Taliyah vs Locke Counter Pick

Taliyah and Locke are separated by four hundred units of attack range. She fires Threaded Volley from 525 range and can keep moving while the spell is out, whereas he has to close to 125 range before Silver Stake starts layering on-hit magic damage scaled to missing health. Ashen Pursuit gives him a teleport plus a dash, but that is only one way in, and Unraveled Earth exists to punish that exact approach: enemies who dash across the minefield set off the mines and get stunned. Over 175 games on patch 16.13.1, Taliyah wins 56.6% of the time, and the matchup is rated Easy.

Damage type drives the build. Locke deals physical damage, and Taliyah starts with 18 armour, one of the lowest opening values in the game, rising only to 97.9 by level 18. That makes early defence worth more than extra ability haste. With 550 base health to his 655, a straight exchange of blows is already lost, and Purgatory can finish her off once she drops low. Rock Surfing is the fix: it grants bonus move speed beside walls, which jungle terrain offers constantly, while Weaver’s Wall turns the same terrain into a way to rotate or escape. His 340 base move speed against her 330 makes crossing open ground the poor choice. The complete kit is on the Taliyah champion page.