Season 10 of League of Legends has been out for over a month and players everywhere have come back to play on Summoner’s Rift. Despite the changing meta and new releases, many older champions remain viable for climbing. For those interested in an off-meta pick, Kled the Cantankerous Cavalier offers an alternative that goes against much of what League players should normally do.

Kled is a diver-type champion played primarily in the top lane. A loud-mouthed and insane yordle that shares many habits of toxic players, Kled rides into battle on his lizard mount Skaarl with the sole purpose of kicking them off his land or claiming the spoils of war as his own. Compared to many other champions, Kled has a unique playstyle that involves fighting to the death and winning.

Kled’s Skills

  • Skaarl, The Cowardly Lizard (Passive) divides Kled’s health bar in two: one for himself and one for Skaarl. When the first health bar is depleted, Skaarl runs away and Kled dismounts. While dismounted, Kled has decreased movement speed moving away from enemy champions and deals decreased auto attack damage. Kled gains courage by hitting champions, turrets, and epic monsters but also getting kills on minions or champions. At 100 courage, Kled remounts with some of Skaarl’s health. Only Skaarl’s health benefits from items. Beartrap on a Rope (Q) hurls a projectile that damages any enemy it passes through and attaches to any champion or large monster hit. If Kled stays within a decreasing distance for several seconds he will yank the enemy dealing damage, slowing, and decreasing healing. While dismounted, Kled has access to Pocket Pistol (Q) which fires five shots in a cone that knock him back, deal damage, and restore courage per hit. Violent Tendencies (W) is another passive that enhances Kled’s attack speed for his next 4 auto attacks once in a while. The final attack deals additional damage based on the enemy’s health. Jousting (E) causes Kled to dash a short distance in a targeted direction, dealing damage to anything hit. If Kled hits an enemy champion or large monster, he briefly gains movement speed and can reactivate the ability to dash again. CHAAAAARGE! (R) causes Kled and Skaarl to charge to a targeted location, gaining movement speed and a shield while leaving a trail that grants the same speed bonus to allied champions. While charging, Skaarl will lock onto the first target and ram them for damage based on the distance traveled.

Playing As Kled

As Kled, players will be looking to fight as early and often as possible. Landing Q and the resulting yank will win most trades when combined with W’s attack speed bonus. For enemies that can beat Kled in an extended fight, the combo will be to E in, unload Q and W auto attacks, then E away as the Q yank applies before they can retaliate. If dismounted, Kled will need five auto attacks on a champion and a point blank Q to remount. Turning a lost fight with Kled’s remount gimmick will separate a good Kled from a great one and should be practiced in Co-op vs AI.

Kled Tips

For different cases, Kled cleanses all crowd control and excess damage when dismounted, countering the efforts of supports like Bard. Keep in mind that Kled’s mounted Q normally has a brief cast, but using E and Q at the same time will mask the animation. Similarly, the first cast of E cannot go through terrain, but the second cast will follow an enemy over walls if they try to run. On another note, Kled is immune to CC while using his ultimate which makes it an effective getaway tactic unless an enemy stands in the way to block him. Finally, players can control the first cast of W’s attack speed bonus by waiting until the time is right to put a point into the ability, usually when Kled needs a crucial remount early game.

Items to Build as Kled

Kled makes great use of Titanic Hydra because of health scaling and as an auto attack reset for more courage when dismounted. The Black Cleaver gives Kled attack damage, health, and cooldown reduction while reducing the armor of any pesky tanks or other League of Legends champions he attacks. Sterak’s Gage grants Kled a shield if he takes a burst of damage, potentially allowing him to survive until he remounts. In a similar fashion, Guardian Angel revives Kled with the courage he had before dying and will assure that Kled fully remounts if he was slain during the animation.

Kled’s Weakness

Despite his strengths, Kled does have some issues to keep in mind. Because much of his damage comes from auto attacks, champions that can mitigate the damage through items or skills will do well against Kled. Furthermore, Kled pays the price for his insane damage with it being mostly single-target compared to the AOE chaos of mid and late-game teamfights. Last but not least, Kled’s two health bars combine to form a massive health pool, meaning that various champions with percent health damage or executes can finish Kled off before he remounts.

League of Legends is available on PC.

Source: League of Legends