Guide · Top

Kled Guide

the Cantankerous Cavalier

Fighter

Tier S Top

Kled, the Cantankerous Cavalier, is a fighter champion that is demanding to master. Across our 266 analysed ranked games, Kled is mostly played in Top (100% of its games), with a 51.5% win rate in that role: tier S among Top champions (#3 of 48, ranked by win rate). Kled's damage is mostly physical (89%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 56.9% in short games (under 25 min, 102 games) versus 47.8% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Average KDA

5.9 / 5.7 / 6.0

ratio 2.1

Damage / min

819

CS / min

7.2

Gold / min

437

Kill participation

40%

Vision / min

0.79

Averages measured over 266 Top games played with Kled, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Kled is a mounted fighter: Skaarl takes the damage in his place, and when his health drops to zero, Kled is dismounted with modified abilities and less damage to champions. He restores Skaarl's courage by fighting, and Bear Trap on a Rope hooks and pulls enemies toward him.

The hook

E AA AA AA AA

When: An enemy is within trap range.

Bear Trap on a Rope hooks a champion; if they stay hooked, they take bonus damage and are pulled toward you; Jousting dashes you in.

The speed fight

W AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA

When: You are in melee.

Violent Tendencies greatly raises your attack speed for four attacks; the fourth deals more damage.

See all 3 Kled combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Protect Skaarl: as long as he is mounted, you deal more damage. Dismounted, fight to restore courage and get back in the saddle.

Common mistakes

Letting Skaarl drop to zero for no reason.
Forgetting that dismounted you have different abilities.
Using Jousting without the recast when it is useful.

Riot's official tips for playing Kled

Kled generates some courage by killing minions, but gets much more from fighting Champions.
The last hit of Violent Tendencies deals more damage than the first three - make sure you hit it!
Chaaaaaaaarge!!! can be cast at a great range. Try and predict where the enemy team will be by the time you reach them.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Overlord's Bloodmail, Black Cleaver, and Titanic Hydra (23 games, 43.5% win rate).

23 games · 43.5%

23 games · 47.8%

20 games · 60.0%

Skill order

Max order : Q > W > E52.5% · 40 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q	●			●	●		●		●
W		●						●		●		●	●
E			●											●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 44 games).

Starting items

Doran's Blade

Health Potion51.6% · 31 games

First completed items, in order

Titanic Hydra

Black Cleaver

18 games · 50.0%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3779 gold, 70 CS, 4719 XP. At 15 min: 6128 gold, 111 CS, 8288 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite47.2% · 180 games

Exhaust + Flash58.3% · 24 games

Ignite + Barrier69.6% · 23 games

Flash + Teleport60.0% · 20 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Resolve

47.7% · 132 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph96%

Legend: Alacrity95%

Last Stand98%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Demolish79%

Second Wind53%

Shards

Attack speed76%

Adaptive force98%

Health scaling72%

Grasp of the Undying + Precision

54.9% · 71 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Demolish100%

Second Wind87%

Overgrowth97%

Secondary tree · Precision

Last Stand96%

Legend: Alacrity65%

Shards

Adaptive force79%

Adaptive force90%

Health scaling56%

Conqueror + Inspiration

51.5% · 33 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph85%

Legend: Alacrity97%

Last Stand100%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery79%

Cash Back61%

Shards

Adaptive force70%

Adaptive force100%

Health64%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Kled's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team50.7% · 73 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Titanic Hydra 50.0%

Black Cleaver 48.8%

Overlord's Bloodmail 55.0%

Hullbreaker 47.4%

Sterak's Gage 66.7%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team59.7% · 77 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Titanic Hydra 59.7% ▲

Black Cleaver 64.1% ▲

Hullbreaker 64.7%

Eclipse 50.0%

Profane Hydra 72.7%

The item that stands out most is Black Cleaver: 64.1% win rate, +13 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team46.6% · 116 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Titanic Hydra 41.4% ▼

Black Cleaver 42.0% ▼

Hullbreaker 44.4% ▼

Overlord's Bloodmail 44.4%

Profane Hydra 70.6%

Sterak's Gage 41.2%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Kled

Kled generates courage by damaging enemies with his Pocket Pistol and basic attacks, killing minions, and attacking structures or epic monsters.
Watch Kled's courage bar when he's off his mount - when it reaches 100%, he will remount and regain a significant amount of health.
Kled is much more threatening when he has Violent Tendencies ready.

Riot's official tips.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Kled's matchups.

Kled Top: what our games say

Laning phase against the Top average

Measure	Kled	Top average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3779	3580	+199
CS at 10 min	70	71	−1
XP at 10 min	4719	4754	−35
Gold at 15 min	6128	5655	+473
CS at 15 min	111	111	−0
XP at 15 min	8288	8297	−9

Measured over 44 Kled games with a timeline; the average covers 82 champions played Top in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min56.9 %102 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min47.8 %138 games

Best result: short (under 25 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveSkaarl, the Cowardly Lizard

Kled rides his trusty steed, Skaarl, who takes damage for him. When Skaarl's health depletes, Kled dismounts.

While dismounted, Kled's abilities change and he deals less damage to champions. Kled can restore Skaarl's courage by fighting enemies. At maximum courage, Kled remounts with a portion of Skaarl's health.

QBear Trap on a Rope

Kled throws a bear trap that damages and hooks an enemy champion. If shackled for a short duration, the target takes additional physical damage and is yanked toward Kled.

When dismounted, this ability is replaced by Pocket Pistol, a ranged gun blast that knocks back Kled and restores courage.

WViolent Tendencies

Kled gains massive attack speed for four attacks. The fourth attack deals more damage.

EJousting

Kled dashes, dealing physical damage and gaining a short burst of speed. Kled can cast this ability again to dash back through his initial target, dealing the same damage.

RChaaaaaaaarge!!!

Kled and Skaarl charge to a location, leaving a speed-granting trail behind them and gaining a shield. Skaarl locks onto and rams the first enemy champion encountered.