League of Legends Season 10 Kindred Guide

Death has come in two forms, which form shall you give your enemies? The welcoming embrace of the lamb, or the frightening jaws of the wolf? Either way, it will not come easy for your enemies as this champion will come for all, there is no escape. In this Kindred guide, we will be reintroducing this champion’s jungle prowess and show why they are becoming higher in priority for jungle picks. This exceptional jungler requires you to have a high level of understanding of their kit.

Lamb and wolf in their Blood moon skin kindred guide
Are you ready for the ultimate Kindred guide?

The Eternal Hunters: Lamb & Wolf

Death has two forms: The lamb, holding the essence of mercy and the wolf who holds the essence of punishment. These two roam Valoran, always in pursuit of those who are destined to die. One cannot deny the death that will seek them for the Kindred spirits who are inseparable will never let up the chase. Eventually falling to the Lamb’s embrace or the Wolf’s fangs, the citizens of Valoran are always reminded how death itself is inescapable.

Kindred: Listen to Their Tale | New Champion Teaser - League of Legends
Death comes in many forms, but in this story, we’ll only show you two.

Unlike a lot of champions created, Kindred’s design has left them purely restricted to be played only in the jungle. Playing them anywhere else removes a lot of the factors that make this champion so strong in the role. However, since the champion’s kit is so strong, they have always been one of the stronger junglers out there. In this Kindred guide, we’ll learn the best way to play this champion as a jungler.

Kindred’s General Playstyle

Kindred is one of the more pro-active junglers out there, constantly requiring you to do jungle invades and ganks in order to stack up Marks which are necessary for upgrading her attacks and abilities. They are excellent duelists but excel most in teamfights where Lamb’s Respite benefits the entire team. Like many marksmen, knowledge on Kiting and Positioning are core skills you’ll need to have as will be explained in this Kindred guide.

Spirit Blossom Kindred skin with traditional outfit for Lamb and Wolf
Death comes for you, no matter what

Kindred Guide: Skills and Rotations

Kindred relies mostly on hunting Kindred's Passive, Mark of the Kindred Marks of the Kindred to upgrade the effect of their abilities. Each ability serves a role in helping achieve that so it’s best reserved for specific situations. Using Kindred’s abilities against champions are excellent on the 1v1 setting but can effectively go against more than 1 champion at once. Position is important so that only your team benefits from abilities such as Kindred's Ultimate, Lamb's Respite Lamb’s Respite especially during teamfights.

Passive: Mark of the Kindred

Kindred's Passive, Mark of the Kindred Innate – Lamb and Wolf chooses targets enemy units to be Kindred's Passive, Mark of the Kindred Marked and hunted. Taking down marked units will grant them bonuses in their abilities and attack range.

Kindred's other half, the Lamb Lamb’s Hunt – Lamb can choose among a selection of champions shown above the inventory to be Kindred's Passive, Mark of the Kindred Marked and hunted by the Kindred. They can only collect by killing the champion or scoring an assist on it after an 8-second delay. Lamb can freely choose between who to hunt while the target hasn’t been collected yet. Lamb cannot choose the same champion within 4 minutes if the mark has been successfully collected.

Kindred's other half, the Wolf Wolf’s Hunt – Wolf will periodically place a Kindred's Passive, Mark of the Kindred mark on an Enemy Jungle Camp starting at 3 minutes and 15 seconds after the game has begun. This mark only lasts for 180 seconds and disappears if your team or the enemy has slain the mark. The enemy team can see the marked monster as well.

Kindred will periodically need to invade enemy camps to try and secure marks. Marking an enemy champion is also important so that you can collect the most marks in the shortest amount of time. Make sure to always learn where your enemy jungler has been so you can try and get the mark if they are far enough for you to secure it. Always communicate with your teammates to ask if they can escort you to the mark.

Q: Dance of Arrows

Kindred's Q, Dance of Arrows Active – Lamb dashes forwards, gaining 25% bonus attack speed and shoots three arrows to the target and nearby enemy units. While Kindred's W, Wolf's Frenzy Wolf’s Frenzy is active, casting this ability will reduce its cooldown.

For each Kindred's Passive, Mark of the Kindred Mark of the Kindred, the bonus attack speed increases by 5% and the range increases by +75 or +25 after 4 stacks.

Kindred's Q, Dance of Arrows Dance of Arrow’s cooldown is reduced when you’re inside Kindred's W, Wolf's Frenzy Wolf’s Frenzy so make sure to combo the two abilities at all times. This is a great skill to close the distance or kite out the enemy champion. This is best taken as your second ability when jungling but should be the one who is maxed first. Great for clearing monster camps quickly to get a quick Mark.

W: Wolf’s Frenzy

Kindred's W, Wolf's Frenzy Passive: As Kindred moves or attacks, they gain Hunter’s Vigor stacking up to 100. At full stacks, Lamb’s next basic attack heals her up for a percentage of missing health.

Active: Wolf dashes to a target location and claiming the territory surrounding it for himself. Wolf attacks all enemies within the area, prioritizing Lamb’s target. If Lamb leaves the area, Wolf stops attacking and follows her.

Wolf’s attack deal magic damage and scales with the Kindred’s attack speed. Wolf deals 50% more damage to neutral monsters and slows them for 50% of their movement speed.

Kindred's W, Wolf's Frenzy Wolf’s Frenzy should be the first ability you take when jungling since it deals a lot of damage by itself to neutral monsters and combos well with Kindred's Q, Dance of Arrows Dance of Arrows. When using it against an opponent, make sure that you aim it at an area where you plan to stay around since it will end prematurely if you leave the area.

E: Mounting Dread

Kindred's E, Mounting Dread Active: Lamb marks the target, slowing them by 50% of their movement speed for 1 second.

Each basic attack on the marked target refreshes the debuff. If Lamb manages to basic attack the marked target twice, the third attack will result in Wolf pouncing forward dealing bonus physical damage and consumes the mark. If the target is below 15% HP, Wolf’s attack will critically hit.

Kindred's E, Mounting Dread Mounting Dread is best used after your W > Q combo so that you can maximize your auto-attack phase since the enemy will get slowed, making them easier to kite. Always make sure that you have E active on your enemy target to maximize the amount of damage you deal with the 3rd attack stack.

R: Lamb’s Respite

Kindred's E, Mounting Dread Active – Lamb blesses the ground surrounding her, all units (allied, enemy, minions, or monsters) inside it can’t be reduced less than 10% of their maximum HP. Units inside it also can’t be healed above 10% once they reach the threshold. Once the duration ends, all units inside it will be healed.

Try to save Kindred's Ultimate, Lamb's Respite Lamb’s Respite for when your HP is already below 10% so that you can deal as much damage as possible, not giving your opponent the benefit of becoming immune on the duration of the skill. During teamfights, it can work the same way as a Redemption Support Item Icon Healing Redemption heal but it’s always best to save it for fights you are already losing in. Using this skill while you are winning only benefits your enemies.

Kindred Guide: Items and Builds

In this Kindred Guide, we’ve mentioned how Kindred is only meant to be played as a jungler. Junglers build paths are unique compared to that of a standard laner since they need to complete their jungle item first or second. Since Kindred is a marksman, they will be building an almost similar item path as most AD carries. Getting Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Criticals will be a top priority in this Items and Builds Kindred Guide.

Starting Item

Icon showing the league of legends item Hunter’s Machete Hunter’s Machete – Kindred relies mostly on their basic attacks to clear the early jungle camps so the Machete is the best item to get first.

Core Items

Skirmisher's Sabre with Warrior Enchantment Skirmisher’s Sabre: Warrior’s Enchantment – Kindred will always find themselves dueling against the enemy jungler, Challenging Smite can prove to be useful when fighting 1v1. In addition, the Warrior’s Enchantment will provide them with the necessary attack damage to make their basic attacks stronger.

Black Cleaver League of Legends Item Icon Black Cleaver – A great first item to ensure dealing a lot of damage as a first item and gank a lot of tankier champions in the Top Lane, Bot Lane, or even in the Jungle. This will give Kindred a bit of survivability so that they can take enemy jungle camps even more efficiently.

Large blade with lightning flashes Infinity Edge – As a marksman, Kindred will be stacking a lot of AD and Crit Damage so Infinity Edge will be necessary to get right after the jungle item has been completed. It provides a lot of AD so make sure to save up for this item as soon as possible.

Recommended Items

A red bow firing three arrows Runaan’s Hurricane – Runaan’s Hurricane adds two more bolts to your attacks which is really great for clearing minion waves and jungle camps. The bonus attack speed will also help with stacking up Mounting Dread easier. This item is also great at providing Kindred with teamfight presence as they’ll be able to hit more enemies.

Phantom Dancer icon, twin crescent blades emitting spiritual energy Phantom Dancer – Phantom Dancer gives you extra movement speed to help in pursuing fleeing enemies or improve your kiting quality. However, the biggest bonus that this item gives is that it provides you with a shield when you are brought down to 30% health, giving you an extra layer of survavibility alongside the Kindred's Ultimate, Lamb's Respite Lamb’s Respite.

Bloody greatsword, death's dance Death’s Dance – A tanky option for Kindred for when they are behind in the game. Having this item is a great idea of the enemies are far ahead and deal way to much damage to you. It also prevents you from being one-shot, allowing you to catch up in the damage once you drop Kindred's Ultimate, Lamb's Respite Lamb’s Respite.

Mortal Reminder League of Legends Item Icon Mortal Reminder – An item to be used when your enemy has heavy healing presence. The grievous wounds will help enemies die quicker, preventing any heavy sustain that give them the advantage during a fight.

Guardian Angel LoL Item Icon Guardian Angel – Guardian Angel is necessary for any AD champion to give them the much needed extra life, making them harder to kill or assassinate. Build this item when you are having a hard time since you get one-shot a frequently.

Kindred Guide: Runes

Primary: the precision rune icon Precision

Keystone: Press the Attack Keystone icon Press the Attack – As mentioned before in this Kindred guide, they will be focusing heavily on basic attacks which is perfect for the bonus that Press the Attack gives. This keystone combos well with Kindred's E, Mounting Dread Mounting Dread as each basic attack will deal a lot of damage on hit.

the flag of victory Triumph – Triumph provides extra healing whenever you execute a champion giving you more sustain in extended teamfights. Be careful since Triumph will not heal you under the effect of Kindred's Ultimate, Lamb's Respite Lamb’s Respite once you have already been brought down to 10% HP or below.

Legend Alacrity LoL Rune Icon Legend: Alacrity – This rune is perfect for Kindred since they are a jungle champion. Taking down Large Monsters, Epic Monsters, or Champions will increase your attack speed which you’ll need a lot of as a marksman.

man raising their weapon Coup de Grace – Great rune for damage dealers to burst down enemies who are below 40%. This rune will help you in extended fights and help secure jungle camps when you duke it out.

Secondary: Domination

Sudden Impact League of Legends Rune Sudden Impact – This rune works well with Kindred's Q, Dance of Arrows Dance of Arrows since you dash forward. Getting the extra lethality, again, increases your total damage output and helps you kill softer champions easier.

Relentless Hunter League of Legends Rune Relentless Hunter – Relentless Hunter provides bonus movement speed out of combine which is great when attempting ganks. Also, make sure to have a high kill participation to gain more stacks with this rune.

Kindred Overview

A chibi version of Lamb and Wolf Kindred
Hope you learned a lot of things in this Kindred guide!

In this Kindred guide, we’ve discussed how crucial it is to Kindred’s identity to be proactive and always attempt invades on the enemy jungle. Kindred will find themselves in a lot of situations where they’ll need to engage in a lot of duels. The important thing in playing Kindred is to always have a sense of whether or not Marks or fights are worth taking. The most common mistake is walking into an enemy trap, trying to secure marks which are impossible to get.

Can Kindred be played in any other lane?

Yes, but because lanes need to be more invested in taking CS, Kindred will be losing a lot of Marks. The enemy team will also know when you’re going for a mark when you leave your lane. It’s a very inefficient strategy overall.

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