Kennen is a
small but powerful ninja, he is a strong AP carry with great team
utility. He is capable of stunning his enemies and has a large area of
effect ultimate as well as strong escape and initiating through use of
Lightning Rush. If you enjoy playing fast and agile champions then
Kennen is for you.
This Kennen guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Kennen, it is recommended for people just starting to use Kennen.
This Kennen guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Kennen, it is recommended for people just starting to use Kennen.
Abilities
For ability information see the Kennen Champion Page on the League of Legends site.
-
Mark of the Storm (Passive)
This passive is pretty clear cut, it allows Kennen to stun his enemies
and also gives him a small energy return upon stunning them. -
Thundering Shuriken
Kennen's Q ability is a strong, fast moving single target skill shot on
reasonably low cooldown. Its great early game for last hitting and
harassing the enemy champions. It is very important to get good at
landing this skill as it is a must addition to Kennen's combo. -
Electrical Surge
This ability gives Kennen a free Mark of the Storm every few attacks
and is a great extra damage boost throughout the game thanks to its
decent range. This skill also turns Kennen into a farming machine
mid-late game. -
Lightning Rush
This skill is simply amazing both offensively and defensively, it
allows Kennen to initiate on a champion or escape potential ganks.
Combined with Electrical Surge this skill allows Kennen to easily farm
mid-late game as mentioned previously. -
Slicing Maelstrom (Ultimate)
Kennen's ultimate has amazing area of effect damage and the potential
to stun multiple enemies. Timing is of great importance when activating
this skill, as with careful timing it can disable numerous enemies.
Ability Order
Ult > Thundering Shuriken > Electrical Surge > Lightning Rush
Maxing Thundering Shuriken gives you great source of damage early game, while also reducing the energy cost. Electrical Surge is maxed second to boost Kennen's damage further (land Shuriken and activate Surge), this gives him massive harass and poking abilities while also helping him farm like crazy. Lightning Rush is maxed last as its best used as a utility skill for escape and initiate, it does need need any more points beyond level 1 till late game. Of course you want to grab your ultimate whenever available.
Runes
Yellow (Seals) - Dodge // Armor // Energy Regeneration
Blue (Glyphs) - Cooldown Reduction // Ability Power
Purple (Quintessences) - Health // Ability Power
The rune setup for Kennen is very similar to that of a caster. However, Seals are not mana regeneration as Kennen uses the energy system, instead Dodge (or armor) is used to give Kennen an edge against physical DPS style characters. Magic Penetration on Marks and gives Kennen some penetration, while cooldown on Glyphs help him to use his skills more often. Quintessences should be Health to boost your early game survivability and allow for flexible starting items, but you can also run Ability Power.
Summoner Spells
Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Ignite
Flash and Ignite are two very powerful summoner spells on Kennen. Flash is nice to help you initiate (preferably after the tanks) with your ultimate while saving you energy from having to use Lighting Rush to do so. It also allows you to get out quickly if things turn sour. Ignite adds to Kennen's strong burst damage and will ensure you don't miss any close kills early game, helping you snowball with Mejai's if you wish.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Exhaust
Your other option for summoner spells is Exhaust and is a good option if the enemy is physical heavy and nobody on your team has it.
-Flash
-Ignite
Flash and Ignite are two very powerful summoner spells on Kennen. Flash is nice to help you initiate (preferably after the tanks) with your ultimate while saving you energy from having to use Lighting Rush to do so. It also allows you to get out quickly if things turn sour. Ignite adds to Kennen's strong burst damage and will ensure you don't miss any close kills early game, helping you snowball with Mejai's if you wish.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Exhaust
Your other option for summoner spells is Exhaust and is a good option if the enemy is physical heavy and nobody on your team has it.
Masteries
The 9 points in the utility tree offer spell penetration, ability power, some cooldown reduction and improved exhaust (if you run exhaust).
As Kennen does not use mana the 21 points in utility will ignore all mana-related masteries. This leaves us with reduced death timers, increased experience, gold gain and neutral buff duration along with some solid cooldown reduction and movement speed.
Item Build
Final Item Build:
-Sorcerer Shoes
-Will of the Ancients
-Zhonya's Hourglass
-Rylai's Crystal Scepter
-Abyssal Scepter
-Rabadon's Deathcap
Steps/Reasoning:
-Start with a Doran's Shield, the regeneration and starting health should ensure you can stay in lane to harass and farm.
-First trip back you want to build your Sorcerer Shoes and grab a Hextech Revolver
-Now build towards your Rylai's Crystal Scepter, it provides a nice slow and a health boost.
-Depending on the game you will either want Rabadon's Deathcap or Zhonya's Hourglass next. You should aim to go Rabadon's and only go Zhonya's if your team is behind and you need the active to survive your ultimate.
-Finally grab an Abyssal Scepter for some magic resistance and upgrade into a Will of the Ancients for your team.
Alternatives:
-Mejai's Soultstealer (If you have a good early game).
-Void Staff (If the enemy team is stacking magic resistance).
-Moonflair Spellblade (If crowd control is causing problems).
General Kennen Tips
- As Kennen it is very important you time the use of your ultimate, just after the tank has initiated is your best bet.
- Make sure if you use Lightning Rush you hit something, it has a large energy cost and you need the refunded energy.
- Be careful when Lightning Rush is on cooldown as you do not have an escape ability (either after farming a minion wave or using it against a champion).
- Don't forget you can pop Zhonya's Hourglass during your ultimate if you don't think you will survive or you are sure the enemy will not move (activating it means you lose the ability to chase enemies with it).
- You can still be targeted, slowed and stunned while in Lightning Rush but it does give you a magic resistance and armor boost. This makes it a very powerful escape tool and a great initiator for a 1v1 fight.
Early Game (Level 1-6) Tips
- Use your Thundering Shuriken to harass your enemy and to help you last hit.
- Track the passive effect on Electrical Surge, you can use it and your Thundering Shuriken to land easy stuns (very deadly in a side 2v2 lane)
- If the enemy is being difficult to hit with Thundering Shuriken you can reposition yourself quickly with Lightning Rush to hit them.
- Start analysing the strength of your lane and whether or not Mejai's Soulstealer is a good idea.
Mid Game (Level 7-12) Tips
- Start ganking lanes, lead with Thundering Shuriken if the are in the open and follow that up with Lightning Rush (close the gap and give them another Mark) and then finish with your ultimate and Electrical Surge. If the enemy is blocked by minions, consider leading with Lightning Rush.
- Concentrate on building and maintaining your Mejai's stacks (if you built it), don't take any un-needed risks and be sure to be part of all team skirmishes for assist stacks.
- Red and Blue buff work quite nicely on Kennen through middle game if nobody else needs them (or you manage to still the enemies)
- You can start using Lightning Rush and Electrical Surge to farm up uncontested minion waves quickly.
Late Game (Level 13-18) Tips
- Focus on correctly timing your ultimate, a few seconds after the initiation by your tank. Lead with Lightning Rush tagging as many enemies as possible before using your ultimate, this will ensure they get stunned within it, disabling them for your team.
- If you went 21 points in the utility tree your summoner spells are on a very low cooldown, don't forget to use them correctly.
- You should be constantly poking the enemy with your Thundering Shuriken to weaken them before the team fight.
- Continue to farm up heavily (and push as required) with Lightning Rush and Electrical Surge, Kennen is capable of destroying entire minion waves instantly late game.
- If you are carrying the team, red and blue buff (more importantly blue) are great assets on Kennen, with the increased buff duration from utility you get great use out of it.
