Tahm Kench rework hits League of Legends PBE server
Based on a recent Tweet by Blake “Squad5” Smith, a League of Legends Game Designer at Riot, Tahm Kench will be receiving significant changes to his kit. These changes are aimed towards making him a viable pick both in solo queue and professional play. Judging from Smith’s comments, Riot wants to make him playable in places other than the bot lane. Although that would be ideal, the team also doesn’t want to make him stronger in other lanes than he is in the bottom lane. Smith also noted this isn’t the final rework, but a first step to solving Tahm Kench.
The changes
To begin with, the first change comes to Tahm Kench’s Q ability, Tongue Lash. The River King’s tongue will now have a longer slow duration, slow percentage, and range. However, his cooldown on the spell will be considerably increased.
His W ability, Devour, will see the biggest change compared to his old kit. Devour will now act similarly when used on allies as it does enemies. This means the frog will be grounded and substantially slowed when he has an ally in his belly. The mana cost, base minion spit damage, and devour damage will see number increases. Additionally, his W will now refund 50% of the mana cost on devouring an enemy.
Tahm Kench’s E ability, Thick Skin, will see some changes to Gray Health. The percentage of gray health converting into real health will be increased. Additionally, more of Tahm’s damage will be converted into gray health from now on. The mana cost for the spell has been removed.
As a final point, Tahm will be receiving nerfs to his ultimate, Abyssal Voyage. Its range will be notably decreased at levels 6 and 16. The cooldown is also getting increased by quite a big margin.
In a follow-up tweet, Squad5 added that Tahm Kench is a difficult case to balance. He used to be a viable pick in both bottom lane and top lane. He even saw some playing time in the jungle. Nowadays, the champion is only being played as a support. This is due to his ability to save allies with Devour and move around the map with Abyssal Voyage. With these changes, Riot Games hopes the demonic frog becomes more viable in his multiple roles.
