Kindred Build Guide by Massive Nuts

Hey guys, my name is Massive Nuts, I'm a lvl 400+ peak D2 EUW ADC enthusiast. Kindred happens to be one of the strongest ADCs in the meta. I played it competitively in university teams and my team reached #8 in the UK thanks to the Kindred-Taric synergy. Some koreans are hitting challenger with it, it's nuts. Kindred is fun, it's surprisingly strong, efficient, it scales really well in late aswell as being super strong early played correctly. Kindred is not insanely hard mechanically, 10 games of practice should be enough to understand your skillshots, combos and limits. Kindred ADC's role is to be an aggressive marksman with built-in resistance to burst damage and lockdowns, with self-peel and mobility, which melts frontlines, backlines and can kite super easily. In this guide I'll feature two differents builds, one regular and one more adapted to high-elo players: the hardcore korean kindred ADC.

SUMMONERS AND ABILITIES ======================================================> Head down

ITEMS ======================================================================> Head down

RUNES ===================================================================> Head down

GAMEPLAY =============================================================> Head down

No, just a reminder you have two ways of getting stacks: Wolf hunts are granted when you kill (or have an assist on) an enemy monster camp, and Lamb hunts are granted when you kill (or have an assist on) a marked enemy champion.


On average, Jungle Kindred can hope for 3 stacks every 10 minutes. It's the same for ADC kindred. Where Wolf hunts are easy to get for Jungle kindred, for ADC kindred it's the Lamb stacks that will matter the most. You have two opponents in your lane which you will frequently fight with. Marking the one which appears to be the weakest, or not have flash will allow you to keep up with those bonuses in-lane. In addition, you can always roam for the crab in early once you pushed the wave, it is definitely worth missing a couple minions to grab it, to grant vision on your river and get a stack. Overall, the passive is not at all a problem. Your powerspikes happen after 4 stacks, 7, 10, 13, etc. when your range is increased.

Heal is a really sweet multi-purpose summoner spell which works well with Kindred's kit. Other than its usual uses, it can help you catch up a target, give you what you need after your ult, or help a teammate out when he's about to die. It's just a really good consistent summoner spell. You should take it in 90% of cases until you're comfortable enough to judge what the other summoner spell grant you against certain teams.

Exhaust is also really useful to run on Kindred. It can allow you to survive to burst damage by reducing damage by 40% if you're against heavy burst team, and it also allows you to prevent a fast death coming out of your R. Really depends on your habits. It can work really well if you know how and when to use it. It can also help you against champs like Warwick and Hecarim who tend to stick to you a bit too much.

Barrier is more useful on Kindred than on any other ADC. Generally, I am not a fan of that summoner spell, but it synergises well with Kindred. Right after your R, use your barrier to have twice the health percentage of your opponents for 2 seconds (exaggeration), giving you the time to deal enough damage to kill enemies. Take this with a Yuumi or a Taric where you won't be needing a heal. It's the tiny bit of defense you could need in late-game teamfights.

Cleanse is a very strong summoner spell. As a rule, I would advise you to take it when they have more than two lockdowns. ( Twisted Fate, Galio, Nocturne, Lissandra, Nautilus etc.) It's really complicated and not worth for Kindred to spend 1300 gold to get Quicksilver Sash and Cleanse also removes Ignite which is strong in laning phase.

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Flash is a must on Kindred. It is so useful to get out even faster from your ultimate than just dashing over a wall. It can also be used to finish an enemy who is really low, just use Flash -> Q -> AA and it should do the job everytime. There is no other options better than flash and you should always take it.

Kindred ADC will use the E-max over the W-max as he will be bursting down targets in mid-game rather than stalling in long fights against tanks with his W. It will allow you to use it twice in a fight and make Mounting Dread do more damage. It's better than what W can offer in the ADC role.



I won't just write what the abilities do because you can read, I'll put key elements you might have missed, some additional information about them and why and when I max them.

Dance of Arrows is the most important part of your kit. It grants you an insane amount of mobility, AOE damage and waveclear. Practicing the walls you can dash over will really help you control Kindred. Is it extremely useful in the botlane to dodge skillshots or follow a gank from your jungler as it is instant and unexpected. Master the autoattack-reset in practice tool. As soon as the animation of the first auto has started, immediately Q and click again on the target. It should be extremely fast and allows you to proc your E in 1,5 seconds while maximizing damage. This ability has good AD scaling.

Wolf's Frenzy is a very discrete ability, even you may not even notice the damage it deals sometimes, but you would be surprised on how much it actually does. The fact that it lowers your Q cooldowns makes it a key component of your kit and you become very weak when you have it on cooldown. I would advise you place the zone in the direction on where you are heading instead of where you are, as you will want it to last as long as possible without stepping out of it. Take this level 2 to provide good sustain with W passive in the laning phase. The combo is usually Q into W so you can cast Q 3 times in the duration instead of 2.

Kindred's E, Mounting Dread has an insane burst and will proc perfectly with Press the Attack to absolutely destroy any given ADC. The damage crits (damage a;most doubled) on targets below a certain threshold roughly 30% so ideally try to place your E on a target that will be below this threshold after two AA. Any critical chance increases the threshold of this ability's critical strike. Learn to charge it when you're in your ulti with two AA so your last autoattack destroys them. Your marks stay on targets for 4 seconds. The range of this ability will scale the same as your AA range with marks but Rapid Firecannon won't work on E, obviously. Keep that in mind.

Your ultimate Lamb's Respite makes champions invulnerable when hitting 10% of max health in the zone. If you are dueling someone and he hits 10%, I would advise you hold on to your Q and W while it is activated and just E (if you have it) and auto-attack. 4 Seconds is pretty long, so think about your next move. Plan a quick-strategy, either on how you're going to finish them, or a plan to escape. Punish any enemies stepping out. Maxing your R is actually optional, you could hold on to it level 1 if you wanted but the cooldown can be important to reduce in most cases.

The best builds right now for lane Kindred are 100% crit, with 3 core damage items, into a utility item then sustain. Two different setups exist which both work really well. I recommend the regular setup for most players, especially if you're getting started with Kindred ADC. However, if you're experienced and know your role and macro well, you can try the crazy Korean Hardcore setup by 아라드 (clickable link to player page), a Master Kindred ADC player.

Health Potion is going to be the only option your have after buying any starting item. This gives you good sustain for a low cost. As a general rule on Kindred, you should only consume a potion when you have less than 50% of your health, not above, because your W passive and omnivamp can sustain you a good amount by itself.

Doran's Blade is a better option for Kindred. He benefits a lot more from the omnivamp and the extra-health as Kindred also has a short range compared to other ADCs and will need to trade closer accordingly. The health it gives will emphasize Triumph and Last Stand in your regular build, and the sustain will allow you to take more trades in the korean aggressive setup.

Berserker's Greaves is a huge spike: giving you an insane amount of attack speed aswell as the upgraded movement speed allows your to focus on mainly building raw AD and utility in the rest of your build. The time you complete them depends on your preference, but it is not wasted resource as a rush first back.

Plated Steelcaps are a safe boot choice when you're slightly behind because of the enemy ADC (ex. Vayne or Cait) or a fed assassin (ex. Zed or Kha). Keep in mind if you go these, you will lose some attack speed so make sure you need it before picking it over greaves.

Mercury's Treads are a quite nice pair of Nikes which can help you survive some intense cc lockdown when you didn't take cleanse. Kindred doesn't build QSS well, so if there's too much CC, take Cleanse, and if that's not enough take Mercury's Treads and if you're still getting frontline-diffed, consider building Stormrazor to kite and remember to blame your jungler.

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Essence Reaver is probably the best first item for Kindred ADC for the mana sustain it provides. The haste and passive help control early game trades. The mana it gives allows you to sustain laning phase and the 55 raw AD are a great tool to be an aggressive marksman. It's a very cost-efficient item which helps you in short-trades. Kindred also has the second highest AD level 1 (65) of all ADCs after Kalista (69), which allows him to deal that ER damage.

Galeforce is a very smooth mythic. I really like it and think it suits Kindred's kit perfectly well. Despite the cooldown nerfs on 11.2, it's expected to stay the dominant mythic for Kindred. Learning to use the active as a finisher or to dodge key skillshots can be is what will make the difference. This mythic gives you tons of mobility ideal for late-game and to kite your opponents. It can deal up to 645 magic damage (162 is 45% of your 360AD full-build and the base damage is 315 at level 18, and the damage is increased up to 50% on targets with 30% max health) on a 90-second cooldown. Absolute huge and pretty much an additional abiltity.

Infinity Edge is a must for Kindred ADC, regardless of your setup. Aswell as increasing the damage of your autoattacks by 35% and giving you raw 70AD, IE also increases the damage from Mounting Dread by 37,5% additional physical damage. This item is a must as a 3rd item and no alternative gives this much of a powerspike to Kindred ADC. Once you've completed it, you're usually unleashed and can take over the game.

Rapid Firecannon is an incredibly powerful item on Kindred which gives so much poke power and will instantly give you 150 additional range. Whether it's paired with a Stormrazor in the korean build or the Galeforce mobility in the regular build, you become a real hunter playing with your preys with this item's MS boost and passive. Definitely build this in most games and learn to play with it. Poke before fights and have the superior macro.

Runaan's Hurricane is the alternative to RFC which can help you if you're behind and pushed in or if your team is struggling to siege. It gives Kindred an insane amount of waveclear and great teamfight control. This is especially good with this setup because the mobility it gives allows your to kite and melt the frontline. It also has a great synergy with Ravenous Hydra.

Ravenous Hydra is really sweet for Kindred ADC. It will greatly increase your healing from abilities and the haste it gives allows your to use them more often. This item ultimately gives mobility, more sustain and overall more durability in late-game teamfights. The additional raw AD you get compared to Bloodthirster will also go into your abilities, ER, Runaan's and Galeforce's AD ratios.

For both setups, Mortal Reminder can be a very solid late-game item which helps deal with overhealing enthusiasts like Kayn or Hecarim aswell as reduce the Lamb's Respite healing from 10% of the enemy's max health to 6% with that 60% grievous wound. It's a very cheap item which allows you to close off games which have been going on for too long.

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Kraken Slayer is the ideal mythic for this build. As a first item, it will assure you a secured scaling, massive amounts of AD (65) and great attack speed numbers to allow you to get into long-trades and go deep aggro into the enemy botlane. It's also a great tool for wave control as the damage on every 3rd auto allows for a faster clear while you can still freeze waves unlike items like runaan's or hydra. As a passive mythic, it allows you to focus more on your positioning and trades.

Stormrazor is a really great item for Kindred which allows for catches even after flashes burnt, slows to kite in fights or just when you're trying to escape from your R. The utility it provides allows Kindred to be a real hunter and the stats are great. This cheap item will allow you to get out of lane and snowball by getting those hunts completed in forcing enemies to take those semi-extended fights you need.

Infinity Edge is a must for Kindred ADC, regardless of your setup. Aswell as increasing the damage of your autoattacks by 35% and giving you raw 70AD, IE also increases the damage from Mounting Dread by 37,5% additional physical damage. This item is a must as a 3rd item and no alternative gives this much of a powerspike to Kindred ADC. Once you've completed it, you're usually unleashed and can take over the game.

Rapid Firecannon is an incredibly powerful item on Kindred which gives so much poke power and will instantly give you 150 additional range. Whether it's paired with a Stormrazor in the korean build or the Galeforce mobility in the regular build, you become a real hunter playing with your preys with this item's MS boost and passive. Definitely build this in most games and learn to play with it. Poke before fights and have the superior macro.

The Collector has a great synergy with Kindred's Lamb's Respite and Mortal Reminder leaving enemies you AA 3 times at 6% max-health, one auto off from their death. This item provides great penetration against squishies through the lethality and some penetration against tanks through the passive. Also gives 55 AD which will make you a genuine beast in close-fights. Build this if you're going to build Mortal Reminder, if your fights are messy or if enemies have great disengage.

Bloodthirster is the best sustain item for this build which is much more based on autoattacks. It will also give you the crit which will make the threshold for your E higher and secure your 100% crit chance so you're never extremely unlucky in fights, as you'll be autoattacking more than with the other setup. Overall great item with great stats which will help you secure those late-game hard teamfights. If you're lucky, you might even force enemies to buy some grievous wound.

For both setups, Mortal Reminder can be a very solid late-game item which helps deal with overhealing enthusiasts like Kayn or Hecarim aswell as reduce the Lamb's Respite healing from 10% of the enemy's max health to 6% with that 60% grievous wound. It's a very cheap item which allows you to close off games which have been going on for too long.

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Press the Attack is the best keystone to take as Kindred. Ontop of the really sweet scaling damage, the synergy with your Mounting Dread makes it the best tool to enhance not only your damage but your team's damage (support, jungler, midlaner, etc.) on the target you're focusing. It's the best burst keystone for a marksman and it scales really well too. Always better than Conqueror or Lethal Tempo for Kindred.

Triumph synergizes with Kindred's rewards for hunting. This will help you win 1v2s in lane aswell as survive certain fights in mid and late-game. It goes well with your R too which usually condemns one of your enemies to die. 12% of your max health is big for Kindred as he end up with 1985 HP level 18. Make sure you take scaling health defense runes to heal 11HP more every kill. Can make a difference.

Legend: Bloodline is a relatively strong rune to give you half of a Bloodthirster's worth of lifesteal after roughly 20 minutes. This option overpasses the two others because the sustain it gives for free is so sweet, whereas you don't need more AS and tenacity is useless since you have so much mobility.

Last Stand is the strongest off all three options and definitely the most adapted to Kindred. In lane combats, skirmishes, or out of your R, you're very often left under 30% health when you're killing someone. And if you're not, it means you'll kill that target without any issues anyway. Getting 11% increased damage against all enemies when out of your R can be so much more important than having 8% on single targets. Getting the scaling health rune will also benefit towards increasing the health threshold. It will also increase the healing from your Lamb's Respite.

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Taste of Blood is the healing you'll need to win those lane trades and scale in sustained fights without needing to build lifesteal before your last item. This is necessary and even though Sudden Impact would damage more in early game, or Cheap Shot in mid-game with a tanky support, you need this rune. It scales well with AD and suits Kindred's poke playstyle.

Ravenous Hunter is such a broken rune by itself and despite the nerfs, the omnivamp feels so good and is quite easy to stack up to 3 in the botlane early in the game. 11% omnivamp means if around 20 minutes you're dealing 2000 damage to someone semi-tanky you're going to heal 220HP, which corresponds to roughly 20% of your own health around that time. Absolutely massive for a single rune. Must have.

Alternatively with this setup, the Resolve tree can be useful when you have a healer support and/ or the enemy team has a heavy-burst-hypersmurf-assassin-carry style like Kassadin or Ornn. Take Bone Plating and Revitalize. The Revitalize will also increase your W Passive, your Taste of Blood, Ravenous Hunter, omnivamp and R healing which is why it's also a viable option.



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Hail of Blades is a great keystone for trades in lane. It allows you to win most trades in lane with supports or ADCs. Being on an 8 seconds cooldown means you can use it in almost every opportunity and be super aggressive. This rune works especially well because of your mountain dread and Kraken Slayer 3AA mechanic. It scales really well with your attack-speed and marks, however it stays better for short trades and less effective for teamfights for example.

Taste of Blood is the healing you'll need to win those lane trades and scale in sustained fights without needing to build lifesteal before your last item. This is necessary and even though Sudden Impact would damage more in early game, or Cheap Shot in mid-game with a tanky support, you need this rune. It scales well with AD and suits Kindred's poke playstyle.

Eyeball Collection happens to be a super strong rune which makes your snowballing so much smoother. It can give you up to 18AD after participating in 10 takedowns. With this build being aggressive, you're very likely to complete this before 20 minutes even in high-elo. It's the best option which will secure you great scaling.

Ravenous Hunter is such a broken rune by itself and despite the nerfs, the omnivamp feels so good and is quite easy to stack up to 3 in the botlane early in the game. 11% omnivamp means if around 20 minutes you're dealing 2000 damage to someone semi-tanky you're going to heal 220HP, which corresponds to roughly 20% of your own health around that time. Absolutely massive for a single rune. Must have.

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Biscuit Delivery is your way into getting your lane sustain and some additional gold. It will give you enough mana to survive through the game, and it can even sustain your health if you took a couple bad trades or you got early-ganked. They can sustain you roughly as much health as normal 50 gold Health Potion so don't sell them immediately, but hopefully they'll allow you to reach your core items a bit faster.

Approach Velocity is such a nice rune to run on this setup, mainly due to the synergy with Stormrazor but also your own Mounting Dread or your allies' CC abilities. It allows you to catch on targets, making you very reactive to ganks, catches and teamfights. It is a rune which scales well because your MS increases in late-game, giving you roughly 60MS on anybody you hit with an AA or your E. Huge.

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Win the game in champ select.





First thing you want to do in champ select is try and see if you can get to influence your team's picks around you. Kindred works especially well with supports like Lulu, Leona, Taric, Pyke, or Nautilus. He also works well with junglers like Nocturne, Rek'Sai, Nunu & Willump or Jarvan IV that can frontline and join fights fast, or midlaners like Galio. You can first pick Kindred as long as you've got Caitlyn banned because that matchup is unplayable, it will also make the enemy think you're playing jungle and gives your team this "flex" advantage.

Adapt your runes and prepare your build in champ select. This means looking at your team and the enemy team and making impactful choices. I do my runes every game. Into a full-squishy team I might go Dark Harvest, and when they are all tanky i'll go Cut Down and take Cull first item. Small changes like this can really make a difference and make you win a lot more games. I change my secondary rune tree every game and try and get it as optimal as possible, thinking of in-game interactions with opponents. For example if they have a Twisted Fate or a Galio i'm most likely to run Cleanse.

If you're playing in solo queue and inevitably fall on some people who don't like unconventional picks, I'd advise to either dodge or mute them in-game to not tilt yourself, don't try to explain what you're doing or how strong Kindred ADC is. The rift is not the place for that, it's a place where you can show them how strong it is. Concentrate on your own game.




Early game has to be your full-focus concentration point.


First thing you do when you arrive in-game: mark their ADC. Each time you get a successful hunt or you think the support is more vulnerable because he has no flash or is more squishy, mark him. Alternate your two targets in lane, if you get two successful hunts in a row, mark the jungler, until you reach mid-game and can go back to normal hunting. As botlane is a very active lane, you should be getting at least 2/3 marks in the first 10 minutes from the enemy botlane.

Kindred's level 1 is rather weak compared to most ADC's. His range is short and even with his Q and good AA resets, he often loses short trades taken early on. His level 3 however, beats any other ADC's level 3. That being said, you do have a range disadvantage and supports and waves exist so, it's really game dependent whether you want to engage into extended fights (3 autos in your case) or keep it safe. You can also harass the support if he comes too close of their ADC when he's going for a minion. It's important you get some experience in to know exactly how much damage you deal at every point of the game.


I advise you try and hardshove the first and third waves, if you can even get a cheater recall, it's ideal but you need good communication with your support. If not, your back timing is extremely clear: 875 or 1175 gold if you've gotten a kill. That is after you clear the wave which crashes at 4 minutes. You want to crash the last wave ideally before the cannon wave appears so you don't lose your own cannon. Don't stay longer in lane, don't stay less. That Pickaxe purchase is going to be huge for your damage threat and for your farming.

If you can grab the scuttle crab, with your jungler or just before backing, get it. The faster you get your 4 marks-powerspike, the faster you'll carry the game. Gromps and golems are a bit more risky but if you see a window to grab them, go for it too.

Once you've cashed in your Muramana around minute 12, (which should be completed around minute 23) you get a big powerspike. This means you are going to deal a lot more damage than you used to so you should be aggressive in lane at that point. Don't force unnecessary plays when you are outnumbered however, at least not in early game, as being behind will force your team to carry you back to being in a normal place in the game.

Every mark you get is worth dying for. This is an important concept and quite hard to grasp. But unless you've got a bounty or a drake, taking down someone you marked is always worth it. Even more so if the enemy you've taken down had a bounty himself. Kindred is especially talented at trading 1 for 1 with his R to pick up those bounties on fed midlaners, for example. Stay reasonable of course with this rule, i'm not asking you to run it down, just take risks. It'll pay off. Laning phase ends when a tower is destroyed in a side-lane, the third drake is spawning or until you get your Infinity Edge completed. Then it goes into phase 2: mid-game.



Gather those marks, objectives and minion

Kindred's midgame is where he gets strong. It's like you're picking up the fruits of your hard labor in early-game. You are getting stronger every minute, well only if you focus on marks, objectives and minions, in that order. You want to get successful chases by marking the right champs such as the jungler on an upcoming drake, or the support who keeps dying because of his trash engages or greedy wards. It's up to you to adapt to the game. Aim for



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