Two characters in one
It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to get lost when selecting a Champion in League of Legends. Sure, the newest kid on the block, Kindred, has a giant floating mask for an icon and the list is in alphabetical order, but with 127 characters in all, there’s room for confusion.
Every so often though I find a new favorite and always seem to recall their spot on the list. Kindred is one of those favorites.
“Kindred,” a new jungler, is actually two characters — Lamb and Wolf. Their dichotomy is rather interesting, as they symbolize aspects of death, with stark color contrasts to boot. While Riot Games could have half-assed the theme it really went all out, and the animations for Kindred are some of the best in the game, especially when it comes to Wolf’s spirit tail effects. I also love dual characters as they have so much potential in terms of interesting skins.
So what can they do? Well, Kindred is really more of an active Champion, more so than a lot of others currently on offer.
Their W, which doubles as an area-of-effect attack, requires players to constantly move around to build stacks, which triggers health regeneration after attacking. Once you’ve launched a shot the stack resets, so you better be clicking a mile a minute to keep it up. Given the fact that their E is a slow and their Q is a vault that hits multiple foes, Kindred is a rather versatile Champion that can do a lot more than jungle. This goes double for the pair’s ultimate, which creates an area-of-effect space where nothing can die (read: drop below 10% health), friend or foe, for 10 seconds. It’s clearly situational and best used when losing a teamfight, but it can completely change the course of a match.
By virtue of playing Kindred, players can select a Champion to “hunt” by clicking on their portrait. After killing that target, you’ll gain a permanent stat increase, and a lengthy cooldown will be in place for the same player — though you can switch it up at will. Jungling is also a ton of fun, as you can kite enemies with your range and vault ability, allowing for some interesting early game play. Their E is also perfect for setting up ganks while roaming.
While Kindred is a beast, Riot might be gearing up for a nerf at some point. It’s very easy to gain an advantage over lesser players by hunting them constantly, as all you need is roughly two or three people to pick on throughout the match to gain the upper hand, stat-wise. This stacks very well with armor penetration gear. In the meantime the Champion requires a ton of skill to play and relies on a good team to shine, so pick the duo up if you haven’t already.
