After the recent buffs to him I figured I'd pick him up, and he's a ton of fun to use. However there seems to be quite a few ways to build him. Obviously it's going to depend somewhat on the game, but I've seen anywhere from a hybrid build, that supposedly some Koreans are starting to play, to full ap, to spell vamp, ect. Kind of curious if anyone has some input that might shed some light on his different builds.
RiotPhreak6 votesI haven't seen any of the new builds, but I'm fairly certain there are a few core rules just the same:
Get a Zhonya's. This should IMO be your first item, especially against an AD laner. Against a magic damage lane, you can put it off for second, but no later than that.
AP items synergize with themselves really well. I think it's wasteful to mix and match. You should try really hard to have Deathcap/Void Staff/Zhonya's in your endgame build. You just can't get the same damage without them.
Doran's Blade opener is fine. I've even seen people build two. This gives you a lot of lane pressure. Kennen is a strong laner and you should try to take advantage of that.
There are a bunch of pretty good mid-tier items that I don't have a good read on, but I see a lot of players buy. Abyssal Scepter, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Haunting Guise/Liandry's Torment, Will of the Ancients. They're less damage efficient than the other stuff, but I can see the tradeoffs in durability. I just can't really tell you when and where to buy them.
Aboylova923 votesOh wow, first Rioter to ever respond to one of my posts, and to get none other than Phreak, that's awesome.
Any who, don't know a ton about, just heard about it a few times. Seems to be going Bork and Statick, and then the rest AP. It's sounds a bit similar to the AD leblanc I've seen pop up a few times in Korea, which is a high mobility split pusher in a sense. I guess for now I'll just go the normal full AP build, and depending how ahead/behind can add in more utility or damage.
kitcat3001 votesWhat order would you level his abilities? I can't figure it out.
Q: Good base damage scaling and cooldown with easy last-hiting, but I find it hard to effectively harass with since all they have to do is stand behind a minion.
W: Easy to harass with and good wave clear and team fight damage, but less effective to single targets than other two.
E: Higher base damage than Q and much needed defenses (50 Armor/Magic resist) as well as team fight power, but higher cooldown and half efficient at wave clear and you have to put yourself at risk.
K1llua Zoldyck1 votes@the post above If you're confident that you will win lane, start q and max w or start w and max it first, if you aren't confident, start q and max it first. If you want to play really safe, cs with your q. Maxing w first works for most melee top laners, I usually charge up my w, aa them with the passive w, activate w and q them to stun. If you are confident enough at level 6 and burn their flash beforehand, you can all in and secure the kill with ignite. Basically, if I'm confident that I will win against the enemy top laner, I will max w>q>e @OP If I am not confident and want to play passive, I will max q>w>e I think you already know this, but don't waste your e early game unless it's to escape or clear under the turret. My full build is usually sorcerer's shoes, Zhonyas, Liandry's if the top laner stacks health or Will of the Ancients/Hextect Gunblade, Rylai's, Deathcap, and GA if I'm being focused and fed, Void Staff or Abyssal Scepter as the last item. If you are getting Gunblade or Will of the Ancients, buy it after Rylai's. I'm not the best Kennen player, but this is some basic things. This build might not work for you however or you might not like it, but it satisfies me. Good luck!
Duke Anax1 votesNow that's interesting, why exactly do you think Zhonyas is so crucial? Sure it's a very nice defensive item in any AP build, but why rush it, especially on Kennen?
He has enough range to keep position and he has an escape, so as far as I can tell, he shouldn't really need the hourglass.
I think Deathfire would be a better start, together with either ninja tabi or mercury threads, depending on your opponent.
If you really need more armor I would opt for the Seeker only and benefit from the free stacks while you use your gold to build something else.
Xtremey1 votes[{quoted}](name=Duke Anax,realm=EUW,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=QcBUVWdI,comment-id=00000002,timestamp=2015-01-03T16:10:31.744+0000)
Now that's interesting, why exactly do you think Zhonyas is so crucial? Sure it's a very nice defensive item in any AP build, but why rush it, especially on Kennen?
He has enough range to keep position and he has an escape, so as far as I can tell, he shouldn't really need the hourglass.
I think Deathfire would be a better start, together with either ninja tabi or mercury threads, depending on your opponent.
If you really need more armor I would opt for the Seeker only and benefit from the free stacks while you use your gold to build something else.
his ult zhonyas combo is devastating in teamfights. think of it as a fiddle ult that stuns.
Duke Anax1 votesYeah I wasn't completely aware of the implications of his ult. In that case early Zhonyas makes more sense, because he wants to be deep in the enemy team.
In that case I think Abyssal works well as his second item, or first in a magic lane. The item has great synergy with the ult, and considering Kennen has pretty high base damage compared to his AP ratios it also gives nice damage along with good defenses.
He is part Makrsmann, so maybe taking Wit third could be an alternate option to full AP, combined with Abyssal that makes negative MR and bonus damage on some targets (usually carries) With both, you can also skip Void Staff in a lot of cases.
Hyrum Graff2 votes[{quoted}](name=Duke Anax,realm=EUW,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=QcBUVWdI,comment-id=0000000200000000,timestamp=2015-01-03T17:27:32.787+0000)
With both, you can also skip Void Staff in a lot of cases.
Just putting it out there, Void staff is ALWAYS an efficient purchase. I'd get it even if you're getting Abyssal, Wits, AND Liandry.
Duke Anax1 votesNope, with Abysal and Wit's you are already close to zero or even reaching negative on anyone that hasn't build MR. Keep in mind they apply before Void, so thre is not much left for void to take a percentage off.
If you have liandries or SOrcs on top, they need to reach 90 MR before Void start's to even have any effect. If you have all four items, they need 135 MR for Void to kick in.
So yes, stacking flat MR redcution/penetration can make void useless. It's different as Last Whisper/Black Cleaver, because there is higher base armor and less flat penetration.
Vettahn1 votesMy personally tested and perfected Kennen build:
Masteries: 9/21/0 Runes: Hybrid Pen. Marks, Armor Seals, Scaling MR Glyphs, Scaling AP Quints Items (in order of first completion): Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Boots (situational), Liandry's Torment, Abyssal Scepter (can be interchanged), Will of the Ancients, and finally a situation item (Rabadon's, Zhonya's, or Banshee's)
I prefer not to have Zhonya's as a core part of my build, because the classic "Zhonya's + Ult" Kennen combo is actually quite ineffective. You can make much better use of his ult by using it before your E is popped, allowing you to run and tag every enemy three times, which is really quite possible with the lengthy duration of the ult.
Kennen gameplay all in all comes down to 1v1ing by using stun combos and being a massive utility + damage output in teamfights. I've turned plenty of games around with a couple of good ults, and quite frankly, he's a very strong champion at the moment.
Delioth1 votesShould I build a Triforce?
Sohleks1 votesDefinitely max W first. It's reliable harass and waveclear... Definitely start dBlade too... The W has some AD scaling so it's not a waste, I think for 1v1 laning the ADC rune setup I use is stronger early game. With the AD marks and attack speed quints. I think AD marks and AP quints might be good too like Eve would do. Pure AP magic pen marks and AP quints works as well and scale better late game. It's not like you need AP runes to 100 to 0 ADC's, believe me you don't...
The trick to playing Kennen is abusing your passive for stuns in lane so you can auto them for free. Getting stunned by Kennen is annoying as heck... You need 3 stacks of your passive to trigger the stun and you have 4 different ways to proc it with your normal abilities. Two are on W: the active and auto attack proc. Then there's either land Q or get in there with E if you can get the kill and you know their jungle is somewhere else... Important tip for laning with Kennen properly: you shouldn't necessarily activate W as soon as you can. Activating W is a very easy way to reset the timer on your passive so you can zone them away harder for longer while you work on the stun. Try to use W just before your 1 stack falls off. That is unless your opponent literally leaves the lane...
It's easy to get stuns with just W if you use a charged auto, activate a delayed W and get another charged auto. No need for Q which is pretty disfunctional in his kit to be honest because W does so much. I only go Q first on Kennen in ARAM... Generally E is for safety or engage.
Seriously lol. Sometimes I max E second over Q for more durability/mobility and AoE damage.
Aboylova921 votesAfter playing with him about 10 games, I would have to agree that maxing W is better. I've sure in some situations q is superior, but playing on the East Coast with around 120 ping, putting most of my harass into a skill shot isn't always the best idea.
Also I'd have to try and mess around with runes a bit more, but for masteries I've been liking putting points into bonus attack speed. It makes last hitting easier, and you get your W passive up more often. Also if you go double dorans, it makes your harass all the more annoying.
As you pointed out, keeping your charges for longer is a great strategy. When I played Kennen a handful of times when he was free I never had the greatest success, as I just spammed skills. Recently played against a Riven, and while I realize it's a pretty good matchup, it sort of sunk in as you could get a ton of harass off baiting her shield and prolonging your marks as long as possible.
The last thing I'd point out is in certain situations spell vamp should be bought. Mainly when I found I wasn't the lane bully, ie against a hiemer. Buying will of the ancients let me stay in lane long and healthy enough until I could all in him for sure.
B3ER1 votesYou recolor him and his splash art twice and call them new skins. Am I doing it right?
Sachabot1 votesTo be fair, every champion used to be released with a recolor, instead of an actual new skin. Kennen just has two because Yoda jokes.
Dark Nephthys1 votesI generally Max Q and then W for skill wise, and like predicted I'd start with Dorian's Blade + pot for starting. I actually play Kennen a lot and consider him one of my mains as well. I either play him Mid and go all AP, or go top and go pure Tank or Brusier based. Like..
When I go mid I usually get Zhonya's, and Abyssal Scepter (depending on match up) and then get Void staff and Rabbadon's. Try to get as high AP as I can so that when I go in to team fight, I can basically almost kill the entire enemy team by myself. I've gotten a few penta's already and even jumped in on the enemy team one time when they were doing Dragon and tried to 1v5. I ended up getting Drag and a Quadra but died at the end.
However, I generally build tankier when I go top lane due to the difference in who I'm facing, and the fact that I went top means we are losing out on a tank some times. I either go Brusier Kennen where I go Zhonya's/Abyssal Scepter, and then go into Rylai's/(Randuin's or Banshee's Veil).
The other way I some times build Kennen is pure tank Kennen, where I rush Sunfire/Banshee's Veil, and then Randuin's/Warmog. Tank Kennen actually still does some very decent amount of damage. I've had people hate me so much when I was going pure tank Kennen because we couldn't kill each other and the enemy laner would reply with "The most boring top lane I've ever played lol.." and since you're so tanky, you don't need to buy a Zhonyas making it much easier make sure everyone stays in your ultimate and you get the full use out of it.
Although I do have a lot of fun with Tank Kennen and I know from experience that it can work, just some lanes you might want to make sure you go damage lol.