Kayn Counters: Who Beats Kayn

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Kayn counters are junglers who beat him before he picks a form and hold him in place once he does. He’s a 175-range fighter-assassin with a dash on Reaping Slash, a slow on Blade’s Reach, Shadow Step to walk through terrain, and an ultimate that hides him inside an enemy, so early duelists, dash-stopping and tank stats are what beat him.

These five picks come from reading his patch 26.21 ability text against theirs, not from a tier list.

Why is Kayn hard to counter?

• The Darkin Scythe (passive): Kayn fights Rhaast for control of the weapon and ends up as one of two champions. Darkin heals for a percentage of spell damage dealt to champions; Shadow Assassin deals bonus damage for the first few seconds in combat with enemy champions.
• Reaping Slash (Q): a dash, then a slash, both dealing damage. Cooldown 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds.
• Blade’s Reach (W): damage and a slow in a line. Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9.
• Shadow Step (E): he can walk through terrain. Cooldown 21/19/17/15/13.
• Umbral Trespass (R): he hides in an enemy’s body and deals massive damage when he bursts out. Cooldown 120/100/80.

Kayn is two champions, and you don’t know which until he transforms. Darkin is a bruiser who heals off spell damage; Shadow Assassin is a burst champion with bonus damage at the start of every fight. Both of them walk through walls on Shadow Step, both dash with Reaping Slash, and both get to sit inside your carry on Umbral Trespass while your team tries to figure out where he went. Honestly, the hardest part is the uncertainty. What stays the same in either form? The early game. Before the transformation he is a 175-range melee champion with a short dash and no shield, and the junglers below are picked to make that stretch of the game as miserable as possible.

Which champions are the best Kayn counters?

Lee Sin

Lee Sin’s whole kit is early-game pressure (the one window Kayn can’t afford to lose). Sonic Wave (Q) locates enemies and Resonating Strike dashes to whatever it hit for damage based on missing Health. Tempest (E) sends out a shockwave that reveals enemy units it hits, which answers a Kayn standing just inside the nearest wall on Shadow Step. Dragon’s Rage (R) kicks the target back, which moves Kayn away from the carry he was about to Umbral Trespass into. Safeguard (W) shields Lee Sin, and Iron Will gives him Omnivamp to trade with a Darkin who heals too.

Xin Zhao

Crescent Guard (R) makes Xin Zhao impervious to damage from champions outside the circle it creates and knocks back anyone he hasn’t Challenged, so a Kayn arriving mid-fight either eats the knock back or has to stand inside the ring with him. Audacious Charge (E) closes the distance and slows, Three Talon Strike (Q) knocks him up on the third hit, which interrupts anything he was casting, and Determination (passive) heals Xin Zhao every third attack. Thing is, this is a 175-range melee champion with one dash trying to duel a 175-range melee fighter who heals, slows and knocks up. Put simply, the early duel is not close.

Udyr

Blazing Stampede (E) gives Udyr movement speed and makes his first attack against each target stun them, and the recast grants immunity to immobilizing effects. Iron Mantle (W) shields him and heals him on his next two attacks, and the recast heals based on max Health over the next couple of seconds. That’s a sustain fight Kayn loses (in either form), because Darkin heals only off spell damage dealt to champions and Shadow Assassin’s bonus damage runs out after the first few seconds in combat. Wilding Claw (Q) adds attack speed and bonus physical damage, and Wingborne Storm (R) slows everything around him, which makes Reaping Slash’s dash a short trip to nowhere.

Poppy

Steadfast Presence (W) is the ability built for this: activated, it stops enemy dashes around her, and a stopped dash leaves the enemy slowed and grounded. Reaping Slash is a dash. Heroic Charge (E) dashes to a target and pushes it back, stunning it if it hits a wall, and Kayn spends a lot of his time next to walls (that’s where Shadow Step starts). Keeper’s Verdict (R) knocks enemies very far away, which is the answer to a Darkin walking at your carry. The passive on Steadfast Presence also grants Armor and Magic Resist, more when she’s low, so she gets tankier exactly when a Shadow Assassin expects her to die.

Rammus

Frenzying Taunt (E) forces Kayn into a reckless assault on Rammus, and a Kayn attacking Rammus is a Kayn eating the damage Defensive Ball Curl (W) returns to anyone who attacks him. That same W vastly increases his Armor and Magic Resistance, and Spiked Shell (passive) turns those resistances into Attack Damage. Powerball (Q) rolls in with a slow. Soaring Slam (R) cast mid-roll knocks up enemies near the center. Funny enough, the taunt is also the cleanest answer to Umbral Trespass: a Kayn taunted before he casts it doesn’t cast it.

How do you play the jungle against Kayn?

• Invade before the transformation. Until he picks a form he’s a melee champion with a short dash and no shield, and every fight you win delays the form.
• Stand away from walls. Shadow Step lets him walk through terrain, so a carry standing with her back to a wall is a carry with a Kayn behind her.
• Save hard crowd control for Reaping Slash. The dash is short and on a 7 second cooldown at rank 1; stop it and he’s standing still.
• Spread out against Umbral Trespass. He hides in one enemy and deals massive damage bursting out, so the fewer people standing next to the host, the less that burst finds.
• Check which form he took. Darkin heals off spell damage, so Grievous Wounds matters; Shadow Assassin front-loads damage, so surviving the first few seconds matters.

Which items counter Kayn?

It depends on the form, which is annoying, so buy for both. Against Darkin the heal comes from spell damage dealt to champions, and Grievous Wounds answers it: Thornmail applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds when a champion attacks you and returns magic damage, and Bramble Vest does the same for 800 gold on the way there. Against Shadow Assassin the problem is burst in the first few seconds of a fight, so you want stats that are already on, not stats that ramp: Plated Steelcaps (25 Armor and 10% less damage from attacks) and Sunfire Aegis with its 350 Health and 50 Armor, rather than Jak’Sho, The Protean, whose Voidborn Resilience only arrives after 5 seconds of champion combat. For either form, Frozen Heart gives 75 Armor, 400 Mana and 20 Ability Haste, and Winter’s Caress reduces the Attack Speed of nearby champions by 20%. Dead Man’s Plate is the escape item: 350 Health, 55 Armor and up to 20 bonus Move Speed while moving, plus Unsinkable cutting slows by 15%, which is Blade’s Reach’s slow. Everything above is in our item database.

When is Kayn at his weakest?

Before he transforms. Everything that makes him frightening later, the heal or the bonus damage, lives in a passive he hasn’t finished yet, and until then he’s a 175-range melee champion with a 7 second dash and a slow. In practice that’s the whole counter-strategy in one sentence: make the early game long and ugly.

And after Umbral Trespass. At rank 1 it’s a 120 second cooldown (two full minutes), and a Kayn who burst out of your tank for nothing has no second engage. Where does he go? Through the nearest wall, if Shadow Step is up, and Shadow Step is on a 21 second cooldown at rank 1, which is longer than it sounds when someone is chasing you.

New to the jungle? Our guide to LoL roles explains what the position is for. Cosmetics live on the Kayn skins page; the Howling Abyss version of this matchup is the Kayn ARAM guide. The catch is that the best Kayn counters only work if you use them early, because a Kayn who reached his form on time is a different champion, and that one is the problem you were supposed to prevent.

FAQ

Who counters Kayn the most?

Junglers who win early and stop his dash: Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, Udyr, Poppy and Rammus.

Does Poppy counter Kayn?

Yes. Her Steadfast Presence stops enemy dashes around her and leaves the dasher slowed and grounded, and Reaping Slash is a dash.

Which Kayn form is harder to counter?

They need different answers. Darkin heals for a percentage of spell damage dealt to champions, so Grievous Wounds matters; Shadow Assassin deals bonus damage for the first few seconds in combat, so early Armor and Health matter.

Does Grievous Wounds work on Kayn?

It works on the Darkin form, whose passive heals off spell damage to champions. Thornmail and Bramble Vest apply 40% Wounds for 3 seconds to champions who attack you.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. These picks come from Kayn’s own ability text in patch 26.21 and the kits of the champions named above, nothing else.