Garen vs Kennen
Skill matchup
Build vs Kennen
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Dead Man's Plate, Force of Nature, Infinity Edge.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Kennen's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
Kennen stuns enemies he hits 3 times with his abilities.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 7s | 13s | 10s | – |
| 6 | 5.5s | 13s | 10s | 2m |
| 9 | 4s | 11.25s | 10s | 2m |
| 11 | 4s | 9.5s | 10s | 2m |
| 16 | 4s | 6s | 8s | 2m |
| 18 | 4s | 6s | 6s | 2m |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Kennen
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Dodge his shurikens
Dodge Thundering Shuriken (Q): each spell that hits you applies Mark of the Storm (passive), and on the third, you're stunned.
- Back off when he rushes in
Back off as soon as he rushes at you with Lightning Rush (E): it's his engage, often followed by Slicing Maelstrom (R).
- Spread out from your allies
When he has Slicing Maelstrom (R), spread out from your allies: the storm hits every enemy around him, and its repeated hits end up stunning.
- Fight back after his storm
Wait for Slicing Maelstrom (R) to end before you fight back: during the storm, he gains armor and magic resist, then the spell has a 120-second cooldown.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1