Talking About Kindred (Patch 25.24)

Introduction

What is Kindred?

Kindred is a character appearing in the popular game "League of Legends" distributed by Riot Games. As you, the readers (Summoners) reading this article in a corner of the internet, likely already know, they are renowned as one of the most difficult junglers in the LoL world (citation needed).
In the lore, Kindred plays a role like the Grim Reaper, bearing a part of the natural order, and I am sure you, the readers (Summoners), have thought more than once or twice about using Kindred to deliver death to enemy champions.
With that said, this article will leisurely summarize everything from the basics of Kindred to builds, macro, and various tips and tricks.

Notes

1. This article is intended for beginners to intermediate players. I have tried to make it easy for anyone to understand, so if you find it boring after reading, I take no responsibility for that.

2. Although I have been using Kindred for a long time, I am not particularly high-ranked. Please note that this is not an article on "how to climb ranks" but an article where I geek out about Kindred.

3. This article is written based on information as of December 2025.

About Kindred

Things to do first

Now, I assume that you, the brothers reading this article, have already purchased Kindred in the shop. If you try to queue up immediately as you are, it will lead to a terrible situation, and in the worst case, it could lead to death so please be careful.
First of all, it is better to learn about Kindred thoroughly.
So, let's read the Wiki right away.

......It's long. It's way too long.
Yes, Kindred's skills are not something you can understand at a glance. Therefore, as I mentioned earlier, if you play Kindred for the first time without prior knowledge, you will end up being the one delivered death, so in this article, I will start by explaining Kindred's skills.

Skills

• P: Mark of the Kindred
  It is no exaggeration to say that this is Kindred's core skill.
  Kindred will move with this skill as the axis.
  It is a skill that you acquire and scale with.

The acquisition conditions are as follows.

1. Acquisition from specific champions: Kills/Assists
   You can obtain marks by getting kills/assists on designated champions.
   The designation method is from the champion icon above the item slot.
   Also, you cannot mark the same champion twice in a row.

2. Acquisition from specific jungle monsters
   You can obtain marks by getting kills/assists on designated jungle monsters.
   This method cannot be designated by yourself, but since they are assigned based on a certain rule, I will explain that.
   It mainly changes depending on the number of marks owned, and
   

• 0 stacks: Scuttle Crab

• 1-3 stacks: Scuttle Crab, enemy Raptors, enemy Gromp

• 4-7 stacks: enemy Krugs, enemy Wolves, both enemy buffs

• 8+ stacks: Rift Herald, Baron Nashor, all types of Dragons

This is how it works. While the difficulty of obtaining stacks increases up to 7, from 8 stacks onwards, marks are applied to objectives, making it easier to snowball. Also, each stack enhances your skills, and your attack range increases for the first 4 stacks, and then every 3 stacks thereafter.
If you don't get the first 4 stacks, your attack range is relatively shorter than that of a normal marksman, and the design is such that you are weak due to your short range until you get those 4 stacks. Therefore, for those of you who are beginners with Kindred, it is best to aim for 4 stacks first.

• Q: Dance of Arrows
  If the passive skill is the core, this skill is as important as your right arm.
  It is a simple skill that blinks and fires attacks at up to 3 nearby enemies, but that is not the essence of this skill. The essence of this skill lies in its

1. increased attack speed

2. short cooldown

that it provides.
When you use this skill, your attack speed increases for a certain period of time. Since Kindred is a marksman who can be classified as an ADC even though their role is jungle, having increased attack speed is a valuable skill.
Also, since the cooldown is as short as 2 seconds (at Q level 5) while within the W field, it is a useful skill for kiting and clearing the jungle. You should train the muscles in your left ring finger.
The attack speed bonus increases according to the number of stacks.

• W: Wolf's Frenzy
  It has both a passive and an active effect; the passive effect provides a small amount of healing, and the active effect deals damage to enemies within the field. The passive effect is a reassuring ally for the fragile Kindred when clearing the jungle, so you should basically take W at level 1.
  Also, as mentioned earlier, the cooldown of the Q skill is reduced while within the W field.
  Damage increases according to the number of stacks.

• E: Mounting Dread
  This is a targeted slow skill that does not deal damage on its own.
  However, after landing 3 basic attacks, it deals damage based on the target's missing health percentage. Also, if the opponent's health is below a certain percentage, it will critically strike.
  Damage increases according to the number of stacks.
  (A nerf to damage against jungle monsters is planned for the next patch, Patch 26.01. It's sad.)

• R: Lamb's Respite
  Kindred's signature skill. It deploys a field that
  prevents all units within the range from dying.
  The expression 'all' is not a metaphor; it is a crazy skill that prevents allies, enemies, dragons, Baron, and even minions from dying.
  Since it can be either beneficial or detrimental depending on how it is used, you must be very careful about when to use it.
  I will omit the details on how to use it properly this time as I don't have the time.

With this, I believe you readers have (to some extent) understood all of Kindred's skills. Now, let's head straight to Summoner's Rift... but that's not how the game of LoL works. Next, let's look at the item build.

Item Build

This time, I will focus on and explain the 1st to 3rd core items, boots, and companion, which are the range that basically doesn't fluctuate much regardless of the situation.
I will reduce the options for beginners to make it easier to understand.

1. Kraken Slayer or Trinity Force

2. The Collector

3. Infinity Edge or Mortal Reminder

• Boots
  Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads

• Companion
  Red or Blue or Green

1. The standard is Kraken Slayer. It is cheaper and deals more damage than Trinity Force. So why is Trinity Force an option? It is included as an option to prevent being one-shot by assassins and the like.
   However, in my experience, for Kindred, the green companion mentioned later is more useful against assassins once you see the character, so there are few opportunities to adopt it.

2. The only choice.
   You build the aforementioned item as your first core to compensate for Kindred's low early-game attack speed, but I believe Collector is the only choice for the second core right now because the synergy between Kindred's E and R and Collector's execution effect is just too good. You can easily imagine the synergy between E, R, and Collector by considering that it widens the execution threshold of E and allows you to hunt down enemies at the end of R.

3. The standard is Infinity Edge, but only use Mortal Reminder if the opponent has a lot of sustain. The reason is that as a jungler who buys control wards, it is difficult to progress other items while keeping one slot occupied by an anti-healing sword.
   If your only goal is armor penetration, buy Lord Dominik's Regards after the 4th core.

4. To those of you thinking, "Aren't Swiftness or Berserker's boots the standard for ADCs?", it is true that ADCs often buy those two. However, it is no exaggeration to say that those two are unnecessary for Kindred. Let me explain the reasons one by one.
   First, Boots of Swiftness. ADCs without blinks like Jhin or Miss Fortune often buy them, but they are unnecessary for Kindred because of the Q skill.
   I cannot say Berserker's Greaves are unnecessary, but since you build an attack speed item as your first core and attack speed increases with Q as your marks increase, defensive boots that increase survivability are preferred over attack speed for Kindred.
   As for how to choose boots, if you are not used to it, you should choose based on the opponent jungler's damage source. Once you get used to it, it is best to build defense according to the character that is fed at the time you buy the boots.

5. This is probably the most controversial option in this section. This is just my personal impression and has no evidence, but I believe that
   Kindred's win rate is not affected by the color of the egg. To be precise, rather than saying it is not affected, it feels like Kindred's performance during fights does not fluctuate much depending on the color of the egg. Let's look at them in order.

• Red Egg
  A standard choice. If you look at the opponent's and your team's composition and decide you don't need movement speed, you should choose this.

• Blue Egg
  Standard choice number two. A choice for when you are unsure.
  Since it increases movement speed when coming out of a bush, it is often useful for movement and fighting within the jungle.

• Green Egg
  Probably a choice that confuses many people but there are examples of it being adopted in high-ELO overseas (though the numbers are small).
  I don't like buying Trinity Force, so I often buy the green egg when the composition has many assassins. Since the presence or absence of a shield simply leads to the difference between being able to press Kindred's R or not, I believe that if you can adopt this egg well, your survivability and win rate will increase significantly.

• Options after the 4th core
  I will explain this briefly here. You can skip it if you want.

1. Rapid Firecannon
   The one I buy most often. Simply put, the tyranny of range is strong.

2. Lord Dominik's Regards or Mortal Reminder
   For armor penetration/anti-healing respectively.

3. Immortal Shieldbow
   When you want to increase survivability.

4. Jak'Sho, The Protean
   Recommended for the last core. It is expensive and you lose the slot for control wards, so it is an option for survival when the game really drags on.

5. Guardian Angel
   Recommended for the last core. Same as above.

I thought about ending the prior knowledge here, but the runes remain at the end. It's one last push, so please try to keep up.

Runes

Mainly two choices.

• Press the Attack
  The basic rune. A versatile rune that works for ganks, objectives, and catching enemies alike. When using this rune, do not build Trinity Force.

• Conqueror
  Recommended when the opposing jungler is a tank. You can build Trinity Force, but since this build lacks burst damage, check this if you feel you aren't dealing enough damage.

• About secondary runes
  Precision is usually Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace as a base.
  Another option is Domination or Inspiration.
  For Inspiration, Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight are good, and for Domination,
  Sudden Impact and Treasure Hunter are good.

Well, the warm-up before queuing is over at this point.
So, it's time for the practical application. The battle for Kindred begins at the ban/pick phase.

Practical Combat (Pick Phase)

Ban/Pick

Let's start with the topic of counters.
Those of you aiming to be OTPs might want to pick early, but if I may say so, Kindred is terrible at being picked early. Showing Kindred early is already a burden on your teammates, so don't think about picking early and decide after seeing the opponent's jungler.
First, I will explain the matchups where it is difficult to play Kindred.

• Burst Assassin types (Kha'Zix / Nidalee, etc.)
  Kindred is a champion with a strong R, but it's pointless if you die before activating it, so if a difficult assassin type appears, it's safer to play another jungler.
  As an exception, Talon, Zed, Naafiri, and Rengar have predictable damage timing, so they are easy to deal with using R.

• Knockback types (Lee Sin / Briar, etc.)
  The common point between these two is that they have strong knockback effects.
  Having a knockback effect means you will be pushed out of the range of your R. Naturally, it's like losing one of Kindred's strengths, so it can be considered a sufficient counter.

• Characters that can counter AA (Rammus / Jax, etc.)
  Since Kindred is an AA-based character, they are naturally very weak against characters that have counters to AA. You should hesitate to pick them.

• Ivern
  His jungle clear is too fast and his pathing is hard to grasp. On top of having all the marked jungle creeps managed, he has a skill that can create bushes, making AA ineffective, which is another drawback.
  It is no exaggeration to say that this is a matchup you should absolutely never pick into.

• Karthus
  has a fast clear. If you try to use your R during a fight, he will happily drop a beam from above your head and kill you.
  It is no exaggeration to say that this is a matchup you should absolutely never pick into.

So, conversely, who are the champions that Kindred can counter?

• Assassins with telegraphed attacks
  (Talon, Zed, Naafiri, Rengar)
  are an extension of the previous topic. If champions you can't press R against are counters, then conversely, any assassin is not a counter as long as you can press R. However, reaction speed for R depends on player skill, so if you aren't confident, have your teammates protect you or buy Trinity Force.

• Champions with high burst (Lillia, Kayn)
  are an easy matchup where you just return R if the opponent uses theirs.
  Malphite is a character with high burst, Malphite but remember that what matters is whether or not you have the leeway to activate R, so keep in mind that it is tough to pick into Malphite.

You can consider other characters as basic skill matchups. Remember that since your positioning is basically the same as an ADC, you are generally weak against characters that can catch ADCs.

Synergy Picks

If you are playing LoL in a duo or higher, you should ask your teammates for champions with CC.
The reason is that Kindred has no hard CC, and not being able to stop the opponent means a low gank success rate, which in turn means marks are hard to collect.
I have summarized typical champions that are helpful to have picked for each lane (excluding ADC).
Please note that these are just examples, and there are other champions with strong gank synergy.

• Top
  Malphite, Sion, Ornn, Sett, Camille

• Mid
  Lissandra, Galio, Malzahar, Morgana

• Sup
  Zyra, Poppy, Leona, Rell, Thresh, Nautilus

How to fight in practice (In-game edition)

Early game marks

Now that we've come this far, I can finally write down the flow of the in-game, but there is something you must do first. That is,
to put Kindred's passive on the enemy jungler.
The reason for this is simple and clear:

• Increase the return on skirmishes within the jungle

• Increase the return on Scuttle fights

• Increase the return on objective fights

and so on. There is a cooldown for applying the passive, so the sooner you apply it, the better.

Jungle clear route

You might have the impression that speed is life in the first jungle clear, and that is especially true for Kindred. The reason is also simple: the first mark is applied to the Scuttle Crab at the moment it spawns. If Kindred executes a perfect clear, it is easy to reach the Scuttle before it spawns, so practice this. The route is
Red Buff (Smite) -> Krugs -> Raptors -> Wolves -> Gromp -> Blue Buff. You need to hunt the Gromp before the Blue Buff, but this is because the Blue Buff is closer to the Scuttle. (On the other hand, it is a bit dangerous because you go into areas without vision. It is better to place wards in the bushes as you go.)
There are times when you start with Blue Buff, but
keep in mind that the clear speed is slower than starting with Red Buff because the distance from Krugs to Scuttle is far, and it is difficult to reach the Scuttle while keeping Smite. The route starting with Blue Buff is
Blue Buff (Smite) -> Gromp -> Wolves -> Raptors -> Red Buff (Smite) -> Krugs. Whether you get the mark or not,
Kindred's Level 4 is not very strong compared to other champions, so avoid fighting if your teammates aren't coming to help.

Power Spikes

If we're talking percentages,

• 70% at 1 core

• 100% at 2 cores

• 120% at 3 cores

That's how it goes. It depends on how many marks you've gathered, but a Kindred without many marks rarely reaches 3 cores (and if they do, the opposing team is weird), so I'll exclude that for now.

Things worth knowing

They aren't great at soloing Grubs or Dragons, but they are good at soloing Herald due to their high mobility.
When you're forced to give up a Dragon for free, you can often make it in time if you rush to take it.Keep that in mind.

Conclusion

That concludes this guide on how to use Kindred, or rather, my nerdy rambling. Kindred is obviously my favorite champion, but I decided to write this article because I felt they were a bit too difficult to explain to beginners. This article is just a summary of one Kindred lover's insights; it isn't necessarily the absolute truth, and it certainly isn't everything there is to know about Kindred. So, if someone reads this and wonders, 'Is this article actually correct?' and decides to try Kindred out for themselves, then I will feel that this article was worth writing. With that, I would like to thank all the staff involved with LoL, the players, and you for finding this article, and bring it to a close.
Thank you very much.