Locke Build Guide — Best Runes, Items & Skill Order

Locke, the Ashen Exorcist, is the only brand-new champion League of Legends released in all of 2026: Riot shifted most of its champion team to the League Next overhaul planned for 2027, which makes Locke the single newest pick available in mid lane. Since his release on June 24 (Patch 26.13), he has settled into Patch 26.19 as a B-tier AP assassin with a 50.1% win rate and a 3.5% pick rate in Emerald+.

Locke Mid · The Ashen Exorcist

B

Win rate

50.1%

Pick

3.5%

Ban

17.3%

Runes

Electrocute · Sudden Impact · Grisly Mementos · Treasure Hunter · Second Wind · Overgrowth (Domination + Resolve)

Spells

Flash Ignite

Start

1. 400 +
2. 50

Doran's Ring, Health Potion

Core

1. 1,100 →
2. 2,900 →
3. 3,200 →
4. 3,500

Sorcerer's Shoes, Lich Bane, Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap

Situational

1. 3,000 ·
2. 3,250 ·
3. 3,000

Void Staff, Zhonya's Hourglass, Banshee's Veil

Skill order · Q → E → W

Q 14579

W 314151718

E 28101213

R 61116

This guide covers the full Locke mid build: the Electrocute rune page that matches his passive, the Lich Bane into Rabadon’s core, skill max order, the exact health threshold that makes his ultimate a guaranteed kill, and the matchups that decide whether your lane goes smoothly or falls apart before six minutes.

Locke Runes: Best Rune Page for Mid Lane

Electrocute Electrocute Keystone Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities in 3s deals bonus adaptive damage. is the standard keystone for Locke mid. His passive, Silver Stake, already deals bonus magic damage that scales with a target’s missing health, and his Q throws multiple Soul Nails that mark enemies: landing the three separate hits Electrocute needs happens almost automatically inside one all-in, instead of requiring a drawn-out trade like Conqueror would.

Primary tree (Domination):

• Electrocute Electrocute Keystone Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities in 3s deals bonus adaptive damage. (keystone): Three marks from Q and an auto-attack or E-empowered hit detonate for a burst of adaptive damage, usually lethal on a squishy target under level 6.
• Sudden Impact Sudden Impact Domination Damaging basic attacks and abilities deal bonus true damage to enemy champions after using a dash, leap, blink, teleport, or when leaving stealth. : Bonus lethality and magic penetration after Locke’s E (Ashen Pursuit) dashes through a target, directly amplifies the follow-up damage from his kit’s main engage tool.
• Grisly Mementos Grisly Mementos Domination Collect 1 memento on champion takedowns, up to 18 total. Gain 6 Trinket Haste for each collected. : Stacking adaptive force from takedowns. Locke’s E resets on takedowns, so a good teamfight can stack this fast.
• Treasure Hunter Treasure Hunter Domination Unique takedowns grant additional gold the first time they are collected. : Bonus gold on the first takedown against each unique enemy, useful for an assassin trying to out-scale a lane he didn’t win early.

Secondary tree (Resolve (defensive, recommended into poke or burst mid lanes)):

• Second Wind Second Wind Resolve After taking damage from an enemy champion heal back some missing health over time. : Regenerates HP after taking champion damage, keeps you in lane against poke mages who out-range your Q.
• Overgrowth Overgrowth Resolve Gain permanent max health when minions or monsters die near you. : Permanent HP growth from nearby minion and monster deaths, which matters since Locke has no inherent tankiness.

Alternative secondary (Precision (aggressive, recommended if you’re ahead or into weak lane bullies)):

• Presence of Mind Presence of Mind Precision Restore a small amount of mana or energy when damaging an enemy champion. Takedowns restore mana or energy. : Fixes Locke’s mana issues on takedowns, letting him spam Q and W without running dry mid-fight.
• Coup de Grace Coup de Grace Precision Deal more damage to low health enemy champions. : 8% bonus damage to targets below 40% HP, lines up almost perfectly with the execute threshold his ultimate needs (see the How to Play section).

Rune Shards:

Slot	Choice
Offense	Adaptive Force
Flex	Adaptive Force
Defense	Health Scaling

Why not Dark Harvest? Dark Harvest Dark Harvest Keystone Damaging a low health champion inflicts adaptive damage and harvests a soul from the victim. scales better into a long game, but it needs a target already below 50% HP to proc: Locke’s own passive already punishes low-HP targets, so stacking two execute-style effects is redundant. Electrocute’s guaranteed burst on an even-HP target wins more all-ins before level 6, which is where Locke needs to be ahead.

Best Locke Items: Core Build Path Patch 26.19

The Locke item build centers on raw AP burst with just enough penetration to punch through a squishy backline before a single defensive item cancels the all-in.

1. Doran's Ring Doran's Ring 400 gold 18 Ability Power 90 Health Drain Restore 1 Mana every second, increased to 2 Mana per second for 5 seconds after dealing damage to an enemy champion. If you can't gain Mana, heal for 45% of this value instead. Helping Hand Attacks deal 5 bonus physical damage to minions. + 2x Health Potion Health Potion 50 gold Consume Restores 120 Health over 15 seconds. : the HP and mana sustain let Locke survive early poke exchanges while he only has his Q to threaten with.

2. Sorcerer's Shoes Sorcerer's Shoes 1,100 gold 12 Magic Penetration 45 Move Speed : rushed before any damage item. Locke’s burst is entirely magic damage, and 18 magic penetration matters more than raw AP against a target with any MR item.

3. Lich Bane Lich Bane 2,900 gold 100 Ability Power 6% Move Speed 10 Ability Haste Spellblade After using an Ability, your next Attack deals bonus magic damage On-Hit. : the mythic-tier choice this patch. Its passive triggers off Locke’s W or E cast into an auto-attack, converting ability power into a guaranteed bonus hit that synergizes with his passive’s missing-health scaling.

4. Shadowflame Shadowflame 3,200 gold 110 Ability Power 15 Magic Penetration Cinderbloom Magic and true damage Critically Strike enemies below 40% Health, dealing 20% increased damage. : bonus magic penetration scales with the target’s missing HP or shields, which stacks with Locke’s own passive for the same reason: both items get stronger the lower the target’s health drops, exactly when his ultimate is about to come online.

5. Rabadon's Deathcap Rabadon's Deathcap 3,500 gold 130 Ability Power Magical Opus Increases your total Ability Power by 30%. : once Lich Bane and Shadowflame are online, a flat 35% AP increase outperforms any situational pickup for a champion whose entire kit scales off AP.

Situational swaps:

Situation	Item to consider
Enemy building MR early	Void Staff Void Staff 3,000 gold 95 Ability Power 40% Magic Penetration instead of a second defensive item
Facing heavy CC or a burst mage	Zhonya's Hourglass Zhonya's Hourglass 3,250 gold 105 Ability Power 50 Armor Time Stop Enter Stasis for 2.5 seconds. before Rabadon’s
Enemy team stacking shields or sustain	Keep Shadowflame’s missing-HP penetration prioritized over Void Staff
Getting bursted down in lane	Banshee's Veil Banshee's Veil 3,000 gold 105 Ability Power 40 Magic Resist Annul Grants a Spell Shield that blocks the next enemy Ability. as a boots-slot-adjacent defensive pickup

For a broader framework on when to pivot out of a standard build instead of following it blindly, see our itemization guide: the same “what does this game state need” logic applies to Locke’s situational swaps.

Locke Skill Order

Max order: Q → E → W (take R at levels 6, 11, and 16)

Q (Ritual Nails): Max first. This is Locke’s primary poke and burst tool: a barrage of Soul Nails that damages, marks, and slows. The marks are what you consume with follow-up attacks for bonus damage, so every level invested here directly raises your combo’s total output.

E (Ashen Pursuit): Max second. This is both Locke’s gap-closer and his damage reset: it blinks him into range, dashes through the target with an empowered attack, and resets on takedowns. Prioritizing it over W gives you a reliable engage tool earlier, which matters more for an assassin than extra sustain.

W (Soul Ignition): Max last. It trades a chunk of Locke’s own HP for movement speed and strong self-healing over time. Useful for extending a fight or disengaging, but it doesn’t scale his burst the way Q and E do, so it’s the last priority in the max order.

R (Purgatory): Take at levels 6, 11, and 16. This is Locke’s execute ultimate: it traps marked enemies inside a binding artifact, and any champion who drops below the health threshold while marked gets dragged in and killed outright. It’s the reason every point in Q matters: more marks and more missing-health damage mean Purgatory comes online earlier in a fight.

Locke Summoner Spells

Run Flash + Ignite: this combination accounts for roughly 94% of Locke mid games this patch and carries a healthy win rate.

Flash closes the last bit of distance Ashen Pursuit can’t cover, and it’s what turns a near-miss gank attempt into a kill. Don’t replace it: Locke has no second form of hard engage if Flash is down.

Ignite rounds out his all-in with true damage that ignores shields and reduces enemy healing for a few seconds, which matters directly against sustain-heavy lane opponents. Teleport is the situational swap: take it into a lane you expect to lose early, so you can recover gold from side-lane plates and rejoin fights once your core items come online.

How to Play Locke Mid: Tips and Tricks

Locke’s entire kit is built around one idea: he gets more dangerous as a target loses health, so the correct way to play him is to apply damage first and threaten the execute second, never the other way around.

Early game (levels 1–6): Locke has no engage tool until E unlocks at level 2, so trade with Q pokes from max range and avoid overextending. His mana costs are high relative to his base mana pool, so don’t spam Q on minions: save it for champion trades.

Mid game (levels 6–11): Once Purgatory is live, your job shifts to roaming off cooldowns. Mark a side-laner with Q, dash in with E, and check whether they’re already low enough for the execute before you commit: Purgatory has a long cooldown early, and wasting it on a target who survives gives the enemy jungler or support a free opening on you.

Late game: Locke is a backline diver, not a frontline fighter. In teamfights, wait for your frontline to engage first, then use E to jump onto the most valuable low-health target, ideally one your team has already damaged close to Purgatory’s threshold. Watch Soul Ignition’s HP cost: using W to chase in the late game can put you in kill range of the enemy’s own burst if you’re not careful.

Common mistakes: casting R before the target is low enough (it does nothing if they’re above the threshold); using E purely to engage without a mark already on the target, wasting the bonus damage; building full damage into a comp with multiple hard CC chains, where Locke dies before his combo finishes.

Locke Matchups: Who to Pick and Avoid

How to handle hard counters: Don’t force all-ins into these matchups pre-6. Farm safely with Q from max range, ask your jungler for priority ganks instead of self-initiating, and look for picks on their team’s other members once your items are online.

Galio Galio the Colossus mid and Irelia Irelia the Blade Dancer mid both punish Locke through tankiness and CC rather than damage, so building Void Staff earlier than usual helps close that gap faster than adding more raw AP.

Frequently Asked Questions About Locke

Conclusion: Is Locke Worth Picking Up in Patch 26.19?

Locke rewards players who respect his missing-health execute pattern instead of forcing all-ins on full-HP targets. The Electrocute + Lich Bane into Rabadon’s build gives him the burst to punish a marked target the moment Purgatory’s threshold is crossed, but the matchup spread is real: expect a rough time into Kassadin, Akali, or Yasuo, and a much easier one into immobile mages like Orianna or Mel.

Because Locke’s power curve depends so heavily on reading a target’s exact health percentage mid-fight, tools like buildzcrank that track your live game state in real time can flag the moment a target is actually inside your execute range, instead of guessing from the health bar alone.

For the rest of the current mid lane meta, check our mid lane tier list to see how Locke stacks up against the rest of Patch 26.19’s pick pool.