Who counters Smolder in Wild Rift?

Smolder's strongest Dragon Lane counters in Wild Rift are Jhin, Ezreal, and Kog'Maw. For example, Jhin: Jhin's fourth shot punishes every walk-up and his root locks you into trades your stacking phase cannot afford. He beats you until the very late game.

Who is Smolder good against in Wild Rift?

Smolder is a favorable matchup into Corki, Twitch, and Jinx in the Dragon Lane role. For example, Corki: Corki's Phosphorus Bomb (1st) and missiles pressure Smolder before Dragon Practice (Passive) is stacked, but Valkyrie (2nd) is his only reliable exit from the later burn and execute. Take the quiet Q (1st) last-hits instead of matching his early burst, sidestep missiles behind the wave, and force extended grouped fights after the stack upgrades where Corki's mid-game tempo no longer decides the trade.

Wild Rift Guides

Smolder Dragon Lane Wild Rift Guide

Smolder Dragon lane counters include Jhin, Ezreal, and Kog'Maw. See the best build, runes, matchups, and game plan for Wild Rift Patch 7.3.

How to play

Finish minions with your first ability Build stacks while farming, and take safe spell hits on champions when they step forward.
Save your flight for danger Your 3rd ability lets you fly over walls. Save it to escape when enemies can jump on you.
Fight from behind your team Keep casting from behind your teammates. Your ultimate also heals you if you stand in its path, so aim it through yourself when you need health.

Strengths

Among the hardest scalers in the role: stacks turn quiet farming into late-game executes.
His flight crosses walls and escapes ganks that catch every other immobile carry.
His wide ultimate damages and slows a formation while healing him, giving a fragile scaler a powerful swing in grouped fights.

Weaknesses

Weak early game that lane bullies punish hard.
Depends completely on farm and stacks in a heavily contested lane.
Behind on stacks, his whole power curve arrives late or never.

Build Snapshot

Long Sword Immortal Treads Manamune Transforms into Muramana once Tear is fully stacked Trinity Force Serylda's Grudge Rapid Firecannon Spear of Shojin Guardian Angel

Rune Setup

Phase Rush Battle Zeal Cut Down Legend: Bloodline Transcendence Coup de Grace

Summoner Spells

Flash Must take. He stacks up over the whole game, which makes him the target everyone saves their engage for. Barrier His stacks are worth nothing if he dies before they matter, and his only escape is a short hop. Absorbing the burst that catches him is what protects the entire game of farming. Cleanse Take this over Barrier against roots and stuns. Held in place, he cannot hop away and his damage never gets to fire.

Smolder Dragon Lane Counters

Who counters Smolder Dragon Lane in Wild Rift (WR)? These champions beat Smolder in the Dragon lane matchup, with how each one wins. Learn to play around them or ban them in ranked.

Jhin: Jhin's fourth shot punishes every walk-up and his root locks you into trades your stacking phase cannot afford. He beats you until the very late game.
Ezreal: Ezreal pokes your stacking phase from spell range and blinks away before you can answer with short-range Q (1st) casts, denying the safe farm you need. Your late Q (1st) upgrades improve splash and damage, not its cast range, so his spacing remains a problem even after you scale.
Kog'Maw: Kog'Maw's empowered attack range and Living Artillery (Ult) let him pressure you before your stack thresholds arrive. He scales from completed items instead of landing hundreds of permanent stacks, so he can take over the range battle earlier.

Champions Smolder Is Strong Against

Smolder's best matchups in Wild Rift. Smolder holds an edge against these picks in the Dragon lane role, so look to press the advantage and contest objectives.

Corki: Corki's Phosphorus Bomb (1st) and missiles pressure Smolder before Dragon Practice (Passive) is stacked, but Valkyrie (2nd) is his only reliable exit from the later burn and execute. Take the quiet Q (1st) last-hits instead of matching his early burst, sidestep missiles behind the wave, and force extended grouped fights after the stack upgrades where Corki's mid-game tempo no longer decides the trade.
Twitch: Twitch also wants a quiet scaling lane, but every uncontested Q (1st) last-hit advances your permanent upgrades. Reach 175 stacks on schedule and your true-damage burn plus execute pressure is especially strong into the grouped fights where Twitch wants to open Spray and Pray (Ult).
Jinx: Jinx needs items before Fishbones controls grouped fights, while every Dragon Practice (Passive) hit on a champion and every Super Scorcher Breath (1st) last-hit advances Smolder's permanent upgrades. Keep the lane quiet, avoid standing beside minions for rocket splash, and reach the burn-and-execute breakpoint before giving Jinx a takedown that starts Get Excited! (Passive) resets.

Early Game

Stack at every chance. Last-hit with Super Scorcher Breath (1st) whenever possible and hit champions with any ability when the trade is safe. Q (1st) restores 15 mana when it kills at least one target, rewarding accurate last-hits. Treat Flap, Flap, Flap (3rd) as gank insurance, and do not cancel its 1.25-second escape early by casting Q (1st) or W (2nd) unless that spell secures safety.

Mid Game

The stacks start paying off. Super Scorcher Breath (1st) gains splash at 25 stacks and a wider fan of explosions at 100, while your ultimate zones dragon standoffs and heals you if the wave passes over Smolder. Keep farming between fights, since the scaling never stops, and use your flight to join fights over walls that other immobile carries have to walk around.

Late Game

This is what you stacked for. A high-stack Smolder spreads true-damage burns through clustered enemies and executes targets pushed below the Q (1st) threshold. Stay behind your frontline, cast Q (1st) through the nearest safe target for its splash, aim your ultimate through both teams when you need its heal, and fly only when the fight demands the angle or the exit. If they let you stack all game, this is where they lose to it.

Teamfights

Poke with Achooo! (2nd) and use upgraded Q (1st) splashes through the nearest safe target, then aim MMOOOMMMM! (Ult) through both the enemy formation and Smolder so its heal helps him survive the return damage. At 175 stacks, Q's (1st) burn executes champions only when your damage would leave them below its low-health threshold, so keep casting and watch the indicator rather than assuming the next hit kills. Save Flap, Flap, Flap (3rd) for a committed dive or terrain escape unless a forward cast clearly ends the fight.

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