Hello all. welcome to my in-depth guide for solo top Kennen in season 3. I don't have many ranked games played with him this season, however, I'm well experienced with Kennen, and can play him pretty damn well. This guide is where I'll be sharing my knowledge with you.

Pros

[*] Enjoyable and rewarding to play.
[*] Exceptionally good teamfight and late game.
[*] Incredible farmer.
[*] Great harass with autos + Electrical Surge
[*] Built-in gap closer.
[*] Good AP scales.
[*] Can fit into almost any team comp.
[*] Can be built to cater to a variety of different play styles.




Cons

[*] Squishy early game.
[*] Poked easily while farming.*
[*] Unable to control who Slicing Maelstrom targets.
[*] Runs out of energy quickly.
[*] No built-in sustain.
[*] You cannot basic attack while in Lightning Rush.

*This's ONLY if you use E+W to farm each wave. If you use Q and autos to farm, it's much easier to avoid harass.

Flash is your basic escape/gap closer on all champions, and pretty much a necessity. Pretty much your Get Out of Jail Free card, or (since we're making a Pokemon reference) your Run Away.

Ignite is something that you don't need, but it is very helpful. It adds nicely to your early game burst, and can help you secure kills throughout the game. Plus, true damage never goes unnoticed in teamfights.

Teleport is a helpful spell for staying in lane as well as split pushing. Switch Ignite out for this if no one else on your team wants to take it.
Barrier a somewhat decent summoner spell on Kennen, but once you get Zhonya's Hourglass it's pretty much worthless. Ignite is a better choice.
Cleanse isn't very helpful at all on Kennen. Even when cc'ed, Slicing Maelstrom will continue to add marks, so you really don't need this.
Heal is basically the same thing as barrier. Decent, but unneeded as the game progresses.
Ghost is NOT something you want on Kennen. It does literally the exact same thing as Lightning Rush, but with a longer cooldown. In short, it's worthless.
Exhaust is mediocre, but really isn't needed once you get your Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Kennen has an interesting, unique kit that utilizes the Mark of the Storm passive to provide mass cc.


A very unique passive that applies a Mark of the Storm debuff on the opponent each time they're hit with a spell, or after every 5th auto attack. Getting 3 marks on an enemy stuns them for a short period of time.


Cost: 65/60/55/50/45 energy.
Cooldown: 8/7/6/5/4 seconds.
Damage: 75/115/155/195/235 (+75% of total AP)
Thundering Shuriken is your basic skillshot. Good for bush checking and poking in lane.


Cost: 45 energy
Cooldown: 14/12/10/8/6
Damage: 65/95/125/155/185 (+55% of total AP)
Electrical Surge is a good spell that provides good harass in lane. It's sure to hit, and has a nice damage output. Every 5th auto attack also deals an extra 40/50/60/70/80% of Kennen's attack damage. This pairs well with Hextech Gunblade.

*Note: Your 5th auto attack will be a larger, blue shuriken. This also moves faster than your normal attack, making it good to have up when pushing down towers.


Cost: 100/95/90/85/80 energy
Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6
Damage: 85/125/165/205/245 (+60% of total AP)
Lightning Rush is your gap closer. It has a nice damage output, as well as an incredibly helpful armor/magic resist buff, giving you an extra 10/20/30/40/50. It also grants you 335 extra movement speed and the ability to move through units for 4 seconds.


No Cost
Cooldown: 120 cooldown
550 range
Slicing Maelstrom is Kennen's bread and butter. Over a duration of a few seconds, 15 bolts of lightning, each dealing 80/145/210 (+40% of total AP) will strike an enemy champion. There is a 0.5/0.4/0.33 second delay between each bolt. Each bolt applies one Mark of the Storm. In short, you stun every member of the enemy team over a few seconds. Pairs incredibly well with Zhonya's Hourglass.

Kennen can be built with many different item paths, but I'll be explaining my personal favorite for this tiny ball of terror.

Sorcerer's Shoes are your basic boots for any AP caster. Magic Pen and Move speed.

Hextech Gunblade is your form of sustain in a fight. Spellvamp and lifesteal combined with a nice slow active that will help you set up your combo.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is your main form of bulk. It gives a good amount of AP and HP. The slow it adds pairs up nicely with Lightning Rush for great kiting ability.

Zhonya's Hourglass is one of the best items available for Kennen. After using Slicing Maelstrom, you can activate this and have complete immunity for 2.5 seconds, while steal dealing damage and stunning your enemies. A must have item on any build.

Rabadon's Deathcap is your basic flat-out damage item on any AP carry. This adds tremendous burst to your kit.

Liandry's Torment is another item that works well with Slicing Maelstrom. Even after the target has been fully stunned, they'll continue to take damage. Overall very helpful because it gives you sustain damage.

Kennnen actually has very few champs that threaten him in lane. They'll be in descending order of biggest threat. ( Biggest threat down to smallest threat )

Swain
[*] Will out sustain
[*] Will match farm
[*] Works better with junglers
[*] Stops engage
[*] Pokes hard
[*] Almost completely ignores damage from Slicing Maelstrom

Yorick
[*] Will out sustain
[*] Pokes hard
[*] Wins trades
[*] Denies you farm

Vladimir
[*] Out sustains
[*] Pokes hard
[*] Denies you farm
[*] Dodges ult with Sanguine Pool
[*] Pushes lane hard while farming

Irelia
[*] Out sustains
[*] Farms more efficiently
[*] Can tank harass
[*] Wins trades

There are a large variety of champs that pair well with Kennen.

Nunu & Willump
[*] Gives AS for Electrical Surge
[*] Tanks damage for you
[*] Ults pair well

Galio
[*] Same as Nunu & Willump

Amumu
[*] Same as Nunu & Willump and Galio

Fiddlesticks
[*] CC keeps enemies in range
[*] Ults pair well

Kennen is an all around great champion that can be very rewarding. There are many champs that work well with him, although he does have his fair share of counters. He can push lanes and farm easily with the combo of Lightning Rush and Electrical Surge. He has great poke coming from Thundering Shuriken and Electrical Surge. He has a great teamfight, with the potential to stun the entire enemy team with Slicing Maelstrom. He dominates lane post 6 and works well with junglers to set up easy ganks. His gap closer Lightning Rush allows him to get out of most ganks, and chase down enemies. He has undeniable power and can easily carry a team to victory.

5/14 Fixed Skill Sequence problems

5/14 Fixed runes to accommodate more to solo top, the previous set up was mainly for aggressive mid.

5/14 Fixed Masteries

5/14 Added footnote to cons.

5/26 Made "Counters" more visually appealing

5/26 Made "Team Synergies" more visually appealing