Kennen Rework [Giving a Reason to Play Kennen]
WARNING: Lots of Reading is Below
Ever since the Braum release, Kennen has overall felt kinda stale. His Q is just a basic skill shot (not even really synergyzing with his AoE stun kit), his W is just damage to everyone affected by his passive, and his E is just deal damage to people you run through. Even his ultimate feels kinda bad since it's just a damaging AoE ability with a limited amount of damage it can deal since early game it can only shoot out 6 bolts, increased to an oddball 10 mid-game, leaving a single champion with one mark, and 15 late game to actually make it useful in a teamfight. It overall seems like a worse Fiddlesticks ult for half the game to me. Then there is his passive which used to be his niche thing, until Braum showed up who applies a mark every basic attack and Q. Not only this, his marks buff his basic attacks against the enemy unit and deal damage upon detonation AND can be further applied by allies, making Kennen's seem lack luster now. To further the problems, his character is only present in his E in his current kit. Yeah, he's a ninja, but that's not what makes him special. It's the fact that he is extremely agile and hyper, as stated SEVERAL times in his lore, even going as far as saying he can basically run up the Runeterra version of the Great Wall of China in Bandle City.
Now you could just do the normal thing and buff him, but that isn't the right choice since he isn't UP considering he can stun a lot of people for about 2 seconds in a teamfight and uses energy with the highest poke of all the energy users arguably, making him a pain in lane for some, especially top lane. So how do we make him not such a problem for some AND make him feel less like a bunch of super basic abilities that are only used to apply a stun passive that can be used by someone that can survive long enough to apply the stun and allow his allies to apply stacks. Well, the most interesting and best way (in my eyes) to do so is to rework his kit to make him feel less basic and more "Energetic Electricity Hamster Ninja".
NEW KIT
Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest Mage Secondary: Fighter Health- 403 (+80 per level) Health Regen- 2.2 (+0.8 per level) Energy- 200 Energy Regen- 50 Armor- 12 (+4 per level) Magic Resist- 30 (+0 per level) Movement Speed- 340 Attack Damage- 47 (+3.3 per level) Attack Speed- 0.69 (+3.4% per level) Attack Range- 550 (Ranged)
Passive- Mark of the Storm Innate: Kennen's abilities apply a Mark of the Storm on the enemies they hit. Marks last for 6.25 seconds. Upon an enemy unit reaching 3 marks, the marks detonate, stunning the enemy unit for 1 second and restoring 15 Energy. If an enemy is stunned by a Mark of the Storm, further stuns from Mark of the Storm within 6 seconds are reduced by 0.5 seconds each application, reducing the stun down to 0.25 seconds. While a Mark of the Storm is on an enemy champion, Kennen gains 6 flat movement speed per stack near him. The movement speed boost lasts for 1.5 seconds after the marks detonate. Movement Speed Increase Range: 600
So far, this is looking like a buff. SO FAR. But let me explain this first. First off, we have some buffs to Kennen's health per level, health regen per level, armor per level, and movement speed with a nerf to his base armor and base health regen. Starting with the buffs, Kennen is a mage who gets in the middle of a fight and attempts to combo as many enemies as he can to make a huge AoE disable. So what better way to be able to do so with some boosted defensive stats to make sure he doesn't get instantly gibbed upon getting even close to the enemy. Now to the nerfs. Kennen is known early game for being a pest in top lane due to his unlimited healing with Spell Vamp and his Energy. While we can't do anything about both aspects of that without removing some core components of Kennen (Energy user and Spell Vamp is an item, not a part of Kennen). So, to reduce this regeneration, I nerfed his base health regen so that he isn't regenerating as much health in lane. Secondly, to further reduce this aspect of Kennen that proves to be a problem, his base armor has been reduced. Finally, Kennen's base movement speed has been increased since doing so helps two aspects for him. The first being his role as an initiator and the the second being his energetic lore/lifestyle. I didn't know whether to call this a nerf or buff since I guess it makes him worst against taunts and charms, but better as far as moving around.
Now to his passive. His passive has been buffed to match up with Braum's passive. The stun reduction has been reduced to further show his role as a stun combo caster. His stacks now also give him movement speed so as to make him much more effective as far as surviving when inside the enemy lines, further his fantasy as energetic ninja, and allow him to get into the enemies more easily if he is able to get some marks on the enemies beforehand. To clarifty, at maximum, this speed boost gives him 90 flat movement speed for 1.5 seconds if he is able to stun all the enemy champions on the enemy team and have them all be within 600 units of him. A notable nerf is that a third proc of the marks is reduced to 0.25 seconds from 0.5 seconds, mainly due to his new abilities being able to proc each mark more than once per ability for up to 5 marks per ability per target without his ultimate. Also, the mark now only restores 15 Energy from 25 Energy since it will be procing much more often.
Ability 1- Thunder Release Passive: Kennen charges a shuriken every 17/16/15/14/13 seconds, causing his basic attacks with charged shurikens to deal 40/55/70/85/100 (+30% AP) bonus magic damage and apply a Mark of the Storm. Charged shurikens are also required to use Thunder Release. Kennen can hold a maximum of 2 charged shurikens. Active: Kennen throws a shuriken in a line, dealing 60/100/140/180/220 (+50% AP) magic damage, applying a Mark of the Storm, and sticking into them if they are an enemy champion. If Kennen moves within 175 units of the enemy, he picks up the shuriken, casuing him to instantly store a charged shuriken and restoring 15 Energy. If Thunder Release detonates a Mark of the Storm, an explosion of voltage deals 20/40/60/80/100 (+15% AP) magic damage to all enemy units around the target and applies a Mark of the Storm to each of them. The enemy it hits does not take the additional explosion damage, but is applied a Mark of the Storm. Cost: 70/65/60/55/50 Energy Cool Down: 1 sec. Projectile Speed: 1600 Range: 1050 AoE Radius: 250
This ability would respectively replace his Q and W passive with skills that would reduce the ability for Kennen to constantly heal from spell vamp without getting in close and hitting an enemy champion. However, this would also allow Kennen's Q to be able to deal AoE damage and synergize much more with his passive. The passive bonus basic attacks may at first seem like much worse versions of the active, but realize that basic attacks CANNOT miss.
Ability 2- Lightning Maneuvers Active: Kennen marks up to three locations with electricity. Once he has marked three locations or after 5 seconds, Kennen dashes to the three locations, starting with the first one made to the last one made. Kennen dashes directly to each location, meaning he can move through walls and in several directions with this. Each enemy unit he passes through takes 70/120/170/220/270 (+65% AP) magic damage, refunds Kennen with 5 Energy (doubled for champions), and is applied a Mark of the Storm. Each time he arrives at an electrified location, he causes an explosion of electricity at the location, slowing enemies near the location by 15/20/25/30/35% for 1.5 seconds and applying a Mark of the Storm. Enemy units can only be damaged once by this ability and can only be affected by one of the location explosions per cast. Kennen cast spells but not basic attack while dashing. Using Storm Kick during this ability will cause any areas he has not touched explode after a 1.25 second delay and cause him to enhance the first damage component of Storm Kick with the damage of Lightning Maneuver. While dashing, Kennen cannot be held in place, but can be silenced, stunned, or suppressed so that he cannot use a spell. Cost: 40 Energy per area made Cool Down: 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 sec. Range: 450/500/550/600/650 Explosion AoE Radius: 200 Dash Speed: 900
Kennen's new way to combat in a teamfight in a much more reliable (and epic) way that involves counterplay and good positioning in Kennen's part. If he is silenced or stunned during this ability, he becomes much less effective since he cannot combo his spells together. Speaking of combos, Kennen can use Thunder Release while dashing, hit the target enemy, and then immediately dash to them and pick up his shuriken to use again after or during the dash. Secondly, Kennen can use Storm Kick to enhance the Storm Kick and/or cancel the Lightning Maneuvers if things go from good to worse during the ability. This also fits in with his hyper personality and diversifies him from the rest of the cast since I don't remember of any champion who can do something like this.
Ability 3- Storm Kick Active: Kennen dashes in the target direction, dealing 20/35/50/65/80 (+25% AP) (+40% AD) magic damage and applying a Mark of the Storm to the first enemy he hits. If he hits an enemy unit, the cool down is reduced by 4 seconds, Kennen restores 15 Energy, and Kennen jumps up into the air for 1.5 seconds, ignoring unit collision and being able to move over terrain. Once he lands, electricity pulses out from him, dealing 30/60/90/120/150 (+40% AP) magic damage to enemy units around him and applying a Mark of the Storm. If Kennen lands in terrain, he balances on the terrain and can jump to the target location to emit the same electrical pulse around where he lands. If Kennen does not choose a location within 3 seconds, it is automatically targeted for him to to the nearest section of passable terrain. If Kennen begins to dash from Lightning Maneuvers while in the air, he dashes to all locations at the same altitude, using lightning bolts to damage all enemy units below him for 10/15/20/25/30 (+5% AP) more magic damage and strikes down at the final location, pulsing out the normal pulse at the final location. If Kennen uses Thunder Release while in the air, he throws the shuriken to the target location, causing to cause it's explosion around where it lands. Kennen can pick up the shuriken from the location normally. Kennen cannot travel above the walls on the edge of the map. Cost: 80/75/70/65/60 Energy Cool Down: 14/13.5/13/12.5/12 sec. Range: 525 Terrain Jump Range: 400
Kennen no doubt has super strong feet from his many days of running. Combine that with electric magic and you get an awesome combo. Kennen's way of getting out of bad situations or initiating a fight in lane or in a teamfight. While Kennen is a hyper little yordle, I also couldn't forget the ninja side of him, so I added some fanciness in with him flying through the air and changing his abilities to be more dynamic and/ore elegant. Then, with him balancing on the terrain, some awesomeness. Of course, the balancing on terrain was kinda needed since this would danger him of being able to land in terrain and glitch the game. But, in the end, it turned into an epic ninja move that combos abilities together to be epic.
Ultimate- Electric Boom Active: After a 2 second delay, Kennen release an electrical wave from him that instantly applies 3 Marks of the Storm and deals 150/225/300 (+70% AP) magic damage. After this explosion, Kennen gains 340 flat movement speed for 2.5/2.75/3 seconds and 30/40/50 Energy regen and 10/20/30/40/50 armor and magic resist for 5 seconds. Cost: No Cost Cool Down: 130/115/100 sec. Range: 650 Wave Speed: 775
Simple, yet unique and effective. Kennen's initiation move to start the fight in his team's favor. Combine this with a well placed Lightning Maneuver and Storm Kick, you can then use Electric Boom to effectively get in the middle and stun all the enemy units of their team. A quick Q on an enemy unit with 2 marks after this will then possibly cause another team wide stun for a 1.5 second AoE stun and... TONS OF DAMAGE. With the increased movement speed and energy regen, you can then quickly get back up into the fight and continue to stun enemies. In order to effectively do this of course, you will need to time the 2 second delay on Electric Boom just right AND have a good bit of cool down reduction to continue to fight after the boom.
Q, Q, W, and E Combo Total Combo Energy Usage at Level 3 (excluding minions, monsters, and ultimate): 245-340 Total Combo Energy Usage at Level 18 (excluding minions, monsters, and ultimate): 185-280
So after all this, what do you guys think of this kit? Is it too much more or too little? Good or bad? I am aware of the incredibly high skill cap on this kit also, but a high skill cap usually leads to successful play in competitive play and decent play in public games. I would like you guys' feedback on this kit and what you think should be improved.