FOTM Report: Locke Mid

Two straight patches of nerfs still haven't knocked Locke out of God Tier, and the ban rate proves nobody's willing to test that themselves.

Check out the details on runes and builds below!

FOTM Report

Locke Mid

God Tier · Patch 26.14

Two straight patches of nerfs still haven't knocked Locke out of God Tier, and the ban rate proves nobody's willing to test that themselves.

As of Patch 26.14, Locke took his second consecutive round of nerfs and is still sitting in God Tier on the solo queue tier list. That alone would be a story, but the real headline is the ban sheet: 76% at Diamond+ and 73% at Emerald, easily the single most-feared name in the game right now.

How to Play Locke

Abilities

Q, W, E then prioritize Q > W > E (take R whenever it's available)

Summoner Spells

Starting Items

Strategy

Poke with Ritual Nails to stack marks, then consume them on a trade before committing Ashen Pursuit through the enemy laner and finishing with Purgatory once they're low enough to threaten the execute

Core Items

Locke Rune Setup

Primary: Electrocute, Sudden Impact, Grisly Mementos, Ultimate Hunter

Secondary: Bone Plating, Revitalize

When to Pick Locke

Pick Locke into low-mobility mages and control champions who can't punish the Ashen Pursuit dash or escape a full mark-consume combo once he's ahead on marks. He wants a lane he can freely poke with Ritual Nails without trading into hard engage, since he still has no defensive tool beyond Soul Ignition's now-smaller heal-back.

He's also strong on teams that need a reliable pick threat on a squishy backline target, since Purgatory's execute potential and the bonus power he gains for sealing a champion away let him snowball a single successful all-in into a much bigger threat for the rest of the fight. Avoid locking him in against lanes that can shut down Ritual Nails' recast window early, since that window is tighter than it used to be.

How It Works

A Tighter Ritual Nails Window

Patch 26.14 cuts Ritual Nails' [Q] recast hold time from 5s to 4s and trims both Nail Damage (50/60/70/80/90 → 50/58/66/74/82) and Mark Base Bonus Damage (20/30/40/50/60 → 18/26/34/42/50). The goal is to "open up more counterplay by reducing how long he can pressure with his Q," giving opponents a shorter, more readable window to react before Locke can cash in his marks.

Less Free Sustain from Soul Ignition

Soul Ignition's [W] Grey Health Cap dropped from 40/80/120/160/200 to 40/70/100/130/160, capping how much of the damage Locke takes during the effect he can heal back at the end. He's noticeably "safer by comparison" than before, since the aggressive burst mage lost a chunk of the survivability that used to let him shrug off extended trades.

Still God Tier, Still the Most Banned

This is his second consecutive patch of nerfs and he's still one of the most played mid laners in the game, holding God Tier while sitting at a 76% ban rate at Diamond+. The numbers say players aren't banning him because he's statistically dominant right now. They're banning him because "nobody wants to be the one who finds out the hard way," and that fear hasn't gone away just because his kit got smaller.

Potential Pitfalls

The Combo Window Is Real Now

With the Q recast hold time down to 4 seconds, Locke has noticeably less time to land a follow-up mark-consume before it expires. Overextending a poke without a clear path to cash in the marks quickly just wastes the damage and gives the lane opponent a free window to punish him back.

No Real Escape

Ashen Pursuit is a blink into a dash toward the next target, not a disengage tool, and with Soul Ignition's healing capped lower, Locke has less of a buffer to survive a bad fight than before. If he burns his combo and doesn't get the kill, a jungler or roaming support can punish him hard before Flash or his own cooldowns come back up.

Conclusions

Locke took real nerfs to both his poke window and his sustain this patch, and on paper that should have been enough to knock him out of the top of the mid lane tier list. It wasn't. He's still God Tier, still one of the most played mid laners in solo queue, and still banned in three out of every four Diamond+ games. That's fear-based banning, and at lower ranks it evaporates fast enough that his ban rate actually says more about reputation than about raw power. Either way, if he's not banned in your game, he's worth picking up while that's still true.

Suggested Tier: God Tier

What do you think about Locke's current state? Let us know in the comments below.