People are playing AD Kennen because AP Kennen is dead

Orîhalcon·6/5/2017, 12:30:15 PM·4 votes·1,203 views

So Kennen is picked top as AD onhit in 100,0% of all games in Korea and there is no big difference in any other Region. There is an easy Explanation to it: His AP build just doesnt deal enough damage anymore.

  1. You lowered total AP across the board.
  2. Abyssal Scepter isnt an Option on Kennen anymore. Before that Change he could at least compensate that low damage with the 10% damage amplifier.
  3. You changed his ult so it deals more damage with every additional hit. It was reversed before.

I understand that he dealt a bit too much damage back in patch 6.9. with the changes. But the changes after that just hit him too hard. Kennen is an all in Champion. He has to hit his ult well enough to deal enough damage because after that he cant do that much. But why should i risk Flash ulting into 5 enemies when i simply can attack and kill them in range? You need to hit everyone with your ult for the full duration or you deal no damage and that is impossible most times. Kennen wasnt a problem for years and People always knew how to Counter his ult. If you pick 5 Champions into Kennen that dont have any escape or displacement or cc, then it is your fault if he can easily 5 man ult you. Also exhaust is a big Counter for him.

Some People might say that his ult is too good. Before the Change his ult did hit a random(!) Champion 6/10/15 times, but not more than 3 times to the same Champion. It was nice in 1v1 situations because you could rely on your damage. But in teamfights you had to be lucky to hit their ap/adc at least 3 times. Yeah it was easier at lvl 11 or 16 but still random. It is a difference if i hit the same Champion 3 times in a row in a short time or randomly after 5 seconds.

I honestly dont enjoy playing him AD top because it doesnt feel that much rewarding when i easily Counter 90% of all toplaners. I just stand in range and kill everything that is in front of me. Someone comes too near? np press R and just aa because i can stun him like 3 times in a row without any risk. I just want to have that good Feeling again when i land a very nice ult and my Team can follow up and ace them :P

So what are my suggestions?

  1. Change his W passive to scale with AP(not that much, maybe 0,3)
  2. Lower his base and per Level attack Speed (i have 0,81 attack Speed at lvl 1 with generic adc runes. Cmon rito...)
  3. Increase AP ratio on his ult and revert the last change.

Please Keep in mind that im a Kennen otp for a Long time and these are my personal experiences. Some of you might disagree with me so let me know what you think. Kennen

8 Comments

hhaavviikk6/5/2017, 5:16:01 PM2 votes

I'd rather not go back to AP kennen with this huge AOE CC burst

ChaddyFantome6/5/2017, 1:33:34 PM2 votes

No, they are playing AD kennen because he is stronger than AP Kennen thanks to Bork being op.

Galiö6/5/2017, 4:34:02 PM1 votes

AD kennen has always been better. Free armor stats, Free poke, free sustain, good mobility. AP kennel relies on going all in and making sure you have all your stacks or you're dead with no sustain.

LSmaster166/5/2017, 8:51:06 PM1 votes

I prefer the damage being back loaded on r but aside from that I agree with everything you said. I like the idea of giving w an ap ratio instead of total ad (though a small base damage would probably be good) and buffing ult ap ratio/nerfing attack speed seems like a good idea.

Princess Píxie 6/5/2017, 5:33:16 PM1 votes

I play a lot of Kennen (I main him) and I still try to use him AP (so that I could play for the team) but I tried him out AD and honestly Im disappointed that it worked better than most times I go AP.

DunkinNoobs6/5/2017, 5:51:11 PM1 votes

Let's just gut him and leave him not played. It's not like anyone but kennen mains will miss the cancer rat.

Mordepool6/5/2017, 4:32:05 PM1 votes

The sad state of AP items