How to win the jungle race as Kindred against Graves · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Kindred's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Graves.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Respect Graves | True Grit armor plus point-blank double-shot autos win any close-range brawl — Kindred has no answer to that at level 1. End of the Line plus knockback autos shred melees holding a buff pit on their half of the map too, so skip the level-1 crossing and answer the pressure cross-map. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Respect Graves | Quickdraw (E) True Grit armor stacking lets them out-trade in tight jungle lanes, and Kindred has no clean answer to it on the second camp — True Grit armor plus point-blank double-shot autos win any close-range brawl. Fight him in the open where his pellets spread, never inside a tight buff pit, and give up the second buff rather than the kill. |
| Level 3 Route | Respect Graves | The window at the opening scuttle belongs to Graves: Smoke Screen's blind caps a kit that wins almost every close-quarters exchange. Your own line is real — with three dashes banked you kite backwards and win every disengage fight — but it arrives second here. Fight him in the open where his pellets spread, never inside a tight buff pit, then give up the level-3 river fight. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Respect Graves — Path Opposite | Levels 4-5 still belong to Graves in a straight fight — farm the opposite side, answer their ganks cross-map, and wait for your spike. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Even Ult Window | Collateral Damage adds a dash-reset execute to their close-range shred, and Lamb's Respite answers it almost exactly. Decide this one on setup — vision, numbers and cooldowns — not on the ultimate comparison. |
| First Item Spike | Kraken Slayer / Terminus Spike | Completing your core marksman component grants an explosive physical damage acceleration loop that completely changes your brawling thresholds. Your clear velocity scales heavily, allowing you to secure rapid solo neutral pit takes before Graves can establish paths. Use this priority window to force aggressive counter-jungle invades or capture remaining marks. Graves' first item is a large step in raw damage — the double-shot at point blank starts removing squishies outright. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Kindred Favoured — Wins Late | Graves falls off relative to you — from two items on you win the raw stat check, even though he shreds anything in a corridor and holds a side lane against most of the map. Drag the game long and force the 1v1s. |
Start your clearing path at the Blue Buff camp to secure optimal ability haste looping across your starting single-target nodes before clearing down into the scuttle crab side. Graves has one of the fastest clears in the game — End of the Line through two camps at once means he is level three early.
Ranked by the race windows in Kindred's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Kindred vs Graves report continues with scuttle & dragon rules, invade windows and safety boundaries, the top-side objective fight, macro rotations and the win condition — plus the live enemy-jungle tracker that shows their start, clear and gank timers in game.
Read the full guide — plans from $1.99/month →🔒 Secure checkout · 💰 7-day money-back guarantee on your first payment · ✋ Cancel anytime
Lane Pass $1.99/mo · All Lanes $3.99/mo · Annual $24.99/yr. Renews automatically — cancel anytime.
No clear favourite — Kindred holds 2 windows, Graves 4, the rest are even.
Yes — Kindred vs Graves plays as a skill matchup: the jungle race swings window to window, and the better first clear usually sets the tone.
Kindred takes Press the Attack on the Precision tree with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity and Coup de Grace, and Domination secondary (Sudden Impact and Treasure Hunter) vs Graves.
Start Gustwalker Hatchling + Health Potion and back for Noonquiver / Recurve Bow — path toward the next mark on the back. Build Kraken Slayer / Terminus first, then Blade of the Ruined King / Runaan's Hurricane, with Berserker's Greaves.
Playing the other side? Graves vs Kindred guide →
All Kindred jungle matchups →
More Kindred jungle matchups: vs Evelynn · vs Fiddlesticks · vs Gragas · vs Hecarim · vs Ivern · vs Jarvan IV