How to win the jungle race as Kindred against Maokai · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Kindred's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Maokai.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Kindred Favoured | Dance of Arrows kiting beats melee kits that can't close the gap. The margin is thin: Sapling Toss bush-bombs poke contests for free, and one slow camp on your side hands the window straight back, so keep the trade short. His damage is front-loaded CC, not DPS — dodge saplings and out-trade after the root. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Kindred Favoured | Wolf's Frenzy plus Q resets let you skirmish from untouchable range. Twisted Advance root trades keep skirmishes on their schedule, so this is an edge and not a blowout — take the level-2 skirmish only with the HP and cooldown lead. |
| Level 3 Route | Kindred Favoured | With three dashes banked you kite backwards and win every disengage fight, but Bramble Smash knock-back plus the W root is a solid pick kit, not a stat-check. You still win the straight exchange at the opening scuttle; keep it short, keep it decisive, and keep the scuttle line yours. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Kindred Favoured — Take Duels | You hold the edge at 4-5, not a blowout. He plays 4-5 through sapling vision and root ganks into lanes that already hold the wave, so meet them where the camps are, not where their laners are. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Lamb's Respite Favoured | Lamb's Respite un-loses fights — take aggressive duels knowing the floor is undeath. A forest of roots arrives ahead of every objective contest — respect that one window, but the six-spike comparison favors you: take the post-6 duel whenever HP bars start even. |
| First Item Spike | Kraken Slayer | Completing Kraken Slayer grants a stacking on-hit proc that dramatically raises your basic-attack damage against both camps and champions. Your clear speed jumps as a result, letting you secure rapid solo neutral objectives before Maokai can establish a path there. Use this priority window to force aggressive counter-jungle invades or capture remaining marks. Maokai's first item mostly buys health and cooldowns — his spike is durability, not damage, and it arrives early. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Kindred Favoured — Wins Late | From two items you out-scale Maokai. He is a root wall with a health bar — hard to kill, and the whole river is his zone, but none of that beats your full build in a straight fight. |
Start your clearing path at the Blue Buff camp to secure optimal ability haste looping across your starting single-target camps before clearing down into the scuttle crab side. Maokai clears comfortably with Sap Magic sustain and saplings, and he is close to full health at every crossing.
Ranked by the race windows in Kindred's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Kindred vs Maokai 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.
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Kindred's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows — Kindred holds the tempo advantage in this jungle matchup.
Not exactly — Kindred's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows, so Maokai is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
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 Maokai.
Start Gustwalker Hatchling + Health Potion and back for Noonquiver / Recurve Bow — path toward the next mark on the back. Build Kraken Slayer first, then Blade of the Ruined King / Runaan's Hurricane, with Berserker's Greaves.
Playing the other side? Maokai vs Kindred guide →
All Kindred jungle matchups →
More Kindred jungle matchups: vs Lee Sin · vs Lillia · vs Locke · vs Master Yi · vs Morgana · vs Naafiri