30
June

news

Tahm Kench Receives Definitive Plans For A Rework In Season 10

It's no secret that Tahm Kench is just one of those bench-life champions for most players. Ever since his release just over 5 years ago, he's found his way in and out of the spotlight - remaining largely a niche pick with a relatively mediocre win rate.

 

He's inexplicably weak in low to mid-tier ranked play. And yet, somehow, he's just so incredibly powerful on the professional scene.

 

Over the years, this has largely been attributed to the fact that his mechanics and kit's viability are incredibly dependant on high in-lane coordination as well as being able to fit nicely with the overall team composition.

 

And now, Riot has finally stepped up to discuss their plans to unbench the 'Kench.

 

What Is The Tahm Kench Rework Centered Around?

With the majority of his kit revolving around two high skill-cap moves, the development team is planning to make small balance changes that would open his kit up, making it more approachable for the vast majority of players.

 

The two abilities in focus are his W's "Devour" mechanic and his "Abyssal Voyage" ultimate.

 

The plan thus far is to simply switch them around. This would put Tahm Kench's current ultimate as his W ability. And, in turn, his "Devour" ability will now become his ultimate skill as we head towards the 11th season.

 

However, the abilities themselves will not remain un-tweaked either.

 

How Will The River King's Abilities Change?

At the moment, the plans are to make "Abyssal Voyage" an in-lane engagement mechanic for the champion. This would see a reduced ability range and faster casing timers. Additionally, the ability will now deal damage and provide for a nice knock up CC.

 

On the other hand, "Devour" would have a two-sided mechanic. It will deal damage to enemies that Tahm Kench gobbles up while granting an active shield to any allies instead. And of course, these changes would be balanced with the level-6-lock before the champion can access the ability, as well as a longer cooldown timer.

 

Another change that players can expect is more self-healing for Tahm Kench. This would come from an on-hit HP boost from his Q, "Tongue Lash."

 

Closing Thoughts

Tahm Kench is no stranger to balance updates and micro-reworks. And with the last update in last season's Patch 9.19 only proving the difficulty of balancing him around both ranked and professional play simultaneously - this rework is set to make a bigger impact and explore some new ideas that could fuel future champion reworks down the line.

 

At the moment, these updates are expected to go live after Worlds 2020, alongside several other champion reworks, new champion releases, and the 10th-anniversary event.

 

The player community is excited to see the changes, and as boosters - we're curious to see how the rebalancing update impacts Tahm Kench's viability in higher skill brackets of ranked play once it lands. You can expect to see the new champion changes hit PBE around Patch 10.21.

 

 

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