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Kennen Build Guide by

Kennen - Don't mess with flippin' ninjas! (AD top lane)

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16 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Pallis123

Kennen Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (16) More Kennen Guides

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Starting items #1

Starting items #2

Starting items #3

Starting items #4

First back

Core items

Full build

Optional items

Ability Order

Kennen Passive Ability

More Kennen Counters

Introduction

Kennen - the Heart of the Tempest

There exists an ancient order originating in the Ionian Isles dedicated to preservation of balance. Order, chaos, light, darkness -- all things must exist in perfect harmony for such is the way it goes. This order is known as the Kinkou and it employs a triumvirate of shadow warriors to uphold its causes in the world. Kennen is one of these shadow warriors, entrusted with the sacred duty of Coursing the Sun - tirelessly conveying the justice of Kinkou.

Kennen was born in Bandle City and it is said that in his first living moments he bolted first from the womb and second from the midwife who delivered him. His parents had thought that he would outgrow his boundless energy, but as he matured, his energy found no limits and was matched only by his unnerving speed. Despite his astonishing gifts, he remained unnoticed (or at least uncaught, as he was quite the prankster) until, on a dare, he ran straight up the great outer wall of the Placidium. When word of this feat reached Kinkou ears, Kennen was quickly and quietly brought for an audience. He found that the role of the Heart of the Tempest suited him, frenetically delivering both the word and the punishments of the Kinkou across the realm. He now works with his fellows Akali and Shen to enforce the balance of Valoran. This hallowed pursuit has unsurprisingly led the triumvirate to the Fields of Justice.

"The Heart of the Tempest beats eternal... and those beaten remember eternally."

Why would we play AD Kennen in top lane?

AD is a very, very solid pick for top lane and one of the only champs that has no true counter. Since most top laners are melee, you can easily harrass them with your auto-attacks and the occasional and . The reason why can play top and most other auto-attack reliant squishies can't, is because he can easily farm from afar with his s when he has a hard lane and he doesn't have to fear enemies running in on him because he can stun them. The same also applies to AP top, but playing AD makes for easier harrass because you don't need your s (which are easily blocked) to get decent harrass on your enemy. In the late and mid game you should play like a second AD carry for your team. You function slightly worse than they do as ADC (yes, you have a steroid on your ), but that's the only thing while other ADCs have a kit made for playing ADC. Overall, AD is godmode in lane and can shut down the enemy completely while getting good farm. Late game you are almost as good as an ADC, and should also play like one!

Pros / Cons

Pros

Like every other champion in this game, has a few reasons why he is good to play. He can literally wreck his laning opponent and he is one of the fewer AD like champions with a built-in stun that's quite easy to pull off. If you get a little bit more experienced with , you can even stun your opponent twice in one fight. And besides this, is very fun to play! Who doesn't like running around as a little ninja yordle while dishing out good amounts of damage?

Cons

But , sadly, has his downsides as well. There is only one defensive item in this build and he is naturally squishy. Therefore he requires good positioning to be of use. If you get behind and you play against an AD bruiser (which is very likely), chances are you will get blown up and there is no chance to recover if they are any decent at zoning. The only thing you can do is farming with your s once so often. And AD isn't as good in teamfights as AP is.

Masteries

Summary

Offensive tree

We are playing AD and not AP , so attack speed is better than cooldown reduction.

This makes last-hitting minions a little easier. Can be placed in for cooldown reduction.

Although we play AD , we still have AoE abilities to apply this passive to everyone.

Simple. AD needs attack damage. 10 attack damage at level 18 is good for three points.

4 flat AD is good early game as it makes for both better harrass and easier last-hits.

If you harrass well your enemy will constantly have less than 50% health. 5% increase? Yes please.

You deal damage with your spells and play AD. Keep up your harrass and this will help a lot.

If you play AD without getting a 5% increase on your AD, you're doing something wrong.

The armor penetration is good for your basic attacks, magic penetration helps with your spells.

You are a carry and need to deal damage, 'nuf said.

Defensive tree

Most top lane champions deal damage with auto-attacks. This starts to add up quite fast.

The little health you lose in lane, recovers some faster with this. Decent mastery.

Same explanation as for , and this also applies to spells and other ways of damage.

36 flat health can be the difference between surviving or winning an engage and dying.

You will be facing mainly AD based enemies, so armor helps a little bit.

Utility tree

I don't like going into the utility tree, because in top lane it is very important to be able to trade well with your enemy, and defense helps in that a lot more. If you prefer utility, you could use the next masteries:

A little bit more movement speed, which makes for easier kiting, better roaming and going to lane faster.

The other points in tier 1 utility are useless, but is just a little bit better than the rest.

10% cooldown reduction on your summoner spells means you have up half a minute earlier.

You benefit from both spell vamp and life steal. 1% isn't a lot, but one more health per hit adds up.

Don't dip any deeper into the utility tree than these masteries, you need the 21 (/ 19 if you want 3% spell vamp and life steal) points in offense.

Runes

Quintessences

The two together with a (and maybe a few points in ) make that you get ~ 8 health back per hit, which should be more than enough sustain in lane. We also take one to help in last-hitting under turret and trading.

Marks

Together these marks give you 9,55 more AD, which will be rounded up to 10. It's standard on every AD carry player. You might say "Why don't you run greater mark of hybrid penetration?" They are a good option too, but is easier for last-hitting.

Seals

You wil most likely be facing an AD opponent in top lane (or at least one with physical damage), so flat armor helps you the most here. is the most cost-effective seal anyway. If you know you are up against an AP champ, you can go for .

Glyphs

If the enemy knows how to make a good team composition, you will most likely be facing either an AP based top laner, or an AP based jungler. In both cases the helps you in the early stages of the game, which is where you should farm up for a good late game.

Summoner Spells

First spell: mobility

Your first summoner spell is - without exceptions - always one for your mobility. On is better because you already have a built-in movement speed steroid in your . If you know how to position properly, however, you could get away with for better kiting.

Second spell: offense / defense

There are in my opinion three viable options for :

I prefer as my second spell, because it gives way more killing potential in lane than the other options. However, if the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, you could pick and is viable too for the same reason you use it on other ADCs.

Champion Abilities

Skill order

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Generally spoken: > > >

Passive: Mark of the Storm

This passive is what makes a viable top laner. Your abilities apply a to your enemy and the third stack stuns them for one second. Once you have your passive and active up, throw them both on your enemy and then hit them with a or your to stun them. At level 6, when you have your , you can stun your oppent twice, normally resulting in a won fight.

Q: Thundering Shuriken

You take a point in this skill at level 2 and leave it until you have maxed out your . It deals ~ 75 damage which is equal to an auto-attack in the early stages of the game. If you are being zoned you can try to last-hit with this skill from afar. And it is of course one way more to apply a to your enemy and stun them.

W: Electrical Surge

This is your most important ability on AD . It's passive makes AD viable. Every fifth attack deals damage based of % of your AD, beginning at 40% and ending at a whopping 80% - it's like two auto-attacks in one! It's active scales with AP and deals magic damage, and also adds a , making it useful for stunning your enemy.

E: Lightning Rush

This is an awesome escape move with quite a low cooldown. It gives you 335 movement speed and makes you able to run through minions, so you can easily run away from a gank. In lane you can also through your enemy to apply a . Remember, you can't attack while ing, so turn it off after you applied the mark!

R: Slicing Maelstrom

s trademark ability. As soon as you press R, you are surrounded by a storm dealing damage and applying a to every enemy it hits. It attacks the same champion up to three times, essentially being a stun on its own. This together with the stun from your other abilities, makes for a double stun and likely a kill at level 6.

Ability combinations

+ + (+ + )
The easiest way to get your enemy stunned, because you don't rely on hitting your (skill-shot). You attack your enemy with a buffed auto-attack, then immediately rush into them like a wrecking ball. Afterwards immediately press E again, so you are able to auto-attack once more. Press W for and watch them being stunned. Throw in one or two auto-attacks and back off. You should have dealt around 300 damage without taking an awful lot back. Add your ult and to this if you decide to go all-in at level 6.

+ (passive) + (active)
This combination can be applied in any following order you want. It allows you to stay at a safe range and still deal some good damage (~ 200). Once you manage to hit a on your enemy, immediately try to pull this of. Remember you have energy, you can spam your abilities!

Items

Starting items

Since the preseason changes, you can start with a and a , literally giving you all you need for the laning phase: damage, sustain and some health. I highly prefer this option, together with the .

A gives you a lot of sustain, and since you shouldn't be taking too much damage this is enough to help you out for the rest of the laning phase, hence you can immediately get your bigger purchases in terms of damage. The 100 flat health can make you survive all-ins as well.

+ 4 s is a great start on . You can rush your , stay in lane for a long while and maybe even bait your opponent into thinking that you are going for AP anyway, making them waste money on magic resist.

10 attack damage and some potions. You can also go for a fast this way. Although I find it to be a weaker version of in lane, you can go this way if you really think you need the three s because you have a hard match-up.

First back

To pick the and up, you need - depending on what you started - ~1500 money. If you have got a kill and farmed up well, this should be possible. It gives you attack speed and a little damage for trades, and provides you with 10% lifesteal. The ward helps you to see incoming ganks. You also have movement speed to escape ganks (and roam, although roaming isn't that good on AD )

Core items

You should rush for a few reasons. First, the basic stats are all good for AD . Second, it's active and passive are very good for toplaners. Bruisers normally build a lot of health, and this way you will shred through them. , once stacked, gives 100 AD and 18% lifesteal, which is insane. After this item you normally have a huge power spike and should force teamfights. Always get wards.

Full build

After , get a . Most enemies will have armor by now and this diminishes the effect of armor a lot. Your fifth item is a defensive one, and I prefer . Nice resistances, awesome passive. As a last item, I like getting . It gives a lot of attack speed, but we mainly get it for the passive. You now get 3 stacks of every hit! Just like s passive.

Optional items

You might wonder why I don't pick up / . Since we do nothing with critical hits in this build, that stat is wasted. They both give less attack speed than , and the movement speed is negligible. 's passive is way better than those two. As last item, you can replace with . vs. heavy crowd control teams and if you need help with kiting.

Gameplay

Laning phase

While laning as , you must keep two things in mind: 1. I need to get as much farm as possible. 2. I need to shut down the enemy toplaner.
First one is priority, but when there aren't any low minions close, you should throw some auto-attacks on your enemy. They must fear you. They must stay away from you, so they lose farm, and thus money. If they don't stay away, they will eventually be low enough for an all-in at level 6. But keep in mind, farm > harrass. Always take every last-hit you can before harrassing your opponent.
You can push your lane by ing into the minions and then using your . Your enemy's turret will slowly go down and you have half a minute to roam to midlane. But don't do this without wards, otherwise the enemy might turn up behind you and knock you into their turret.

Mid game

By now you should have at least your , and maybe even . You should team up as 5 and force fights at . If you are level 11, you have a level 2 which is very potent. You shouldn't dive into the middle of the enemy team like AP , because you don't have . But as soon as someone jumps on you, pop it and watch them be stunned and die. Remember, you're playing like an ADC, shoot whatever is closest and don't rush for the carries.

Late game

This is where ADCs shine, so this is also where you shine now. If you have finished your , stunning the entire enemy team is so easy, just like you are playing without having to stay into the middle. Just use auto-attacks, press W and throw in some s and finish them off together with your team. GG.

Word of thanks

There are a few people who I want to thank for giving me good tips / help for my guide. The first is, of course, jhoijhoi for her awesome guide on how to make a guide. The second is Maintained, for his comment on my Katarina guide with some useful tips.