What is the best build for Smolder?

We do not publish a best build for Smolder, and the reason is worth thirty seconds. The most recorded Smolder bot build on patch 16.14 is Black Cleaver, Spear of Shojin and Essence Reaver, in 113 games. A finished item set is read at the end of the game, so a build only appears once the game ran long enough to buy it, and a game that runs long is usually a game you were winning. Any share of wins taken from those games leans high for that reason on its own, which is why there is not one in this answer. The page lists every recorded build with the games behind it.

What are the best runes for Smolder?

The most recorded Smolder bot rune page on patch 16.14 takes Deathfire Touch out of Sorcery, with Nimbus Cloak, Celerity and Gathering Storm beside it and Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight out of Inspiration. Players who ran it won 51.5% of 815 games, range 48.1% to 54.9%. A rune page is locked in at champion select, so that share is not inflated by long games the way a build is, but it counts who picked the page rather than what the page did.

What skill order should I use on Smolder?

Recorded Smolder bot players max Q, then W, then E. 199 recorded games on patch 16.14.

Smolder build, patch 16.14

1,167 games of Smolder recorded on patch 16.14, across bot, mid, top and support.

Win rate

50.7% of bot games this patch

Pick rate

1.2% of bot games

Games

936 bot, patch 16.14

Rank in role

30 of 77 bot champions

Win impact against the average bot pick on patch 16.14: +0.2 wins per 100 games (range -1.6 to 2.0) 936 games Pooled

What most Smolder bot players build, patch 16.14

Build Black Cleaver, Spear of Shojin and Essence Reaver, and run Deathfire Touch

The rune page they run

Sorcery

Deathfire Touch

Inspiration

Shards

815 games ran this page exactly as it is drawn. We never stitch the most picked keystone onto the most picked second row and call it a page: nobody ran that one.

The skill path Each filled cell is the skill most players took at that level, from 199 games.
skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Q	Q			Q	Q		Q		Q
W		W						W		W		W	W
E			E											E	E		E	E
R						R					R					R

Levels 10 to 18

10 W, 11 R, 12 W, 13 W, 14 E, 15 E, 16 R, 17 E, 18 E

Max Q, then W, then E. The level by level count.

113 games finished this exact set. It is the set recorded most often, which is a fact about players rather than about the items.

Share of those games that were wins, in percent 47.8% (range 38.8-56.9) · 113 games · Measured

Games that finish a build are games that lasted, and lasting usually means winning, so this figure leans high before the items do anything. It is how those games went, not what the build does to your chances. How far that can bend a number.

Smolder bot is the role with the most recorded games on patch 16.14: 936 games, of which 475 were wins. That is the role this page leads with. Measured on this page: bot, mid and top, the roles that cleared 30 recorded games.

wins 0.2 per 100 vs the bot average · 936 games on 16.14 · first-time players measured (889 games) · no clear move vs 16.13 (-5.0, range -18.4 to +8.4)

The build above is the one recorded most often, nothing more. Every recorded build, with its own games and its own share, is in the build list, in the order players built them.

Why this answer

A champion and role pair needs 30 recorded games before we put a score or a win impact on it: under that, a handful of lucky games moves a win rate by ten points. The same floor applies to a single build and to a single rune page, and anything under it prints its games and no number.

The share on that figure says how the games went, not what the build does to you. Nothing on this page measures that; the method note at the end says why.

What do most Smolder players build?

Item sets recorded on patch 16.14, most built first, never sorted by how the games went. The share is how many of a build's own games were wins; a build under 30 games shows its games and no share.

Smolder, bot

8 item sets were recorded in this role and 3 of them cleared 30 games.

Black Cleaver, Spear of Shojin and Essence Reaver
47.8% 113 games
Black Cleaver, Rapid Firecannon, Spear of Shojin and Essence Reaver
57.4% 54 games
Black Cleaver, Rapid Firecannon and Essence Reaver
51.3% 39 games

A finished set is read at the end of the game, so every share here leans high: games that last long enough to finish a build are usually games that were already going well. How far that can bend a number.

Smolder, mid

2 item sets were recorded in this role and 0 of them cleared 30 games.

Black Cleaver, Spear of Shojin and Essence Reaver
not enough games yet. 13 games so far, this needs 30. 13 games
Black Cleaver, Rapid Firecannon and Essence Reaver
not enough games yet. 8 games so far, this needs 30. 8 games

Smolder, top

1 item sets were recorded in this role and 0 of them cleared 30 games.

Black Cleaver, Spear of Shojin and Essence Reaver
not enough games yet. 11 games so far, this needs 30. 11 games

What runes do most Smolder players run?

Whole pages that players actually ran, most recorded first. A page is locked in at champion select, so long games do not inflate its share the way they inflate a build's; it still counts who picked the page rather than what the page did.

Smolder, bot

10 complete pages were recorded in this role and 2 of them cleared 30 games.

Deathfire Touch Sorcery with Inspiration

815 games

Sorcery

Deathfire Touch

Inspiration

Shards

815 games ran this page exactly as it is drawn. We never stitch the most picked keystone onto the most picked second row and call it a page: nobody ran that one.

Other pages players ran

Deathfire Touch Sorcery with Precision

47 games

Keystones picked, one slot on its own

Deathfire Touch: 50.7% 869 games
Fleet Footwork: 45.9% 37 games

4 keystones were recorded in this role: one slot on its own, counted across every page that used it, so the share carries the rest of each page with it.

Smolder, mid

7 complete pages were recorded in this role and 1 of them cleared 30 games.

Deathfire Touch Sorcery with Inspiration

112 games

Sorcery

Deathfire Touch

Inspiration

Shards

112 games ran this page exactly as it is drawn. We never stitch the most picked keystone onto the most picked second row and call it a page: nobody ran that one.

Keystones picked, one slot on its own

Deathfire Touch: 43.5% 147 games

4 keystones were recorded in this role: one slot on its own, counted across every page that used it, so the share carries the rest of each page with it.

Smolder, top

7 complete pages were recorded in this role and 1 of them cleared 30 games.

Deathfire Touch Sorcery with Inspiration

37 games

Sorcery

Deathfire Touch

Inspiration

Shards

37 games ran this page exactly as it is drawn. We never stitch the most picked keystone onto the most picked second row and call it a page: nobody ran that one.

Keystones picked, one slot on its own

Deathfire Touch: 40.9% 44 games

3 keystones were recorded in this role: one slot on its own, counted across every page that used it, so the share carries the rest of each page with it.

What skill order should I use?

Counted from recorded level-ups on patch 16.14, one player per game.

Max Q, then W, then E

199 recorded games on patch 16.14.

Smolder bot skill path Each filled cell is the skill most players took at that level, from 199 games.
skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Q	Q			Q	Q		Q		Q
W		W						W		W		W	W
E			E											E	E		E	E
R						R					R					R

Levels 10 to 18

10 W, 11 R, 12 W, 13 W, 14 E, 15 E, 16 R, 17 E, 18 E

Max Q, then W, then E

Only 48 recorded games on patch 16.14. A soft read.

Smolder mid skill path Each filled cell is the skill most players took at that level, from 48 games.
skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Q	Q			Q	Q		Q		Q
W		W						W		W		W	W
E			E											E	E		E	E
R						R					R					R

Levels 10 to 18

10 W, 11 R, 12 W, 13 W, 14 E, 15 E, 16 R, 17 E, 18 E

Smolder, top

Not enough top level-ups yet

not enough games yet. 14 games so far, this needs 30.

Smolder top has 63 games recorded, but only 14 games of them carry level-ups. A levelling order off that many games is luck.

How we count level-ups

When do players buy each piece?

The pieces of the most recorded Smolder bot build, in the order players buy them. The time is the middle of the spread across every recorded game on patch 16.14, measured at the buy rather than at the end of the game: half the recorded buys of the item happen before it, half after.

Buy times, earliest first

Essence Reaver: 11:41 484 games
Black Cleaver: 19:14 1,154 games
Spear of Shojin: 20:00 629 games

The bar is scaled to the latest piece of the set. Each item links to its own page, where the whole spread sits beside the games behind it.

Who counters Smolder?

The opponents Smolder bot loses to most and the teammates Smolder gains the most beside on patch 16.14. The chip is the edge in wins per 100 games, and the games behind it sit under the name.

Hardest opponents

60 more opponents sit under 50 games against Smolder and are counted, not ranked. Every measured Smolder opponent, with the full table

Best teammates

Every measured Smolder teammate, with the full table

These numbers come from 108,616 ranked games we recorded on EUW, Korea and NA, found by following Diamond players and the people they play with. That is not every rank and it is not every region. Everything on this page is patch 16.14. Counted up to 24 July 2026.

How does Smolder rank?

Every role we recorded Smolder in on patch 16.14, scored or not. Win impact is measured against the average pick in that role on the same patch, and a role needs 30 recorded games before it is scored.

Smolder by role

bot B +0.2 wins per 100 games (range -1.6 to 2.0) 936 games Pooled: 49 936 games
mid C -0.4 wins per 100 games (range -2.5 to 1.7) 167 games Pooled: 43 167 games
top C -0.3 wins per 100 games (range -2.5 to 1.8) 63 games Pooled: 43 63 games
support not enough games yet. 1 game so far, this needs 30.: not scored 1 game

Why no share of wins on this page says a build is good for Smolder

A finished item set is read at the end of the game. A player who bought the first two items and lost at twenty minutes never finished the set, so they are not in its row. Everybody in the row lasted long enough to buy it, and lasting is most of what winning looks like. The share those games won is pushed up by that on its own, before the items do anything at all, and the push is largest on the most expensive builds and backwards on the ones you buy when a game is going badly.

We know the size of it. In simulation, with every item's real effect set to exactly zero, an item read at the end of the game shows about 92% as a sixth completed item. A defensive item with a real 5 point benefit shows about 20 points the wrong way, because it gets bought when a player is behind. The measurement is here.

So this page counts and labels rather than ranks. The estimate that answers the real question is taken at the moment of the buy, from the state the purchase happened in, and it runs in the desktop app because it needs the game in front of it.