The Kennen VGU

Is this the right place to post this?

I know that it's been awhile since Riot posted up their list of champions they plan on updating after Irelia/Akali but for whatever reason I've been thinking about my main Yordle Kennen and for awhile now I've been having this -probably- irrational fear that if I don't post something like this up he's going to come out as some kind of malformed abomination. So, I was wondering if some people could share their perspective on the whole thing, including the one or two other people that play Kennen.

I guess to begin with, I'm hypothesizing that the VGU will probably get more of his personality from the lore into the game. Kennen's got that 'boundless energy' all right due to his E and his passive respectively, but the prankster aspect never really came through. I'm not really saying "Make him a prankster" so much as I'm just speculating this would probably be the direction of the VGU. With that speculation though brings what I'd like to call my first malefic vision, and that's where the writing goes overboard with this aspect of his character. Because one thing that frightens me is that he becomes kind of like who literally became my most hated league of legends character overnight. If you like her that's cool, but please understand why I really, really, really, really wouldn't want my favorite character in LoL to have a personality like my most hated character in the game.

I'm hypothesizing that he'll keep the masks since that's kind of his thing and I'm hoping he keeps the bangs (for numerous skins at least) since that's something that I also saw as his distinguishing trait. Since, well, the mask is because of his profession but the bangs is kind of his thing, at least as far as yordles go. Overall, I guess they'd probably keep him relatively the same but seriously update his model and proportions. Perhaps even make him smaller just to fit him more into the role of being a deceptive teeny prankster that has the inner strength and energy to take on anything. "Big targets are the best" and yada yada.

Gameplay

So, before I found Kennen I'm almost certain that I actually played a lot more often. Now however, It's a very rare thing. I'm sure I've lost credibility with everyone in saying that I traded a fallen angel for an electric squirrel but hear me out. The reason why I traded them is because Kennen had something that spoke to me a lot more than Morgana, and that was a kit with some great synergy. I wouldn't ever say that Kennen's spells on their own were better than Morganas, but with Kennen I felt that the package overall was better because of it's synergy and the AOE. The perfect Kennen ult, being able to tag enemies with his E while R'ing them and then electrocuting them with his W. Great synergy for great team-fight potential. After that he's still got his W passive and his Q, which even those have some level of synergy due to how his W active inherently works and his passive. The other thing I like about Kennen is that he's probably the fastest mage in the game. Of course, I'm speaking strictly on mages and not assassins that are also mages like LB.

I presume that one thing the developers really don't like about Kennen is that he has certain similarities amongst Morg and Fiddle, being that their CC heavy mages with an ultimate that even kind of somewhat works the same. One thing I worry about is him losing his ultimate. I acknowledge it being kind of the same as the other two, but I honestly think that he's kind of justified because his ultimate has great burst-synergy that the other two don't have and there's not much else other than a raging storm to give to a character that is literally called "the heart of the tempest" and has a snazzy storm theme.

The one spell that I'm almost certain would be kept without question is the E because that's the definitive Kennen spell. I can't really think of a spell that summarizes him more than his E. Off the top of my head, I also can't quite remember anyone else that has a movement speed buff that also gives them AOE damage to anything they touch. This is furthermore unique in that it gives him mobility that is unusual for a mage. I'm hopeful and confident that this spell stays.

The W I'd put in the maybe pile because both aspects of his W aren't particularly the most original spells, but the thing is that it really helps with that synergy I love in how they play off his other spells . I can't help but feel that while the E is the definitive Kennen spell the W and R is what keeps everything together. I can understand getting rid of the passive aspect of his W I suppose, but for the active I sincerely hope that they either keep it or replace it with something that is conceptually the same which offers passive and spell synergy.

The Q is the one spell that I actually would think needs changing the most. I understand that this is the spell that's typically upgraded first, but the fact is that it also is the most generic of Kennen's spells and fits the least with the rest of his kit. This spell is probably the most vanilla skillshot in the entire game and the most original aspect of it isn't based on the actual skill shot but on his passive. Ezreal applies on-hit, Ziggs throws a bomb that bounces, nidalee chucks a spear that does more damage the further it travels, and mundo throws an axe that costs a portion of his life but refunds it after it hits an enemy and slows them. Kennen's Q just hits the first target and that's kind of it. I'm not even saying it needs more damage or anything, just something different to change it from being the most generic skill-shot in the entire game to Kennen's skill-shot. Presuming of course it remains a skill shot. Probably my own bias, but this is the spell I'm most confident in being changed. Then again, in spite of it being unremarkable just the fact that it's based on energy makes it kind of special as a safe unlimited early game farming tool.

As for the passive I would definitely think he should keep it. Again, that whole synergy thing I love.I get that the Apply X to target Y times is kind present in a lot of characters but I feel Kennen has earned a place in having that as his passive because he's had that mechanic inherently ingrained in his kit for so long. It's a passive that was always dynamic, one that plays off the character having limitless energy (gain energy upon landing 3 marks) and it's been around longer than countless other people who eventually had a mechanic similar to it. This would be my second guess for something that probably won't be changed.

As for AD Kennen, I honestly don't know what to make of that. If I had to choose between scenario one where ap and ad kennen is viable but he has to sacrifice some of that synergy or scenario two where I lose ad kennen completely for tweaks to ap/synergy then I honestly think I'd just want AP Kennen. Granted in this scenario I'm presuming he'd have some kind of on-hit ap thing kind of like his W passive.

After all that's said and done, does anyone else relate with anything I've just typed? And I'm genuinely curious to read if people pick Kennen for reasons that somewhat resemble my own.