How To Play Keeper-Kennan: A TFT Gameplay Guide

I remember the first time I encountered the Keeper-Kennan composition in a ranked game. I just wrinkled my nose at four Keepers around 4-3. In the end, that player and their fancy 3-star Kennan were responsible for knocking me out of the game into fifth place. I didn’t think much of it until I came across a video by BunnyMuffins about the comp.

After watching, I tried forcing the comp. It was the easiest first of my life – aided by incredible high rolls. Keeper-Kennan is popular on the Brazil servers for TFT, and with this guide, I hope to bring it to your servers. But why should you listen to me?

At Diamond III, I’m one of the top 2% players on the NA server under the summoner name Nissaflamecaller. You’re welcome to vet this information with my Lolchess page, where you can also find the five games of the Keeper-Kennan comp I forced over the past day or two. The image is also linked below. In total, I went 1, 6, 4, 1, 3. I top foured 80% of the time, winning 40% of the time. While the wins were amazing, it was the sixth and the fourth that convinced me to keep going.

In the case of the sixth place, it was incredibly close to being a top 4, and I played horribly. I screwed up my items, destroyed my economy, and misplaced my units throughout Stage 4. I am convinced that if I had played that game with any other comp, it would have been a smooth eighth. However, I nearly beat the player at the top of the lobby in my final game, with their last unit being a Supreme Overlord Galio with about a hundred health. Similarly, the fourth involved some low rolling; as you can see, I didn’t upgrade my vital units like Aatrox, and Xayah, both of which are very necessary to 2-star.

Let’s get into the gritty details: The why and how of playing Keeper-Kennan.

Why You Should Play Keeper-Kennan

This comp has several notable strengths. The first is the infinite CC provided by your units. In the ideal version of the comp listed above, a total of 6 out of 8 units provide CC. This comp creates some nasty stun chains. For example, Aatrox will pull the opponent’s backline into the front, stunning them as Kennan casts, his lightning generating more crowd control. Kennan stuns enemy units in large clusters, allowing Sett and Xayah to tear through the enemy board. The clustered units also make Jarvan’s, Rakan’s, and Azir’s spells more effective.

You’ll also find yourself uncontested. Across the five games I forced, there was only one lobby where somebody else played this comp – that was the game where I went 3rd, and that player took second. There are individual units that might be contested, primarily Xayah and Aatrox. But most of your champions will be freely available. Nobody plays Kennan, Rakan, and Jarvan, making it easy to 3-star these units. A three-star Kennan is one of your most consistent win-cons.

One final note on why you should play this comp is patch 11.5. The image of tentative patch changes is below, and you’ll notice that none of the items or units this comp plays are getting nerfed. However, there are two unspecified BUFFS to Shiv and Mrocelleon. Not only will Keeper-Kennan avoid nerfs, but it will get stronger – though buffs to Elderwood units means Xayah and Rakan will be harder to get. Now that we’ve discussed why you should play the comp, let’s get into how, starting with units and positioning.

Units and Positioning

To begin with, you want to level aggressively to find your units and Chosen. This comp can easily roll at seven. And if your board is weak, you can roll at six and still find a good Chosen. This is because of your Chosen options; basically, any Keeper that isn’t Azir or Elise. Elise is just too weak while Azir is too hard to obtain. You want to have 6 Keepers before Stage 5 if possible and waiting until level 9 isn’t an option. Beyond those two Kennan, Rakan, Jarven, and Xayah all make fine Chosens. Xayah is the only one I haven’t played with, mostly because I’ve rolled at 7 most games and thus have a low probability of finding her. If your game plan is Kennan 3-star, then he’d be the ideal Chosen, but don’t ignore other Chosen Keepers.

In the above chart, I have Ornn as my second Vanguard and third Elderwood. If you can’t find Ornn then the best alternative is Sejuani. Keep her close to Aatrox and Kennan; her spell benefits from Aatrox’s pulls as much as Kennan’s. Also, if you end up with position-dependent items like Zephyr or Shroud, Ornn/Sej hold these the best. The positioning of Aatrox and the other Keepers is far less flexible.

The above comp has Azir as the best 5th Keeper, but you should keep an Elise or two on your bench so you can hit 6 Keeper before finding Azir, especially if you’re rolling at 7. The other legendary unit, Sett, is the flex spot in most games. I’ve also played Yone, Lee Sin, Swain, and Kindred in this slot to reasonable success. Focus on filling this slot with a damage-dealing unit for a potential secondary carry.

Your primary carry in this comp is going to be Kennan. As previously mentioned, the little yordle is your best option for a Chosen because getting him to 3 stars is an almost guaranteed first with the right items. He’s quite literally what the comp is built around. The other units get positioned to maximize the impact of his Slicing Maelstrom. You have two options for secondary carries: Xayah and your flexible five-cost. It’s going to be items that determine whether you use Xayah or the five-cost, so we’ll look at that after positioning, which is our next section.

The positioning is super simple. Notice that Kennan isn’t fully flanked by the other Keepers. 4 shields are plenty to protect him and it’s more important to have Aatrox beside him. As mentioned before, Aatrox’s cast will pull units from the back into the range of Kennan’s spell, thus creating clusters that stun easily and take a ton of damage from Sett and Xayah. The backline Keepers still deal plenty of damage as they have greater range.

Two quick notes about positioning: Firstly, make sure your units are on the front line. This is the positioning mistake I mentioned previously. I put my team back one line of hexes. Because of Kennan’s range, he stayed behind while Aatrox and Sej walked forward, and it just made a mess of the pulls and CC. Also, the placement of Azir’s Sand Soldiers is flexible. The positioning I’ve marked above is good against opposing Aatrox’s, but you can place them as needed. Just be mindful of them blocking Kennan’s actions or being too close to a potential Yone. Now, let’s look at items.

Items

We’ll begin with Kennan. The most important items are GA and Morellonomicon, while the third item is flexible. I’m fond of Hextech Gunblade as your goal with Kennan is to have him cast again and again and again, and Hextech aids this while boosting his AP damage. Other useful items include HOJ, Ionic Spark, or a mana item like Blue Buff. Of the bunch, GA is the most important because Kennan will continue to cast if he regenerates after he casts. Thus, I prioritize B.F. Sword in the opening carousel as I find trickiest to obtain. If you don’t have any GA components, those should be your priority during the shared carousels. You can still do well without GA, however. One of my wins used a 2-star Kennan holding Morellonomicon, Hextech, and Titan’s Resolve.

The last item in Kennan’s repertoire is the Morellonomicon. It’s a great source of damage for this comp. As mentioned, there’s a ton of CC so opposing units stand still and take tons of damage as they burn. The boosts to health and spell power are also quite useful. Morellonomicon is one of the better items to craft early in the game as it can produce a lot of damage for a strong win streak to open the game with.

Our secondary carry is usually Xayah. Hand of Justice is Xayah’s friend; I mentioned that HOJ is a useful flex item on Kennan, but you should prioritize getting one or two for Xayah first. But she’s a flexible unit and can hold various items. I’ve found Deathblade or Giant Slayer to be useful if you have extra swords. Sometimes your auxiliary items won’t line up with Xayah, however. In these cases, use your five-cost in the flex slot as your secondary carry. Sett is particularly good at this because he’s strong even without Brawler.

On a final note, we have Static Shiv. This item is useful as it can break the opponent’s magic resist. On the above chart, I placed it on Xayah because the three Tear components allow her to cast very quickly. The item can go on any of your backline Keepers because they’ll consistently attack at least 4 times to get the first trigger. Note that this item should never go on Xayah if you have Ornn. Be sure to leave her third slot open if you’ve got an Artifact around the corner.

Finally, if you come across any tank items, then they can go to our friend Aatrox (unless Sett’s your secondary carry). As a quick note, Sunfire Cape is weak in this comp. The burns from Sunfire and Morellonomicon don’t stack, and the combination of Aatrox and Kennan will set most of the enemy units on fire anyway.

And that’s my guide on playing Keeper-Kennan in TFT Patch 11.4! As mentioned above, this guide will likely remain relevant in patch 11.5, with item buffs potentially making it even better. I’ve been forcing this comp recently to great success. Even if you don’t want to one-trick with it, it’s a great comp to keep your eye on. You might find yourself with the items you need to pivot into this comp on 7, and you can recognize it from your opponents and adapt to their strategy. Happy rolling!