Smolder is one of the most popular League of Legends champions and arguably the strongest after the Patch 14.5 changes. Riot quickly launched a micropatch on March 7, but it wasn’t substantial enough to tone him down.
League’s developer team shared the changes on X, where they outlined nerfs to his E and R. The former will have fewer bolts, as the converter has been increased, while his ultimate’s cooldown was increased. A reactionary micropatch is always nice to see, but players are afraid it won’t fix the issue.
Smolder’s currently dominating the solo queue, with a pick rate around 20 percent and a ban rate around 40 percent. These stats transform into a win rate of 53.09 percent at all ranks, according to U.GG. After the micropatch was revealed, players claimed Smolder’s E and R aren’t the only problem.
“Does it fix smolder? Probably not because people are getting 225 stacks too early, but it at least addresses something that he should never be doing (E for damage),” one of the comments on Reddit reads. “That seems like a reasonable hotfix. It’s probably not enough, but that’s why it’s a hotfix,” another added.
Anyone who’s played against Smolder should know there are other problems that need addressing, more specifically his passive and Q. The scaling on both of these abilities feels too powerful at the moment, with the Q becoming stronger as the passive gains more stacks, making it incredibly challenging to face Smolder past the 20-minute mark.
Since his addition on Jan. 31, Smolder has been a main talking point among the League community. The developers are continually trying to balance the cute dragon, with Patch 14.5 making multiple major tweaks as well. So far, though, it’s still a work in progress.
