THIS GUIDE IS A WIP

Welcome to my guide on Thresh, the Chain Warden. It's my first guide so I appreciate any constructive feedback that I receive. I've been playing thresh since he was release on the PBE and just finished playing him all day since he was released.

In my guide you will learn everything I know, about Runes, Masteries, Items, and Skills for Thresh. Warding spots, laning strategies, and summoner spells will also be covered.

He is a excellent support in the bottom lane and is rivaling other supports for the spot as my favorite. He easily rivals the top base Armor champions at almost any point in the game except for the first few levels.

Thresh excels at positioning his enemies for his allies to follow up and kill. He doesn't dish out all the damages, but with his passive AP increase he does enough damage and is disruptive enough with his kit that you won't be ignored.

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PLEASE don't down-vote without letting me know why you didn't like my guide so I can improve upon it. I can't have possibly tried out all combinations of items, masteries, and runes. Again, I appreciate all constructive feedback.

The Pros and Cons of Thresh

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Pros A very long hard cc with a pull A shield that can pull allies to safety Passive gives him high base armor Great peeling and initiating abilities A decent 'melee' range

Cons Long cooldowns allow poor execution to be exploited 100% skill shot based High skill cap Can't carry (dependent on team)

The runes you will want to use for Thresh will not change most of the time. The most flexibility will be on what Quints you chose. Runes typically have their biggest impact before your first few items. In the current meta Health is king so switching armor for health isn't as bad as it sounds.

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These marks will help you get more of your damage through. All of Thresh's damage is magical. He also has a decent amount of area of effect damage and every little bit of damage that we can allow helps. Other Possible Contenders: Greater Mark of Armor, if you want to make up even more for his lack of early armror.

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These seals help you out a lot in bottom lane where you will almost always face 1 AD champion, usually an ADC at that. Minions also deal physical damage so higher armor helps when you draw minion agro during a trade or harass. Other Possible Contenders: Greater Seal of Scaling Health, if you want to rely on for armor. You will have low armor in the beginning but you will end up better in the end for it. Greater Seal of Health, same as scaling but it's not as hard as losing out on the armor since you have a bigger health pool from the seals until 6. You have the same EHP at lvl 1 for armor if you pick these over flat armor seals, giving you a better EHP for MR.

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These glyphs are probably the best glyphs hands down. With Season 3 there are less choices for magic resist and these glyphs are a booster shot of MR every level until you finish Runic Bulwark. Other Possible Contenders: Greater Glyph of Magic Resist,if you are facing an ap support that hurts... Nidalee, or Sona.

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The choice between these two quints comes down to personal preference for your support. I personally like the movement speed quints if I have dipped into the support tree for Greed and Pickpocket . Also if there is another tank who is going to be initiating and I can concentrate on buying mostly support items the movement speed works well because you can use Dark Passage to help teammates who are behind you. Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed also help offset that most supports put off buying Boots until later, and don't upgrade them until after everyone else as well. If you really want to rake in that gold, Greater Quintessence of Gold are the way to go. at 20 minutes into the game, these babies have earned you a cool 333 gold. That's 2109 gold with 0 cs and no kills or assists. In the most passive game ever you would still be able to have a Sightstone and a philosopher's stone at 12:17 minutes. Basically if you need to be buying extra **** because you need an initiator and tank, you'll want to take these so you can buy those big ticket items that have Giant's Belts.

Thresh like most supports will love dipping into the fantastic support tree. It has so much to offer him. Extra move speed and gold. The biscuit and ward. It gives any champion that much extra utility.


4/4 Durability - This is so you can get Veteran's Scars. The extra hp/lvl never hurt.

3/3 Hardiness - You'll mainly be facing physical damage in the bottom lane.

1/3 Resistance - Since you'll be facing mostly physical damage early game.

1/1 Veteran's Scars - 40 extra HP at level 1 is really nice. Can't pass it up.


4/4 Summoner's Insight - 15 extra seconds off of flash. Could save your life, might never notice.

3/3 Meditation - Since you're starting with a health regen item.

1/3 Mastermind - 10% CDR on summoner spells. Flash even more! Exhaust too.

1/1 Artificer - 4 out of 6 items with actives? Calling on 15% CDR on item actives!

4/4 Greed - Extra passive gold/10 is always a boon. Let's you get the next tier.

2/2 Wealth - An extra 50 starting gold can get you a pink ward.

1/1 Biscuiteer - There are worse things you can spend a point in. Also gets you the next tier.

1/1 Explorer - 60 second ward for whatever you want? Yes, Please!

1/1 Pickpocket - Thresh has a nice range, use it for free gold.

2/3 Intelligence - Better than the CDR from the offense tree (per point).

1/1 Nimble - Extra move speed is always helpful.

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I like to build thresh as an off-tank support. He has great innate tankiness vs ad due to his passive. CDR, MR, and auras are what we want to build on thresh. I like to keep builds cheap due to the fact that, in a support role, you won't be getting all the golds. Many of the aura items provide MR and CDR which is great. Many will notice my inclusion of the Locket of the Iron Solari instead of Aegis of the Legion. I would recommend reading the following article about the choice between the two. Aegis or Locket?

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Starting Items

sight ward

Thresh will be able to mostly harass with his Q passive. So starting off with health regen is better than mana regen. Since Rejuvenation Bead builds in philosopher's stone it makes and excellent start. The wards and health potions are really up to you. If you've taken the Wealth mastery then it will be nice to have a pink ward to start to clear out a river ward when it's time for a gank, or really any other ward that you just don't want around.

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Laning Items

philosopher's stone

Being able to save up 700 and buy a Sightstone was not too hard before the most recent changes. Now the total cost has risen to 950. This extra cost is alleviated by the fact that you can now buy a Ruby Crystal during a trip back which is only 475. Depending on how often you have to back and how much gold you have when you back, I would recommend spending as much as possible. Grab a Ruby Crystal and some wards if you need them, then look to buying a Faerie Charm or some more health potions. Not every game will you want a sightstone. Read this article to see what I mean. Should I buy a Sightstone? If you do think your game calls for one, try and finish it first, followed by a philosopher's stone. At that point you'll want some extra move speed so grab Boots. Right now I'm finding Locket of the Iron Solari more valuable on Thresh due to the fact that he is usually in range of enemies while supporting. The Locket gives him the ability to use it's active and get the full value since he is a prime target for being killed before the end of the team-fight. Mercury's Treads are a no-brainer, especially on someone who's armor can increase indefinitely, plus that tenacity.

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Full Build

Hopefully I can get you off my back over the Aegis of the Legion exclusion earlier, during the laning phase, by adding it back in as a recommended full build item. When and if you are going to upgrade it into a Runic Bulwark will be up to the enemy team composition and if any AP's are fed. Shurelya's Battlesong is a fantastic solo queue item and still a great item in 5's. The earlier you get this item the better. If you haven't noticed, I love Kindlegems. They give health and CDR which are two things Thresh wants. I usually will get Kage's Pick early if I can since I like picking up Twin Shadows. It can hurt you during the laning phase if you do get it before finishing the Locket or Aegis. Thankfully Thresh doesn't need the initiation abilities from Twin Shadows, so getting it later is fine. While you then might think, 'Why even get it?', the answer is you can use it to scout and chase too. If you get Enchantment: Captain the move speed bonus is a plus, and it provides MR and builds out of a GP10. I don't normally buy Randuin's Omen due to the cost. It is just such a fantastic item that it deserves mention. Locket of the Iron Solari will provide almost as much health and CDR. Also Thresh doesn't need the armor. The only real benefit is the passive ASPD slow (which is nice).