1) Introduction (A.I. what is the role of a support and why play thresh as a support?)

2) Skills Explained

3) Summoner Spells ( A.I. why them? Is there a better choice?)

4) Skill Sequence (A.I. why go in that order)

5) Items (A.I. why go with this build)

6) Masteries (A.I. why did i go with my choices?)

7) Runes (A.I. why use the runes i chose?)

What is the role of a support?

the support is the babysitter of the team. The role of a support is to help his teammates make kills making them stronger faster by feeding them kills. He does this usually by starting bot lane with the ADC ( Attack Damage Carry) who will usually be the big Glass Cannon (a character that deals great amount of damage but that die very easily) of the team. So basically a support as to try to set up kills for his ADC (so that he can grow stronger faster) and at the same time he is setting up these kills, he has to make sure that he or his adc die as little as possible.
when the lanning phase is over the support has to try to do what he did in the laning phase for his whole team.
For a support the importance of his life is subjective, if he can sacrifice it to save a teammate he needs to do so (unless doing so dooms other teammates)

Why would you want to play Thresh support?

the answer is simple because of the sustain ( how well he can tank (take damage for others)), the utility (how much he can help in different circumstances) and the CC (Crowd Control (the stuns, silence...)) he offers makes him a great support. if it wasn't for his hooks that are easy to dodge he would be perfect has a champion but because of them he requires some practice before bringing him into ranks...

Before going in the core of thresh we should understand how he works
lets start with his passive:

Damnation, the way this passive works is that every other minion and large minions drop souls and if you go near them you can pick them up permanently giving you 0.75 armor and AP boosting your spells with no items and giving you inherent sustain but because of it you also start with less armor and do not gain armor every level meaning that you get to be fairly squishy on low levels...



Lets move on to his "Q"

Death Sentence, is a skill shot ability that scales with AP (50%), that hooks the first enemy hit ( minion or champion) stuns them for 1.5 seconds and advances towards you twice. if you reactivate the ability you are brought to your hooked enemy.
Now Death Sentence is his signature move, it is the longest ranged hook, but it is also the slowest and easiest to dodge, meaning that you will need to learn to read you opponents movement to be able to hook them well.
Death Sentence does not bring your target to you automatically it pulls it towards you in two short burst never getting completely to you(unless he's already on you) permitting you to drag your enemies across the field.
Death Sentence can be used :
- For stun it offers that can save lives in a fight (by locking out the adc);
- By getting an extra .5 seconds if at the last moment before your hook stops, (you press q again, which will transport you to your hooked target);
- By using it as an escape thru the jungle by hooking jungle camps and jumping over the walls by pressing q again.



His second ability (his "W") is the ability you wished all other players knew how it worked but you'll soon realize they never do of course im talking about :

Dark Passage is an AOE skill shot that grants a shield that increases with AP (40%) to the first ally that comes near it and if an ally clicks on the lantern he is transported to Thresh
Dark Passage can be used for :
- Its increasingly better shield to you or your allies;
- Its an escape route to allies that get stuck in the enemy team (if they know how to use it);
- It can help a jungler come in for ganks;
- It can help an ADC come back into team fights;
- It can help you get souls that are in danger zones (zones that are not safe to go because of the enemy champs).



The next ability is probably is most under appreciated ability of course i'm talking about his "E"

Flay as an active and a passive. is passive makes your next basic attack deal an increased amount of damage the more souls you've collected and the longer its been since your last basic attack (plus up to 80%/110%/140%/170%/200% AD).
His active is a short skill shot that has a wide range that brings all enemies caught in it in the direction you choose and deals an amount of magic damage that increases with AP (40%)
His passive is great for :
-Early game to deal good poke damages on your enemy ADC, but be careful of it it can also very easily steal kills from your adc.
His Active has plenty of utility:
- you can use it to push back enemies closing on you or your adc;
- to bring closer enemies that are fleeing;
- to maintain CC on enemies;
- Cancel channeling abilities.



Finally the Ultimate that i see used too little based on how powerful it is and on how low of a cooldown once you have your 40% CD:

The Box after 0.75 you summon a pentagon (5 sides) box around you damaging (increased by 100% of AP) and slowing (by 99% for 2 seconds) the first enemy that hits the side of a wall for each side of the wall.
Now The Box can be used:
- To stop enemies escaping;
- To help your team escape;
- To help your team deal damage (since its damage is massive);
- Discourage the enemy team from going directly towards you;
- All other uses you can think of... (including making a nice dance club for yourself).

In this Chapter ill go thru why I chose these two summoner spells rather then the other ones

CORE

FLASH is a must it gives you great escapes when you need it, if you need to be more aggressive its a great gap closer, it also helps you to instantly position yourself

EXHAUST helps on your escapes and your gaps closers but it also helps your team finish off main targets easier by reducing their armor magic resist attack speed and speed.

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Other viable choices

HEAL can help your sustains and your escap and chases but the main problem with heal is that most adcs will already have it and being healed by heal a second time in a 35 second period will greatly reduced the healed amount. making it a second choice to exhaust.

IGNITE is another viable choice because it greatly helps securing kills, so greatly so that it can easily steal kills from you adc's add that to the fact that it does nothing defensively that is why i put it in third choice to replace exhaust

TELEPORT is my second choice to replace Flash because although it does not give you the instant utility flash gives you, it can be used to always stay in lane (giving you a bonus exp on your enemies that have to run back from base), a possibility to help on ganks, and a great use to defend towers that are being split pushed/ overrun by minions). thus making a great choice for summoners who are not high lvl enough to get flash.

Now i know my skill sequence can seem a little weird but they are a practiced skill sequence that will be explained has followed

Level 1 you go with your

Flay because of the damage it give you to poke on the enemy ADC it also discourages you to start hooking the enemy champions right away since you are very squishy level 1 because you have no armor,

Level 2 you get

Death Sentence because at this point you will have had a little more armor thanks to the souls you will have gathered you will also have leaned a little better how your opponents move telling you how you should hook them.
Having Death Sentence second also permits you to do one of your deadliest locking combo, "Q" (for 1.4 sec)=> "Q" again to go to your target and stun them for 0.5 more seconds => E to push them back slowing them and knocking them for a short period of time up

Level 3

You put a second point in your "E" because honestly you should not need more points in your "Q" since it will mostly just lower its CD and you are not going to jump on your enemies at every chance you get because it will cost you a lot of mana and your teammates are not always ready for it... you also don't put it in you "W" yet because at this point the extra damage you get from it is a lot more valuable the the small shield the "W" gives you.

Level 4

You finally put a point in Dark Passage because at this point there will have been more fights, you will have more armor and the odds of getting ganked are real so the odds of being poorly positioned are greatly increased.

Level 5

You will put your last point in "E" util you'll have maxed your "W" because you will need the damage output ad the extra slow but passed level 5 the shield ad utility your "W" gives you is more important that's why you stop leveling your "E" at Level 5

Of course like all ultimate it is important to level them at levels 6/11/16 so you ca fully utilize them.

You finish leveling your "Q" last because you should not need it more often then it gives you at rank 1... even at rank 5 you will rarely use it more the once per fight

The goal of playing Thresh is to be tanky and take hits for your adc but like all good supports you need to also help your adc sustain himself and take as little creep score(cs) from him as possible.

In this chapter i will go on to explain why you take each of the items in the order I have mentioned in the notes above

Start of the game

At the start of the game you should get Relic Shield, because it gives you all the health and sustain you will need it is also one of the core items for your FACE OF THE MOUNTAIN Face of the Mountain, it give you a good amount of gold ad it heals your allies.
you should also get 3 Health Potion to help you when you take the aggro away from you adc

First back

The first time you go back you what mobility and the possibility of more gold that's why should buy in order (based on the amount of gold you have) : Boots of Speed for that speed increase I was talking about;
TARGON'S EMBRACE Targon's Embrace for that sweet increase in sustain and income;
Boots of Mobility SPEED, SPEED and MOARE SPEED;
and finally if you have a spare 75 gold you should get a Vision Ward to cover the bush closest to your tower just in case the opposing Jungler decides to go that way...
Of course if you have more gold you should start buying things that you will need in your second back even before you buy the ward

Second Back

The second time you back to your base you should get whatever you could not get you first back and start working on a Sightstone]first;
followed by a FACE OF THE MOUNTAIN Face of the Mountain.
And finally if you don't have a pink ward up and you have an extra 75 gold you should get a Vision Ward to cover the bush closest to your tower just in case the opposing jungler decides to go that way...

Third Back

On your third back the next item you build depends on how the game as been progressing so far but ultimately you will build the same 2 items the only thing that differs is the order so I will separate the 2 items in 2 parts

PART 1
In order you should get:
Aegis of the Legion, giving you and your allies some good Magic resistance then upgrade it to : Locket of the Iron Solari
which will give you still good Magic resistance sustain, some cooldown reduction, and a shield for your whole team in team fights;

PART 2
In order you should get: Warden's Mail, for the good armor it gives and the attack speed reduction it delivers then you upgrade it to;
Frozen Heart, for the good cooldown reduction, the big amount of armor and the bonus mana.

If the opposing team is AP heavy or that you started doing frequent teamfights you should get the items in the first part first and second part second but if you are still in lane or they are very AD heavy start with part 2 followed by part 1.

Why get the Ruby Sightstone rather then the EYE OF THE EQUINOX Eye of the Equinox?

The answer is simple! the only thing the EYE OF THE EQUINOX Eye of the Equinoxgives you is the extra ward, where as the Ruby Sightstone gives you more HP, gives you that extra ward and helps you with all of your item actives. Plus it lets you the possibility of getting the awesome item that is the FACE OF THE MOUNTAIN Face of the Mountain

TRIKETS

the triket choice is simple if the opposing team wards a lot you should get the ORACLE OF ALTERATION Oracle of Alteration, and if they don't; then you push them by being able to have the ultimate vision with the Farsight Alteration.
The Only certainty is that if you are at base and you can upgrade your trinket you should do so.

END GAME

In the end you are set with a choice of whether you need more Magic resistance or if you need to be more aggressive (you wont need more armor at that point because of how much your passive will have given you, so if you need more Magic resistance you will build Banshee's veil;
and for the more aggressive instance you go with Righteous Glory.

FINAL BOOTS

Once you made that choice, you can finally choose your final boots because at this point you might not need to be everywhere on the map as much and you might need to be more tanky, that's why you choose between Boots of Mobility which you will already have (and will need to be sols if you want to get one of the two next ones). There is also Mercury's Treads if you are still lacking in Magic resistance, and finally there is Ninja Tabi if against all odds you need more armor.

All in all there is just one certaity on the mather of boots you are getting: you want to get the Captain Enchantment scince your goal is still to help your team overall

Ferocity

I dint put any point in ferocity because, damage dealing is not you main goal. As previously mentioned, your main goal is; to harass just enough the opposing ADC, tank damage for your ADC, and set-up kills for him.

Cunning

Now the cunning tree i can see for supports it offers great possibilities, but it is just not well enough to completely engorge yourself in.

Why Wanderer over Savagery

The choice here is simple, you either get more movement speed to get to your ADC or other lanes (which we stated earlier that it was very important). OR deal more damage to minions which might increase the odds of stealing cs from you ADC... I think the choice was easy

Why Secret stash over Runic Affinity

Again the choice was fairly easy. You rarely get the chance or need for a jungle monster buffs, but you will often use these potions and the instant health and mana granted from Secret stash.

Why Merciless over Meditation

KS is for Kill securing not kill stealing, if your ADC cant finish off his enemy it falls onto you (with regards to your life) to finish that kill, thus you will need a little damage. That is why you go for Merciless. And as for the mana granted from Meditation
if you manage your spells right you should not need the extra mana regain

Why Bandit over Dangerous Game

Even tho the regeneration granted by Dangerous Game is tempting, without your items you wont get many kills or assists that is why you opt for the choice that will get you that gold : Bandit.

Even tho the next few slots are interesting they are nowhere near as important as the points you are going to put in Resolve

Resolve

The resolve tree is there for tanky champions, and considering the fact that we need to take damage for our ADC it is important to be tanky otherwise we would die pretty fast

Why Unyielding over Recovery

Although Recovery gives you the opportunity to stay in lane longer (regenerating your HP faster, Unyielding gives you the chance to take less damage when tanking for you ADC or getting a soul. Also Unyielding only gets better as the game progresses where as Recovery is best at early game.

Why Explorer over Tough Skin

Again for a tough decision, Tough Skin gives you damage reduction from the attacks of your opponents but Explorer gives you speed to help your teammates. Ultimately the 2 damage you save from Tough Skin is not worth it if you cant get to your teammates in time, that is why I chose to go with Explorer

Why Veteran's Scars over Runic Armor

What is seemingly a tough choice is actually an easy one, Veteran's Scars increases your tankyness no mater what (and helps with true damage), whereas Runic Armor will only help you once you get your shields and if you decide to use it on yourself...

Why Perseverance over Insight

The choice here is rather you go for more lane presence or more summoner spells overall... and considering the fact that you would only reduce the time of your 5 min cooldown by 45 seconds I don't think that it is really worth it, plus if you really need to use your summoner spells more then every 5 min you are doing something wrong...

Why Swiftness over Legendary Guardian

Again a tough choice that ended in this way because you need to stay alive more then you need to take all your opponents on and that is without counting the fact that the little armor/ magic resist you are getting by the time you are in team fights it will be negligible.

Why Bond of Stone over Grasp of the Undying or Strength of the ages

This one is easy Bond of Stone is the only one that accomplishes what a true tanky support should be doing that is take damage for his ADC.

The runes are pretty self explanatory, by meaning that they are more of the same explained earlier.

In the end Thresh is a fun support champion to play that can be challenging at times. I hope you enjoyed the guidelines i put out, feel free to try them or try your own way of course. and please comment on how your games went and how differently you played him.

I hope you have fun trying him out.

ENJOY!