The newest League of Legends champion, Locke, is out soon and ready to terrorise solo queue when he releases on June 24 with Patch 26.13.
Locke is a fairly unique assassin who needs to work hard to set up his kills and has an execute on his ultimate, which infinitely stacks.
The AP assassin will primarily be a midlaner, though there will be the possibility of him working in the top lane and jungle too.
Here is a simple guide on how to build Locke and make the most of his kit on Summoner’s Rift.
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Locke Abilities
Passive – Silver Stakes
Locke’s attacks deal bonus magic damage on-hit, increased based on the opponent’s missing health.
Q – Ritual Nails
Locke throws nails, dealing magic damage, slowing (based on stacks) and marking enemies hit.
Attacking the enemy consumes the Soul Nails mark, dealing magic damage per stack. Throw up to three nails, a portion of the cooldown and mana is restored for unspent Nails.
W – Soul Ignition
For six seconds, Locke damages himself to get bonus movespeed and attack speed while storing grey health. Reactivate the ability to heal based on how much damage you took.
E – Ashen Pursuit
Locke blinks to a location, dealing magic damage around him. After, his next attack dashes a set distance towards his target, dealing magic damage to all enemies in his path.
R – Purgatory
Locke kicks a binding artifact to a location that opens on arrival, shooting chained Soul Nails at enemies in the area which dealing magic damage and slow.
Marked champions that are brought below a threshold are pulled inside and executed.
After a few seconds, the artifact is left on the ground if a champion was executed. Locke can pick up the artifact to permanently increase the execution threshold and refund a portion of his current cooldown for each champion sealed.
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Best Locke Build and Runes
Locke Runes
For Runes, Electrocute is the obvious choice considering Locke is an assassin and can easily proc it with his Qs.
Sudden Impact synergises with the two dashes of his E and Ultimate Hunter is necessary for Locke’s crucial R, which starts with a 120-second cooldown.
Considering his need to auto-attack, Precision is the best secondary tree and attack speed is a good option too.
Locke Skill Order
Q → E → W
Locke’s Q is the crucial part of his kit as it’s how he clears waves and sets up kills so maxxing that first is the way to go.
His E is then maxxed next as it’s his main mobility tool so you want it up more often, plus it’ll help his mid-game skirmishing.
And of course, take points in his powerful Ultimate as soon as you can.
Locke Items
- Starting: Doran’s Ring
- 1st Item: Lich Bane
- Boots: Sorcer’s Shoes
- Core Items: Shadowflame, Stormsurge
- Situational Items: Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Void Staff, Cryptbloom, Hextech Rocketbelt
Locke is an AP assassin whose auto attacks deal on-hit damage, so his build should take advantage of that.
As a result, you’ll probably want to start Doran’s Ring, though Doran’s Shield may be wise against some ranged match-ups.
Lich Bane and its unique passive of an enhanced auto-attack is the core item of his build as it synergises great with his passive.
After that, you’ll want to complete your boots, taking either Sorcerer’s Shoes/ for more damage or Plated Steelcaps/Mercury’s Treads for better survivability.
Locke’s core build will then likely see Shadowflame into Stormsurge for more burst damage to assassinate his targets.
Zhonya’s is also a useful item on his as going into stasis after reactivating his W will allow Locke to survive quite a long time and have his abilities come off cooldown.
Locke Tips
- Locke’s E resets on takedown, if you’ve only used the first dash you will still get the second dash and then another two dashes after that.
- Your Qs can hit multiple targets, so try to line them up and set up multiple kills during fights
- Don’t push in waves too often, you want space to chase and run your opponents down
- Hold your ult if you can in teamfights to make sure you get the executes off
- His W can be recast to heal even if you’re being CC’d
Locke Counters
Syndra
As a melee assassin, Locke does not deal well with range or CC.
Syndra can bully him in lane and shut down his engages with a well-placed stun
Sylas
Sylas has a lot of sustain, which means he can survive in lane against Locke and pressure him for longer.
But what’s especially scary with this match-up is Sylas can steal Locke’s R and then pick up to artifact to reduce the cooldown of his own ultimate.
Galio
Another tanky choice, Galio is very strong against AP champions and will be able to tank Locke well.
Plus, his global ultimate means he can easily counter Locke’s roams and his strong CC will completely shut the assassin down.
Yasuo
While this is a skill match-up, Yasuo can outduel Locke and snowball off him.
But the big thing is that Yasuo’s Windwall does block Locke’s ultimate, despite what Phreak said in the Champion Spotlight. This is also true for Mel, Braum, and Samira.
Mel
Her long range, good CC, and ability to bounce back Locke’s ult and reduce her own R cooldown by picking up Locke’s artifact makes her a strong counter.
Do you think Locke is well-designed? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Also, see all the champions getting buffed in LoL Patch 26.13 ahead of MSI 2026.
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