6/15

Changed some items to fit the more "mainstream" kindred builds, and to fit what I usually buy when I play kindred.
EDIT: Since I must be really blind or something I can't find a button to edit the items for my build and so I'm just going to write down the revised items down here:

Hunter's Talisman -> Skirmisher's + Bloodrazor enchant -> Berserker's Greaves ->
Blade of the Ruined King -> Runaan's Hurricane -> Rapid Fire Cannon ->
Either Lord Dominik's, Phantom Dancer, Guardian Angel, Maw of Malmortius, or Infinity Edge

Added a picture to visualize the actual jungle route that I take.

Added a comments section at the end of the guide to show my thoughts on the recent Kindred nerfs, changes, buffs, and what's coming up in PBE.

Took off the fancy chapter names because they kept removing the titles from my chapter names so I said fck it and just shortened it.

8/26
Updated chapters 5, 6, 7 and 13 with Expert Tips, or useful knowledge, at the very end of each of these sections.

Added a new chapter between 13 and 14, labeled "Common Mistakes Kindred Players Make".

Updated chapter 16 to comment on the upcoming Kindred buffs.

Yo what up. They call me Tax Demon but you can just call me Tax Demon. Kindred is my favorite champion because of their playstyle, being a "fragile" creature in the jungle whose job is to carry in the frontlines and teamfights for late game, and also being a saboteur whose job is to mess **** up wherever possible. I am a jungle main, but I enjoy playing adc sometimes, which is another reason why I also play kindred.

As kindred, you need to be able to take advantage of your passive, which gives you an amazing bonus for killing champions that you have "targeted" and also monsters that wolf hungers. It is paramount to begin the game by marking the enemy jungler and pulling off an invasion after taking blue buff. This is when 80% of junglers are most vulnerable; the moment after they finish taking blue and gromp, they are around ~40% hp. Kindred's amazing clear allows for kindred to be around 80-100% hp after finishing blue and gromp, so it's never a bad idea to try, and what better time to start than as soon as possible?

Marking the enemy is normally very situational and is only something that comes with experience. For starters, you should try marking the people that die the most in every game in order to ensure the highest probability of succeeding.

Over time, you'll learn your own mechanical marking method like me, but completely different. I almost always mark the enemy tank because they are the first to die in a team fight, but many people mark the backline. I don't think it's a good idea to ever do that because kindred is frontline and should be keeping both teams in check.



Mark whoever you think is guaranteed to die.

I mark jungler>mid>bottom lane>jungler in most cases.

Jungling with kindred is pretty different from the normal experience. Never try to kite gromp with mere movement, but with your q alone. Use one health potion while fighting gromp.

Blue buff is a different story, where you will try to test the boundaries of blue buff losing its patience and take as little damage as possible. In other words, kite the **** outta that stony boulder as much as you can without resetting it. Use a health potion after blue buff, and proceed to the enemy bush closest to raptors.

Never try to kite red buff. Ever. That demon tree is too fast to kite and you'll end up taking more damage than just facetanking it. Use your q to backstep away from it, but don't do it so much that you end up resetting it.



Do not kite Gromp, kite Blue buff a lot, do not kite Red buff.


Expert Tip: When you become VERY good at jungling as kindred, gromp CAN be kited with mere movement, considering the fact that you outrange gromp. If you can perfect the auto attack + move on gromp taking into consideration his range, then you will definitely be able to conserve more hp.

After taking blue buff head to their red buff through the area closer to mid lane than top/bot. This is where you check to see if their red buff is up or not. And then according to the following situations you will do one of two things:

If red buff is there: You sit in that bush and chill for about 10-20 seconds. If he didn't show up, he's either: At your red, which is completely fine. At base, which is going to suck in a lot of ways. Or finally taking his sweet *** time getting to red buff.

In any of these three cases, you will walk up to the bush next to their raptors and ward that bush. Then you can take their red buff or their raptors if they are marked by wolf, and wait for that late bastard to arrive.

If red buff is not there: Go straight to their raptors and gank the **** outta them if they happen to be unfortunate enough to be there. If they are not at raptors then you will have to give it up and go back to your red, which is 100% likely to be up, after taking their raptors because you are Tax Demon's assistant.



Gromp>Blue>Enemy Champion>Red>Recall>Gank

Gromp>Blue>Enemy Red>Raptor>Recall>Gank

Gromp>Blue>Red>Gank



Expert Tip: Note that you still have an extra health pot, as long as you didn't need to use it as you did blue or gromp. Use this as soon as you engage the enemy jungler.

The natural skill combo for kindred for me is to Q into the enemy and casting W mid leap. If you can reach them after the q leap hit em with an E and proceed to rip their hp to shreds with a mix of auto attacks and q. Make sure you aren't directly leaping to your opponent 24/7 with your q, as that can convince them to turn on you. Try doing it sideways and you should be able to safely pulverize them.



Q>W>E>Q>Q>Q



Expert Tip: With the nerfs to how often Kindred's Q comes up, it's now a good idea to commit to 2-3 auto attacks in between jumps. Also remember that if you use Q to go directly outside your W range that you still get the cooldown reset on your Q. Also remember to use your skirmishing smite accordingly, and ALWAYS have it on the opponent before your 3rd auto attack with E.

Kindred's ult is a beautiful thing, not only can you do it to troll the **** outta your friends and teammates, but you can also use it in a wide variety of ways. Some of the things you can do but are not limited to do include: tower diving, stealing baron, stealing dragon, absorbing damage, changing the tides of a teamfight, etc.

You don't only use it to save someone from imminent death, but you can also use it early to heal yourself and as a way to ensure that you won't die. If you're dueling an opponent to the death, using it about a second or even two before both you and the opponent die can save you while killing your opponent. With over hundreds of games with kindred, I can only say I've seen enemies running away from my ult and giving me a chance to finish them off more times than I could count. Here are some tips to effectively using your ult:

Relax: do not panic use your ult. It can save both teammates and enemies alike, and you'd rather not save your enemies (at least I hope).

Be creative: I don't mean to say that you should use it in a stupid way and waste it, but try experimenting and doing something new and creative with it.

Read your enemies: If you can sense that they're going to engage, don't just sit there and not do anything! It's better to blow off your ult and end up whiffing it entirely than to end up getting bursted down in a second and not using it at all. Just make sure your reads are accurate, though.



There are lots of ways to use Kindred's ult, don't waste it, but don't end up not using it at all. Find out your own way to use Kindred's ult as you learn kindred.

Among all the junglers I play I've noticed that Kindred alone has the best ability to predict the enemy jungler's position, due to Kindred's passive. It's best to always try to track the enemy jungler and also to mark it down for your teammates. This way, they'll get a better sense of where the enemy jungler is and take a more aggressive or defensive playstyle.

The ability to track the enemy jungler varies with how often you play jungle. With a plethora of experience, you will be able to predict the jungler's route and what they intend to do. In order to accurately track the enemy jungler, you must be able to:

Have a good foundation for jungling: In order to understand the enemy's route.

Apply constant pressure and be able to see him often, otherwise it's not considered tracking, but rather predicting.

Understand that when your marks on monsters disappear that it means he had taken your mark, time varies.

Keep in mind that the jungler has to recall sometime now or later, and that his jungle item influences his path, meaning that he may not be where you think he is because he recalled, or because his jungle item forces him to kill everything in his jungle.



Try tracking the enemy jungler to help your team out!

Ward places that junglers often pass by in order to have a good amount of vision on him. Try to do this quickly so you don't have to deal with being seen. If you're feeling nice, you can give your laners a ward to prevent them from getting ganked (and getting blamed).

There's a very fine line between whether to chase, or whether to pull back. I'd say that you should try to trade as much free damage as possible before pulling back, thus making teamfighting much easier. I believe Kindred's primary role in teamfights is to focus tanks, and deal a lot of single target damage, peeling for the real adc and the mid laner. Your job is to stay on the frontlines and take damage, while dodging as much as you can.

It is not necessary to always run up to your mark and focus them down first. Always play patiently, and remember that assists grant you your mark as well as kills.

Do not be afraid to use your ult even if it may save the enemy: the only one who knows when exactly your ult is coming out is you yourself. Even if they're inside your ult they may walk out of it, and it happens occasionally. What matters is that your teammates live.

Your first gank should be after you've reached either level 3 or level 4. It will always succeed if they are caught out of position with less than 90% hp remaining, and have no escape spells.

Always gank from the side near their tower if you're ganking mid lane.

Always gank through the lower tri bush if you're ganking bot lane. This means that you should enter the tri bush from the enemy jungle if you want to gank bot effectively.

Always gank top through the long bush near blue team's tower.

With considerable luck, and good ganks, your team is set to win. Make sure to utilize your standard combo and hit em where it hurts.

Ganking the same person for the whole game is not a bad idea, since it could lead to major tilting, and so it makes them play a 4v5.

Try not to gank the person you've marked too soon after you've marked them. Give it a minute or two before you decide to do so.

When you ambush an enemy, there are steps you should take in order to secure the kill for your team. You have to take into consideration that they aren't afraid to flash, and that they aren't just bots who walk in a straight line towards their turret.

1)As explained in the section above, always gank from behind the enemy, unless you feel that your team is going to die quickly from engaging early, then you gank from the shortest route.

2)When you gank, the first thing you'll want to do is you q>w into them. Depending on how overextended they are, you will either use e or save it. Use E as they approach their tower, if they are about 6 teemos apart from the tower that's the appropriate distance to press e.

3)If you see them about to enter a bush toss down your challenging smite or immediately place a ward in the bush they're going to enter. Proceed to destroy the enemy as you stay directly in front of the area they are trying to reach.

4)Exercise caution at all times, noting where the enemy jungler is, and checking your hp constantly.

5)Don't hesitate to Q even if you think they're going to flash; your q follows them forever as long as you were in range post leap.



Expert Tip: ALWAYS stay directly in front of where you think the enemy is most likely to run to attempt to escape from you. This will often either force them to panic and switch courses or will secure the kill if they continue moving in the same direction towards you. Remember that when you're ganking that you've (probably) also got an ally right behind you that will help you kill that person, leave it up to them if they take a route you cannot get to, or give up entirely on the kill.

When you ambush an enemy, there are steps you should take in order to secure the kill for your team. You have to take into consideration that they aren't afraid to flash, and that they aren't just bots who walk in a straight line towards their turret.

1)As explained in the section above, always gank from behind the enemy, unless you feel that your team is going to die quickly from engaging early, then you gank from the shortest route.

2)When you gank, the first thing you'll want to do is you q>w into them. Depending on how overextended they are, you will either use e or save it. Use E as they approach their tower, if they are about 6 teemos apart from the tower that's the appropriate distance to press e.

3)If you see them about to enter a bush toss down your challenging smite or immediately place a ward in the bush they're going to enter. Proceed to destroy the enemy as you stay directly in front of the area they are trying to reach.

4)Exercise caution at all times, noting where the enemy jungler is, and checking your hp constantly.

5)Don't hesitate to Q even if you think they're going to flash; your q follows them forever as long as you were in range post leap.

This is where I'll discuss what I think Kindred players usually do, but should NEVER do.

1. This is one of the most important things: If there's EVER a high chance that the enemy jungler is around as you are taking a jungle camp, NEVER use your E or even your W. For one, you don't need either of them to clear a camp, all you need is a couple marks from successful ganks or bloodrazor enchant. For two, always save your W and E exclusively for dueling enemy champions. Kindred players are most vulnerable when their W is about to expire and their E is down.

2. I notice that other Kindred players often have a lack of presence and get counter jungled a whole lot. This is because these players don't focus on obtaining ANY of their marks on enemy jungle camps or from ganking, the BIGGEST mistake a Kindred player can make: not taking advantage of their passive. Of course it's because of this that they also die when they get counter jungled as well.

3. I notice that some Kindred players prioritize their marks too much, which leads to getting set up and baited because they've been spotted heading to a jungle mark. This is not an easy problem to fix, but if you learn that that's how the enemy team works then forget jungle marks completely and just go for ganks.

4. People often forget Kindred is a champion that should be played patiently. You don't need a freakin kill every time to get a mark on an enemy champion, all you need a single assist, so just tap them once and let your team take care of them, and head for the most imminent threat.

5. Kindred players sometimes think that their ult will always save their team if they're in danger, which is almost never the case. They need to think about what the enemy team composition is and what could displace the team from Kindred's ult. Kindred's ult only saves the team from ultra high burst, never consistent and highly sustainable damage.

What up bois. Let's get right to the point.

"Kindred ult becomes purely selfcast."

To be honest I've always sucked at using my ult on teammates, never in range and such. And sometimes I fail to press r on myself because my cursor is off by a little bit. In the end, this change makes kindred turn into an aoe tryndamere ult, and since I've played tryndamere this doesn't affect me much at all, if not helping me.
Additionally it gravitates Kindred's playstyle to be more self-centered, enforcing her role as an adc more than anything else.
In short, not THAT big of a nerf.

"Kindred's Q damage lowered and scales off passive."

This was a brutal hit to kindred's overall damage. But I believe it was around this patch that they also included the addition of the new jungle item enhancement "bloodrazer". This enchantment really compensates for every nerf that kindred took in the past and now, turning kindred from caster to auto attacker. This is also the second strongest nerf that kindred has received so far on Live.
Though it is a large nerf, new choices and possibilities open way to a stronger Kindred game.

"Kindred's Q cooldown reset has been increased and now scales off its level to approach its original value."

This is the biggest nerf kindred has gotten so far, limiting her early game power by a vast amount. HOWEVER, even with this nerf, Kindred's early game gank is still ridiculously strong, and hopefully they don't nerf her even further after this. She can still successfully get a free kill from the strategy that I use, given that you play it well.

"Wolf now marks jungle monsters mechanically depending on how many marks Kindred has. Additionally, Wolf now marks red and blue buff at 6 stacks, and marks dragon and baron at 7 stacks and above."
Im not actually sure the exact numbers and tiers for each mark because I don't pay attention to that stuff since it's so easy to get my marks anyway. The only important things to note are the latter statement, and also the fact that Wolf is GUARANTEED to mark raptor/scuttle at 0-2 stacks. Both of these are the ideal marks, as discussed in the guide prior. The only "bad" mark you can get is on the scuttle on the enemy's blue side of the jungle, since you'll be in the enemy's red side of the jungle most of the time anyway.
After playing about another 25 games with kindred I've come to a conclusion about the marks now: At around the 20 minute mark, you should have: anywhere from 2-7 marks, on average I usually have 5, now. So in general marks are now much harder to get, or maybe I just suck now idk. However, marks should come in constantly and consistently. I'd average maybe 5 minutes a mark after 20 minutes is where you want to be.

"Mounting Dread's (E) slow percentage is reduced from 70% to 50%"
It could've been worse, considering they were thinking of nerfing it down to 30% instead. It's a big nerf, but it's not hard to get around, just have to adapt to it. I really liked the high slow % and felt that it was necessary to really secure kills.
Now its ability is much less potent. I recall being able to chase down anyone because of the slow, and now I may have to consider timing my E carefully.

"Healing passive on W is replaced with a passive in which wolf lowers a monster's attack speed and movement speed on hit"

Well damn. There goes the "hopefully they don't nerf her even further after this" that I mentioned.
This change is supposed to change her overall healing power outside of the jungle and convert it to damage in the jungle, to compensate. I speculate that I'll have to take a couple extra pots with me as I leave the shop because of this, considering I rely on her w passive to stay in the jungle. Let's move on, cause screw this topic.

"Kindred's base armor down from 27 to 20, armor scaling increased by .25."

This is going to make early game even worse if these exact values are implemented. In short, it's all aimed at the early jungle gank. What they don't realize is how little damage kindred actually takes because she doesnt take much damage from blue at all. In the end, it's a buff to kindred's mid to late game, which is what they've been pushing towards lately.

Upcoming Changes:

"Attack damage growth increased to 2.5 from 1.7"

Okay, cool. Personally I think Kindred is already perfect as they are currently. They can still do everything as well as they did when they first came out, and even after all the nerfs that they've received. Apparently Kindred is now being called underpowered for reasons I can't fathom, but this buff will severely increase Kindred's overall scaling into the late game. You'd think a couple extra AD at lvl 7 would make no difference, but taking into account that Kindred players nowadays hardly ever make building flat AD a priority, this is a significant buff.

"Mounting Dread (E) maximum health damage increased to 7% from 5%"

Mounting dread was already a motherflipping powerhouse skill that could finish anything off without much of an afterthought. Adding a small 2% bonus to that does indeed help the newer kindred players, but really, this is unnecessary and completely obsolete as kindred's E already finishes targets off at around the 200-300 hp mark. This is a buff to the early game for Kindred, considering it only takes one point in E to have this amount of damage.