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What Happened to Tahm Kench?

ToxicSquiid·8/20/2019, 3:46:19 AM·3 votes·1,752 views

This poor fish has gone through so many changes just across the last year and I am honestly considering dropping him entirely -- Tahm Kench was the character (aside from Fiddle and GP) that made me fall in love with League and seeing him constantly buffed and gutted into oblivion because of professional play alongside poor balance decisions for his kit is incredibly frustrating.

I pretty religiously play Tahm Kench and now he's been pushed out of ALL his roles, everything he does can be done better by another champion.

Toplane: Why not Sion or someone who actually contributes to teamfights and not just win a few select matchups? Jungle: Sure, he can duel most jungles early, but he's easily counter-jungled and struggles with ganking, all he can do is eat buffs and maybe get a kill by ulting behind laners (assuming they don't instantly flash under tower). Support: Literally anyone is better than someone who roots you to the floor at low health with 3 enemies surrounding you.

Does Riot have a plan or is the goal just to forever keep him out of pros because he denies those "flashy" Lee Sin Q's that take the intellect of a 4th grader to land?

4 Comments

KFCeytron8/20/2019, 3:52:26 AM3 votes

The most iconic part of his kit provides easy access to untargetability for champions that were never intended to have it. Breaking the game's fundamental assumptions generally results in a kit that can't be balanced, so it gets nerfed into the ground while it waits for a rework.

Baron Barian8/20/2019, 5:02:05 AM3 votes

TL:DR, pro play ruined Tahm like Ionia ruined Noxus.

Right now, it's kind of hard to buff him for regular play without causing issues for pro play. His peel is very strong when used by players who can coordinate and know what they're doing.

But I remember a point where he was never really even touched in LCS games, nor was he ever given any noticeably strong buffs. So why he started to have an impact that he had before the nerfs is beyond me.

Damoklese8/20/2019, 8:09:06 AM2 votes

Id like to see a rework on him personally. Though I completely understand why hardcore Tahm players would hate that.

Personally I love him from a conceptual point of view. He has an entertaining aesthetic, and I love extremely durable champs that have annoying ways to poke, and ruin the enemy team's plans. Plus any champ that can walk away from a 1v2 gank, possibly even with a kill, is aces in my book.

My complaints though are that in team fights he lacks impact. His ult is useful about 1/10th of the time.. and the rest of the time is a liability if you even attempt to use it. I also find his devour to be a little finicky with its targeting. Personally id love it if most of his kit stayed the same.. but they made his devour a little more "restricted" (I.E. you cant devour teammates anymore, and when devouring, it prioritizes eligible enemy champions over creeps), and give him an ult that can be more impactful in team fights. Possibly something that boosts his team, or debuffs the enemy team, so that he can be a bruiser top lane, or a support bottom.