Hi Guys! Allow me to introduce myself: The name is Schnulles, a high school graduate with lots of free time on hand. I started in silver last season and climbed to gold in preseason, back in the day using mostly the Kench. I couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of in-depth Jungle guides on Tahm Kench this season, so I decided to fulfill my duty of letting the world know of it's amazingness. Now, you might be thinking: "Why should I listen to anything this latest denizen of Elo hell has to say?" Because it just works. Feel free to completely ignore all of this, but you will miss out on... nothing, really. Life has much more to offer. But that's just boring, right?

Pros

+ High Tankiness + Both CC and Teamsaver + Strong ganks if laner has their own CC + Huge map presence and astounding backdoor potential + Objective Control + Able to completely turn fight + Immense Scuttle control

The Kench's Tankiness gives him a a sustained jungle clear, especially after Enchantment: Cinderhulk. His E, Thick Skin, prevents burst damage if used correctly. His sustained CC on Tongue Lash hits hard, and whilst it may be conditional, most laners provide enough gap closers themselves so that you can accumulate your stacks. His Ultimate, Devour, enables unexpected ganks and backdoors with a teammate plus a lot of objective control. His Damage is insanely high for a tank (You should be able to 1v1 a Lee Sin at any point in the game) because An Acquired Taste is like a single-target, built-in Titanic Hydra. Lastly, the comination of An Acquired Taste and Devour can be used to turn any fight or to prevent the enemy jungler from smiting in a forced objective battle.

Cons

-Slow clear -Weak for solo-queue (no game changer) -Weak to percent-health shred -Only single-target spells -Interruptible Slow, no guaranteed CC

Yes, his clear leaves him behind with a good amount of HP remaining. No, he does not have a fast clear early. This puts you at a slight disadvantage when it comes to early ganks. Because you wanna make good use of An Acquired Taste, you will stack health rather than resistances compared to other tanks. Care for enemy junglers with Enchantment: Bloodrazor and Blade of the Ruined King, as they will annihilate your HP bar. Tahm does not have any AoE CC, slow or damage (besides using Devour on a minion; putting it on a cooldown for the rest of the fight). You will want to avoid a 5v5. Your Tongue Lash is your only way besides Devour to engage, and is a single-target skillshot. It can thus be blocked by minions, any champion summoned unit and Wind Wall. I still wonder how that last one feels.

Glacial Augment: Whilst I'd rather take Grasp of the Undying as Support or Toplaner, you'd barely get to use it in the Jungle. Glacial Augment, however, gives you stronger ganks and a phenomenal engage with Turbo Chemtank. This is the only Keystone that seemed useful to me.

Magical Footwear: Free boots with more movement speed? I'll take it. As a Jungler, you don't need boots early anyway and Tahm Kench can always do with 10 additional movement speed to outrun others. Additionally, Hextech Flashtraption isn't strong for a Jungler and you usually don't build anything that needs a Stopwatch

Biscuit Delivery: A Biscuit every 3 minutes allows you to greatly recover after a gank or to go for another Jungle clear before having to go back. As for the other options, Minion Dematerializer is completely useless in the Jungle. You could theoretically still choose Future's Market, but I prefer this one.

Approach Velocity: More movespeed towards Tongue Lashed targets and towards squishies that need to be Devoured. It synergizes greatly with his kit and playstyle, especially if you got them Slightly Magical Boots. Again, if you prefer it, you might also take Cosmic Insight.

Overgrowth and Conditioning turn you into such a monster lategame if you have managed to farm okay-ish, increasing both your damage and your tankiness. Other viable options to take are Font of Life and Demolish.

Flash: Everyone takes Flash, and our Fedora Froggy is not an exception. This is your only spell that allows reposition to hit a Tongue Lash, your only spell to catch up to an enemy with An Acquired Taste, your only spell to quickly get to an ally to save him with Devour, your only escape tool... I think I've made myself clear.

Smite: Hah! Just try jungling without it. (Don't please. Your team will hate you.)

An Acquired Taste(Passive): First of all, your Tongue deals more damage equal to 1.25%/1.5%/1.75% of your total health at levels 1/7/13. This damage applies to your basic attacks, Tongue Lash and Devour. Secondly, basic attacks or Tongue Lash on enemies marks them, stacking up to three times. With each stack on a champion, An Acquired Taste will deal more damage to them (3.75%/4.5%/5.25% at three stacks). At three stacks, Tongue Lash is empowered and you may use Devour on the target. After 6 seconds, the stacks decay at a rate of 1 per second. This Passive is a very important part of Tahm Kench, as it allows us to gain Damage by building Health and having immense Crowd Control after three stacks. Like my girlfriend used to say: Tongue is key. (Just kidding. I did not actually have a girlfriend, I'm a gamer after all.)

Tongue Lash(Q): Tahm Kench throws out his tongue for a medium ranged single-target skillshot, dealing damage and applying a 2 second slow to the first enemy hit. After 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste, it additionally stuns for 1.5 seconds. This is the Kench's only follow up spell, so you have to aim precisely. No blocking entity should be between you and your target. It has a relatively large hitbox, which can be a curse and a blessing. You can also use it for disengaging, as slowed champions are unlikely to catch up to you.

Devour(W): This is where things get interesting. Tahm Kench eats a nearby allied champion or enemy for up to 6 seconds at ability level 5 (3 seconds for enemy champions) using a point and click "carrying surpress", meaning that the eaten one cannot cast spells or attacks, becomes untargetable and travels with the Kench. If you eat an allied champion, you don't gain a speed boost towards enemy champions. Because they removed it. Because some people played Tahm in LCS and lots of others tried it out as SUPPORT. If you eat a monster or minion, you damage them for a percentage of their maximum health, you are neither sped up nor slowed, and you may spit them out as a skillshot, dealing damage in an area. This also applies a stack of An Acquired Taste to enemy champions hit. You cannot Devour the Blue Sentinel, the Red Brambleback, the Dragon or Baron Nashor. At 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste, you can Devour an enemy champion. If you do, you will be slowed by 95% and damage them for a percentage of their maximum health. They will have no stacks of An Acquired Taste afterwards. This basically gives you many different uses to this single spell: You can save an ally from hard CC or high incoming damage. Eating a monster or a minion improves your wave/jungle clear OR lets you poke the enemy. And finally, you can eat an enemy either to reposition them in your allies' CC or out of their tower OR to stop them from killing your teammates (for example, after a Zed triggered a Death Mark on your ADC) or to KS... meaning, kill secure, of course. Watch out for non-channeled on-going AoE spells (e.g. Fury of the Sands, Judgment, Dominus), as they will still be active inside you.

Thick Skin(E): Passively, a high amount of all damage you take in a short period of time is converted into Grey Health. Grey Health does not count towards your acutal HP bar, and you will die if your HP reach zero, even if you have lots of Grey Health. After not taking damage for a while, a portion of this Grey Health turns back into normal health. Actively, you may use this to turn all of your Grey Health into a shield, lasting for 3 seconds. Grey Health will be lost afterwards. Basically, this ability gives you a different form of in-built sustain, helping you whilst jungling. Using it's active in the jungle is also worth it, even more worth than just letting the passive kick in, as you can negate nearly all damage you took in the last few seconds. Moreover, if you can use it's active correctly, you can negate a bit less than half of your opponents bursts, giving you another great ability to survive. This can also be used to survive a tower dive.

Abyssal Voyage(Ultimate): Tahm Kench opens a direct connection to his belly, temporarily transforming himself into a one-way submarine ride across the river styx. He will then arrive somewhere else on the map, preferably with allied company. Regrettably, he only has space for one ally to travel with him, or may even travel all alone through the underworld. Enemy Champions still clinging to his presence and life may interrupt this channel by damaging the Kench, or he may even decide for himself not to travel, putting this ability on a 10 second cooldown. There have been some long ranged fast travel ultimates in the history of DOTA League (e.g. Destiny, Grand Skyfall) but this is the first one that can bring an ally with you for a longer range. It is a great ability for counter ganking or turning a teamfight, and can even be used to a fast travel to dragon or baron pit for stealing. Using this Ultimate, I could also win games by bringing the toplaner or ADC to the enemy nexus whilst the rest of the team forces a fight. Just a really great ability.

Hunter's Machete "Weird. I always thought tanks/mages take Hunter's Talisman." You are correct. But the River King is slighty different. He is very AA-reliant in his playstyle and that is also evident in his jungle clears. Additionally, Tahm Kench does not have reliable AoE pre- Enchantment: Cinderhulk, so Talisman's Passive would not be of much use anyway early, plus the lifesteal on Machete let's you heal periodically with Thick Skin's active. Convinced yet?

Refillable Potion This Potion is way more effecient than regular Health Potions, due to the fact that you are gank reliant early on (means backporting more often) and you should avoid certain camps on your first clear (also backporting more often, more of that in the Jungling section).

Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk As this is designed to be a serious guide, we really can't go for anything else. AP Kench is too squishy to make use of Thick Skin, on-hit kench lacks CDR and gap closers. AD Kench just straight up sucks. Cinderhulk gives you a good chunk of health PLUS buffs the health from other items, which is what we are aiming for. Moreover, the Immolate Aura greatly helps with the clear. Thus, I regard it as core. Some people would take Skirmisher's Sabre - Cinderhulk, but keep in mind here that blue Smite basically gives you a point and click follow up spell, great for passing minions to position yourself for Tongue Lash and you don't need additional dueling power.

Dead Man's Plate Armor reduces damage from Creeps, Towers, basic attacks ( Corki is an exception) and physical damage spells. As long as the enemy team does not troll, you will have a use for armor. Dead Man's Plate offers a really good amount of armor, alongside with a good amount of health AND a semi-gap closer/slow when charged. Also works well with Devour, as you will probably already positioned yourself well and can reach your target really easily. Usually a must-have, only exchange this when absolutely necessary.

Abyssal Mask Once upon a time, I looked down on this item. Now I realize how sparkling splendid this item really is. Health, MR, Mana and CDR, along with a damage increase for yourself and some maties and the eternity passive from Catalyst of Aeons. Only skip this if the enemy team is full AD.

Warmog's Armor Highest base Health in-game, 10% Cooldown Reduction and the ability to heal rapidly out of combat. This allows you to go in, press Thick Skin If you are nearly dead, get out, and get in again after a few seconds. Your teammates are going to love the peel, and you are going to love your health. Can be replaced if the enemy team is full/close to full AD, as other items will have a better use then.

Righteous Glory Personally, I really love this item. Apart from it's stats, which do not really excel that much (However, it IS the only mana item I usually use), it provides one of the best Actives in the game for tanks that need to get close. Let's just say you run around in a group of four, and encounter 2 little enemy champions. They realize they do not stand a chance and run away. Now, one of those has better escapes, whilst the other one doesn't. In this case, you let your team handle the one without escapes and go for the other, using this Item. As it also slows once you are at an enemy champion, you can easily get your stacks through WITHOUT using Tongue Lash, allowing you to lock the enemy down. Especially effective against teams with lots of escapes.

Spirit Visage This Item basically gives the Kench's most precious stats: Health, Cooldown Reduction, Resistances. The Health Regenation additionaly helps in the Jungle (not that you will need it at that point) and it's passive buffs Warmog's Armor and Thick Skin's passive.

Randuin's Omen Despite base stats nearly equal to Dead Man's Plate, this item does by far not replace it. However, it still provides awesome effects for certain matchups. First of all, you want to take this when the enemy team works A LOT around critical strikes. Doesn't necessarily have to be a Twitch Jungle or a Vayne Toplane, along with the ADC, because there are other champions also involving critical strikes (e.g. Talon or Shaco). Then, you've got a group slow with an OK range, and anybody attacking you won't be able to do so as quickly as he used to. A really good item, but usually does not fit into the rest of my build.

Titanic Hydra Anyone said something about lacking damage? 'cause this item fixes that problem (hopefully alongside with your mental problem, if you think that Kench lacks damage). You will feel like you have an additional passive early and a smaller one late, plus you will have waveclear of doom and empowered AA every 20 seconds. Definitely worth it, but I tend to play my Kench as a peeling tank, somewhat support even. That said, If you already have enough of those, go for this item.

Adaptive Helm The base health this item provides is much lower than that of Spirit Visage, whilst the other stats resemble each other. You would also lose out the healing passive, giving you a bit less sustain. However, this item can be bought additionally against lots of AP or replace SV entirely if the only magic damage dealer(s) in the enemy team has/have lots of DOTS. P*** off, Teemo.

Thornmail Ususally, this item provides way too little health (It did yield nothing a while ago) to be considered purchasing on Tahm Kench. However, in a full-AD enemy team comp, or a comp with champions using a lot of basic attacks (e.g. Aatrox... no wait) there are two thoughts crossing my mind most of the time: 1. Why the hell have I not picked Rammus? 2. I am going to destroy them with this item.

Frozen Heart This item has the highest base armor currently, a bunch of mana, alongside with 20% Cooldown reduction. Taking this item is possible (especially against a lot of on-hit), but keep in mind that you miss out on potential health, which this item does not provide.

Iceborn Gauntlet Basically the same as Frozen Heart, just with less armor, more mana and a more aggressive passive. Just for use in rare occasions.

Frozen Mallet Now, this Item looks really charming. A big chunk of health, a bit of AD and a you-can't-run-from-me passive, oh yeah. However, keep in mind that this Item lacks most crucial stats on Tahm: You will not gain any resistances and you will not gain any CDR. Additionally, most champions can't run from you anyway once you are close to them. You may take this if the enemy team heavily relies on their movement speed, or if your team still lacks damage (Health + AD == moar damage!).

Gargoyle Stoneplate Whilst only resistances are usually not the way to go on froggy champs, this item is still great combined with Locket of the Iron Solari for a potential massive shield. Moreover, it's passive should not affect damage dealt by your own, but insted actually increases it if you stand in three or more enemy champions. The initial damage on your passive won't be as much as you would want it to be, tough, especially as you usually pair this with Locket.

Locket of the Iron Solari You know... I have.. kinda just explained everything as I was describing Gargoyle Stoneplate...

Zz'Rot Portal Again, just resistances. If your Team needs a slow push and you know how to use this Item, you might as well buy it. If not, I would refrain from doing so. However, this Item is THE way to go if you have lots of unnecessary gold. Just sell your boots (if you still have some), buy this item, use it correctly, sell this item, buy your boots again (or whatever item you have sold).

Ninja Tabi Even though I can hardly imagine Ninja Tahm, those are the boots you want to go for if the enemy team is snowballing with AD champions or is working much around basic attack modifiers (for example, a stacked Nasus is a threat - even for a tank. As his Q is just empowers his next auto attack, 10% of that damage will be blocked by Ninja Tabi). It also reduces the damage you take from the Jungle.

Mercury's Treads Not only effective against high magic damage dealers, but also reducing any CC (Surpression and Knock-Up are not CC, they are just pure cancer). As tanks want to build the Frontline and get to the enemy backline, most tanks take this, especially into a high-CC enemy team comp.

Boots of Swiftness The Slow variant of Mercury's. You will want those if the enemy isn't dealing enough damage to take you down anyway, if the enemy team has many slows or if you have to really go fast to even be able to reach their squishies.

Knight's Vow Because you are a jungler, and not a support. This time, you won't stay around your teammate all the time. Additionally, it's base stats aren't good enough for jungling Kench.

Guinsoo's Rageblade Don't even try. This includes any on-hit Item. Don't. Even. Try. If you are seriously in the mood for trolling, at least take a Nashor's Tooth.

Sunfire Cape Whilst it is usually a great item to take, we already get the Cinderhulk passive due to our jungler item. As such, other Items provide a better comination of effects.

You should always try and start with your botlane, as you heavily depend on a good leash and early ganks. Moreover, a toplaner needing to give you a leash may get a disadvantage on their lane.
Now, you might think: 'But I really need that blue buff or else I can't do anything!'.
Wrong. Junglers are not dependent on any specific side, and you should even start botlane with Shyvana, Tryndamere, Rengar or Dr. Mundo if it means taking Blue Sentinel.
That said, I basically recommend two and a half routes to go for:


(original image taken from the Fanmade League wiki)
(PICTURE OUTDATED)

Blueside:

1 Redbuff 2 Murk Wolves( Smite) 3 Rift Scuttler 4 Bluebuff( Smite) This will give you level three, keep in mind however to adapt your route to circumstance. If there is a fight breaking out somewhere or some lane needs help because it is getting ganked at level 2, this should be your focus before reaching level 3. 5 Gank Top or Midlane In case you could not go for a direct gank, tell your teammates to stop pushing. This won't be a problem in higher Elo, but in Bronze to Gold, most teammates do not know anything about lane management (including myself). By the time you are done with Gromp, at least one lane should be up for a gank. If still noone reacted, just backport, buy parts of your Jungler item and proceed with doing Raptors and Krugs. Raptors should be avoided before the first backport! In terms of doing Raptors, Wolves or Krugs, always Devour the big monster and leave it in your belly for the longest time possible; This will deny most of the camp's damage output.

Redside:

1 Bluebuff 2 Murk Wolves Everything I've written in regards to blueside also applies here. You should also take the Scuttle Crab before ganking. Depending on your enemy, you can choose to do 3.1 Rift Scuttler (Top) ( Smite) 4.1 Redbuff ( Smite) 5.1 Gank Top or Midlane or 3.1 Rift Scuttler (Bot) ( Smite) 4 Gank Mid or Botlane If you choose the second option, you will only have reached level 2. Some minion xp in mid can change this or alternatively you can do Gromp before Murk Wolves and still proceed with the rest.

Alternative Route (for both sides):

1 Raptors "But haven't you just told me to avoid Raptors on the first clear?" Yes, imaginary complainer, I have. But ain't no rule without exceptions, right? This route is highly dependent on your midlaner, though. You don't want to bother botlane if you start Raptors, as they have to walk significantly further to get to their lane. This means your midlane has to leash. Anyhow, not all midlaners can give you a leash that would not lead to you having to smite or your death (You are not Kayn, after all). Suitable midlaners are, sorted alphabetically: Ahri, Brand (watch out for his passive; it might deny you some raptors), Ekko, Galio, Gragas, Karma, Lux, Talon, Ziggs and Zilean. When using this route, you start Devour! 2 Redbuff( Smite) 3 Gank Midlane A leash from midlane means a small depletion of their mana pool, which can be crucial in laning. Therefore, you want to give your laner an early gank, enabling him to make up for this lost mana. Ask for a pushed-in lane beforehand! After your first clear, just clear the camps that are available, and gank when the option is given / no near camps are up.

Pre-Ganking

Evaluate which lane is the most gankable. Factors for doing so are: How much is the lane pushed, how many escapes does the enemy have, does the enemy still have Flash, is the lane warded (just ask your laners Is it warded?), how much mana does your ally have, how much CC does your ally have.

For example: Your midlane Ekko is laning against a Katarina. Your ally has poked quite a lot, leaving the enemy with less than half life and Ekko with little mana remaining. However, with his Q pokes he has also pushed the lane, resulting in Katarina safely farming under her tower. You know exactly that you cannot towerdive her, not only because you simply lack the damage, but also because she could just Shunpo away.

Contrarily, your Nasus toplane seems to have a struggle stacking against the enemy Darius. He had to get his lane pushed in to avoid getting harassed, and thus loses out on a lot of potential Siphoning Strike stacks. Darius is nowhere near his Ultimate, meaning he is safely gankable.

Ganking toplane is not only more likely to result in a kill than ganking midlane, but it also secures the Nasus one to two minion waves to safely farm on without any threat, meaning that the lane requires less to no treatment in the future.



Engaging

Ping that you are on your way to the lane. This way, your lane has time to prepare, force a fight or apply CC. If the enemy is too far away, hit with a precise Tongue Lash - otherwise, just stack with AA's and Tongue Lash afterwards. Use Devour only if the enemy is about to get under their tower.

After level 6, you can engage by using Devour behind the enemy laner. This way, you block their path to safety, making killing them easier.

I am still writing on this guide, perhaps even at this very moment. I will make sure to finish my work and I will afterwards update frequently (especially the matchup section) and answer questions.

Some stuff i still want to say:

I have sorta abandoned this little gem, meaning that I don't play it as often anymore. I have had some frustrating losses at the beginning of this season with this (I seriously believe that my teammates were at fault), leaving me with a winrate of 18% at one point, and though I did make it to gold using this and my winrate is at like 46% with Tahm Kench, I am currently playing other picks, mostly Garen Jungle. Might do a guide on that if requested.

This guide is not for players new to Jungle. If you wanna learn Jungle, go with some easy to learn classic Jungler ( Warwick Jungle is pretty easy, plus he only costs 450 BE. Just an example, though).

I would really like to have some constructive feedback on my guide, so if you have some time, feel free to tell me in a short comment what you liked and disliked or to ask questions.