Overview
A strong scaling champion that has been gutted time and again because of his late game hyper carry potential, Smolder still remains one of the strongest late game options thanks to his ability to inherently execute enemies once he’s gathered enough stacks. He’s still a bit of a ticking time bomb that enemies need to be wary of, and late game, he can still hard carry fights for your team. Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Smolder
Just because you're a late game monster doesn't mean you can completely neglect early game and not show up to anything. Smolder's power scaling has been balanced to more evenly spread his power since his release, and his ultimate is still a welcome addition to fights early in the game.
That said, you are a champion that absolutely wants to make it to late game. Once you've finished stacking, you should be in the mindset of trying to carry games -- you have the tools to make plays and look for picks on enemies who step too far forward.
Strengths
If you’re able to keep up in tempo or get ahead in the early game, then you have a great pathway towards end game, where Smolder is going to shine. He’s a champion with a good amount of survivability as long as you use your Flap, Flap, Flap [E] appropriately. And even before he’s able to fully stack and come online with his basic attacks and his Super Sorcher Breath [Q], Smolder can still bring some good value to fights with his MMOOOMMMM! [R], which has huge range and can help your team secure kills early. But all of this is secondary to your true goal, which is to stack up your Dragon Practice [P] and reach end game -- once you’ve finished stacking, you can look to hard carry the game even from bad spots.
Weaknesses
If the enemy team is able to snowball the game before you can finish stacking, then it can often be too little too late even if you’re able to come online. And the unfortunate reality of Solo Queue is that you will have a lot of fast games that end before you can do anything, which is going to be feel more noticeable on a champion that wants to scale into end game like Smolder. This is likewise compounded by any bad early game you might have, which is sometimes out of your control as supports will dictate the early tempo of the game.
Game Plan
Early Game: Look to farm and poke with your Super Sorcher Breath [Q] -- trades are favorable for you because they stack your passive as long as you land your Q.
Mid Game: You can offer value to fights with your ultimate. You still want to focus on farming, but don’t neglect your team to do so (like a Kayle player might).
Late Game: Once you finish stacking, you should look to play extremely aggressively. Just a few auto-attacks or a Q from you will put the enemy into lethal range.
