Smolder’s win rate nosedives after “gigantic” League of Legends nerfs
League of Legends’ newest Champion, Smolder, suffers a plunge in win and pick rating after crucial nerfs in the latest patch.
After the initial fanfare and excitement following the release of League of Legends’ newest Champion, Smolder now suffers a sharp dive in both pick and win ratings after the recent patch significantly changed the playstyle and compatibility of the ADC Champion.
In the latest 14.6 patch, LoL devs cited “a few frustrating or overpowered parts” of Smolder’s kit that may make him difficult to compete against. Given these issues, Riot Games nerfed the Champion’s stacking abilities and movement speed.
While the devs expected the nerfs to balance the playing field in the bot lane and make early-game matches against Smolder less of a nightmare, it seems like the nerfs turned off players from trying the ADC on their ranked games as Smolder’s win rating plummets significantly post-nerfs.
LoL players bid goodbye to picking Smolder after Nerfs
The Smolder nerfs garnered mixed reactions from the League of Legends player base, with some expressing their enthusiasm over the softening of Smolder’s Q stacks that easily traumatized other players, whether early or late in the game.
Meanwhile, Smolder mains call the nerfs “gigantic” and say they significantly decreased the Champion’s playability instead of leveling the playing field.
Among the biggest changes to Smolder’s playstyle after the nerf is the decreased movement speed from his E ability from 100% increase to 75%. This change significantly slammed Smolder’s mobility and removed his “get out of jail free” ability when facing other ADCs.
While Smolder’s kit remains a hyper-scaler, the greatest difference with the nerfs is how much harder it is for the young dragon to rake in kills and power in the early game. This makes the fight for dominance much harder, especially given the other hyper-scalers in the bot lane.
As Smolder’s true potential out of his early release meta still remains undiscovered, players may still test the waters with his current kit before expecting buffs or reworks from Riot Games.