How to win lane as Kennen against Malphite · 53.26% win rate over 674 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Level 1 is even — you have one Q poke and Surge autos but no stun and a fragile body, and his Seismic Shard slow can punish an overstep, so neither of you commits. |
| Level 2 | Kennen | Your second Q point plus W on-hit lets you land a real poke trade or two-spell Mark stun, and his armor does nothing to stop the magic damage. |
| Level 3 | Kennen | You own the wave against an immobile armor-stacker here — Q chips freely and his Ground Slam shield can't out-sustain your magic poke. |
| Levels 4-5 | Kennen | You keep a clean poke edge while he can only shield and slow; his stacked armor is dead stat against your all-magic kit through levels 4-5. |
| Level 6 | Kennen | Slicing Maelstrom unlocks the full Q-W-E stun-lock all-in, and his W shield plus armor are worthless against your AoE magic burst — you win this duel outright. |
| First item | Kennen | Hextech Alternator / Liandry's cashes the R combo into a kill; armor reduces none of it, so this is your cleanest blow-up window on his tanky body. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | He never out-duels you, but with R up he flash-engages Unstoppable Force to lock you down for his team — play with your team and don't get caught when his ult is off cooldown. |
Free real estate early — Malphite stacks armor, and every point of it does nothing against your all-magic kit. Poke him down with Thundering Shuriken (Q) from max range and let Electrical Surge autos chip when he walks up to last-hit. At level 2-3, a Q into W-on-hit can land a two-spell Mark of the Storm trade or even tag the third stack for a stun if he oversteps. Just keep your fragile body out of Seismic Shard (Q) range so he can't slow-and-walk you down.
The full Kennen vs Malphite report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Malphite vs Kennen guide →
All Kennen top lane matchups →