Tahm Kench vs Locke Counter Pick

Locke‘s damage grows as his target’s health falls. Silver Stake adds on-hit magic damage scaled to missing health, and Purgatory can execute outright, which makes him strong against opponents who fight from a low bar. Tahm Kench is the wrong opponent for that plan, and the record agrees: 60.08% over 258 games on patch 16.13.1, rated Easy.

Where the plan breaks down:

• Thick Skin stores a share of incoming damage and converts it into a temporary shield, undoing the missing-health condition Locke depends on.
• Soul Ignition costs him health to gain attack speed and move speed, pushing him toward the same low bar he wants to exploit.
• Ashen Pursuit teleports and then dashes into a target, which places a 125-range fighter inside a 175-unit swing and the radius of Abyssal Dive’s knock-up.

The stat sheet is closer than the winrate implies. Locke holds more health at both ends, 655 base and 2,508 at level 18 against 640 and 2,391, and moves faster at 340 against 335, though his 103.4 armor at level 18 trails 118.9. Magic resist matches at 32 on each side, and difficulty 5 applies to both. Devour swings the fight either way: used on an ally it removes a target mid-execute, used on Locke it deals magic damage and takes him out of an exchange he was winning.