Welcome to the League of Legends champion spotlight,
featuring Kindred, the Eternal Hunters.
Wolf: "Have they forgotten us yet, little Lamb?"
Lamb: "All still know us, though they try to forget."
"Soon, we will remind them."
Kindred is the manifestation of death on Runeterra,
and can only be seen in life's final moments.
Lamb, the compassionate half, offers a merciful
passing to those who accept death, killing
victims with a swift and true arrow.
Wolf, Kindred's savage and brutal side, terrorizes
those who run from death, chasing and devouring
their souls.
In-game, Kindred plays the role of a mobile marksman
who thrives in the jungle.
Wolf: "They know we'll come -"
Lamb: " - yet they are never prepared."
Kindred's passive is Mark of the Kindred.
By clicking on a champion icon in the special
bar displayed above Kindred's inventory, Lamb
marks a target for death, though it does take
a few seconds to arm.
The mark does nothing on its own,
but if Kindred kills - or helps
kill - the marked target, they gain a permanent
and stackable buff on their basic attacks.
Lamb can switch targets every couple minutes,
though once a marked target bites the dust,
Kindred won't be able to re-apply the mark
to them for a few minutes.
It's not just Lamb who can apply Mark of the
Kindred - Wolf randomly marks certain enemy
jungle camps. As soon as Wolf's mark activates,
it'll alert all players in the game, giving
the enemy team plenty of opportunities to
defend their chickens, rocks, or whatever
else the big bad wolf is hungering for.
Wolf sets his sights on a new target every few
minutes. To prevent either team from gaining
information they don't deserve, Wolf's marks
don't disappear until several seconds after
the camp's been cleared.
While of course you want to farm marked champions
to get a bunch of passive stacks, you can
also play mind games with your opponents by
marking lanes you're not planning on ganking
to divert attention from your true target.
Kindred's Q is Dance of Arrows, a short range
vault that ends with Lamb firing an arrow
at up to three nearby enemies.
Despite it being a short range dash, Lamb can jump over
walls with Dance of Arrows, making counterjungling
much safer.
Kindred's W is Wolf's Frenzy. Passively, Wolf's
Frenzy builds up stacks as Kindred moves about
the map. Once Kindred hits max stacks, Lamb's
next basic attack heals them. Whenever Kindred
activates Wolf's Frenzy, Wolf splits away
from Lamb and claims a medium-sized area for
a few seconds. Wolf fights independently inside
this area, but will focus his attacks on whomever
Lamb is shooting, but if Lamb leaves Wolf's
Frenzy, Wolf will pack up shop and rejoin
his wooly pal. Also, the cooldown on Dance
of Arrows is MASSIVELY reduced while in Wolf's Frenzy,
regardless of which ability you hit first.
You'll always want to fight inside Wolf's
Frenzy, so use the reduced cooldown on Dance
of Arrows to stay in the zone and get yo damage on.
Next up is Kindred's E, Mounting Dread, a
heavy targeted slow that applies an additional
debuff to its target. If Lamb's able to attack
them three times in quick succession, Wolf
lunges out to deal percent max health damage.
Mounting Dread is great for starting your
ganks - it's also really useful when you're
facing tanky jungle monsters.
Finally, Kindred's ultimate is Lamb's Respite,
a large blessed zone that prevents all living
things inside of it - ally, neutral, and enemy
- from dying.
Kindred casts Lamb's Respite
on a target ally, blessing the ground beneath
them, and while everything inside can still
lose health, once they get down to about ten
percent, they become immune to all further
damage. Lamb's Respite only safeguards the
lives who stay inside it, so as soon as you're
pulled, kicked, bustered or headbutted out,
well, you're gonna be eligible for death right
away. Lamb's Respite lasts about four seconds,
and as it ends, it heals up everything inside
of it by a flat amount.
Use Lamb's Respite to save vulnerable allies
- or even yourself - from death. With smart
timing, you can keep your low health pals
ticking for longer while they whittle down the enemy team.
Kindred is a pretty complicated champion,
combining the hard parts of marksmen, junglers,
and even Bard. With that in mind, here are
some neat little tricks to help you out in
your first few games.
Kindred's pretty squishy compared to most
junglers, and - especially early on - can
lose so much health to jungle camps that they'll
be forced back early. But not if you're smart!
Unlike pretty much every other jungler out
there, Kindred can stay on the move and use
abilities - especially Wolf's Frenzy
and Dance of Arrows - to kite jungle creatures
while they whittle 'em down. Just don't go
so far out that you reset the camp back to full health.
When fighting jungle monsters pay attention
to their patience level right above their
health bar. If it empties and turns red, they'll
retreat and heal back up. It's like a backwards
Gnar bar for not fighting.
An awesome side effect of kiting jungle camps
is that you'll also build up stacks of your
W passive. Whenever it's maxed out, attack
something nearby while you move to your next
camp to heal up and resume stacking. Don't
worry about fighting whatever you attacked
- you don't have to - just carry on your journey
with a little more health than you had before.
Marking enemy champions is totally unique
to Kindred, so it's pretty easy to forget
to use it. Keep a constant eye out for enemies
you can mark, and pay attention to the enemy
jungle for opportunities to claim EVEN MOAR stacks.
Here's your basic ganking pattern. Get in
behind your opponent, tag them with Mounting
Dread, activate Wolf's Frenzy, and enjoy your
hilariously low Dance of Arrows cooldown.
Though Syndra tries to set up a stun, being
ranged has its benefits, and Lamb refuses to get kited.
Getting Mark of the Kindred stacks is important,
but don't make the mistake of thinking they're
your only way to scale into the lategame.
Risky invades without vision, or risky dives,
will often just put you further behind, so farm safely
until you spy a mark you know you can secure.
Here's Kindred going off to collect a mark
the right way: with friends. Because the enemy
team will always know which monster Wolf has
marked, they're much more likely to contest
the camp. So bring your pals and expect a
fight. Lee Sin apparently didn't watch the
Champion Spotlight and makes the exact mistake
we just cautioned against. Not only does Kindred pick
up the Gromp and the Mark, but also
a few hundred gold.
Lamb's Respite saves everyone from death,
so whoever wins the fight often comes down
to who plays best around the end of the ultimate.
Rengar is about to do Rengar things, so Kindred
hits the big red button as he attacks.
Irelia times the end of it and bursts Rengar to turn
the fight around. From here, the heal at the
end allows them to continue fighting and pick
up two more kills.
Let's try again on a larger scale. Braum flashes
and misses his ultimate, leaving Kindred and Vayne
totally exposed to the enemy flank.
Lamb's Respite comes out just as Vayne's about to
die, allowing time to regroup and whittle
down the enemy front line. Right as it ends,
the two Marksmen bolt out of range and kill
off their assailants. Incredibly, none of
Kindred's allies die in this fight.
Thanks for tuning in to the Kindred Champion
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just below the video.
Wolf: "Is this what it feels like to end?"
Lamb: "I do not know, for this is not our end."
Wolf: "Do others come back?"
Lamb: "Those who do, wish they hadn't."