Overview
A champion with a safe laning phase into a strong team fighting presence -- Kennen is an all around good pick especially when your team is in need of either more AP damage from top lane or more CC. His ultimate can be especially devastating, as it’s an AoE ability that can also stun the entire enemy team. Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Kennen
Kennen either needs Flash or a good flank (usually by TPing to a ward) to get value on his ultimate -- if enemies kite and keep him at bay (or have ways to displace him), then he's going to be relatively useless in fights once his ultimate is down. You need to find value with it to win games with Kennen.
Kennen's basic combo in lane is to Lightning Rush [E] through the minions and then finish them with Eletrical Surge [W], but that leaves you vulnerable to an engage after the fact. Be sure to only do this if you know you can do it with impunity, otherwise lean auto-attacks early on.
Strengths
With either a good flank or his Flash up, Kennen can get on the entire enemy team and devastate them with his Slicing Maelstrom [R], which can be comboed with Electrical Surge [W] and Lightning Rush [E] to land multiple stuns if they’re not already dead. He’s an extremely powerful champion in tight corridors and can really help set your team up for success any time he’s able to land a good ultimate. In lane phase, as a ranged champion in top lane, he’s able to hold his own in many matchups even if he just needs to farm, as it’s very safe for him to do so with his Thundering Shuriken [Q], which can also be used to harass. It’s a very straightforward kit for players who just want to group up and fight.
Weaknesses
While he’s a strong pick, if your team is lacking in tanks or in engage options elsewhere on the map, it can be difficult to get full value out of Kennen. He’s good at initiating fights but not the best as he can be kited back and teams can Flash away from him if they’re able to track him and his timers, since his approach is often telegraphed by Lightning Rush [E]. And if they’re able to peel away from him, that could leave him right in firing range of the enemy team, and as he’s a squishy champion, he’ll die fairly quickly. In general, he’s susceptible to all-ins from champions that can just tank his kit, as he doesn’t have the greatest single target damage.
Game Plan
Early Game: Look to farm and use your range to your advantage -- you can poke at and harass enemies to keep them at bay with your Thundering Shuriken [Q]. Save your Lightning Rush [E] as a safety tool unless you know for sure the enemy jungler is not nearby.
Mid Game: Good ultimates will win you most fights in the mid game -- as long as you’re able to approach from behind or with a good Flash, Kennen can delete multiple squishy champions at once at this phase in the game.
Late Game: The game plan doesn’t change much from mid game except that enemies are going to be harder to kill as they become more aware of you and are tankier -- Kennen doesn’t have great damage scaling and will become increasingly reliant on being able to find good flanks.
