Unlike any other support champion who can take a lot of damage for his team, Tahm Kench is one who still keeps his distance in lane, at best in close proximity to his botlane partner. In this regard, you use the “tongue lash” (Q) to drain as much life as possible from your opponents before looking for an opening that not only deals damage, but also slows the target and heals you a little.

The slow in particular is not a point to ignore here, as it allows you to hit the next ability fairly reliably as long as you consider “Lightning” and the like; here, of course, we’re talking about his “Dive into the Abyss” (W). The ability has a very long animation and even announces where Tahm Kench will reappear after disappearing, but the slowdown of “Tongue Whip” is usually enough to get a hit anyway. Furthermore, while you can only slow one target with Tongue Whip, the same cannot be said for Dive into the Abyss – this hits all enemies that are on its point of emergence and not only deals damage to them, but also throws them into the air for a decent amount of time, which is known to be the best kind of CC.

His “Thick Skin” converts some of the damage you take into “gray health”, which then either turns back into health if you haven’t taken any more damage for a while, or you can also turn it into a shield when you activate the ability, which lasts for a good while.

Finally, there is the long-awaited “Devour”, which also has a function with its passive ability “Exquisite Taste” (P) (as does its “Tongue Whip” (Q)). If you damage an opponent with a normal attack or the “Tongue Whip” (Q), it causes additional damage and a marker is placed on it. If an opponent has 3 markers, the next “tongue lash” will stun the target instead of just slowing them down. An opponent with 3 markers can also be – well – devoured with “Devour” – they cannot move for some time and suffer great damage when they are spat out again. However, you can also devour an ally with “Devour”, which does not require any markers. They are then immune for the time and receive a large shield when they are spat out, so that they are still well protected. In both cases, the target is automatically spit out after some time, but you can also do this beforehand, or in the case of an ally, they can also be spit out with a simple mouse click. In either case, you can also influence the direction of exit. Tahm Kench cannot use lightning while devouring, but you can spit out allies over walls on the one hand, or bridge a good distance with the “dive into the depths” (W), provided you are not interrupted with CC.