Kindred Skins

Kindred's skin catalog is weird in the best way. Eight skins total and every single purchasable one sits at 1350 RP Epic tier. No Legendary, no budget 520 RP throwaway, just a straight lineup of Epics and one Mythic Prestige. Been maining Kindred on and off since season 6 and honestly the consistency here is rare for Riot. Most champs get at least one lazy 750 RP recolor early on. Not Kindred. Could be wrong here but I think Riot understood from day one that a dual-entity champion with Lamb and Wolf needs a certain production floor to work. You cant just retexture half the kit and call it a day.

How Kindred's Skin Collection Shaped Up Over the Years

Shadowfire Kindred launched alongside the champion back in 2015. Day one skin. That was it for a while, just one option for almost two years if I remember right. Felt like Riot forgot about the Eternal Hunters for a stretch there. Super Galaxy dropped in 2017 and gave Kindred mains something flashy to lock in. Then silence again.

Spirit Blossom came in 2020 during that massive Spirit Blossom event. Huge deal for the champion. Porcelain followed in early 2023 with a Prestige variant. Woof and Lamb (the Cats vs Dogs skin) gave us something lighthearted. DRX Kindred from the 2022 Worlds lineup honored Deft's championship run. Chosen of the Wolf rounded things out in 2024.

So eight skins spread across nine years. Not the fastest release cadence. Champions like Lux or Ezreal get a new skin every time someone at Riot sneezes. Kindred gets maybe one every year and a half on average. Kinda feels like the dual model (Lamb plus Wolf means double the work on every VFX, every animation) keeps the pipeline slower. Seven Epics and one Mythic. No filler. Real talk though, for a jungle-only champion with a niche playerbase thats actually a solid catalog. Compare that to someone like Kled who has what, four skins total?

(Random thought: Kindred's pickrate in Diamond has been climbing since that W buff two patches back, so maybe Riot will speed up the skin releases. Copium probably.)

Best Skins for Kindred

Spirit Blossom Kindred. Full stop. This is the one. Been running this in ranked since it dropped in 2020 and I still havent swapped off for more than a week at a time. The thematic fit is perfect. Kindred is literally a spirit of death, and Spirit Blossom's aesthetic is all about the spirit realm and the afterlife in Ionian folklore. Lamb's mask gets this gorgeous translucent quality. Wolf transforms into a spectral fox-like entity. The Q dash leaves cherry blossom petals. W's hunting ground has spirit flames around the edges. R - the thing that saves your team or your enemies depending on your elo - gets this massive blossom effect on the ground. Beautiful skin. 1350 RP and it honestly plays like a Legendary.

Porcelain Kindred is a close second. Released January 2023 during the Lunar New Year event cycle. The blue and white porcelain aesthetic on Lamb looks clean. Genuinely clean. Wolf becomes this jade-colored spirit creature and the Q particles have that porcelain shatter effect. Spammed this in Diamond for maybe 40 games when it dropped. The auto attack sounds feel crisp, which matters when you're kiting camps in the jungle. Not sure if it's just me but the E proc sound on Porcelain hits harder than any other skin.

Prestige Porcelain Kindred takes the base Porcelain and goes gold and white. Mythic tier, so you needed prestige points or Mythic Essence to grab it. Looks incredible in the loading screen. The splash is wallpaper material. In-game the gold particles on W and R are noticeable but not as dramatic as you'd expect. Worth it if you already grind the Mythic Essence system. Skip if you dont.

Super Galaxy Kindred deserves a mention. Mecha-anime Kindred with neon colors and sci-fi VFX. Released 2017. It was THE Kindred skin for years before Spirit Blossom existed. Wolf becomes a robot companion. The ult zone looks like a force field. Played maybe 150 games with this back in season 8 and it still holds up. Some people think it clashes with Kindred's ethereal death theme. Fair point. I think the contrast is what makes it fun to use in normals.

Shadowfire Kindred is the OG. 2015 release skin. Infernal skinline (fire theme). Lamb gets dark armor with flame accents, Wolf is a fire spirit. For a 2015 skin at 1350 RP the particle work is decent. Not amazing by 2024 standards but decent. The Q feels snappy. My go-to Kindred skin when I want that darker aggressive vibe in lane.

Skinlines and Thematic Fits

Seven different skinlines across eight skins. Kindred doesn't repeat themes (except Porcelain with its Prestige variant). That's actually unusual. Most champions get locked into two or three recurring universes. Kindred just keeps showing up in new ones.

Spirit Blossom fits Kindred better than maybe any other champion in that entire skinline. The whole Spirit Blossom universe deals with spirits, death, the afterlife. Kindred IS death in Runeterra's lore. Not gonna lie, when Riot announced Spirit Blossom Kindred I thought "well yeah, obviously." Perfect match.

Porcelain works because of the elegance angle. Lamb's graceful movement style pairs well with delicate ceramic aesthetics. Super Galaxy goes the opposite direction and it works as a fun contrast. Cats vs Dogs (Woof and Lamb) is pure comedy. Wolf becomes a dog. Lamb gets cat ears. Silly concept, surprisingly solid execution. The DRX Worlds skin is more of a commemorative piece than a thematic statement. Cool to own if you watched that Worlds run live. I stayed up until 3 AM for those finals.

Chosen of the Wolf came in 2024 with its own unique skinline. Might be overthinking it but the name suggests a deeper lore connection to Wolf specifically, which is interesting because most Kindred skins lean heavier on Lamb's visual design. Wolf usually gets less attention in the splash art. This one flips that dynamic somewhat.

The Infernal (Shadowfire) line was Kindred's first and honestly its weakest thematic fit. Fire and death don't connect as naturally as spirits and death. Functional skin, just not inspired.

Budget vs Premium: What to Buy for Kindred

Here's the thing with Kindred. There is no budget option. Every purchasable skin is 1350 RP. No 520, no 750, no 975. You're paying Epic price or you're using base Kindred. Period.

So the "budget pick" question becomes which 1350 RP skin gives you the most for your money. Spirit Blossom. Easy answer. The VFX quality on that skin competes with Legendaries from the same year. If you can only buy one Kindred skin and you play ranked, Spirit Blossom is the lock-in.

If you want variety, Porcelain is the second buy. Different color palette, different mood, still high quality particles. Super Galaxy if you want something loud and flashy for normals. Shadowfire if you want the dark fire aesthetic. Could be coping but I think even Kindred's worst skin (probably Shadowfire by modern standards) is still above average compared to what other champions got in 2015.

The Prestige Porcelain is only worth chasing if you already have Mythic Essence sitting around. Dont spend money specifically to get it. The base Porcelain is 90% as good in-game. That last 10% is gold particles and loading screen flex. Not worth grinding for unless you're already deep in the cosmetics ecosystem.

(Sidebar for jungle mains specifically: skin clarity in river fights matters more than you think. Spirit Blossom and Porcelain both have R zones that read clearly in chaotic teamfights around dragon. Shadowfire's ult zone can blend into certain terrain. Small thing but it's cost me a smite fight before, season 11 I think.)

Frequently Asked Questions