Hello I am Caratascus and I main Kennen mid.
I just quickly want to tell you guys why I like Kennen.

• First off he got energy, as a person that uses my abilities constantly it really helps not having to go back to get mana
• Kennen being able to stun as often as you really want to.
• Kennen's abilities are so uniqe, his ultimate that stuns and deals ton of damage to all of them. it is like a Fiddlestick and a Amumu ultimate put together. His Thundering Shuriken also got massive range and is fast and hard to dogde. His Electrical Surge Is 2 abilities that each add a Mark of the Storm to the enemy, his passive Electrical Surge that is every fifth basic attack he adds a mark, and his active which activates and damages anyone with a mark of the storm in a huge range
• His Lightning Rush that gives massive speed for a few seconds, in mid lane that is enough to get in safety of the jungler or the enemy mid champion. Which makes him really hard to gank and kill

Now about myself: I am a 15 year old gamer that really loves Kennen. I play him as often as possible and tried him every single role (Top,Jungle,Mid,ADC,Support). I am Danish. I am currently in Gold V but I am working my way up with a steady speed.
Note: I am still new to this site and if you got any positive or negative things to say about my guide, please say it just dont flame, tell me how to do it better. and I am still updating some of the things on the guide as I test them out.
If you got some improvements dont be afraid to leave them in the discussion page.

Greater Seal of Scaling Energy Regeneration I use 9 of them as seals because Kennen burns his energy fast because of him having low cooldowns mid/lategame. His Mark of the Storm does provide a bit of energy if you can out 3 of the on one target, but it is very low amounts still, so I prefer them. Greater Seal of Energy Regeneration Is also an good alternative but I feel that most game strech out till lategame and Kennen really shines there especialy in teamfights there. so I think that the energy reg per level is better given out.
Glyph of Magic Resist Is a valueable rune for any mid champion, as you most of the time will fight another AP champion in the mid lane
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power x2 again because I think atleast Kennen is better late game so I think it is a bigger benefit than pure AP
Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration x1 Because it allows you to do more damage specialy early game because you dont scale MR without items (proof needed)
Greater Quintessence of Health is viable aswell for the extra early game tankiness specially because a ton of people get full AP runes/masteries and start with 40 ap nowadays (in my elo)
Mark of Magic PenetrationI got 9 of those because they provide again more damage early and lategame aswell, and because I am not a big fan of starting with AP runes

Full build that I use myself

Alternative items
Alternative starting items
Boots 3 Health Potion If you are against Lux or Brand or any champion that got a lot of skill shots you got to dogde.
Cloth Armor 5 Health Potion if you are against Zed or Kha'zix in the mid lane they are a wise choice and you need to get the cloth armor for Seekers armguard anyway.
2 sight ward 9 Health Potion I dont ever get this less for some reason I am top against a Shen/Darius and they got a Volibear or Hecarim, junglers that are good at CCing and ganking together with a taunt/stun/pull is dangerous.
Doran's Blade My favorite starting item. 80 extra HP so you are more tanky, 10 extra damage so you can deal more damage with your Electrical Surge poke and you can easier last hit with Basic attack It allows provides you with sustain from the "lifesteal" 5 hp from each basic attack
vs 15 Cooldown reduction vs 15 Magic penetration, Both are very viable, the reason I pick the 15 CDR is because I prefer using my spells a bit more, you being able to spam your Electrical Surge and Lightning Rush in teamfights is very useful, also you dont really need more MP when you have both Void Staff and Liandry's Torment Also Id like to get the Enchantment: Homeguard upgrade for the boots if my team is losing so I can just go in and go back all the time being more useful. Else I get Enchantment: Alacrity

vs I choose Will of the Ancients over the gunblade because the gunblade is way more expensive and you dont really need the extra AD that it gives, it is more valuable for you and your team for you to get WoTA specially if you have a top/jungle that is AP aswell. The reason that I pick spell vamp is because Kennen is energy user which means he got high sustain already, add it up with some spell vamp and his sustain is really good and allows him to duel more.

the reason of this item is that Kennens ultimate still works while Zhonya is activated, so if you can get into 5 persons you got 2.5 sec ultimate where you cant get damaged, that is very deadly to the enemy team. Also champions like Janna and Lee sin cannot push you away while you are in zhonya it also provides a lot of AP and just really works well with Kennen.
30% of all your AP extra is really strong and it's base of 120 AP gives you a neat bonus in teamfights and you are even more deadly.
It isnt the most expensive item there is and it is really deadly against tanks, but if there arent too many tanks or they are all underfed, an item like Lich Bane might be more benificial, just remember to basic attack then.
The reason behind this item is that late game especially if you manage to get fed, the enemy team will often stack a bunch of Magic resist and Void staff just makes you able to deal damage even thought they got a lot of MR
Is viable aswell instead of some other items like Void Staff, it increases the damage done by Liandry's Torment because it can slow, it gives you more health, it is generally a good item to get but not my preffered.
cheap item that you can use if your enemy is much quicker than you and get out of vision
I NEVER get this item I dont think it is worth getting, in a proper game where your team dosent get fed to hell and back it is not worth getting. You would die to much for it to be worth getting, and not get enough kills.
It can be chosen over Void Staff if your enemy got a AP top and a AP mid that is getting fed. It gives you more damage as its passive reduces the enemy champions Magic resist. It also gives a nice amount of MR and some AP

Step to step purchase order, note starting item is your choice I often prefer if the champion I am against dosent have too many skill shots. If they like Lux or Brand got a lot of skill shots I always get boots and 3 potions (Health pots ofc)
- - - - - - -

Mark of the StormEverytime you get 3 mark of the storm up on an opponent you will stun the enemy and give you 25 energy back, if you stun more than once in 7 seconds your second stun will be shorter and dosent give your energy back.
Thundering Shuriken (Q) You shoot a ninja star that damages and adds a mark of the storm. It is easy to hit with but it is a skillshot so minions or other champions can block your target.
Electrical Surge (W)In my opinion after Kennen's ultimate this is his best ability. His is able to activate all of his marks, damaging them and adding another mark to them, it dosent have a limit how many enemies it hits. Also its passive gives you from 60-80% extra attack damage every 5th hit as magic damage. So every 5 hit you will do 180% damage at rank 5
Lightning Rush (E) Gives you a great speed boost, makes it hard to gank you and easy to get away, it also deals good damage but only half damage to minions (It is still great to farm with E to mark all the minions then use your W to kill them) It also adds a mark. at rank 5 it gives to 40 armor/magic resist so it is great to engage with that and flash and get right into the meat of the enemy. just remember to pop ultimate when you are in there!.
Slicing Maelstrom (R) This is what makes Kennen so dangerous, he can stun and deal hundreds of damage at once, and with a Zhonya he can be safe while doing it. It is great to shut down enemy ADC's as they will be stunned so they cant life steal up on you.

Why do I max my Electrical Surge before my Thundering Shuriken?
Because often people will hide behind minions so you cant hit with your Thundering Shuriken also your Electrical Surge is pretty much two abilities or atleast does the damage of two abilities and it is a sure hit not a skillshot. So in my opinion you can easier poke champions with your Electrical Surge

I use flash because it allows me to get into the teamfights and get out of dangerous stuff saftely.
I use ignite because it allows me to fight people that can heal and if you fail an ability or they run ignite will kill them.
Is also viable but I think Zhonya is more effective and really does the same.
Ghost is viable aswell, but his Electrical Surge is a shorter but more effective ghost, and flash allows him to easier get in or out of fights or over walls. Which ghost doesnt.

Pros Energy quickly regeneration His Thundering Shuriken got a long range Got plenty of CC Strong in teamfights High sustain

Cons Energy easily runs out of energy, and then have to wait in fights to regain it Item dependant (Zhonya or useless) His basic attacks arent the longest and he has to get fairly close to enemies to hit them His basic attacks can be hard to last hit with (another reason to use dorans blade as starting item)

To take example the wraiths, simply use your Lightning Rush to mark all 4 of the creeps with a Mark of the Storm and then Electrical Surge and hit them with basic attacks and Thundering Shuriken the big one that is. That is how you take the jungle with Kennen, he is not the best at taking the jungle as he is quite slow because he got few AoE spells

Kennen is brilliant at getting assists or saving allies, what I like to do if I am running is throwing a Thundering Shuriken behind me (At the enemy if you can aim) and then use my Electrical Surge to add another mark and then just keep running till your shuriken is up again then stun, or if you need to save an ally, use your Thundering Shuriken and then just Lightning Rush in and use your Electrical Surge to stun the opponent and possible save your ally and/or get them or yourself a kill in the process

As I said in the con part of pros and cons his basic attacks are not the easiest to last hit with and his range is kind of low (not the lowest but not the biggest either) I normally get Dorans blade because it allows him to get a higher sustain, and it makes it a lot easier to farm. I also tend to use my Thundering Shuriken, Electrical Surge and Lightning Rush to farm with as they only require energy which regnerates quite quickly.

Kennen is countered by Ryze, Janna, Lee sin

Kennen counters, Olaf, Darius, Katarina, Akali

Why is Kennen countered by Ryze? Because Ryze got really low cooldowns and he can afford to get phyisical. His (W) Rune Prison can **** up your combo and let him walk out will plenty of HP or he could turn around and kill you.
Why is Kennen countered by those two? and why does he put them in a group together? Simply their ultimates, Lee kicks you away so you waste your ult and Janna pushes you away. That dosent mean you cant easily beat them though

Why does Kennen counter Olaf? Because of Kennen not having to be physical and got a speed boost so if Olaf tries to get physical Kennen can just walk out of him. Though be careful about going physical when he got his ultimate up.
Why does Kennen counter Darius? Because Kennen got stuns and got range. Darius can not pull you, and you can poke him if he tries to pull just Lightning Rush away or stun him when he does.
Why does Kennen counter Katarina? He got range, he got poke, he got stun to block her ultimate. Dosent really require that much explanation other than dont waste ult try to wait till she ultimates for maximum effect of your stuns
You are a counter to her but you need to work for it. Dont let her roam.
deny her farm. Poke her pre 6. You can shut her down completly doing that.


Remember just because somebody counters you or you counter them it dosent mean they win the lane, and dont be afraid to ask for ganks.