Thresh
Born in a time long forgotten, Thresh was once a cruel and sadistic jailer, relishing in the torment and suffering of those unfortunate enough to cross his path. With a malevolent grin and a thirst for souls, he reveled in the anguish he inflicted upon his prisoners.
But fate had other plans for Thresh. One fateful night, a twisted storm of dark magic engulfed his prison, ripping the barrier between the living and the dead. In a blinding flash, Thresh found himself imbued with an otherworldly power, transforming him into an undead specter. No longer bound by the shackles of mortality, he became a twisted amalgamation of cruel intentions and spectral might.
Now wielding a massive, spiked lantern as his weapon of choice, Thresh roams the world, stalking the living and collecting souls with his ethereal chains. He revels in the terror and despair of his victims, snaring their life essences to add to his ever-growing collection. His ghoulish appearance and haunting laughter send shivers down the spines of those who dare to cross him.
From the day Thresh debuted as a champ over 10 years ago, he has been perhaps the most meta-present support champ in the game. His gameplay is archetypal of support gameplay in League of Legends – a brilliant mix of controlling foes and helping allies.
I played League only very casually, but I watched several seasons of competitive. During that time, Thresh was a constant meta pick. Despite his ever presence in matches, he never felt stale. A well placed lantern, a well-timed box or a well-aimed chain could all be giant, exciting swings in a game.
Plus, the Shadow Isles aesthetic of dark green and glowing green is consistently cool.
So how does Thresh play in Pathfinder?
Keys to the Character
Shine a Light
You have to be a special kind of evil to make a lantern a symbol of fear for your foes. The trick is to trap souls in it for eternity.
Grim Harvest
The lantern may be doing the heavy lifting, but Thresh still needs to slice with something. A classic reaper-esque tool will do just fine.
We Will Never Break the Chain
The chains that tether Thresh's scythe to his lantern don't just look cool – though they do. They have the practical job of holding enemies in place, or pulling them close.
Soul Caliber
Some enemies aim for the body. Thresh aims for something deeper. If his enemies aren't careful, they will find themselves prisoners of his torturous lantern prison for eternity.
Thresh is a cool looking character. The skeletonish, dreadlockish, green-glowing face. The hanging lantern. The chained scythe.
Something I think League of Legends has gotten better at over the years is taking iconic tropes or archetypes and turning them into the platonic version of that character. Thresh is a great example – he is the sum of a lot of cool skeletal tropes.
But what is extra cool about him is that he is a Support champ. Those are the real wins, when the game makes it cool to be the supportive teammate by wrapping the supportive gameplay up in a badass package.
Another thing League of Legends does well – alongside many other MOBAS – is fit a lot of powerful crowd control and utility into the kits of supports, at the cost of damage potential. Supports in those games often have the longest stuns, the craziest map altering effects, the biggest debuffs to weaken foes. By starting with a Thaumaturge build and adding a ton of archetype feats, we can follow in that methodology.
On the battlefield, Thresh is a spooky, constricting Controller, majorly affecting his enemies' ability to act, making it easy for for his allies to do their best to bring them down. Thresh's control over his foes manifests in numerous ways: exploiting weaknesses with Thaumaturge feats, frightening and stupefying them with Desecrator focus spells, and limiting their movement with occultism Sorcerer spells.
Put together, Thresh has incredible control over enemies, allowing allies to clean up (as long as they stay on his good side).
Outside of battle, Thresh's lantern provides unparalleled vision for his team – not just through darkness, but through magic and polymorph effects as well. It sees the soul, fittingly enough.
Build OVERVIEW
Ancestry
Sturdy Skeleton
Thresh was once a human, until the Harrowing brought the Black Mist to the Shadow Isles. He was torn into a wraith by the Mist, but continued "living", with new purpose.
As a Rare ancestry, Skeleton affects the game in a much bigger way than more ordinary choices. For one thing, this ancestry makes Thresh fittingly undead – which is a big limitation on the ways he and his party can normally support each other.
Fine by Thresh, he doesn't care for your heals. He'll just go about his skeleton ways, chaining foes down and stealing their souls.
The Sturdy heritage gives a boost to hit points, which is helpful for Thresh as he wants to use up-close Athletics checks from time to time. Meanwhile, the memories of his past form as a human gives him Adopted Ancestry, which he will use for his Multitalented Sorcery Dedication.
Background
Revenant
In his past life, Thresh was a feared jailer. The Guard background would be similarly suitable, then, but that is the old Thresh. You know, the one who still had some humanity, albiet a dark one.
Now, Thresh is best fitted to a Revenant. And he'll happily take the Charisma boost, which is helpful for his class and both dedications.
Class
Thaumaturge
The Thaumaturge class – somewhat like the Investigator – gives a great, flavorful structure without requiring too many class feats to feel right. This is great for Thresh, who wants to take many dedications to fit his theme.
And speaking of theme, Thresh begins with the Lantern Implement. Sure, it isn't the soul-sucking lantern we know from league, but it is a pretty powerful tool that gets upgraded over time without any other investment. He'll similarly take the Weapon implement and the Amulet implement down the line, making his tool kit interesting and useful even without the dedications.
The first of which is Champion (Desecrator) right at level 2. This early pickup will give Thresh access to some domain feats (Soul and Void) that aren't just thematic, they're powerful.
Finally, the Sorcerer Dedication (Undead Bloodline) is picked up through Thresh's past link to humanity through multitalented. This archetype will be taken all the way to Master Sorcerer Spellcasting, giving Thresh 8 spell levels of occultist spells to wreak havoc on the minds and bodies of foes.
Skills & General Feats
Thresh's three main concerns – being spooky, being creepy with souls and being a jailor – are all covered in his skill emphasis. Intimidation is the most important, giving him the aura he needs to scare foes to death.
A high occultism is necessary to reach the Master level of spellcasting with his Sorcerer Dedication. And, finally, a high Athletics is necessary to win those skill checks to trip and grapple foes from time to time (with the help of his chain stand in: the razor whip).
Legendary: Intimidation, Occultism
Master: Athletics, Deception
Expert: Stealth
Attribute Increases
Equipment
Suggested Starting Equipment
Key Spells
Changelog
