Dragon Lane · Wild Rift Guide
Smolder Dragon Lane
Smolder Dragon Lane Guide
Smolder Dragon Lane Wild Rift overview and best build snapshot
Best Build
Quick snapshot of the default setup for this guide.
Boots
Items
Summoner Spells
Spell 1
Flash
Spell 2
Barrier
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.
Guide author
Royal
Royal has reached Rank 1 in EU and NA, and Legend and Sovereign on the Chinese server. Created by Royal with input from high elo and professional players and the WildRiftGuides Discord community.
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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.
Smolder Dragon Lane Wild Rift best build, items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order
ITEM BUILD
Best Wild Rift build for Smolder Dragon Lane, including items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order.
STARTING ITEM
Simple early attack damage, since his stacking passive only matters if he survives to collect it.
BOOTS
The omnivamp keeps him healthy through the early game he has to farm through before his stacks arrive.
CORE BUILD
Turns his mana pool into attack damage, which matters because constant casting to collect stacks drains mana.
Transforms into Muramana once Tear is fully stacked
Build second after Manamune. Super Scorcher Breath (1st) can activate and deliver Spellblade on the same hit, creating an icy zone that slows enemies. The armor and area control help Smolder survive physical threats while he keeps stacking.
The slow keeps a target in range for his Q (1st), and the ability haste means more casts and more stacks. The slow only applies below 60% target Health.
The extra reach applies to an Energized basic attack, letting Smolder poke more safely. Super Scorcher Breath (1st) keeps its own cast range, so he still has to approach to stack Q (1st) on last-hits.
Ability haste is stack generation, since every ability that hits a champion is another permanent point of scaling.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
Replace Iceborn Gauntlet when you want more damage and do not need its armor and slowing zone. Super Scorcher Breath (1st) can activate and deliver Spellblade on the same hit, while Trinity's movement speed helps Smolder reposition after his flight ends.
Revives him once after dying. His flight is short and often spent repositioning.
Build this when one removable disable decides the fight. Immobilizing crowd control immediately ends Flap, Flap, Flap (3rd) even during flight, so cleanse quickly enough to continue repositioning on foot.
RUNES
KEYSTONE
His rotation is several quick hits, and the move speed is the escape a scaling marksman needs early.
PRIMARY
All his damage is basic abilities, so the amplification builds through the fights where he is stacking.
His stacks scale his damage but not against health specifically, and this covers that gap.
Sustain for a champion whose early game is surviving until his stacks make him a threat.
SECONDARY
Ability haste means more casts, which is directly more permanent stacks.
SITUATIONAL RUNES
Take this over Cut Down against squishy teams, since his Q (1st) already executes low targets at high stacks.
Take this over Phase Rush into poke-heavy lanes that can force Smolder off the wave. The sustain matters more there than anti-dive movement speed.
Take this over Transcendence against an all-in duo that can deny Smolder the time he needs to stack safely.
Take this over Legend: Bloodline for a poke-focused plan against durable frontlines. More frequent Super Scorcher Breath (1st) and Achooo! (2nd) casts help Smolder maintain spell pressure and build Dragon Practice (Passive) through farm and champion hits.
SUMMONER SPELLS
MAIN 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.
SITUATIONAL SPELLS
Cleanse
Take this over Barrier against roots and stuns. Held in place, he cannot hop away and his damage never gets to fire.
SKILL ORDER
Skill Priority Order
- 11st Ability
Q - 22nd Ability
W - 33rd Ability
E
Smolder Dragon Lane Wild Rift matchups and counters
Wild Rift matchup guide for Smolder Dragon Lane, covering favorable lanes and difficult counters to prepare for in ranked.
Good Matchups
These champions are favorable matchups for this pick in Wild Rift. You have advantages against them and can play more aggressively.
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.
Smolder Counters
These champions counter this pick in Wild Rift and can be difficult matchups. Learn how to play against them or consider banning them.
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.
Smolder Dragon Lane Wild Rift game strategy and teamfighting guide
Wild Rift game strategy for Smolder Dragon Lane, from early lane control through mid and late game map play to final teamfights.