Boards›Gameplay

@Meddler Any Kennen nerfs on the horizon?

Toastersaot··14 votes·4,607 views
Champion.gg - Kennen Top Stats, Builds, Runes, Masteries and Counters

Statistically speaking, Kennen is probably the strongest Top Laner at the moment.

He retains a 51.39% winrate, while having a 10.87% Playrate, which is only reduced because of his 25.84% ban rate.

Currently, the highest playrate champion Top Lane is Riven , but her player bases' average games on Riven is 142.31, compared to only 27.63 for Kennen.

Riven still only has a Winrate of 50.8%, while having much of her player base in dedicated mains.

Kennen, on the other hand, is beating her even when his player base only has 1/7 the games on him.

You also have to remember that before the popularity spike that was caused by Worlds, Kennen had a 53.3% winrate, although a much lower play rate.

Can you notify us if there are any nerfs coming for him soon?

Edit: I know someone is saying "Going off just Winrates is BS." But please remember that I am also using looking at how many games people have played on the champion, and it turns out people are just abusing Kennen for FreElo.

24 Comments

RiotMeddler10 votes

Nothing currently planned. We're working on the pre-season patch right now, which has enough changes to the game in it that it'll disrupt balance across the board for a patch or two. We tend not to do individual champion balance adjustments in the pre-season patch or just before it unless they're really out of line as a result, given they'll shortly get shaken up a bit by the new environment. Kennen's getting some attention at present, I'd assume based off his World's play, he certainly doesn't seem like an urgent problem though, especially given that we've got Protobelt nerfs coming that we'd expect to noticeably impact him as one of its core users. We'll give him another look post pre-season see where he's ended up.

Sun Wu Ryuumoku1 votes

Any nerf planned for Jayce presaison ? he's clearly overhelming toplane (same at world's ). I saw on pbe a futur skin release for Jayce, will u wait after the release for the nerf ?

RiotMeddler3 votes

Same thinking on Jayce, we'll assess him post Pre-Season, especially given a number of items he uses will probably be less appealing to him after the patch (Ghostblade especially is going to be less appealing to ADCs/ADC ish champs).

In terms of skins we don't account for upcoming or recently released skins in the balance process.

TheHurricaneGamr1 votes

I remember Jayce being very underpowered in the last preseason. And look at him now....

Sun Wu Ryuumoku2 votes

thanks for the reply... so he will stay my perma ban^^ Hope Youmuu change will not hit hard my Wukong...

Rivuo1 votes

{quoted}

Same thinking on Jayce, we'll assess him post Pre-Season, especially given a number of items he uses will probably be less appealing to him after the patch (Ghostblade especially is going to be less appealing to ADCs/ADC ish champs).

In terms of skins we don't account for upcoming or recently released skins in the balance process.

I think they're fine but just need their itemization nerfed

Shadow Hazard3 votes

Are you not considering the fact that he was directly buffed right before worlds. I think that is the specific reason behind the issue that he is causing game health and balance wise atm.

Abyssphere1 votes

It doesn't matter why he's good right now, core items of his being nerfed will still make him weaker. Nerfing him individually at the same time as nerfing his core items would likely be huge overkill.

Saixos1 votes

Over at r/Quinnmains we tend to do a lot of mathematics behind different builds and theorycraft a lot. When pre-season hits, we plan to mathematically compare her damage and other stats/stuff from before pre-season with all the possibilities after preseason. If the end result turns out to be weaker, would that be enough for you guys to give her some form of buff without needing to see her performance stats? (Cos playrate pretty much always stays roughly the same and winrate shouldn't fluctuate by too much since we mostly all know what we're doing with her ingame)

Yuri By Mail1 votes

Are Assassin-y ADCs like Twitch and Draven going to still enjoy Ghostblade?

I can't imagine Twitch being well-off without that active.

Wind Whistler1 votes

Hey, thanks for making AP Kog'Maw not a messy pile of shit anymore.

Reapstarr8 votes

So you want to see him below 50% win rate? Seems to me he's in a pretty good spot at 51%. Also, he just had nerfs a little while back.

Sure he is seeing a lot of play in worlds right now, but he's not always doing that well in those games.

You might as well be calling for rumble nerfs while you're at it.

Toastersaot4 votes

{quoted}

So you want to see him below 50% win rate? Seems to me he's in a pretty good spot at 51%. Also, he just had nerfs a little while back.

Sure he is seeing a lot of play in worlds right now, but he's not always doing that well in those games.

You might as well be calling for rumble nerfs while you're at it.

Huh. That's funny? Your OP.GG shows me that you're a KENNEN MAIN! WOW! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

Here's the link to it: http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=Reapstarr

Reapstarr5 votes

The point still stands. He's at 51% win rate. You seem to want him nerfed only because he's being played more. He's only being played more because he's being seen in worlds. It's not that he's been over buffed.

I won't deny that he has high damage output, but he is easy to counter and will explode if caught out. He is a glass cannon.

I've played kennen for years and won't stop playing him no matter what riot does.

Isn't it okay to see a new champ being played and doing kind of alright for himself? Give the poor guy some time in the sun.

Apocalypsic1 votes

{quoted}

The point still stands. He's at 51% win rate. You seem to want him nerfed only because he's being played more. He's only being played more because he's being seen in worlds. It's not that he's been over buffed.

I won't deny that he has high damage output, but he is easy to counter and will explode if caught out. He is a glass cannon.

I've played kennen for years and won't stop playing him no matter what riot does.

Isn't it okay to see a new champ being played and doing kind of alright for himself? Give the poor guy some time in the sun.

Kennen would be glass cannon if a large portion of his build didn't provide HP, Armor, and Magic Resist.

Protobelt, Zhonyas hour Glass, Abyssal. All of which give him CDR.

Kennen's power is a direct result of the Mid Year Mage update, people are just now catching on because of worlds. He does need toning down, but so does portobelt and rylais. It's a multiple tiered problem.

MunchCrunchLunch1 votes

thats what happens on this forums lol. you get the mains of the champ yo complain about to defend it. no bias at all.

Anags2 votes

Basically, like they said once portobelt is nerfed he won't need it.

That item is really strong and it's very good on Kennen. His winate jumped as soon as people started using it.

Otherwise, he is and has been fine.

Swiftstrike41 votes

I think his some of his damage needs to be toned back. I am starting to see Kennen at support mid and top a lot more. Many of them don't do that well and are playing them just because the pros played them. The thing I am noticing though is that even though they may fall behind or die a few times early, their damage output remains extremely high by the end of the game.

It may be the itemization route and item 3152 may be need to be toned down? I am not sure.

It just seems like he is a champion with few draw backs for play. He is a lane bully, has great damage scaling, is good at team fighting, and has a pretty good escape.

I will say with all the Jayce and Kennen top picks it is getting difficult to play melee carries in that lane. Now we know Jayce will be indirectly nerfed because the armor pen builds will be changning, but nothing has really been discussed regarding Kennen.

Squidward Dab1 votes

The only drawback I can think of is that he has to waste a lot of energy for his lightning rush but other than that he really isn't that hard

SlyTactician 2 votes

Protobelt is getting nerfed quite a bit as confirmed by Meddler, so I'm certain that Kennen and Rumble will both be impacted by it.

Kennen has always been a flex pick whether it be from top/mid to even adc or supp. It's just his recent popularity from worlds that has really caused him to gain notice. He's a teamfight monster; however, protobelt only enhanced that a tad too much.

Loboros1 votes

I saw a lot of kennen mids when I was going into silver. Same with jayce, they are very annoying to deal with. Range and a ton of damage. They can splitpush, poke, and win teamfights.

FreshAsFebreze1 votes

Is kennen really broken? Or did the protobelt system just give him a boost?

SlyTactician 2 votes

Protobelt is definitely the problem as it deals too much damage on its own. Combine that with Kennen or even Annie or Rumble ults and you get squishies blown right off the map more easily than usual.

It's only now that the pros have shown the power of the combo of Kennen with protobelt that people have realized that he is indeed stronger than intended. Though consider the fact that most of his counters have also been nerfed as well prior to this. As a player with 250 k points on Kennen, his rise to popularity really showed up from the mage update ever since the overpowered status of the protobelt item. Nerf it and Kennen will be balanced.

SlyTactician 1 votes

Kennen's main strengths came from the over powered protobelt if anything as it allowed him to dish out additional damage that was far too strong combined with his ult.

Other than that, Kennen had his W range reduced a couple months ago and has barely changed at all aside from some ult cleanup numbers from the mage update. Most of his competitiors were nerfed and along with the boost of protobelt's damage, it's no wonder he's so popular at Worlds. I really think nerfing protobelt will solve the issue - look at Rumble as well who also abuses the item.

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by Toastersaot

Make Yasuo's Ult Armor Pen apply only to critical strikes
Gameplay167 comments
234
votes
Yasuo mains hate him. Find out how he beat Yasuo in one SIMPLE trick.
Gameplay167 comments
147
votes
I had a terrifying vision of Preseason 7
Gameplay109 comments
126
votes
Why are autofill supports good at Jax?
Memes & Games16 comments
120
votes
I don't see Tanksuo Nerfs in the Patch Notes
Gameplay120 comments
112
votes
Rift Herald isn't worth my Junglers time compared to four man diving bot with the Mid laner.
Gameplay89 comments
91
votes