yo what's up, i'm TrueGIXERJ and this is my guide on Kindred mid. I have been selected (by you) to impart some of my vast knowledge for your benefit. Throughout this guide, i will discuss how to play Kindred at an entry level, what runes to take, items to buy, and how to dominate your opponents. I'm an experienced kindred player with several hundred games so you can rest (somewhat) assured that i know what i'm on about. If you're lucky, Mr. Talent will rub his tentacles on your art.

I'm TrueGIXERJ, but I've already covered that. I'm a british player on EUW that has been playing since Pyke's release, whenever that was. I'm a mid player that enjoys off-meta picks like Kindred, sat in emerald as i write this.

i picked up Kindred some time in season 9 i think, and have accumulated nearly 800k mastery points on them since then.



as of right now (whenever that is) i am ranked as TOP 500 Kindreds in EUW according to League of Graphs. At my peak i was TOP 100 EUW.



i honestly don't know what compelled me to create this guide, but i hope it aids you in your quest of perfecting my favourite champion:

Kindred is a super fun champ usually found in the jungle, but i have found myself loving kindred in the mid lane for a number of reasons, lets get one of those nice and colourful "pros and cons" lists mobafire guide writers love using.

Pros → Super fun and unique champ → High damage and mobility → Build flexibility → Great scaling & lategame potential → Surprisingly good early game too → Engage, Harass, Survivability, honestly you name it → The coolest and most interesting champion design in the game.

Cons → Prone to CC (A crowd controlled kindred is a dead kindred) → Weak from behind → High skill floor (and skill ceiling) → Had sex with my mother → Seriously this champ is great i love them they have no downsides

All in all, the champ's amazing and totally worth giving a shot if you're interested, they may be an off-meta mid laner but hey, perkz played it at MSI once upon a time so it's gotta have some merit.

		Flash is OP on every champ; Kindred is no exception. Take this every game unless you are a cocky bastard that wants to play Shaco without having to undergo the mental trauma necessary to become a shaco player.
		Ghost is currently an insanely strong choice on a lot of marksmen, with Kindred being a prime example of that. I take this in the majority of my games as it has strengths throughout the game and offers both Offensive and Defensive capabilities. In my opinion - it's a 50/50 between Ghost and Ignite on the only two summoner spells you should really be taking on Kindred mid.
		Ignite is insane, the extra damage helps secure kills in the early game where you want to be hyper-aggressive anyway. And it also applies grevious wounds, reducing the amount by which the enemy is healed at the end of Lamb's Respite, letting you secure even more kills! Great aggressive summoner spell, take it or Ghost in 99% of your games.
		Cleanse is good, but only into some matchups. If an enemy relies on cc to kill you, cleanse could be a valid option. Ahri is always the champ i think of in this case, but oftentimes these champs have easy to dodge skillshots with Dance of Arrows. Take it if you fancy, but only sometimes.
		Honest question, why would you even think of taking Barrier? you have Lamb's Respite to keep you alive as is, and if you like having big shields, just build Immortal Shieldbow. don't take unless you're a masochist or something.
		You may be labouring under the misinterpretation that Heal is the default marksman rune, but it isn't. And while heal is definitely a better choice than Barrier, it's still outclassed by everything else. don't take.
		All other summoner spells might as well not be in the game, just take Flash + Ghost/ Ignite for ****s sake

(P)

Mark of the Kindred ✦ Kindred marks targets to hunt. Scoring a takedown against a marked target permanently empowers Kindred's abilities, as well as granting 75 − 250 (based on ) bonus range on their basic attacks and Mounting Dread. ✦ Kindred can mark enemy champions by clicking their icon above the inventory while out of combat. Mark of the Kindred takes 8 seconds to apply and has a 75 second cooldown, with a 4 minute cooldown for champions successfully hunted. ✦ Kindred also passively marks enemy jungle camps depending on the current number of marks collected. while Mark of the Kindred has 0 stacks, it is guaranteed to apply on Rift Scuttler . While has between 1 and 3 marks, it will apply on Rift Scuttler , Gromp , or Crimson Raptor s, selected randomly. While has between 4 and 7 marks, it will apply on Greater Murk Wolf , Ancient Krug s, Red Brambleback , or Blue Sentinel , selected randomly. While has 8 or more makrs, it will apply on Rift Herald , Dragon s, or Baron Nashor , selected randomly. ✦ Mark of the Kindred turns Kindred into a late game monster, and while any more marks than the first 4 are not necessary to do well in a game, they certainly help. Invading with your jungler to pick up marks on enemy camps can benefit you both, as you do not need to last hit the camp in order to gain the mark. Always mark your enemy laner during the laning phase, and when you acquire that mark, mark the jungler. During the late game you may mark any target you deem easy to kill, I personally either mark the enemy ADC or anyone on the enemy team that's borderline inting.

Q

Dance of Arrows ✦ Kindred dashes toward the target location, gaining 25% (+ 5% per Mark) bonus attack speed for 4 seconds. After dashing, Kindred fires up to three arrows at nearby enemies, each one dealing physical damage upon their arrival. Kindred's current attack target at any proximity will be prioritized by one of the arrows. ✦ Dance of Arrows reset's Kindred's auto attack timer, and can be used in conjunction with any Sheen item (typically Trinity Force) in order to massively increase your damage. It also has its cooldown reduced while inside the area of Wolf's Frenzy, scaling per rank, allowing you to remain mobile and continue pumping out damage during teamfights and skirmishes. ✦ Dance of Arrows is Kindred's bread and butter ability, providing both mobility and damage. It is for this reason that Dance of Arrows should always be maxed first in skill order. Make sure to be careful spamming Q in lane, however, as you can quickly find yourself out of mana and **** out of luck. I find myself sometimes opting for an early Tear of the Goddess purchase, into Manamune later on to help solve this problem if the build calls for it, though it is entirely dependent on how good you are at managing your limited resource pool.

W

Wolf's Frenzy ✦ PASSIVE: As Kindred move and attack, they build up to 100 stacks of Hunter's Vigor. At full stacks, Kindred's next basic attack heals for 0% − 100% (based on Kindred's missing health) of 49 − 81 (based on level) health. ✦ ACTIVE: Wolf dashes to the target location and claims the surrounding area as his territory for the next 8.5 seconds, separating from Kindred. Wolf automatically attacks enemies within the area, prioritizing Kindred's attack target. ✦ Wolf's Frenzy is a two-part ability, with both a passive and an active section. The heal provided by the passive is rather small, but given your limited health pool, can often prove the difference between life and death. It is also very useful for sustaining in poke lanes such as Xerath, allowing you to stay in lane slightly longer and ensure a Sheen or Hearthbound Axe on your first recall. ✦ The active of Wolf's Frenzy creates an area within which the cooldown for Dance of Arrows is reduced to 4/3.5/3/2.5/2 seconds (based on Dance of Arrows rank). This is its primary use, although it can also be used to zone melee lane opponents away from CS and create a threat-area in lane or river; and getting a kill with it is great too.

E

Mounting Dread ✦ Kindred fires a shot at the target enemy that upon arrival marks them for 4 seconds and slows them by 30% for 1 second. ✦ Kindred's attacks against the marked enemy refresh the mark's duration and apply a stack, stacking up to 2 times. Their next basic attack against the target while they are at 2 stacks will direct Wolf to pounce them, consuming the mark to deal additional physical damage. ✦ Mounting Dread is a huge damage ability; it deals extra execute damage, critically striking enemies below 25-75% HP (based on crit chance) dealing massively increased damage. Mounting Dread synergises well with Kraken Slayer, as it applies bonus damage on the third attack, which can surprise your enemy in lane with a huge chunk of HP. ✦ It is typical to max Mounting Dread second, for the increased damage, though this can sometimes be swapped for Wolf's Frenzy if the situation calls for it; this however is rare, and I would expect to max Mounting Dread in the vast majority of my games.

R

Lamb's Respite ✦ Kindred blesses the ground under themselves for 4 seconds. All units inside the zone cannot be reduced below 10% of their maximum health, and will become invulnerable for the remaining duration when they reach or are at the threshold, during which they also cannot be healed. All targetable units within the zone are healed immediately when Lamb's Respite ends. ✦ Lamb's Respite is Kindred's signature ability, preventing all units within an area from dying for 4 seconds, both ally and enemy. It also heals everyone inside at the end of the duration, though this can be reduced with Ignite as it provides grevious wounds, allowing for some neat outplays. I recommend using Dance of Arrows at the end of Lamb's Respite in order to dodge any enemy skillshots, reset your auto-attack timer, and trigger Sheen in order to deal enough damage to execute the low hp enemies. Try leaving Mounting Dread on 2 stacks to maximise the damage as Lamb's Respite ends. ✦ i often find in low-elo that my opponents don't understand how Lamb's Respite works, and they run out of it while at low HP, making for an easy kill. This could make kindred a good choice to climb out of the lower ranks. ✦ Lamb's Respite actually has a 0.264 second cast time, so you're welcome to use that as an excuse as to why you didn't ult for the 0/9 ADC (to be fair, i typically save ult for myself anyway, but this is because i have a particularly selfish playstyle - it is up to your discretion as to whether you choose to save your allies or not)

I like to think i did a pretty good job at describing each rune, item, summoner spell, and whatever else above in the notes of the build section of the guide. but for those of you who fancy a little extra reading homework, i'll briefly cover Kindred's 2 core builds;

The TrueGIXERJ Special i'm absolutely adamant that i made this build long before it was cool to buy Trinity Force on Kindred. At the minute, Kindred has no good crit options, which has pushed this build into the meta; utilising Conqueror and Trinity Force to turn Kindred into a semi-bruiser-y teamfight monster. with the Sheen passive being easy to proc providing some extra poke damage in lane. this build encourages you to weave in and out of fights and position aggressively while staying safe, providing a surprising amount of both damage and defensive stats (seriously, what marksman should end the game with 3.5k hp???). it's also far more adaptable than any crit build, as you aren't pushed into achieving 100% crit chance. I've recently been seeing success with Kraken Slayer first into squishier enemy comps; or try combining Frozen Heart with Muramana into full AD comps; i'm also the biggest supporter of Titanic Hydra + Runaan's Hurricane as the best item combination in the game. try things! experiment! build whatever! who cares! given the current state of the meta, i'd probably recomment this build for everyone playing Kindred outside of a few edge cases, but it offers an interesting new take on the marksman playstyle, more map presence and teamfight prowess, with the only downside being an entry requirement of some knowledge of the item pool in order to better adapt the build to each games' needs.

Crit while both i and the meta may currently point you towards "The TrueGIXERJ Special™", i recognise that into some particularly squishy comps and for some people's playstyles there is certainly merit in a more traditional, crit marksman build. it's a much more pick oriented build utilising Press the Attack or potentially Lethal Tempo to push out huge single target damage from a safe distance. This build is particularly strong into squishy teams with low range, as it allows you to pop the balloons incredibly quickly from far enough away to stay safe; the only issue with the build is the current weakness of crit mythics in general, but Galeforce and Infinity Edge still have their place in the game. I'd recommend this build to players transitioning from a more traditional marksman to Kindred as the playstyle will be more familiar to you, and in games where high single target damage is important; though i'd typically find myself still building Trinity Force in 99% of my games, as the crit playstyle hasn't been for me for some time... due to my lack of experience with this build, i may struggle to answer questions in the comments or on my streams, but i will do my best :^)

Well, that about wraps it up. Thank you for reading through my guide to Kindred mid, I actually had a blast writing it! I hope you learned something new and feel like trying out my little pocket pick in your own games! Make sure to practice in norms (or flex lol) before diving into ranked! REMINDER: I stream regularly HERE with plenty of Kindred gameplay! i'm always happy to theorycraft and answer questions about my lack of talent! hope to see you there some time. - TrueGIXERJ <3