In-Depth Kindred Analysis

This Kindred analysis will discuss Kindred’s current performance and place in the current meta as well as discuss possible changes for them. Statistics from LoLalytics.com inform us of how powerful Kindred is objectively. Then, in comparison to prominent junglers, Kindred’s place in the meta will be discussed. And finally, changes to Kindred’s kit will be discussed.

If Kindred is mentioned in the League of Legends sub-reddit, on the official forums, or on other social media websites, Kindred is often met with contempt. Cries of, oppression ring out and people do not wish to go back to the dark days of Kindred’s dominance. Not wanting Kindred to be so powerful that there is no way to stop them is a fair wish. However, meeting any and all attempts to improve Kindred’s current state with reproach isn’t right. Kindred is only a few tweaks away from being a fun and meta pick.

Think of who you believe is the most powerful jungler right now. Or if you don’t personally care or believe in one, who does the pro scene consider “S” tier junglers? What do they do, better than anyone else?

In Patch 7.3 Riot brought down the hammer on quite a few of the best pro junglers. Ivern, Kha’Zix, and Rengar. Ivern is the best, and only, support jungler in the game. He keeps his team alive, has powerful ganks, and has powerful objective taking tools. He has a very unique niche that is all his own.

Kha’Zix and Rengar however satisfy similar roles. Both are pop out of a bush, or stealth, and blow you up giving you no time to react champions. And LoLalytics statistics agree with burst style junglers being the best and shows that 4 of the top 5 junglers are burst style. Ivern was the odd one out. You can guess two of them. Interestingly you may not be able to guess the top 2…Shaco and Graves. But more on Graves later.

So let’s look at the average win rates of some of these champions versus the win rates of their best players and see how they compare.

Average Win Rate

Kindred 49.42%

Kha’Zix 50.24%

Rengar 50.40%

Graves 51.52%

Twitch 47.95%

Quite healthily none of these champions have massively above or below 50% win rates. The matchmaking system is designed so that each team has roughly a 50% chance to win so if champion picks were swaying this two heavily on average then something would need to be done. Although Twitch near 48% is concerning.

But surely the best and most dedicated players should get more for maining champions right? If not, why ever pick a champion out of preference when there is a clear, objectively correct choice. So here are the win rates of the best players of these champions.

Best Win Rate

Kindred 52.39%

Kha’Zix 57.91%

Rengar 62.64%

Graves 57.90%

Twitch 53.88%

We see quite condemningly that people putting time into Kindred are not seeing as big of gains as those playing Rengar, Kha’Zix, and Graves. A Rengar main is likely to win 10% more of their games than a Kindred main at Diamond or higher.

On one hand this could just mean that Rengar is still out of line. But on the other hand it does show how far Kindred is from being strong and worth investing in in the current meta.

Speaking of which, what is Kindred’s current place in the meta? Burst champions reign supreme. A quirky support jungle pick is up there too. After that a lot of junglers are pretty tanky while also dealing a lot of damage. Where in the meta is there space for a sustained damage, late game, marksmen, hyper carry?

To answer that, let’s start with what Kindred does that no one else does. Their ultimate. The teamfight impact and objective control that Lamb’s Respite provides is something that very few other champions bring to a team. Saving allies and forcing enemy junglers to blow smite is a powerful strategic tool.

But outside of that Kindred is very underwhelming. Death should be the ultimate, unavoidable hunter. But Rengar is much better at dealing death. And Warwick is much better at chasing down every prey. And the other successful jungle marksmen, Graves and Twitch, can deal the vast majority of their damage in a burst at the start of a fight. Although Twitch’s damage does persist throughout the fight and can wipe entire teams if not dealt with. Or at least whole backlines. AND, they’re whole kits are designed to fulfil those power fantasies. Graves has a shotgun and gains resistances when he dashes towards enemies. He thrives in up close encounters and blows you away while taking less damage back. Twitch sneaks behind your team and lights everyone up. Appropriate lore, appropriate power fantasy, and appropriate kit.

But Kindred has great lore, an unfulfilled power fantasy, and a simple kit that doesn’t deliver right now.

So let’s discuss Kindred’s kit and stats.

Health

Armor

Magic Resist

In terms of overall durability, Kindred is where they should be. Their power should be in mobility and outplay potential, not pure survivability. So keeping them squishy in the Lucian, Vayne and Yasuo archetype seems most appropriate.

Range

Kindred is one of four marksmen that have ranges of 500 or less. More on that later.

Damage

Attack Damage: 54.4 to 81.8 > 57 to 98

Attack Speed: 0.625 (+0 to 42.5%) > 0.690 (+0 to 60%)

Attack Speed Delay: 0 > -0.05

These seem like pretty drastic changes. But think about what emerged as one of the most popular rune builds recently. Dodge Lamb’s rune page of AS marks, quintessences, and glyphs for 34.51% became very popular and even made an LCS appearance. But what if instead of sacrificing survivability and other damage sources Kindred could go a standard rune page setup? These attack speed buffs allow that. The AS buff also puts their base stats in line with what other marksmen like Vayne and Kog’Maw get who also deal % max health damage.

The AD changes also put Kindred more in line with Kog’Maw and Twitch. And the attack speed delay puts them in line with other bow wielding champions like Ashe, Varus, and Vayne so that Kindred feels more responsive and consistent.

Movement Speed

Like most marksmen, Kindred has 325 movement speed. However, Kindred also has 500 range. Lucian, Sivir, and Graves, the other three of the four mentioned in the range section, all have more movement speed than Kindred, as does Twitch.

Twitch has 330.

Lucian and Sivir have 335.

Graves has 340.

Twitch also gets stealth and a 10% bonus movement speed while in stealth. Lucian has a 425 range dash and his W gives him 60, 65, 70, 75, 80 movement speed if he attacks an enemy marked by it. Sivir’s passive gives her 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 movement speed at levels 1, 6, 11, 16, and 18. Sivir’s ultimate gives her 40%, 50%, and 60% movement speed for 2, 3, and 4 seconds decaying to 20%. Graves has a 425 range dash.

By comparison, Kindred has 325 movement speed as mentioned, a 340 range “dash” and a 1 second long 50% slow. Meanwhile Warwick has 335 movement speed and 35, 40, 45, 50, 55% bonus movement speed when moving towards blood hunted targets. And the movement speed buff is TRIPLED versus champions below 20% maximum health.

Kindred has the average movement speed of marksmen. However, Kindred does not have the average range of marksmen. Marksmen with the same range as Kindred have higher movement speed, as well as dashes, and other buffs to their movement speed for some.

Rengar has 345 movement speed, Kha’Zix has 350, and Graves has 340 as we mentioned.

Considering Kindred’s overall low survivability and removal of their healing mechanic, kiting/pursuing should be their power.

Base Movement Speed: 325 > 335

Passive - Mark of the Kindred

Wolf Marking Cooldown: 25 > 60

Lamb Marking Cooldown: 75 > 45

Per-Target Cooldown: 240 > 300

Stack Damage: 1.25% of target’s current health > 1% of target’s maximum health

New – “No! That was mine!”: When a champion kills a wolf marked target they ALSO become marked in addition to Lamb’s marked target.

These changes make Kindred stronger. But this comes at the cost of them being required to interact more directly with enemy champions. But the embodiment of death should not have their damage decrease the closer their target is to death.

Also, if an already marked champion kills a wolf mark they are not double marked. So this creates counter play where if top is marked and top scuttle gets marked then the top should kill it.

Q - Dance of Arrows

Dash Range: 340 > 425

Dash Speed: Up

Base Physical Damage: 55/75/95/115/135 (+ 5 per mark) > 40/55/70/85/100

Scaling Damage: .2 Total AD > .8 Total AD

Reduced Cooldown: 4/3.5/3/2.5/2 > 4/4/3/3/2

In exchange for the increased mobility power and late game damage, Kindred had to be forced to CHOOSE early on. Now, if Kindred dashes in and gets CC’d they’re going to take damage because they can’t immediately dash back out. If Kha’Zix or Rengar time their leaps/CC right they can actually stay on top of Kindred instead of being endlessly kited by a near no cooldown dash.

However, now Kindred’s Q can be used for more outplay potential. You know to kite and wait for the Rengar bola. You can wait and Q the Elise cocoon. In one on one’s and in late game teamfights you have much more power to SKILLFULLY and carefully dodge. The dash speed would be on par with a Lucian, Graves, Vayne, and/or Yasuo.

Q can still go over terrain.

W – Wolf’s Frenzy

Duration: 8.5 > 9

New - Death stalks the land: Upon activation, wolf attacks Kindred’s target.

Wolf no longer “claims” an area. For the duration Wolf attacks Lamb’s target and Lamb keeps the reduced cooldown FOR THE DURATION. The effect vs monsters is kept. Runaan’s hurricane does not apply wolf debuff to secondary targets.

It sucked that a hunter was forced to remain in a confined area. Now Lamb and Wolf are free to roam wherever they choose.

E – Mounting Dread

Slow Duration: 1 > 2

Base Damage: 40/75/110/145/180 > 40/80/120/160/200

Scaling Health: .05% of Target’s Maximum health > .25% of Target’s Missing Health.

New vs marked target: When Mounting Dread is cast on a marked target, Kindred ignores 20/24/28/32/35 of the target’s armor.

New: When wolf strikes, Kindred gains 40% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds decaying over 2 more seconds.

New animation: Kindred does not fire an arrow at the start. Instead a joined Kindred mask appears over the targets head and crashes down on them applying the rune on the ground.

Early in the game Kindred’s core combo would give her the positioning she needs to finish off her prey. But late game she can become a monster dealing a lot of damage up front and then finishing the target off with a fatal blow.

Players also now have a reason to fear being marked since Kindred will do more damage to them. The penetration is slightly better than Kog’Maw’s resistance reduction but weaker than Vayne’s max health true damage. It’s modelled off of what Void Staff does for mages.

All together these changes allow Kindred to build attack damage, attack speed, and critical chance like other marksmen instead of being forced into on-hit off tank builds. Kindred gets a new gameplay identity as an agile but fragile high damage dealer with outplay potential, but can be shut down if focused.

PDF available here.