Thresh Hooks Heard Around the World

Some hooks hold hats. Some hooks catch fish. But the best hooks this month inspired League players around the world with amazing Thresh plays at the League of Legends 2014 World Championship. Thresh was a hotly contested champion during the Worlds Group Stage, consistently receiving bans and picks across all groups. Let's take a look at what he did with that hook that made him so desirable.

Hook #1: Sparked a Comeback

Alliance had an amazing start in their first match against NaJin White Shield (NWS). After grabbing first blood, they went up 7-0 with a 5,000 gold lead by the 20-minute mark. But Shield would eventually make an epic comeback that also serves as a showcase of Thresh’s potential. NWS's first kill came in bot lane, when Thresh used his great positioning to keep Lucian in lane long enough for Tristana to run into Alliance’s range. Even though Thresh missed his hook in this fight, his strong zoning presence -- and the constant threat of a potential hook -- allowed him to force Lucian to run in a dangerous direction. Thresh hooks guaranteed the second and third kills for NaJin White Shield by isolating an enemy target for Thresh's team to pounce on and delete. And even though they eventually lost the fight in top lane, GorillA showed how capable Thresh is, if left alone, at keeping an enemy carry locked down during a fight.

Hook #2: Gave The Entire (Non-Korean) World Hope

Thresh may hail from the Shadow World, but at this year's Worlds, he operated as an agent of hope. Thresh used his hooks, lanterns, and ghostly walls to ensure kills when Fnatic faced off against Samsung Blue, a favorite to win the tournament. Fnatic's dominant win was the only loss dealt to the dreaded Samsung teams that amassed a combined 11-1 record through the Group Stage. Thresh wasn't as impactful in this game, overall, as he was in NWS's comeback where he participated in 10 of the 11 kills. But that's the power of a hook ability like Thresh's: At the right moment, on the right target, a single hook can win the game. Usually, that target needs to be a squishy carry late in the game when respawn timers can be a minute or longer, but sometimes, it's a Lulu trying to flee back to base to stall your push. YellOwStaR’s use of Flash adds an element of surprise that's usually lacking from Thresh's Death Sentence, which has a very obvious casting animation. It's one of the many tricks that Thresh players have learned to master at this competitive level that make him so dangerous.

Hook #3: Claimed the Hook Throne

While teams fought over Thresh to get the hooks to succeed in the tournament, the Taiwanese team AHQ tried to find a shortcut to the same result. Before Thresh was released, Blitzcrank was the longtime king of hooks (or, perhaps more fittingly, grabs), dominating the "pick" style that revolves around snatching an enemy target and killing them before the rest of their team can respond. But Thresh wasted no time in asserting his dominance over the fast-grabbing robot. In their first face-off in the tournament, Thresh shut Blitzcrank down completely with sharper hooks and unmatched utility. The ultimate insult was beating Blitzcrank in a hook-off near dragon, but Thresh did not hold back in embarrassing the cruel robot all over the map. AHQ tried to make Blitzcrank work for their first three matches, but eventually abandoned him and paid respect to the new king of hooks: Thresh.

Hook #4: Inspired Countless Taiwanese Children To Run With Pointy Objects

GreenTea's Thresh showed bravery worthy of the bards in his fearless charge against Dark Passage. While his teammates struggled to keep up after the fleeing enemies, Thresh sprinted forward to take on all three opponents. Thresh kicked off the race by firing a hook just off to the side of Nami, warning her to start running, because he was going to chase her like a hungry lion. He then proceeded to do all of the following in the next 30 seconds, all without ever breaking his sprint:

• Flayed his hook to pull Nami towards him.
• Threw his lantern backwards to help that slowpoke Fizz keep up.
• Flayed his hook to disrupt Lee Sin's attempted gank onto Thresh's allies.
• Hooked Lee Sin to pull him in close.
• Created a makeshift prison to ensure Lee Sin couldn't escape.
• Flashed forward at a fleeing Nami.
• Lashed Nami in the back with a chain whip auto-attack to murder her.

It was an incredible feat of mobility, utility, aggression, and downright chutzpah. GreenTea showed Thresh's value at a very basic level: he has many different tools to impact a fight. He can control enemies, position allies, and initiate onto targets. You just have to know when is the right time to do all of those things (and of course have the skill to land his abilities). But if you can master his nuances, the pros have shown just how much Thresh can impact the success of his team. Miss any of the League of Legends 2014 World Championship? Our spoiler free VODs page makes it easy to watch every game. We've also got the full schedule and bracket available. Be sure to keep checking back to Lolesports.com every day throughout the tournament for features, full match recaps, and videos on the best League of Legends teams in the world. Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Malzahar, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest Next at Sony Online Entertainment. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.

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