Kennen has received recent buffs which make him more viable at high elo games. He has become more popular so I decided I would come on here and make a guide to help people out who are just picking him up.


I will be adding pictures and movies to this guide very soon so stay tuned!

My mastery build may differ from other peoples builds that they use. Some people like to go into the defense tree but with these new masters I believe the Utility tree is far superior. I also use defensive Runes which helps balance it out.

With these masteries you get which is great considering you also get 6% cdr from another mastery which brings your cdr to 10% which can bring Electrical Surge to low enough cool down to use it to keep Mark of the Storm on the target. This mastery gives you more energy into your energy pool. This is very useful because it can mean the difference in getting that last skill off in a fight and getting the kill or being energy starved and dieing because you can't use your skill to get the final blow.
The speed boost from this can really help early game with last hitting, chasing people down, and help you get out of some sticky situations.
This is another mastery that can really help early levels during lane phase. It can give that little bit extra of sustainability which can keep your in your lane to out farm your opponenet and ultimately beat them.
This one is very cut and dry, it gives you more experience and makes you level fast.
This I believe is the best talent in the whole utility tree. This combined with the 4% from the offensive mastery [Sorcery] combines to a total of 10% CDR as I said earlier can let you keep marks on people by only using [Electrical Surge] because it will come off cooldown before the mark disappears. This build also gives you which is a HUGE advantage when soloing mid.

You can use a Flash -> Ignite then stun them to force someone to use their Flash to stay alive. The next go around your Flash and Ignite will come off cooldown faster beacuse of Mastermind and they will have no way to escape and should be a garunteed killed.

I take the obvious in the offensive tree aswell.

The reason I do not put the extra point in Good Hands and instead into Improved Recall is because you will save more time all together if you add up all the seconds saved compared to the measly 3% saved off death timers. This can also help you get back to precious farming faster. Unless you plan on dying 8+ times in the same game which I do not like to count on, also if you plan on dieing that many times this guide is not for you.

I feel this was a very Easy decision for the mark.

-For Quints I choose to use the . How ever is also a good decision to make up for lack of armor in this build.

-I choose the because you will almost always be going mid verse another AP. You can also choose to balance them out evenly with the flat stat and per level 50/50 / aswell to balance out in the beginning if you wish.

-For yellows I use to help with early game minion damage and to help defend against auto attacks. I also switch these out for . Also for seals could be scaling energy regen yellows for easier harassment in lane without leaving yourself open and not able to rush away. However mobafire has not yet added their icons to the database yet.

-Well I always start off with for some low level total health and health regen. I try to stay in the mid lane until I have 1550 Gold then I will go back and get and . Once you get Hextech Revolver your lane sutainability is basically garunteed and you will not have to go back unless you die, or need items. If you get low on health stay back and poke minions with Thundering Shuriken and Electrical Surge to regain some health. You can also let them push up to the turret then Lightning Rush > Electrical Surge on them to regain a TON of health.

-After get your for even more lane sustainability. Then get your to finish your beginning build. After you have these items you will be VERY hard to lane against and should not have any problem out sustaining / harrassing anyone.

-The next item I get depends on who I am playing against and how I am playing.
-If I get off to an awesome start and have awesome minion farm a couple of kills and lots of gold I will go for first.
-If I am doing Average I will grab first. I will also get this first if the slow will help me counter their champions.

- The next items I grab is either or . If they have more AP doing well as their carries get Abyssal Mask first. If they have lots of AD OR you think the activate of Zhonya's Hourglass will benefit you more get this.

Some people like to max Thundering Shuriken first on Kennen and this is one of the things that I used to do. However through some testing I found that you can sustain higher DPS/Bigger Burst by maxing Electrical Surge evenly as you level Thundering Shuriken. I highly recommend you try this you WILL see a difference in how much damage you do in a combo in early levels.

-This also allows to harrass the enemy while they are LOS or behind minions. You can get 5 stacks of your passive with Electrical Surge and throw your star at them through the minions to get a Mark of the Storm. Then use your Electrical Surge which will actually do good damage because you are leveling it up early.

-Get Slicing Maelstrom any time you can. It is definately worth it because it adds more marks at every level.

-Get 1 point at level 3 then Max Lightning Rush in the very end due to the fact that damage is not as good as the other skills. And level 1 will be sufficient for Kennen until level 14

I choose to get and . Flash is your bread and butter being able to Flash into clumps of people and initiate your Slicing Maelstrom to stun them all then get out. I choose to get Ignite for the extra little fire power for people running with low health to help you get those couple extra kills every game.

Kennen is a very hard to champ to master and learn. Playing him successfully takes a LOT of practice. Some key points to practice and good get at are here.

- Practice getting 5 stacks of the Electrical Surge passive to get your first Mark of the Storm on opponents then use the Active Electrical Surge and Lightning Rush through them to get the stun. Now you have them stunned and can garunteed land your Thundering Shuriken. Practice practice practice getting 5 stacks and getting that extra Mark of the Storm in the initiate it will make or break fights. This is what seperates the boys from the men with Kennen.

- Practice timing when you land your stuns. For instance open your Initial stun with Passive Electrical Surge > Active Electrical Surge > Lightning Rush. Then land a Thundering Shuriken. After this don't pop your Slicing Maelstrom instantly because it will stun them about instantaneously wasting your second stun. Instead wait until your first stun ends then pop Slicing Maelstrom to get two back to back stuns. Most kills or ganks in your lane will involve you getting 2-3 stuns.

-Know when you can flash in with a Slicing Maelstrom to stun someone and kill them. For me I find most champions below level 11-12 at around 60-80% health I can easily kill in 1 combo if I have my summoner spells. Also know when you need to fall back and really use that Thundering Shuriken on minions to use that spell vamp to get your health back up. After level 6 you can really harrass people with your Q and W to around 50-75% health very quickly and then use your low cooldown Summoner Spells to flash in and ult / Ignite which will almost garuntee a kill.

-Learn to block people in with Slicing MaelstromIf you are ganking someone from the side and you know they are going to be running back from the turret. Run in between them and their turret and use Slicing Maelstrom, don't necessarily be greedy and go for the kill and risk losing it. Make sure he doesn't make it back to the turret alive whether you or your teamate kills him.

-Last but not least use Slicing Maelstrom defensively. If you get caught and people are chasing you down and you will not make it back to your turret alive do not be afraid to use Slicing Maelstrom on the run. This will garuntee anyone getting in range of you getting stunned and you will most of the time get away.

All in all Kennen is by far my favorite champion. He can be very strong if played correctly so practice practice practice. Post any questions you have or if you have any comments I will respond to just about anything.