Kennen Build Guide by LostEmperorYGO

Introduction

I am a player on EUW (LostEmperorYGO) and this is my first guide on MobaFire. Kennen is by far my favorite Champion in the whole League and I have played over 100 games with him. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to discuss with me! Thank you for reading this and let's get started!

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Snowballs really hard + Monster in Teamfight's with his Slicing Maelstrom + Zhonya's Hourglass + Good waveclear with Lightning Rush+ Electrical Surge + No Mana + High Burst Damage + Strong early game lane dominace + Good mobility with Lightning Rush

Cons

- Squishy - A bit less damage late game, compared to other AP squishys - Relies on landing Thundering Shuriken

PROS

Kennen is a great pick for teamfight-compositions and he has an in-built escape/engage tool due to his Lightning Rush. He has no mana, so you can spam your spells in lane without the need of going back right after. With his Lightning Rush he can run through an entire minion wave and kill it with Electrical Surge. Due to his high base damages he has a stronger early game than most top laners.

CONS

As every other champion too, Kennen has his weaknesses as well. First of all, he is squishy, the only items which give him HP are Liandry's Torment and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. The other weakness is his Thundering Shuriken itself. If you don't hit it in a direct 1 to 1 fight, you will miss out a lot of damage from his kit. Try to practice it before going into a game

Items

Doran's Blade:
Start with this if you want to play safe, because it helps you with the sustain you need in lane until you get your items.

Amplifying Tome:
If you feel really comfortable in your matchup (like a nasus) you may start with Amplifying Tome. This gives you really good early damage to poke your enemy out of lane.



Zhonya's Hourglass

This is the best item on Kennen. It allows you to DESTROY teamfights with your ulti + Zhonyas combo. You need to rush this item as soon as possible.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

This is a great Item because it gives you more survivability in lane and a huge chunk of AP. The slowing effect is great too, because you can slow the entire enemy team with this item and your ult.

Boots + Enchantments

I really like Sorcerer's Shoes on Kennen so the enemys get more damage from your ulti even if they buy magic resist. I play them with disortion, because you can use your flash + ulti more often. If your base is under attack, feel free to take homeguard so you can def it. Some players
like to take alacrity for the faster engage and if you think so too, take them =)

Void Staff

Buy this item if they stack magic resist so you can deal more damage to them. Due to the changes to Void staff in Patch 5.13 it has more AP so it's much more viable in the late game now.

Rabadon's Deathcap

This item gives you a huge AP burst late game when you already stacked a few AP items. Not that viable for the first 3 items as it's unique passive is more useful late game.

Guardian Angel

This gives you all the defensive stats you need and the revive effect is useful too.
GA should be your last item.

Liandry's Torment

With the percentage health damage you melt tanks. Additionally this item gives you more health for a bit more survivability. Buy this against tanks.

Abyssal Scepter

If they have a strong AP team comp, you should consider buying this, as it gives you a good amount of AP and nice magic resist stats.


Luden's Echo

If you really feel like you need the damage, you can buy this item. it's pretty risky because it gives you nothing more then pure AP and a little bit of movement speed. Also, this Item maked your first poking spell HUGE, but then it has to stack until it's ready.

Banshee's Veil

If they have a full AP comp, consider this as your last item over Guardian Angel. It gives you more health, more magic resistance and a spell-shield passive.

Skill Explantation

Passive: Mark of the Storm
Kennen's abilities add Marks of the Storm to opponents which last for 6 seconds. An opponent is stunned for 1 second upon receiving 3 Marks of the Storm, and Kennen receives 25 energy. The stun has a diminished effect, and will only stun for approximately 0.5 seconds if applied more than once within 7 seconds.

So this passive gives you a Stun on basically all of your abilitys if you manage to hit two before. In lane you will most likely stun your oponnent with your fifth auto-attack, then follow up with Q and W.

Q: Thundering Shuriken

Kennen throws a charged shuriken in a line in front of him, dealing magic damage and adding a Mark of the Storm to the first opponent that it hits.

This is your main damage source pre level 6. You want to max it out first because it gives you much damage and the cooldown helps getting those stuns from your passive faster.

W: Electrical Surge

(Passive) Every 5 attacks, Kennen will deal extra magic damage equal to a percentage of his attack damage and add a Mark of the Storm to his target.

(Active) Sends a surge of electricity through all nearby targets afflicted by Mark of the Storm, dealing magic damage.

The passive on this ability is nice to land additional Marks of the Storm.
The active spell is used to get the second or third Mark of the Storm on the enemy, so you can stun them. Remember to use this 5 seconds after you put the first Mark of the Storm on your enemy, so the mark timer refreshes.

E: Lightning Rush

For 3 seconds Kennen's base movement speed is increased by 230. He also gains the ability to pass through units, dealing magic damage to all enemy units in the process, and restoring 40 energy from the first enemy he hits. This ability only deals 50% damage to minions. Additionally, for 4 seconds Kennen's armor and magic resistance are increased.

This ability is great for escaping, landing the third Mark of the Storm at the enemy or engaging in team fights. Max it out last because it doesn't provide you with the damage the other two abilitys give to you.

R: Slicing Malestrom

Kennen summons a magical storm that deals magic damage to a random enemy champion near Kennen every 0.5/0.4/0.33 seconds. The storm hits several times, increasing with level, and cannot hit the same target more than 3 times. A Mark of the Storm is applied to enemies each time they are hit.

This is the ability Kennen is known for and that's why he is feared as well. You can just Flash into teamfights and destroy them. Make sure to hit your Electrical Surge on all enemys inside your ult for more damage.

Masteries

Standard Ap no Mana mastery page. 18 in cunning for the extra utility (especially thunderlord's, let's be honest, it's broken) and 12 in the ferocity for a bit more damage.

Runes

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Those runes provide you with very good early game damage to poke your enemy out of lane.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: The Magic Penetration is really useful against tanky Top Laners who try to buy Magic Resistance.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: The Glyphs of Magic Resistance are for your survivability against AP damage, which your enemy team should have at least one.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: You want to have as much early trading power as possible and the Armor Seals really help you, so you take less damage than the enemy gets from you.

Skill Sequence

> > >

Your skill sequence should be like R-Q-W-E. Always put a point in your ultimate at levels 6, 11 and 16. I like maxing Q over W because it gives you more damage. Your E should always be maxed last as it doesn't deal much damage and is only used as an engage/escape tool or to land the last mark of the storm for your passive to proc the stun.

Combos to pick Kennen with

Here I am going to explain which champion works really well with Kennen to maximise the power of his kit.

1. Amumu:
With his Bandage Toss he can easily engage into teamfights and his Curse of the Sad Mummy keeps all enemys in a circle so you can engage with your Slicing Maelstrom and clean up everyone.2. Anivia:
Anivia's speciality is her great AoE damage due to her ultimate, Glacial Storm. If any champion stays in this ice field for too long, they will get hurt a lot and Kennen's Slicing Maelstrom is an AoE stun. With Anivia's E Frostbite and your Q Thundering Shuriken you have strong single target spells for cleaning up after your AoE combo as well.3. Brand:
His Ultimate, Pyroclasm is one of the strongest ultimates if it manages to hit five times. What does he want more when you have a stun to hold the entire enemy team?4. Braum:
Boom. AoE knockup and slow with his Glacial Fissure to hold them in your Slicing Maelstrom. And his Stand Behind Me + Unbreakable combo saves you after you blew all your cooldowns.5. Cho'Gath:
Same as with Braum. AoE Knockup and silence for your Slicing Maelstrom so the enemy never gets out of it.6. Fiddlesticks:
His point and click silence Dark Wind and his ultimate Crowstorm synergize really well with Kennen's whole kit.7. Galio:
This is basically the perfect addition to your playstyle. His ultimate Idol of Durand makes it so easy to use your own ult and his shield Bulwark makes you a lot harder to focus down. On the other hand, his Righteous Gust helps you engaging and most Galio's will buy Abyssal Mask so they shred the enemys magic resist apart.8. Kalista:
If she binds you with her The Black Spear, you have a free engage + AoE knockup due to her ultimate ability: Fate's Call.9. Katarina:
This is like the opposite of the other combos. She doesn't really help you, but you help her A LOT. Her ultimate, Death Lotus destroys teamfight if she doesn't get CC'ed and that's why you stun the enemy before they can even react.10. Leona:
Other than you, she engages almost instantly due to her Zenith Blade and her ultimate Solar Flare is a huge AoE stun so you can engage with your ult and deal tons of damage while the enemy can't do anything.11. Malphite:
Unstoppable Force. Malphite is one of those champs who you just throw into a teamfight combo and he starts it. AoE knockup which deals massive damage. Just engage after him with Lightning Rush and Slicing Maelstrom.12. Nautilus:
If the enemy has one fed carry, like a Katarina or a Riven who try to carry the entire enemy team, this guy can hold them in place for a long time so you can burst with a quick rotation of your spells.13. Orianna
Orianna is like a better version of Malphite for you. She places her ball on you, gives you a speed boost from her Command: Dissonance and her ulti, Command: Shockwave, pulls everyone back into your Slicing Maelstrom if they try to escape.14. Sejuani
Not much to say here, her ult Glacial Prison is a very big help for your ultimate.15. Shen:
This guy is like Galio one of the best allies you can have. His ultimate ability Stand United gives you a strong shield and when he appears he taunts everyone back in with his Shadow Dash.