Kennen Skins

Kennen is one of those champions where the skin catalog tells you exactly how Riot feels about him: useful enough to keep around, not popular enough to get the premium treatment. Ten skins deep and not a single Legendary. Been playing Kennen on and off since season 3, mostly as a top lane counterpick into melee comps, and I've cycled through most of his skins at this point. Some hold up. Most dont. The whole collection sits in this weird spot where three Epics carry the weight and seven Standards range from decent to genuinely ugly. Typical Riot treatment for yordles that aren't named Teemo.

Kennen's Skin Collection Over the Years

Ten skins spanning 2010 to 2023. Thirteen years of content and the ceiling is 1350 RP. Not gonna lie, that stings a little if you're a Kennen main. No Legendary, no Ultimate, no Mythic. Just seven Standards at 520 RP and three Epics at 1350. The math is rough when you compare it to champions released around the same time.

Deadly Kennen kicked things off back in 2010. Classic early League skin energy: recolor, maybe a different outfit texture, call it a day. Swamp Master Kennen and Karate Kennen followed the same formula. These were the days when 520 RP meant "we changed his shirt color" and everyone was fine with it. Kennen M.D. at least tried something creative with the doctor theme, but the model is so dated now it looks like a mobile game asset.

Arctic Ops Kennen was the first skin that actually felt modern. Released in 2015, it brought Kennen into one of Riot's better military-themed lines. Still a Standard somehow. Blood Moon came next in 2017 and honestly thats when the catalog started looking respectable. The Blood Moon aesthetic fits a ninja yordle way better than you'd expect.

Super Kennen dropped as part of the Silver Age superhero line. Fun concept. Then Infernal Kennen in 2019 gave mains their first real Epic with new particles and effects. DWG Kennen arrived in 2021 as a Worlds skin for ShowMaker's performance, and Astronaut Kennen closed things out in 2023. Three Epics in four years after nine years of Standards. Better late than never I guess.

Could be wrong here but I think Kennen's pickrate in pro play is the only reason he kept getting skins at all. Solo queue pickrate has been hovering around 2% for years. Pro players pull him out for teamfight comps and suddenly Riot remembers he exists.

Best Skins for Kennen

Infernal Kennen is the one. Full stop. The fire effects on his Q shurikens look clean, the W proc has this satisfying ember burst, and his R turns the whole teamfight into a firestorm that actually reads well in chaotic 5v5s. Been running this in my Diamond games for three seasons now and it never gets old. 1350 RP feels fair for the particle work alone. The recall animation where he summons a fire tornado is a nice touch too.

DWG Kennen sits right behind it. The Worlds 2020 skin for ShowMaker carries that clean blue-and-white DWG aesthetic. Played maybe 40 games with this one last split. The Q feels slightly different in terms of visual clarity, which sounds minor but matters when you're trying to land poke in lane. (Random aside: I always forget this was ShowMaker's pick and not Canyon's, something about the blue energy screams jungler to me.) The E lightning rush effect is probably the best part. Crisp visuals.

Astronaut Kennen is the newest and it shows. 2023 quality standards mean better textures, smoother animations, the whole package. The space helmet on a yordle is inherently funny. His R creates this gravity field effect thats pretty distinct from other Kennen skins. Not gonna lie, the Astronaut line has been hit-or-miss across champions but Kennen's version lands well.

Blood Moon Kennen deserves a mention even though its a Standard. The mask design is iconic and honestly the splash art carries harder than the in-game model. If you're on a budget and want something that looks good in the loading screen, Blood Moon is the play. Locked this in for most of season 8 I think.

Arctic Ops Kennen is the sleeper pick. Military ninja yordle with goggles. The concept is ridiculous and it works. Model holds up okay for a 2015 skin. Seen maybe five of these in my ranked games all season, which means you get that rare factor going for you.

Skinlines and Themes That Fit Kennen

Kennen shows up in eight different skinlines across his ten skins and some of them fit better than others. The Infernal line is the natural match. Kennen's kit is all about lightning and energy, so swapping that to fire creates enough visual contrast to feel fresh while keeping the "elemental force" fantasy intact. Might be overthinking it but fire and lightning share that same aggressive burst energy, which is why Infernal Kennen works so well thematically.

Blood Moon is another strong fit. Kennen is canonically a ninja in Ionia, so the Blood Moon aesthetic with the traditional masks and red-black color palette feels like it belongs in his base lore. The skin doesn't need to stretch the fantasy at all. Natural pairing.

Astronauts is the fun one. Yordle in a space suit throwing electric shurikens. It shouldn't work but it does. The Astronaut line has this playful energy that matches Kennen's size and personality. Way better fit than something like a serious military theme would be. Wait. Arctic Ops exists. Okay that one works too but differently.

DWG is a special case since Worlds skins are about the player not the champion. Still looks good though. The Silver Age superhero line with Super Kennen is honestly kind of forgettable. Kennen as a superhero sounds cool on paper but the execution feels generic. Could be coping but I think the skin needed better particles to sell the concept.

Rift Hospital with Kennen M.D. was creative for its era. Doctor Kennen throwing medical shurikens. The humor lands even if the model is ancient. Swamp Master sits in the Legacy category and honestly belongs there. Not much to say about it.

Budget vs Premium: Where to Spend on Kennen

Good news and bad news. Bad news: Kennen has no Legendary or above. Good news: his best skins are all 1350 RP or less, so you're not breaking the bank regardless.

If you're spending 1350, Infernal Kennen is the answer. Best particles, best recall, best overall package. DWG and Astronaut are solid alternatives if fire isnt your thing. All three Epics deliver on the 1350 promise with new effects across the full kit.

On a budget? Blood Moon at 520 RP punches way above its weight class. The splash is gorgeous and the in-game model holds up better than Deadly or Swamp Master. Arctic Ops is another 520 option that still looks decent in 2026. Kinda feels like Riot underpriced both of these based on the quality.

Real talk though, Kennen's Standards are showing their age hard. Deadly Kennen and Swamp Master Kennen are basically chromas by modern standards. Karate Kennen is literally just a white outfit swap. If you're climbing ranked with Kennen and want something that looks clean, save for one of the Epics. The 830 RP difference between a Standard and an Epic is worth it here more than on most champions because the Standard quality floor is so low.

Best value pick overall: Blood Moon Kennen at 520 RP. Best skin period: Infernal Kennen at 1350 RP. Simple as that.

Playing Kennen in Ranked: What the Skins Won't Tell You

Been maining Kennen as a pocket pick in Diamond for five seasons now. He's not my blind pick but when the enemy locks in something melee with no gap closer, Kennen comes out. The champion lives and dies by his R in teamfights. Good flank with Slicing Maelstrom and you win the game. Bad engage and you're a squishy yordle standing in five people doing nothing.

Took Infernal Kennen into a ranked game last Tuesday where the enemy team had Darius top, Amumu jungle, and Leona support. Three melee champions who want to clump together. Absolute dream comp to play into. Hit a 4-man ult in dragon pit around 25 minutes and that was game. Stuff like that is why you keep Kennen in the champion pool even when his pickrate is terrible.

His lane phase is solid against most melee matchups. Q poke is reliable, W passive proc gives you free trades, E lets you escape ganks that would kill any other top laner. Pre-6 you're mostly farming and poking. Post-6 you become a teamfight threat that the enemy has to respect. Scaling into late-game Kennen falls off compared to proper mages but his engage potential never fully disappears.

(Sidebar for Kennen mains specifically: if you're splitpushing with Kennen you're playing him wrong. This champion exists to Flash R into the backline during teamfights. Thats it. That's the whole identity.)

Fair warning, Kennen's low pickrate means most players don't know how to play against him. In Diamond I still catch people walking into Q range repeatedly because they haven't laned against Kennen in 50 games. Take advantage of that. The champion rewards game knowledge more than mechanical skill.

Frequently Asked Questions