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Recommended Items
Runes:
Resolve
Inspiration
Spells:
Ignite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
An Acquired Taste (PASSIVE)
Tahm Kench Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Janna
Her peeling makes your job extremely difficult. If you can isolate her, do your best to make a pick, because she will ruin your day if you let her.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Introduction







Pros:
+ Easy engage/disengage
+ Amazing peel + Extremely tanky + Damage scales with HP + Strong 1v1ing + Good playmaking/roams ![]() amount of shielding or peel besides literally picking them up and out of danger would do the trick. His ![]() |
Cons:
- Long cooldowns early
- Damage cancels ult - Not mobile - Needs ![]() ![]() - Very kitable - Might ult into bad situations While ![]() ![]() |
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R > Q > W > E
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An Acquired Taste (Passive): ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Tongue Lash (Q): ![]() |
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Devour (W): This ability is what makes ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Thick Skin (E): This ability makes ![]() ![]() |
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Abyssal Voyage (R): Arguably one of the best playmaking tools in the game, this allows ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Primary Tree: Resolve
Resolve is your go-to, supplementing
Tahm Kench's tanky playstyle. Resolve will allow for an enormous health bar level 1, and allow you to make good use of your
Thick Skin early in the game. I'll compare the differences of keystones/runes, and which suit
Tahm Kench best. As an added note, if you want to do the
Glacial Augment build vs. teams without a lot of peel, that build is
Glacial Augment/
Magical Footwear/
Biscuit Delivery/
Approach Velocity and
Bone Plating/
Revitalize.
Key:
Not Viable
Considerable
Best Choice










Key:
Not Viable
Considerable
Best Choice
Keystone
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Secondary Tree: Inspiration
Inspiration solidifies your strengths as a support, empowering your ability to engage and peel, while providing sustain, protection, and a myriad of other utilities to help you in lane. While there may be decent runes in other trees, they aren't as central to your support role as Inspiration is.
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Utility Items
Tankiness, vision, and supplemental to achieving your 40% CDR cap, ![]() ![]() |
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It's active is good for both offensive and defensive utility, as well as having good base stats to supplement your kit. Mana for more ![]() |
A decent amount of tankiness coupled with this item's passive makes ![]() ![]() ![]() |
A great item for keeping high-damage output carries alive, redirecting damage and healing you so long as they continue to put out damage. You get the max efficiency of it since you're melee, and it still provides good stats (CDR, armor, etc.). I build it often, and it's a must if you have either a high damage carry ( ![]() ![]() |
Tank Items
The best item for a support to gain health, and the ultimate sustain machine, this item is a very common pick for ![]() |
A great item to pick into teams with more than one member using critical strike chance. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
A simple item, but still effective into certain comps. Like ![]() ![]() ![]() |
CDR, health, and MR already make this item a good pick into AP heavy comps. However, it is a niche pick, and is more suited against champs with low cooldowns who spam the same abilities. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
A good item to choose if you're the sole tank and need to soak up a lot of damage. It provides a balance of armor and MR, making it a decent choice into teams with a mix of damage types. You should be careful when you use its active however, as if certain champs have current health damage ( ![]() ![]() |
This item doesn't have that much synergy since you don't have a lot of lifesteal or healing, and it won't empower any shields. It does have good stats though, providing MR and health/health regen. for tankiness, as well as contributing CDR. If you do buy ![]() |
A good pick into any heavily AA-based team comps, or those with a lot of sustain. You can pick up its component ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Armor and health alongside a new buffed passive puts this item back into circulation. Being utilized more for it's bonus minion damage in the top lane, it has now been reverted to its previous state, allowing for more damage overall but less damage to minions. If you're taking this item, you may consider maxing ![]() |
An item that makes chasing and peeling much easier, using it's passive MS bonus to provide easier engages. Also, it's Crushing Blow passive provides a 50% slow at max momentum, making get picks even easier. Health, armor, increased MS, and a slow make it an attractive item for many situations. Consider getting tenacity ![]() ![]() ![]() |
A more offensive item which empowers your ability to fight alone. This allows you to have a secondary slow besides your ![]() ![]() |
A cross-between utility and tankiness, but when bought on ![]() |
Another item like ![]() ![]() |
Boots
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Boots of Swiftness - In-Combat MS Good for in-combat MS, allowing you to move faster when using your ![]() Ninja Tabi - MR/Tenacity A good pick against heavily CC-reliant teams, especially if getting locked down while peeling or disabled while engaging make your job too difficult. ![]() Mercury's Treads - Armor/AA Resistance A good choice into teams with a lot of AD, or team comps that rely exclusively or heavily on auto-attacks ( ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Build paths are a very dynamic factor in games. What you need to build will very heavily game to game, and even in each game, there are different paths you may go down depending on how threats to you and your team change over the game. Obvious choices, such as
Adaptive Helm for AP, low-CD mages, and
Randuin's Omen for heavy reliance on crit. chance are static, but how you make your way to building those items is what will be focused on here.
Relic Shield +
Refillable Potion
1st Back: Targon's Brace (and an
Oracle Lens once your Sightstone passive is up),
Boots, and
Control Wards
Rush: Finish
Eye of the Aspect,
Boots of Swiftness (or defense boots if needed), and basic defense items for items you plan to (
Aegis of the Legion for
Locket of the Iron Solari)
Finish:
Locket of the Iron Solari, engage (
Turbo Chemtank) or defensive (
Knight's Vow) items
Pick items based on the enemy composition:
Randuin's Omen,
Adaptive Helm,
Thornmail, etc.
If ahead, trying to get early boots to roam and get vision, or a
Turbo Chemtank to force fights and further extend your lead. Be sure to ward in case the jungler or mid come to try and shut you down.
If behind, get items to protect your carries and allow them to scale, and make sure to buy
Cloth Armor/
Null-Magic Mantle based on what damage threats there are to ensure they don't get more fed. Stock up on
Control Wards, and clear vision to keep the enemies from pushing too hard until you have time to make your comeback.


Usual Path:
Start: 

1st Back: Targon's Brace (and an



Rush: Finish




Finish:



Pick items based on the enemy composition:



If ahead, trying to get early boots to roam and get vision, or a

If behind, get items to protect your carries and allow them to scale, and make sure to buy



Warding is your biggest responsibility when playing support. Vision control is extremely neglected, and will lose you games if not performed properly. Making notes of what spots are the most common jungle and ganking routes will allow you to ward efficiently, while simultaneously allowing you to clear enemy wards at these same ideal spots.
Key:
Control Wards
During Laning
When Taking Drake/Rift/Baron
When Roaming
When the Enemy is near Your Base
When You're Near the Enemy Base
Control Wards
During Laning
When Taking Drake/Rift/Baron
When Roaming
When the Enemy is near Your Base
When You're Near the Enemy Base
During Lane

The majority of
Control Wards you place depend on which side you are on. These spots can be used offensively, and can be swapped with normal wards from your
Stealth Ward or
Sightstone if the enemy jungler/mid aren't invading/roaming often. The other
Control Wards closer to mid lane are more for defending your mid laner from roaming, and allow them to place their own
Control Ward near the top lane (these vary however, so arrange this with your other laners accordingly). If the enemy is abusing bushes, you can bait them in for engage by placing a
Control Ward in your bushes. This can also be done when your jungler is coming in to prevent them from being spotted while getting in position. You can place wards behind Drake Pit or in the enemy tri-bush to spot ganks in advance, as well as keep tabs on the position of the enemy jungler. When draking, place them in locations where the jungler can use mobility spells to quickly swoop in and attempt a
Smite steal. Finally, when roaming, place
Stealth Wards where the enemy is most likely to countergank, so you can back off without risking them turning the gank.








Post-Laning

In the mid to late game, your goal with vision control will become more broad than monitoring nearby objectives and preventing ganks. You'll need to have vision on objectives before they spawn, meaning you should try to leave a
Control Ward near an upcoming Drake/Rift Herald/Baron. The reasoning for the warding around Baron/Rift pit is the same as the Drake pit, to prevent incoming junglers from
Smite stealing. The blue/purple dots switch based on what team you're on, but provide you vision into your jungle if the enemy is baiting you to contest an objective, or allow you to have vision if they attempt to gank or collapse on you while sieging. Many of the blue/purple/green spots can be swapped out for
Control Wards, you should always have one up, and spares in your inventory. Besides denying vision, utilize your
Oracle Lens when roaming or taking objectives to deny the enemy information on what's going on. (Note: If you are draking and you've dropped a
Control Ward on an objective, do not destroy and revealed
Stealth Wards, as it gives the enemy team vision on who is attacking it.) The green dots are more for mid-game, preventing the enemy from surprising you while trying to take towers, while the blue/purple are once objectives have been taken. Make sure to utilize the "safety line" rule when warding defensively.
The diagram below shows a safe and easy to follow warding method.
Control Wards are dropped on a line, running from the outermost turret (symbolized by green circles) in each lane. Beyond this safety line,
Stealth Wards (symbolized by the green dots) can be placed on your side of the jungle. Even if you cannot safely control this part of the jungle, you are still able to keep tabs on enemies and where they are. This allows you to keep control of what territory you still hold, even if you are being pushed back. By responding to tower dives and rotations or seeing them before they occur, you can deny the enemy a lot of their sieging power.






The Safety Line Rule

The diagram below shows a safe and easy to follow warding method.


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Sivir
A strong laner, who can easily proc her
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Lucian
A mobile laner with strong poke ability, who can kite well and get a lot of autos off in a trade. His
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Kalista
Another champ with great synergy,
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Kog'Maw
Relying on a majority of his abilities being skillshots, your
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Varus
Another champion utilizing a 3-hit passive, your soft CC allows him to easily attain 3 stacks of
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Jhin
With more utility from
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Miss Fortune
Her
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Combos
Laning Poke/Engage
This combo is for procing your 3 stacks of
An Acquired Taste as soon as possible, while working in autos for extra damage. Only one of the autoattacks in parentheses needs to be performed. If you aren't able to walk up for the first auto, you can get 2 in after landing your
Tongue Lash (with assistance from your carry's CC if possible).


Roaming Ult Engage
Another combo which may be altered, using your
Devour to enter behind the enemy and
Tongue Lash to slow them is fairly standard. If anyone else has burst, they can finish the job. If not, you can
Devour the enemy and bring them back into your team, with supplementary auto's and
Tongue Lashes as necessary.




Teamfighting
Teamfighting is a much more complicated procedure, and there's no solid combo you can give. For this reason, there's two distinct playstyles you can utilize (which will vary based on enemy threats). The way you play throughout the game may vary, so don't lock yourself into one playstyle. Adapt based on how the game is going, and fill the role you need to in teamfights.
Offense Kench
This is a fighting style in which you'll be using ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Defense Kench
This is more a passive and peeling playstyle, where you want to focus on denying enemy assassins or burst mages the capabilities to one shot your backline. You can bait out enemy ultimates, such as a ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Champion Synergy & Tricks
In the following video, I illustrate the ways in which you can employ certain little-known tricks that could, in the right situation, turn a fight or secure a kill. Keep these in mind based on who you're laning with, and how they can be used and when. Be cautious however, as the enemy could expect you to perform these, and turn it or outplay you.
I hope you found this guide useful, and are able to apply it to improve your performance as
Tahm Kench. If you find any errors or have questions, let me know and I'll respond accordingly.
This is my second guide, in which I used jhoijhoi's Guide to Making a Guide for proper formatting and design. If you like this guide and are trying to expand your champ pool, I urge you to check out my Thresh Guide.
Thank you for reading, and good luck as
Tahm Kench. :^)

This is my second guide, in which I used jhoijhoi's Guide to Making a Guide for proper formatting and design. If you like this guide and are trying to expand your champ pool, I urge you to check out my Thresh Guide.
Thank you for reading, and good luck as

V. 1.0.0 (12/8/17) - Vanilla guide.
V. 1.0.1 (12/9/17) - Updated general settings, not posted correctly. Fixed an issue in the Synergy with your Carry section.
V. 2.0.0 (6/1/18) - Added
Sion,
Kai'Sa, and
Pyke to the matchup section. Updated Cheat Sheet for removed items and new items. Changed
Overgrowth to
Revitalize,
Font of Life to
Bone Plating,
Conditioning to
Chrysalis, and
Magical Footwear to
Biscuit Delivery. Added
Chrysalis,
Bone Plating, and
Time Warp Tonic to the Runes Reforged section. Removed
Mirror Shell,
Iron Skin,
Celestial Body from the Runes Reforged section,
Ruby Sightstone,
Timeworn Face of the Mountain, and old support items from the Items section, and the
Sweeping Lens from the cheat sheet, Build Paths section, and Warding section.
V. 1.0.1 (12/9/17) - Updated general settings, not posted correctly. Fixed an issue in the Synergy with your Carry section.
V. 2.0.0 (6/1/18) - Added




















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