Numbers and Niches - When Should You Play Kindred?

Welcome to Numbers and Niches, where I look at each individual element of a champion to find out exactly what makes that champion stand out next to any other champion in League. With well over 100 champions in League of Legends, why should you ever choose the newest members to the League, the Eternal Hunters?

Kindred's Passive is the Mark of the Kindred. In summary, you (as Lamb) can mark champions and Wolf marks enemy monster camps. Every time you participate in killing a marked target, Kindred gains 1.25% current health physical damage on their auto attacks. Although simple, this passive already gives Kindred a strategic niche that not many other champions offer. Not many forms of % Physical DPS exist (the rest tending to be Magic and True Damage) and based on how many marked targets you can take down, this Passive also could potentially reach absolutely ridiculous ratios that even the Magic Damage and True Damage equivalents get nowhere near. Because the damage is Current Health, it's probably better designed to utilize this passive with a lot of Defensive Kiting; switching targets on the fly to remain away from danger and maximizing on the Current Health Damage by constantly switching to whoever has the highest current health. All in all though, with a form of damage other champions can't gain access to, the Mark of the Kindred is certainly one element you should take advantage of.

Kindred's Q is the Dance of Arrows, and I'll be frank, I'm not that impressed by the ability. Against a single target, the ability is a rather subpar version of Vayne's Q in most aspects, and that's if you're still positioned within Wolf's Territory. I guess it's somewhat better when hitting multiple enemies, but that requires either amazingly good or exceedingly bad positioning. If you needed a champion with fantastic kiting abilities, Kalista and Vayne are probably better suited for the job in this particular area.

Wolf's Frenzy is Kindred's W. Its passive is somewhat neat as it both encourages Kindred to have multiple small skirmishes and entices them not to build raw health. Its active on the other hand is something else. The rather large zone is an AOE effect dedicated to increasing Kindred's overall DPS through utilizing Wolf, and while Wolf may need some guidance from Kindred, Wolf acts autonomously inside the zone to both allow Kindred (Lamb) more flexibility from enemies within the zone and safety of not actually needing to put her on top of enemies like Wolf is doing. While I'm 90% sure there are other flat DPS abilities that do more damage than Wolf can over time, its the gameplay elements that Wolf allows that makes the ability interesting. Similar to the point made about the Mark of the Kindred, it allows and rewards Kindred this safer kiting play style.

Mounting Dread is yet another non-highlight of Kindred's kit. While the slow is neat, there are a plethora of Champions with stronger and/or longer lasting slows, some of which are AOE effects as well. The Physical Damage is nice as it is once again % based and rather impressive, but it's delayed by how Kindred needs to strike the same target three times in a row with a subpar auto attack range. So far, Kindred's kit rewards the player for kiting well as Kindred without actually giving them the sufficient tools to kite well. The ability is rather powerful in terms of raw damage yes but its team fight utility (where a Marksman should shine mind you) just seems rather handicapped simply by how the rest of Kindred's kit functions. It's a decent ability if we consider it extra fluff to pad out Kindred's kit but it's not something I'd imagine will define Kindred from other champions for all sorts of reasons.

Kindred's Ultimate is Lamb's Respite and oh man if we were looking for an ability no other champion had, this definitely fits the bill. As a medium-ish sized AOE effect, all units stuck inside the effect can not drop below 10% health (and can't be healed if they hit this threshold) stalling the fight out and leaving the battlefield with everyone at exceedingly low health depending on how the fight plays out. Done right, this ability combos amazingly with burst based and more specifically reset based champions by perfectly setting up low health targets that they can pick off. It could be used to potentially save allies or at least prolong their life long enough to get far more use out of them. God bless if you can time it perfectly with a delayed effect like Zed's Ultimate or Kalista's Rend. The ability has so many applications that similar champs () just can't replicate to the same detail that Kindred here has access to. Perhaps my only gripe about the ability is that defensively, it only works if Kindred's already in a bad spot. However, unlike Dance of Arrows which potentially rewards Kindred for what normally would be considered subpar play, that sort of application for this ability doesn't nearly have that same sort of rewarding effect if Kindred messes up and needs to rely on it.

All in all, Kindred has a lot of neat tools that take advantage of some of the fundamental strengths of kiting well. While their actual tools to kite (their Q and their E) are quite frankly a little subpar for the jobs they do, the rewards for kiting well (potentially massive % current health damage, zones of control via Wolf) certainly play well onto the Marksman fantasy and role of safe and reliable long range DPS. Not only that, but if you can learn to take advantage of Kindred's Ultimate with teammates who synergize well with the low health fights that the ability is bound to create, it's easy to imagine absolutely devastating Kindred comps baiting and setting up team fights only to sweep the entire fight towards the end of Kindred's ultimate. If you need a champion that rewards kiting well and/or if you know how to take full advantage of their ultimate, Kindred is the champion for you.