Kled Counters: Who Beats Kled

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Kled counters are top laners who stop his dashes, blind or slow his attacks, or chip Skaarl down from range before he can engage. He’s a 125-range fighter riding a lizard that soaks damage for him, with a hook, a burst of fast attacks, a double dash and a long-range charge for his ultimate.

These picks come from setting his patch 26.21 abilities against each counter’s kit. Nothing here is based on win rates.

Why is Kled hard to counter?

• Skaarl, the Cowardly Lizard (passive): Skaarl takes damage for Kled. When Skaarl’s Health runs out, Kled dismounts, his abilities change and he deals less damage to champions; fighting restores Skaarl’s courage, and at maximum courage Kled remounts with part of Skaarl’s Health.
• Bear Trap on a Rope (Q): a trap that damages and hooks an enemy champion; if they stay shackled briefly, they take extra physical damage and get yanked toward Kled. Dismounted, it becomes Pocket Pistol, a ranged blast that knocks Kled back and restores courage. Cooldown 11/10/9/8/7.
• Violent Tendencies (W): massive Attack Speed for four attacks, the fourth hitting harder. Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9.
• Jousting (E): a damaging dash with a burst of speed, recastable to dash back through the first target. Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9.
• Chaaaaaaaarge! (R): Kled and Skaarl charge to a location, leaving a speed trail and gaining a shield, and Skaarl rams the first enemy champion in the way. Cooldown 140/125/110.

Kled is two health bars stacked on top of each other. You burn through Skaarl, Kled hops off, and then, if he gets enough fighting in, he climbs right back on. That’s why the lane feels endless. His engage is also layered: the hook drags you in, Jousting dashes twice, and the ultimate charges from far away. So where’s the weak point? Almost all of it relies on movement or on four quick attacks from Violent Tendencies. Stop the movement, or make the attacks miss, and the lizard is just a lizard (a loud one, sure).

Which champions are the best Kled counters?

Poppy

Kled moves three ways. Jousting dashes in, recasts to dash again, and the ultimate drives him and Skaarl across the map. Poppy’s Steadfast Presence (W), when activated, stops enemy dashes near her and leaves the stopped champion slowed and grounded. Those two facts make the matchup. Heroic Charge (E) shoves Kled into a wall for a stun, Hammer Shock (Q) leaves an area that slows and then blows up, and Keeper’s Verdict (R) sends him flying very far away. Honestly, a Kled who charges into a Poppy with W up has made a bad call.

Teemo

Blinding Dart (Q) blinds its target for the duration. Violent Tendencies is four very fast attacks, and a blinded Kled spends them swinging at nothing. Teemo also fights from 500 range against 125, and Toxic Shot (E) poisons with every attack, dealing damage on impact and each second for 4 seconds, which chips away at Skaarl between trades. Move Quick (W) adds Move Speed and a sprint to stay out of hook range. Noxious Trap (R) mushrooms slow and poison enemies who step on them. Funny enough, the most annoying champion in the game is a good answer to the loudest one.

Kennen

550 range and poke that never stops. Thundering Shuriken (Q) is a fast skillshot, Electrical Surge (W) marks every few attacks, and three marks from Mark of the Storm (passive) stun the target. That stun lands on a champion whose whole game is closing distance. Lightning Rush (E) lets Kennen pass through units with bonus Move Speed, which helps against a hook that needs a clean line, and Slicing Maelstrom (R) strikes all nearby enemy champions for magic damage when Kled finally does arrive. To be fair, Kled’s ultimate covers a lot of ground, so Kennen has to keep the marks stacked before it comes.

Jax

Jax’s E, Counter Strike, is a brief window where attacks simply don’t connect with him, and it ends with a stun on whoever’s standing close. Time it with Violent Tendencies and Kled’s four fast attacks all miss, followed by a stun. Leap Strike (Q) jumps to any unit, which lets Jax follow a Jousting retreat, Relentless Assault (passive) builds Attack Speed over a fight, and Grandmaster-at-Arms (R) gives a burst of Armor and Magic Resist on activation. It’s an extended fight. Jax is built for extended fights.

Malphite

Ground Slam (E) cuts the Attack Speed of every enemy it hits, and Violent Tendencies is an Attack Speed spell. Slam the ground right as Kled activates W, and the four quick attacks become four slow ones. Granite Shield (passive) recharges between trades, Seismic Shard (Q) steals Move Speed for 3 seconds, cancelling the speed Kled gets from Jousting and his charge trail, and Unstoppable Force (R) knocks him into the air from range. Put simply, Malphite turns Kled’s quickest trade into his slowest.

How do you play the lane against Kled?

• Break the hook early. Bear Trap on a Rope only yanks you and deals the extra damage if you stay shackled, so walk away from Kled the moment it lands.
• Count Skaarl’s Health, not just Kled’s. When Skaarl runs out, Kled dismounts and deals less damage to champions.
• Don’t feed courage. Dismounted Kled remounts once courage is full, and fighting him is how he restores it.
• Trade after Violent Tendencies. It’s a 13 second cooldown at rank 1, and most of his burst comes from those four attacks.
• Watch for the speed trail. Chaaaaaaaarge! leaves a trail that speeds up his allies, so a Kled ultimate usually brings a jungler with it.

Which items counter Kled?

Armor and anything that blunts Attack Speed, since Kled deals physical damage and Violent Tendencies is his burst. Boots first: Plated Steelcaps, 25 Armor plus Plating, which shaves damage off each attack (all four of them, in Kled’s case). Then Frozen Heart. Its Winter’s Caress passive slows the Attack Speed of every champion standing near you, which makes it the most direct item answer to Violent Tendencies there is (Kled players hate it). Randuin’s Omen brings 75 Armor and 350 Health, with an active that slows nearby enemies hard, which is useful right after a Jousting dash. Damage dealers can buy Death’s Dance to spread out his burst over 3 seconds. Mages caught by the hook can use Zhonya’s Hourglass for 2.5 seconds of Stasis, letting the shackle run out. The items database lists the full stats.

When is Kled at his weakest?

When he’s on foot. Once Skaarl’s Health is gone, Kled dismounts, his abilities change and he deals less damage to champions, and Pocket Pistol knocks him backward rather than forward. That’s the moment to push the trade, before he refills courage and climbs back on.

He’s also weak after he’s spent his movement. Jousting is a 13 second cooldown at rank 1, the ultimate is 140 seconds, and without them he’s a 125-range fighter with a hook. Can he still win from there? Sometimes, if the hook lands. In practice, though, a Kled with no dash left is a Kled you can walk away from.

New to the top lane? The guide to LoL roles explains why the island lane at the top attracts fighters like him. Need a different champion? Check the guide catalog. His cosmetics are listed on the Kled skins page, while one-lane random games get the Kled ARAM guide. Long story short, Kled counters stop his movement or make his four fast attacks miss.

FAQ

Who counters Kled the most?

Top laners who stop his dashes, blind or slow his attacks, or poke Skaarl from range: Poppy, Teemo, Kennen, Jax and Malphite.

What happens when Kled loses Skaarl?

Kled dismounts. His abilities change, he deals less damage to champions, and Bear Trap on a Rope becomes Pocket Pistol. He remounts once Skaarl’s courage is full.

How do you escape Kled’s hook?

Bear Trap on a Rope deals extra damage and yanks the target only if they stay shackled for a short duration, so move away from Kled right after it hits.

Does Teemo’s blind work against Kled?

Yes. Blinding Dart blinds the target for its duration, and Kled’s burst comes from the four attacks of Violent Tendencies.

Where do these picks come from?

We took Kled’s patch 26.21 kit, mount and dismount included, and checked which top laners answer each piece of it. Match statistics were not used.