Hi my name is Zoolandor. I'm a gold player on NA and the main role that I have played is support ranging from Leona to Zyra, even thrown a Sion and Shen when i'm feeling bored. I'm not sure what it is about support, might be I like to take care of someone else, or I was just tired of my bot lane getting destroyed and not being able to do anything about it. I'm not the best, but I'm far from the worst. I hope you enjoy my guide and feel free to leave me a comment on how I did and what I can improve.

Pros

+ Tanky + Sustain + Can save trapped allies + Lane presence + Good slow / stun (if proc'd) + Can transport ally with Ultimate

The best thing about Tahm Kench in my opinion is the fact that he is able to save his ADC from fatal mistakes. Thresh hook, Blitzcrank grab, etc. can be completely negated if you are quick enough to devour your ADC. You then have a speed buff to get away and a slow to stop follow up. You can also completely take an enemy champion out of a fight for up to 6 seconds.

Cons

- Ult is easy to disrupt/predict - CC is not instant - No escape - Susceptible to poke - Somewhat skill oriented - Can devour wrong champion if not careful

The worst thing I see about Tahm Kench is that his ultimate takes forever when initiated unlike Rek'Sai or Twisted Fate, and the enemy can see it coming. He has to have 3 stacks on the enemy champion to stun or devour. He has no way to get away other than slowing the target. Champions like Sona, Zyra, and Nami can be hell if depending on play style in the beginning. And, finally if you mis-click an enemy minion instead of your ADC it can spell disaster.

• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: I've chosen movement speed because I believe that he does have some mobility issues. They allow for faster engagements/disengagements and staying on your target to keep stacks up by adding extra 6.2% movement speed when added with Fleet of Foot .
  
• greater mark of hybrid penetration: Helps with your auto attack damage and also the fact that most of your damage is AP based.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Basically gives you a cloth armor in the beginning to help against the ADC poke.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Helps a lot with those mage supports abilities/poke and roaming mid-laners

These are all viable runes that you can use, some people would prefer them over what I have chosen. After trying the build I currently have I prefer the ones previously mentioned.

• Greater Quintessence of Armor: Gives about 13 additional armor, if your expecting to get poked a lot I can see you going this route.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health: About an extra 150 health towards max level, about 45 at level 6. I personally prefer the hard stats early on.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Adds to your damage and 2 of 4 abilities scale on it, can be helpful in early lane.
  
• Greater Mark of Armor Not much less than the Seals so still an option say if you wanted to take some of the other quints.

The reason why you're looking a 0/27/3 is because in my opinion putting more in the defensive tree is more beneficial. You're giving up roughly 400 gold, 10% summoner cooldown, and mana. If you're not dealing with much in the AP department, you can remove the points from Resistance and Evasive and put them in the utility tree.

Another viable option is 0/21/9 for your masteries as show below. Personally I feel the 0/27/3 covers what you need, but this one is pretty standard for tanky supports.

An Acquired Taste: These are your stacks for autos you need for your stun and Devour on enemy champions. Stacks can also be applied by your Q and W.


Tongue Lash: 800 Range which is longer than Annie's auto attack and a slow that scales the more points are added. If you have 3 stacks from passive you get the added benefit of a 1.5 second stun.

• Tongue Lash resets your auto attack allowing you to stack faster, for example use this sequence: AA > TL > AA to initiate Devour.

Devour: Allows you to swallow an Ally, Enemy minion or Neutral monster for 4-6 seconds (2-3 seconds for enemy champion). You gain a movement speed bonus when used on an ally, and basically can't move with enemy champion (95% slow). The minions/neutrals you can spat out doing exploding on the first thing they come in contact with and add a stack if it's a champion.

• When you Devour your ally you can flash with them essentially giving them 2 to get away.
• You CANNOT flash when an enemy champion inside unfortunately.

Thick Skin: After taking damage it's a good shield, basically doubles your life. The heal is good however doesn't really become powerful until the later levels with Spirit Visage.

• Don't hit this as soon as your being attacked, it only gives you what you have lost. I found that halfway is a good spot because if you wait longer then that and they have CC you won't get to use it.

Abyssal Voyage: The passive increases your damage based on your health. The active is very similar to Rek'Sai, but you're able to take someone with you and you don't need any anchor to initiate it.

• Aim where you are expecting for your enemy to go and out of their vision so they don't see it coming.
• If you decide to not execute, just move and the cooldown will be reset to 10 seconds.

> > >

You're going to want max out Tongue Lash is because of the slow which goes up 20%. Following that you have Devour which increases your movement speed 10% when you have an ally inside your belly. After those the reason that you maxing Thick Skin last is because even though you gain 24% in heal maxed out, 90% of the time I've found you will activate the shield and not take the regen. *** If you would like you can max Devour first instead of Tongue Lash, I prefer the 20% slow. Some people want it for the extra speed to escape and 4 seconds off cooldown.

In the beginning you can use your tongue to harass if you would like, it is relatively cheap and does a bit of damage. I would mainly use that in response to poke however. Using Devour to throw minions at people for harass is not recommended, it costs twice as much as your Q and the damage is not significant to justify it. Unless they are out of position I would just recommend playing defense, and allow your ADC to farm.

There are two basic ways to team fight as Tahm Kench:

• In the middle initiating stuns/champion removal
• Standing back next to your ADC and APC

What generally determines what style I will play depends on the type of team we are fighting. If they have some kind of lethal assassin such as Rengar, Shaco, or Zed I will play more towards the back to ensure their safety. If they don't have that lethal capability I will be in the center attempting to remove someone from the fight with Devour.

It really just comes down to reading the ques that your given. Don't be that support that chases down a Dr. Mundo wonders what happened to your ADC when Rengar appears. Remember also that you have your face of the mountain and Locket of the Iron Solari to help your team as they can be a saving grace.

In my humble opinion Tahm Kench is the support you have always wanted. For all the times you have cursed under your breath that your ADC is caught by a lucky/blatant snag, you finally have the power to save him. The weight is now landing a lot more squarely on your shoulders because now you have that capability. Take that into consideration, but also acknowledge the fact that you can't save everyone. This champion however can separate the men from the boys.

Any advice/comments you have about my guide, good, bad, or indifferent please make them. I can only go up from where I am, regardless of how well I believe I made this guide.

Thanks for reading,
-Zoolandor

Version 2.5 - 26JUL2015: Changed core build path and added Synergies.

Version 2.0 - 25JUL2015: Changed main Quintessence and marks after testing. (change attributed to tradtrad)
Version 1.5 - 23JUL2015: Added Team fights, optional items, summoner spells, ward placement and aesthetic changes. (advice given by Emoriam)
Version 1.0 - 21JUL2015 - Published