New League of Legends champion Smolder revealed

Originally posted on Video Games on SI | By Ryan Woodrow | Last updated 1/5/24

Smolder, a new champion for League of Legends, has been revealed in Riot’s Look Ahead presentation for Season 2024.

This adorable red dragon is one of the cuter champions in the game, which the team says is a side of the world of Runeterra they wanted to highlight this time around, as they have focused on darker and edgier champions in the past. Plus, it is appropriate given that 2024 is also the Chinese year of the dragon.

Lead producer Lexi Gao says that the goal with Smolder is to create “a cute creature ADC with a more accessible kit than most”, and several different creature ideas were tested before they settled on the red dragon. The team go on to explain that Smolder focuses on short-range team fighting, with AoE attacks.

Smolder ability list – League of Legends

Smolders abilities have been revealed, here is the full list:

Passive – Dragon Practice: Hitting champions with abilities and killing enemies with Super Scorcher Breath grants Smolder a stack of Dragon Practice. Stacks increase the damage of Smolder’s basic abilities.
Q – Super Scorcher Breath: Smolder belches flame at his enemies. This ability evolves with stacks gaining the following:

25: Damages all enemies surrounding the target
125: Sends explosions behind the target that deal 75% of this spell’s damage
225: Burns the target dealing max health true damage over three seconds. Enemy champions that drop below a total health threshold while burning are killed instantly.

W – Achoo!: Smolder lets out an adorable flaming sneeze, damaging and slowing enemies hit. Hitting champions causes an additional explosion.
E – Flap, Flap, Flap: Smolder takes flight, gaining move speed and ignoring terrain for 1.25 seconds. While flying, Smolder attacks the lowest health enemy.
R – MMOOOMMMM!: Smolder’s mom breathes fire from above, dealing extra damage and slowing enemies in the center of her fire. Smolder’s mom also heals her son if she hits him.