Kennen Build Guide by Duckslayer

Introduction

Kennen

• AP Mid
• AP/AD Top
• AD Bot with a support

• 1337GamerX and Davrockin221 for basically playing with me for my whole LoL "career" and being noobs with me.
• Murloc Jonny for introducing me to LoL and helping a lot during the noob stages.
• The Noobs Network for many hours of enjoyment and pre made awesomeness.
  
  
  Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

A quick note: Why the heck is AD Kennen viable?

So I have had some questions about why AD Kennen is viable. I am going to set things straight right here. AD Kennen is viable, I am NOT saying it is better than AP. As far as Kennen goes, AP is stronger than AD but sometimes the AP slot is taken, and an AD role is free.

So why should I pick Kennen over any other AD carry?

Kennen

Kennen

Ashe

Caitlyn

AD Kennen's Viability

• Kennen has a great auto attack range.
• Kennen is one of two AD carries with a reliable spammable stun, the other being Twisted Fate.
• Kennen has a good base attack speed.
• AD Kennen has a very strong laning phase, and can stop their AD carry from snowballing when played correctly.
  
  I think Kennen works off the idea that any champion with a decent auto attack animation and range will do well with AD items, Caitlyn is a champion with extremely long range, but no reliable CC. Think of Kennen as an AD who exchanges the damage for utility in the form of stuns.
  
  Disclaimer: I admit it, Kennen is better played AP, by far, but does that mean he is not a viable AD? No.

AD Kennen Pros and Cons

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Pros +Great lane harass/poke with Electrical Surge and its active. +Safe laner with Lightning Rush +Has a good auto attack range. +Is a flippin ninja!

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Cons -Doesn't scale as well into late game as other carries such as Vayne or Kog'Maw -No click to activate steroid such as Impure Shots -You will get blamed by your team if you lose, because AD Kennen is not as common as AP Kennen

AP Kennen Pros and Cons

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Pros +Great lane harass/poke +Safe laner with Lightning Rush +Synergises with Zhonya's Hourglass +Is a flippin ninja!

spaaaaaaaaace

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Cons -Relies on Slicing Maelstrom -His main damage spell, Thundering Shuriken is a skillshot, which is hard for some to land.

AD Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Attack Damage 9	Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage 3	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage:I take flat AD quints for the early game boost and help with last hitting.
  
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage:I take flat AD over ARP because the ARP just makes the last whisperer less useful.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist:Magic resists will help you against that pesku Annie trying to full combo you.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor:You should be bottom with a support, if so then you will be versus another AD. Armour runes help you in a 1v1 situation and reduces damage from pokes such as Piltover Peacemaker

• Greater mark of desolation
• greater quintessence of desolation
• Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
• Greater Seal of Attack Speed

AP Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power:I take flat AP to boost your early game harass.
  
• Greater Mark of Ability Power:Same as above.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist:Reduces damage from your lane opponent.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor:I'll be honest, I use these because I have them. Any runes are viable here.

• Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
• Greater seal of vitality
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
• Greater Glyph of Ability Power

Summoner Spells

• : Flash is a great summoner spell, and basically a get out of jail free card.
  
  
• : Heal is also a great summoner spell too, use it to heal bait or sustain in lane. Preferred mainly for AD Kennen
  
  
• : My personal choice on AP Kennen, the true damage DoT is insane and can secure lots of kills.

• : An awesome summoner spell in any game, gives dragon/baron control with the ability to teleport to wards. An underrated summoner spell, use if going solo top or mid if you like it.
  
  
• : Another great summoner spell, can either completely remove or reduce CC taken while in your Slicing Maelstrom which can help a lot. Take on AD if you aren't planning on taking Quicksilver Sash
  
  
• : Take this if you don't like Flash. Combined with Lightning Rush this makes you one tough yordle to catch.
  
  
• : A great spell when going AD bot lane, helps in 1v1 situations and can shut down that pesky Tryndamere
  
  
• : I haven't tested this much yet, but it could be useful to proc stuns on either AP or AD, and provides a boost in damage for both.

Abilities

• Mark of the Storm:This passive might as well BE Kennen, provides great utility as AP and is pretty much spammable as AD
  
• Thundering Shuriken (Q):This spell is ridiculously good, as an AP Kennen it chunks enemies like crazy and is a fairly fast moving projective. As AD Kennen it is mainly used to stun, but since Kennen is an energy based champ, spam it in lane too. Either to last hit or harass.
  
• Electrical Surge (W):This makes AD Kennen Viable. Coupled with its absolutely "stunning" passive(sorry), it has a great active that converts a percentage of your AD into magic damage...what armour?
  
• Lightning Rush (E): Kennens "Oh no I need to get out of here" button, also used to proc a stun or follow the initiator(as AP mainly). Use it wisely early game.
  
• Slicing Maelstrom (R):What an ability. Chunks whole teams while stunning them as AP, it's slightly less useful as AD but helps you win 1v1 situations and is a good escape ability.

Ability sequence AD

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

> > >

Maxing Electrical Surge on AD Kennen is the only viable option, it is the only AD scaling ability and the active helps farming. Obviously taking ult over everything is the thing to do, maxing Lightning Rush after Electrical Surge for the cooldown seems to work best for me, I use Thundering Shuriken to harass in lane and later in the game, to proc stuns.

AP Ability Sequences

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

> > >

This is the way I skill AP Kennen, maxing Thundering Shuriken gives great harass, great poke and a good finisher.

Ability Sequence 2

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

> > > lightning

This is another way to skill AP Kennen. The Electrical Surge offers great harass and another good finisher, it also improves farming over maxing Thundering Shuriken but falls behind in poke damage.

Ad Build One explanation

Item Sequence
Wriggle's Lantern 2000	Phantom Dancer 2800	Infinity Edge 3800	The Bloodthirster 3200	Last Whisper 2300	Quicksilver Sash 1550

• : Standard attack damage carry boots.
  
• : Gives a great armour bonus as well as some sustain and damage. Also provides dragon and baron control.
  
• :Once you have wriggles lantern, three dorans blades and AD runes you have enough AD to get some attack speed and crit chance.
  
• :Standard carry item, provides crit, damage and gives your crits some more "oomph"
  
• :Sell a dorans blade here and get this, it provides a hefty AD bonus and some lovely lifesteal.
  
• :Provides massive armour pen, and is the reason I don't get greater mark of desolations.
  
• :A great item, one of my favourites, a "better that cleanse" cleanse and a decent amount of MR, what's not to like?

AD Build Two Explanation

Item Sequence
Berserker's Greaves 900	Infinity Edge 3800	Phantom Dancer 2800	The Bloodthirster 3200	Last Whisper 2300	Quicksilver Sash 1550

• :Exact same as build one, standard boots.
  
• :In this build, we go Infinity Edge first. This provides a massive boost in DPS.
  
• :Adding a Phantom Dancer improves our DPS loads, it builds on the crit provided by Infinity Edge and adss attack speed.
  
  What changes between build one and two is, we lose the wriggles lantern and a dorans blade. Then switch the Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancer around, it's all personal preference.

AP Build Explanation

Item Sequence
Sorcerer's Shoes 1100	Rylai's Crystal Scepter 2900	Will of the Ancients 2550	Zhonya's Hourglass 3410	Rabadon's Deathcap 3300	Void Staff 2295

• :I used to go hextech into Will of the Ancients straight away, but with the new nerf to Will of the Ancients I wait untill later to upgrade. It provides insane lane sustain with Thundering Shuriken and Electrical Surge.
  
• :An insane item on Kennen, provides the tankyness needed to Slicing Maelstrom without blowing up instantly and adds utility with a great slow.
  
• :This item spikes your power to over 9000! When you get this you will be at a peak, so try to push your advantage.
  
• :Want to know why you get this? You can use the active while in Slicing Maelstrom.
  
• :This is your magic penetration item, basically an AP last whisperer. You can get this earlier if you are pushing an advantage or need more damage.
  

Alternate Items

• :A great item for setting up stuns, adds some survivability too. (Thanks to freezeflames for suggesting it)
  
• :Imo, an overpriced item, but when against HP stacking teams it does help alot.
  
• :I love this item, but it is often outshone by Infinity Edge and other items which incorporate crit. Buy this if the enemy team have alot of armour.
  
• :A very nice item if you need a bit more MR, if you are getting insta-burst then this is a good buy.
  
• :Oh how I love this item, I do think it's more usefull on a bruiser but buy if you are in the same situation as above. The shield can save lives.
  
• :This used to be, and probably still is, a defensive staple on AD Carries. I think this is less useful than Quicksilver Sash because the shield is so easily popped.
  
• :This is another fantastic item. A great buy if you are getting focused as it can put them off focusing you and if they do focus you they need to kill you 1.5 times

• :This provides AOE MPen which is fantastic for Kennen because his Slicing Maelstrom involves getting in close
  
• :I could see this being useful for a Thundering Shuriken auto attack combo but it just seems so lacklustre on Kennen because he doesn't spam his skills that much compared to other champions.
  
• :I could see this working, but it's too expensive for the stats to me. Buy if you want to be evil and stack spellvamp.

Farming and Teamfighting

Thundering Shuriken

Slicing Maelstrom

Stun Rotations

Electrical Surge Passive > Lightning Rush> Electrical Surge Active

Lightning Rush in range > Thundering Shuriken > Electrical Surge passive > Electrical Surge active

Lightning Rush > Electrical Surge Active > Slicing Maelstrom > Thundering Shuriken

Electrical Surge Passive > Thundering Shuriken > Electrical Surge Active > Lightning Rush > Slicing Maelstrom > Thundering Shuriken > Electrical Surge Active

Conclusion

Kennen is a fantastic champion, both AD and AP. I must be honest here, he is a better AP than AD but that should not dissuade you from playing him AD. If you main AD carries but want to try him then play him AD, it is very strong. Have fun playing Kennen and any criticism is appreciated.

DuckslayerCFC-EUW. And again, thanks to everyone who has helped me in my LoL career and thanks to Ego Ignaxio for letting me use his video.

Sorry I haven't been able to update this often, I have to study for school and stuffs.

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here. Thank you very much