Are you bored of losing to Smolder in League of Legends? Don’t worry, this article will help you pick the correct champions against the Fiery Fledgling.
Smolder has been one of the better champions released in League of Legends to recent date. Smolder’s kit allows the small dragon to be played in ADC and solo lanes. For players in the lower elo, Smolder’s kit is a delight as, come the late game, Smolder essentially has his own Elder Dragon buff permanently once he reaches 225 stacks.
Even with some nerfs, Smolder is one of the most-picked Champions in League of Legends. If you are struggling to take him down, ESTNN is here to provide you with some of the best Smolder counters.
Senna
Senna provides a solid counterpunch for Smolder’s early-game power spike, often around level 3. Senna’s Q ability should be used at will not only to poke Smolder down but also to heal Senna and their support back up to reasonable health.
The primary purpose of picking Senna up in this matchup is to poke Smolder out of the lane constantly. Smolder suffers from hard crowd control when his E is down. If Smolder wastefully uses this ability in lane, that is the best time for you and your support to go all in as his kit is not great for close-quarters combat.
If you can win the long-range poke war, this matchup becomes relatively easy for Senna. Smolder needs to farm his Q, whether executing minions or using Q on an enemy champion. With Senna being an excellent poke champion at range, Smolder will have a tough time trying to use his Q onto Senna as they run the risk of being engaged.
Seraphine
The theme of these Smolder counters in League of Legends revolves around poke damage. Once Smolder receives any form of poke damage, they want to press Alt+F4 and quit the game. Seraphine is excellent at winding down opponents with her long-range poke. Although Smolder will have the advantage in the first couple of levels, it doesn’t take Seraphine long to come alive in the bottom lane.
Like with Senna, Seraphine has hard crowd control, which should be able to punish Smolder players if they misuse their E ability. Once Seraphine hits level six, you should call the jungler over, or at the very least tell your support to prepare to engage, as Smolders kit does not do well up close. Even as a more “supportive” champion, Seraphine will easily burst Smolder down. Although Smolder will scale into the game, Seraphine is an excellent pick for delaying that scale and is one of the best counters to Smolder in League of Legends.
Twitch
Twitch performs differently in the lane against Smolder than the other two bottom lane champions mentioned. Twitch is still one of the strongest picks into Smolder right now, but players must play with a certain level of aggression to punish the tiny Dragon. Twitch heavily wins the auto-attack game with Smolder, where the aggression comes in.
Instead of short trades, Twitch players should constantly be looking to harass Smolder in the lane. Once Twitch hits level 6, the lane drastically swings in Twitch’s favor, so be sure to call the jungler over to play around your ultimate and let your support know they should be looking to engage. If Twitch players can play around Smolders E or catch them off guard too high up the lane, Smolder doesn’t stand a chance and will get run over.
Although Xayah is a very strong ADC in her regard, she does not fare well against Smolder, according to Mobalytics. Smolders W allows for Xayah to be easily poked out of lane, which is not suitable for a champion who heavily relies on items to be relevant.
For Smolder players to effectively play against Xayah, keep the minion wave closer to Smolder’s side of the map; this will decrease the kill pressure Xayah has and will be susceptible to ganks. If you can navigate her feathers well and continuously poke with W, Xayah will have no chance of winning the lane against Smolder.
Aphelios is also one of the worst picks into Smolder in League of Legends. Aphelios is a low-mobility champion, which means he is pretty susceptible to poke damage without giving much back. Even if players were to ignore the lane and focus on scaling, this only favors Smolder, who can easily farm with their Q. Level six is the key in this match-up; if Aphelios has health similar to Smolder’s, it is anyone’s fight to lose.
The key for Smolder in this matchup is to keep the lane on his side of the map again. Smolder should sit back, poke with W, and farm slowly with their Q. This should allow the jungler to easily gank as Aphelios will be pushed quite far up the lane.
Here are the best supports to play with Smolder in League of Legends on patch 14.4, according to Mobalytics. Please note this article will be updated as new patches are released. For more information on when a new League of Legends patch will be released, check out our patch schedule article here.
- Maokai – 54.3 % winrate
- Camille – 53.1% winrate
- Yuumi – 52.5% winrate
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