because of the increased damage on your basic attack it gives you and the area of effect crowd control it gives. After the first point the next levels are 4 > 10 > 12 > 13 > 14.

Dark Passage: you level up Dark Passage last because it doesn't offer you any form of crowd control and as Thresh support, your crowd control is your most important weapon! The shield you get is nice, but the strength of your shield will increase anyway because of the souls you collect and the range of the ability doesn't increase per level. So once you put a point in this skill at level 3, you have all the tools you need to either set up a gank or help an ally escape a seemingly impossible situation.






First things first: because of the new runes system there are now so many different building paths, depending on your play-style, that it can become hard to choose.

In this chapter I will go over the runes that I think are best on Thresh.
If you play him with other runes, or if you have some question about different runes, you can always ask and I will be happy to help! :)

Aftershock is by far the best keystone to build on Thresh because of the huge amount of crowd control that is build into his kit. Which makes it very easy to proc + the increased armor and magic resistance is very useful because you are an engaging champion, which means you will be in the middle of the fights most of the time anyway! Fun fact: Aftershock interacts with his passive Damnation.

Font of Life is my preferred rune in this tier, because of how easy it is for Thresh to proc this rune and how much utility you can offer to your team in the form of healing by taking this rune.

Bone Plating is my preferred rune in this tier, because of the same reason as I gave for picking Aftershock: the damage reduction will be very useful when going into the enemy botlane or the enemy team to start a play. Also this rune gives you the most safety in lane to make sure you don't get poked out too much. Update: patch 9.9 gave a little more power to Bone Plating. It now blocks 30-60 damage based on level (before 25-50).

Unflinching is the final rune I take in Resolve. If fits the job perfectly for Thresh because of the increased tenacity you get. You want to be the one peeling for your team and using your crowd control to lock down the enemy team. That becomes a lot harder if you are getting held back all the time because of enemy team crowd control. Especially since you will often use be using your Flash to set up a play. That's the main reason I suggest for taking Unflinching.

Approach Velocity is a great rune that is underestimated by a lot of players! Especially on Thresh because you have so much built-in crowd control. Example: if you use Flay on an enemy champion and when you want to follow up with Death Sentence the target flashes away, Approach Velocity will make you a lot faster in this situation, making it next to impossible for the enemy champion to get away.

Hextech Flashtraption doesn't need much explanation as to why you should take it. This rune will allow you to set up a lot more plays if you flash from outside enemy vision. Another good thing about this rune is that when you use your Hextech Flashtraption this interacts with Unflinching.

This preseason has brought something new and, in my opinion, very useful to the rune-page crafting: the option to pick you own bonus stats. There are 3 tiers, each with 3 options.

Tier 1 ~ Offense + 6 AD or 10 AP + 9% Attack Speed + 1 - 10% CDR (level 1 - 18)

Tier 2 ~ Flex + 6 AD or 10 AP + 5 armor + 6 magic resistance

Tier 3 ~ Defense + 15 - 90 HP (level 1 - 18) + 5 armor + 6 magic resistance

I will tell you my personal view on these stats for Thresh. These bonus stats should be your pick no matter what the rune page you are going to run is.

Tier 1 ~ Offense: 1 - 10% CDR (level 1 - 18). The reason behind picking the cool-down reduction as a bonus stat is very simple. This way you can easily cap of your CDR to guarantee as many Death Sentences and Flays as possible.

Tier 2 ~ Flex: + 5 armor, this one is an easy choice. You are a support, which means you will be going up against AD carries on the enemy team. So for that reason you want to pick the + 5 armor. It will help you survive a lot easier in lane should you take a bad trade or get poked out.

Tier 3 ~ Defense: here you will pick the 15 - 90 HP (level 1 - 18) for one simple reason: bonus health is the stat you will be getting the most value out of as Thresh. You are a support and your gold income is rather low, so getting the bonus health for free further into the game feels very good on you.












This chapter will be dedicated to the different bottom lane support matchups you can encounter as Thresh. If you are new to the champion and want to learn how to play him, I really advise you to read this chapter thoroughly. It will teach you when to pick your favorite titan and when to pick a safer champion in your learning period.
Once you have completely mastered the champion, you will learn that there aren't a lot of matchups you can't win if you play it right. Although some matchups will always be more favorable than others!
You can click on the champions listed below to go directly to the matchup you wan to read about. Champions in green are matchup levels 1/10 - 3/10, yellow are matchup levels 4/10 - 7/10 and red are matchup levels 8/10 - 10/10.

Vel'Koz | Ahri | Soraka | Alistar | Annie | Leona | Shen | Sona

Nautilus | Bard | Blitzcrank | Gragas | Tahm Kench | Brand | Lux | Rakan | Zyra | Braum | Nami

Fiddlesticks | Lulu | Pyke | Zilean | Karma | Taric | Janna | Morgana

1/10

Vel'Koz isn't a very hard match-up for Thresh because he has 0 escape and his abilities are very telegraphed. On top of that Vel'Koz is also a very squishy support. Bait out his stun, then feel free to go all-in on either him or his AD carry and enjoy your free kill.

2/10

Playing against an Ahri support isn't much of an issue for Thresh. The range on her charm is fairly short, so if she comes up to use it you can easily hook her or interrupt her with flay. On top of that Ahri is a fairly squishy support and her abilities use a huge amount of mana in the early stages of the game before she gets some items. Be aware: never underestimate Ahri's damage is she does manage to land a charm on you!

2/10

Soraka can be an easy match-up if you play this lane correctly. It is important to always take down Soraka first, because if you focus her AD carry, she will just keep healing and you will have a hard time getting a kill. Soraka offers great lane sustain, so there's no use trying to get small trades in this lane. It's go hard or go home (home being your base). Apart from her healing you shouldn't fear Soraka too much as Thresh. She is very squishy and if you land a hook on her, she is almost guaranteed to be a free kill. Just watch-out for her Equinox, because it can silence you during engages and leave you vulnerable.

3/10

Alistar is kind of a skill match-up. He has a lot of all-in engage potential, but you can deny a lot of that if you can time the use of your Flay perfectly. In this match-up you should stay close to your AD carry and save your Flay for when Alistar comes to you with his Headbutt. This way you can deny his engage completely. If he does manage to get on top of your AD carry immediately throw your Dark Passage to get him to safety before Alistar can chain cc him to death.

3/10

The match-up versus Annie isn't as hard as it looks. She can be annoying, but she has no real form of escape. This makes her an easy target for you to all-in. Annie has a pretty large auto attack range, but when it comes to her abilities her range is fairly short. This makes her a very vulnerable target for you Death Sentence. Just make sure to stay alert for her flash-ult engages.

3/10

Leona isn't the hardest match-up for Thresh because you can easily stop her from going all-in on you or your AD carry. When she uses her Zenith Blade on you, just use flay to get her out of range to stun you. If she uses Zenith Blade towards your AD carry, just throw Dark Passage to him and then engage on her AD carry, giving you the advantage in the fight.

3/10

You don't get to lane against a Shen support that often anymore, but if you do there is no real need to worry. His biggest threat is his taunt and the fact that he can block auto attacks. If he ever tries to flash-taunt your AD carry, try to Flay him away while he is dashing. A very important factor in games versus a Shen support is communication. Because it is very hard for you to follow him when he 'roams' with his ult Stand United. If there is a possibility, try to interrupt him with Death Sentence or Flay. If there isn't, just make sure your team is aware of Shen ulting and take advantage of the fact that the enemy AD carry is playing solo in lane.

3/10

Sona is more an annoying match-up instead of a difficult match-up. She offers strong poke and decent sustain, but she has no real mobility. Yes, she has a speed-up, but you should still be able to all-in her pretty easy. Once you reach level 6 you can Flash on top of her, follow up with Flay and put up The Box. If she tries to Flash, just reel her in with your Death Sentence and you will have a dead Sona at your feet.

4/10

Nautilus is kind of a skill match-up. He also has a hook with his Dredge Line, but that's not his main threat. If he lands Dredge Line on your AD carry, just immediately throw out your lantern to pull him to safety. The biggest threat Nautilus offers is the chain of crowd control he can provide with his Dredge Line, combined with his passive Staggering Blow and his ultimate Depth Charge. So when you go for an all-in make sure you kill Nautilus or his AD carry instantly. Because with all the crowd control he can use, if you don't immediately get a kill Nautilus can easily turn the fight in his favor.

5/10

Bard can be a very annoying lane opponent because of the poke damage he can provide with his q Cosmic Binding and the sustain from his Caretaker's Shrine to keep himself and his AD carry healthy. If Bard uses his Magical Journey never follow him without proper vision. In this match-up it is very important to keep your surroundings warded almost all the time because Bard can easily set up ganks with his ultimate Tempered Fate and then come in together with his jungler with Magical Journey. If you can land a hook on him though, he will be a very easy kill. Note: always be careful that you and your AD carry don't stand too close to each other so you both get stunned by his Cosmic Binding.

5/10

Blitzcrank is another support with a very strong all-in potential. The best thing you can do as Thresh is, if your AD carry is grabbed by Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab, just throw a Dark Passage so he can get out quickly. If you are able to get your AD carry out safe, feel free to re-engage on the enemy AD carry. Blitzcrank without his Rocket Grab is very useless so you should look for windows to get some kills every time his Rocket Grab is on cooldown.

5/10

Gragas is a support you don't see that often, but once in a while you can run in to one. Recently even the pro's have been picking him up every now and then. Be aware of his Flash - Body Slam engages, because he has a lot of all-in potential if he follows it up with his ultimate Explosive Cask. When you see Gragas engaging on you AD carry throw your Dark Passage to get him out. Once your AD carry is safe you are free to go in on Gragas, or even better, his AD carry. Always remember that this support Gragas isn't very tanky in the early stages of the game, so you can easily burst him down.

5/10

While Tahm Kench doesn't offer much in the form of damage during the laning phase he is still one of the most annoying champions to play against. This is due to the fact that Tahm Kench offers so much safety in lane. If you land a Death Sentence on his AD carry, he will just Devour them and walk away, denying almost every form of engage. On top of that, because of his e Thick Skin Tahm Kench can be very deceptively hard to take down. While Tahm Kench doesn't provide much damage you should never underestimate him because if he gets 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste on you or your AD carry and uses Devour he can easily set up a kill for his AD carry.

6/10

When you are in lane against a Brand support, always be aware of his damage. If he lands his Pillar of Flame on your AD carry, throw your Dark Passage so Brand doesn't get the chance to follow up with his Sear and leave your AD carry stunned (and most likely dead). Always be careful for Brand's ultimate Pyroclasm because it can be hugely disruptive in teamfights! If he uses it, make sure to not stay close to your other teammates to minimize Brand's damage output. Once Brand has used all of his abilities he is an easy target, because he has no real way to escape.

6/10

Lux is more annoying than a real threat to you. Between her Lucent Singularity and her Light Binding she has a lot of poke, so in the early game she will be very obnoxious to deal with. The thing about Lux is that she is very squishy and has 0 form of escape. So if you manage to land a Death Sentence on her she will very easily be bursted down. What you do need to be careful of is her burst damage. If she lands a Light Binding on you or your AD carry post 6, immediately throw out your lantern because if she follows up with her ultimate Final Spark, you will really need the shield.

6/10

Rakan has strong engaging tools with his w Grand Entrance and his ultimate The Quickness. If he succeeds in landing them, he can be very disruptive. This applies to the laning phase as well as is team-fights. However, being Thresh you can deny Rakan very hard. You can use your Flay to knock him away when he uses The Quickness and if he tries to get away you with his e Battle Dance can use your hook to interrupt his dash. If Rakan goes in on your AD carry and you aren't close enough to Flay him away, throw your Dark Passage immediately to get your AD carry to safety.

6/10

When in lane against Zyra you should always be aware of her damage. If she lands her Grasping Roots on your AD carry, throw your Dark Passage so Zyra doesn't get to chunk your AD carry down completely with just one rotation of spells. Always be careful when going all-in on Zyra because she can use her ultimate Stranglethorns to deal a huge amount of damage on you before you can do anything! Once Zyra has used her abilities she is an easy target, because she has no real way to escape.

7/10

Braum is a tougher match-up for Thresh because of the amount of safety he provides in lane. He can block a lot of damage for his AD carry with his e Unbreakable and never underestimate the power of his passive Concussive Blows. His stun lasts pretty long and will leave you very vulnerable. If you get stunned there is a lot of time for him and his AD carry to deal damage to you. Braum also offer decent disengage and gank set-up with his ultimate Glacial Fissure. Tip: Try to force out his Unbreakable before engaging on his AD carry.

7/10

Nami is a rougher match-up in the sense that she offers so much lane sustain with her Ebb and Flow. There's no trying to poke her and her AD carry out of lane. When playing against Nami in lane, make every engage count, because if you don't get the kill she will just heal herself and her AD carry back up. Other then her sustain she is also pretty good at disengaging with her ultimate Tidal Wave.

8/10

Fiddlesticks is a tougher match-up then you would suspect because of the amount of poke he provides with Reap, combined with his fear (that can make you useless for a couple of seconds) and his all-in potential with his Crowstorm. Also always keep in mind that Fiddlesticks can easily sustain up after getting poked with Bountiful Harvest. The good thing about this match-up is how squishy he is and the fact that he offers 0 sustain for his AD carry. Make sure to always ward the bushes in lane so he doesn't get a free ultimate off. If you see him channeling Crowstorm, try to interrupt him with your Death Sentence and after that save your Flay for when he uses Bountiful Harvest, so he can't just sustain up. Once you start all-inning Fiddlesticks he has no real way to escape.

8/10

Lulu is another one of those supports that you will not have a fun time against in lane. She provides a decent amount of poke with Glitterlance. Furthermore, her shield Help, Pix! and her ult Wild Growth make it hard to burst down her AD carry. On top of that, if you land a Death Sentence and engage, she can just make you harmless by using Whimsy, after which she can disengage or start trying to take you down, depending on the situation.

8/10

Pyke definitely is a tough match-up because of his mobility and all-in potential with his q Bone Skewer and e Phantom Undertow, which make his laning phase pretty strong. Always be aware for his Flash - Phantom Undertow engages in the early game. When it comes to teamfighting though, Pyke tends to lose versus a well-versed Thresh player. If there are low-health targets within execute range of Pyke's ultimate, Death from Below, make sure to throw your Dark Passage out to get them to safety. The up-side of this match-up is that Pyke is a very squishy target, which makes him easy to burst down if you land a hook on him.

8/10

Zilean is a rather hard match-up for Thresh because of multiple reasons. First of he has decent poke with his Time Bomb and if he lands 2 bombs in succession on you there is also his stun. This can very easily get you poked out of lane. Another thing that's hard about the match-up against Zilean is his ability to speed up himself or his AD carry with Time Warp, enabling both to easily dodge your Death Sentence. The last thing about Zilean is the most obvious, his ultimate Chronoshift, which can deny you from getting a quick kill very easy. In this match-up it is best to start of your engage with Flay, as this will make your Death Sentence more likely to land. If Zilean uses Chronoshift, try to hold of on landing the finishing blow until it wears of.

9/10

Karma is a rather hard match-up because of the amount of damage she offers in the early game. You should especially be aware of her Mantra - Inner Flames because she can easily poke you out of lane with them. Asides from the poke, her shield Inspire gives a burst of movement speed, making it easier for her and her AD carry to dodge your hooks. If she misses a Mantra - Inner Flame and her Inspire is on cool-down you can freely engage on her, because she will have no chance to get away from your all-in.

9/10

Taric is one of the most difficult match-ups you can encounter as Thresh post level 6. This is simply because of the fact that his ultimate Cosmic Radiance can completely deny your all-in potential. Another thing that makes Taric a hard lane match-up is the fact that he offers decent sustain because he can heal up his AD carry with Starlight's Touch. In the early game Taric's cool-down on his abilities is rather high and his abilities cost a decent amount of mana. This is why, in this match-up, you should really try to abuse Taric's weaker early game.

10/10

Janna is a very hard match-up for Thresh if the Janna really knows what she is doing (let's assume she read Jovy's guide ;) ). Janna offers a decent amount of poke, combined with shielding and healing. Besides that she is also a great champion at disengaging because of her Howling Gale and her Monsoon. If you land a Death Sentence on her, she can cancel your flying towers her with Howling Gale. In the case you manage to get on to her she can easily disengage by using her Monsoon to knock you away. The positive part is that Janna is another very squishy support, so if she fails to disengage successfully you will have an easy time taking her down.

10/10

Morgana is one of the biggest counter-picks to Thresh that hardly needs explaining. Her Black Shield is a direct counter to your engage. If the enemy Morgana knows how to play against Thresh she will max her Black Shield first, so she can deny you as much as possible. When you are in a Morgana lane, try to bait out her Black Shield and then follow up with engage on the target without the Black Shield. Also be aware of Morgana's Dark Binding. If she lands Dark Binding on your AD carry immediately throw out your Dark Passage to get him to safety once the Dark Binding times out.

In this chapter I will talk more about the itemization on Nautilus support.
There are a lot of good items you can build, each of which I will explain below.

Steel Shoulderguards is the best starting item for Thresh. The primary reason for this is that it provides you with bonus health and bonus attack damage. It also gives you are form of sustain because you can execute minions when you have a stack. Important: patch 9.23 brought huge changes to support items: you no longer need to buy your upgrades. Once you have collect enough gold, the items will upgrade by themselves. This leaves more room for supports to start buying there more important items a lot faster. Do keep in mind thought, that once your support item is fully upgraded, the bonus gold they provide will fall off.

Since patch 8.15, you can only buy 2 Health Potions at the start of the game, so Refillable Potion is now one of the things you should buy on your first back!

Locket of the Iron Solari is the standard 2nd item choice. It gives you everything you want as Thresh support: bonus armor and magic resistance + a shield to protect your team during teamfights! I prefer this as your 2nd item because you an really use the shield and tank stats as Thresh since you will be going in to the enemy team very often with your Death Sentence engages.

Oracle Lens has become available from level 1 since patch 8.8. This means that you can sweep a much lagers area a lot sooner than you used to. I recommend you switch from Stealth Ward to Oracle Lens after you completed your support quest. At that point you will get free wards every time you go back to base so you will not need a Stealth Wardanymore. This allows you to clear out vision, making it harder for the enemy team to know where you, or your teammates, are. Needless to say that doing this greatly increases your chances to get a free kill. Because if they can't see the play your are setting up coming, the chances of catching someone by surprise and getting easy kills become a lot higher.

Mobility Boots will be your standard choice in most of your games because these will enable you to roam around to map a lot more and a lot faster. Especially since you want to roam towards mid a lot. The boost of movement speed will make you lose a lot less time travelling between lanes. Another perk of the bonus movement speed is that you can go help out teammates in trouble faster with Dark Passage.

Mercury's Treads are preferable when the enemy team has a lot of cc. The increased tenacity will help you get out of tough situations just that little bit faster. Another good situation to go for Mercury's Treads is when the enemy team is very heavily ap focused (ap top + jungle + mid).

Ninja Tabi should be your choice when the enemy team is full ad, just because it will help you so much against full ad comps. The reduced damage from auto attacks and the extra armor will keep you alive a lot longer against full ad comps.

Knight's Vow is the standard choice as a 3rd item. In situations where your AD carry is really far ahead of the enemy AD carry Knight's Vow is 100% the best 3rd item to get. By building this item you can support your ad carry so he/she can deal as much damage as possible.

Zeke's Convergence can be build as a 4th item for the same reasons as I just mentioned with Knight's Vow.

Turbo Chemtank can be build as a 3rd or 4th item because it gives you all things Thresh can really put to good use. It provides bonus armor, mana, cooldown reduction and on top of that the active movement speed bonus can really help you with your engages.

Abyssal Mask can be a valid magic resistance option if you have short ranged mages on your team like Ryze or an ap assassin like Katarina and Akali. Because taking Abyssal Mask will increase their damage output, as well as give you some more bonus health, magic resistance, mana and cooldown reduction.

Zz'Rot Portal can be build as a 5th item or 6th item if your team needs the pressure in the sidelanes and doesn't have a great split-pusher or real strong forms of wave clear.

Redemption is a really valid option to build if you get a lot of dragged out teamfights and your team needs to extra sustain this item provides. Of course the bonus health, mana regeneration and cooldown reduction Redemption offers are very nice stats for Thresh.

Randuin's Omen is another great item on Thresh. The passive gives you 20% reduced damage from critical strikes and slows the attack speed of enemies attacking you. This can be very useful when the enemy ad carry is fed. The bonus health and armor you get are also very good. On top of that the active slow synergises well with Thresh's kit and helps you catch the wanted target.

Dead Man's Plate can be build as a final armor item if you need the armor but not the critical strike reduction you get from Randuin's Omen. This item will give you increased movement speed over time and the bonus damage your basic attacks deal when you use up all the momentum synergises well with the passive damage that builds up on Flay.

Vision wins games, never forget that! Buying Control Wards is very important. Also as a support, because you are the biggest provider of vision together with your jungler. A Control Ward can be key in helping you jungler come for a gank without being seen or to take an objective without the enemy team knowing. Always leave room in your inventory for a Control Ward!

• 06-11-2018: published guide chapter 1 - 14.
• 07-11-2018: updated guide for patch 8.22.
• 01-12-2018: updated guide for preseason (patch 8.23) and added new segment on bonus stats.
• 05-12-2018: updated guide for patch 8.24.
• 12-01-2019: updated guide for patch 9.1.
• 25-02-2019: updated guide for patch 9.4.
• 16-03-2019: updated guide for patch 9.5.
• 30-03-2019: updated guide for patch 9.6.
• 27-04-2019: updated guide for patch 9.8.
• 04-05-2019: updated guide for patch 9.9.
• 15-05-2019: updated guide for patch 9.10.
• 26-06-2019: updated guide for patch 9.13.
• 02-10-2019: updated guide for patch 9.19.
• 21-10-2019: updated guide for patch 9.20.
• 04-11-2019: updated guide for patch 9.21.
• 06-11-2019: updated guide for patch 9.22.
• 25-11-2019: updated guide for patch 9.23.
• 22-01-2020: updated guide for patch 10.1.
• 27-01-2020: updated guide for patch 10.2.
• 10-02-2020: updated guide for patch 10.3.
• 29-03-2020: updated guide for patch 10.6.
• 20-10-2020: updated guide for patch 10.21.
• 29-10-2020: updated guide for patch 10.22.