Locke Counters: Who Beats Locke

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Locke counters are champions who survive an on-hit burst and deny him the execute. He’s a 125 range melee assassin who deals magic damage through his attacks, marks targets with thrown nails, teleports and dashes onto a victim, and finishes with Purgatory, an artifact that can execute whoever it hits. Magic Resist, a revive, a magic shield or crowd control immunity all take the edge off that plan.

Five champions follow, and we picked each one by reading his ability text against theirs. No statistics shaped the order (none at all), only the kits.

Why is Locke hard to counter?

• Silver Stake (passive): his attacks deal additional magic damage On-Hit, and the damage grows with the target’s missing Health.
• Ritual Nails (Q): he readies a set of Soul Nails to throw, damaging and marking every enemy hit, then consumes the marks for bonus damage on his attacks. Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6 seconds.
• Soul Ignition (W): he ignites his own soul for Attack Speed and Move Speed while damaging himself, and at the end he heals back a portion of the damage he took during the effect. Cooldown 18 seconds at rank 1, 14 at rank 5.
• Ashen Pursuit (E): a teleport to a location followed by a dash that attacks his next target, damaging everything he passes through. Cooldown 10.
• Purgatory (R): a thrown binding artifact that deals damage and potentially executes the enemies it hits. Sealing away enemy champions gives him additional power. Cooldown 120/100/80.

The order of operations is what makes him annoying, and it rarely changes. Nails first. The marks wait. Then Ashen Pursuit, which is a teleport and a dash in one button, so he arrives from a direction nobody was watching. Soul Ignition speeds up the attacks that consume the marks, Silver Stake hits harder the lower you get, and Purgatory ends it once you drop into execute range. The flip side is that all of it is magic damage delivered by attacks, his W costs him Health up front, and the ultimate only pays off against someone already hurt. Keep your Health high and the whole chain stalls.

Which champions are the best Locke counters?

Malzahar

Void Shift (passive) gives Malzahar massive damage reduction and crowd control immunity whenever he hasn’t recently taken damage or been crowd controlled, and it lingers for a moment after the first hit. That first hit is usually Ritual Nails, which means the marks go on but the damage mostly doesn’t. Call of the Void (Q) silences champions, so the follow-up Ashen Pursuit never happens if the silence lands first, and Nether Grasp (R) suppresses him over a zone of damage. Thing is, Locke has to stand still to attack, and a suppressed assassin is a dead assassin.

Galio

Hero’s Entrance (R) hands every ally in the landing area a magic shield, and Silver Stake, Ritual Nails and Purgatory all deal magic damage. Shield of Durand (W) taunts on release. That interrupts an attack chain built on consuming marks. Justice Punch (E) knocks up the first enemy champion he meets, and since Locke’s attack range is 125, he has to walk into punching distance. Sure, Galio is slow to get going, but a Tank who happens to be a Mage is the exact profile Locke’s kit doesn’t want to see across the lane.

Kassadin

Void Stone (passive) reduces the magic damage Kassadin takes, which covers the passive, the nails and the execute. Null Sphere (Q) wraps him in a shield that absorbs magic damage and interrupts channels. Riftwalk (R) teleports him away the moment Locke’s Ashen Pursuit lands, and a Locke whose E is on its 10 second cooldown with no target nearby is just standing there. Honestly, this is the cleanest answer on the list for a mid laner who only wants to farm.

Lissandra

Frozen Tomb (R) cast on herself heals Lissandra and makes her untargetable and invulnerable, which turns Purgatory into a thrown trinket. Ring of Frost (W) roots every enemy near her, and an assassin at 125 range is always near her when he’s attacking. Glacial Path (E) carries her out afterwards. Her passive, Iceborn Subjugation, even punishes the dive after it fails: an enemy champion who dies near her becomes a Frozen Thrall that slows and then shatters for magic damage. Does Locke have a single tool for a champion who turns untargetable at the moment he needs to finish? Not in this kit. Is there a better feeling than watching the artifact hit a block of ice? Hard to name one.

Zilean

Chronoshift (R) places a time rune on an allied champion and sends them back in time if they take lethal damage, which is a direct answer to an execute. Purgatory potentially executes the enemies it hits, and Locke gains additional power for sealing away champions. A revived target denies both halves. Time Warp (E) slows him so the Ashen Pursuit dash becomes the only way he closes, and a Time Bomb (Q) detonated by a second bomb stuns, which is long enough for the carry to walk away from a melee assassin with 125 range. Zilean is a Support, so this is the bot lane answer rather than a mid pick.

How do you play the lane against Locke?

• Clear the marks before he arrives. Ritual Nails marks you first; the damage comes when his attacks consume the marks, so back off during the 10 second Q cooldown at rank 1 rather than after.
• Watch his Health during Soul Ignition. It damages him while it runs, and the heal only comes at the end, so a fight inside that window is a fight against a champion who hurt himself.
• Stay above the execute line. Silver Stake grows with missing Health and Purgatory executes low targets. A full Health bar is the counter to both.
• Expect the teleport, not a walk. Ashen Pursuit moves him to a location and then dashes him to his next target, so wards behind you matter more than wards in front.
• Count 120 seconds after Purgatory. That’s the rank 1 cooldown (80 at rank 3). Without it he has no execute and no way to gain additional power from sealing champions away.

Which items counter Locke?

His damage is magic, delivered by attacks, so you shop against both at once. Kaenic Rookern gives 400 Health and 80 Magic Resist, and Magebane grants a magic shield after 15 seconds without taking magic damage, so the shield is usually up when he teleports in. Frozen Heart reduces the Attack Speed of nearby champions by 20%, and Soul Ignition is an Attack Speed steroid, so the two cancel part of each other out. Plated Steelcaps cut incoming damage from Attacks by 10%, cheap at 1,200 gold. For a mage, Zhonya’s Hourglass holds you in Stasis for 2.5 seconds, and a Purgatory thrown at a golden statue executes nobody. Banshee’s Veil carries a Spell Shield that blocks the next enemy Ability, which can be the nails or the ultimate (take the ultimate, if you get to choose). Tanks who intend to stand in his face can stack Health with Heartsteel or Sunfire Aegis, since more Health means a longer road to the execute threshold. The full list, with prices, is in our LoL items database.

When is Locke at his weakest?

Right after Ashen Pursuit. The teleport and the dash are one spell on a flat 10 second cooldown, and once he’s used it, a 125 range assassin has to walk everywhere. Pull away, slow him, or stun him, and he can’t reach the marks he just placed.

The second window is the end of Soul Ignition. He paid Health for the Attack Speed, and the refund arrives only when the duration finishes. In practice that means a Locke who starts W, misses his nails and chases a kiting target ends up lower on Health than he was a few seconds ago, with the heal still pending. To be fair, he’s also faster during that time, so slow him first.

Positions for this champion aren’t in Riot’s data yet, which is unusual (new champions get sorted by players before Riot updates the listing), so if you’re unsure where he’ll show up, our guide to LoL roles explains how each lane works. More matchup pages like this one sit in our guide section for every champion. Put simply, Locke counters keep their Health up, soak magic damage, and make sure the execute has nothing to execute.

FAQ

Who counters Locke the most?

Malzahar, Galio and Kassadin in mid, who reduce or shield magic damage and stop his attack chain, plus Lissandra for her untargetable ultimate and Zilean for a revive that cancels the execute.

What does Purgatory do?

Locke throws a binding artifact that deals damage and potentially executes the enemies it hits. He gains additional power for sealing away enemy champions. The cooldown is 120/100/80 seconds.

Does Locke deal magic or physical damage?

His listed abilities deal magic damage, including the On-Hit damage from Silver Stake, so Magic Resist is the stat to buy against him.

Does Soul Ignition hurt Locke?

Yes. It damages him while it lasts, and only at the end does he heal back a portion of the damage he took during the effect.

Where do these picks come from?

From a side-by-side reading of Locke’s patch 26.21 ability descriptions and each counter’s kit. No win-rate data was used.