Why go to such extremes with nerfing Tahm Kench support in patch 9.9 ?

Scelestusa··6 votes·3,629 views

Okay so we can all agree that Tahm Kench is a bit of a problem But why nerf him to such extremes ? The proposed changes for the W damage portion are alright you could raise the percent dmg a bit like start a 15% and go to 25% ( 10% to 20% would work too ) but the SLOW change to the W is just crazy eating an ally would result in a double kill for the enemy team every time 95 percent is way to high (what would happen if a Nasus withered you with an ally inside ? ). So may I propose that consuming an ally/enemy results in a 60% ( maybe 75% ) slow all together leaving a bit of wiggle room what do ya'll think about that ? To be honest i have always thought it was weird that with someone inside you that your movement speed would increase it just made no sense. Another idea to is when eating an ally you drop to Base move speed (Nullifying Boots) that would work just as well maybe you could take a hint from blits's w and decay the move speed making it a quick burst. As the changes stand though you are gutting him as a support which was his intended purpose and not many people are going to be happy about this harsh of a change. I could be wrong but who all would like to see them maybe implement these before going all out ?

14 Comments

ApexInTheCircle2 votes

Good lord he's already sitting at an abysmal 44% winrate. WTF do they want?

https://na.op.gg/champion/tahmkench/statistics/support

Big oof Riot, Big fucking oof

Kazekiba1 votes

Yeah I can't wait for him to get hotfix nerfs after this patch goes live. Holy shit he's going to shoot up to like 56%

boricCentaur12 votes

THERE NOT TRYING TO NERF HIM IT IS A CHANGE THE GOAL IS TO HELP HIM IN THE LONG RUN.

hrooza dota 2 votes

its a big toxic part of him, and the main reason he is in the gutter in solo Q , they are trying to kill that part and add more power to other parts overtime to make him viable in soloQ while not be 101% pick/ban in pro play.

Thingamajig1 votes

I think they should remove that ability from him As long as he can give a free flash to an ally he will always be picked by pro and complete doodoo in soloq

If they remove the ally devour they can actually make him a champion

Kazekiba1 votes

How do you guys just ... Ignore the massive buffs he's getting in return?

Offensive W casts are cheaper (by 10 mana) Thick Skin is now FREE and 10% more damage taken is converted into Grey health resulting in 100% at max rank, LITERALLY doubling his effective HP. And on top of that, 5% increase in how much grey health is healed back up, so if he has revitalize he restores a significantly larger chunk of recent damage, especially given the boost to grey health.

On top of that, his Q cooldown is lower at max rank, has more range, and has a stronger slow that lasts for 2 seconds rather than 1.5s

And his level 6 R is kinda lame, other than getting from Bot lane to Dragon pit, but if he reaches level 16 he can almost cross the entirety of Summoner's Rift, edge to edge.

How are you calling this a nerf? Sorry Riot's finally removing the 7000 HP shield he can give to his allies.

Kuponya3 votes

{quoted}

How do you guys just ... Ignore the massive buffs he's getting in return?

Offensive W casts are cheaper (by 10 mana) Thick Skin is now FREE and 10% more damage taken is converted into Grey health resulting in 100% at max rank, LITERALLY doubling his effective HP. And on top of that, 5% increase in how much grey health is healed back up, so if he has revitalize he restores a significantly larger chunk of recent damage, especially given the boost to grey health.

On top of that, his Q cooldown is lower at max rank, has more range, and has a stronger slow that lasts for 2 seconds rather than 1.5s

And his level 6 R is kinda lame, other than getting from Bot lane to Dragon pit, but if he reaches level 16 he can almost cross the entirety of Summoner's Rift, edge to edge.

How are you calling this a nerf? Sorry Riot's finally removing the 7000 HP shield he can give to his allies.

Maybe because to anyone who isn't an idiot, those are nerfs or neutral tradeoffs at best? Offensive W casts are not cheaper, they are more expensive by 40 mana. Yes he gets a mana refund, but that does not change the fact that you NEED 100 mana to cost it to begin with. Got 50 mana? Nope, no cast for you. For anyone that levels Q to max first, the damage changes are a nerf from the moment you level up W.

Q gets a barely noticeably range increase for a notable cooldown increase early on further hurting early game.

Thick Skin did get a notable buff but that hardly matters when they basically destroyed his early game, his main support skill, and his late game.

Kazekiba1 votes

Longer cooldown is absolutely justified given the huge buff to the slow - Longer duration AND stronger. Top Kench rushes Glacial Shroud anyway, and corrupting pot. Played properly, he shouldn't have significant issues casting W in any situations but he'll have more mana to cast Q as a followup than before.

He scales much harder, which is where tanks should be succeeding. If his early game is weaker, that just means he's a healthier overall champion. I guarantee he'll see a massive surge in winrate

Profirix1 votes

I can promise you his win rate will drop by at least 4% from its current position.

Kazekiba1 votes

Ah yes, making a champion tankier, do more damage and have a drastically more powerful slow tends to reduce winrates. Agreed. Kench being rendered a sitting duck with a full belly consist of the majority of the reason he's powerful in solo queue, for sure. He's totally not getting buffs that make him a stronger champion in exchange for cutting back on organized play's ability to abuse a mechanic.

That makes total sense, LS.

Profirix1 votes

The case has already been made in other posts on this thread for what I would tell you. So I will not waste time reiterating. Just wait for the patch and prepare for the surprised pikachu meme face.

Saezio1 votes

36% max hp on W now is like 15%+200? fk that how is that buffed?

Kazekiba1 votes

All you disgusting Kench top abusers. I'll remember to ban him every game I play until the next patch :) Don't forget your daily dodge!

ProdigyRiN1 votes

Last time I checked, wasn't Tahm Kench support one of the lowest winrates in support? And now they're nerfing the support ability and buffing all the others? Coming from a (previously)top lane Tahm Kench main, he was already VERY oppressive. I'm glad they did something with Kench, but were all these changes really necessary?

More from Gameplay

More by Scelestusa