Since his official release at the end of January, League of Legends players have been busy in the lab, tinkering away with the game’s newest champion Smolder.
Over the last patch, for example, League players have quickly discovered a new build and playstyle for the fledgling dragon that eliminates his weaker early game by relying more on his poke with AP-based starting items like Doran’s Ring.
This new build is slowly leading to more wins than ever before for Smolder, though he still has a disappointing 45 percent win rate through Platinum rank and higher, according to U.GG. It will take a bit of time for the player base to adjust, but this new focus on scaling and early lane dominance could become a new way to take over the game later on with full passive stacks on his abilities.
Initial Smolder builds featured Press the Attack, Q start, and the Doran’s Blade starting item as an opening buy, but this made the early game almost unplayable against many different bottom lane combinations. He lacked any lane presence, didn’t have a lot of damage, and was often forced to farm under turret to catch up on stacks while getting dove by junglers and supports alike.
Through the last week onward, however, marksmen have opted for Arcane Comet, Doran’s Ring, and an early focus with Smolder’s W ability, Achoo! This build gives Smolder much more lane control since he can deliver significant poke and wave clear with W, allowing him to push in the lane, poke his enemies, and gain a level advantage on his opposing AD.
Instead of going all-in with his E and Q, you sit back and play for smaller trades to stack your passive, and if you’ve been farming and poking efficiently enough, you should have plenty of stacks to blast away your foes in the later stages of the game. Smolder’s E is also a great self-peel ability since you can simply fly away from any ganks, while W provides a significant slow to bog down any champions rushing at you.
If Smolder’s win rate begins to soar, it could prompt some changes from Riot Games in the next patch. But AD carries should jump onto Summoner’s Rift and try out this new build while they can.
