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Naafiri vs Locke

Mid Lane Matchup

Naafiri vs Locke MID matchup tips: who wins, how to trade, wave control and common mistakes.

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Who Wins

Pre-6, you have a meaningful edge if you respect Locke's Q stacking game — your level 2 all-in with Q+E+W is strong, but Locke's W true damage punishes extended trades, so you need to commit fully or not at all rather than half-trading.
Post-6, your R gives you a reliable engage tool, but Locke's R can execute you if you enter a fight already damaged, so you must use your R to initiate before taking poke, not after.

Your best trading pattern is to wait for Locke to misuse Q (missing stacks or wasting them on minions), then hard engage with R+E+Q+W to burst before the W true damage bleeds you out — the goal is to kill Locke before the sustained trade punishes your squishiness.
Avoid short trades entirely; Locke's passive on-hit scales with your missing health, meaning the longer you linger at low HP, the more dangerous every auto becomes.

Push the wave aggressively with your pack to deny Locke the safe distance needed to stack Q on you — Locke wants to poke you down with Q before all-inning, so a fast-pushing wave forces them to farm under pressure or lose CS.
When the wave is frozen or slow-pushing toward you, respect the threat of Locke's E blink into W all-in and keep your HP high enough that the R execution threshold doesn't become relevant.

Do not let Locke stack Q on you for free while you CS — three stacks of Q means Locke's next E+auto sequence deals a massive burst of bonus magic damage that can delete you before you can respond.
Avoid fighting near Locke's R totem at any point; the 99% slow combined with the execution mark is a near-guaranteed death for you if you're below the threshold, and your W does not give you enough mobility to escape it.

Created on 09/08/2026

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