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Strategy is highly subjective and may become outdated without any notice. Because of this, the League of Legends Wiki has decided to retire strategy pages and would recommend using other platforms (such as YouTube) to find guides. For more information visit this thread.
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Champion Spotlight[]
Recommended Items[]
Tips[]
- Playing As
Tahm Kench
- Your most important function as a support is to keep fragile allies safe. Keep Devour's range and cooldown in mind and position accordingly!
- Consider carefully when to use Thick Skin's active. Sometimes shielding early to avoid further damage is good, but sometimes the healing is more beneficial.
- Playing Against Tahm Kench
- When you see Tahm Kench use the shield from Thick Skin, remember that he just opted out of a good deal of healing. He will also not accumulate new gray health until Thick Skin comes off cooldown. Use this to your advantage!
- If Tahm Kench harasses you by spitting minions at you, try going in for a trade right after he spits. His Devour will be on cooldown and you should be able to trade favourably if he can't eat you.
Tricks[]
- Ability Usage
- While laning, Tahm should always be looking for opportunities to harass with Tongue Lash. He can also harass by using Tongue Lash on a minion immediately followed by Devour, allowing him to swallow and launch a minion as a projectile. While this does give Tahm some AoE damage, it also eats away a large portion of his mana and prevents him from using Devour defensively until it comes off cooldown, rendering the combo too expensive to be worth executing unless it is being used to clear a wave.
- Players should be cautious about choosing when to use Devour as a support because of its long cooldown early on. Generally speaking, using Devour offensively or on a minion creates a window of opportunity for opponents to engage without safe escape for the ADC, so use it sparingly in a duo lane. Devour is best used offensively when opponents are fleeing or an allied jungler is preparing to gank your lane. When using Devour defensively, be sure to use it only when necessary or try to keep track of enemy cooldowns. By disrupting an ally's combo you run the risk of reducing their overall DPS or allowing opponents time to bring their skill rotation off cooldown in time to re-engage, effectively losing the trade or giving up a kill. Try to refrain from Devouring an ally until you see them fleeing from danger or know they would otherwise die to oncoming damage.
- Players should also be cautious about choosing when to use Thick Skin, as well. In most cases, it's best to use his grey health as a shield rather than a regen tool when tanking turret fire or being focused by burst champions. Tahm players can put themselves in dangerous situations or get caught off guard by choosing to hoard their grey health for regen rather than shielding. It is best to use grey health for regen while clearing jungle camps or following short trades; in most other circumstances, a shield would be more beneficial.
- Thick Skin makes Tahm very effective at diving turrets due to his high health values and his ability to bring allies safely into turret range using Devour or Abyssal Voyage without subjecting them to turret aggro. When he gets low on health, Tahm can activate Thick Skin while under turret to effectively double his health bar, providing a much longer than normal attack window for allies to operate in before being forced out of turret range. Be careful to avoid eating unnecessary damage while using Thick Skin to tank turret aggro because a large amount of unexpected damage or hard cc can lead to death before your shield can be activated.
- Abyssal Voyage is a very powerful re-positioning tool due to its ability to bring allied champions with you. A well-timed ult can turn 1v1 or 2v1 situations into advantageous encounters across the map, providing high amounts of global pressure while Tahm is roaming or not visible on the map. Though Tahm is unable to carry multiple enemy champions through Abyssal Voyage alone, he is able to carry more than one ally if used in conjunction with Kalista's Fate's Call. Try to travel to and from locations in the fog of war while using Abyssal Voyage to prevent enemies from predicting the gank or interrupting the channel. Remember that the skill indicator is larger than most brush patches, and will therefore still be visible to the opposing team when cast to or from a brush. The skill also emits a loud sound upon travel that can be heard by the opposing team; therefore, it is best to strike quickly following an ult if you are attempting to surprise the enemy team.
- Rune Usage
- Keystones
- Glacial Augment
- Glacial Augment gives Tahm Kench a lot of extra kill pressure in bot lane, especially in combination with Approach Velocity. If you land your Tongue Lash on the enemy you gain the Movement Speed from Approach Velocity allowing you to get in Basic Attack range. When you Basic Attack the enemy they get slowed by Approach Velocity making it easier to get in a second Basic Attack, giving you max stacks of An Acquired Taste letting you pick up the enemy with your Devour.
- Unsealed Spellbook
- Unsealed Spellbook gives you more defensive options later in the game while still keeping some of your kill potential with Ignite. Unsealed Spellbook is commonly taken when then enemy has a lot of Crowd Control so you can switch out your Ignite for Cleanse later in the game. Without Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash you will often end up dying yourself when trying to Devour an ally if the enemy has a lot of Crowd Control. Unsealed Spellbook also enables you to switch to Teleport in the mid-game giving you a lot of map presence.
- Guardian
- Guardian is another defensive option that gives more passive power without the player having to play around it in a specific way like Unsealed Spellbook. Guardian can work better in scenarios where the enemy doesn't have a lot of Crowd Control, but a more damage heavy team.
- Grasp of the Undying
- Grasp of the Undying is usually not taken as a Support, but can be great for Top Lane when facing another Melee Champion. Grasp of the Undying gives a lot of extra trading power by giving you extra damage and healing throughout the laning phase.
- Trees
- Resolve
- Like most tanks you always want to take Resolve on Tahm Kench. This tree gives you extra Health and a number of runes that allow you to not die as easily. Trait: Resolve is taken as the secondary tree when taking Glacial Augment or Unsealed Spellbook.
- Bone Plating is the premiere defensive rune in the Resolve tree and is therefore taken every time.
- Second Wind is taken in most cases because of it's ability to help you sustain through the laning phase.
- Conditioning can be taken instead of Second Wind if you do not expect to take too much damage in the laning phase and would prefer the extra Armor and Magic Resist later in the game.
- Revitalize can be taken if Resolve is your primary tree, it is generally not better than Bone Plating or Second Wind, but Revitalize does have good synergy with Tahm Kench's Thick Skin increasing both the the shield from the active, and the healing if you choose to not use the active.
- Like most tanks you always want to take
- Inspiration
- Inspiration is often taken because it becomes your primary tree when taking either Glacial Augment or Unsealed Spellbook, but can also be taken as a secondary tree otherwise.
- Magical Footwear is generally a good rune that allows you to save 300 by not having to buy Boots of Speed and also giving some extra movement speed, but sacrificing the ability to get Boots early in the game.
- Biscuit Delivery can be taken when playing against a difficult lane where you need the extra sustain to survive.
- Minion Dematerializer serves a similar purpose as Biscuit Delivery by letting you use your Relic Shield stacks without having to risk being poked down, this rune is usually more important at higher levels of play where the enemy will punish you harder for walking up.
- Approach Velocity is a good for saving Crowd Controlled allies with Devour, but is taken mostly for the increased kill pressure you gain on your enemy. This means the rune is usually taken when playing against enemies that you have the power to kill early if you can get in range to Devour them.
- Time Warp Tonic is a decent alternative to Approach Velocity if you're facing a matchup where you need the extra sustain and you don't have a lot of kill pressure. Time Warp Tonic is usually taken together with Biscuit Delivery because of their synergy with each other.
- Cosmic Insight is just an overall good rune and can be taken if you don't want either Approach Velocity or Time Warp Tonic.
- Precision
- Precision is usually only taken as a secondary tree when playing Top Lane. In Top Lane you are more likely to face another Melee Champion allowing you to take runes that aren't just oriented around surviving lane.
- Legend: Alacrity is a great rune for Tahm Kench because of his synergy with Attack Speed, allowing him to stack his An Acquired Taste faster and do more on-hit damage.
- Coup de Grace and Last Stand both serve the same purpose of giving you more damage and which you choose mostly comes down to preference.
- Triumph can also be taken more some additional sustain in teamfights.
- Item Usage
- Tahm Kench synergizes best with items that provide health and resistances, such as Sunfire Cape, Randuin's Omen, and Banshee's Veil. Spirit Visage is especially useful to Tahm due to its synergy with Thick Skin, and Warmog's Armor should be considered due to the Tahm's high bonus health scaling and overall utility. Catalyst the Protector is a worthwhile pickup during the early game phase that can later provide a large amount of damage or utility when built into Rod of Ages or Abyssal Mask.
- An offensive item to consider would be Frozen Mallet, which gives him the sticking power that he lacks while growing out his health pool. Iceborn Gauntlet should also be considered as an alternative because Tahm Kench can proc it often following Tongue Lash and naturally seeks to auto attack in attempt to proc An Acquired Taste more quickly. Building additional CDR with Iceborn Gauntlet also gives Tahm permaslow potential, helping him close in on enemies before using Devour. While Iceborn Gauntlet doesn't provide any health, it dramatically increases his spammability and provides a decent amount of armor for solo lane play. Players should not build both Frozen Mallet and Iceborn Gauntlet in a single match though, because the passive slows from each item do not stack.
- Liandry's Torment is a very powerful item on Tahm because of the low cooldown and slow on Tongue Lash, allowing him to burn a whopping 12% of an opponent's health every 6 seconds, in addition to the increased offensive capabilities granted to him through its additional bonus health and Tongue Lash's high base damage.
- While Tahm can effectively utilize any support item while in that role, he best utilizes Face of the Mountain because of its high health gains and his ability to safely farm siege minions using Tongue Lash and Devour. Because of Tahm also likely possessing a large amount of health, the 10% of said health being converted into a shield for a squishy ally will be tremendous in proportion to their health. Support Tahm should also seek to invest in Targon's Brace early to increase his tankiness and vision control.
- Tahm can make effective use of a Mikael's Crucible, especially as a support. The increase to heals and shields increases both the health restored and the maximum shield from Thick Skin, and the item also provide a small boost to magic resist and cooldown reduction. The active can be used in it's normal way, cleansing CC from a carry, or it can be used in combination with Devour to provide immunity to the self-slow when eating enemy champions, allowing Tahm carry a foe a much longer distance, especially when combined with a Dead Man's Plate or a Righteous Glory.
- While Tahm has great map mobility with Abyssal Voyage, he lacks an easy way to get into teamfights outside of it, and it's hugely telegraphed. An early investment in a Dead Man's Plate or a Righteous Glory can allow Tahm to engage on the enemy team while slowing down a crucial target for several hits, allowing him to build up stacks of An Acquired Taste and take an enemy out of a fight with Devour.
- Dead Man's Plate in particular is valuable to Tahm due to its movement speed being passive, allowing him to get away from enemies he can't deal with by himself and bait them into a trap by his teammates. Be aware that you lose stacks of momentum while slowed, stunned, or otherwise incapacitated, so use your improved speed to dodge incoming crowd control even if it means you might take some damage.
- Countering
- The Grey Health mechanic on Thick Skin means that, unlike other tank supports, Tahm Kench is very resilient to poke. However, due to the fact that he lacks a means of healing his teammates, other than the passive on Relic Shield and its upgrades, it is recommended that during the lane phase, you harass his ADC instead of Tahm Kench himself.
- Grey Health is not a shield. It only applies a shield when Tahm Kench activates it. You can take advantage of this by using hard CC on Tahm Kench, so that he will not able to activate this ability and survive for a longer time. This and his damage potential makes Tahm Kench more vulnerable to hard CC, when compared to other tanks.
- Tahm Kench excels at countering hard engages and dives, thanks to Devour. Avoid wasting your most valuable single-target abilities such as Death Mark or Assault and Battery before baiting Tahm Kench into using this skill. On other hand, it is a single-target skill that can only really be used to save one ally, so for example, if Tahm Kench is protecting the ADC, just focus their mid laner.
- This can also be countered by using champions with lots of AoE abilities, such as Xerath, Karthus, and AP Kog'Maw.
- Keep in mind that Devour cannot avoid delayed damage. Thus, if Zed has already dealt enough damage to kill an enemy, Tahm Kench cannot save them even with Devour. This also means that other delayed damage skills like Hemoplague can still deal damage to Tahm's devoured allies.
- This can also be countered by using champions with lots of AoE abilities, such as
- Because Devour has a short range, players can also try to isolate Tahm from high value targets before engaging them with single target abilities. Hard CC with long durations or skills that displace enemies, such as Skarner's Impale or Gragas' Explosive Cask.
- Tahm Kench lacks an engage of his own. This can be taken advantage by constantly harassing his team with poke. Tahm Kench, as explained above, is difficult to outlast with poke, but it is still a viable way to wear him down as the Grey Health will not regenerate his entire health.
- Affecting Tahm with Ignite or an ability that inflicts Grievous Wounds (for example, Varus' Hail of Arrows) can severely hinder his ability to regenerate with Grey Health, by either delaying his regen or reducing the amount he receives in compensation. This however will not hinder his ability to shield, so players should attempt to apply hard CC or provide ample room to chase should they try to use a delaying tactic.
- Between the bonus damage from Abyssal Voyage, the high shield power of Thick Skin, and Tahm's respectable single target lockdown with Tongue Lash and Devour, Tahm bears the distinction of being quite possibly the best tank duelist in the game. Trying to 1v1 Tahm late game is an exercise in futility, as even if he doesn't have kill potential on you, he can delay the fight for potentially minutes on end, allowing his team to turn the tides. Do your best to fight Tahm with a numbers advantage, as he lacks any real AoE damage or crowd control and, while durable, can only take so much punishment.
- Tahm Kench is not just a support. He is also a top laner, and a good counter to many of other common top laners. He is really difficult to outduel as a melee champion, but he is actually quite vulnerable during the early game, especially because he is mana hungry. A lane bully such as Darius or Renekton can hold their own against Tahm Kench, especially since they have sustain. But keep in mind that they will not be able to combat Tahm for a long time, and he will eventually outscale them in utility.
