Garen vs Locke Counter Pick

Two melee champions, identical 340 move speed, and a 50-unit reach advantage for Garen at 175 against 125. The fundamentals are close and the record is not: 58.7% for Garen over 1,020 games on patch 16.13.1.

• Soul Ignition costs Locke health up front and only refunds part of it when the duration ends, so his effective bar during a trade is smaller than the 655 he starts with.
• Perseverance pays Garen back for every exchange he walks away from, and it costs no resource at all, while Locke works from a mana pool.
• Both ultimates are executes. Purgatory and Demacian Justice punish low health bars, so the champion holding 690 starting health and 38 armor is the one who can afford to sit at half.

Silver Stake adds magic damage on hit that grows with missing health, which argues for magic resist over a second armor item once trades start running long; Garen begins at 32 magic resist and adds more passively through Courage. Locke’s repositioning is Ashen Pursuit, a teleport followed by a dash onto his next target, so Decisive Strike is better saved for the recommit than spent on the opening. Move speed is identical at 340, so neither champion disengages for free once a trade has started. Both rate 5 for execution, and Locke ends at 2,508 health against 2,356.