Smolder is the newest League of Legends champion and while he did release almost completely balanced, there are a few adjustments in LoL Patch 14.5 Riot wants to do.
Smolder is the newest champion on Summoner's Rift. The adorable dragon has settled nicely into the meta, with him rearing his small head in pro play, as well as in solo queue these days. He's already become a dangerous pick.
But it seems like Riot isn't completely happy with how players are itemizing with him, so there are a few adjustments on the horizon for the little dragon.
LoL Patch 14.5: Smolder's Ultimate To Become More Meaningful
14.5!
— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) February 27, 2024
We're pulling runaans and Galio from the patch due to some unforseen issues
Items
- Passes this patch to bring some items up to viability (sunfire, heartsteel, dream maker, celestial)
- we're still undecided on navori
- we're also throwing in some minor changes to Lich... pic.twitter.com/JvLx19CCbh
Smolder is going to get a few adjustments in LoL Patch 14.5. He currently has a 50% win rate on op.gg with a pick rate of 22%. For a champion that was released not too long ago that's a pretty good balance, and he does seem to be quite popular.
One thing Riot does want to adjust though is his build, since players seem to have been building Smolder a little too tanky, which makes him sustain longer through fights to dish out the damage. It doesn't seem like the changes will be too big, though.
Smolder has been really popular and about balanced. We're not looking to reshape him significantly, but reduce how effective his tankier builds are, make his e matter more and increasing the sweet spot and heal on the ultimate so they matter.
In LoL Patch 14.4, Smolder received a few small adjustments, but has otherwise been untouched. We do think that these upcoming changes to his kit might be some of the only ones, since he currently feels and seems pretty balanced.
LoL Patch 14.5 is going to go live on March 6, 2024. Riot Phroxzon, lead gameplay designer of the League of Legends team, will likely reveal the actual changes for Smolder in the coming days so players can test them out on the Public beta Environment beforehand.