Hello players and welcome to this Tahm Kench support guide! I will be discussing some of the ways I like to play TK and hopefully sharing some secrets on how to succeed!

As the name suggests, this guide is focused on playing Tahm as a protector - someone who looks after his allies rather than focusing on CCing enemies. With this build and playstyle you will be able to keep your marksman safe from harm as well as rescue teammates when in need.

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Master Yi - The True Jedi

-Pog Raryin

+Ability to save allies from harm
+Can completely shut down an enemy champion
+Massive %HP damage
+Decent poke in lane
+Long-ranged ultimate for gank setups, objectives and escapes
+Strong health-scaling into damage



-Only single target CC
-No significant level 6 power spike
-Requires melee range to rescue / consume champions
-Requires GOOD coordination with teammates
-Easy to run out of mana early game

Block mitigate some champion damage Swiftness helps us carry our allies to safety Unyielding further mitigates champion damage Veteran's Scars adds some nice health for early game Juggernaut % increase in max HP, great for Tahm's HP scaling

Fleet of Foot for nice movement speed bonus Expanded Mind helps with mana in lane Scout helps with trinket warding Strength of Spirit for a small HP/5 boost Alchemist to boost potion duration Greed extra gold generation Culinary Master makes health potions more effective Scavenger extra gold when ally last hits Wealth extra starting gold Inspiration helps level up faster Bandit extra gold when poking Intelligence CDR and active item cooldown reduction Wanderer extra movement speed

Suggested Runes

Greater Mark of Armor - Good runes for a support. You are likely to be taking a large amount of damage throughout the game so some extra tankiness is very useful.

Greater Seal of Health - These runes are optional and are simply what I like to run. Makes you very healthy at the start of the game when combined with Relic Shield.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - My glyphs of choice for a tank / support. We are unlikely to be building any heavy MR items, only support items. These runes help protect us against nasty mages throughout mid to late game.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - I usually run these Quints on support. Very useful for TK to help use Devour for maximum potential.

Alternate Marks

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - Helps Tahm deal some extra damage however as a guardian support this is not our primary objective.

Greater Mark of Health - Much less effective than Greater Seal of Health.

Greater Mark of Cooldown Reduction - We are going to have numerous CDR items in our build so these are unnecessary.

Alternate Seals

Greater Seal of Armor - if you don't have health seals, or if you would prefer not to run them, I would highly recommend running flat armour seals instead. They are a good early game tool to help keep you alive in the lane.

Greater Seal of Gold - okay on a support, helps you get some items due to your lack of CSing

Alternate Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - Somewhat useful early game but mostly wasted mid to late game as we already have large amounts of CDR in our build path.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - if you don't have scaling MR runes or if you prefer to have the early game defensiveness rather than late game then opt for these runes instead.

Greater Glyph of Health - rather ineffective for HP, much more useful to grab some variety of MR instead.

Alternate Quints

Greater Quintessence of Health - Okay alternative to MS qunits. Adds some nice damage to your Devour passive.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power - if you don't have any alternatives then AP quints are good for some extra damage.

This build is focusing on playing Tahm as a Guardian, which means keeping our ADC (and other allies) alive at all costs. Exhaust is perfect to achieve this as it can greatly shutdown a player and help save a life. It can also be very useful to slow down an opponent in order to apply 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste.

Almost a must-have now due to everyone else taking this spell. A simple panic button to avoid ganks or escape sticky situations. It is especially useful when combined with Devour as you can save your ADC having to use their Flash by eating them and flashing over a wall.

Alternatives

IGNITE

An alternative to Exhaust. If you require some additional damage in your lane and feel that Exhaust is not necessary then feel free to run Ignite. I would still choose to run Exhaust in most scenarios as the ability to shut down an enemy carry usually outweighs kill potential when playing support.

GHOST

Somewhat useful for carrying your allies away with Devour but it requires Enchantment: Distortion to be truly effective. I believe the escape potential of Flash (flashing your ally over a wall) is much more useful than the speed boost from Ghost.

CLARITY

While it's nice to be able to spam abilities, Clarity simply doesn't offer you enough useful functionality beyond the early laning phase. Exhaust is much more useful throughout the entire game.

CV

Potentially useful if you want to chase down enemies with Devour but there are much better spells available. If you want the long ranged vision functionality simply get your ADC to purchase Scrying Orb.

REVIVE

While usually the value of things go up after they die, Revive will still remain the worst summoner spell of all time even after its removal in 5.4. Yes I am aware of Rally.

SMITE

Only useful for jungling, which is not covered in this guide.

GARRISON

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Put a point into Devour whenever available as it is Tahm's ultimate. It improves the cast range substantially and boosts the %HP damage from the passive.

I choose to max Devour first to increase the total duration of the consume. It allows you to keep an ally safe for longer which is primarily the main reason to pick Tahm Kench. Additionally it increases the bonus move speed which helps you get out of sticky situations. The increased damage is nothing to ignore as well, as you can do HUGE damage when consuming an enemy champion.

After Devour you should max Tongue Lash for the increased slow and damage, pretty self explanatory. Despite the nice potential damage increase I find the potential utility from Devour to be much more useful.

Lastly of course we rank up Thick Skin as it has a minor increase in power when levelled verses his other two skills. The shield does not improve with levels whatsoever and that is the main purpose of the spell. We can still get some nice regeneration with 1 point.

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SUGGESTED ROUTES

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Begin With

+ + x2 +

First Back

-> targon's brace

Early Items

->

Does the enemy team have lots of HARD CC?

Does the enemy team have lots of physical auto attackers?

Does the enemy have very little CC, or are you fed?

Core Build

STANDARD
face of the mountain -> - ->

AGAINST STRONG AD
face of the mountain -> -> ->

AGAINST STRONG AP
face of the mountain -> -> ->

NEED MORE ARMOUR?
face of the mountain -> -> -> OR

IS YOUR ADC FED?
face of the mountain -> -> ->

ADVANCED DESCRIPTION

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Starter Items

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+ +

I highly recommend running Relic Shield as your gold item. It provides you with some strong lane sustain and helps you secure last hits when under tower. However it shines particularly well on Tahm Kench due to Devour - you can scoop up an enemy minion and spit it towards an ally if they are far away in order to share the gold with them (every support knows the feeling of having a siege minion die while ADC is running back to lane).

The only other viable alternative is Ancient Coin. While the potential MS steroid from talisman of ascension may seem attractive, altogether it is not as useful as face of the mountain.

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Core Items

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- While we should be getting Stealth Ward as a starter trinket to help us ward the lane early game, after our Sightstone it becomes redundant. As a support you will likely be doing most of the warding which involves clearing wards also. Using Oracle's Lens is more cost effective than purchasing loads of Vision Wards. Upgrade your trinket from Sweeping Lens AS SOON as you are able.

- A must have for every support. Simply can't avoid getting this as it is much cheaper than purchasing individual wards. Whether you buy this before or after face of the mountain is mainly up to you and dictated by the pace of the game, personal preference etc. I would usually elect to upgrade Relic Shield to targon's brace and then buying Sightstone before finishing face of the mountain. Don't forget to upgrade to Ruby Sightstone when you can afford it (usually wait until you are full build as you have better options to spend your cash).


face of the mountain - A good item when filling a guardian role - helps keep your MVPs alive and also deals some underrated damage on the detonation. We mainly want this item for the nice HP stat as well as being able to execute minions with Devour.

- Boots mainly come down to personal preference and the situation at hand but I would select out of these three. Mercury's Treads are a safe pick if you are unsure as the enemy team usually has crowd control that you can mitigate (as well as magic damage). However if you are up against heavy auto attacking champions then Ninja Tabi can help substantially. If the enemy team is lacking CC and has weak auto attackers, or you / your team are very fed, Boots of Swiftness is a good choice as it helps you sprint around the battlefield, carrying your allies to safety.

- a VERY useful item that's stats are worth more than the item costs. Great for situations where the enemy team has multiple AP champions or fed AP champions. Active can be useful too if you are anticipating AoE damage to your team.

- a great item for supports to give their ADC windows of extreme power. We should be sticking to our ADC like glue in order to save them from bad situations with Devour so this item can be very useful. It also provides Tahm with some nice CDR and armour if you are against tough AD.

- great active for engaging fights and chasing down opponents, however it has limited use for peeling your ADC. Regardless it still provides decent stats as HP is especially useful on Tahm. You can also combine it with Devour to bring an ally into the enemy team for a solid engage.

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Good Alternatives

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- Useful in situations where the enemy team has heavy AD damage, especially crit-based. Arguably not as good as it was pre-Juggernaut patch however it can still come in handy if you have to deal with high physical damage.

- Only purchase it if you are fed and want some extra damage. More of a bruiser item than support however it can help you sprint around somewhat faster and deal a nice chunk of damage on engage. Still provides decent stats (especially for our HP passive).

- Another great armour item, however it is especially useful against attack speed based opponents. Generally good stats for a support as we love our CDR and mana. Will help slow down fed carries such as Master Yi, Vayne etc that rely on their fast attacks to get the job done.

- Great for saving your ADC from heavy CC teams. If they have the likes of Leona, Nasus etc who have crippling crowd control that really shuts down your marksman then this can be a good pickup. Also good against catch spells such as Dark Binding to stop an ally getting caught. Keep in mind that this item is not as good on Tahm as it is on other supports as he can simply Devour whoever it is that is being CC'ed and effectively nullify it. Still a decent choice though.

- a generally underrated item, however could be a decent pickup if your team is lacking AP damage. Provides the same magic resist aura as Locket of the Iron Solari however you don't get as many defensive stats for yourself. The active can be great for holding down a lane or splitpushing without having to be in the lane yourself.

- gives a nice amount of armour AND magic resist which is uncommon in items. The passive movement speed near towers is great for making some good escapes with Devour. If you are fighting back large waves of minions then the Void Gate can be particularly useful.

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Other Items

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- I usually would advise against these boots as most of your running will be done during combat with an ally in your belly, however if you are roaming constantly and want the extra mobility then these boots are an option.

- Generally not something you buy as support, however if the other team has CRAZY FED physical damage champs then it's always an option. Alternatively if they simply have lots of AD (at least 3) champs then Thornmail is a potentially good choice.

- Provides decent armour and a useful passive for extra movement speed near towers. The active can come in handy when diving towers especially to rescue your teammates if they are being attacked instead of you. Furthermore it gives health and CDR which are great stats for support (especially thanks to Devour's passive).

In this section I will discuss some of my thoughts pertaining to warding, especially as a support player. We will look at warding during the laning phase, late game warding, objective warding (dragon/baron) and Vision Warding. Feel free to skip this section if you are already understand the concepts of warding and are merely looking into some insight specific to Tahm Kench.

Laning Phase

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BLUE TEAM

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1 - Tri bush is one of, if not the most vital warding position for preventing ganks. When you are on blue side you are vulnerable to ganks from a) Tri bush and b) river. The ganker in question will most likely gank from tri-bush as it allows them to get further between you/your ADC and your tower.

2 , 3 - Occasionally they will gank through river, especially if your wards have been cleared or you are already in combat (and hence less likely to notice a gank). 2 is a surprisingly good ward as the SLIGHT increase in range can greatly help you in noticing an incoming gank. Not only is it a powerful defensive ward it is also less likely to be scanned / cleared by the enemy team as it is in an uncommon location. 3 is a generally safe ward and is better if a) you are worried about enemies hiding in the bush or b) you are unable to venture deep enough into the river to place ward #2.

4 - As supports usually like to hide in their bush to manoeuvre in secret, having a ward in the opposing bush can help deter early aggression. It is also useful if you get into a skirmish with the enemy bot lane and they are retreating, as losing line of sight even temporarily could lose you the kill. Later on in the laning phase it is also very useful if your top laner has Teleport - they can organise a sneaky gank once the enemy lane has pushed into your tower, and also to prevent lane ganks from the enemy jungler.

5 - If the enemy lane is constantly pushing into your tower and they are more often sitting in your bush than their own, it is wise to ward here so you don't get caught out once moving back towards the middle of the lane. This is also important as often the enemy bot lane will push hard into your tower in order to escort their jungler into #5 bush without being seen by your minions.

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RED TEAM

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1 , 2 - Red team has a somewhat easier job of warding against ganks as tri bush is a less viable route. If the enemy lane has pushed up into your tower then keeping #1 or #2 warded will detect the vast majority of gankers. If you are sitting under your tower it is easy to ward #1 simply by walking through YOUR tri bush as shown here.


3 - Useful to ward here if you are pushed into the enemy's tower however if you are on your side of the river it is very unlikely you will be ganked through here (and if you are, it is relatively easy to disengage).

4 - As supports usually like to hide in their bush to manoeuvre in secret, having a ward in the opposing bush can help deter early aggression. It is also useful if you get into a skirmish with the enemy bot lane and they are retreating, as losing line of sight even temporarily could lose you the kill. Later on in the laning phase it is also very useful if your top laner has Teleport - they can organise a sneaky gank once the enemy lane has pushed into your tower, and also to prevent lane ganks from the enemy jungler.

5 - If the enemy lane is constantly pushing into your tower and they are more often sitting in your bush than their own, it is wise to ward here so you don't get caught out once moving back towards the middle of the lane. This is also important as often the enemy bot lane will push hard into your tower in order to escort their jungler into #5 bush without being seen by your minions.

Mid to Late Game Warding

When playing support most of your team will rely on you to do the majority of the warding so it's important to be constantly maxing out your 3/3 cap for wards. Make sure you get a Sightstone as soon as you can and in-between fights or objectives look for potential places to place wards.

Now where should I place wards you might ask? This is highly dependent on what is happening in the game at the time and whereabouts it's happening. For example, if you notice Dragon is spawning in 0:30 seconds then it's likely that both teams will be gearing up for a Drag fight. It's probably not placing wards near the top Red jungle at this point in the game. Judge the situation and ward accordingly.

Not only is the current situation important but also the general feel of the game - if you are playing on the defensive for most of the game then it would be more beneficial for you to place wards defensively at the entrances to your jungle, or general entrance wards such as those in the river to spot enemy movement.

Your goal with Sightstone is to keep it maxed out at 3/3 wards as often as you can. However this doesn't mean you shouldn't be placing wards carefully and according to the flow of the game. Concentrate on interpreting where most of the game is actually "playing" or will be playing in the future and ward accordingly.

Objective Warding

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DRAGON

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Depending on what side of the map you are on, warding Dragon will be a little different. Blue side only has to focus on 3 areas: the path running down on the LEFT side of blue buff, the path on the right of blue buff, and up/down the river. We won't concentrate much on enemies coming from the river as they will likely be seen by minions when they are approaching and they can't really get access to Dragon pit without coming into vision of your other wards. For the other routes we can place careful wards in the bush on the path leading down from between the towers on mid lane, and warding the bush AT blue buff. Alternatively if it is not safe to ward the blue buff bush you can simply place a ward in the corridor leading up to blue which should provide enough vision.

Red side has a different story. There are 4 (main) potential routes that blue team could take. A) The path leading by Raptors, B) below red buff and through tri bush, C) below red buff and OVER the dragon wall, and D) past Krugs and through tri bush. Path D would only be used if the enemy team is already at bot lane so it is probably the least important to ward, however a simple ward in Tri bush will eliminate path C and D. You can knock out Path B and C by simply placing a ward over the wall which should catch anyone trying to go around through tri bush and will let you know if they are trying to steal Dragon from over the wall. That leaves Path A which can be spotted by a ward in the bush just over the wall of dragon pit (on the outer edge of the red buff camp) OR by placing a ward ( Vision Ward preferred) in the single small bush in river. This ward is helpful as the top section of bottom (Dragon) river is a highly contested ward zone and you can eliminate a lot of vision by keeping that ward protected.

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BARON

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Baron is a fairly similar situation to Dragon however it is mirrored for the other side of the map. Your most important job is to analyse the situation and determine which is the most likely path the other team would take to get to the objective (Baron in this case). Warding the most likely route(s) is vital as you need to be prepared for a potential team fight or enemy jungler.

As generally Baron is held above Dragon in terms of importance (excluding 5th drag), mostly it is advised to place wards deeper than usual in order to give your team a larger window to react to enemy presence. The map shows 2 "deep" ward locations that show a good deal of vision when the other team is approaching from their base - We have one in the bush near Raptors for blue team to place and one in the bush behind Wolf camp for red team. Obviously if you know that the other team is not at their base then these wards are less useful however there is always the possibility that one of the enemies is split from the group and approaching from a different direction.

Aside from these deep wards we also have some closer wards that give vision OUTSIDE Baron pit such as the one just over the wall (behind Red buff) and the bush just below river (beside/behind Blue buff). These are your primary wards that are easy to place as they are much closer to the pit. The bush just over Baron wall (behind Red buff) is one of the most important bushes as many junglers (regardless of what side of the map) will go to this bush before trying to steal Baron. Alternatively you can stick a ward just over the wall of the pit which will help against potential steal attempts also (mainly for Red team to place).

Pink Warding

Correct use of Vision Wards is an interesting topic as there are a number of uses for each ward. Primarily in this section we are going to be talking about selecting a location for your Vision Ward so that we can get the maximum lifetime and most useful coverage. With this being said, there are other uses outside standard "warding" for Vision Wards such as clearing dragon/baron, revealing stealthed opponents or simply clearing wards. For most of these situations I would recommend instead purchasing Sweeping Lens and upgrading to Oracle's Lens. This is especially useful for stealthed champions ( Vayne, Shaco etc) as you can move around to follow the champ and your true sight will follow you.

For each side of the map we are looking at 4 potential locations that I find the most beneficial in terms of Vision Warding.

1 - The small bushes in each side of the river are a great location for pink wards however they are also hotly contested being in central map locations. They are mostly useful in the first half or so of the game as river movement is minimal however there are still wards placed for protection of mid lane, preparation of dragon etc. The lower bush by dragon is definitely more used than the upper one until we get to post 20 minutes where Baron becomes available. Use of this bush is good as it covers the majority of routes into the pit and can even be used for a death-bush style attack.

2 - Great defensive wards. Lower one is good cover for bot lane (blue side) as any enemies that try and travel the long way around will be spotted. Also spots champions passing by Raptors into the jungle. Alternatively we have the upper one which is used frequently throughout the later game by both teams. It is great for red team to shut down aggression into their top jungle as well as spotting enemy movement in the area.

3 - My personal favourite. Bang for buck this is probably the best bush in the game for a Vision Ward (on both sides of the map). While it doesn't give the BEST scope of vision, it gives you a critical view of the jungle (red buff especially) while being in a location that is checked much less frequently than other bushes. This means the lifespan of your ward will be much greater and hence your 100g is being put to best use. This bush is placed in such a way that you can put the Vision Ward around the corner (don't smartcast) and it will NOT be seen by wards in the rest of the bush. Obviously this means your ward will not be able to clear other wards in the bush but it will still provide its circle of vision while being hard to spot.




4 - Another good location that is mainly related to objective vision. The lower one is more likely to be used throughout the first half of the game as Dragon is hotly contested and many fights are centered around bot lane. This location provides a good deal of vision of players approaching from red base and also spots wards placed in the top section of the river. The upper location provides a similar circle of vision focused on baron and players approaching from blue base. Timing this ward is important as both team's junglers are likely to use this bush throughout the early game as they are travelling to the river (Scuttle Crab) or to the enemy team's red buff jungle.

* I know I've mentioned it many times already but using your Tongue Lash + Devour combo to consume a minion then spitting it out at a range for Relic Shield executes is an incredibly useful trick.


* Use Devour to remove tower aggro from an ally.


* It's often useful to wait till the enemies have blown their CC on your ally before you use Devour - that way you have an almost guaranteed escape as they have limited CC remaining (and CC is irrelevant when they are in your belly anyway!)

* Devour will not interrupt your allies' special "channeled" abilites that aren't true channels - Crowstorm, Slicing Maelstrom, The Culling etc ; if the champion is still able to move (and if the effect continues through hard CC) then it should work through Devour!

* Use Devour to rescue your allies from certain death - aka Death Mark or Requiem !

* While most of the time we want to save our Devour to rescue an ally, a well timed cast onto an enemy champion can completely demolish them. Not only will it prevent them doing ANYTHING for a few seconds, it will also cut their vision and deal MASSIVE damage, even to tanks.

* If there is an enemy siege minion in the lane that you want to execute with Relic Shield but you don't have a stack, wait till the siege is nearly dead then use Devour to keep it alive until you have generated a stack. Obviously this only works if you are fairly close to a new stack (don't want to steal the siege from your marksman!).

* Using Flash during Devour can be a good way to ensure that your ally that you were carrying gets to hang on to their own Flash for another time.

* If you stand close to thin walls such as dragon pit you can spit allied champions over them with Devour.

* You can channel Devour for a long time (15 seconds!) so don't feel rushed if your ally isn't getting inside immediately. Cancelling the channel only puts the spell on a 10 second cooldown (the same goes if the spell is cancelled by taking damage).

* - Look for windows to use Q Tongue Lash - Being able to 'snake' your Q between minions to hit the enemy laners is a very useful skill. It packs a powerful slow even at rank 1 which can greatly deter lane aggression. If you use your Q every time the enemies try to move forward it will (hopefully) prevent them from taking aggressive actions in the lane like engaging on your ADC or placing deep wards.

* - Use Devour to bring enemies to your tower - Following the above steps, if you can get a few lucky Tongue Lashes in a row you should be able to get An Acquired Taste to 2 or even 3 stacks. This is a good opportunity to secure a kill or at least burn Flash as you can bring them into tower range. Not only are they at risk of taking a turret hit they will also take the HUGE %HP damage from Devour. Once you spit them out follow up with a Tongue Lash to lock them down if they don't die on impact.

All in all I hope you have enjoyed my guide for playing Tahm Kench as a Guardian. Please try / experiment with my build before you upvote or downvote. If you have any suggestions, improvements or comments be sure to let me know!

Thanks for reading!

Guide by Pognog
http://pognog.net/

Credits

-Thanks to jhoijhoi for her How to make a Guide guide!
-Thanks to Pog Rizzles for help with images/gifs