The 3.5 release of the Kong Ingress Controller (KIC) introduces significant updates, notably the general availability of combined services, support for connection draining, and the deprecation of some Ingress types as part of transitioning customers to the Kubernetes Gateway API. Combined HTTP Routes, now generally available, allow the consolidation of multiple HTTPRoute resources targeting the same backend service, thus reducing the complexity and resource usage by decreasing the number of Kong Gateway services required. This feature, which is not enabled by default due to changes in service naming, can be activated with specific flags. The release also brings support for connection draining, which ensures that connections to terminating pods are handled smoothly, particularly beneficial for session-based workloads using sticky sessions. By integrating with Kubernetes lifecycle phases and enhancing graceful shutdown processes, connection draining helps manage in-flight transactions efficiently. Users can enable this feature through specific configuration settings to improve the management of session continuity during pod termination.