Kled is the silliest League of Legends character since Fizz

Poor ol’ Skaarl

I was just talking to community member Stormworm this week about how hard it is to keep up with metas in multiple MOBAs or MMOs. Since you often have to “slot” yourself into a role on the fly (read: you can’t just auto-lock Bastion instantly like in Overwatch), you really have to know how to handle at least a handful of characters to stay competitive, even in unranked play.

Just when I’ve gotten a full picture of the latest massive patch for Heroes of the Storm, I dove back into League of Legends to catch up there, among all of the other stuff I’m re-learning like World of Warcraft and Paragon. At this point I’m all up to speed though in League, including some time spent with the brand new Champion that launched yesterday, Kled.

Filling the “Fighter” role as a primary, Kled is kinda sorta two characters. He’ll start mounted on his “cowardly steed” Skaarl, who has a separate health bar (and subsequently flees when it runs out, leaving Kled on his own). This puts his master in a bind, with a lower overall damage output and the inability to use some of the powers in his arsenal — and by “some,” I mean two of his four total abilities, which is pretty huge. The gist is that the better you play, the easier you’ll “earn” Skaarl back. Attacking Champions, Towers, or last-hitting mobs will raise your Skaarl meter, at which point you’ll reunite with your pet pal and the whole process starts over. It’s jarring to get used to, especially if the enemy team is really aggressive and dives you a lot.

Kled isn’t a pushover though, as he has a pretty mean kit. “Beartrap on a Rope” is his Q skillshot, which is great for setting up ganks, as it ropes in and deals a decent amount of damage with little effort. His Q morphs into a pistol while on foot in the form of a conal spray area, which launches him back with the recoil and also provides a tiny little escape. His W buffs his auto-attacks with subsequent hits (hammering home his Fighter role), and he’ll need Skaarl for his E to rush forward with a joust-like thrust. This is his only real means of pursuing an enemy without the use of his ultimate, though he does gain a little movement speed on foot if he’s running towards a Champ.

Speaking of his ultimate, “Chaaaaaaarge” (which he also can’t use without Skaarl) is one of the most fun additions in that category in a while. Skaarl will bounce towards a target location (with Kled on top), and smack into an enemy while granting a movement speed buff to his allies in a giant area. It’s great for picking off people in a teamfight, engaging, or for pursuing — though it can’t be canceled, so you have to commit. As you can clearly see, he has more than enough movement so long as you can maintain access to your lizard mount.

Like Taliyah before him, I’m not all that jazzed about playing Kled in earnest, even if he’s really fun to get in ARAM. For a lot of players, it’ll be tough to earn Skaarl back, especially if the enemy team is zoning you out while you don’t really have access to escapes. You have to get used to trying to keep Skaarl as often as possible, or rely on your team when he’s not up. That ultimate is mean though, and in the right hands (and with backup), can melt an opposing team.

I’ve been trying him in the top lane with an AD build, so we’ll see how it goes!