@Riot A Serious Insight on How to Help Kindred

Allow me to preface this by stating that I've been playing Kindred pretty much exclusively since release. I've played across several accounts but here is the one I currently play on. http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=Dodge+Lamb+SRT10

It's not to gloat or try to say I'm better than other people, only to try and back up myself as a credible player that is genuinely interested in trying to help the champion.

I have one very short and simple buff, but before I state it, I want to go over why I feel what I'm about to say is a necessary change.

I am actually very happy with Kindred's mini-rework (Despite being harsh about it early on), and I think the champ is almost at a great state of balance, but we could get even closer. Kindred is a champion that, if played proficiently, can out-duel and out-skirmish almost every jungler in the game, even the ones that many people consider hard counters (such as Elise, Kha'Zix, etc.).

What I've actually noticed from the champion's release is that Kindred has not fairly often had times where beating other champs was a tall task, even with all the sustainability nerfs. I know some people are going to find that ludicrous, but the average Kindred player really does not understand the potential of the champion, which pains me to observe. The main issue is (who would've guessed) how Kindred is supposed to balance between getting stacks and pulling off successful ganks.

Understandably, Kindred has a dash, albeit very small, that operates on a small cooldown window inside of Wolf's Frenzy. The issue is that, in the early game, this ability is on too high of a cooldown to have meaningful chase potential without red buff, and even with it, to be honest.

Take the newest addition to the jungle, for example: Ezreal. While both marksmen, Ezreal is a champion that shines in the early game through his ability to enter a lane with Mystic Shot to apply his Red Buff from a large distance to slow, and close in with Arcane Shift for a strong burst combo, and finish them off with Essence Flux and his superior attack speed (At least early game, Ezreal's passive outshines Kindred's Q Attack Speed steroid quite heavily) whilst landing extra Mystic Shots.

Compare this to Kindred, who typically only has time to land two Dance of Arrows. They also miss a lot of bites from Wolf's Frenzy because most of the time you cannot be in position to maximize its damage output, and Mounting Dread can only be used as a finisher for a notable amount of damage. For a dash that's smaller on a champion with less range and less up-front damage, it's hard to get the kills you need to allow your team and yourself to get ahead on Kindred. It doesn't feel right for a champion designed for the jungle, compared to Ezreal, a champion who is not.

Kindred also has an average clear speed compared to the typical jungler, which gets progressively worse if you cannot find stacks in the early game. For a champion that's reliant on getting those stacks, they just don't feel nimble enough to get around the map and contest with their low movement speed.

There's a lot more points I want to make, but the longer I think about what I've wrote, the more convoluted I feel my words become, so I'll keep it there.

What I propose is to have Dance of Arrows cooldown inside Wolf's Frenzy changed from to 3/2.75/2.5/2.25/2 from 4/3.5/3/2.5/2. I think this allows for Kindred to be able to capitalize on their gank damage in a more timely fashion and keep up with those faster champions that can walk away due to Kindred's low base Range. I also feel that a change like this still allows for their jungle clear to be healthy as you will roughly always get the same amount of jumps per use of W as on current. And if we really want to get nitpicky about separating a great Kindred player from an average, this also makes getting two jumps per camp at Level 2 much more consistent (based on how fast you can press Q after auto attacking, it's almost frame perfect status with a standard 13.5% AS page).

I also think that it is possible to buff the cooldown of Dance of Arrows outside of Wolf's Frenzy to around 6 or 7 seconds (Likely the latter, maybe even 8) and possibly change the mana cost back down to 30 from 35. This would really help in allowing Kindred to move around the map a lot better to be able to contest stacks more often.

Kindred's problem has never been based around combat power, in my opinion. The typical player keeps saying that their ability to fight other champs is moot, or that stacks are impossible to get, and I feel that this issue stems directly from never really having the ability to move around the map well like other champions can, due to the combination of low base movement speed and lengthy early cooldowns on Dance of Arrows.

I really hope to see input from a Rioter or from anybody interested in logically debating on my ideas. I've been a diehard Kindred fan since their announcement and I want to see people be able to experience them without wanting to claw their eyes out.