Thresh, the Chain Warden, is as edgy as he is powerful; the champion is also borderline overpowered, so that’s saying a lot. With gap closers for himself and a friend, two forms of hard CC, an AOE 99 percent slow and some free damage and armor, it’s no wonder that Thresh is the apex predator of the support champions.

Why is Thresh Meta

What if I said you could have Janna levels of peel and Blitzcrank levels of catch all while having free scaling damage and tankiness? Easy, you’d line right up to pick that Champion before it picks you.

Thresh’s passive, Damnation, is perhaps one of the most overlooked and undervalued passives in the game. Damnation allows for Thresh to pick up souls of nearby enemy minions, champions and neutral monsters. These souls are then converted into Ability Power and Armor, as well as amplifying the damage bonus of his auto attacks based upon the rank of his (E) Fley. Thresh souls also increase the shielding on his lantern. To better qualify the power of this passive here are some numerical comparisons. At 66 souls, Thresh has the same base armor as Gnar at level 18, while at 144 souls, Thresh has more armor than Malphite with a fully-ranked Brutal Strikes at 124 armor. These numbers are taken into account without items, masteries and runes.

Thresh’s Q, Death Sentence, is what he is known for most. Death Sentence is his pick tool and his gap closer. While being difficult to hit, Death Sentence enables the rest of Thresh’s kit, allowing him to get close to his target as well as bringing an ally along for the ride via his W, Dark Passage. Dark Passage gives Thresh and one other a meager shield, but more importantly allows for the relocation of an ally. Dark Passage can also be used in a nifty way to block off terrain between the tower and walls of Summoner’s Rift.

Thresh’s E, Flay, allows him to utilize Relic Shield with ease as well as giving him particularly good matchups into other tanks. The active of Flay allows Thresh to peel and engage based upon the direction by which this small displacement is cast.

Finally, Thresh’s ultimate, The Box, puts up a five-sided box. The first wall to fall does magic damage and slows for two seconds while the next walls to fall deal no damage and slow for one second. The Box has a 99 percent slow, which reduces enemy champion movement speed to 110 unless they have Boots of Swiftness. The Box alongside Thresh’s other abilities can be cast during Thresh’s Death Sentence channel.

Who Uses it in Competitive?

Everyone. Thresh has always been one of the most consistent support picks for competitive, even when shielding meta was at its peak. If there is a support champion that professionals play, it is Thresh due to his jack of all trades kit and the way he scales with team communication. Being picked or banned in 79 percent of LCK games and 55 percent of NA LCS games, Thresh is as highly contested as he is impactful. In EU LCS, Thresh is picked or banned in 99 percent of games. Yeah, he’s that powerful.

Who Plays it Best?

While Thresh has an incredibly high play rate in competitive, his win rates across all regions have a low of 45 percent (LCK) and a high of 57 percent (LMS). That being said, who plays it best?

The answer here is clearly Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Jie of the LMS. With five games and a 100 percent win rate on Thresh, SwordArt makes the champion a must ban if you are playing into the Flash Wolves. Across all five games, SwordArt has only died once, maintaining a 50 KDA on the champion.

SwordArt knows Thresh down to each cheeky hitbox. Always seeming to be a play ahead of everyone else, SwordArt is constantly utilizing lanterns to avoid ganks and setting up plays for his allies.

While there have been great Thresh players throughout time, such as Madlife and more recently Biofrost, SwordArt is consistent on his Thresh performances and one of the few players to have played Thresh throughout the competitive seasons since release.

Bringing Thresh into Solo Queue

Thresh is the best support to bring into solo queue for any support main who wants to climb the ladder through sheer individual skill.

A good Thresh player is both a master of positioning and reflex heavy skill shots. During laning phase your job is to get level two before the enemy laners and look to control the lane after that through making a play with the level advantage. To do this utilize AD marks paired with a relic shield and an early skill point in Flay. Capitalizing on early Soul pickups is crucial during laning phase, especially early on. Getting one or two souls before trading with the enemy laner allows you to get the upper hand by getting raw stats without going back to shop.

After the level one and two of laning phase your job is to pressure the enemy carry and draw jungle attention. If the enemy laner is going to CS, auto them, Flay them or give them a Death Sentence. When the enemy jungler is bot side, play further back to allow your carry to farm while also being able to bail them out with a Dark Passage. If you are shoving, make use of an early Boots purchase to gank mid with or without your jungler.

During team fights, look to set up picks (initiate) or peel for your carry by being able to re-position them. Often times peeling is better than diving on Thresh, but if you get that sick hook on the enemy carry, then bring a pal in with you.

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Featured Image courtesy of Jesse Barron