Heyo what's poppin' people, my name is Nuts, I'm a Master EUW ADC. Kindred is in the top 5 strongest ADCs in this current meta, but nobody knows about it, which is to our advantage.[/color]. Kindred is one of the best snowballing champs in the game, along with Draven and Rengar, it can adapt to the team's needs, scales really well in late aswell as being super strong early. Kindred is not particularly hard mechanically, 10-15 games of practice should be enough to understand your skillshots and combos, but it is harder to learn the positioning, trading, and general role in fights. Kindred AD's main role is to be an aggressive marksman with built-in survivability, and mobility, that melts both frontlines and backlines. Checkout the video if you'd like more depth and visuals.

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

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

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

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

As Kindred, 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 AD kindred. Where Wolf hunts are easy to get for Jungle Kindred, for ADC kindred it's the Lamb stacks that will usually account for most marks. 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 free bonuses in-lane. In addition, you can always roam for the crab in early once you pushed the wave, it's usually worth it to miss a couple minions and/ or dying to grab 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 actually quite suboptimal on Kindred. Compared to other ADC's who can use it efficiently for escaping, catching up, etc. Kindred has enough mobility in his kit to escape these difficult situations. When the argument is to help teammates, you already have your R which is a really good utility too. Due to the short range in early, Kindred also benefits more from exhaust and it can really turn fights around.

Exhaust is defo the optimal spell on Kindred ADC. 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 has multiple uses. 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.

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.

Ghost is the best spell against on-hit/ consistent DPS champs since exhaust loses value when their damage doesn't have a clear burst and the extra mobility from ghost will allow you to close the gap and deny their kiting. It also allows you to keep chasing whatever creature is peeling them once they're killed and is overall the best teamfighting option. It scales amazingly and can allow you to kite and dodge much easier in extended trades.

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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.

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.

Mark of the Kindred is gigacore to allow you to be important in a game. As mentioned before, you get most stacks from enemy kills. You usually mark ADC > Supp > Jun > Mid. Also grab marks from enemy monsters whenever possible. Both assists (Within 3 seconds) and kills give you a mark. Monster hunts are instant but champ hunts take 8 seconds to "activate" before you can kill them, Wolf's Frenzy lasts 8.5 seconds, which you can use for reference. It's always worth to die for a mark. The first four marks are worth roughly 312.5 gold each, 267.35 gold for every mark after that, not including execute damage. Try and remember this: 0-3 Crab or Raptor/ Gromp. 4/7 other monsters. 8+ drake/ nash.

Dance of Arrows is the most important part of your kit. It gives Kindred mobility to dodge and chase, AOE damage to waveclear, and attack speed to increase DPS for turrets and objectives. Practicing wall-jumps will really help you control Kindred. It's useful to dodge skillshots or escape/ follow a gank as it's instant and unexpected. Use it as an autoattack reset every time to maximize damage. As soon as the animation of the first auto has started, immediately Q and click again on the target. To farm, remember the arrows will always target whatever minion you aa and the closest minions to it. If you didn't aa before, it's the closest to you. Each enemy will only take one arrow max so isolating targets will not increase damage.

Wolf's Frenzy is a discrete ability but very powerful. The fact that it lowers your Q cooldowns makes it a key component of your kit and you're vulnerable when it's on cd. 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. Alike your Q, your W will target whoever you attacked last or the closest to the centre. Don't aa any minion once a botlane trade has finished so your W keeps dealing damage to enemies. Moving between each attack is super important to stack the passive healing faster. If you have trouble with that, watch this video

Kindred's E, Mounting Dread has an insane burst that will surprise most players. The damage crits (damage almost doubled) on targets below a certain threshold (roughly 40%) so ideally try to place your E on a target that will be below this threshold after two AA instead of at the start of the trade. The tiny slow on this ability is therefore not worth using at the start of a fight. Any crit built increases the threshold of this ability's crit. Learn to charge it when you're in your ulti with two AA so your last autoattack destroys them. The max time before your E disappears is 4 seconds between each auto, meaning you can make it last 12 seconds on a target. The range of this ability will scale the same as your AA range with marks but Rapid Firecannon won't work on E, obviously.

Your ultimate Lamb's Respite makes champions invulnerable when hitting 10% of max health in the zone. 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. The combo out of R is as follows in the video: prepare your E to 2 charges and keep your Q to cast exactly when the R ends to maximize your burst. Although all units can go down to 10% health, everybody gains the same health out of it, making it better for squishier champions and weaker for tanks. This is why when I run shieldbow, I will usually only put one point in R. No healing or lifesteal occurs within your ult, so you get much more value from casting it at 15% health and then being hit to 10% rather than casting it at 2% to get your enemies low before casting it. You can get out of it slightly to lifesteal at your own risk, but casting early is often better.

Since adc items seem to change all the time, but the setup/ structure will always remain the same, I will break down what you usually want in items over the course of a game:

Doran's Blade is pretty much essential to any adc and works particularly well with Kindred, giving you more sustain with your W and tankiness to balance your lower range. While Cull can be a nice first back, it is not recommended as a first item unless somethig drastic changes.

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450 -> 800 = Cull (+ Boots)
800 -> 1300 = Dmg Component (Pickaxe, Serrated Dirk, BF Sword, Noonsquiver...)
1400+ -> Boots + Dmg Component

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Berserker's Greaves is a pretty important item that allows you to get massive amounts of attack speed without having to spend too much money on it. It is optimal to build these in MOST games, as the bonus DPS will allow you to spike on your opponents.

Plated Steelcaps is sometimes a really good pickup when the enemy team has heavy AA damage, but mostly when a hard matchup in the botlane forces you to go defensive. Into a Draven, Vayne, or Kog'Maw with an advantage in lane, you'll want to cop these in order to be able to comeback.

Mercury's Treads is a very niche pickup but if the enemy team is really too heavy on cc and cleanse just won't be eough to be able to deal damage, don't be afraid to build these.

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In general, you want to build two crit items as your core. Crit has an exceptional synergy with your e and usually gives the best stats. Regardless, you need SOME Attack speed and SOME Attack Damage in your first two items. Both should not be AD or AS, as you need both of these stats to be online.

If you run a Damage item as a first item, you will be able to take better shorter trades. This is usually better in a favourable matchup where you can use wave management and vision control to burst down enemies.

If you run an Attack Speed item as a first item, you will be able to take longer shorter trades. This is usually better when you get punished for low attack speed and standing still to auto, you will be more mobile and better equipped to all-in with your support/ jungler (Better with engage).


FOR EXAMPLE:
I recommend Infinity Edge rush into Runaan's Hurricane or Rapid Firecannon, but you can also go Statikk Shiv into The Collector or Essence Reaver into Navori Flickerblade

Kraken Slayer and Blade of the Ruined King are also perfectly viable first and second items, I just don't like them too much in botlane since they are usually better aimed at dueling and catching off guard, perks better suited for the jungle and solo lanes.


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Once you've got your core items lined up (2 items and boots) the game reaches the mid-game, where your goal will be more focused towards clearing waves fast to rotate and make plays around the map. The third item you build is supposed to be ADAPTIVE to the game in question.

Take a look at the enemy team, can you identify a main carry at this point of the game?

If it is a bruiser which heals, take anti-heal, build Mortal Reminder
If it is a bruiser which doesn't heal, take mobility, such as Wit's End or Opportunity
If it is an assassin or the enemy ADC, ask yourself whether you need more damage to kill him and trade 1 for 1 with your ult, or if it's wiser to take resistances so you can at least survive their burst

If it is a mage, or you don't see any particular outstanding carry, continue with the recommended 3rd item (Right now Yun Tal Wildarrows, The Collector or Bloodthirster.



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Once you have 3 damage items, I usually recommend going for a 4th defensive item. Something that gives you resistances or health and helps you take longer teamfights.

Whether it is Terminus, Death's Dance, Spirit Visage, Randuin's Omen or even Warmog's Armor - these are all viable 4th and 5th item options that will allow you to deal the damage you have built. With your marks, you will continue to increase your damage and grow your DPS, but without defensive options, you will not be able to be as useful.

After building a defensive item, the options are really up to you for the 5th, whether you want a blunder protection with Guardian Angel, Edge of Night, or Maw of Malmortius or more team damage with Mortal Reminder (which has a lot more value in late-game with your ult) or Black Cleaver










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Such as: Jinx, Samira, Yasuo, Tristana, Kog'Maw, Leona, Nautilus, Swain, Rell

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.

Triumph is super useful on Kindred since you have to commit to extended fights, you benefit greatly from the heal upon takedown which allows you to take 1v2s much more confidently. The extra gold is also a nice touch which can help you snowball your lead. Note: The more health you have (like when building shieldbow or taking health rune), the more value you get out of this rune.

Legend: Alacrity is the strongest option for early to midgame dps. Legend: Bloodline can also be a viable option if you've not planning on building any sustain item and don't have an enchanter. This rune and Berserker's Greaves alone usually give you enough attack speed to focus on AD in the rest of you build.

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 later with your superior mobility. Getting 11% increased damage against all enemies when out of your R can be so much more important than having 8% on single targets. That being said, Coup de Grace can also be a viable pickup into more burst-oriented bruisers like Nocturne or into poke matchups like Ezreal or Caitlyn who have a higher mobility.

Sudden Impact is the most optimal rune of this branch, giving you extra-pen on both damage types. As your W deals magic damage, this benefits Kindred a lot, especially in early game. The cooldown also matches your Q cooldown so this will give you consistent penetration advantage in most trades. Taste of Blood could also be an option in poke matchups.

Treasure Hunter is my favourite rune of this path though you can swap for Relentless Hunter if you want to play more aggressive. The extra gold allows you to snowball more efficiently and makes mark-trades against enemy champs even more worth it. Gold mostly just allows you to reach your spikes faster.

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Such as: Caitlyn, Senna, Sivir, Ashe, Ezreal, Varus, Lulu, Morgana, Soraka, Shaco

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 Mounting 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. Also very important: your Q is an AA reset so you can actually auto 4 times with the bonus attack speed, as shown on the video below:

Sudden Impact is the most optimal rune of this branch, giving you extra-pen on both damage types. As your W deals magic damage, this benefits Kindred a lot, especially in early game. The cooldown also matches your Q cooldown so this will give you consistent penetration advantage in most trades. Taste of Blood could also be an option in poke matchups.

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.

Presence of Mind is mandatory as lane Kindred suffers from mana problems otherwise. Where Triumph would be a better rune in this tree, Riot has decided to disregard AD champions' mana pool in season 11 so we have to stick with this for now. This will reward you for poking and make sure you're always mana-healthy.

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 later with your superior mobility. Getting 11% increased damage against all enemies when out of your R can be so much more important than having 8% on single targets. That being said, Coup de Grace can also be a viable pickup into more burst-oriented bruisers like Nocturne or into poke matchups like Ezreal or Caitlyn who have a higher mobility.

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 well with junglers such as Nocturne, Rek'Sai, Nunu & Willump or Kayn that can frontline and join fights fast, or midlaners like Galio or Twisted Fate. These picks essentially allow you to secure kills when you R and backup arrives. You can first pick Kindred as there are only a few bad matchups and it will also make the enemy think you're playing jungle and gives your team this "flex" advantage. For botlane matchups, here is a breakdown:

Taric is the best support for Kindred ADC. Not only does he give you great trading potential and additional threats with his E, he also gives you a really sweet amount of sustain and pressure. This allows you to trade even more. The best part tho, is with your ultimates. Combined, you get over 6 seconds of global invulnerability. Just makes sure you both cast your ults at the same time for the best effect. Well, usually if he ults like 1 second after you that's still fine too.

Nami is just absurd combo, as good in lane as lucian nami, but with more snowball and the survivability in late-game. An absolutely crazy combo you should definitely abuse. Galeforce electrocute into this for sure.

Renata Glasc is the newest champ that combos perfectly with Kindred, offering her beautiful ways to survive and go much more aggressive. The combo is absolutely crazy and with some practice you have the strongest botlane synergy ever.

Pyke is a close second for best support. Downside of pyke is he requires much greater skills and knowledge, but the outcome is often much greater. His pressure in early makes you such a strong kill lane, and his ult and yours form a great killing duo. My personal favourite for high-elo.

Rell is a really helpful champ that can really help peel for you and get enemies out of your R. With her ability to engage, hard cc and shred armor, you should always go the galeforce build. You also help her develop her kit by allowing her a couple of seconds to get her cooldowns back in lategame with R.

Thresh is also a super strong partner. His pick potential and great peel allows for a more safe lane and secured scaling. In mid-game and late-game, he can lantern you out of ult or R so enemies can't escape. His early game allows you to get your marks easily too with secured kills.

Janna is, as far as enchanter go, the best one. She can provide decent poke which allows you to follow with these 3-AA trades you like taking. She can also peel really well for you and her R is great with your R as it will push anybody who wants to stay in. For best result, tell the janna to ult right before your heal comes.

Zilean is also a fantastic support for Kindred. Although his laning is rather weak and he can't really sustain for as long as you, in late-game, you both can 2v5 any situation. His R allows you to have an extra life and the movement speed makes you a mobile beast.

Braum has become quite a beast in S11 with the new items, and having him meta is great for Kindred, as he benefits so much from this 3-AA mechanic into stun. He also provides great peel and late-game catch potential. A great tank support who can follow your dashes over walls and freaky stuff too.

Last but not least, Sett is still one of the strongest supports with Kindred. His ability to lockdown any champ out of your R is amazing, aswell as his ability to catch enemies offguard or catch up to those you are hunting. A great forward going support who can sustain the lane perfectly.

Outside of the botlane, Kindred's kit also synergizes super well with:
Kled
Galio
Darius
Azir
Fiddlesticks
Lillia
Mordekaiser
Nocturne
Syndra

Outside of the botlane, Kindred's gets ****ed by:
Mordekaiser
Kha'Zix

Caitlyn is such a pain in the parsnip. This insane range she has makes her, from level 1, the hardest matchup for Kindred. And saddly that continues until one of your nexus explodes. She's maybe not a strong champ right now but she sure as hell counters you. Any time you'll come close she'll E and she can poke you without being punished. Really hard matchup for you but you can't focus her unless your team manages to catch her.

Ezreal is also quite annoying with his poke and range, aswell as E escape. Probably a lot less tho because he has no waveclear and that's where you can abuse the matchup: you have to go full push and hope for some scuttles and bad ganks or until he makes a mistake to take the upper hand. In late it's an even matchup although it'll be hard to finish him off.

Alistar is the most annoying support for you, as he can push you away with his W from anyone you're chasing or out of you ultimate, making you vulnerable. He can also CC chain you for quite a bit. Against an alistar, try and always keep a safe distance and make him fail his combo by Q'ing as he engages. It's tricky but it works.

Braum is, similarly to alistar, the only support who can rly be a pain. Not so much because of CC chains but more because he can deny all your damage with his E and slow any of your attempts to attack with a Q which also acts as a threat. Ideally you want to play the lane passive and scale until late game where braum performs a lot less well against you.

Adapt your runes and prepare your build in champ select. This means looking at your team and the enemy team and making impactful choices. 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, just send them this guide I'll deal will em ehe and then mute them ofc. The rift is not the place for chat, 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 ADCs. 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.

With the korean hardcore setup, you want to be really aggressive, engaging in a trade every 8 seconds once you've past your level 3, you'll be winning as long as you respect the 3-golden rules of ADC trading: MINIONS (your positioning and you target's in relation to minions) -JUNGLER (consider the enemy jungler's last position and if the enemies could be trying to bait you here) - COOLDOWNS (What are your cooldowns, your support's and your enemies'? How long should you trade for?). Once you begin thinking about these things in laning phase, you'll win a lot more lanes and games.

With the regular setup, you want to apply the same golden rule, take trades when the possibility shows: their positioning mistakes or wave opportunities. However, you don't want to force anything which could put you in danger. You're aiming for a more secure, controlled scaling through minions and pressure. Of course, like any ADC, you should react to your support or jungler's actions and act accordingly. You are a super strong champ which makes any lane you're in a kill lane. After all, kindred's real name is DEATH.


Your back timing is quite vague: Between 875 and 1300 gold. This can depend on a number of factors such as kills, minions and also depend on which setup you're going. For the aggressive setup, you'd ideally want a 1300 gold to buy Noonquiver, whereas you only want a Caulfield's Warhammer for the regular setup. Pay attention to that and don't stay in lane with too much gold. You have enough waveclear to not be pushed in even against a sivir or trist. Make sure you concentrate on farming throughout laning phase as a priority.

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 when you're ahead, go for it too.

Your first powerspike happens after you complete your first item ( Essence Reaver or Kraken Slayer. Use it to take trades and win fights, don't let it go to waste. You may be able to 2v1 any botlane if you've completed your item and they didn't back in a while.

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, a huge wave or a drake coming up, 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. Getting out of laning phase in an even gold with your opponent is a win for Kindred because of how much he scales.

It's like you're picking up the fruits of your hard labor in early-game. You are getting stronger every minute, even more so 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.

Concentrate on your macro: minions are super important. Never share a lane with your jungler, mid or top unless you're shoving before an objective. Always look at the map and make sure you're not overextended or wasting time.

Kindred's biggest powerspike is for his third item, the Infinity Edge. Upon completing it, he will be granted almost 40% more of the power he had before. This is figurative ofc but it's really this big of a powerspike. Make sure you use it.

If you're behind as Kindred ADC, you can either try and help the team to slowly get marks and build a gold advantage through kills, or you can focus on farm, put pressure on sidelanes and try and catch up to enemy's gold through superior macro. That's up to you and the state of the game and the enemies you're playing against.


Payday

As of late-game Kindred ADC, you should be the strongest champion in the game. There are two ways you can win the game. You can either try and poke, possibly bait for enemies to waste everything on you while you R and backup arrives and smashes opponents. You can also try and be a backline specialist, with great peel and engages on your team making you the actual damage dealer for the team.

You have an amazing amount of damage by late-game and it will only keep growing, so enemies will often make mistakes to try and take you down first or upon taking objectives. It's the most fun part of play but also the most stressful because of how much pressure is on you. Focus, keep your head straight and use everything you've ever learned in league to beat your opponents consistently. Goodluck my friend.

A last point for your macro which you can give to your team. Remember: Nashor is temporary, drakes are forever.