Smolder is looking to become the next most hated champion after Zeri in League of Legends.
Smolder is the newest champion in League of Legends and while he's only been around for a month or so, he's already got the whole community pissed off. His scaling, mobility and late game damage has left most players feeling frustrated and annoyed.
Now, he's being dubbed the newest Zeri, but what makes him such a big deal in both low MMR queues and high MMR play?
League of Legends... More Like League of Smolder
the making of Smolder's Themeft. Riot Games Composer, J.D. Spears (@SpearsSounds) pic.twitter.com/LfPlHC1jTU
— Riot Games Music (@riotgamesmusic) March 6, 2024
Smolder is a brand-new champion and of course, players want to test out and play the guy whenever they can because a new champion brings fresh air into the stale MOBA that everyone's been playing since 2009. But Smolder's play rate... might be a bit excessive.
According to op.gg, the most played champion is usually Ezreal. No idea why, but the pick is always in the top along with Kai'Sa, but both have been dethroned by none other than Smolder. The new tiny dragon is the most picked champion, with an almost 22% pick rate.
His presence is also felt in professional play, with teams wanting to get their hands on the scaling champion so they can dish out huge amounts of damage in the late game. This means he's either going to be a prio pick, or teams will need to ban him.
It seems that within the one month of Smolder being on live servers, the community already has had enough, with players bemoaning the fact that the dragon is a part of every single game these days.
Smolder is becoming the new Zeri. by u/PresentationNarrow98 in leagueoflegends
Smolder has great mobility thanks to his E and he can also slow opponents with his W. His Q will evolve the longer the game goes on, meaning he will be insanely powerful. Combining all this together, and you've got an insanely strong pick in the bot lane who can also fend for himself. So of course, players will want to play him.
Will Riot be nerfing him to the ground though like they did with Zeri if he continues to dominate 2024 like she did in 2022? That's something we will have to see. There were some hotfix nerfs to the champion for Patch 14.5, but have those been enough?