A major key to playing Kindred is knowing how your marks work. The camps which they spawn on is determined by the number of marks you currently have.

0 Marks:
To start the game your first mark WILL spawn on a Scuttle Crab

1-3 Marks:
After getting your first mark but before your fourth mark the spawns change to Scuttle Crab, Raptors, and Gromp. These are camps that are not deep into enemy territory and thus easier to get.

4-7 Marks:
From your first range bonus until you get your second auto attack range bonus the mark spawns change to Enemy Red buff, Enemy Blue buff, Krugs, and Wolves. These are your opponents important camps and the ones that are deeper into the opponents jungle.

8+ Marks:
After your second range bonus your mark will only spawn on Rift herald (if still alive), Dragons, and Baron Nashor. In other words, all the Epic monsters.

A new mark will spawn after 40 seconds of not having a jungle camp marked. And this mark will last for 3 minutes or until the camp has been killed before switching to a new camp.

NOTE: YOUR MARK WILL NOT DISAPPEAR UNTIL 10 SECONDS AFTER THE CAMP WAS KILLED BY AN ENEMY this means that if you see your mark dissapear, and it has not been 3 minutes, then the enemy killed that camp 10 seconds ago, not just then. Knowing how your opponent jungler is clearing their jungle you can predict your mark spawn since it will show up on a camp right after it re-spawns if all other valid camps based on the number of marks you have are dead and 40 seconds have passed.

This covers the Natural spawning marks but not the marked champions. At the start of the game and then once again every 90 seconds you may chose to mark an Enemy Champion. Once you kill a champion that was marked (or assist on the takedown) the harvested champion may not be marked again for 240 seconds. Don't forget it takes 8 seconds from changing your marked target for that new mark to become active. Keep this in mind when changing your mark to gank or team fight.

I am well aware that this item is well liked, and very strong. I am well aware that MANY people build this on Kindred and will tell others to build it.

I HOWEVER DO NOT LIKE IT.

This is my personal opinion on the item since it just does not fit with my playstyle. I am able to maintain a
60-70%+ winrate on Kindred in ranked using the guide I outline here WITHOUT stormrazor.

If you want to build Stormrazor I would recommend it as your first major item after your jungle item and boots. This seems to be when most people would build it and when it has the most power. If it fits with your playstyle then build it, if not then don't. The item has its merits but isn't a be all end all kind of item.

So... one of the greatest questions a jungler may ask... what about the Warrior vs Bloodrazer enchantment?

Well hopefully I can help you answer this daunting question. First of all, lets look at some of the traits that go along with the Warrior enchantment.

Warrior
-More potent ganks
-Better the shorter the game is
-Early power spike
-Makes being set behind less detrimental (since it helps your abilities more)

Bloodrazer
-More attack speed
-Percent hp damage
-Scales well with blade of the ruined king (if buying this)
-More sustained damage
-Better in later games
-Better against bruisers or tanks

Another thing worth noting before you make your decision is that Kindred gains attack speed from Q! This makes Bloodrazer less appealing and lets you make more use of the AD granted by Warrior IF you're getting lots of stacks, so if you don't absolutely need the % damage from BLoodrazer then warrior is definitely the good choice.

Alternative Runes:
Hail of Blades runes these runes give you SUPER strong ganks since it lets you prock your e very very fast!
Lethal Tempo allows you to get extremely high attack speed which synergizes really well with % hp damage and other on hit.
Sudden impact and Ravenous hunter combine very well to increase your damage as well as provide some nice healing whereas Zombie ward is just a standard to take in jungle to assist with vision.
precision secondary runes can be swapped out for the bog standard celerity and waterwalking but being able to avoid cc/reduce cc is such a huge thing for Kindred that I feel these runes (Tenacity and Triumph) are much more important

PROS - Great clear - Great sustain - Scales indefinitely - High kill potential on ganks - Easy to get control - Snowballs REALLY HARD - Extremely fun!

CONS - Squishy - Ult can ruin a game - Prone to being extremely under fed (passive stacks are a must) - To stack the passive you must put yourself into dangerous situations

Season 9 has been really helpful for Kindred sofar! The jungle xp decreases have not affected Kindred much if any at all and makes ganking better for you which combined with Kindred's really strong ganks is an overall plus!

So... is Guinsoo's any good?

Well, Guinsoo's passive (double on-hits every other auto attack after 6 autos) works really well with bloodrazer and blade of the ruined king! It used to work well with Kindred's passive, however since the changes ages ago to how Kindred interacts with their marks (used to give % hp damage on autos) the synergy is no longer there however Guinsoo's is still a fun item, and is a nice power fantasy when you're ahead if you're looking for a little extra ramp up to your damage give it a shot!

My biggest gripe with Guinsoo's is that you dont get ANY use out of the AP stats from it... So it personally hurts me to buy it.

Kiting on Kindred is REALLY easy. You don't need any fancy attack command clicks or anything for really basic kiting thanks to Kindred's Q.

Kiting is a major part of playing Kindred effectively since you need to kite ALL THE TIME, even in the jungle. In the jungle Kiting a camp is the most efficient way to reduce the damage that you take and keep your sustain up. As well as kiting camps you need to kite melees so they cant cc you (Renekton and Udyr come to mind) or burst you (Vi, Tryndamere, and Shyvana come to mind).

Now then, I said Kiting was easy on Kindred, right? Why?
Well. Q,W,E. (no don't use them in that order E W Q is a better order or W E Q).
So Q lets you hop a short distance but its on a 9 second CD that can't be reduced, right? Yes, until we use our w. This lowers Q's CD to 2 seconds flat which is enough for an auto attack or 2 in between each time. If this is all you did without moving with your mouse at the same time the enemy would still get less auto attacks or abilities off (this is good!). Also, it lets you start to use your Q to avoid skill shots or escape over walls if things get scary. This brings us to Kindreds E. Kindreds E applies a large slow (50%) which means that using this to start a fight with someone will delay their arrival giving you free time to fight. If done properly you can go through an entire fight before either killing them or causing them to run (did I mention all of these help you chase too? BTW DON'T CHASE! WITHOUT VISION!)

Now that is an extremely basic method however it is obviously better to combine these with orb walking since the above method quickly becomes useless as your rank raises. Still it is easy to slowly mix in more advanced kiting with this kit rather than being forced into it straight away as a ranged champion.

Don't forget to do this for jungle minions too! Big minions hurt!

Kindred's passive marking enemy jungle minions I thought I should touch on this topic. So, IS Kindred even ANY good at invading? Well. To put it as simply as possible. Yes. And it's a good thing too because with the changes to Kindred's passive + Q its even more important than ever to get the free auto range and bonus attack speed which stacks up REALLY fast (the e damage is less important)...

Kindred is an excellent duelist especially once you have Skrimisher's Sabre for the burn and taking reduced damage. There are a few things you have to consider before deciding to invade though...

Who. Ahead. Vision Where. Lanes. Mark.

Who:
Who is the opposing jungler? Are they good at dueling? better than you? (probably not you can kite for days) do they clear really fast? (ie Shyvana) if so its probably not worth invading because it is probably cleared out already! (in this case just prioritize marks from ganks)

Ahead:
Is their team is ahead? Is their jungler ahead? if so you probably shouldn't invade unless all of the following points are true.

Vision:
Do you have vision in the enemies jungle? No: try to get some vision, this gets forgotten a lot...
You don't have to have vision in their jungle if you can see their jungler in a lane. For example if you see their jungler gank bot lane this is essentially the same as having vision in the opponents top jungle.

Where:
Where is THEIR jungler? Can you see them? Are you on the other side of the map as their jungler? If so it's probably safe to invade.

Lanes:
What are the lanes like? Are any enemies missing? will an opposing laner try to take their teams raptors while you're at them? Is your team pushed against them? is your team being pushed? If your team is pushed and you can't gank any lanes, then invading might be the best bet. If they are being pushed, is there a lane you could gank instead or after taking an enemy camp?

Mark:
Where is your mark at? can you get to it? would you be able to contest it if you ran into the jungler at it? how many marks do you have?

Try to consider all of these things before invading, but if you're crushing the enemy jungler, sometimes its worth it just to kill them in their territory. Its all yours Wolf.

Mark an enemy champion (preferably the jungler) as soon as possible, you can do this before the jungle camps even spawn. Start bot side buff to get a leash from the ADC and Support. Immediately following this move to either the wolves or the Krugs depending on which is closer to your starting buff since you should be able to kill these by roughly the time the scuttle crab spawn. Your first mark should appear now (at 2:00) thanks to wolf and some old balance changes it will appear on the scuttle crab. Be ready rush to it right away when you finish the camp if it spawned close, if its at the far scuttle crab it's unfortunate you've most likely lost that mark due to how contested scuttle crabs are now. Be ready for the opposing jungler to show up. If The jungler does show, then you should probably fight them since your q and w will often be enough to get a free kill here (So I recommend marking the jungler for your first target in case of this)

Proceed to clear your jungle taking the buff opposite to your start. Look for any ganking opportunities and chances to invade their jungle or take more marked scuttles.

Using your mark early:
Use your mark at the start (preferably on the jungler in case of a kill at scuttle or failed invade by them) and then mark who you want to gank. it takes 8 seconds for the mark to activate though so using it early is essentially mandatory. Also your mark can be used to psych the opponents out by making them think you're going to gank somewhere else. (ie mark top and then go bottom shortly after) be careful with this though since you do want to consume the mark, especially if you can't invade.

Yes I know. Your top lane thinks its still laning phase.
Just gank for him/her, help them take the tower, ask to co-ordinate a TP gank with you somewhere, do something to help them get out of that lane as fast as possible.

During the Mid game you want to look for small fights especially with your marked target. Dragon control should be a priority, all of the elemental drakes are REALLY useful and your passive makes taking dragons SO EASY! Focus on rotating with your team, try to get objectives, low towers from laning can be taken easily with Lamb's Respite and Wolf's Frenzy used as a zoning tool. Use these to your advantage!

When/before Baron spawns if your team is ahead and you have attained at least 4 stacks (this gives you a huge boost in range) of your passive you might want to look at getting vision control in the area and then making a sneaky Baron call (or Rift Hearald if it is still early enough).

If behind still focus on rotations but look to use your ult to defend towers (no it wont keep the tower alive) but it will let your team stay alive under the tower to stop dives, and maybe get a few kills as they are trying to run out of the tower. If you find yourself really far behind on stacks, don't keep trying to get them from the jungle, try to get them from fights with your team.

Objectives, objectives, objectives.

Look for the chances to rotate with your team to get objectives that still remain.
Also try to get your team to push lanes other than just mid. Seriously if you get that bot inhib then Baron is an easy play.

Use this time a lot like mid game, rotate as a team, look for picks, KEEP THE JUNGLES WARDED! Nothing ruins a game more than getting caught right before the game deciding team fight. Or having someone die only to give the opponents a free Baron or Elder Drake.

If breaking into the base is posing a problem split pushing is often a good idea. As Kindred when you split push you should easily be able to take care of any 1 person they send after you, so they should be sending 2 which gives the rest of your team a numbers advantage. Also since you are a marksman taking towers goes pretty fast not to mention if they send someone for you and you're on the last 1/4 (quarter) of that tower or inhib when they get to you, you can just ult and take the rest of it out before escaping or even still killing them depending on who they are.

So, I hate to say this, but... This is why your team said not to choose Kindred. You just saved every enemy on the other team with 3/4 of their hp left and stopped your 0/7/0 riven from getting a pentakill. Sorry about that, GG.

Lets be serious here for a moment, your ultimate DOES NOT NEED TO BE USED EVERY TEAM FIGHT! In team fights you want to put down your W and skirt around it in the back line of your team, or skirt around it to take out their back line. Your focus is to kill either the squishes that are over extended or to whittle down (as fast as possible, and your passive makes this easy) the tanks that are diving into your team. This depends on whether or not your team is ahead and who is engaging. Try to focus on avoiding CC and only ult if you need to save an ally or group of allies (ie your team got Malphite flash ult into Yasuo ulted).

Don't be the person to engage the fights (I'm guilty of doing this one, I love to fight, especially if I'm ahead). Let your TEAM engage the fight and go in with them, you put out a lot of damage to everyone, even tanks so don't feel bad if you're stuck shooting the Malphite that's smacking your adc in the face. This does not apply to catching an opponent out though, if you can pick off an enemy who is away from their team do it.

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide! Thanks to HOOONIGAN for helping out, name ideas are a pain! I hope it helped at least one of you out there who are interested in Kindred - The Eternal Hunters.

~Happy Hunting