How to Play Smolder (Abilities, Builds, and Tips)

A Basic Beginner Guide to Playing Smolder ADC

It’s only January 2024 and Riot have already released teasers for their newest champion. Smolder will be coming to LoL very soon. Smolder is a cute Dragon champion that should played in the ADC role. He is a simple champion, which is nice to see after Riot has released some more mechanically intense champions as of late.

In this Mobalytics article, we will break down the basics of Smolder, giving you the first stepping blocks to help you play him. If you’re looking for more articles to help you play Smolder, head over to Smolder’s Champion Page.

Ability Breakdown

Here’s a breakdown of Smolder’s kit. Luckily for newer players, his kit is quite basic, so it will be easy to understand.

Passive: Dragon Practice

Dragon Practice grants him a stack whenever he uses a spell to damage an enemy or gets a kill. Getting stacks bolsters the damage output of his basic abilities.

It is a good Passive. It won’t benefit him much early on, but it will once he has some time to come online!

Q: Super Scorcher Breath

His Q dishes out damage, but synergises with his Passive. The more stacks he has, the more upgrades he can get. At 25 stacks, he damages all enemies. At 125 he sends an explosion that deals a lot of damage. At 225 stacks, he burns the target.

His Q is the best tool in his basic kit. He will use this ability the most. I think it’s cool how it scales. If you get an early lead, I assume you can snowball faster due to this ability’s synergy with his Passive.

W: Achooo!

Achoo slows and deals damage to enemies.

This spell is not special; it is a standard damaging spell.

E: Flap, Flap, Flap

His E is a movement tool that can help him get over walls. While using his E, he damages a nearby low health enemy.

I don’t really have an opinion on this ability, it’s pretty much a standard dash, but it can be used to reposition in a fight or skirmish.

R: MMOOOMMMM

Smolder’s mother comes down, dealing damage to nearby enemies while healing her son.

I think this is a cool ability as there are not many ADC champions that have built in sustain.

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Smolder’s Best Build

This is currently the best build for Smolder in the ADC role. I would highly recommend you download the Mobalytics App so you can get his updated builds directly imported into your client so you don’t have to worry about searching for his build everytime you wish to play him.

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Synergy

Having a good support is crucial when playing the ADC role. When two players lane together, it is important that they can synergise with one another to do well. Without good synergy, you’ll soon struggle to win the lane.

For this section, these champions may not be statistically the best, as early data isn’t always effective, but these champions have good kits that can empower and work well with Smolder.

Lulu

The first recommendation is Lulu. While Lulu isn’t the best champion right now, she has many tools to keep and empower him alive. She can shield and protect him from damage, empower his autos with her W, and protect him with her Ultimate. In team fights, she can continue to keep him alive so he dishes out a ton of damage.

Rakan

Rakan is a champion with good all-in potential and can make plays from the get go. Smolder and Rakan can work well together as he can follow up when Rakan wants to fight. For instance, he can use his dash to close the gap and follow up. Post 6, Rakan can all-in and he can follow up with his auto-attacks and Ultimate.

Nami

Nami can work well with him as she is an aggressive support who can empower him. She provides sustain in the form of healing with her W, and can empower his auto-attacks or his Q with her E. Post 6, the two have good kill potential and in team fights they can work amazingly with one another.

Sona

This champion is one of the strongest supports around right now. Sona has a lot of peel and protection tools built into her kit so she can keep him alive for longer in fights. Post 6, she has good pick potential with her Ultimate too, so they can get kills without the need for Jungle assistance.

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Tips and Tricks

Here are some basic tips and tricks to help you learn how to play Smolder. Come back in the future to see if we’ve added any more tips and tricks to help you play him. We’re going to add more tips in the future!

• Try and get an early lead. Getting an early lead will result in you getting your Q upgraded faster and let you snowball quicker.
• Think twice before using your E as it is your main defensive tool. If you use it, the enemy may all-in you while it’s down. You should only use it to either follow up on your Support, or to escape sticky situations.

We’ve made some other guides which will help you improve in the ADC role, here are some of our related recommendations:

Essential ADC skills to master

How to carry as an ADC

How to play against Blitzcrank

Final Thoughts

I am happy to see Riot creating champions with basic kits once again. Don’t get me wrong, seeing a champion do a lot of things is cool too, but it gets a bit boring when you just see a champion do a lot of random things because they have a ton of abilities. What do you think of Riot’s latest creation? Let us know below!

Looking for more tips and tricks? Head over to Mobalytics!