u/Aristotelion

Hey everyone, I’m a low elo Smolder player (around Gold/Plat). My friend I usually duo with is around Gold/Silver. I have roughly 50 games on Smolder with around a 55% win rate (It used to be higher, but apparently playing ranked at 4 AM while being slightly intoxicated wasn’t the best idea lol).

I’m mainly interested in hearing what more experienced Smolder players think and whether there are things I could improve.

1. Item build – Crit vs Bruiser and build order

I’m personally not a huge fan of Black Cleaver for damage reasons, especially after the recent nerfs. My usual pool of items is:

Essence Reaver → Infinity Edge or Rapid Firecannon → Lord Dominik’s Regards → Spear of Shojin or Endless Hunger

I basically build some combination of these every game. I also always go for the Omnivamp boots.

What I’m mainly unsure about is the order.

For example:

Essence Reaver → Infinity Edge → Rapid Firecannon? (more damage?)

Essence Reaver → Rapid Firecannon → Infinity Edge? (for matchups where the extra range matters?)

Should Spear of Shojin or Endless Hunger sometimes come before Infinity Edge or Rapid Firecannon?

When should Lord Dominik’s Regards be bought early?

Are there situations where the Bruiser-oriented build is clearly better than Crit, and is Black Cleaver still worth building despite the nerfs? I’d especially like to hear how you decide between Crit and Bruiser Smolder and how you determine your 2nd/3rd item.

2. Runes – Deathfire Touch vs Fleet Footwork

I’ve basically always played Deathfire Touch, mostly because it seems to be the established/default rune. But when I read the numbers, Deathfire Touch honestly doesn’t look like it deals that much damage.

Would Fleet Footwork make sense, especially into heavy poke lanes where the sustain and movement speed could help?

I also have quite a lot of mana problems before Essence Reaver. Would something like Manaflow Band or another mana rune actually be worth taking?

I’m also curious how important things like Magical Footwear and Jack of All Trades are with my item build. Are they strong enough that you really don’t want to give them up?

3. Summoner Spells – Teleport vs Barrier

I personally really like Teleport instead of Barrier.

My reasoning is: Smolder doesn’t really want to fight early anyway, so Teleport helps me maintain farm, tempo, and better recall timings. It makes bad lane states much less punishing and also makes greedy lane decisions or recalls less punishing.

Later in the game, I’m usually positioned far enough back that Barrier often doesn’t feel like the difference between living and dying, especially when I’m heavily CC'd while dying.

4. General Smolder tips/ A few more general questions:

What would you consider a good stacks per minute target on Smolder?

Are there any lesser-known tricks or habits that made you noticeably better at Smolder?

Lastly, I just wanna say that I really dislike Smolder only having two skins, and neither of them being particularly special. :/

Thanks in advance! I would love to hear what you guys are running and why. :)