First, I'd like to introduce myself.



I am NeuralFusion, I play NA servers and am in Silver V. Although I'm in silver, I feel I am a very well of support main. I don't play ranked much, and when I do it's always solo qeue support, Which tends to go bad sometimes. Before going much further, Make sure you read the Item notes above for build order.


My love for support stems from a close friend of mine, whom taught me the support role and the importance of it when I first started playing. Since then, I've taken up support as my main. Meaning, Tahm Kench was a huge excitement for me!

With Tahm Kench being a great support, and my support skills being above average - I've been able to secure a very very enjoyable win rate.

Play Video

Taking control of the River -

So, Tahm Kench is a fantastic support, Not only can he literally FORCE your ADC to run when you see an incoming gank, he can do it faster than normally. So this is when a decision comes in - Taking control of the River?

By the time you are ready to buy your first item, You should know well off wether the enemy jungler will gank or not. If the enemy jungler has ganked, and It has put you behind (you or ADC being killed) Then you need to rush Sightstone, Vision ward, and Sweeping. If they have not put you behind, and you are ahead and feeling confident - Then rush Face of the Mountain.

After you've bought one, Make sure you buy the other one next.

The locations for your VISION ward and Sighstone wards hare here:

Pros:
Very strong slow/poke

Can forcibly grab and move your ADC if they don't notice gank coming in

God tier engage when ally gank coming in (grab ADC,Run,throw into enemy) or (run in jungle and ult in with jungler)

Unique plays literally NO other champion can do, and even counter sometimes


Cons:
Mana hungry if you waste your W at bad times or on minions

W Slightly buggy, so you can kill your ally sometimes(explained below)

Another Tahm Kench is a potential high threat to you

When to Tongue Lash(Q):

This will be your basic poke, Although you do not want to use it to actually engage. Use Tongue Lash to get some poke off on the enemy, while making sure to save your Relic Shield(Q does activate Relic Shield) for cannon minions.

When going in on a hard engage, or for a kill, Always use this combo: Auto Attack, Q, Auto Attack, Q for stun. This way, you don't have to wait extra time for your Q to cooldown for the stun.


When to Devour(W)

Saving Your Ally: I tend to save my W to save my ally specificly. Although you have the option to get an enemy, I find it more efficient to use it on my ADC for the following reasons -

1: Keeps our damage dealer alive longer, protecting from damage AND giving time for cooldowns.

2: Fantastic engage technique because you get movement speed and throw the ally out further. This is great with engages, and chasing

3: Amazing gank prevention. You both can run back to tower, and if they cast any stuns or slows on your ADC(cause ADC is always targeted) you can pick him up and run even faster. This wastes their exhaust, flash,dash and cash! ;)

4: Game Changer. Let's say your engaged, both ADC's are standing still hittin eachother and your ADC is about to die. Devour your ADC, giving him time to heal, and get skills off of cooldown, while you stack 3 hits on enemy ADC, then Q to stun. After he is stunned, Spit your ally back out to finish of the enemy, for a massive in-yo-face out-play

When to Thick Skin(E):

Thick Skin offers 2 abilities that both drastically change a fight. I never use the active on Thick Skin unless I'm actively about to die. As in less than 10% Health. This way, When I have 5k total HP, I get a 4k+ shield that can, and will, save you from fights.

During laning phase, I tend to just run out of the fight to gain some of that HP back from the grey health.

When to Abyssal Voyage(R)

Abyssal Voyage, in my opinion is by far the best skill in the entire game. It offers multiple uses, that can and will determine a game outcome. Here are just a few of the uses I have gotten out of it:

1: Ganking ~ Enemy lane pushed on your tower? Run into tri-bush or gromp(depending on your side) and ult in with your jungler behind them. Then have your ADC run in as your going in, Giving an instant 3v2 pwnage.

2: NEW Ganking Meta ~ Jungler just ganked bot lane successfully? Run to dragon, Ult to mid when they pushed in, and get a 3v1 Gank for another instant successful gank.

3: Saving an ally in dire needs ~ Both of you run in a bush, ult as far away as you can - As soon as they hop in, Your both off. Just make sure you have about 1-2 seconds. Don't activate if they right on top of you.

4: Stealing Dragon ~ I've found that it's very easy to steal a dragon when you ult in with allied jungler, Because they always run away when they see the red circle when your ulting to that location.

5: Split Pushing To The Max ~ Just got a tower and their entire team arrived? Ult to another lane for some more wreckage. Or, Ult in to save a lane with an ally and get a kill.

I've selected to build pure defense with this build, Just to give the extra tankiness for early and end game.

9X Armor Marks to decrease damage from enemy ADC, Giving you more sustain to get in and get your 3 stacks for the devour

9X armor seals to further increase the tankiness against enemy ADC

9X Magic Resist glyphs to be able to take more poke from aggressive supports

2X Quint movement to engage when devouring allies faster

1X Quint Cool-down reduction to give the little boost to your Q

When it comes to buying items, You don't always have to buy armor or magic resist.

If your ahead in lane, or in the game in general, you can rush Warmog's for some massive HP. The cool thing about Tahm Kench is even though you should build armor and magic resist depending on enemy composition, It's eay to tank without it.

Team fights don't always last forever, Sometimes all you need is enough HP to withstand 4-5 seconds of fighting. That is possible with high HP and his E's Active. So, Assuming you read the item notes above, You don't always have to build the tank items first ;)

I hope everyone has fun with this build, I'll edit and add more content as things go on.

Good luck, and remember as a support, Keep control of the river!(ward it!) After all, You are its King!

An Acquired Taste
By damaging enemy champions with basic attacks and abilities, Tahm Kench builds stacks of An Acquired Taste on them. At three stacks, he can use Devour on an enemy champion.

Tongue Lash
Cost: 50 Mana
Range: 800
Tahm Kench lashes out with his tongue, damaging and slowing the first unit hit. This ability gains a stun after three stacks of An Acquired Taste.
Damage the first enemy hit for 80/115/150/185/220 (+70% Ability Power) magic damage and slow them by 30/40/50/60/70% for 2s. Champions with 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste will additionally be stunned for 1.5s.Activate Devour while your tongue is in midair to devour monsters/minions from a distance.

Devour
Cost: 90 Mana
Range: 250
Tahm Kench devours a target, dealing a percentage of their maximum health as magic damage. He can spit devoured minions and monsters out as a skillshot that deals magic damage in an area upon impact.
Devour a target for 4/4.5/5/5.5/6s (half that for enemy champions.) Enemies are dealt 20/23/26/29/32% (+[2% Ability Power]%) of their maximum health as magic damage (maximum of 400/450/500/550/600 against neutral monsters).
Enemy Champions: Requires 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste to be devoured. While holding an enemy champion, Tahm Kench is slowed by 95%.
Allied Champions: While holding an allied champion, Tahm Kench gains 30/35/40/45/50% movement speed toward enemy champions (halved when not moving toward enemy champions).
Minions and Monsters: Reactivate to spit them, dealing 100/150/200/250/300 (+60% Ability Power) magic damage to targets hit.

Thick Skin
Cost: 50 Mana
Range: Self
Tahm Kench turns incoming damage into gray health. As gray health decays, Tahm Kench is healed for a percentage of the gray health amount. When activated, this ability turns all gray health into a shield.
Passive: Damage taken while this ability is not cooling down is converted to gray health. If allowed to decay, 20/26/32/38/44% of gray health will turn back into health.
Active: Convert all of your gray health into a shield that lasts 6 seconds, but falls off gradually over that time.

Abyssal Voyage
Cost: 100 Mana
Range: 4000/5000/6000
Tahm Kench puts the heft of his immense body behind his attacks and abilities, gaining extra damage based on his bonus health. When activated, Tahm Kench teleports across the map, and he may bring one ally champion with him.
Passive: Basic attacks and damaging abilities deal an additional 0 (20 + 4/5/6% of Tahm Kench's bonus health) magic damage.
Active: Begin to channel for up to 15 seconds. During this time, one ally champion can right click Tahm Kench to join in. Alternatively, reactivate this ability to travel alone. On reactivation or once an ally has opted in, Tahm travels to the target location. Incoming champion damage breaks the channel.'Boy, the world's one river, and I'm its king. Ain't no place I ain't been; ain't no place I can't go again.'