Locke was just officially revealed by Riot Games, who have taken no time at all to also drop his full kit. Rumoured for some time that he was an AP mid-lane Assassin, things have become a lot clearer now.
With a focus on setting up the attack, rather than pressing R and hoping for the best. Locke is set up to be an interesting champion for people to master. With him being the only new champion coming to League of Legends in 2026, there will be a lot of people interested in what Locke can bring to the Rift.
Locke Abilities
Passive – Silver Stake
What it does: Locke pins enemies’ souls with his attacks, dealing bonus magic damage On-Hit, increased based on the enemy’s missing Health.
How it works: A simple passive, dealing heavy bonus magic damage on-hit.
Q – Ritual Nails
What it does: Locke readies a set of Soul Nails to throw forward, dealing magic damage and marking enemies hit. The nails apply a slow based on stacks. Attacking the enemy consumes the Soul Nails, dealing magic damage per stack. Restores a portion of cooldown and mana for unspent Nails.
How it works: Locke’s key ability, and while it has a short range, it can travel through enemies. This will be his key trading tool; damage scaling on Ritual Nails will likely determine how strong Locke is.
W – Soul Ignition
What it does: Locke releases his own seals, gaining Move Speed decaying over time. While this effect is active, he suffers % health true damage per second but heals back a portion of the damage taken, plus an additional amount based on missing health and time passed. The seals remain unbound for a few seconds and can be Recast to end early.
How it works: Soul Ignition is the primary way Locke will punish his enemies. While the damage numbers to him will dictate how good this is, the burst of move speed is likely to guarantee a good few extra auto-attacks.
E – Ashen Pursuit
What it does: Locke blinks to a location, dealing magic damage around him. After, his next attack dashes to his target, dealing magic damage to all enemies in his path. Each of these hits consumes Soul Nails. Cooldown resets on takedown.
How it works: Combined well with his W, Ashen Pursuit is going to be what makes Locke so difficult to get away from. His kit, ultimately, is like Vayne, if she were designed in 2026.
R – Purgatory
What it does: Locke kicks a binding artefact to a location that opens on arrival, shooting chained Soul Nails at enemies in the area, dealing magic damage and slowing. Marked Champions that are brought below a threshold are pulled inside and killed. If a champion is executed, the duration of the binding is reset on other affected champions. After a few seconds, the artefact seals itself and is left on the ground if a Champion was sealed. If Locke picks up the artifact, he permanently increases the execution threshold and refunds a portion of his current cooldown for each Champion sealed.
How it works: The final part of his kit is Purgatory. A deadly ultimate that scales, making him an ideal snowballing champion. This could also make him a glass cannon, especially when you consider his very minimal forms of “support” lacking crowd control outside of a minor slow.
Locke, like any new champion, will get the usual series of buffs and nerfs post-release, but he feels like an interesting champion so far. His kit makes him appear to be a solo-queue demon, rather than a pro-play champion, but time will tell.