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Indirect changes to Kindred

ChromeClad·11/15/2016, 1:17:29 PM·8 votes·932 views

So being a kindred main for a wee while, I'd like to point out a few things that this patch has done to kindred. Both positive and negative (predominantly negative, but I don't think it's on purpose) In general the preseason changes have been a nerf to kindred and I think they need something to bring them back to a healthy space.

I realize that kindred used to be borderline broken wit their heal etc, I definitely don't want that back because it was honestly toxic. I think kindreds roll as a snowballing jungler should be solidified, but not the only outlet they can work with.

Right now there's only one real build for kindred (give or take an item) trying to build outside of this really hurts your potential.

Positive changes (indirect buffs):

-Jungle changes, kindreds clear time hasn't been affected but their gold income has gone up

-easier jungle marks, raptors has much less hp, gromp can't touch you because of your w slowing attack speed and redbuff dies in 3 seconds with your jungle item

-I feel like dragon is easier to get early for some reason, I suspect it's becausethe meta shift to either gankers (lee win) or tanky late game initiators (Horseyman) which works well for us Lvl 5 kindred drag takers

Negative changes (Indirect nerfs):

before I get into these, I understand all champions go through nerfs /buffs when the meta changes and that's ok, I just wanted to address them so people could be aware

  • courage of the colossus, ( strength of ages removed) with fervour being gutted, my go-to was strength of ages for a safer game, or if I thought I was in a bad matchup. Right now, the only real option kindred has is fervour but it's been nerfed, especially early game, not going off with abilities hurts kindred because of their Q reliance early game.

-Assassin update, I actually like these changes to play, but champions like kitty man (Rengo) can one shot you, and you can ult, but he,s just going to spam laugh and sit in your ult while waiting for your inevitable death. With the increase of reliable gap closers, I feel like a small range buff could be justified in order for kiting to be done. this would also make them more playable in lane ( who doesn't love to carry with mindred?)

-Lethality, the changes to armour pen are really great for burst assassins as it really helps them scale into lategame better for properly disposing of tanks. Kindred never really had this problem, because kindred relies on sustained dps as a marksman and kiting is a thing, but as a jungle adc , kindred really relies on snowballing and getting stacks. Making lethality weaker in the early game hurts kindreds ability to do so, much less dmg pre-level 9, and by then the game could be nearly set. I'm not quite sure how to handle this, building ad runes seems to help but their ad scaling and base stats aren't very good for this. (So buff ad/ ad scaling...? Still unsure..)

-Finally, kindred duelling potential isn't as good this patch especially because of the burst going around (nerf to adcs in general) as well as the 35% hp shield cc will get you. I would like to see a buff to kindreds w here, maybe make half of the monster debuff apply to champions, forcing champs to not duel you within your w, giving kindred a "zone" where they have an advantage.

Let me know what you think of my ideas! Cheers :)

11 Comments

Wolfram Oxford11/15/2016, 3:37:27 PM1 votes

I take TLD on her if I want early game pressure, then I build like an AD bruiser most of the time

item 3085 item 1416 item 3153 item 3022 item 3072

Aptest11/15/2016, 6:02:27 PM1 votes

I think kindreds roll as a snowballing jungler should be solidified, but not the only outlet they can work with.

I think the identity of early game snowballer and late game hyperscaller are really at odds with one another and should not be combined in one character.

The reason Kindred was broken was because these two concepts were on one character. Early game strength allows taking the lead early and running with it, and the late game hyperscaling (% HP on hit per mark) prevents any recovery from the other team.

I think, since the mark is simply a core element on kindred, being an early game snowballer is definitely NOT an identity which should be strengthened in the current build and requires a significant change to how marks work.

for instance, marks can work like this: they last 5 minutes and then expire.

kindred's identity should be: a hyper-scaling marksman ADC that laughs at assassins and hunts them. I expect kindred to win 1v1 specifically against Khazix and Rengar but also most other assassins. I mention khazix and rengar because i believe they should not be the "one assassin that can 1-up kindred".