Hello, I am a average level player (approx high silver). So I am no authority in this game or AD Kennen, but I like playing strange/non meta builds like AD Kennen, AD Teemo, AP Yi before the change, AP Sion. So I at least have some exposure and wanted to make a Solo Top AD Kennen build since there were not many.

I ran a non crit AD Kennen since S2 because the Passive of W is not effected by crit. I just recently have been experimenting with crit items and Like how they work with his kit even though at first glance crit items seem not as efficient as flat AD items. So I am putting both and you can choose which one you like.

I may do some actual hard number calculations to see which comes out on top in numbers, but some of the non number effects will not be considered. Hopefully I add that in.

I am keeping my guide simple, I probably will not add ascetics. i know it makes it look good and adds production value, but I think the information is what matters. maybe if i have time i will get to that.

Pros-
ranged
good harass
counters most tops
no mana
good mobility
CC built into offense (passive stuns)

Cons-
squishy
have to know positioning tactics
play style very different from ap kennen (never engage team fight with ult)
Passive stun has requirements (stacks)
ultimate is mainly for utility because of ap scaling

While the AD nerf hurt Kennen's early game, it was targeted at AP Kennen that starts Doran's Blade. it also effects AD Kennen, but not nearly as much, after your first back you buy another AD item and improve your harass and it just gets better mid game.

AD Kennen is a good counter top. The current meta is tanky tops, which are often melee and a bit slow, especially in the early game. Kennen has a amazing harass early game and just gets better when you buy phage and atk spd items.

A good thing about kennen's harass is its 2 dmg sources, so a tank can not build too effectively to counter you. Also with the change to BOTRK you counter tanks even more as it synergies with you perfectly.

As a carry you have to play aggressive and harass as much as possible. Otherwise kennen's kit is wasted and you will give the opponent the advantage. you absolutely have to win lane to progress to the late game, as Kennen tends to fall off late game.

probably the main reason you see bad AD Kennen is they are new and has not been able to break away from AP kennen playstyle. Just as AD Kennen uses a completely different build from AP Kennen, it should be played different in terms of tactics. as a AD same with ADC on bot you never engage and you have to use positioning. so you must play AD kennen same as if you were bot lane. Kennen is great for this because of the mobility in his E.

you should never use your ultimate and E for damage and NEVER engage the team fight with them. ultimate and E are more for utility. you should mostly pop your ultimate when you get jumped on to get stun stacks out. and E should be for positioning rather than damage. using E to get a stun stack is dangerous and should only be done when you have and idea of all enemy positions. if you go in with E, you dont have an E to get out when focused.

As mentioned before AD kennen has to be aggressive and harass as much as possible. kennen has a great early and mid game, but falls off late game. if you do not win lane hard you will have problems running into the mid game and even more problems into the late game. this is very similar to Annie, but not as bad.

I use flash + ignite. since your a ADC you can go with barrier or even cleanse. cleanse tends to have more usefulness once team fighting happens, but its viable. you can also replace flash with ghost.

Most of the items do not need an explanation, but i will mention a few items just for clarification.

Kennen's kit is usually built on the stun from his passive. to get those stacks AD kennen focuses on his W, to make that most effective, you build atk spd.



Runaan's hurricane- gives atk spd and scales on AD. the passive helps your W passive get stacks. so assuming your target is standing near other targets you can get a orb every 2 hits rather than every 4. so the multiple hits plus the atk spd makes you stun faster.



phantom dancer/statikk shiv- the crit increases your on hit physical dmg, but that does not transfer into the dmg of your W.

atkspd helps getting passive stacks faster.

the movement speed of these 2 items are great for your kiting ability. as a adc, you need to be able to kite and reposition constantly. it also helps with harassing.

so i did a very quick number crunch, trying to make it as simple as possible. it seems that crit build has much more dmg potential than non crit. too be fair the non crit build is more well rounded with the armor pen from last whisper. my calculations were based on the target having 0 armor and 0 magic resist. in this situation you would have to replace phage with a second bloodthirster, which still falls short in dmg when considering atkspd and crit chance, but you have an extra 6% lifesteal.

if the enemy builds armor, which you may run into a tanky top, the non crit build can close the gap slightly, but i still think crit comes out on top, until the enemy builds a lot of armor and i think it would have to be like 150+ armor to really make the non crit build reasonable.

dmg aside, the crit build gives additional movement spd and atk spd, while it doesnt directly tune into the dmg calculations ultimately effects total dmg.

i may or may not update this guide often. please leave feed back and vote. please base your vote on the information provided. please do not just say "ad kennen does not work" or "No pics this sucks" ad kennen does work, while it may not be the meta or the only way to build kennen. this guide does not say AP Kennen is bad. just 1 way to play kennen in the top lane. as for the ascetics, that is not the focus of these guides. as long as the information is presented coherently i think the guide is done correctly.

thank you,
~Vicious