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Kennen Should be Melee

Jurojin Wuji·10/26/2014, 1:54:45 AM·2 votes·827 views

I know this sounds absurd. but it would generally fit his kit waaaayyyy better if he was melee.

Reasons why?

for champs that are meant to all-in, it isnt beneficial to have moderately high cooldowns, no real gap closers, and then apc low base attack dmg for aa's. his kit seems cool but isnt viable because it is heavily item dependant, and WHEN itemizing, his kit suggests go tank so as to not eat a bunch of dmg for free when kited.

BUT, if you do that when ever you land a solid combo, you generally will not have enough dmg to execute your opponent.

vice versa, you get easily blown up for trying to get a combo off.

This said, the obvious choices to fix it are flat out buffs to damage and cooldowns. Riot doesnt want to do this for whatever reason. cool.

Hence why I propose make our ninja yordle melee. With this, Kennen:

Can gain mr per level (higher base stats in general). His Q can do slightly more damage, a lower cooldown, AND/OR gain slight cc (which is not so bad on a skillshot minions can eat). He can gain an increase on attack damage per lvl AND/OR lower the passive W proc to 4,3,2 aa's (depending on what feels balanced or make it lower with more points in W). His E can allow AA's, gain more movespeed, AND/OR have a generally lower cooldown as well. R can stay the same.

Like this, his flaw of losing to mobility/range stays relevant (if not more), but he becomes an all round better all in AP champion. Granted Kennen ADC would become a memory.

I'm not being random with this; this comes from lots of meh Kennen experiences, and I honestly feel it would make his kit more cohesive overall.

Thoughts?

EDIT:

Thematically, I realize Ninja Rat attacking with his regular AA as melee is laughable. It would be awesome to give him an electrically charged katana (and a later Sasuke skin), but Yasuo is essentially that.

I propose letting Kennen keep the shuriken, but make it one of those large Shuriken (Fuma Shuriken/Demon Shuriken?) or even a Ring Blade.

Now, More thoughts?

5 Comments

kitcat30010/26/2014, 1:59:03 AM1 votes

I wonder how making him melee would look, just shanking with his kuni?

Alos, he might need a new passive on his "w" since tagging enemies with the empowered auto would be much harder, let alone building up stacks to use it.

Jurojin Wuji10/26/2014, 2:10:16 AM1 votes

Good point, i added an edit to the OP.

Asdeft10/26/2014, 4:17:17 AM1 votes

Kennen is fine the way he is, he just needs a new ult that synergies better. He is too squishy for the nature of his ult, and it becomes kinda useless late.

NoMonku10/26/2014, 7:13:09 AM1 votes

I'm fine with him losing his range and becoming melee, but that's a different thing. Kennen was very toxic in that he had no real counterplay before, especially when melee tops were the thing back in s2 or s3. He got nerfed repeatedly until it wasn't as oppressive anymore, basically only allowing people who had the highest level of skill to pull it off and ONLY if they made no mistakes. As there are other champions who can do what he did but better now, he kind of got relegated to nothing. I personally feel he needs a rework maybe as his kit just doesn't really synergize well I feel, at least with how the game is played now. His skills are pretty oppressive 1v1, but come teamfights people can easily disengage from him as he will have to basically use flash to get in and they can just use it to get away. He takes way too long to do damage despite the fact that his kit seems more geared towards engaging and starting a fight. This just might be misunderstanding him as a champion, but this is how I think about him.

Jurojin Wuji10/28/2014, 1:06:33 PM1 votes

I actually think his ult is good and unique enough to stay; the problem is that it isnt attached to a kit that allows you get it off properly. Maybe if lightning rush granted immunity to cc? I feel his kit is half done in many areas, but this is a result of nerfs on nerfs.

I agree, Kennen is obsolete at the moment, and disengage is far too easy. Hence why i proposed giving him a stronger or more reliable kit WHEN he does engage, at least he will have more upfront damage or some kind of sticking power.

Melee he can all in better with generally improved stats and skills for the essential elimination of that unhealthy lane harass.