Locke has been out for a few days now, and with him being the only champion we get this year, it’s good to look at how he’s doing. The short answer is, very badly. In every role, most likely because people can’t get the hang of his kit.
Locke is being played in three roles primarily: top, jungle, and his intended role of mid lane. So, let’s take a look at how things are going for him in Patch 26.13.
Locke – A Look at the Stats
So, it’s not a great start. These are all ranked stats, at Emerald + Elo, but it’s fair to say Locke is having a rough time.
For a start, Jungle is not looking like the place to play him. Just over 7000 games of data, and it’s looking bad. Even some early rough data, people learning a champion, etc., 38% reads more like you’ve tried to play Lulu in the jungle than it does someone viable. This may change, but for now, the jungle does not look like his home.
Top lane things start to improve, the win rate climbs to 43%, though the sample size is much smaller at just 3000. Give the kit, Locke might well have a life in the top lane eventually, but right now, he’s the worst-ranked top laner.
In mid lane… It’s a little better, but it’s still bad. Locke was designed as an AP mid. These stats will settle eventually. Right now, after just over 18,000 games, however, it’s not looking great. The nearly 9% pick rate is high, but a 36% ban rate means that his name appears in nearly 50% of lobbies. That’s to be expected given he’s new, of course.
So why is the win rate actually this bad?
Strip away the panic, and you are looking at a textbook fresh-release pattern. The win rate is in the bin for three reasons stacked on top of each other, and only one of them is about the champion himself.
The three things dragging Locke down.
- Nobody can pilot him yet – this is the key issue; Locke is new, so even people playing him every game will have only a handful of games at most.
- The 36.6% ban rate skews who is left to play him – Often means people are picking him because he’s open, and not because they want to play.
- Squishy AP with weak early game in a bully meta – Possible tuning may be required in the next patch.
It’s also worth noting that this isn’t actually normal. In fact, the most recent example is Zaahen, released in November 2025. Zaahen was actually a little too strong, coming in hot at 50% win rate, which is very high for a new champion, causing him to get a small nerf in patch 25.23; however, those nerfs were actually delayed until 25.24.
Time Will Tell
Ultimately, it’s been less than a week, and Locke will need some time to cook. A patch, people getting a chance to play him, and people not banning him. The sad reality when a character is released is, even your own team will ban him, because people know you’re new to the role.
The best bet is to get lucky and get him in ARAM, try your luck in Arena or just do a Draft pick.
We’ll check back in next week to see how things are looking and update on anything else that changes with Locke.