The mid lane is about to become a true nightmare for control mages. With the arrival of the Ash Exorcist, understanding Locke’s skills has become a matter of survival.
Discover now how this assassin’s explosive kit works and prepare to dominate the ranked ladder.
How do Locke’s skills work in practice?
The focus on explosive magic damage
For those looking to blow up opponents in milliseconds, this character’s kit is a perfect fit. Locke’s skills were designed to severely punish any enemy with low health.
Thus, he stands out for his enviable mobility and terrifying execution potential. Additionally, his gameplay requires quick reflexes and high precision in combos during fights.
After all, a single misstep can cost this Demacian occultist his life during damage trades.
The Soul Nails mechanic
The big secret behind his massive damage lies in the application of exclusive marks. These marks are officially called Soul Nails and dictate the pace of engagements.
Consequently, stacking these nails on enemies is the first step to securing a kill. They strengthen basic attacks and drastically amplify the character’s explosive damage.
Without mastering this mechanic, the champion’s lethal potential drops significantly.
The role of the new LOL champion in matches
An assassin disguised in the mid lane
Despite dealing magic damage, he is far from being a traditional control mage. In fact, the new LOL champion operates with the mindset and aggressiveness of a pure assassin.
His primary function is to isolate fragile targets and shred their souls before they can react. Therefore, positioning in teamfights will be the difference between victory and defeat.
He seeks to make the world a more honest place by exposing the darkness behind every adversary.
Jungle rotation potential
Although balanced to shine in the mid lane, his versatility draws a lot of attention. Locke’s skills allow him to clear neutral camps with relative ease and speed.
As such, he can frequently appear in the jungle as an extremely viable secondary role. This opens up a vast array of strategic possibilities during the pick and ban phase.
Enemy junglers will need to double their attention against fast and lethal invasions.
Detailing the kit: Passive, Q, and W
Passive: Silver Stake
The character’s basic attack is a lethal tool thanks to his unique and punishing passive. He binds the souls of enemies, dealing additional magic damage with each physical contact.
Furthermore, this damage scales and increases based on the percentage of the target’s missing health. In other words, the more wounded the target is, the faster they will be melted by the attacks.
Q: Ritualistic Nails
This is the primary tool for initiating trades and applying the dreaded marks to opponents. The champion throws a set of nails forward, dealing magic damage and an immediate slow.
Attacking the marked target consumes the nails, generating extra magic damage for each stack.
Check out the benefits of managing this ability well during the laning phase:
- Application of a severe slow that facilitates closing in for the kill.
- Guaranteed explosive damage when consuming marks with basic attacks.
- Valuable mana restoration for each nail that is not used.
- Cooldown reduction if any nails remain after the cast.
W: Soul Ignition
This buff ability brings high risk and high reward for the boldest players. By releasing his seals, he gains a movement speed bonus that decays over time.
However, he takes true damage based on his own health while the effect lasts. In return, he heals part of this damage plus an extra value based on missing health.
The seals can be recast at any time, ending the ability early.
Mobility and execution: E and Ultimate
E: Ash Pursuit
The mobility of the new LOL champion reaches its peak with this teleportation ability. He appears at the target location, instantly dealing area-of-effect (AoE) magic damage around himself.
Immediately after, his next attack causes him to dash forward, dealing damage to everyone in his path.
Check out the step-by-step to extract the most from this movement ability:
- Use the teleport to dodge crucial and slow enemy skills.
- Position yourself so that the dash hits as many targets as possible.
- Consume the Soul Nails of hit enemies to maximize AoE damage.
- Secure quick takedowns to reduce the ability’s cooldown.
R: Purgatory
The ultimate is a true visual spectacle and a death sentence for the wounded. He kicks a restriction artifact that fires nails in an area, dealing magic damage and a slow.
Marked enemies with health below a certain threshold are pulled to the center and mercilessly executed. If an execution occurs, the restriction duration is reset on other targets affected by the area.
Collecting the sealed artifact afterward permanently increases the execution threshold and restores cooldown.
The impact of Locke’s skills in update 26.13
The arrival of the Ash Exorcist
The community is already counting the days to test this Demacian occultist on Riot’s official servers. The release is officially scheduled for the game’s highly anticipated update 26.13.
Until then, professional players are already studying the best item builds to maximize damage. After all, a character who punishes darkness and shreds souls promises to shift the competitive meta.
Ranked queues will certainly be dominated by his threatening presence in the first few weeks.
Preparing for the new meta
Mastering cooldown management and mark application will be essential for success with him. Therefore, practicing extensively in practice mode is the best recommendation today.
In short, Locke’s skills bring competitive freshness and high aggression to the game.
