AD Thresh, possible or not?

Question

I have seen some people playing AD thresh and I have always played him more tanky. Is AD thresh a viable build?

Answer 1

I wrote this in comments, but I feel the need to post this as an answer, and I recognize the fact this will be downvoted by most people who do not play competitively.

DISCLAIMER: If you want to play around with AD thresh in normals, go right on ahead. If you do so in ranked, people who take this game seriously WILL report you for this type of behavior. Take this from someone who was banned in S1 for running Karthus Jungle, even though I am a Gold tier player and was actually winning games with it. You can get banned for picking certain champions in un-orthodox roles.

Your title is : AD Thresh, possible or not?

Possible? Yeah, sure, anything is possible. I can play karma as a solo-top if I feel like it.

However in your question, you ask : Is AD thresh a viable build?

Viable? Absolutely not.

What makes an AD Carry, then?

High AD base stats : (Thresh does not have this).

Example: Caitlynn's or MF's attack damage goes up 3 per level, Thresh is 2.2. Negligeable, however; Cait and MF's attack speed goes up 3% per level, while Thresh only goes up 1%. That would mean a fully leveled Thresh will be AA'ing 34% slower than a regular AD.

An attack damage/speed steroid :  *(Thresh does not have this)*. 

Example: Ezreal passive, Trist Rapid Fire, MF Impure Shots, Cait passive, Graves Quickdraw, Varus passive... I could keep going for days, but you get the idea.

A skill that does decent amount of bonus damage.  *(Thresh does not have this)* 

Not EVERY AD Ranged AD Carry has this, but most do. Examples: Graves Buckshot, MF Double Up, Cait Piltover Peacemaker, Ezreal Mystic Shot, Ashe Volley

An Escape/Disengage ability 

Again, not EVERY AD carry has this, but most do. Examples: Corki Valkyrie, Trist Rocket Jump. Ezreal Arcane Shift, Graves Quickdraw, Cait .45 Caliber net

A high-damage ultimate ability:   *(Thresh does not have this)*

Examples: MF, Ez, Graves, Cait, Corki, Tristana... etc.

The only thing Thresh has comparable to other AD Carries?

Ranged on his auto-attacks. But that does not make him a viable AD Carry. If you follow that logic, Sona, Nidalee, Soraka, Karthus, Brand, Annie are all viable AD carries, and they aren't.

Sources : lolwiki, being Gold S1, S2 and now Div III gold S3.

Answer 2

I would have to say yes.

Two reasons for this-

1) He has a ranged auto attack, so he would be capable of farming/harassing with a fair safety margin.

2) If played as an Attack Damage champion, he could fairly easily become a tough due to his passive giving Armor and Ability Power per each soul he collects.

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Would I have him as the Attack Damage Carry? No.

Would I have him as a possible top lane champion? Absolutely.

He has a good kit and even though I still run into a lot of players that don't know what Thresh is capable of, that does not make him a bad champ. I currently see Thresh as "the" Utility Tough when it comes to team compositions.

He has ways to initiate, escape mechanisms for your team, and has a decent amount of Crowd Control as well.

So yeah, it is my belief that Thresh is absolutely viable as an AD champion. All you have to figure out is what items to build on him and in what order to level his skills as an AD champ.

Answer 3

My 2 pennies.

I've seen AD thresh in non-ranked games and it isn't a success generally

1. Doesn't scale with the muplication of AD/AS/Crit/ArP like an "classic" ranged AD carry
2. Doesn't scale quite like an AD melee/bruiser
3. Can't go big tank and damage, like say Garen or Jarvan IV. He has to compromise
4. If he does go AD, he takes CS and/or kills from his lane partner = underfed ranged/melee AD
5. His Q bonus is magic damage and requires a delay between AA for maximum effect

So he may be able to hit hard but he can't hit often.
And what happens when his spells are on CD?

For me, his value is in the CC. Not his DPS