Kindred Rework
#Kindred Rework
Design Goals: 1.) Attempt to resolve some of kindred’s unreliable scaling and thematic issues when it comes to their passive, and abilities. Kindred shouldn’t have to jump through so many hoops in order to scale like other champions that have scaling passives; for what they can gain for less work. 2.) Attempt to solve the inter-kit synergy issues. 3.) Attempt to infuse some value on wolf as separate and yet integral part of Kindred’s kit, not quite like Nunu and Willump but close; Explore a new ability augmentation system somewhat like Kayn’s and a trigger system like to achieve previously stated goal. Separate Lamb and Wolf by playstyle; Lamb has strong consistent damage while the target is nearby, Wolf has a further reach and chases targets down to apply burst damage on the targets that run.
Passive: Mark of the Kindred STATIC COOLDOWN: 40 / 75 ON-TARGET COOLDOWN: 240 Inner Radius: 800 Outer Radius: 1050 - global (for marked targets) Kindred's passive and abilities separately, can mark champions up to two times to hunt. Scoring a takedown on a champion on collects all available marks to permanently empower Kindred's abilities against marked targets; granting Lamb 25 bonus range on her basic attacks and abilities and Wolf bonus AD every 6 marks.
ENEMY CHAMPIONS: Kindred is offered a selection of champions to apply Marks to, which is hidden in combat with an enemy. Once selected, there's an 8 seconds delay before the Marks can be collected, and Kindred can change their target if the target hasn't died during a period of time. Targets successfully hunted cannot be marked for 4 minutes.
Passive - Acceptance/Denial: Every 12 seconds and when nearby enemies are below 30% Kindreds next ability reveals their Domains over 1 second. If the most recently damaged champion or epic monster is inside the Domain Lamb’s Turn activates, granting her ability augments, conversely if they are outside, Wolf’s Chase activates, granting his ability augments. Marked champions are prioritized.
Design Notes: As aspects of death Kindred should be strong, but not overbearing so, thus they grow in strength the more that come to believe in them when they see them near death. While the marking system may not exactly hit on Kindred's theme as the beings who pass on souls of the dead, its still unique to them, it may be a pain point to see it go, additionally it could also be argued that ALL know death eventually comes for them, thus the mark system should stay, but let it work on a target regardless of if they have been selected.
BUT, by allowing Kindred to collect DOUBLE marks from a target they have selected, maintains their unique system while allowing them to build marks off anyone at anytime. This also reduces alot of unnecessary hoops kindred has to hop through, and allows them to scale more reliably.
Additionally the jungle camp mark system has been discarded due to unnecessary complications of lacking most skills needed to function as well as champions that are designed to counter jungle as well as sidelining Wolf. This has been replaced by allowing Kindred to gain additional marks in others ways explained below, and thus the requirement for gain bonuses has been increased.
Additionally they have gained an ability augmentation system that will allow Kindred’s theme and Wolf to shine even brighter with similar abilities with different additional functions. HOW the augments are chosen also specs into their theme by allowing their target (and themselves) some control to decide which augment appears over a short duration, until the time comes for the decision to be made again.
Q - Dance of Arrows/Dance of Claws: ACTIVE: Lamb and Wolf dash to the target point. Lamb: Gains 25% bonus attack speed for 4 seconds, and fires 1-3 arrows to nearby targets, dealing damage, one arrow prioritizes Lamb’s current target. The nearest unit can be hit multiple times, taking 50% reduced damage beyond the first arrow if there are less than three targets. Dance of Arrows resets Lamb's basic attack timer. Wolf: Damages enemies he passes through, and in a cone at the end, dealing bonus damage. Slows Monsters.
Casting Death’s Domain or dashing inside the area reduces Dance of Arrows/Claws cooldown. This cooldown reduction is retained if towards a champion Wolf’s targeting.
Notes: Wolf’s movement also counts as movement for the purposes of Hunter's Vigor, Energized Strike, Dreadnought and Echo.
Design Notes: Q is used to help kindred kite jungle camps while still applying damage as well as stacking their Hunter’s Vigor passive so they can stay healthy when they do take damage Kindred has always been a mobile champion, it helps them survive the jungle and stay on top of targets since they need to provide above average dps and stickyness to their ganks since they lack strong CC. And it also grants Kindred some control over the range they engaging their opponent in, helping them manage whether Wolf or Lamb is chosen by their passive.
W - Death’s Domain: PASSIVE: As Kindred move and attack, they build up to 100 Hunter's Vigor stacks. At 100, and after every champion or large minion death, a spirit appears near Kindred. Walking over one makes the next basic attack restore up to 32 − 100 (based on level) health, based on Kindred's missing health. ACTIVE: Wolf dashes to the target location and claims the surrounding area as their territory for the next 8.5 seconds, separating from Lamb to prowl the perimeter. All enemies inside “die” becoming player controlled Souls, temporarily granting Mark of the Kindred Stacks, permanently granted on takedowns while active. Death’s Domain ends if Lamb leaves the area. Lamb: While inside every third instance of damage deals x (+ x% AD) (+ 1.25% target's current HP) bonus damage. Wolf: Slowly decreases the radius by 10 units for every 10 units enemies move away from Lamb. Wolf targets the first champion that leaves for the remaining duration. Wolf's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and scale with 25% of Kindred's bonus attack speed. Wolf is slowed if moving towards Lamb.
Notes: Wolf’s movement counts as movement for the purposes of Hunter's Vigor, Energized Strike, Dreadnought and Echo. While Wolf is attacking he is considered melee and can apply melee item and rune effects.
Design Notes: retains the jungling capabilities by allowing sustained % health damage. W now becomes the rightful engage ability for Lamb as it allows her to use Q as much as she wants and has access to the strong periodic damage. Wolf no longer attacks targets Lamb attacks because that made him too derivative and it didn’t fit his theme. Now he chases whoever runs, and Kindred can keep casting Q, this will help BOTH Lamb and Wolf keep up with the target since they both dash, and this helps Wolf feel like his own character since he’s freed to do what he wants and Lamb can keep doing what she wants and smart Kindred players will be able to work out how to do both at the same time with smart Q casts. This works because it isolates Wolf’s actions from Lambs. In terms of counterplay enemies could basic attack Wolf to slow him if necessary, so they have to stop running, which would mean they may be willing to accept/fight death, which would inhibit Wolf’s hunt, thus the slow reduces his chasing capabilities and wastes the remaining duration he has to chase, this also works by running back to Lamb. This ability really carries the death theme of Kindred, “it was their time” and the champions souls either “run or accept death” in either case they may be “revived or escape” returning to life. This ability also allows Kindred to build some temporary Marks outside of killing champs that they get to keep if they obtain takedowns. The passive also encourages the use of Q in more interesting ways besides kite/chase.
E - Mounting Dread: Lamb: shoots an arrow in the target direction damaging and slowing the first unit it passes through by x (+ x% target’s missing HP) for a duration. If the arrow damages an enemy it gains range and applies a flat reduced slow and damage and to other units it passes through. While Kindred remains within a slowly decreasing radius of the first unit, they are slowed while facing away from Kindred. Wolf: lunges in the target direction marking the first unit hit and then moves to mark the next nearest enemy, recurring as long as enemies are moving away from Lamb once every 0.3 seconds, for up to three seconds. Upon finishing marking, he dashes behind his target, dealing x(+ x% AD)(+ x% of targets’ missing HP) damage to all marked enemies, increased per mark and by 50% against monsters. If his target dies during the delay, he will reappear at the center and collect the marks. If no other enemies are in range, he may strike the same enemies again, dealing 25% damage instantly. Wolf’s Mounting Dread can critically strike.
Notes: Wolf’s movement counts as movement for the purposes of Hunter's Vigor, Energized Strike, Dreadnought and Echo. While Wolf is attacking he is considered melee and can apply melee item and rune effects.
Design Notes: E now becomes the good gank opener it was meant to be with a persistent slow used to kite monsters moved to this ability from W, now available on any target with a skill check, it also works great with W and Q, since using both can help keep u close to your target, and finding a way to maintain it as long as possible while avoiding retaliation. It also works nicely with Lamb’s theme of acceptance discouraging escape. If u want the execute damage now u have a choice of using Wolf. This ability also allows Kindred to build marks outside of champion kills by executing smaller targets. Lambs version allows stronger but more situational utility because it can now miss. The slow is stronger on targets that are low and running, but u still gain from opening with it since it will last longer and u get more out of it, and since it can now miss it now has a fall back feature that extends its range through targets that may body block it, but although all targets hit will be slowed on the 1st target can be slowed for an extended duration.
R - Unchanged
#A Reasoning For Everything
Passive: If their scaling is gated off premarked champion kills and poaching random enemy jungle camps that already raises the bar compared to others. Furthermore they lack most tools required to counter jungle as effectively as other champions that were designed to counter jungle, so in order to keep the scope, changes and complexity low, the monster camp marks should be dropped.
Reducing hoops: The number of hoops Kindred must jump through to scale should be reduced, as it limits their effectiveness as a champion. “Not only does she need a kill/assist, but it needs to be on the right target, on a per-target cooldown.” The mark warns enemies and can cause them to move or act in a way that makes it difficult for Kindred to acquire the mark if they want to since the target knows it is likely they may come. “Especially as the target is marked visibly and there's a delay. So if you're particularly worried about Kindred, whoever's marked can go full defense and not die.” Sure its its fair that she has to kill champions because, “other champs (that have additional scaling off objectives) get a few points of damage or shielding or health. Kindred gets small boosts to her abilities.” But the gating mechanisms hold her back a little too hard, because it can set back the effectiveness of her abilities unlike other champs, who don’t need to do what she does to scale, and she has lost benefits from stacking, but the requirements haven’t decreased in severity. But “she needs the passive to offset that lack of gold, and still fill the marksman role” and again marksman don’t have to do what she must to scale. Taking the mark scaling off her abilities would also help to take the focus off her passive and not gate her effectiveness of scaling off the passive so hard, while also justifying softening the minimum requirements to gain stacks. If the goal of Kindred was create a jungling marksman that “offered their team reasonable ganks - attacks that, if timed and coordinated well, could result in a kill, but weren’t guaranteed successes;” that didn’t have to rely on kills and ganks that were not always required to be successful to scale (Like TF and Twitch) then why give them a passive that strongly encourages being able to pull off ganks or other tasks that are not reliable, and a kit scaling that builds of said gank/tasks.
Theme issues Furthermore it could be argued that “ the idea of setting your target ahead of time and claiming living creatures seems against fantasy. Kindred doesn't show up until you have died.” They don’t “kill you -- Lamb just claims you, and if you try to flee Wolf tears you apart.” Kindred makes sure the dead move on to the next realm. If you see them, you are already dead, or are very close to being dead. So while the mark system is cool and unique to them, it would stand to help diversify HOW they can obtain marks from both a balance and thematic point. One solution would be to just NOT make the mark visible for enemies. Another solution is that enemies that have died leave a soul for x sec. Wolf or Lamb collects the soul depending on how many units the enemy moved within 10 seconds of dying. Additionally this also feeds into again getting rid of jg marks. It adds unnecessary complexity and risk to a champion that can already struggle compared to others, not taking into account that they don’t have the tools required to help them counter jungle or duel especially early, to reduce complexity it should be omitted. This is the same situation Yasuo is in, there a lot for him to keep track of in order for him to do what he wants successful, and it takes a lot of skill, thus Riot made him with limited counterplay.
Lastly there's the issue of Wolf making wolf autonomous attack targets randomly until Kindred attacks a target is a mistake, because it takes control away from the player and makes wolf seem like a separate character. Additionally once he does start attacking only the targets Lamb does, it makes him feel derivative, instead of his own part of death. Thus Wolf has been baked into the whole of Kindred's kit and he will do things on his own at the players direction, not Lambs.
**Kit Synergy Issues: ** Q suggests a mobile playstyle that can hit multiple enemies at once. While W encourages a more stationary playstyle that discourages leaving that also encourages the use of Q, but deactivates upon leaving W’s range because it doesn’t move with Lamb, effectively limiting the range of mobility that Q grants, and worse Wolf’s AA command effect doesn’t proc off targets hit by Q. E requires Kindred to stand still to max its effectiveness but does not allow Wolf’s attacks or Q to stack it, and it requires you to focus on one target, so it works with W in that you don’t want to move but doesn’t capitalize on W’s effect or the fact that W grants Q CDR. “Everything is an anti-combo. You have pretty good mobility with Q but only within the easily escaped area of W, and the only way to keep enemies in that area requires Kindred to use E and stop using Q. The Ult also exacerbates the problems with the rest of the kit in that it doesn't do damage and, again, restricts her to a zone.” The ult not doing damage is an issue because, “Q does terrible damage, W does terrible damage AND restricts your free hopping area, E can do some damage but requires you to land three basic attacks instead of exploiting your hopping.”
And none of the basic abilities sell the death theme
E issues “The E is a targeted delayed nuke. It's boring.” Its not a strong execute since it has a cap against jungle monsters which doesn't make much sense for a jg champ. Sure not every ability needs to be the most exciting, but then again none of Kindred's other abilities are very exciting either. This ability needs more OOMPH.
Theme issues Kindred isn't a great duo, the two characters aren’t sold well. Wolf is a glorified particle effect or/ and a spell effect. “part of the goal is that the opponent, have a choice of lamb or wolf, because thats Kindred’s lore/fantasy that they pull everyone into when they meet, either at a near death experience or right after death. Kindred as a champion should have an influence over who the opponent faces between Lamb and Wolf, but hopefully players will see benefits to both sides, an opponent who flees from Wolf you should be fought differently from one who stands their ground and faces Lamb.” But while Wolf and Lamb are a duality that are never apart they never work together or hunt the same targets. If the soul accepts death Wolf waits for the next one to run. If a soul denies death Wolf gets his chase and Lamb observes it. The patience and inevitability of death could be enhanced more, it doesn’t always happen right away, but eventually it will. “The ult plays into patience, but it also shows Kindred's mastery of death by completely denying anyone inside the ability to die. This is also why the rest of her kit is garbage, as Kindred can't actually make you hang around, or chase strongly, or do any of the previously stated things. And Wolf should be a critical component of setting up the previously stated things especially the chasing aspect, but he doesn't because he can’t do anything on his own, and is autonomous during “his” biggest ability. Making Wolf autonomous is a mistake. Because of this his part of the character is diminished. They are supposed to be a relationship between two equals, but this wasn’t a clear goal all the way through development: At one point wolf wasn’t even in the E, he was an after thought “Her joke animation where she shoots the bow with her feet was actually the E for a while before we iterated further and brought the wolf in.” This is an issue that needs to be rectified in the future theme-based GU.
Gameplay Currently “Kindred is only actually good if you stand and fight. Enemies will very rarely stay within Wolf's range if you pop it before your first Q, this means you'll generally have one reduced cooldown Q and that's it.”
“Mounting Dread is supposed to provide a solid start to engage by slowing their enemy as they close in when Kindred sets it sights on a target. But while Lamb and Wolf “hit hard”, they lack traditional hard crowd control effects, making them most effective when they gank wounded targets or attack alongside allies who can keep the enemy locked down.” This feeds into the “reasonable but not guaranteed successful ganks” But why use E to OPEN if it does % missing HP damage? And why use it to close a fight if doing so forces you to be still, when they are likely running, cutting off the ability to use Q or W to chase, since doing either doesn’t stack E’s effect, and only Q and W allow u to chase, up until you're out of W’s radius. Sure Mounting Dread is a good opener by slowing the target, but it ALSO encourages the target to run to avoid the execute damage, meaning using E to open reduces their chase potential, so they can really ONLY gank wounded targets effectively. This should be fixed by taking the slow off their high damage ability, since the slow also gates their damage behind 3 basic attacks. They should be allowed to chase a target they have slowed immediately to make the most of its effects.
Interestingly their kit works out fine IF only jungle camps were the targets, as stated before Kindred currently really only work when their targets stand a fight. Because they can cast W, and the jungle camps don’t run, so the benefit they get from W reducing Q’s CD isn’t wasted its used to help kite the camp and build up W’s passive, and E’s issues aren’t as glaring because she CAN stand still and AA a target 3x and Wolf assists her dps through W, slowing monsters, while she’s building up E to finish the target off, and E slows the targets approach, since she doesn’t have to use it to slow down a target she’s chasing, even if E is still boring. It looks like they focused too much on trying to make her work in the jungle so hard they forgot, she still has to function in some way outside the jungle.
Solution don’t attach their highest damage ability to their CC, you don’t want to force them to choose between being able to finish a target off, and thinking if they are able to even start a successful gank. As a jungler they need a way to have an impact when they gank, yet if the target escapes even if they have the mobility they may not be able to finish them off. Putting a high amount of damage on a gank target should be the junglers choice of when to do it, it shouldn’t be a requirement to just pull it off, especially when the dmg has a gate on it, this will just causes targets to run, which the slow won’t stop, only hinder. At the very least don’t put a delayed execute on the main ability that allows them to open up a gank. You open up with CC and close with the execute, not open with both.
#Old Abilities Extra effects damaging anything at the edge. Reveals champions below 30% HP Deactivates death passives Creates a dynamic cap to the target’s max health Creates a growing execute percentage Champions that reach this execute percentage “die” turning into spirits for 10 seconds abilities places a mark on an enemy, converting 10% of their health to black health over 10 seconds. The first basic attack against them deals (amount of black health) bonus damage, removes the mark.
Passive: The Wolf or the Lamb? Enemy champions that have died leave a soul for x sec. Wolf or Lamb collects the soul depending on how many units the enemy moved within 10 seconds of dying. Kindred pass souls on by basic attack, and collect a Mark of the Kindred.
Passive - Threat of Death: Each instance of damage and takedown Kindred deals against champions or epic monsters builds stacks by 2.5 − 7 (based on minutes) on the target that are automatically collected upon leaving combat. If Lamb is damaged by the target, she instantly collect all stacks, if the target turns their back to Wolf, he instantly collect all stacks. Every ten stacks temporarily grants a Mark of the Kindred empowering Lamb and/or Wolf for 30 seconds against all targets.
Bad Kayn style Passive After being damaged or marked, if a champion or epic monster spends more than 10-2 seconds (based on lv) inside Kindred’s domain it becomes Lamb’s Turn granting her ability augments, conversely equal time spent outside, activates Wolf’s Chase granting his ability augments. Marked champions are prioritized and the delay is halved.
Mounting Dread Active: Kindred’s next instance of damage marks units hit for up to 6 seconds, consumed upon: Lamb: The next basic attack fires additional bolts towards marked targets and places an arrow where the units were hit. Unit are tethered to the arrow for 6 seconds reduced by a duration equal to the amount of time they are within 100 units.
Q - Final Chance/Accept Your Fate: Lamb: Shoots an arrow in the target direction damaging the first unit hit and Wolf leaves her side to chase it dealing damage to the first unit he hits. Wolf gains bonus movement speed at the end of the arrow’s range and basic attacks the nearest enemy dealing bonus damage Wolf: Wolf lunges forward grabbing the first unit he hits and pulls them back a 50 units before jumping back to Lamb’s side. If the target is pulled within Lambs Attack range she fires homing bolt.
W - Mounting dread: Active: Lamb marks a target unit for 5 seconds. The next instance of damage consumes the mark to slow the target, If the unit was marked for 0 seconds Wolf gains 10 bonus range (* Mark of the Kindred stacks) per instance of dmg, releasing Wolf to chase the 1st champion that leaves the area, allowing him to attack them until the bonus range is spent, temporarily activating Wolf’s Chase. If the target is marked for at least 2.5 seconds, consuming the mark, indicates the location with an arrow, increasing the slow and reducing the units armor for 2.5 sec based on their distance from the arrow, temporarily activating Lambs Turn.
E - Passage of Life: Passive: The first cast has a separate CD and is reduced while Wolf is chasing a unit. First Cast: Lamb and Wolf hop in the target direction. Separate CD. Lamb Second Cast: shoots a barrage of arrows that land in an arc in the target area Wolf Second Cast: howls releasing a blast from the current arrows and recently damaged enemy locations that travels forwards Third Cast: Wolf prowls forward in the target direction unleashing a flurry of claw swipes and bites in a cone
also make sure to add a kindred skin i wanna buy all kindred skin please