State of Kindred - Rage Dodge Inciter; Fallen Behind

Kindred's rework created a massive stir in the fear that The Eternal Hunters could theoretically have infinite range - but that impossible dream was canceled out in a patch when marks were capped.

Now with that out of the way..

Kindred is still pretty much unchanged in terms of popularity. With only a 49% winrate, simply choosing to play this champion puts an automatic handicap on your chances of winning.

I play this champion because its a lot of fun for me, but I've had an incredible number of at least 2-5 game dodges per day at minimum who curse out the sight of a Kindred on their own team.

And I only play 1-2 games a day with my busy schedule. I can't imagine just how many more dodges there would be if I played more.

And Kindred is played/picked only 1.6% of the time.

Examining possible reasons why:

Kindred has one of the most unique ADC kits in the game. This is both a strength and a weakness.

When tested out as a bot lane ADC - Kindred is too weak as an adc. Their attack speed is much slower than typical adcs in the early game, losing valuable gold and positioning, and this also shows in the jungle when the enemy team has decided to start their game by targeting a lone adc in the jungle.

Kindred is meant to have a weaker mid-game and strong early and late game - unfortunately Kindred's jungle marks system being visible to the enemy team has left The Eternal Hunters with the same classic issue: As a squishy ranged ADC, this champion is easy for an enemy team to bully.

The early game is still a bit too weak.

Kindred relies heavily on their marks now - reflected in a previous patch where range buffs were given at every 3 after the first 4.

Now you would think that because the enemy jungler would automatically camp out marks that this is a good thing by costing them valuable time - but for anyone past a silver level, reading the field is actually second nature - its part of the game.

And the enemy jungler doesn't do this alone - the prospect of an early kill means its easy to time a free jungle visit from a laner while the enemy team has either been shoved back or recalled - leaving a mark hungry Kindred easier to target. This means entire sections of the jungle have to be considered risky or closed off to Kindred.

Therefore along with Kindred's several seconds to actually mark an enemy champion, its not too too difficult to focus on midlane and jungleinstead, waiting to see where Kindred will show after leaving a few choice wards in the jungle.

Overall, Kindred's primary issue right now isn't exactly gameplay or their kit - its more than Kindred has small weaknesses all over that tip the scales of gameplay against this champion more than what is healthy.

League of Legends has vastly changed since season 5 when Kindred dominated the battlefield as the first truly experimental champion in a very long time.

But the latest champions lately are all experimental - the Grim Reaper of League is unlikely to be as oppressive as this champion was when premiered. They even have their original "wolf's mark" healing ability through a mastery - and its not making a difference.

Kindred's attack move is slow compared to other ADCs, so the standard adc defense of "chase me I'll kill you" doesn't apply very well here - this champion is damage dependent in a new meta that is armor and tank favored, even now, and Kindred being very item dependent as well for damage, can't easily spare buying a last whisper.

Kindred is in fact so weak, their primary win item is actually Guardian Angel! Kindred players have to literally factor in dying as part of their item build.

So please Riot, take one more look at this champion for durability or at least mobility and attack move motility - in other words, Kindred's defensive strengths.

Because right now, League is much more a wild meta with much weirder, wilder and more mobile and strange champions than when Kindred first premiered.

I would honestly hazard to say that were Kindred been released now "as-is"  as they were in Season 5 - they would not be the oppressive broken champion that they were those years ago.

Thank you.