Kindred Build Guide by Rermo99

Ladies, gentlemens and Draaaaaavens! My summoner’s name is UtsukushiiSempai. This is my first guide on Mobafire (about 4 year old now) and it's about Kindred in mid lane. I like to play jungle, but I'm a MID MAIN, and Kindred are my favourite characters. I made this build to play them in my beloved main lane. But honestly, why should you trust me with this? Don't... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Just kidding, I'm probably the only one you'll see who has Mastery 7 with Kindred by playing her nearly only in mid lane! I've played Kindred sometimes in jungle and it didn't feel right to me. Kindred was still my favourite champions so I decided to try them mid and absolutely loved it??? I hope you’ll enjoy this guide about an awesome way to play Kindred and hope you'll have as much fun as I do while trying it!

Why is Kindred Mid any good?

Kindred are good junglers, but can also be really quite surprising in lane.

Starting with the basics, Lamb is a marksman. It's an important advantage in mid because most mid laners play mage characters and are too dangerous for fighters and other "melee" champions in early game.

Another good point, Kindred have a very good burst and make it easy to keep a constant pressure on your opponents. They can deal much damage even if you don't focus your build on AD.

In mid, they get 2 big advantages over other lanes.

First one, they have only one opponent, which makes it easier to get their mark.

Second one, they can dodge many skill shots with Dance of Arrows. It makes them really strong against many mages.

It's important to note before anything that Kindred mid are a HUUUUGE counter to Caster/Artillery mages using skill shots. Use them as a counter pick.

A fair warning though :
Click-to-win mages like Malzahar or AD assassin like Yasuo, Talon and Zed are gonna eat you.

The most important thing to note is that Kindred mid are a good pick to have fun. It's not really viable for ranked, but playing them in mid lane with this build or even with smite is one of my favorite thing in the game. Have fun!

Strenght ... Very Mobile; ... Tons of buff with passive; ... Very useful Ult that can secure team fights; ... Gap closer with Dance of Arrows; ... High damage to tank; ... Strong execute on low health enemy;

Weakness ... Squishy; ... Ult can save your opponent's life; ... Short range early game for a marksman; ... An immobilized Kindred is a Dead Kindred; ... Low pressure in lane.

Mark of the kindred is your passive.



Dance of Arrows is your Q, your starting ability and your first one to max.



Wolf's Frenzy is your W and your last ability to max.



Mounting Dread will be your second pick and your second ability to max.



Lamb's Respite is your ultimate. You must upgrade whenever you can.

About Kindred

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Kindred are marksman champions that have been created mostly for the jungle. This guide is for Kindred in lane, which plays very differently.

We rarely see them in mid lane, and yet, Kindred have a very good burst on champions. Many people only fight against Kindred when she’s ganking, but there, your opponent has to fight you in a whole laning phase. Kindred also give you a good advantage on a bunch of mages, because you can easily dodge skill shots like Light Binding, Flash Frost or Pillar of Flame with Q.

Furthermore, Kindred need their marks to be strong. Being in mid lane let them focus one champion and makes them closer to their jungle marks than if they were in top or bot lane. With those easy marks, your early game can become a real problem for your opponents.

Early Game (Levels 1 to 6)

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In early game, Kindred can be a real monster. You have to play aggressively to try and have your opponents far from their farms.

In mid lane, you only have one opponent, so you know who you’re going to mark first with your passive. Many mages will try to begin with a skill shot spell. If they do, dodge it and get closer to your opponent with Dance of Arrows. You will be able to deal a good amount of damage to them even before minions get in lane.

Each of your Q, W and E must be at least at rank 1 for your main combo (AA > Q > W > E > AA > AA > Q > AA > AA). Be sure to have them all unlocked at level 3. With this combo, you’ll have one of the easiest counter-engage of all mid laners.
Up until level 6, you’ll out-damage your opponent or even kill them if they try to play aggressively.
At level 6, you also won't have much difficulty killing them, because Lamb's Respite can save your hide while you’re under a tower's aggro. That makes you one of the best champions for tower-diving. It's a risky move, but it is worth learning how to do so. You just need to be sure that you can secure the kill quickly before attacking under tower and be sure to activate your ult only if your opponent is dead and if the tower is going to kill you.

One more thing about their ult, taking Ignite or Barrier instead of Heal or Teleport is important to get early kills. You'll have a lot of fight early game where it's even in damage and using your ult can makes you and your opponent at 10% HP. Both of you will also get the flat healing. If you really want an adventage on your ult, you just have to use Ignite right before your ult ends. Your opponent will get Grievous wound from your ignite and will get 40% less healing from your ult. That's a huge advantage you get there and the ignite is still burning his health down. However, Barrier is still better in bad matchup since you'll get a shield so you can take even more damage to flee out of combat.

Be sure to take your jungle hunt each time you kill your laner or whenever they recall. You can ask your jungler for help if you don’t feel secure enough to invade the enemy's jungle. Your marks are your main preoccupation, like Nasus and his stacks.

Mid Game (10 to 25 minutes)

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That’s when the real fun begins. You’re now powerful enough to gank without your jungler in other lanes, so your game won’t be summarized by farming and pushing your lane for a thousand years. With Wolf's Frenzy’s extra damage on monsters, you can help your team easily get their jungle objectives. Also, you can jump over most walls with Dance of Arrows and chase low health enemies trying to escape team fights.

Around 15 minutes in, depending on your division, team fights might begin in the jungle. In such case, you must focus the squishies in the back line. ADCs and Mages are the squishier and they usually try to stay behind the jungler, the tank and their support. Be careful, you can't just dive in because you also are THE SQUISH. Instead, try to move around the fight to avoid becoming a living fluffy-cute punching bag.
Mark of the Kindred also gives you a lot of damage against tanks, but they are not those who deal the most damage, so chasing and killing the ADC will better help your team toward victory.

During this part of the game, you can gank as many times as you want, as long as you don’t let your laner alone. Don’t forget: You are Kindred. You dominate many champions in 1v1. So kill your laner as much as you can, then choose between ganking or farming, depending on what you need (Kill/Assist or CS).

One of the biggest problems with Kindred in lane is your low damage to towers. So ask for some help if you have a short window of opportunity to push. If you don’t, you’ll give the enemy team all the time they need to organize and corner you while you're trying to destroy the tower.

Late Game (30 minutes or more)

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In your late game, you are a real monster. Your passive will be (I hope for you) at 12 or more stacks, which means that you are going to destroy pretty much any opponent in 1v1.

In team fights, you should always target their biggest damage (usually the ADC). That's not a rule for Kindred mid, it's a trick for any champion no matter your lane or role.

You will kill very quickly any squishies in 1v1, but you still deal relatively low damage to towers and inhibitors, so try to attack them along with someone else. It will also give you a chance to survive, because the enemy team will focus on you. If you die, they will take a big advantage on your team.

On the same subject, winning a team fight can very well make you win the game. You must use your ult wisely. Don't activate it in the middle of a team fight, you'll save the enemy team. So cast it behind your team, in the back line. If an ally is going to die, he'll go back to your ult, but don't cast it to save only one guy if your team is winning the team fight. Use it to save your whole team.

At last, during your early game you must focus your mark, but in the late game, if you got around 7 marks or more, you won't need to focus them anymore.

You'll have to focus on jungle objective and on your team. Kindred aren't the best champions for split-pushing. Let this job to another player on your team and focus on fighting in team. Your ult is one of the best fight-changing tool of the game and your high damage to champion isn't really good against towers.

You can also use your passive as a call to objectives. Whenever a mark appears on the Baron, it would be a good time to do it. First, the enemy team probably think you'll wait to win a fight to do it. If they appear to suspect your team doing it (or it was warded), you can use it as a bait. Kindred's ability for good positioning in the river is amazing. After all, they were made for the Jungle. Even in mid lane we can use this at our advantage.

Relationship goal with your Jungler

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Every games, you must have good communication with your jungler, because as the mid laner, you won't have Smite to secure your marks in the enemy jungle. At least if you follow this guide.

When your marks appear, it'll be easier to get if your jungler wants to invade. Being two at your marks will help to get them while keeping the enemy jungler out of your path.

Also, receiving gank at the right moment in mid lane can give you your marks on your laner. If you want marks on any other champions, you can gank with your jungler every time he's ganking where you have your marks, putting your opponents in a 2v4 or 1v3, depending on the lane you gank.

Collecting your marks during Team Fights

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In team fights, if you have at least 10 marks in 25 minutes, you'll be the biggest pain spreader of your team. Before the team fight, marks the enemy ADC or Mid laner (mostly the ones dealing the most damage of their team). You can also farm your mark on their inting jungler because you know, free marks are free fun! After this, your team must focus first the ones you target. This way, you'll get many marks in late game and your team will get the advantage quickly.


With Kindred mid, Junglers that can push very fast or lock down your laner with a stun or something (Like Jax!) are the best matchup for you.
ok I know the best matchup is actually Tahm Kench, but he's just to funny to play with. Best memories of LoL I have.


Kindred mid is good in solo queue, but if your jungler doesn't want to help you or won't communicate with you, it'll be better to play something else. In duo queue with a jungler, you'll be a real monster.
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The runes are basically what's gonna decides if you win your lane or not. And that is for any champion, not only for Kindred.

There is usually multiple ways to build your runes page for each champion. Kindred are good either with Press the Attack, Conqueror and even Hail of Blades. That's why they can be played with a bunch of different styles.

Let's get to the point now.

First, there are 5 different path you could take :


With Kindred, we will go for the Precision path as our principal. This path has been made for the ranged champions, in other words, those who mainly kill with AutoAttack and for big AD carries that are not necessarily assassins. We'll go for Domination as our secondary path because this path has been made for allowing an assassin to reach its target easily. Kindred may not be assassins, but they put marks on champions and get buff when they kill them. Going Domination can help them get their marks.

Keystones
	Press the attack is the ideal rune for Kindred in mid lane. It is very easy to trigger it as kindred and it synergies very well with your E. As you hit your first attack, throw your E, so they'll get the damage at your 2nd attack on E and your Execute will benefit an 8%-12% bonus damage. Most likely to give your early game kills more than any other runes.
Other runes
	Triumph is really good if you plan on going aggressive. Each kill and assists you'll get will grant you 25 more gold and heal you a little bit. During an early game fight, it can save you if you kill the other first.
	Legend: Alacrity is the best for Kindred. You'll need that attack speed to trigger your E the fastest as possible. You don't really lack any sustain since your W gives you a good healing and you are not likely to take the CC straight in the face but you'll definitely dodge a lot. Tenacity and Lifesteal aren't the most necessary keys.
	Coup de Grace is well fitted for kindred since you have an execute. You'll want to deal more damage to low health enemies. Dealing an additional 8% damage with your E is the best choice in any situation.
	Sudden Impact Is giving you a bonus lethality every time you use a dash. Your Q is your main source of poke, engage, and escape. And it's a dash. It is most likely going to give you a good amount of additional damage through the whole game.
	Relentless Hunter is giving you out of combat movement speed, which is really useful for roaming. And y'all know it, you gotta work to get those mark fast. It will also help you get a better positioning before team fights, which is super important.
Shards
Conqueror
	Conqueror isn't bad at all. Going with Conqueror instead of Press the Attack is only depending on your play style. Conqueror rewards you when you go for a longer but safer fight. Stacking Conqueror to maximum isn't your priority, you just want the bonus AD it gives, and honestly, with AA>W>E>AA>Q>AA>AA, you just got 11 stacks, which is pretty useful. Considering that your W gives 2 stacks each hit, and your 3rd attack on your E also gives 2 stacks, Conqueror isn't a bad at all.
Hail of Blades
	Hail of Blades is very fun to use, but honestly very risky. It will allow you to stack your E so quickly that you'll get tons of early kills from it. But the lack of damage boost will catch you up in late game. I only recommend that to experimented Kindred players and those who are in search of some nice and spicy early wins.

Starting Item
	The Doran's Blade will be your starting item if you want or have to play an aggressive laning phase. It is also the most common starting item for any AD champion in mid lane. It gives you a bonus AD for your Auto Attack and your abilities. For any lane matchup that has a threat level lower than 4, It will be preferable to take this one because of the health and omnivamp boost. They will both help you put pressure on your opponent while getting a little sustain.
	Cull will be your starting item if you want or have to play a passive laning phase. It is not often seen as a starting item, but it does help a lot when fighting in a hard matchup. It does give you more sustain from your attacks than the doran itself during the early game, but it also gives you a total of 450 bonus gold after clearing 100 lane minions. Honestly, once the quest on it is complete, just sell it for even more gold. I will give you in most scenarios the advantage you need to get back from a hard landing phase.
Mythic Items
	Galeforce is a very strong item for Kindred. As first, getting an additional dash is going to make you even harder to hit. It does give a little execute that you probably won't use to kill, but it does give you a good dodge action that deals damage. You'll also get more and more movement speed as the game progresses, allowing you to chase after your marks across the map even more.
	Kraken Slayer is almost as good as the Galeforce for Kindred. It gives a lot of attack speed to stack your E faster, and not only it gives more AD, it also gives 60(+45% AD) TRUE DAMAGE on-hit every third attack. It is insanely more damage, but you don't get any mobility out of it, and, as mobility is not really the issue with Kindred, it is still as strong as getting more damage, in my opinion. Here, you can think of this item as a way to add around a hundred true damage on your E, which is very nice.
Core
	The Berserker's Greaves are your boots. I pick them as my second item because, well, you do need movement speed to reach those marks faster and some attack speed to trigger your E faster. The berserker's greaves are necessary to get after your mythic item and they are better for you than any other boots.
	The collector Is always my first legendary item because I often seek to get a lot of kills, and what is more convenient than more gold each kill? It also gives lethality which is gonna help a lot against squishier team comp. Remember than you can still change your secondary item for anything if you need to counter build early in the game.
Important items
	Infinity Edge is the best choice as a fourth item, and mostly necessary in any build. Your E execute low health enemies by criting on those you are low enough. This item gives you 35% increased critical damage once you have 60% crit rate. So basically you take it after your core build and gets a huge damage buff.
	The Essence Reaver is really nice with Kindred. You will cast your ability often, so getting a return in mana and a bonus damage on-hit after each ability cast is helping a lot. I do not pick it often tho, since Infinity Edge is better taken as your fourth item. Also, most of the time, you'll search for counter building items for your last two items. Overall, It is a good item, but it can be easily swapped for anything else.
	The Stormrazor is a good item if you’re dealing with a high mobility champion. Once your E is on the target, they already get slowed by the ability itself, so adding another slow on top of it is only gonna guarantee you hit your E just right.
	The Bloodthirster is usefull at any moment you think you'll receive a lot of damage and wants to survive a bit longer. Its main utility is the lifesteal it gives. You'll definitly get advantage on any 1v1 with it, especially if you've build up its shield before the fight.
Counterbuilding
	The Mortal Reminder is what you'll want to take when their team have huge healing characters or build. For example, if you're laning against Vladimir or Yone, you'll probably want to rush this item even before your The Collector. The Item only cost 2500 gold, so it's also quick to build.
	The Lord Dominik's Regards is definitely a strong item if their team is heavy. Let's say they have Ornn top, Sejuani Jungle and Nautilus support, well you are gonna want this item. Getting the percentage armor penetration is definitely going to help you get your marks, and the more health they have, the higher your damage. Mixing this with a Kraken Slayer and an Infinity Edge is going to pull the most damage you can on huge champions.
	The Guardian Angel is usually the best item to take as your last one as soon as they have an assassin going crazy in their team. If you get caught by them, it will still give you a chance to come back and kill him, especially if your team is able to save you. You also have your ult that already prevent you from dying, so having two chances of survival is definitely not bad.

So this is where the guide ends. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to check the next few chapters if you want for additional info and leave a comment on what are your thoughts about it! It's not because I said something that it will be true for everyone, so feel free to experiment on your own too!




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11.12 : Doesn't seems to be any balance change for now affecting Lamb or Wolf!

Stay informed about Kindred and items balance changes for the next patch on SurrenderAt20!

First, I want to give a SPECIAL GOLDEN CHOCOLATE BAR to JhoiJhoi, because of her guide: "Making a Guide". Without this guide, I would never have finished mine. I suggest to all new users who want to create a guide to read all through all of her "Making a Guide" guide. It helps A LOT.

TY TO EVERYONE WHO CLICKED ON MY GUIDE! OVER 600K VIEW IT'S AMAZING! X3

Next is a HUGE MEGA FLUFFY STRAWBERRY CAKE to both Mowen and PsiGuard for being the fastest admins I've ever seen when someone's in need and for helping writers at any moments.

At last, I want to give a SPECIAL PLATINUM COOKIE to my brother Fuzzy Demon. He showed me many tricks in text formatting and BBCode for making my guide better and more comprehensive. He also helped with a full correction of this guide.

I'm an artist in real life and I know how copyrights are important, so there is the list of the website I used for picture, the guide I read to help me and anything like this. Remember that all champion, runes, masteries, runes reforged, items and summoner spells are the propriety of Riot games.

5th June, 2021 (18:25)

• "Runes" chapter has been updated!
• "Change Log" chapter has been updated!

3rd June, 2021 (21:00)

• Build adjusted to be less situationnal and easier to follow
• "Skill Sequence and explanation" chapter has been updated!
• "Runes" chapter has been updated!
• "Items" chapter has been updated!
• "Change Log" chapter has been updated!