Are we just going to leave Kindred in the dumpster?

Epicanian·12/24/2016, 9:03:25 PM·35 votes·3,029 views

I'm a former Kindred main. Ever since she was nerfed repeatedly by Rito, Kindred has felt pretty bad to play. She seems so weak and squishy, and I couldn't seem to succeed on her, so I eventually transitioned to other junglers. I still love Kindred gameplay and lore-wise, but she just isn't viable right now. After the S7 jungle changes, she feels even weaker. I'm not asking for her to return to her super OP state, I just want her to be playable. She has a 0.13% play rate right now. Maybe we could giver her the heal passive back, but slightly weaker, and it only works out combat. or extend the range on her jump. These are just ideas, I'm no balance expert. I think the buff should be pretty small, I don't want her becoming super OP again, just a small buff to help her along.

68 Comments

Frius12/25/2016, 12:27:22 AM10 votes

Aatrox

Best Darius KR12/25/2016, 6:23:17 PM5 votes

{quoted}

I'm a former Kindred main.

Bahahahaha Calls himself a main, gives up on the champion after he exits the meta.

MunchCrunchLunch12/24/2016, 9:23:09 PM5 votes

when kindred was strong she used to 1v1 fighters and juggernauts in melee range. I'd give her the W sustain back. but nerf it a little. or make it out of combat with enemy champs

Chimp Joker12/24/2016, 9:25:02 PM5 votes

I don't know about that Azir comment, but for Kindred, I simply play her as an adc instead. It's so fun imo.

Xeruon12/25/2016, 1:40:15 AM4 votes

Kindred is very playable as of right now. According to champion.gg, Kindred has a 54% winrate on people who have 125+ games on them. A huge buff, like you mentioned, would be S6 Xin Zhao godbuff levels of stupid. Kindred is nowhere near as bad as Azir is right now, she is not "dumpstered" or weak by any means. She's perfectly balanced. And if you need an OP champ to perform well, I suggest getting gud.

nice table12/24/2016, 10:27:26 PM4 votes

shes far from "gutted" the people that main her still have a decent win ratio on her, shes just no longer retardedly broken like what all her players are used to.

Yago12/24/2016, 9:19:00 PM4 votes

They don't need buffed. They're perfectly fine where they are.

All the nerfs did was make it so that you have to earn your Marks rather than stroll into a lane for freelo.

Just Jangle12/25/2016, 5:13:52 AM4 votes

Yes please, leave her in the dump or even better delete her.

PermabannedGaren12/25/2016, 5:16:40 AM4 votes

Kindred is a failed champion design.

They are a champion whose mid and late game scaling is dependent on their early game success. So to be a viable pick, they have to be able to reliably win the early game.

If they can reliably win the early game, they get to reliably have a strong mid and late game.

If all of this is true, they are probably overpowered.

Which they were, for a long time.

Mommy Elise12/25/2016, 5:33:33 AM4 votes

Away from a gameplay standpoint, too, Wolf features so fucking little in Kindred's kit it's sad. Annie/Tibbers or Daisy/Ivern feel like more of dual champions or even just Daisy/Tibbs feel like more of characters than Wolf does. Hell, Yorick's Maiden talks to him (AKA is part of his VO) and again, feels like it does more.

Why do my Spiderlings on Elise, or my Voidlings on Malzh feel more like their own characters than Wolf? At best, Wolf feels like the little devourer spirit wolf that used to follow you around and nip people's heels when you chased them. At worst, he just feels like some sort of projectile ability. I use "She" when talking about them, because c'mon, we all know I'm talking about Lamb. If Elise's spiderlings or Ivern's Daisy don't count as a "they" when talking about the champion, I hardly see why Wolf should.

Going back to Kindred's kit. It is incredibly incoherent and kind of themeless, and lends itself to bland gameplay in the current iteration, unless, of course, it's made incredibly strong. Why doesn't her Q proc her E? Sure, her W and Q are technically synergistic since W lowers Q cooldown, but what do they really DO together? She's got kind of a theme of fighting in one area she marks as her own, but even that is pretty loose. She's got a series of 4 cool abilities that only marginally synergize well with each other and kind of honestly feel slapped together with not a whole real lot of thought to how they work in unison, and then she's got a passive that's either too punishing to her when she's not in a strong state (Right now it's feelsbad because your early is honestly not the best for taking early marks. And the freaking 8 second mark timer.) or feels bad on your opponent's part when she is strong (Not only can this champion duel me level 3 and possibly kill me, she'll inherently scale for lategame by duelling me and counterjungling me.)

Honestly I kind of expect her to go the way of someone like Yorick. She'll be forgotten or pushed off for years only to finally receive a rework after she's become a meme. (and I do think she's up for becoming the next "bad champion meme" after Aatrox gets updated.)

Look, I might sound harsh about Kindred, but it's only because I LOVE the lore of this champion. I LOVED how they teased her, I LOVED the story they put out, I LOVED the idea of the choice between Lamb's Arrow or Wolf's Teeth. I LOVED the idea of a dual champion, AND of a marksman jungler. Not to mention the visual design, and how much personality lamb and wolf both have. I'm so harsh about Kindred's design because I WANT TO LIKE PLAYING THIS CHAMPION. But just... she feels bad to play, and probably felt bad to play against when she was strong. Her kit is trash wrapped in that shiny lore and visual design paper.

THE RlVER KlNG12/25/2016, 10:42:01 AM4 votes

TahmKench

Targon12/25/2016, 12:14:58 AM3 votes

I think it would be awesome if Kindred got their heal back.

Personally, I would love if Kindred got tweaked so that they weren't confined to the jungle. I love Kindred's concept and identity, but I can't play them efficiently because I'm not that strong in the jungle.

Astôlfo12/24/2016, 9:22:17 PM2 votes

They should be reverted all the way back to before the Worlds buffs (which were stupid and pointless), and then have the heal changed so she can only proc it on enemy champions (can gain stacks by moving/attacking/whatever, but can only auto to receive the heal by autoing an enemy champion) OR alternatively, make each W passive stack take longer to get (so she can't heal so fast) OR alternatively, reduce the healing amount from said W passive.

zacktootall12/24/2016, 9:38:33 PM2 votes

for now

HazyCloud712/25/2016, 1:02:55 AM2 votes

She is playable, she's over 50% win rate in plat+ on this patch.

Why did you mention Azir in this post exactly? He's at less than 43%. Kindred's not even remotely in the dumpster. If they are going to buff her it would be something minor, not something huge like you are implying she needs by mentioning Azir and Urgot.

KoKoboto12/25/2016, 2:01:20 AM2 votes

nah you're gonna stay in the dumpster for a few more years/months, rito has a tendency to leave champions in the spotlight or dumpster for long periods of times

Blakiepug12/25/2016, 4:18:41 AM1 votes

I'm with you here, Kindred is definitely too weak at the moment. I wish I had "better" taste in champions because the ones I try picking up always have the same fate: Kindred TahmKench Azir. At least I still have Teemo and Nautilus ... q.q

Supreme Senpai6912/25/2016, 9:02:32 AM1 votes

I don't know why they nerfed her ult. You can't target it anymore you have to drop it down where you stand. It's so stupid.