Guide · Support

Tahm Kench Guide

The River King

Tank

Support

Tier C Support

Tahm Kench, The River King, is a tank and support champion of medium difficulty. Across our 345 analysed ranked games, Tahm Kench is mostly played as Support (53% of its games), and more rarely in Top (47%), with a 45.4% win rate in that role: tier C among Support champions (#37 of 39, ranked by win rate). Tahm Kench's damage is mostly magic (74%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 48.5% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 103 games) versus 40.8% in short games (under 25 min).

Average KDA

3.2 / 6.9 / 11.4

ratio 2.1

Damage / min

516

CS / min

1.2

Gold / min

315

Kill participation

49%

Vision / min

2.37

Averages measured over 183 Support games played with Tahm Kench, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Tahm Kench is a support-tank whose damage increases with his total health. Tongue Lash slows and applies An Acquired Taste (at 3 stacks, it stuns and can be followed by Devour), Abyssal Dive knocks up, Thick Skin stores damage for a shield, and Devour swallows a champion: magic damage or a shield for an ally.

Tahm Kench's strengths

His damage increases with his total health, which makes him effective as a tank.
Tongue Lash applies An Acquired Taste: at 3 stacks, it stuns.
Devour protects an ally by taking them to safety or swallows an affected enemy.

Tahm Kench's weaknesses

Devour requires 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste on an enemy.
Little damage without health.
Thick Skin only really protects with stored damage to consume.

Role in team fights

Tahm Kench chooses between protecting and attacking: swallowing an ally takes them out of a control, swallowing an enemy separates them from their team. Abyssal Dive helps him join the brawl or leave it.

The stun

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is within range.

Tongue Lash applies a stack of An Acquired Taste; at 3 stacks, the champion is stunned and the stacks are consumed.

The engage

When: An enemy is far away.

Abyssal Dive makes you dive then reappear at the targeted spot, damaging and knocking up enemies; Devour swallows an enemy champion (3 stacks required).

Protecting an ally

When: An ally is under threat.

Devour on an ally gives them a shield for a few seconds; Thick Skin protects you too.

The ally rescue

When: An ally is targeted by an engage.

Abyssal Dive brings you to the ally, Devour gives them a shield for a few seconds, Thick Skin converts your stored damage into a temporary shield.

Laning phase

Apply 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste to stun with Tongue Lash. Thick Skin: activate it to convert the stored damage into a temporary shield.

Common mistakes

Using Devour on an enemy without having the 3 stacks.
Not converting your stored damage into a shield.
Using Abyssal Dive with no direction.

Riot's official tips for playing 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.

Build, runes and summoner spells

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite46.7% · 105 games

Exhaust + Flash38.9% · 36 games

Flash + Heal41.2% · 34 games

Most-played runes

Grasp of the Undying + Precision

45.0% · 80 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Shield Bash89%

Second Wind92%

Unflinching84%

Secondary tree · Precision

Triumph99%

Legend: Alacrity99%

Shards

Attack speed99%

Health scaling92%

Health scaling85%

Guardian + Inspiration

36.1% · 36 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Font of Life97%

Bone Plating86%

Unflinching89%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Approach Velocity75%

Biscuit Delivery75%

Shards

Attack speed89%

Health scaling72%

Health scaling78%

Grasp of the Undying + Domination

51.6% · 31 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Shield Bash97%

Second Wind97%

Revitalize100%

Secondary tree · Domination

Ultimate Hunter100%

Cheap Shot97%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Health scaling97%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Tahm Kench's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team59.5% · 42 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Heartsteel 68.8% ▲

Spirit Visage 50.0%

The item that stands out most is Heartsteel: 68.8% win rate, +21 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team46.0% · 50 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Heartsteel 41.7% ▼

Thornmail 37.5%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team38.5% · 91 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Heartsteel 41.5% ▼

Spirit Visage 41.7%

Locket of the Iron Solari 36.8%

Thornmail 52.9%

Dusk and Dawn 30.0%

Bandlepipes 20.0%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

How to play 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!
Watch out for Kench's Abyssal Dive - you can cancel it's channel with immobilizing crowd control effects.

Riot's official tips.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed.

Abilities

PassiveAn Acquired Taste

Tahm Kench puts the heft of his immense body behind his attacks, gaining extra damage based on his total health. Damaging enemy champions builds stacks of An Acquired Taste. At three stacks, he can use Devour on an enemy champion.

QTongue Lash

Tahm Kench lashes out with his tongue, damaging and slowing the first unit hit and healing himself if he strikes an enemy champion.

Applies a stack of An Acquired Taste to enemy champions. If the champion already has 3 stacks of An Acquired Taste, they are stunned and the stacks are consumed.

WAbyssal Dive

Dive down and then re-appear at target location, damaging and knocking up all enemies in an area.

EThick Skin

Passive: Tahm Kench stores a percent of the damage he takes and heals based on it while out of combat.

Active: Convert all stored damage into a temporary shield.

RDevour

Tahm Kench devours a champion for a few seconds, dealing magic damage if they are an enemy, or shielding them if they are an ally.

Frequently asked questions

What game length suits Tahm Kench best?

Win rate varies with game length: 48.5% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 103 games) versus 40.8% in short games (under 25 min).

Which runes should I play on Tahm Kench?

The most-played rune page uses Grasp of the Undying with the Precision secondary tree (80 games, 45.0% win rate).

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