About me :)

The name's Pentius. Nice to meet you and welcome to the guide. I have over 1,000,000 Mastery points on Thresh and have been playing him since I started playing league in season 5. The highest rank I have achieved is rank 270 in NA. Thresh has always been my favourite support and always will be. The high skill ceiling combined with the satisfying plays that can be made makes for what I believe to be one of the best-designed champs in the game.

I also stream on twitch regularly and any support would be greatly appreciated :D
Twitch.tv/PentiusLOL

What is a Thresh

Thresh is the most versatile and well-rounded support in league of legends. Being capable of making plays, peeling, stomping lane phase, objective control, and roaming.

Thresh's Passive, Damnation, is an infinite stacking of armor and ap when souls are collected.
Thresh's Q, Death Sentence, allows for amazing pick potential.
Thresh's W, Dark Passage, helps teammates get out of rough situations.
Thresh's E, Flay, provides amazing peel during team fights.
Thresh's R, The Box, deals reasonable damage and provides more utility.

PRIMARY RUNES

VS
There is a lot of discussion when it comes down to vs . I think that it can be broken down into matchup but as well as your playstyle. I have been recently running guardian a lot more simply due to the fact that all the tank support items got a lot of their tank stats removed (As well as the removal of stoneplate). When I play Thresh, I no longer feel like I am engaging and soaking up damage for my team, but instead playing for Death Sentence and peeling with Dark Passage. Though Aftershock can still be used in matchups like Alistar and Leona. It all comes down to preference and playstyle.

Second Row

I believe that in this row it is either Demolish or Font of Life. I personally run Font of Life right now because it is always guaranteed to be used. Demolish is only gonna be used if you have a significant lead in lane in which you can take towers. Though Demolish is very strong when your team is ahead. This row comes down to preference.

Third Row

For the third-row Bone Plating or Second Wind are your two options. This row should be considered in champ select every single game. This is the rune that you are using to benefit your laning phase. Bone Plating will better into all in matchups. Champions like Alistar, Leona, Tristana, Caitlyn. The bone plating will allow you to survive the initial burst. Second Wind should be taken into matchups where Bone Plating would easily be procced or when they have a lot of poke. champions like Ezreal, Xayah(her feathers proc bone plating too easy), Brand, Maokai(counters his saplings).

Fourth Row

The two options for this row are Unflinching and Overgrowth. The breakdown for this is very simple. If the enemy has a lot of crowd control, take Unflinching. If they do not have enough to make the rune worth it, take Overgrowth. All done.

SECONDARY RUNES

First Row

I do not think any rune in this row is useful. Hextech Flashtraption doesn't really work for Thresh in my opinion because he does not have instant engage. Magical Footwear is not an option because on support your looking to buy your boots and have pressure on the map as soon as possible. Perfect Timing used to be a go to rune last season because it would build into stoneplate. After the changes, this rune is no longer needed.

Second Row

This row I like to take Biscuit Delivery. If you are playing in a high tempo lane Thresh struggles to get multiple rotations off in a single fight. Biscuit Delivery remove this problem. Minion Dematerializer is an okay second option. They can be strategically used to shove waves in quickly when needed to reset/rotate. I do not use them simply because Thresh is ranged so I do not feel unsafe getting the minions myself. Future's Market is just a sub-par rune. Not very useful, unless your Ivern.

Third Row

Approach Velocity is out of the question.
I have recently enjoyed running Time Warp Tonic. The extra health you gain when popping a potion is very good at helping you win trades as well as bait the enemy into thinking they can kill you. Another plus side is this increases the value of buying an early Refillable Potion. Cosmic Insight is the more common option. this rune choice is not as good as it used to be. I think it is only a good option when you are building multiple active items.

Stat Runes

For the bonus stats running double adaptive is really strong. The early game damage of a fully stacked Flay passive as well as the double adaptive leads to a very large chunk when trading. The single armor rune is because you are mostly laning against AD champs bot lane. This rune can be changed to an MR rune if there is an APC like Veigar or Cassiopeia. You can also change the first rune slot to CDR if you like Ability Haste. I personally do not find it as strong since the items you build give plenty.

IGNITE VS EXHAUST[/b]

VS

Ignite

Ignites main use is its ability to help you win lane and snowball early. A properly timed ignite in a 2v2 bot can win you the fight. Since Thresh is a snowbally champion, ignite is the most common summoner spell to use. Using it to make your in lane 2v2 stronger and snowball leads harder. That said, in S11 there are many other forms of late-game healing coming from runes, items, broken champs, etc. This makes ignite valuable late game as well. Ignite is the most "go to" or generic summoner spell to run. Especially in solo queue.

Exhaust

Exhaust's main purpose is to peel your carries from high sources of damage. It is an entirely peel-based summoner spell. The summoner spell is not nearly as strong as ignite in a 2v2 but it is much more valuable when it comes to late-game peeling. If the other team has multiple assassins or hard dives, it might be worth it to take exhaust to have an extra form of peel for teamfights. There are few lane matchups [s in which exhaust can have more value over ign. 2 examples are Tristana and Draven. In these lanes, you should coordinate with your adc to determine who is going to be the one to take exhaust.

SUPPORT ITEM

Steeel Shoulderguards

Relic Shield

BOOTS

MYTHIC ITEM

SECOND/THIRD ITEM

LAST ITEMS

PROS + Strong laning phase + Good pick potential + Good peel in teamfights + Reposition with the Lantern + Strong snowballing + Rewarding when mastered Hello!

CONS - Weaker when behind - Not beginner friendly - Hard countered by range/poke - Hook is very hard to hit vs mobility - Long cooldowns early game - Mistakes are punished easily Hello!