Adding counterplay to Thresh to make him stronger

Catfish017·9/26/2014, 7:04:41 AM·3 votes·1,191 views

So, Thresh has been getting nerfed over and over due to his strengths. One major issue is the fact that his lantern has such little counterplay (stun them! oh wait, the lantern lasts forever and they can still click on it). I think there is a chance to add counterplay to his lantern, which would allow some of his nerfs to be reverted and allow for more interesting and healthy gameplay. My idea is basically to slightly lower the speed of an ally being carried to thresh, and make it so that it's a dash mechanic, in that they can be knocked out of it via displacement abilities. This would allow well-timed abilities to prevent his lantern from being a 100% get-out-of-jail free card. With this counterplay, some nerfs could be reverted on him to make his laning a bit stronger again.

14 Comments

Lord Graves III9/26/2014, 8:54:56 AM2 votes

I feel like that would be nerfing his big unique thing to do what? Add damage?

You don't bring thresh for damage.

He got nerfed a bunch of times cause he needed it. He is still good. Which nerfs did you want to revert? Cause his lantern is fun as balls for the guy grabbing it.

Knight Devout9/26/2014, 9:40:04 AM1 votes

Players CAN be knocked away or stopped mid flight during Dark Passage.

I did it with Jayce (Knock Back from Thundering Blow) and Quinn (Interrupt from Vault).
While I'm not sure if they can also be snared, I'm inclined to think that is the case.

Destínum9/26/2014, 9:54:45 AM1 votes

Thresh's problem his his lack of weaknesses, not counterplay. His lantern specifically is super easy to counter by just standing on top of it. Seriously, like 70% of all lanterns I try to take are impossible to click because enemies are bodyblocking it.

Old Man Teeto9/26/2014, 10:29:09 AM1 votes

Thresh has a lot of counterplay.

Dodge the hook. Stand on the lantern. Walk through or don't the box.

You can interact with thresh extremely well.

The problem is that he has no weakness to capitalize on. This means he has to make a mistake for you to win.

Compared to other supports who see competitive play,

Nami - high mana costs, squishy, easy to all in. Braum - Easily poked, positional based, hard engage requires ultimate.

Thresh's kit has short CD trade potential (E passive) Hard engage potential (Q/E) Disengage (E/R) Burst (Q->E->R) Pick (Q) AoE CC (E/R)

while still offering a unique one of a kind strength.

"Lantern"

With no weaknesses, and nothing but strengths he's maintained his top tier support status since his introduction. We see great Thresh's and terrible Thresh, he's sort of "that" support just designed to be powerful so long as you hit your abilities.

Wingling9/26/2014, 4:06:09 PM1 votes

I think Thresh has good counterplay, but he just has too much free utility. Stun/pull, AOE knockback, lantern, ult slow. The way I've heard it said is that Thresh could have literally 0 damage and 0 shielding and he'd still be picked. Maybe we could keep all that utility but make it less free: what if he was forced to fly to a hooked target unless he lands flay on that same target? I'm not committed to this idea, if it's terrible for some reason that I didn't think of tell me, but at a glance I think it looks like a good trade-off to let Thresh keep everything but make it less free.