Thor is here! An Over-Arching Thor Guide

Welcome everyone, to an updated 8.7 Conquest guide for Thor, the God of Thunder. He is almost exclusively a jungler this season, so that's what we'll be focusing on today, though I will touch on some of his off-role potential and what to do if you end up there. In this guide, we'll cover a variety of different topics; here's a quick table of contents for what to expect.

BIG NOTE!- This is being updated for the huge update that removed boots in the game, please be patient while it gets changed. I will also include speculative updates for the Charybdis update. :) A lot of the info stays the same, but the build is VERY different, as well as some matchups.

Abilities- A quick rundown of what his abilities do, as well as an explanation of how to most effectively use them

Builds- How to build this character in a variety of different ways


Gameplay- Pros and cons of picking Thor, a general guide of how to play him, as well as some more in-depth tips and tricks on how to best use him.


Matchups- Thor's jungle matchups as well as some of the other gods to watch out for

Extra Content- Potential in other roles as well as a future update log

The most important part of any god is obviously their abilities. Thor brings a good mix of CC and damage with his, allowing you to play a supportive jungler style role while also dealing out a lot of damage. In this section, I'll highlight what each of his abilities do and how to best use them, as well as discuss his leveling order.

Mjolnir's Attunement- Your main escape ability, but it can also double as your main damage ability if you so choose. There's a lot to talk about with this ability, as it's probably your most important one (haha, get it?).

So, importantly, you need to know how to use it. Since hitting the same target twice with it (once on the way to them and once on the way back) does massive damage, it's kinda important to be able to do so. There's 2 ways to do so: you can either do it off of your own set up, most commonly the ult or the wall, or try to just hit them with your god given skill. If you opt for the safer method of using it off the wall, the simple combo is stunning them with the wall, then throwing the hammer to double tap them. However, a more advanced combo is to throw your hammer, and wall afterwards so they are still hit with the double tap, but are stunned for slightly longer. This is better if you are really skilled at it because it better confirms the double tap if they have beads or CCR.

Next, you'll need to be using this as an escape quite often. Refiring the ability allows you to teleport to it, so you're going to want to save it for a pinch. This ability can go through walls, so make sure you take full advantage of this when trying to run away. How do you use it for both damage and an escape you ask? That's where the skill comes in- since the same ability has 2 VERY separate uses, it takes a lot of experience to know what to do in situations. For example, if you use your 2-1 combo for poke, you risk getting jumped on by the enemy team because your escape is down. This is also why it's very important to have good defensive relics (AND NEVER GO BLINK). Mostly in fights, you want to want to be using it as an escape. There's not a lot of reasons to use this ability to engage, although it can be used to try to snipe low HP targets or chase better. Just be careful using this for damage, because as I said, if you use it poorly, you have no escape.

Tectonic Rift- Your main CC ability. This allows you to self peel, set up your hammer, wall people off, or set up your team from a distance. That last part is pretty critical. Being able to use this ability from long range allows you to set up your mage much better than many gods, because the enemy never knows when you'll use it. You aren't telegraphing the ability by being close to them, like using Tsukuyomi's Kusarigama. You can stun them from behind walls, across the lane, etc. It also allows you to easily kill someone from full hp with your ultimate because of the long cc chain it provides. In addition, it functions as a physical wall, so you can use it to prevent people from escaping by not just stunning them, but physically impeding them from going down a certain path.

I highly recommend you get used to using this ability in a variety of scenarios. The most obvious way to use this is simply to stun someone so you can get that clean double tap with your 1, but it can also be used to secure an ultimate from your mage if you have good communication. Importantly, you need to be able to use it at close range in a fight in case someone like Nemesis or Bakasura blinks on you to try to kill you; stunning them off of you gives you time to breathe, ult, or use your 1 to escape. You can even wall off certain dashes if you're in a good position. Geb Roll Out, Sun Wukong 72 Transformations, even Janus Portal can all be shut down with a well placed wall.

Berserker Barrage- Your main clear ability and your main damage ability late game (and early game depending how you level. We'll get to that later). A key point to this ability are the knock-up immunity. It's really important to get used to using this ability to immune some key knock-ups that are easily telegraphed. For example, you see a Hercules kinda dancing around you, trying to hit you with his Earthbreaker and drag you into his team. You can savvily use your 3 to immune this if you're having trouble spacing yourself from him, or your hammer is down. However, the main use of this ability is simply its damage; it's the best ability to use off your ult because if you hit more than one person, you can damage them both instead of just one of them. I recommend doing an ult+3 combo late game instead of the full combo, which I'll get to later. Really though, there's not much to say about this ability. Use it when the enemy is close and you want to do damage. Make sure you auto right after the animation ends for extra damage!

Anvil of Dawn- The main selling point on Thor. Semi global rotations, large AOE stun, and good damage give this ability many applications in teamfights, ganking, or even just escaping. It's most basic use is for ganking. You can ult duo from around gold fury pit, solo from fire giant, or mid from red buff or mid harpies, allowing you to gank without showing your face first. This is important because if they don't know you're coming, they can't be as well prepared. Be able to surprise someone and them not immediately use their beads or CC immune ult is pretty important. The other use in fights is during teamfights. Being able to bypass the enemy frontline and make a beeline straight into the enemy backline is very impactful, especially as an assassin. If you hit a carry with no relics, you can easily one shot them, allowing for you to turn the fight from a 5v5 into a 5v4 really quickly, swaying the fight heavily into your favor. All of this from the comfort of your own back harpies, or from mid lane after clearing that extra wave. Late game, you can even split push a phoenix and ult into a different phoenix when someone comes to stop your split push. Finally, you can use your ult if a bunch of people jump on you. This is important because it gets you a long distance in a short time, meaning it's difficult to chase you, especially in conjuncture with your hammer. You're also CC immune during the windup, allowing you to safely get this off, though you still take damage, so it might not ALWAYS work.

Quick note on his passive. I'm choosing not to talk about this because it's VERY passive. You don't do anything to make it happen, it just kinda happens. It is very powerful though.

So, how do you level his abilities? There's 2 different orders, which are mostly interchangeable based on playstyle. The one highlighted above is to max the 3 first, which allows you to farm better because it does more damage to camps. Maxing the 1 first instead allows for better early game fighting because it's better long range poke. There's advantages to both, but it comes down to if you want to be a bit more passive and play entirely around your ult (max the 3) or play very aggressively and look for fights often (max the 1). Something to note is that if you choose to max the 1, it becomes your main clear ability, though the 3 is still ok to do so. This means you can't really use your 1 as mobility while farming, to get to camps or to escape a gank. Just a note. Level the ult after you max your main damage abilities, the 1 and 3, for the decreased cooldown, and lastly the wall.

As for your main combo, it's pretty simple to explain and not that hard to pull off once you learn it, but takes a little bit of practice to perform initially. The full combo off your ult is 4-1-auto-2-auto-3. This is basically a guaranteed kill if they didn't pre-Aegis or use beads. However, this does leave you with no abilities up, so make sure you know they don't have beads or they're alone, because you might just die otherwise. Other than those 2 scenarios, I mostly recommend to just hit your ult then use your 3, then use your 1 to escape or chase if they low/alone. This also works better if you hit multiple enemies.

Update in Progress!

Now that we've covered what his abilities do and how to use them, let's look at what items are necessary to get the most out of them. First, let's re-iterate some basics that we went over that will impact our build.


1). Thor needs to be able to survive burst because he has a channeled ability and his ultimate is best used when he hits multiple people, but also puts him in the middle of everyone.

2). Late game, he has 2 CC abilities and his escape is tied to a high damage ability, meaning you want a lot of cooldown reduction to spam abilities.

3). Junglers currently need an amount of percent pen (minimum 20%) to hack through the extra protections mages and hunters are receiving from Sentinel's Embrace/ Gauntlet of Thebes/ Sovereignty.

Knowing all of this, I present you with a pretty standard build for Thor, along with a couple variations that might be important (these can be found at the top of the guide). We'll start at the beginning.

So, currently the most effective starter for junglers is Eye Of The Jungle, namely because many of the other starters don't have good upgrades (please refer to the future update section for more on this). Protector Of The Jungle is a very strong upgrade for Thor, specifically because he wants everything about it: fighting in the jungle is his forte, he always could use more power, and he loves extra prots. So I recommend mostly going Eye Of The Jungle, as it's a good all arounder. However, there is an argument to be made for Maniken's Scepter upgrade into Hidden Blade, more on this later.

Starting off, I recommend going your starter of choice, Mace, and as many pots as your starter allows (4 with Eye, 2 with Maniken's). For relics, I almost always go Beads and Aegis, as the other options are lackluster. Blink doesn't function particularly well on Thor; there are uses that are fun to experiment with, but it's most inferior to the extra line of safety the defensive relics provide.

For your first item, I highly recommend Jotunn's Wrath. Previously, this was not the case as you always wanted Bumba's Hammer, but now you lack cooldown and rushing 20% cdr is fantastic for your early ults. Next, another damage item. There's a ton of options here. The most basic is The Crusher- flat pen is a jungler's best friend, and the other stats aren't bad. Brawler's Beatstick can always be subbed in if you need anti-heal. If you want early defense and pen, I actually like Berserker's Shield quite a bit right now, as it gives you great auto trade potential and has good stats. Finally, Arondight or Transcendence to give you more CDR are always fine, just expensive (Transcendence is particularly slow to buy and stack, so only go this with a lead or if you're positive you won't be outpressured in the jungle).

Your third item is your first defense item. I ALWAYS recommend going Void Shield, and I'm not joking when I say always. The absolute one time I don't recommend this is if they have a magical jungler like a He Bo or an Ao Kuang. Void Shield is incredible, it gives you amazing stats and the much needed percent pen I mentioned at the beginning. Following this up is another percent pen item, typically Heartseeker or Titan's Bane, as they provide good power along with the percent pen you need. I mostly recommend Heartseeker as it's simply more power.

Finally, your last item is usually defense. I typically just go Mantle of Discord, as it's generically good, but there's a lot of options here. Bulwark of Hope is a great magical defense option, especially with the buff upcoming in 8.8. Spirit Robe is fine as a cheaper option that gives CCR, if that's a stat you require vs a CC heavy team. Magi's Cloak is always a classic, hard to go wrong with the passive.

There's also an argument currently that Thor should be played full damage. It's hard to tell- on one hand, you have a great immediate impact, quickly killing your target. but it's certainly higher risk. Hidden Dagger is the main reason this build is good- it helps with killing targets much faster than normal thanks to it's high damage proc. Follow this up with the Jotunns, Trans, Void Shield, Heartseeker, Crusher from before and you have a nasty recipe for deleting a backline character's HP with just a single use of your 1+2. If you want more damage but don't want to stack Trans, Hydra's Lament is slowly making a return due to the recent nerf to Magic Shell. This helps adds quick burst with your auto cancels, but can get you in trouble late game, as auto cancelling on Thor late game isn't as consistent. Overall, this build is very fun, but not always the best late game. Be careful!

There's a lot more to talk about, but some of it won't be coming around for another month, so head over to Extra Content for some more info on 8.8 build options.

Thor is a team oriented god, as I stated before. He's really good at setting up your mage, diving during teamfights, and surprisingly, peeling. So how, in general, do you accomplish all these goals? Let's take a dive into how to actually PLAY Thor.

Pros and Cons- First off, why are you picking the God of Thunder? Well, his biggest selling point, as I've mentioned a few times, is his global presence. He can be anywhere in the team fight, and also rotate much quicker than most junglers, allowing you to have access to more farm and still gank or counter-gank in time. Also, this means you can dive freely lategame, without worrying how to sneak around into the back or buy blink. He also offers a good matchup into many auto attack junglers, so you're able to pick a counter matchup whenever you need. However, Thor does have a few flaws. Currently, he doesn't do a lot of damage, especially late. He has trouble killing tanks as well, which isn't always an issue as a jungler, but is a downside. His only CC immunity is long and channeled, so using it as an escape can get you killed. Finally, and mostly impactfully in my opinion, since he is a set-up teamfight god, it's very hard to solo carry a ranked game. He definitely requires a team to effective, unless you are VERY good at him (which might be a downside in it's own right; he requires a lot of skill). Overall, I would say Thor is a middle of the road god, but his potential is definitely increased based on your skill.

Early Game- Thor has 2 main functions: ganking with his ultimate, and poking with his 1+2 combo. How you level determines your exact playstyle, as we discussed previously, but in general, Thor is best used to just constantly gank a lane with his ult, as it forces beads every time you hit, or kills them if they don't have beads (since you'll have boots by time you're level 5, you're basically guaranteed to kill any squishy). My favorite tactic is ulting duo right at level 5, or mid, then doing it again as soon as my ult comes off cooldown. Since your ult has a 1 minute shorter cooldown than beads, you'll know almost exactly how much time you have to gank, and assuming you hit, get a free kill. In between ganking, you want to focus on farming, like every other jungler, but also using your 1+2 combo to poke the enemy mid or jungle whenever you have a safe chance. Emphasis on safe, because you are using your escape as a poke tool. As another note, I tend to try to farm until I get ult, as Thor is fairly weak pre-level 5.

Mid Game- About level 9 or so (when you have an ability maxed), you'll be hitting quite hard. Make sure you're constantly grouped with someone who can take advantage of your ultimate, as it's critical you have followup or just someone to peel you out. Really, your role doesn't change much here. You're an early to mid game character, so just assume you have the same role, it's just a bit more dangerous.

Late Game- About when you have 4+ items (and your starter), or when people are consistently grouped for teamfights, your role actually does shift. It becomes a bit less "kill one person on your own" and more "set up your team to do damage." This comes in a couple different ways, and is personally the time I find Thor the most interesting to play. Your goal is to hit as many squishies with your ult as you can, but you want to do it early. Burn beads with you ult, or try to hit someone you know doesn't have beads. Your most important priorities are the mid and adc, although hitting both tanks or the jungler can be valuable at times too. I would try for this order: mid, adc, jungler, solo, support, and would try to hit a squishy + a tank over any individual squishy. Of course, this is just with your ult (which, by the way, I would suggest just using your ult + 3 in most cases, as we discussed before). There are other nuances you want to be looking for as well.

Thor also has very strong peel for his team, as he doesn't need his wall for anything but CC. Using it to peel for a carry, who is much more valuable in the fight than you are in almost every case (assuming equal skill level, it's hard to interpret every individual case, so use your best judgement). Try to peel your ADC primarily, as they are probably the main damage dealer, and late game will kill the quickest if a tanky diver is stunned in front of them. Be vigilant; this is what you want to be doing in the 2nd part of your personal teamfight. First you dive with ult, try to get off a lot of damage with your 3, then hammer back to your team and peel someone off your backline with your 2. In the very late game, when you have your Bumba's Hammer, you'll be able to use your 1+3 pretty soon after that as well, allowing you to potentially get even more damage off. Of course, you don't have to follow this script always; sometimes the enemy team won't be diving, and you can help CC their backline for your carries. Thor's fight is very flexible after he uses his ult, so pay attention to all the opportunities that present themselves.

Some very important things for late though; don't hammer into big groups to try to 3 someone. Don't use your 1 to pick off that 1 hp target unless you are 100% that you will kill them. Don't try to full combo someone off your ult unless they've used beads IN THAT FIGHT. Basically, don't waste your hammer. It's too important late game. Also, if you get shell for a relic, don't be afraid to use it both selfishly to save you in a 1v1 or use it to save your fellow backline. If your backline is safe, don't be afraid to get in there and get your hands dirty. Also, use your autos. A lot. They do a lot of damage, and free damage in a fight is never a bad thing.

Phoenix Sieges- Our main function is creating space. So, split push mid while your team is at a different phoenix so you can ult in after they send someone over to stop you. It's a dirty split push tactic where you don't actually split push, you use your range advantage to get a slight lead on whoever is stopping you. And if you dive the enemy backline during this fight, you can create the necessary room needed for your carries to hit the phoenix (and you. Remember, your autos hurt). Of course, you don't HAVE to split push. You can use your 2+1 to try poking someone to half hp before you engage, forcing them to back off and creating space for your team that way. This works best against unaware carries that push up, or if your team is just jamming a phoenix and you don't have time to wait for waves to push up in multiple lanes.

Phoenix Defenses- It's important to be patient. Don't ult right away, because then they'll just back off and you'll either die ulting it, or simply waste your ult by landing down safely. Be patient, and try to hit both carries, because they'll very likely be grouped trying to hit the phoenix. Use your wall to block autos from the ADC, as this can buy valuable time for your team's cooldowns to come up. You can also use it to poke from behind the safety of the phoenix wall, but only do this if you have your ult up, otherwise you might get caught in a bad spot. Try to avoid ulting too deep into the enemy team, as your team might not be able to follow up properly or peel you out, leaving you stranded and probably dead.

Lastly, mostly as a quick note, don't be afraid to use your ult to scout while your team takes fire giant or gold fury. This allows you to peel off anyone potentially looking to steal, or simply scare them away. You can always just land back down for damage if you aren't forced to hit an enemy, so think of it as secure. Although, if your team needs to tank or DPS, this is a different story; you can still ult, just make sure it's appropriately timed so your team can still do the objective without you!

Now, why don't you need blink? This is mainly because you're almost always initiating with ult, and you really need your defense relics to survive afterwards. Also, what do you even do with blink? Your wall is long range, your hammer is ranged, and your ult is ranged; your only non-ranged ability is your 3, and you really don't want to blink in so you can use your 3.

Now that we know how to play the god, let's look at what you might be playing into. For sake of length, I'll keep this only jungle matchups, with a couple of notes on other gods as well.

Vs Auto Attackers(Nemesis, Bakasura, Kali, Set, Mercury, Arachne): Thor is pretty good into these gods. He can create a lot of space for himself with his wall plus hammer, and his ability to buy Upgraded Shell is very strong for himself and his team. Particularly against Nemesis and Arachne, Thor really excels. Nem shield is very powerful, but Thor is well suited to deal with it with his 2. Arachne just struggles to close gaps, and Thor can poke her from a distance or peel her off of teammates (remember, Thor is a teamfighter, not a 1v1 god). Against Mercury, it's mostly even I would say; Mercury can kill you extremely fast in a 1v1, but you have a wall to block his ult if you're fast enough, as well as an interrupt for Merc's main CC, his 3. Bakasura is also mostly even. His ult is extremely potent but he usually doesn't kill you fast enough that you can't get your ult off. Be careful of him using his ult to cc immune your wall, however, or jumping it. The matchup does require a bit of timing and patience. Kali and Set are terrible matchups. Kali sticks to you, shreds through shell, and can use her ult to not get burst by your combo. Set is just broken currently. He builds defensively, like you do, but does way more damage, shreds through shell, and can largely ignore it thanks to his 1. He has good mobility to keep up with you through your 1, and can outtrade you through your abilities. Would recommend banning 10/10.

Good Matchups vs Ability Based Assassins- For short, Thor is good into most gods with a channeled ability as their main damage (gods like Loki, Tsukuyomi, Da Ji and Rat, although Rat is an exception. Against Loki, you can wall his 3, and you can also utilize crusher to find out where he is by tracking the damage numbers. Against Tsukuyomi, you can similarly cancel his 2. Which your extra tankiness, you shouldn't get 1 shot by his ult, and you can play at range similarly to how he can. Just beware of diving him too hard, he can turn it on your very well. Vs Da Ji, you have a great matchup. You can cancel her 2 with your 2, you can buy shell to block her Hydra's Lament auto cancels, and you use beads/your ult to immune her ult. You also just outtrade normally with your 3.

Bad Matchups vs Ability Based Assassins- Something really important to Thor is his global presence. Also, as we talked about earlier, a lot of his damage comes from his 3. Ratatoskr and Thanatos are 2 gods that negate his biggest advantage AND can cancel out his 3, making his impact far worsened. That being said, I don't think that this means that you can't pick Thor into these matchups, just that he will have less impact and can't really win 1v1's against them.

Even Matchups vs Ability Based Assassins- Every other assassin not listed previously is someone I would consider an even matchup. Now, that doesn't mean you can solo them 1v1, but often your impact is even to theirs, so I would consider it even. However, this does change with each individual god's place in the meta. For example, while I would consider Fenrir an even matchup, Fenrir is currently at the top of the meta, whereas Thor typically floats between mid tier and bottom tier. Thor is an extremely skill based god, which is what allows you make a lot of these matchups even, but if you're not comfortable with him, you'll often lose.

Thor has some utility outside jungle, but it's very small in my opinion. He can be played in solo because he has good base damage, high cc, good rotations to mid fights, and reasonable long range clear with his hammer. For a build, I would recommend Warrior's Axe, Warrior Tabi, Breastplate of Valor, Shifter's Shield, Ancile, Dominance/ Brawler's Beat Stick/ Titan's Bane/ Heartseeker (whatever you feel is necessary in that slot), then upgrade your starter into Sundering Axe. You'll notice our build is quite similar, and that's because Thor kinda always wants the same thing, regardless of where he. Breastplate is a necessary evil early (you can switch it up and go Shifter's into Pridwen if you're ahead in lane by the way, that's also a viable build) because you always need cdr and Breastplate offers you cdr and early prots vs your lane opponent.

Again, I don't really recommend you play him in solo, as there are better picks, but he's certainly viable if you don't know what to play or really need some backline dive for whatever reason.

Buffs/Nerfs
In 8.3, Thor will be receiving a buff to his scaling on his 3, Berserker Barrage. This changes nothing really about build or playstyle, but it is quite nice that he'll do more damage. (120% to 130% scaling total)

8.8 brings about a lot of item changes. As mentioned before, Bulwark of Hope is seeing a buff, but also Blackthorn Hammer and both Bumba's Dagger upgrades are receiving buffs. Bumba's Spear might be viable, as it gives you CDR and a TON of power, meaning you can forgo something like Transcendence for something like The Crusher, a lower power but higher utility item. Bumba's Hammer, the previous go to, is getting it's 20% CDR back, so it's possible that plus Jotunn's Wrath will be a good combo, allowing your last defense slot to be something like Bulwark of Hope or Magi's Cloak instead of Mantle of Discord. Blackthorn Hammer is a ton of HP, which synergizes well with a tankier build and Protector of the Jungler, so it's possible that going Blackthorn 3rd with Void Shield and Berserker's Shield will allow for a good amount of damage and tankiness, similar to old Thor builds.