How do I play Kennen? I always feel useless.

Sorgklaan·Nov 9, 2015·1 votes·700 views

No matter what I do, I always end up feeling like I'm doing nothing. All I end up doing is suicide engaging on every fight and doing no damage. Even when I'm ahead I just feel useless, like I could be playing any other champion and be able to do so much more.

What might I be doing wrong? How am I supposed to play kennen? What am I supposed to do if I don't get massively fed? What do I do after laning? How do I keep control of the lane after the first few minutes of cheesing the enemy?

I really want to play kennen, but he's never satisfying to play.

9 Comments

YennNov 9, 20152 votes

Kennen is useless, don't play Kennen.

LadyRenlyNov 9, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Kennen is useless, don't play Kennen.

He is so useless that he can be played any lane?

SorgklaanNov 9, 20152 votes

{quoted}

He is so useless that he can be played any lane?

I've tried playing him in every lane so far and every time I have felt like I could be doing better with anything else.

I have played him like 10-15 times and every time he has felt like complete shit, even with a full build.

Palmeiras SerieBNov 9, 20152 votes

He is weak and needs a buff

The WhamboozlerNov 9, 20151 votes

He probably needs a buff, it's true. That said, he's strong at AoE lockdown in teamfights with decent damage to boot. I'd say play him top, if anywhere. He fares well against cheese picks top that try to get by on out-ranging the enemy (Quinn, Ryze, Teemo, etc), and he out-ranges melee champs so he can usually bully them before they become hugely burly. Teleport + your ult can REALLY help snowball other lanes even if you can't secure kills on your opponent. Decide REALLY early on if you're going to need more tank or more damage vs their team. If you can afford to go heavy damage because they're all squishy AND they can't CC and blow you up before you've engaged... do it. Otherwise semi-tanky is probably best. Rememer... you're not a burst mage and you're NOT a real tank. You're all about your ult and that AoE CC. If you don't have to be the initiator, don't be. If your team lacks a support or jungler who can engage hard, then build to be durable enough to dive in and get as much of your ult off as possible.

Kennen is a teamfight champ, so he's best used in wombo comps based around AoE death. Get minion pressure in lanes then group up and force someplace. If they don't stop you, you steamroll into their base. If they group to stop you... let the tank go for a tower dive, then follow him up and ult. By the time the stun is over the tower will be yours or they'll all be dead. Or both.

YashichiNov 9, 20151 votes

I eventually play him as a Mid mage. For some reason i always lose going Top. Your first item could be item 3157 , or if you're not feeling safe make a item 3145 (build later into item 3146 AND item 3152 . With those 3 items you'll restore lots of health. Farm as much as you can until lvl 6. Play safe. Once at lvl 6 ask you jungler for help, stun you opponent with standard abilities or E+R then W. You (or your jungler) will probably take a kill. I usually max W>E>Q. remember that your E gives you MS, MR and armor. You can still be hit while using E so be careful. Spam W as much as you can; the best you can do is Q+E everytime. Your enemy will lose health slowly, but you'll be always safe. If you think the enemy has low health, try to stun and kill, Ulting if necessary. Build item 3089 of course, item 3020 / item 3158 and maybe item 3116 . This is how I play Kennen, try and tell me what happens (~~^.^)~~

QarekeoNov 13, 20151 votes

I've been trying to learn Kennen in preparation for the hybrid items in preseason 6, and I've had a fun time with him in bottom lane as an "ADC." The core idea in this role is to stack your W passive as much as possible and get good sustain, disregarding critical strikes.

For abilites, start with Q for level 1 poke, get W at level 2, E at level 3, then max W as soon as possible for maximum AD scalings. Early on you'll rely on Q-shurikens for poke and hopefully deny the enemy lane by sheer bully potential. Rush BotRK as your first item, then get Runaan's Hurricane for your core and Berzerker Greaves for boots. Your end-game build will look something like:

item 3006 item 3153 item 3085 item 3072 item 3026 item 3022

But exact items vary game-by-game. The great thing about "ADC" Kennen is that despite his AD scalings, he's still doing almost evenly split hybrid damage, so just stacking one resist type won't work against him.

The problems I see with ADC Kennen is that getting resist shredding is tough (but likely unnecessary) and that he's risky to take alone. He absolutely shines in teamfights though, and if you time your spells right you can win a teamfight and possibly decide the whole game in seconds.

4ManVotedAgainstNov 13, 20151 votes

Kennen is only viable as AP with DEFENSIVE-Masteries (rather than offensive) unless the entire enemy team has no assassins, are all squishies, otherwise unless all of your opponents are somehow brain-dead. Source : Kennen-Main