Locke is the 173rd champion in League of Legends, and he will be hitting the live servers sometime on patch 26.13. He is an AP assassin who will be played in the mid-lane, and he is a skirmish-heavy champion who is going to look to play aggressively early to gain a lead. Like many other assassins in the game, he can be quite difficult to play against unless you know how to counter him, and in this guide, we are going to go over some tips and tricks to help you play against Locke in LoL.
Here at Mobalytics, we have created a range of articles to help you play as, against and who to pick with Locke. Make sure you head over to our Guides Page for more LoL content!
1. Understand Locke’s Win Condition
The first tip is to actually understand what Locke wants to do during the early game. Locke is an assassin, and assassins want to snowball and pick up early kills, then move around the map and extend their lead. This means you want to avoid feeding him and limiting how much of a lead, if any, he can get in the early game.
Avoid dying to Locke and blowing early Summoner Spells, as he can easily abuse you and kill you over and over again.
2. Keep the Wave Close
Just telling you not to die or blow Summoner Spells is not helpful at all. How do you put yourself in the best possible position so he doesn’t kill you over and over again? The first thing you can do is keep the minion wave closer to your side of the map during the very early game.
Locke has good all-in potential and can chase you down the lane and gain a health advantage. He has a dash, and if you’re an immobile champion, he can easily just all-in you. By avoiding pushing and just focusing on last hitting, you will significantly decrease his all-in potential and increase your survivability.
When you have your first component and levels in your main damaging ability, you can start to push the minion wave, but make sure you walk backwards and out of range so he cannot all-in you.
3. Abuse your range
That said, if you’re a ranged champion who is strong early, you should try to abuse your range advantage to harass him from afar. He is a melee champion who needs to get close to minions to get farm. So, if you can, try to harass him with auto-attacks and abilities from afar- maintaining distance so he isn’t able to close the gap and all-in you.
If you can do this, it will make it really hard for him to last hit minions and play aggressively. He may get forced to recall as well, which will put him behind his early power spikes, which will benefit your whole team.
Also, if you have ranged abilities, and you want to push the wave, and you have your first component item, you should try to aim them so they push and poke him at the same time. Something like Vex Q at level 9 deals quite a lot of damage when used on the wave and an enemy.
4. Ping When He Goes MIA
If Locke cannot find success in the mid lane, then he will look to roam. You can usually tell when he is going to roam, as he will push the minion wave into the enemy tower and then leave. If you see him start shoving for no reason- or if it goes against what he usually does, then you need to act fast.
First, ping your team to let them know he is missing so they have enough time to back off if necessary. Secondly, you need to decide what you want to do. You can choose to either stay mid and push the wave into his tower and get tower plates. Another option is to follow him, but depending on what champion you’re playing, you might not be able to. You can’t really follow him if you’re weaker than he is. Or thirdly, you can try to gank another lane.
The main thing is that you pick an option and stick with it. It is important not to hesitate, or you will miss out on gold and XP.
5. Avoid Fighting in the Jungle
His Ultimate is a large AOE spell that slows enemies and deals a lot of damage. It also has an execute mechanic that can make or break a fight. Our advice would be to avoid fighting him in the Jungle and around major objectives like the Dragon or Baron, as he is really strong in fights.
If you fight in an open area of the map, such as in a lane, or anywhere where your team isn’t grouped too close together, then it will severely reduce his Ultimate damage and kill pressure in the mid game. One bad fight could cost you the game.
If you see him approaching, then be prepared to back off or focus him first.
6. Focus Him in Team Fights
While he is an assassin, he is very vulnerable, even with his W spell. He can deal considerable damage in a team fight, so you must focus him down first and lock him down with CC at the start of the fight. If you can take him down, it will increase your chances of winning the fight.
You could set up an ambush around an objective or as he moves from lane to lane, and then abuse his death timer to take the objective or force a fight with your team. If you cannot ambush him, focus him first so his team misses out on additional damage. Do not let him poke your team down with his Q.
7. Avoid Overstaying in the Lane
As an assassin with a gap closer, Locke can be quite strong and can also kill people very quickly with his Passive and Q. It is really important that you do not overstay in lane, as he can close the gap and kill you very quickly. If he gets an early lead, he could snowball it into a bigger one.
Similarly, you need to avoid over-committing or staying in lane post 6 or whenever his Ultimate is up, as he could use it to execute you and pick up a free kill.
8. Play Around His Ultimate
His Ultimate has a rather long cooldown, which is beneficial when playing against him, but when it is up, it can make or break a fight. If he uses his Ultimate, it is best to disengage if you cannot kill him quickly, so it doesn’t stack up and kill you over time.
Furthermore, when this spell is on cooldown, it could be a good time to force fights and try to kill him as Locke’s kill pressure is heavily reduced when it is on cooldown.
9. Counter Picks
Champions who are tanky in the mid-lane and have CC spells tend to do well against assassins in LoL, and that is no different to Locke. Other champions with high mobility and range are also good against him.
Some good counters include Akali, Ekko and Syndra if you want to fight and win the lane as they’re good vs AP assassins, or you could go for Galio and Sylas if you want someone who is a little bit tankier and has sustain in lane.
For more counters, head over to Locke’s counters page.
While playing vs Locke can be hard, and playing versus a new champion is always daunting, we hope that these tips and tricks on how to counter him will give you the best chances at winning if you happen to be facing him any time soon.
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