Kennen Build Guide by joker479

Summary

Hello Lol Players,
I'll present you my way of playing Kennen.
I like this champion since I played him in my first game, because he is a very strong mid- or top-champ and able to rule every teamclash. Last game ended with 17-1-6 and so I deciced to share my experience with you.

PLEASE: IT'S MY FIRST GUIDE SO GIVE ME CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM WHAT I DID WELL AND WHAT I CAN DO BETTER

Pros / Cons

Pros

-Incredible damage
-Nice farming abilities
-3 AOE-spells ( Electrical Surge, Lightning Rush, Slicing Maelstrom)
-Good AP-scales
-No mana
-Sooooooo much stuns ( Mark of the Storm)

Cons

-Squishy if not played well because of low amount of HP
-Energy Problems if spamming abilities because of high energy costs

Team Work

In my eyes, Kennen is the best AP-Carry at Lol because of his huge amount of AOE and CC. With all his spells and a loaded Electrical Surge, hes theoretically able to stun the whole opposing team, 2 of them 2 times !!
With my guide, his damage output will be crazy and if you can handle Zhonya's Hourglass, you'll be able to survive EVERY balanced teamclash.

Runes

Runes
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3	Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Scaling Energy Regeneration 9	Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power 9	Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power 9

Masteries

Im going the way of offensive masteries because I think I dont need the Utility Tree.
Also I am a very agressive player so the defense tree isn't reliable for me.

Masteries
1/5	3/1	4/5	1/1	3/5	4/1	4/	1/	3/5	1/1	2/1	3/1

1 Point for Summoner's Wrath for Bonus AD and AP while Ignite on Cooldown
The other 20 points for a little bit Cooldown-Reduction, Magic Penetration, AP and more damage at low-life targets.

3 Points for Resistance , good against every AP-Champ, 1 Point for Hardiness because you need 4 Defense Points for Durability , which is a good choice because my build is more designed for resistance and not for HP.

Important: You can also change the Expanded Mind from the utility- to the defense tree.
More HP is very good on Kennen, but personal I like this energy because he is quickly out of energy.

Items

Items are after the champion selection the most important thing. If you play a champion straight with one build, you will lose much games. With Kennen, I ALWAYS buy my Items depending on the enemy team.

I always start with Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potion because it gives you more mobility than a Doran's Shield. Also, you can use them later for Mercury's Treads

Explanation:

Mercury's Treads: The best boots in the game. They give you ms, 25 mr what is good against nearly every mid and 35 Tenacity what is well against much CC. But because Kennen have to stand in the middle of the fight, he is easy focussed and this boots make him a bit more resistant

Will of the Ancients: Very good item for Kennen. The Spellvamp is awesome because Kennen got no mana and so you can use your abilities all the time.
Little tip: If you are low HP and the opponent zones you because of that, use your q to hit the wraiths near the tower. So you can easily raise your HP for fight.

Rabadon's Deathcap: Core Item for every AP Champ (some expections like Ryze). A huge amount of AP and an awesome passive that will increase your damage very much

Zhonya's Hourglass: An item with a perfect synergy with Kennen. Your Ulti goes on if you activate it so you can use it to initiate, to escape or just to prevent damage in teamclash. This is a must-go on Kennen, and I really can say a Kennen without Zhonya's Hourglass isn't a good Kennen.

I always buy these 4 items, but the buying order is variable.

If you are dominating mid like hell, go a Rabadon's Deathcap after your Will of the Ancients. It's balanced or the teamclashes started go a Zhonya's Hourglass first. Go Mercury's Treads when you want.


Now I'll start with the moveable items:

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Good choise if the enemy team is balanced between AP and AD. Nice slow.

Abyssal Mask: If their AP carry is dominating or their top is AP too, go for Abyssal Mask to get more magic resistance.

Quicksilver Sash: Buy this if their enemy AP Carry is Malzahar :)

Sunfire Cape: An uncommon item for Kennen. I buy this as a 6th item and sell my boots or I buy this instead of Abyssal Mask if the enemy team is heavy-AD. And 35 Magic Damage per second to the enemy team is also as your last item a little damage buff.

Other possible items:

Void Staff: I never buy this because Kennen deals enough damage and I already get Magic Penetration from runes, items and masteries. Most of the times, an Abyssal Mask is enough Magic Penetration. I also give you the tip that you should never buy both of these items.

Lich Bane: You'll deal much AD-damage if it's your last item(you have around 650 AP). But this item is very expensive and gives you less defensive abilities. Also the mana is wasted. Buy this if you already want to do more damage.

Farming/Playing

Until level 6, keep pushing the creeps with Electrical Surge or Lightning Rush. Try to lasthit with normal hits and Thundering Shuriken, or harass with Thundering Shuriken and a loaded Electrical Surge, optional stun him with Lightning Rush.
If you can't kill the enemy because he is too strong

At lvl 6 you can play more agressive cause your ulti Slicing Maelstrom is a huge damage buff. If you can get the ranged creeps with your Electrical Surge- Lightning Rush combo, do this. If you cant kill the mid, gank top or bot for kills. Its easy with Kennen because of your strong stuns ( Mark of the Storm).
If you will kill the mid, wait for your passive attack modifier ( Electrical Surge) or hit a Thundering Shuriken, now activate your Electrical Surge and rush in with Lightning Rush, your opponent should be stunned now. Activate your ulti Mark of the Storm, use Ignite and hit the next Thundering Shuriken (cooldown is very short). A kill is sure most of the times.

Nice Tip: The most opponents see that your next normal hit will Mark of the Storm them because of your Electrical Surge and they will play passive. When you use it to lasthit, the will come back. Now try to hit them with Thundering Shuriken and use the other combo.

Later on, in teamclashes, initiate with Lightning Rush or with Flash and press your ulti Mark of the Storm. Activate Zhonya's Hourglass at the right moment (I cant tell it to you, you have to try it out, but you should hit all or the most opponent). After your stase, Electrical Surge them and go out of the center of the teamclash with ]]flash}}, Lightning Rush or nothing if all opponents are dead ;).

Skill Sequence

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

Thundering Shuriken

Mark of the Storm

Electrical Surge

Lightning Rush

Lightning Rush

Electrical Surge

Lightning Rush

Summoner Spells

In my opinion are there only 2 appropriated summoner spells, Flash and Ignite.

Flash is the best initiate or escape. Its a very deadly combo with your ulti like i explained at Farming/Playing.

Ignite: Good to finish opponents and nice against all sorts of heal or lifesteal/spellvamp.

Other Spells:

Ghost: Good at long escapes, but Flash is a better "gapcloser" and you already have your e. not a good choice for me

Heal: good if you want people to towerdive you. but if you are at the middle of the teamclash, one heal more isnt strong enough to survive

Surge: nice extra AP and Attack Speed to prog your w, but i prefer Ignite as a purely offensive spell.

Cleanse:Nice to remove all CC but Quicksilver Sash removes more abilities so it's better to buy it ingame and dont waste your 2 summoner spells.
Clarity: :)

Teleport: Lightning Rush Lightning Rush Lightning Rush :D

Counterpicks

In my opinion, Kennen counters on mid-lane:

- Fizz (If you care about his Ulti, that champ can only jump to his death. He needs to be close to his opponents, and that's what Kennen needs too. So you can easy hit your Thundering Shuriken)

- Akali (Same as Fizz, close range isn't good for Akali's live :))

- Morgana(You cant kill her, be she cant too. Just evade her Dark Binding and play passive, get your spellvamp and farm, farm, farm. In teamclashes your are much stronger.

- Annie ( Negatron Cloak/ Giant's Belt or both and then just farm. Annie's Lategame is f...)

- LeBlanc (Same as Annie)

- Malzahar (Buy Negatron Cloak and Upgrade it fast to Quicksilver Sash. Malzahar is now unable to kill you :))

- Karthus (His slow is useless with your Lightning Rush, you can easily compensate his damage with spellvamp and he is squishy like hell)

- Xerath (Just evade his Arcanopulse. If he uses his Locus of Power for more range, rush in and activate your spells

- Katarina (your Mark of the Storm will stop her Death Lotus and her other spells dont deal enough damage)

But!!! Kennen is countered by:

- Swain (Until Level 6, Swain has no chance. If his jungler gives him blue buff then, you will have a hard time. Play like against Morgana. Most Swains at lategame get Ignite and they will die as fast as other Squishies.)

-sometimes Cassiopeia (depending who is starting the teamfight. If she can use her Petrifying Gaze properly, you dont have a chance. If not, your damage is higher than hers)

-A STRONG Brand (Let your jungler come, Brand is a hard pusher)
- Kassadin (Like nearly every AP-Based Champ Mid... Never played against him, I will update it soon)

I dont play him on top-lane, but I will update soon some counterpicks for Solo-Top.
By the way his Top-Lane Build will be the same as the Mid-Lane Build

Games

This is the game I told you in my Introduction

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Download Replay Kennen 17-1-6
Kennen 7-0-0



Other Games will follow I forgot to save them

Summary

Now we are at the end of my guide. I hope you enjoyed it, and you could learn something about playing Kennen. You can also send me an ingame Friendship Request (joker479), if you want to play against me or if you want to practice.

Good Luck and Have Fun with LoL

joker479