Champion Guide

Locke Guide

By LoLSuggest

Mid

Locke is a reset-based AP assassin who shines in the early and mid game: stack Ritual Nails, dash in with Ashen Pursuit to cash them in, and chain kills off its reset on takedowns. Unlike front-loaded assassins he has strong sustained damage too, but he needs setup — he's a reactive champion who follows up on his team rather than starting fights.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Locke build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Electrocute with Sudden Impact, Grisly Mementos and Treasure Hunter, plus Triumph and Cut Down, is the standard page — Locke has so much missing-health damage that Electrocute is his best keystone. Take Flash and Ignite every game. Start Doran's Ring and a Refillable Potion. The standard build is Lich Bane, Sorcerer's Shoes, Mejai's Soulstealer and Shadowflame — his biggest power spike — then Rabadon's Deathcap, Zhonya's Hourglass and Void Staff, ordered by how much magic resist the enemy stacks. Rocketbelt, Bloodletter's Curse and Riftmaker variants exist, and Stormsurge with Shadowflame gives strong early flat penetration.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Strengths

Burst plus good sustained damage thanks to Silver Stake and Ashen Pursuit resets.
Purgatory executes low targets and grows stronger with every execution.
Mobile and versatile, with ranged farming that helps in hard lanes.

Weaknesses

Needs setup to get kills; he can't just dash in and expect targets to die.
Purgatory is slow to trigger and can be dodged with Flash, dashes or Zhonya's.
Struggles into range and safety like Akali, Cassiopeia, Heimerdinger or Aurora.

Laning Phase

Your core combo is E1, then three Ritual Nails, then E2 the moment the last nail lands — strong into ranged champions. Wait for an opening, such as the enemy using a long-cooldown ability on the wave, before engaging. Use W before committing (it banks grey health you can heal back, even through CC) or to close a gap. In hard matchups, focus on farming safely with your ranged Q and play for your jungler and Scuttle fights.

Mid & Late Game

Locke is at his best in the early and mid game. Don't initiate teamfights — follow up on your team, cash in nail stacks and chain Ashen Pursuit resets off takedowns. Use Purgatory cleverly: bait out escape tools like Flash or Fizz's E first, then land the slow and execute. Picking up the artifact after an execution refunds cooldown and permanently raises the execute threshold, so take those early kills.

Key Tips

Unused nail stacks are wasted damage — always cash them in.
Zhonya's after landing Purgatory on several enemies lets your team follow up while your dash comes back.
Spellslinger's Shoes are very strong thanks to how flat penetration works on lower magic resist.

Matchups