Locke is the newest champion to hit Summoner's Rift in Season 26. Locke is a mid-laner who is an AP assassin, and like most assassins in the game, getting an early lead on him can be a great way of snowballing the game to victory. Locke is still new, but rather simple compared to many other mid-laners in the game, and in this guide, we will go over some tips and tricks to help you play Locke in Season 26 of LoL.
This is a beginner's guide and aims to give you a complete, basic rundown to get you started playing Locke in LoL. For more tips and tricks to play Locke, and to keep up to date with his latest build and rune setup, head over to Locke’s Champion Page.
Locke Ability Breakdown
The first thing to learn about playing Locke is what each of his abilities does. Below is a screenshot from the LoL Wiki that breaks down each ability; I will also go through each of them individually.
Locke’s Passive is Silver Stake
This ability is very simple. His basic attacks deal additional damage and scale based on the enemy's missing health and your AP. This Passive works well with players who like to go for extended fights, as the more trading you do, the more damage your Passive will do.
Locke’s Q is Ritual Nails
He throws a nail that deals damage and slows the enemy. It can be cast up to 3 times, and if you auto-attack the target, it will consume the stacks and deal additional damage to them. Your Q is your main poking tool, so you will use this ability frequently before engaging. You will want to soften the targets down with your Q before committing to the all-in.
Locke’s W is Soul Ignition
Locke gains attack and movement speed briefly. While active, Locke stores post-mitigation damage from enemies as grey health. If he recasts this spell, it consumes the grey health and heals him for the same amount. You will be using this spell to duel with the enemy, and it will be the main way you all-in, dive or go through extended trades with the enemy. Avoid randomly pressing this spell, as you’re vulnerable when it is down.
Locke’s E is Ashen Pursuit
Locke’s E is his main movement tool. He can use it to blink to a target location (which is a fixed distance, mind you). For the next 4 seconds, he gains increased range and locks onto a target. He dashes to the target and deals damage to them. If he kills the target, then he will reset his E cooldown. Before using your E, you need to check the map, as you will be left overextended if you go in, and the last thing you want to see is the enemy Jungler approaching you.
Locke’s Ultimate is Purgatory
He throws a totem to a target location. It rises in the air, slows enemies and deals damage. It marks enemies, and if enemies fall below a percentage of their max health, it executes them. Execution refreshes the duration of the mark on all enemies. If it executes an enemy, the totem remains on the ground. He can retrieve it by moving over it, and this will reduce the cooldown by 20% for each enemy who was executed. If he doesn’t pick it up, he gains a sealed champion stack, which will be used next time. Because this ability is an execute, you should use this at the last possible second, else it might time out before you can finish them off.
Locke Skill Order
Based on Locke’s abilities, he will be maxing Q first, as this is his main poke tool. He will then go for E, and W. E is 2nd due to it increasing his trading potential in the mid game, and it is also a movement tool, which is really important in LoL. Here is his complete levelling breakdown.
Locke Best Build and Rune Setup in Season 26.
Here is the best build for Locke in the mid-lane of League of Legends. As he is an AP assassin, he will be building AP items and taking Lich Bane as a core item, as he will be wielding in auto-attacks with his Q, Passive and E to deal max damage to the enemy.
Locke takes Electrocute as his Keystone because it is for assassins, and he deals burst damage, so taking this Keystone increases his damage output and makes killing enemies easier.
Wave Management
During the early game, wave management for Locke is extremely important. You cannot just keep pushing the wave, as you’ll never engage or chase the enemy down with your W and E. In most matchups, in the very early laning phase, you should try to keep the minion wave closer to your side of the map and limit how much you’re pushing the lane.
Locke wants to chase the enemy down the lane, and even with your W, you cannot dive early. If you constantly push, you’re giving the enemy a free lane, and you may also fall behind or be denied CS and XP. By keeping the wave closer to your side of the map early, you can pick up CS and XP without being denied, you can prevent most enemy ganks, and you can chase the enemy down the long lane and kill them.
After you’ve basically reached level 9, you will max out your Q and then you can start clearing waves quickly and then use this push advantage to roam.
For more wave management tips and tricks, check out our wave management guide.
Roaming Tips and Tricks
In some matchups, you’re going to find it difficult to do too much. Maybe the enemy is playing very safe, or they’re just too tanky to do anything about. Instead, you should look to roam and help your side lanes. Look to aim your Q so it pushes the lane and hits the enemy at the same time. Then look to roam to a side lane. Try to prioritise ganking lanes that have the following things going for them:
- Your opponent lacks Flash or their Ultimate- this makes it easier to kill them.
- Your ally is not pushing the wave.
- An opponent is low on health.
In an ideal situation, you will push the wave into your tower after killing the enemy laner, so they cannot push the wave back into your tower quickly and get tower plates.
For more roaming advice and alternative roaming routes, check out our roaming guide.
How to Team Fight as Locke
Team fighting as Locke is rather straightforward. You should look to poke the enemy down with your Q, and then go in with your allies and dive in together. Fighting in the jungle or around objectives is preferred, as you can get a really good Ultimate off on multiple targets.
I would advise holding on to your Ultimate for as long as possible so your opponents get in execute range- you do not want to throw it out early, as they will not get low enough to die quickly.
Another way of fighting, as Locke, is by flanking your targets. Locke could get CC chained as he goes in if the enemy sees him, so flanking is your best option instead. Pick up a red trinket/control ward and stand towards the side of your team. Once your team goes in, follow up and try to take down the squishy carries.
For more team fighting tips and tricks, check out our team fighting guide.
General Tips and Tricks
Now, let's move on to some general tips and tricks for Locke.
- As you’re a melee champion, make sure you do not let the enemy harass you for free with their superior range. Move forward to last hit, then turn back and out of range.
- When you want to fight, check the minimap first; the enemy Jungler might show up and kill you.
- Limit test and fight frequently. Locke needs to get ahead, and you should be playing aggressively early to get early kills.
- Wait for the enemy to use an ability before going in, as this makes going for the all-in a lot easier and safer, as that’s one less ability to worry about.
- Your main goal during the laning phase when trying to fight is to poke them down with your Q over and over again, and then commit to a fight with your E and W. Do not go in with E unless you’re sure you’re going to win the fight.
And that about wraps up our beginner tips and tricks on playing Locke in LoL. We will update this guide in the future as he becomes more mainstream and we get more time to play Locke in LoL, but we have covered basically everything you need to know at the start of his launch.
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