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Can we talk Kennen

Darth Sucadic ·11/15/2019, 7:31:31 AM·4 votes·1,815 views

This champion feels extremely weak compared to any other champion that I play. Some issues he suffers from are.

  • high energy costs and low energy recovery
  • low base damage
  • limited mobility
  • limited range
  • long cooldowns
  • low defense and zero CC protection, despite having to run through the enemy to deal damage

It's quite difficult to farm with this champion. A common issue is that he usually maxes Q first which leaves his W and E weak. When he then tries to W-E combo a minion wave, the minions all survive with low health and then die to friendly minions or towers before he can auto-attack them for the gold. If he tries to Q each one he will miss most of them because of the low damage and long cooldown for the first few ranks.

I think he needs more base damage, mobility, and lower energy costs to be competitive. Either that or a complete redesign. There is something fundamentally weak about a squishy mage with zero CC protection having to run through enemies to hurt them.

23 Comments

The thigh guy11/15/2019, 7:57:09 AM2 votes

Incoming salty hashinshins to cry about how op he is.

Yenn11/15/2019, 9:01:25 AM2 votes

Yes, Kennen only functions by bullying melee and bad players because he's too weak to do much else, unless the game lasts to 30+ minutes without a clear winner (which never happens), because he isn't strong until 3 items. He should be the #1 team fighting champion in top lane, but his total damage dealt isn't even top 10.

His team fighting should ideally be buffed, preferably in the form of better engage/survivability. The amount of mobility and CC in the game makes it nearly impossible to get a good ult off without flash, because you'll just be disengaged or your target will mobility away immediately.

He has to rush defensive items in order to perform his role in a team fight, which means that he does no damage. If he foregoes defensive itemization, he gets 100 to 0'd the instant he gets in range to ult any high priority target. Even with an early Zhonya, he still often has to use it immediately and can't keep his target in his ult.

His kit didn't age well. Shen and Akali both received reworks for this reason, but Kennen hasn't gotten much to bring him up to par. His success in ranked is largely from AFK pushing top lane and hoping his team wins the game without him having to do anything.

Yenn11/15/2019, 9:52:25 AM2 votes

Side note, the stun mechanic's diminishing return is also very problematic, especially at higher elo.

Many champions will try to bait you into stunning them, so they can all in you while the stun is on DR. The end result is that once your opponent has their first item complete, you basically lose the ability to harass them. Even if you land something, you have to stop at 2 stacks, which also means that you don't get the energy refund and quickly become energy starved.

Irelia, for example, does this very well. If you stun her and her abilities are off cooldown, she'll just hard engage on you with her ult and you won't be able to get far enough away to stop her from jumping to you when your E wears off.

R0ses R Red11/15/2019, 7:44:14 AM1 votes

Kenen's mobility is hardly limited. It's literally what makes him so frustrating in comparison to other ranged champs. You will never catch a Kennen unless he lightening blitzes into you or your team. If anything, I'd increase the cooldown on his mobility. No one wants him to be a strong champion because he's aids.

Cind3rkick11/15/2019, 7:58:33 AM1 votes

Kennen needs less mobility but a larger teamfight impact without ult.

Either that or make him more prominent in lane.

Just nerf his W? Or E... whatever the ball of electroc is.

BrokenRayquaza11/15/2019, 12:48:43 PM1 votes

Bruh just lightning rush forward and lightning rush back.

But seriously tho kennen has been harassing top lane for how long now? Dosent need any buffs