Summoner's Rift has a new predator. Locke, the Ashen Exorcist, has arrived as part of League of Legends Patch 26.13, giving mid lane a fresh AP assassin built around forbidden rites, soul-binding nails, and a literal purgatory for anyone he marks.
Riot has pitched Locke as an assassin designed to feel fairer to play against than the archetype's reputation suggests — a burst threat whose windups and commitment are readable, so the counterplay is about reacting well rather than simply guessing. He is available immediately across standard and ranked queues, though he is disabled for MSI 2026 competition while the pros' meta locks in.
Who is the Ashen Exorcist?
Locke is the progeny of Demacian occultists who learned a heretical truth: that demons are not the cause of humanity's darkness, but its consequence. Armed with Soul Nails and rites his homeland would rather forget, he hunts down enemies to expose the darkness within them — a grim, witch-hunter fantasy dropped into a kingdom famous for outlawing exactly that kind of magic.
The kit
Locke is an AP mid-lane assassin whose abilities reward aggressive, decisive play:
- Silver Stake (Passive): his signature mark that sets up his execute pattern.
- Ritual Nails (Q): his primary nail-slinging poke and damage tool.
- Soul Ignition (W): Locke ignites his soul for six seconds, gaining bonus attack speed and movement speed while storing grey health equal to the post-mitigation damage he takes from enemy champions.
- Ashen Pursuit (E): a dash that deals magic damage to enemies he passes through; scoring a takedown on a champion resets its cooldown, letting him chain kills across a fight.
- Purgatory (R): the artifact seals itself and remains on the ground if a champion is trapped inside. Retrieve it, and Locke permanently raises his execution threshold and refunds a chunk of the ultimate's remaining cooldown for every champion sealed.
That ultimate is the centerpiece: a snowballing execute that grows stronger the more Locke delivers souls to it, turning a strong early game into a runaway mid-game if he is allowed to roam.
Cosmetics out the gate
Locke does not arrive bare. He launches with a High Noon skin, slotting straight into one of League's most popular gun-slinging, demon-hunting universes alongside a fresh High Noon Akshan. Patch 26.13 also brings the usual spread of champion buffs and nerfs as Riot tunes the summer meta.
If you have been waiting for a reason to dust off mid lane, an assassin who literally collects souls to power up his execute is about as flashy an excuse as the patch could offer.
