Locke Scaling: Grade D
No. Locke gets noticeably worse as the game goes long. Grade D, Very bad late, in The Scaling Codex. The placement moves with the patch.
Grade reviewed against patch 26.13. Patch-sensitive placements are re-checked when the champion changes.
Verdict. Provisional. First-patch late data is terrible, and his kit asks him to teleport or dash into range before landing execute-oriented damage. Since he only released in Patch 26.13, he stays out of F until the learning curve and tuning settle.
- Patch-dependent
The sequence is the problem
Everything he wants to do happens on the far side of the enemy team. He has to teleport or dash into range before the damage exists, and execute-oriented damage means the payoff waits on a target that is already low. Late fights protect exactly that target, so the formation stands between him and the job while the job itself sits behind a health condition.
That is the worst possible shape for the last stage of the game: an entry cost paid up front, a payout somebody else has to set up, and a full enemy team allowed to respond in between.
The grade is provisional because he is one patch old
Whatever his items become, they cannot change the sequence. The tuning and the learning curve might.
An execute is the last word in a sentence somebody else has to start. Do not enter to begin the fight. Arrive to end it.
Common questions about Locke scaling
Does Locke scale well into the late game?
No. Locke gets noticeably worse as the game goes long. Grade D, Very bad late, in The Scaling Codex. The placement moves with the patch.
Why does Locke fall off late?
Whatever his items become, they cannot change the sequence. The tuning and the learning curve might.
What is the late-game rule for Locke?
An execute is the last word in a sentence somebody else has to start. Do not enter to begin the fight. Arrive to end it.
How this grade was judged
The grade weighs range, target access, sustained and burst damage, crowd control, mobility, durability, healing and shielding, resets, cooldown structure, objective and formation control, split pressure, and how well the champion survives a long fight. Builds and forms that scale differently are graded separately. This is Vambient's gameplay evaluation of coordinated late-game fights, not a win-rate calculation. Full methodology.
Related champions
- Why Akali is also Grade D
- Why Alistar is also Grade D
- Why Amumu is also Grade D
- Why Bard is also Grade D
- See the full Grade D tier
The grade measures one thing: how much a champion can influence a coordinated late-game objective fight once both teams reach full builds. It does not measure early strength, snowballing, or win rate. A weak late-game champion still wins by ending the game first, which is what the rest of the library teaches. How the grades are decided.