Kindred has found a new Legends of Runeterra shell to thrive within via a Piltover & Zaun, Fearsome, and Go Hard build.
A number of big changes took place within the recent LoR 3.0 patch, including a buff to Kindred that lowered the Eternal Hunters’ mana cost by one while also boosting their basic stats. Since the update, a number of Kindred decks have attempted to impact the meat, but none have performed like the new Kindred Go Hard LoR deck. Tactician 4LW played the deck at the Runeterra Life tournament, and Salty Simon put to the test at the Mastering Runeterra Championship Series Qualifier. Both players finished in the top eight.
Salty Simon played a version of the Kindred Go Hard LoR deck that was created by 4LW, adding another copy of Kindred while decreasing Elise to two copies. He also went with one extra copy of Vengeance and one copy of Atrocity over the third Time Trick. Both versions ran one copy of Ezreal as well.
Placing in the top eight of the Mastering Runeterra tournament, Salty Simon beat Anivia Control and Darkness in their final match against Kenny007. They also ran Darkness and Trundle/Tryndamere FTR. And 4LW was able to top eight with it, in conjunction with Zoe/Diana Shellfolk and Trundle/Tryndamere FTR.
The Kindred Go Hard LoR deck has amazing versatility. It can pop off with Fearsome units during the early game for damage, but it can also go the long haul against decks like Anivia and Darkness. It’s a difficult deck to pilot, dominating over Aggro builds and most Midrange decks.
Players experimenting with the new Kindred LoR deck will want to mulligan for early drop Fearsome units and possibly a Kindred, depending on the matchup. The best course of action is to remain patient, passing to an opponent and forcing them to commit mana first.
Taking out early-game Fearsome blockers can lead to a massive life total hit, while targeting your own units with a Kindred on the board can eliminate a powerful single threat like Rumble. Targeting an opponent’s units prompts Kindred to take out the weakest unit with their mark while also leveling up Ezreal as an alternative win condition. Other LoR Kindred Go Hard win-cons include Fearsome attacks against a wiped board, Atrocity, and Commander Ledros.
