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Kennen Build Guide by

Korean Top AD Kennen - Super Duper Pikachu

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3 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Rcool64

Kennen Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (3) More Kennen Guides

Runes: Safe

1 2 3

Precision

Press the Attack

Overheal

Legend: Alacrity

Coup de Grace

Resolve

Bone Plating

Overgrowth

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

Flash

Teleport

Ability Order

Kennen Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Hello, I'm Rcool64 and I play on the NA servers. My favorite champion is Udyr, but I'm a huge off-meta fanatic as well. With that being said, I have been searching for fun, but useful off meta builds to climb with in ranked. One place where I do my research is the op.gg for korean servers. One day, I noticed that in Korea, many Kennen players are using an AD build. In fact, some of the top Korean Kennen players (I don't know how to say their names unfortunately :<) use a build like this.

UPDATE 2018: Wow....it's been a year since I updated this. Anyways, some recent things that have changed is that runaans no longer applies w passive faster so it is probably better to take Phantom Dancer unless you want to split push. Also, AD Kennen is still somewhat popular, but be weary as it is not as practical as it was before.

My op.gg- https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=Rcool64

Here's a player in korea who is ADDICTED to this build: http://www.op.gg/summoner/userName=me2
This player only plays AD kennen (even when playing support!), so you can see how he adjusts his build to his lane opponents if you have trouble deciding on what to build.

DISCLAIMER: If you plan on using off meta builds in ranked such as these, PLEASE make sure you are comfortable playing with it at a competitive level by practicing it in normal games. I encourage everyone to try new things, but please don't unintentionally ruin the experience for people who want to gain elo.

Runes

PRECISION

PTA - This rune allows Kennen to really dish out the damage he needs. He can proc it pretty quickly with the attack speed from his E. This is also a way to pressure the lane opponent since they will most likely back up if you have PTA activated on them to avoid damage.

Overheal - This rune allows Kennen to have obnoxious sustain in lane and in fights. Since you aren't going AP, you most likely will not have Zhonyas and will have to go pretty balls deep to ult in some situations, so having the extra sustain helps keep you alive to maintain the ult.

Legend: Alacrity - This rune works very well with PTA in terms of activating it faster. It also allows you to get Kennen's passive shuriken faster with the increased attack speed.

Coup de Grace - This rune can set you up for a multikill when you get ahead and really helps with securing kills that seem far away with your W.

RESOLVE

Bone Plating - As AD Kennen, you often have to get up close after using E to battle your enemies. This rune helps you win 1v1's and not die fast.

Second Wind - This rune helps with matchups that aren't in your favor and lets you get your health back after a trade that didn't go in your favor.

Abilities

PASSIVE:

MARK OF THE STORM: Enemies hit by Kennen's abilities receive a Mark of the Storm for 6 seconds, stacking up to 3 times. At three stacks, the marks consume themselves to Stun icon stun the target for 1.25 seconds and restore 25 energy.

DIMINISHED MARK: If the Stun icon stun is applied more than once within 6 seconds, its duration is reduced to 0.5 seconds.

This passive gets better and better as you auto attack. The stun allows you to stack PTA so that you can deal a great amount of damage to them. It also helps with 1v1 situations since it gives you time to either go ham or disengage after a trade.

Q:

ACTIVE: Kennen throws a charged shuriken in a line in front of him, dealing magic damage to the first enemy it hits.

While this may be the bread and butter for AP Kennen, it's not really the case for AD Kennen. However, that doesn't mean this ability isn't useful. This ability allows you to poke in lane by hitting someone with it and using W right after. It can also be used to stun someone with a combo of Q - > Auto - > W.

W:

PASSIVE: Kennen deals bonus magic damage and applies a Mark of the Storm once every 5 basic attacks.

ACTIVE: Kennen sends out a surge of electricity to all nearby enemies afflicted by Mark of the Storm or caught in Slicing Maelstrom Slicing Maelstrom, dealing magic damage.

The passive portion of this is lovely since it has some AD scaling that goes well with your flurry of autoattacks. With guinsoo's also being an option in your build, you may have some AP ratios to it as well. This Active also lets you poke and/or enemies that are too far away to auto attack if they have a stack of Mark of the Storm.

E:

ACTIVE: Kennen transforms into a ball of electricity, Disarm icon disarming himself but becoming Ghost ghosted and gaining 100% total movement speed for 2 seconds, while also gaining bonus armor and bonus magic resistance while active.

Kennen deals magic damage to all enemies he passes through, doubled against champions and restores 40 energy the first time Lightning Rush damages an enemy.

Kennen gains bonus attack speed for 4 seconds upon existing Lightning Rush.

Kennen can reactivate Lightning Rush to prematurely cancel it, allowing him to use basic attacks again.

This ability is a great gap closer and is useful for keeping a good distance between your enemies. With the recent attacks speed buff, this ability also fits well into your AD build.

R:

ACTIVE: Kennen summons Shuriken Storm, a magical storm around himself for 3 seconds, dealing magic damage to all enemies within range every 0.5 seconds.

Each maelstrom hit applies a Mark of the Storm, up to a maximum of 3.

Slicing Maelstrom deals 10% increased damage with each successive strike against a target, up to a maximum of 150% damage with one strike.

This ability is a great ability when you find yourself in sticky situations. It's mostly used as a panic ability for when you really need to get your stuns off to quickly kill the enemies. While it doesn't scale off AD, it sure is useful for letting you survive in teamfights a lot longer.

Pros/Cons

Pros:
-Hybrid damage (both AD from auto attacks and AP from abilities)
-Item combo allows you to slow multiple enemies at once, making it easier to close in on them and use your ult to stun them and win teamfights
-Great poke in lane
-Easy to CS with
-Not many counters (Currently trying to find some)

Cons:
-Abilities will do less damage due to not building AP
-Using your ult in the middle of fights may be risky as you don't build zhonyas, so you're going to have to adjust to a new playstyle
-Requires decent kiting mechanics
-May be flamed by teammates :<

Item explanations

There's not really a specific order in which you should build these items, so build them according to your lane/what your team needs at the heat of the moment.

Blade of the Ruined King is a fantastic item. With the recent buffs, it is definitely worth taking on kennen. The attk speed/ad works very well with his kit. The percent hp damage lets him do quite a bit of damage to even tanks. The active also helps chase down fast enemies.

Frozen mallet is a great item for top laners in general. It adds tankiness incase the champion lacks health (which Kennen will since this is really the only health item you may build). It also gives extra bonus ad and can slow enemies so that you can chase them down easier.

Runaan's is great for split pushing and gives Kennen a little extra attack speed (plus a bonus crit :D). This item is great for split pushing and works well with procing frozen mallet on multiple enemies.

Wit's end is a great for doing more damage as well as providing some defense. This is an item you may want to rush when going against AP champions. Even if an enemy builds a ton of armor, the extra bonus damage will still hurt and this item will lower their Magic Resist so your abilities will sting a little more.

Conclusion

This guide is still in development so I may work on it a little more. I don't plan on going too in depth because the audience this is intended to is for advanced players who want to try something new. If you are new to LoL, I suggest you learn the game a little more and practice Kennen before trying this build. Enjoy!