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Does Tahm Kench deserve a buff?

NY64··4 votes·980 views

Although Tahm's buffs in 7.20 did help, it was not enough. His win rate is still too low and he is outclassed by nearly all supports and can barely do well in top lane, despite being made to be a top laner or a support. If I could classify Tahm, I would say he is a warden juggernaut. That is a title I don't think any other champion can have but he does not succeed in either of those roles. His peel from his W is very good since it easily saves an ally in trouble or is in CC. However there are supports that can do his job better by giving CC back to the enemy or giving heals and shields. He is also a terrible juggernaut, although he is a tank that can do a good amount of damage, his biggest problem is that he has no gap closer like Darius or Garen. Also his primary ability, his Q is hard to hit onto the enemy since it can't go through minions unlike Darius's abilities. Plus even if he lands his Q, he usually does not have enough time to reach his opponent and if they stay in the minion wave can make it too hard for Tahm to fight them, since again his Q doesn't go through minions. I feel that he should be buffed to where his Q can go through minions and he gets a small speed boost for whenever he lands his Q onto an enemy champion to help him close the gap better when chasing enemies. I kind of doubt these buffs will put him back at 50% win rate but I would like to see him in a much better spot than his current win rate. Top Win Rate: 43.27% win rate. Support win Rate: 47.76% win rate. Also I guess I'd like to see him be able to jungle effectively again as well but it's not like all of our desires can come true and maybe I am biased because Tahm Kench is my favorite champion. If you agree or disagree with me I'd like to know why. Thanks

9 Comments

Profirix2 votes

Tahm needs to be given help with his ability to support in a more aggressive manner without making him overbearing as a melee top laner. What has really killed him as a support is the inability to stack any meaningful damage on a duo lane because of the completely absurd amount of healing that an adc can manage with nothing more than a few autos and an energized proc. It gets even worse when they have healing supports.

Tahm is my most played champion and I have spent enough time to understand the ins and outs of this champion. What really seems to hurt his laning phase is that his primary tool to control the lane (devour) is gated behind a mana cost that really isn't sustainable and a cooldown that only allows him to use devour once per trade (usually as a save-my-adc button). Since the nerfs to the devour damage on champions, using it as anything other than an enemy reposition or holding tool is simply impractical. I usually just have to save it for a defensive save and can't really use it offensively in a way that really shows off and rewards my skill. Tahm should be able to combo Q and W on minions and harass enemies at range without putting devour on cooldown (or at least on half cooldown). There just isn't much of a reason to use devour offensively, and I think Riot would do well to give him more chances to do so.

EDIT: Oh, and I wanted to add one more thing: when Runes Reforged drops, he will be able to take advantage of the phase rush slow reduction and speed boost pretty handily to get some wacky long-distance devour maneuvers. While I don't think this will break him, it may give him some interesting play options that were limited by his self-slow upon devouring an enemy.

I just want to reiterate that his performance is extremely binary. If your team gets ahead (as Kench you are not usually the catalyst for this unless your opponent is really, REALLY dumb), Tahm keeps your team ahead by denying kills to the enemy. If your team falls behind, you might think that Tahm could prevent further deaths, but often he is left far too squishy to properly save ailing allies. He needs something to shrink the gap between a winning game and a losing game, and allow him to use actual skill to have a greater effect on the outcome of a game.

NY641 votes

what would you suggest to make him better and solve the problem?

invisiblecat11 votes

Honestly, Tahm is one of those champions who can't be killed if they are ahead, and buffing him to the point where he can get ahead without skill is a bad decision

Baron Barian1 votes

I would say yes, but I would be saying that only because I main him.

Vegathron1 votes

its a tricky thing to just buff since its not a numbers thing. Tahm kench can pretty much dominate top lane against nearly anyone. his dueling is insane! then.. he comes out of laning phase and is too slow and too useless to do anything but save your squishies. he just doesnt have the cc or mobility to be very useful. number would only make his 1v1/lane even better which isnt needed.

lowering his max stacks from 4 to 3 might do something? but hard to tell what impact it would have, it would again, make his dueling even better.

FatedSaviour1 votes

max stacks from 4 to 3, isnt it 3, did i miss something

Durzaka1 votes

His max stacks are already 3.

Vegathron1 votes

{quoted}

His max stacks are already 3.

wait am i getting my stacked confused with braum/sej? XD

Durzaka1 votes

I miss release Tahm.

He rapidly became my favorite top laner in the game.

But the changes in 6.13 that shifted his max hp bonus damage to his passive and nerfed it drastically, and then nerfed his grey health basically made him unplayable in top lane.

As for support, he just doesnt offer enough. His devour is awesome for saving your team mate, but otherwise just lackluster. I would rather have a Braum instead and still get the stacking stun, and better rest of his kit.

Top kench when he is viable is my favorite champion in the game (barring Zac). So im sad that he is such garbage right now.

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