Locke preview: LoL’s single new champion of 2026

Wasif Ahmed Published 10/06/2026

League’s newest champion Locke will hit the Rift on June 24 alongside patch 26.13. As a mid lane AP assassin, the Ashen Exorcist is the only champion that Riot will release in 2026. The demon hunter will be unique for an assassin in that he has to set up his burst before delivering it. Read all about it in our Locke preview.

Locke, the Ashen Exorcist

The Ashen Exorcist is a demon-hunting melee, AP assassin who fights with Soul Nails. For his gameplay pattern, he damages with attacks and sets up with abilities before lunging for the kill with mobility and high burst. While he was designed by Mel’s and Hwei’s creator Blake “Squad5” Smith, his gameplay will feel more like Ekko’s.

Passive – Silver Stake

Locke’s attacks deal bonus magic damage on-hit. This damage scales with the enemy’s missing health.

Q – Ritual Nails

Locke slowly throws a series of Soul Nails that each damage, slow, and mark enemies. Using attacks or other spells on hit enemies expunges the marks to deal extra damage.

W – Soul Ignition

Locke releases his seals to gain movement speed at the cost of health per second. Upon ending the effect (naturally or manually), he heals back a portion of all damage taken during it.

Note: The health loss is a percentage of his own health, so Locke can’t die from his W.

E – Ashen Pursuit

Locke blinks to a location, dealing damage around him. Then, his next basic attack gains largely increased range and makes him dash to his target, damaging all enemies in his path.

This spell’s cooldown resets on champion takedown.

R – Purgatory

Locke throws his totem at a location. Enemies caught by it are slowed and take damage over time. Champions below a certain health threshold are executed.

When a champion dies that way, the duration of the ult resets on all other targets. Additionally, the execute threshold permanently increases and the spell’s cooldown partially refreshes.

Note: While stacking without a cap, the threshold only increases by a small amount each time, at 0.5% per champion killed. However, any ally can trigger the execute.

Locke is LoL’s new champion, releasing on patch 26.13. Image Source: Riot Games

Locke’s gameplay

League’s upcoming champion will always set up fights with his Q. Ritual Nails set up for his damage, but make him predictable as he will always have to send them out in order to have high burst.

Locke then uses his E to engage from afar and detonate the marks for high damage. The E is also his primary wave clear tool, meaning that he tells his opponent that he’s down his engage tool if he uses it for that purpose.

Soul Ignition is his trading tool allowing him to either stick to his target or get away quickly, while removing a portion of the damage taken in return. However, misusing this spell will cause more harm than good.

Purgatory is a classic damage ultimate to round out his kit. Locke’s passive also allows him to still have some damage while his spells are down, and to make use of his W’s movespeed.

All in all, the Ashen Exorcist’s fighting patterns resemble Ekko’s. Set up with Q, then use the E’s double blink to detonate the marks. The champion then has extra movespeed and slows to use passively empowered basic attacks, and he can finally dash out and regain his health after doing the deed. That description applies to either of them.

As the first assassin since Naafiri’s release in 2023, Locke aims to fill a gap in play rate. Locke will join the League of Legends roster for patch 26.13 on June 24, and will be disabled for MSI 2026.

Featured image source: Riot Games

Wasif Ahmed

About Wasif Ahmed

Wasif Ahmed is the Lead Esports Editor for WIN.gg. He has been covering esports for nearly eight years, although his gaming journey started much earlier, when he was just four years old and was introduced to Road Rash on a dusty PC. Hit him up on X to talk about esports, why partnership models are the best fit for esports games, or if Halo 7 has finally been announced.

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