The case against ADC Thresh

I see this build occasionally, either as a "for fun" setup or for another ADC in ARAM. It's a niche but long-standing staple of off-meta Thresh builds.

The problem is that it is so bad that it should never be used and should be considered trolling on the level of e.g. six-Deathcap Garen.

First, we have to take into consideration a nerf that most people probably won't remember, especially as it's a mechanical distinction not listed in the tooltip. Thresh's autoattack "steroid," such as it is, is a stronger autoattack after time spent not attacking. It takes several seconds to build, and the nerf was that it only starts building after Thresh's autoattack timer is complete. This means that if you autoattack constantly, you will get zero bonus damage. Another nerf that impacted this steroid (although not as directly) was moving that passive from its original ability, Q, to E. Q is usually maxed first as a strong initiation tool, so moving the passive to E took away Thresh's free poking power: now he has to choose between ranking up his hook or Flay. It's been a while so I don't recall exactly, but I think these changes were specifically intended to curtail ADC Thresh and solidify him as a support and nothing else.

Second, Thresh was never intended to be anything but a full support, so his animations are long and cumbersome. In fact, if he hooks someone with his Q, he literally is unable to autoattack them while tugging them around. That's right, it's like a self-blind. Rather than using his abilities to strengthen his autoattacks, his abilities prevent and preclude his autoattacks. It doesn't matter when he's a support, but it demolishes his value as an ADC.

Third, his intended playstyle of initiation and disruption relies on tanky support items. If he builds things like Shiv and IE, he doesn't have the durability he needs in order to fully use his kit (which traditionally involves using Q to dive into an enemy team and ult). Instead, he simply dies before putting his mediocre damage to bear.

Fourth, if ADC Thresh somehow becomes popular again, I don't doubt that Riot will nerf Thresh again in some way to put a stop to it. I don't think anyone who actually enjoys playing Thresh wants that to happen.

Fun builds are cool, but ADC Thresh isn't one of them.