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Smolder Build Guide by

[14.15] | The Fiery Fledgling [In Depth Guide-Builds]

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Smolder Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion More Smolder Guides

Runes: Fleet Footwork | Basic version

1 2 3

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Presence of Mind

Legend: Alacrity

Cut Down

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Magical Footwear

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health

Spells:

1 2 3 4

Standard Choice

Flash

Heal

Items

Starter Items

With Fleet Footwork

With First Strike

Boots

If you go caster build

If you go crit build

1st Item

Better with Fleet Footwork | Great mana item on the early game, allows you to take strong trades early on and scales well with crit

Better with First Strike | Insane scalling, you can stack it while stacking your passiv and allows you to one shot waves latter on

2nd Item

Tankiness and even more damage and CDR for spells

3rd Item

Standard 3rd item

If you don't need range and there is too much burst

4th Item

If you havn't bought it 3rd item

VS. Tanks

Tankiness with shield, lifesteal and damage

If there is multiple tanks/bruiser AND you went caster build

5ft Item

VS. Tanks

Tankiness with shield, lifesteal and damage

VS. 3+ AP

Need Survavibility

Full build example

Crit Build

Caster Build

Ability Order Default Skill Order

Smolder Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Ashe

Extreme

| STRENGTHS - Great kitting / Slow on auto attacks / Dangerous CC on R / Strong lategame / Can be usefull even if behind | WEAKNESSES - No mobility / Weak early / Support dependant / Easy to abuse | WHAT TO DO ? - Avoid being poked in the early levels. One auto could lead you to losing half your hp, or even worst, lead you to death. Past level 6, Ashe is a threat with her R that can lock you down. Her slow is also a problem for your E, it slows it a LOT and could make you NOT go through walls. Later you will burst her down but still be carefull about her R and DPS that can catch you offguard !!

Camille

Ideal

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Camille

Ideal

Champion Build Guide

| Table of Content |

| About Me |

Hey everyone. My name is Tyspect and i'm a French diamond ADC.

I've started playing League 7 years ago and focused on ADC's 4 years ago.
I do play most of the ADC's but some of them are my little favorites, like , or .
is a champion I wouldn't think I would appreciate to be honest, but he's playstyle and the stacking mechanic makes him a very pleasant champion to play. Riot said it was an easy character for people that learns ADC, I don't think it's true. Smolder is a bit more complicated than just Q, Q, Q and I will try to show you that !

My peak elo is Diamond 1 but I do want to achieve Master rank in the end of the year.
I am French so if there's any mistake or error in the guide, don't hesitate to mention it in the comments, i'll check them as fast as possible !!

I'm also streaming on Twitch occasionnaly and creating content on Youtube so if you want to join me there, you are welcome !

| Pros and Cons |

PROS

+ Versatile in builds/runes
+ Great teamfight potential
+ Safe in lane
+ Strong mid game / Insane late game
+ Able to comeback
+ High carry potential

is one of the most versatile AD Carry of the game. You can build a lot of different builds depending on the situation. Ap , crit or tankier are all viable options that can give you an advantage in your games. Most of the other adc's can only build 1 or 2 builds, but you, as , you have a tons of different options to consider depending on the situation or the game itself.
Smolder is a safe champion that you can compare to in a way. He wants to farm and stack peacefully in the first levels to burst devasting later on that will obliterate most champions. His ability to clear wave safely in lane with and (in worst cases) can help him a lot to survive the early game. His E can also be very usefull to reposition yourself in better spots to avoid being catched or killed.

CONS

- Very weak early
- Support dependant in early
- Low range
- Easily abused
- Weak to all in
- Requires game knowledge

Being one of the WEAKEST adc in the game in early game, is a very easy champion to punish in lane if you don't know how to play him properly. You must be very selfish and avoid as much trade as you can. You can fast trade to get 3 or 4 stacks but don't overxtend in trades, it will cause you to be punished for it and get killed or lose any lane control.
Despite his strong late game, has to be very carefull about everything surrounding him. Any assassin or mage can make him. His low range makes the fights a lot harder and you'll have to be prepared to reposition yourself with your E near an ally or behind a wall.
Finally is, as I said, a late game champion, wich means you wont be able to help your team a lot in the early game. Midgame is favorable since you can get stacks but keep in mind that you are weak and need to grow even bigger in order to be a strong scarry dragon.

| Summoners Spells |

HOW TO CHOSE ?
-

FLASH: Basic summoner that just fits perfectly with any ADCs. Without his low mobility and lack of escape, it's basically only tool to get out of hard situations. Chose wisely when to use your flash !

GHOST: Ghost isn't the most efficient summoner on most ADCs right now. After the nerfs he got, lost most of it's power and is very bad on adcs.

CLEANSE: As written in the notes on top of the summonners tab, cleanse is really specific. Against champions like , or .

HEAL: Heal is the standard summoner spell for ADC's,good for 2v2 situations. It's a good choice if you're learning ADC and botlane in general !

TELEPORT: Teleport is the saffest option to take. uses a ton of mana so if you need to refil or to buy items in base, will help you to get back in lane fast. This also helps you to not miss any stacks on cs if you're forced to leave your lane in a rush. Will great option to consider !

BARRIER: Barrier is actually an amazing summoner spell to use, espacially as a low range/weak adc. The shield it grants you can help you to get out of most situations. Dives, catch, 1v1, very versatile and super usefull in most cases.

| Runes |

FLEET FOOTWORK

| When ? |

If you need SUSTAIN in lane and SURVAVIBILITY. Also gives movement speed in fights.

Example : or / or

FIRST STRIKE

| When ? |

Good to go if you are confident enough on the champion and you want to scale FASTER + every sub runes of this tree are good for .

Example : or / or

ARCANE COMET

| When ? |

If you want to CREATE PRESURE with your support. I do not recommend going but it can be a sutiable choice for certain situations.

Example : or or ect.. is your support

SECOND TREE

allows to get extra gold everytime he spends money on legendary items. This rune can help you to get your important items faster but it's less interesting than some other runes. Super niche.
is a great rune for . 300 golds that you don't have to bother and you can invest on something else is great + the extra move speed is always good to take.
is an amazing rune on due to the high use of mana in lane with your Q and W . Having a little bit more of sustain in lane is very much appreciated.
is also a super interesting rune ! is building a lot of different stats, HP, Mana, AD, Crit, Attack Speed ect.. All of these different stats are buffing and creates a nice little combinaison !

is a great option if you need high sustain or survavibility on your lane. It scales with level so the more you go in the game the most intersting the rune is. Even in late game, you can kill some minnions with it and get nice heals.
is the only option we have on the last branch of Precision. Even if builds a bit of HP in his builds, it still intersting to deal a bit more damage to tanks.
is great for new players that would want to play the champion with thinking of theyr mana. Good rune but I think is better in more situations.
is a nice subrune to have on but is a bit overshadowed by his 2 friends and . They are all really good and works very well on so it's your preference to pick between one of those 3 runes.

is a good option if you want to stack up some mana in the early game.
has a good potential for because you will be full health or at least high on hp most of the fight.
can perform really well on a late game champion such as , free AD for you. The later the game gets, the better it is for you. More stacks, more AD.
is less interesting than because you're already building a lot of Haste with all of your items or different other runes.

| Abilities |

DRAGON PRACTICE

PASSIV: When kills a minions, champion or monster OR he hits a champion with any of his abilities, he gains a STACK.
Each stacks increases 's basic abilities , and magic damage.

TIPS: 's passiv is the center of the character. You need to stack fast but cleverly. You need to focus on staying alive in the first place. Yes damaging ennemy champions can be tempting at first but you must keep in mind that you are really bad early game. Trading to get stacks can put you out of lane and make you lose a lot of time. Focus on killing minnions with and poking with .

SUPER SCORCHER BREATH

ACTIVE: spits a fireball that deal damage, applies on-hit and lifesteal effect and grants him a STACK.

has 3 tier of evolution.

TIER 1 : 25 STACKS
The fireball explose and deals damage in a area arround the targetted ennemy. The damage dealt by the explolsion ALSO gives you STACKS.

TIER 1 : 125 STACKS
The fireball throws a cone of fire that deals damage behind the targetted ennemy. The damage death by the cone ALSO gives you STACKS.

TIER 1 : 225 STACKS
The fireball throws a cone of fire that deals damage behind the targetted ennemy. In addition to that, ennemies hit by or by it's cone of damage are set in fire during 3 seconds. ON TOP OF THAT, will EXECUTE ennemies under 7% HP.

Every 100 stacks adds a new fireball is added to 's .

TIPS: is his main source of damage and stacking. In the early, as I wrote just in the passiv section, focus on using your Q to last hit minnions to reach 25 stacks. When you'll be at 25 stacks, you can target multiple minnions or ennemies that would hide in minnions with the explosion. At 125 stacks, you can hit ennemies BEHIND minnions or also last hit multiple minnions at the same time with only one due to the cone. When you are at 225, victory is ahead, you must spam your Q to multiple targets to set them on fire and get EXECUTES as much as you can.

If you stack correctly and cleverly, you should come to these timings :

25 STACKS = 4/5 minutes
125 STACKS = 13/14 minutes
225 STACKS = 19/22 minutes

ACHOOO!

ACTIVATE: sneezes and throws a big fireball that deals damage and slows ennemies. The fireball will slow down after a certain distance. If the fireball hits a champion, it explose and create an area of damage.

TIPS: is a super cool ability to use if you need a bit of slow to catch ennemies OR slow opponents that would chase you. can also help you to get some free STACKS in the early game since ennemy champions have no mobility. In best cases, you can hit both adc and support to get 2 free juicy stacks !

FLAP, FLAP, FLAP

ACTIVE: starts flying for 1,25 seconds, gaining movement speed, true vision in his auto attack range and ignoring terrain. While he is in flight, he fires up to 5 spits of fire to ennemies, targetting in priority the lowest ennemy in his range.

will stop using if he uses an other ability.

TIPS: is a Swiss knife. You can chase low health ennemies, reposition yourself in fights or escape from dangerous threaths like or for exemple. Use it wisely and for escaping in most cases.

MMOOOMMMM!

ACTIVE: calls his mom for help ! She exhale a huge fire breath on the ground, dealing damage to any ennemy in the area, increased if they are in the center and slows them. Also heals if he is in the area of the fire breath.

TIPS: is an underated ability. In the first levels, it can cause a huge difference since it heals and it damages and slows ennemies. Later on, this spell is even better since it can deal massive damage in a huge area, perfect for big teamfights.

| Skill Order |

This skill order is focusing on 's capacity of KITTING and repositionning. A common mistake I see most of 's players do is to max W second instead of E . Don't get me wrong, i'll explain under this section why W is good as well, but if you're going and the crit build, maxing your E is way more interesting for the value of every fireball and the opportunity to reposition yourself anytime you need.

This skill order is mostly focused on 's ability to be a powerfull CASTER. Since W is a really usefull spell to use in fights, you can max it if you're building things like , or to maximize your damage and CASTING side.

| Items |

This section will be the a complete part of the guide explaining every items for every variants existing, wich means

AP,TANKIER and finally CRIT and AD.

Please be aware that this entire section is subject to changes due to buff and nerfs that or the Items could suffer !

was always the way to go with . Now that the active got removed, the item is ok tier since your Q also applies on-hit effects, you can regen your mana easily while spamming your Q's. It has great stats for , has a decent price and allows to take the advantage in trades. It will always be your first item in CRIT builds.

To help with his low range, here comes to the rescue ! This item will provide your crit, attack speed and a buff of range that will help you significantly to throw your during fights. A really good option, both in terms of aggression and defense.

Yes, yes, yes. I know. doesn't give crit anymore. Yet it's an item you only build when your going crit on . So let me explain. Since you have a bit of healing with , you can increase your sustain potential with , giving you massive healings on your Qs and your autos, giving you sustain AND massiv defensive power with 's shield.

is a good way to gain survavibility and crit if you are planning to go 100% crit. They got rid of the lifesteal on the item, making it weaker than before but it still an option to counter burst.

Being able to deal with tankier target is a problem for since he can't crit with his Q . However, can help you to take down tanks since it has a huge armor penetration.

is an underestimated item on . I think it is really good especially if you're confident enough on . Crit is a way to play him but right now, I still think that raw damage is really great. allows you to focus on not building crit item, like or .

as it's counterpart is a go to for in every single build. The value that is given by the item is just too good to be thrown away. It increses the damage of your abilities, gives you damage, hp, haste and has a great recipe for . Amazing item. Build it every time.

is a special case. It is good on because it gives him a tons of intersting stats for him such as HP, Attack speed, damage, haste ect.. but also has the proc on top of that. Unfortunatly, it is too expensive to build it on ADC , so I recommend building if you are playing him TOP or MID but not ADC.

You need some armor pen to help you takedown those filthy tanks and you're not building crit on top of that ? is here to save the day. I don't understand why people are not building this item more often, it has great stats, an amazing passiv and the slow on top of that, every Q is a slowing machine, really great if you're going raw damage. I recommend a lot !

gives you an extra life, AD, Armor. It is great if you really need that extra life during tought fights.

AP items on is kind of special so I'll try to explain it the best I can. on Smoler is good because it has a lot of good stats that you want on the champion. Some AP, omnivamp, haste and health. However, I recommend building it if you're going and to get a better value out of 's passiv.

Let's talk a bit about now. This item perform pretty well on champions like or so why would it work on ? Super Scorcher Breaht's burn of course ! Coupled with your , your Qs will melt down ennemies, especially tanks. However, it is a really niche item, I wouldn't recommend it to a new player.

As we were saying earlier, is a good option to use this burn on Q or on your other abilites as well. It works incredibly well with and , you should deffinitly give it a try. Great stats, great passiv, great recipe. Good item on .

Really great option to consider if there is all-in such as , or more recently . Gives you AP, Armor and CDR wich are really good for !

This section is about tankier items so they are really situationnal. is a good tanky option if you want to have the proc and to get armor, HP and haste. It is less interesting now but still quite good with items like or .

An other very situationnal item to build if you plan on getting tankier items and there is a lot of AP threat on the other team. Huge MR buff for yourself.

Great item for both Armor and Magic Resist, is great into all kind of teams.

Also a great option if you need mana and armor. Weaker than before because of the high cost of the item but still decent on .

Great boots for caster build, allows you to stack more often. The cost of these boots are super cheap, making it a good 2nd buy most of the games.

Really great boots for the crit build, gives you lots of movespeed and huge slow resist that is incredibly usefull against all the different slows there is in the game, especially in the botlane.

| Combos |

This section will be talking about the few combos has. Why "the few" ? Because isn't a super hard character to master and to utilize as it's full potential. He actually is kinda easy when you understand the abilities and the connection they have with each others. I hope this will help you understand more about him and will guide you trough the process of mastering !

This combo is an early game combo, allowing you to take very short trades to respond to an opponent comming in front of you or your support.

A simple Q + combo. As you can see the ball will follow 's flash and reposition itself depending on where is after the .

IMPORTANT NOTE : As you can see during the video, when you reach 125 STACKS, the spits or fire throwed by the fireball are also following 's position, making it a really good way to finish an ennemy by surprise, for example by using Q on his support or a minnion that would be near him !

and have a weird interaction together. When is using , he steps back a little, sneezes and spits out his fireball. If you before he sneezes, the fireball will start moving from where is at the end of the , making it visible to ennemies. HOWEVER, if you flash after has finished his sneeze, the fireball will start moving from where was BEFORE he flashed, making it completly invisible for ennemies and impredictable !

An other simple interaction between and . As you can see here, will NOT stop if you while using it, making it a great way to escape OR chase ennemies !

Remember that will keep targeting the lowest ennemy in range !

This combo is most easy way to trade, giving you multiple stacks and allowing you to respond to aggression.

This isn't really a combo, but it's a interesting thing to understand and to know. If you reverse R , it will come way faster than if you fire it normally. This can be super usefull espacially in trades where to KNOW you can kill because your ennemies wont know it comes from behind them rather that in front of them. You need to understand the range to use it, if you're not close enough, wont do any damage. Take the time to know the range and the speed that the breath comes in and you'll land perfect Rs !

This is the full burst combo of ! Keep in mind that you must use your R at the begining OR at the end of the combo since you can't cancel the animation of it and it takes 1 second for to stop crying. So you can basically do Auto Attack + W + Q + E + R aswell and it will be as good as the base one. It just less predictable if you use your R at the start of the trade.

Here you go, those are the most IMPORTANT combos or tips for . You can experience those by yourself and try things ! isn't that hard to master so try it yourself !

| Stacking Tips |

This section will be talking about a few tips and tricks to farm your STACKS of passiv easier and faster in order to carry your games for often ! We will also talk about how to farm safely and to maintain a proper lead during the entire game.

There will be 4 segments :

0 to 25 stacks
25 to 125 stacks
125 to 225 stacks
225 and more

Each of those segments are here to help you understand how you need to play during certain phase of the game and how you can optimize your stacking gain through the game in order to be relevant and not behind in the late game.

As shown above, the 5 first minutes are kinda chill and more focused on getting minnions, golds, XP and STACKS. Last hit with AUTO + Q or just with Q. You can also follow your support or take some quick trades with AUTO AUTO + W + Q to burst the ennemy and get more STACKS !

Now that you are past 25 STACKS you can focus on last hitting multiple minnions with your Q ! To do it, you just have to put mutliple minnions low health so you can last hit all of them with only one Q. If you're not sure about how to do it, watch the first part of the video above, it shows how to do it and the pleasure there is to do it! On the second part, i'm focusing more on showing you how to take trades and answer to aggression from the ennemy botlane in order to get more stacks and put presure into them. As you can see, deals significant damage if you cicle through his abilites perfectly !

Here we go, now that you are between 125 and 225 STACKS, you will focus on last hitting multiple minnions like before but this time, both melee and casters at the same time ! The first part of the video shows how to proceed, you'll see, it is super easy to do. Second part shows some example of fights and why they are so GOOD for . As you can see, you can get a lot of STACKS just by fighting along side your team. I've putted a little "tracker" of how much STACKS you can get in those kind of long fights, it is thrilling to see how much value it can give you !

From this part, you're on your own ! Now that you have the foundamentals of STACKING you can keep on farming minnions with or taking trades against your opponents, the choice is up to you ! Every 100 STACKS gives you an extra spit of fire to your fireball so don't stop STACKING, it's important and makes you scarier !

| Conclusion |

There it is, here comes the end of the guide !

To conclude, is a super cool champion that just need a bit of game knowledge to be played at his full potential !

Hope you liked reading it, it was my second in depth guide, don't hesitate to come and check my other guide on , it is as much detailed as this one, at least, I tried to make it !

Thank you so much for reading me, it has been a pleasure making it and will be a pleasure to know I could have helped new players wanting to start !

Don't you fear, is near !