Kindred Needs Changes
(repost because I posted it in the wrong board at first) Kindred was my first 6300 ip champ and almost the first champ I've ever brought, so she holds a special place for me, with that said, this might be biased but let me explain her situation.
Kindred, is a late game jungler who dishes out tons of percentage health damage. She's a ranged character with a short dash(Q), a zoning ability(W), and a one second slow that does percentage max health damage if she successfully follows up with basic attacks on it. This all sounds great in theory, but kindred is easily bullied if you ask me. of course she can't stand her own against aggressive early game junglers, but she can't stand her own against anyone at all early game. adc's shred her because of her lack of any real damage only game, she doesn't do much to tanks early game, so they can easily turn around and beat her senseless, and why would you even touch the mid lane? with most of this said, she can't stand her own against even the enemy jungler early game. And that's kinda the part that really matters in this game. She's vunerable to a lot of things, and that brings up the next flaw.
Predictability. In order to be strong, kindred NEEDS to collect marks, whether it be from other players, to the enemy jungle, she has to put herself in harm's way just to get them. This is counterproductive since kin lacks early game, yet she needs to put herself in danger for the marks. In the jungle, the enemy jungler can easily see your mark and hunts it down. And if you decide to fetch it, you'll probably die to them. Even if you bring your laners with you, the frequency of the marks make it harder to bring them. You can't just pull someone out of lane every other minute to help you fetch a mark, even if your laners are doing well. they miss cs, and only you really benefit. If you marks other players that means you have to gank, which is a whole other level of trouble. Kindred lacks cc, she has mounting dread, but that's a one second slow, after that, kindred's dash doesn't quite go far enough to chase and popping wolf's territory is useless once the enemy leaves. or, as said before, you can easily be killed. Kindred is easy to predict because you can see her marks, and you know she'll have to be there eventually, no matter how much she stalls.
Ganking I already went over it above briefly, but kindred offers very little cc, don't expect a gank if you don't bring the cc, and even then, early game she doesn't have too much to actually capitalize on it. her w damage depends on her marks, and her Q just doesn't pack too much of a punch...her 5 damage per mark scaling doesn't help much either.
Pros and How The Average Player Nullifies Them I've been in the situation with a fed kindred plenty of times, and it's hell for whoever is on the receiving side, and it's only because she was ether left alone to get marks, she somehow managed to get kills/assists early game, or both. otherwise, I've never actually seen a kindred make a huge difference as a jungler. what ends up happening is she either feeds the enemy, or plays it too safe. And it's always because of the marks. She either tries too hard to get them, or doesn't try and ends up lacking when late game comes around, because anyone can see her marks and just get rid of the camp, or protect the marked player.
Final thoughts I've heard that kindred went down because of her healing on the passive being removed, and I believe that to be a bit true. I didn't play her when she was first released, but I know she had a passive that heals her occasionally. So why take it out on such a squishy champion? just get rid of her only sustain? Kindred is very high risk, but I don't think many players believe the risk is worth the reward. She puts herself straight in harm's way for the sake of her own damage.
Proposed changes? Starting simple, because I don't know exactly how to change her, but I definitely think the scaling on Q should be changed. I'm thinking from 5 to 10, since if you'r e blocking kindred from her marks she won't get many, and her Q still packs a punch, once you hit 10 marks, it will usually be a while into the game, and that adds 100 more damage to Q. or we could change Q to applie on-hit effects, so they definitely pack a punch when you scale with marks, and there's more of a reason to use it inside your w.
I also suggest decreasing enemy vision of her marks, instead of appearing on the mini-map automatically, you cannot see her marks until you have vision of whichever camp is marked, THEN it shows up on the mini-map and stays there.
I'm not quite a balance person but I think the map changes to the mark might be a solid one. The Q changes I proposed might be op, but I need to know how the rest of the community feels so please feel free to drop a comment, and I hope riot reads this, because I really do love kindred.
