Guide to Hooking Champions
League of Legends has five abilities with a similar theme: you hit a hook, you change the distance between yourself and the target. You always have to think of your character’s specific mechanics, but some principles are universal. We are here to talk about both.
Universal tips
Make them paranoid. One successful hook may turn the tide of the game, and the very thought is scary for enemy carries. Capitalize on that by not leaving the fog of war unless you absolutely have to.
The tactic works exceptionally well around tri bush, Drake lair and Nashor pit. Always use Vision Wards or Sweeping Lens to make enemies extremely cautious about hanging out nearby. Either mistakes will be made, or carries will not be able to commit to a team fight before they know where you are.
Hold on to the hook until you are confident enough. The fact that your CC is off cooldown creates a threat squishy targets have to respect. If you miss your spell, they get a window of opportunity to harass or even all-in. During ganks, try to make enemies burn their Flash on someone else’s ability and then hit yours.
That being said, do not hesitate to throw hooks when your position is unknown. Even if you end up missing, the enemy will probably back off, and then there’s a chance your teammate will be on target.
Enhance your hook engagement with other abilities. Most of the time, the devs do not expect you to straight up pull the enemy. Every champion has extra tools to use either before or after the hook. We’ll talk about them in the next section.
Thresh
Use your E to land the hook. Death Sentence has a significant delay of 0.5 seconds, so you are unlikely to land it at max range if the enemy can see you. Flay briefly knocks your opponents up and reduces their movement speed to 1% for a second. Use Flash+E+Q for lvl 2 all-ins.
Flay may also be used to get rid of minions in the way. It is likely to catch enemies off-guard, because they will probably not consider E a threat if they’re out of range.
Sometimes you won’t even have to push minions aside
Place W to block escape paths. The game considers the lantern to be an obstacle similar to terrain, so one can’t easily go past it. The most obvious spot is the shorter path between the turret and the wall.
Blitzcrank
Aim with in-game range indicator and then some. Your hook is slightly longer than the game makes you think, and the visuals from most skins reflect that as well. Enemies will be aware of that, so this tip is more about you not giving up if the indicator suggests that there will be a near-miss.
Juggle between E->Q and Q->E. The first combo is good for maximizing the CC time. You speed up with W, hit a guaranteed E and then land a point-blank Q. The first combo is what you are going to use for engaging from the fog of war. Consider not using W, as the movement speed won’t matter if you land the hook, and an MS decrease after the boost may kill you if you miss.
Remember where your hook is. Blitzcrank has two robotic arms. He uses the left one for E and the right one for Q. For in-game purposes, that means that you should be moving to the left while chasing through minions/other champions. If you don’t follow the right-hand rule, you may miss the kill.
Pyke
Don’t get obsessed with hooks through terrain. Pyke barely pulls enemies with his hook, and you are unlikely to capitalize on Bone Skewer through a wall unless you’re laning with Caitlyn who can place a trap. In a 2v2 situation, consider using Q in a different way.
Once you hit the hook, follow up with E immediately. Your AoE stun is narrow, so it’s always better to have enemies CCed throughout most of the 1-second pop delay. You either make them unable to fight for longer or get a dash/Flash out of them, definitely a win-win scenario.
Feel free to cancel Q if there’s no opening. Your ability will go on cooldown, but at least you’re getting half the mana cost back. It’s better than spending the regular amount on a whiff.
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