League of Legends' latest addition, Smolder, is causing some stir among players due to his substantial late-game power. This unique champion is bringing a whole new dynamic to the field, demonstrating impressive potential and strength in his gameplay.
The original idea behind Smolder was a traditional ADC champion, bringing the game back to its usual pace post several recent unconventional releases. However, Smolder has become one of the game's most bizarre characters, with multiple builds turning him into a caster rather than a typical ADC. There are even trending tank builds.
Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of Smolder is his scaling ability. Once he attains 225 passive stacks, he gains damaging potential through a burn and execute functionality on his ‘Q’ command. This makes Smolder a formidable force in late-game team battles.
The player community continues to express concerns and suggestions on how to maintain balance with this powerful champion. A significant part of the discussion focuses on his ‘Q’ application, which can apply the burn and execute from a great distance.
Suggestions for Balancing Smolder’s Kit
A discussion among players highlighted this issue, proposing a change to Smolder's burst damage abilities. The idea was to remove the application of burn or execute from the additional burst originating from his Q from his attacks.
In comparison to other late-game carriers like Vayne or Jinx, Smolder's damage per second (DPS) might be slightly lacking. However, his ability to spread immense damage to the enemy team from such a far range by simply pressing ‘Q’ is a significant worry. Many players find it considerably challenging to compete against him considering this factor.
Several incidences reported by players, where they ended up eliminating their opponents merely by using Q on minions and killing them with execute, provide substantial evidence of the imbalance and call for a more fair mechanism.
A key resolution proposed involves withdrawing the execute and burn effect from the additional bolts emanating from the initial cast of the ability. However, implementing this could significantly diminish Smolder’s potential in team fights, thereby impacting the gameplay experience.
A Look at Proposed Solutions
Critiques believe the balance problem lies in Smolder's AOE bolts applying both execute and burn. They suggest barring the bolts from applying the burn and especially the execute. These two factors make balancing Smolder quite challenging, as making him weak elsewhere would be the only other option to make up for them.
It is widely agreed that eliminating the burn and execute mechanism would require Smolder to be considerably weakened in aspects other than his Q ability. Some players believe that this could make playing Smolder less interactive and therefore less fun.
Another less radical proposal that has gained some attention involves separating the execute from the burn and pushing it back by about 100 stacks. This would theoretically reduce Smolder's strength at any given moment, equalizing the playing field for other players. Some players, however, hold a pocketed belief that such a change would still not address the core problem – that he feels uninteractive – and that making him more reliant on stacks wouldn’t necessarily enhance the fun factor of the game.
As a final note, it’s essential to see that these discussions for improvements are crucial to the evolving universe of League of Legends. The introduction of champions like Smolder adds a new dimension to the gameplay, keeping the game dynamic, challenging, and engaging for its dedicated player base.