Kindred or Bond?

Very biased towards Kindred, used to run it in my main build even before its gigantic buff.

Kindred all the way.

I get to see where everyone is when someone is hooked so I know what to do, I see which direction the killer is headed, and it helps my teammates plan out what to do next. Amazing perk! :)

Overkill to do both as there is a lot of overlap with aura times - Kindred, Bonds and Empathy fall in that general one off group (Up to you if you want to run more I guess). Kindred is strong because it gives map wide information for who is going for the rescue, including if the killer is face camping and even provides the same information to your randoms when you're the one on hook. That change alone pushed it into favored territory BUT

I'll disagree with the other 5 folks above me and say Bonds is by far the strongest aura perk out of the 3 for personal information and decision making. It's a constant effect meaning you can make a lot more on the fly decisions which fits my playstyle.

1) See someone nearby working on a gen but gotta do something else like a hex totem nearby first? See him getting chased off in the gen and no matter how loud that terror radius blares momentarily- you know you don't have to worry about getting trapped in an awkward spot breaking a totem. You can go finish that gen he was working on afterwards as well...

2) Generator coordination even with a complete random team can be actively done by you alone by having information of nearby teammates. Game starts - you start next to a far corner gen with someone else and begin on it and spot a 3rd survivor working another gen 10m away toward the center of the map (a more contested area). You can leave the random you started with and run to that center gen to try and power that higher value gen OR even make your way through the middle of the map to gauge the 7 gen locations and target another important generator at max 1c/s efficiency to effectively prevent 3 gens from ever happening (this might require some maintenance of matching lobby names to models during lobby like you're some type of Killer main... and some experience to piece all the info together).

3) "Not sandbagging your randoms" to win... or well occasionally forcing them to work for you. You know most survivors start immersing behind rocks or in lockers or down right sprinting from generators at the first sign of a heart beat, creating a lack of gen pressure. Then you run Bonds and get chased by the killer to lead the killer completely away from randoms - who naturally start holding M1 more often than not. Then there's another thing when you are being chased on death hook while being tunneled to all hell over 5 minutes and see the 4th generator just pop nearby. Time to swing the killer toward that crouching Blendette, who has 0 hooks so you can escape, maybe get healed, power the last gen and even get an unhook scoring event for that sweet solo queue altruism. Better yet if the Blendette can actually loop - then he took a bloodlust hit for you maybe "unintentionally" and allowed you to get a 4 Escape.

4) The reverse of the top situation comes up where you KNOW you can take a hit for a nearby survivor who is obviously getting bloodlusted at a loop because he can't transition to another tileset (better yet if he is on death hook and you are at 0 or 1) and you make the bold play to bodyblock and either make the killer swap to chasing you or at worst allow that deathhook survivor to another tileset to loop over there instead - possibly popping his adrenaline and getting away scott free.

Actually, I always go with Empathy.

• Exceptional range, even at tier 1.
• If you see an aura, you know it’s important (unlike Bond where it’s usually just nearby people working gens).
• —- You’ll usually see the aura running, looping, pulling pallets, etc, so you know exactly where the killer is and which way he’s headed. Sort of like a built-in Spine Chill AND Preminition!
• —-If it’s not running, then you know where to go score some safe altruism points by healing.
• If you’re hurt, there are usually other injured people around. Once you reach one, you work together to quickly remove 2 injuries from the team.
• If you want to prepare for a flashlight save or Head-On stun, you know where to go to set up.
• If everyone is getting hurt (ie Legion) then you practically get map-wide awareness.

Solo Survivor here, I run Kindred regularly. You just can't beat the information it gives you, but also your team when you are hooked.

Aftercare.

This one right here is a really tough one. I absolutely love Bond, since it provides allot of information. You can help them out by steering the killer away from others. Or avoid getting in the way when others get chased. If you hear the heartbeat getting louder and you see noone near you know the killer is coming to check your generator or other points of interest. As well as finding other teammates so they can heal you or vice versa.

Kindred is just *chef's kiss*. When people are on the hook you get to see the whole game and everyone in it and how its playing out. It is not only helping you, but also your teammates when you are on the hook. I can say that when others run it in my team I instantly go, frick yeaah Kindred!

It comes down to personal preference. I love Bond myself, since I can play off of that a bit easier, but Kindred is definitely an amazing pick and will help the team especially in solo play.

I use a tag team of Kindred and Empathy, they compliment my medic build beautifully. Bond is very useful for a lot of things, especially what @Inji mentioned, regarding steering people away. I'm not very good at chases though so i stick with empathy. It tells me where the newly struck are being chased so i can work on a gen or get out of the way if their running towards me. I can find my injured bros and apply some botany.

But kindred? Kindred is a freaking godsend. Killer is camping, you usually know it unless they stealth. I had a scratch mirror myers try and hide out near my hook just yesterday. Did not work out for him. If you're running a hook rescue, you can see the exact moment to ump in, and if you aren't, kindred gives you a heads up on which direction the killer left the hook.

This. This right here.

I was trying to figure out how to word my preference for Bond, and this is it.

Seeing this comment from an account with Open-Handed as the picture was so perfect it made me happy.