Kindred Rework
A Kindred rework addressing their inconsistent balance and their unfulfilled theme.
TLDR? Just scroll down to actual changes.
Something I always liked about Kindred’s percent health damage was that it felt like all champions, no matter how tanky, were all equal in the eyes of the death. Gameplay-wise, they’d melt far faster against Kindred than any other champion I’ve used or seen. On a fundamental level, I appreciated this because it fit the theme. The idea of tying it to jungle marks, however, never sat well with me. According to lore, Kindred offers people a decision; Arrow or teeth. Submit or struggle. Peace or violence. I wanted to capture that. I always thought it should be more akin to Garen’s passive, allowing him to deal true damage to a specific champion. In Kindred’s case, allowing them to more easily kill their mark would make sense. They are Death, but that’s boring. In a way, they’re like Final Destination. They are Death in all its forms. They’re there when you drown, when you fall and hit your head on the concrete, when you choke on that chicken bone, when you take that bullet, when you overdose, when you’re murdered, when you succumb to the cold, everything. Death is omnipresent. It is everywhere. They see the moon even when the sky is cloudy. Death should feel like Death and when this is combined with the ult, it will. Death should always be psychological as well as physical. “Those who run from death never live.” These changes don’t fix Kindred’s inability to deal with strong junglers invading, but it does provide a silver lining. With Kindred’s passive, Kindred can reap the benefits of gold gain with their E and R. Kindred can also gank effectively with utility even if the damage isn’t frontloaded. Ganking and team fights are Kindred’s strengths with this kit. Most of the laning phase would consist of evading enemy junglers and focusing on ganking and counter-ganking to get the adc build needed to carry. Because Kindred would actually be able to afford an adc set of items, an adc bot lane wouldn’t be necessary. A mage, tank, assassin, or support could be taken instead. Kindred would remain unseen for most of the early game excepting for death recaps and ganks. The bleedout generated by Wolf accompanied by the critical strike used by Lamb with a Hurricane would make them terrifying carries in mid and late game team fights. Still though, because the W range is limited, Kindred would need an effective frontline. The defense issue is not fixed. It’s side-stepped by focusing on less-direct play. Giving Kindred extra range or defense with this kit would grant them free range to dominate the lanes as a laner and become oppressive to the point of being broken. So the current weaknesses remain the same weaknesses. This kit just prevents Kindred from being forced into having to constantly face those weaknesses to stay in the game. The enemy team will actually have to work for their kill rather than click and delete.
Health: 540-1968 Attack Damage: 53-105 Health Regen: 7-15 Attack Speed: .665 (+0-53%) Mana: 300-900 Armor: 24-80 Mana Regen: 7-13 Magic Resist: 30-39.5 Range: 500 Move Speed: 325
Passive: Mark of the Kindred Static cooldown: 0 On-target cooldown: 240 The Kindred mark champions to kill. They are offered a selection of enemy champions to take down which is hidden while in-combat with an enemy champion. Once selected, the marked champion then chooses: Lamb’s Arrow, or Wolf’s Teeth. If the target picks Lamb’s Arrow, Kindred gets an assist if the mark is killed with a ranged auto attack. If the target picks Wolf’s Teeth, Kindred gets an assist if the mark is killed with a melee auto attack or ranged ability. If the enemy champion does not pick within 8 seconds, Wolf’s Teeth are chosen by default. (Passive assists are only treated as such in-game and do not count toward player or end-of-game records.)
R: The End Has Come Range: Global Cooldown: 180/150/120 Initial Cast: For the next 10 seconds, if the marked champion chose Lamb’s Arrow they take extra damage equal to 4% of their maximum health from ranged auto attacks; if the marked champion chose Wolf’s Teeth, they take extra damage equal to 4% of their maximum health from melee auto attacks and 6% of their maximum health over 3 seconds from ranged abilities. If the marked champion falls below 30% of their maximum health, Kindred can recast this ability to blink to them. Recast: The ability duration is reset to 10. Kindred blinks from their current location to behind the target and gains Ghosting for the next 10 seconds. Kindred takes 50% reduced damage from the marked champion for the remainder of this ability’s duration.
E: Mounting Dread Skillshot Range: 950 Cost: 60 Mana Cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14 Wolf charges at the first champion he comes into contact with (ignoring minions and monsters) and Cripples them reducing their movement speed by 70% and causing them to Bleed for 10-27 (based on level) (+80% bonus AD) physical damage over 3 seconds.
W: Carnage Effect Radius: 800 Speed: 1400 Cost: 40 Mana Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 Wolf claims the surrounding area as his territory for the next 7/9/11 seconds, separating from Lamb. Wolf attacks enemies with the lowest % health within the area prioritizing champions. Wolf’s basic attacks deal physical damage scaling with 50% of Kindred’s attack damage. Champions attacked by Wolf Bleed for 10-27 (based on level) (+15% bonus AD) physical damage over the ability duration. Against monsters deals 50% increased damage and Cripples them by 50% for 2 seconds. Carnage ends immediately if Lamb leaves the area.
Q: Dance Macabre Target Range: 340 Effect Radius: 800 Speed: 700 Cost: 40 Mana Cooldown: 9 Lamb dashes in the target direction while empowering her next auto attack with Eternal Sleep. Lamb auto attacks the nearest target on arrival. Lamb’s current attack target at any proximity will be prioritized. Casting within Wolf’s zone of Carnage reduces Dance Macabre’s cooldown to 1. Auto attacks empowered by Eternal Sleep critically strike champions within Wolf’s zone of Carnage below 14/18/22/26/30% of their maximum health.
