Meet Tahm Kench, League Of Legends' Creepy New Champion

Riot Games has finally shed some light on the new "River King" champion they teased for League of Legends last week. Tahm Kench is a tank who can either hold down a lane on his own or play a supporting role.

Tahm Kench's abilities revolve around eating. He has a passive called "An Acquired Taste" that stacks on an enemy each time he damages them. Once he has three stacks on a target, his abilities will affect them differently. Here's the rest of his kit:

Q: Tongue Lash - Tahm Kench roots himself briefly while launching his tongue in a target direction. Tongue Lash stops once it hits a target, damaging and slowing whatever he hits. If Tahm Kench slathers an enemy champion with three stacks of An Acquired Taste then hits them with Tongue Lash, he stuns them instead.

W: Devour - Tahm Kench briefly swallows a nearby targeted unit. Enemies suffer a portion of their max health as magic damage. In addition:

• Minions and monsters: Once Tahm Kench Devours an enemy minion or monster, he can reactivate the ability to spit them out in a target direction. They deal damage to whoever they hit.
• Allied Champions: When Tahm Kench devours an allied champion, he renders his ally immune from damage and gains extra movement speed when he heads toward enemy champions. Both Tahm Kench and his edible ally can choose when the latter leaves.
• Enemy Champions: Tahm Kench can only Devour enemy champions once he’s applied three stacks of An Acquired Taste to them. His movement speed is drastically reduced while enemy champs - who suffer greatly reduced vision and can only see things immediately around the River King - are in his belly.

E: Thick Skin - Passive: All damage Tahm Kench takes is turned into grey health. Once he leaves combat, the grey health falls off, healing him for a portion of the amount of grey health he’s earned.

Active: Tahm Kench converts his grey health into a shield that quickly falls off.

R: Abyssal Voyage - Passive: All of Tahm Kench’s damage scales with his maximum health.

Active: Tahm Kench opens his maw, offering an ally a spot inside his belly. Once they jump in, or once Tahm Kench decides he’s diving solo, he starts channeling, conjuring a whirlpool beneath him before diving in, reappearing a few seconds later at his target location. Abyssal Voyage has a huge range, but the ability is pretty well telegraphed by its lengthy cast.

It's easy to see how Tahm would be a strong at support. Tongue Lash lets him slow down enemies long enough for his marksman to pick them off. Abyssal Voyage, meanwhile, allows the duo to quickly switch to a different lane or objective. If things aren't going well, Tahm can just devour his ally and run away.

His ultimate and great CC suggests he'd be great for roaming the map. The other Support character released this year, Bard, is also suited to bouncing between lanes. Players have been slow to learn Bard's kit but maybe they'll have more success with Tahm.

Tahm Kench would be an interesting pick for top lane as well. Thick Skin means he's got enough sustain to farming for extended periods. A creative player can use Devour to get the jump on his opponent as well. Riot says you could, for example, swallow up an enemy and spit them behind your tower for an easy kill.

Riot Games hasn't announced a release date for Tahm Kench yet. However, they tend to release champions not long after the first reveal so we maybe we'll see him during the Pool Party event coming in a matter of days.