LoL devs reveal “peak” Smolder design that didn’t make the cut but players want it

Liam Ho
Heavenscale Smolder Splash Art

League of Legends developers have revealed a design for Smolder that changed his Q ability based on the elemental dragon, but players actually love the ability, with some calling it “peak”.

A scrapped design for ADC champion Smolder was just revealed by designer Riot August which changed their ability based on the dragon spawn. Smolder’s Q would gain a unique effect based on what elemental dragon had spawned in that game, which would easily shake up the champion’s power.

Instead of just dealing damage like in his current form, the Infernal version would explode in an area, while his Ocean version would slow enemies, and finally, his Chemtech version would poison enemies, dealing damage over time. There was also another version that let him Q towers, letting him take objectives incredibly quickly.

This design was scrapped due to lacking resources and also pushed a bit too far on the RNG. However, that hasn’t stopped players from agreeing that the design itself was utterly “peak”.

This would work in tandem with the lore that Smolder’s mom, who is not seen in the game is the elemental dragon, who would therefore augment his Q as the game progressed. That means that no two games of Smolder would quite play out the same, as the players themselves would need to work around the Q they were granted in that game.

“Imagine playing Smolder and playing 3 games back to back with something like Wind Dragon for something like a Q that gives bonus movement vs poison, slow, or bigger aoe Qs,” a player pointed out.

Many Twitter users agreed that while the design itself was fantastic, they understood that this required far too many resources and RNG, but still, players were not afraid to call it “peak”.

About The Author

Liam is a writer on the Australian Dexerto team covering all things gaming with an emphasis on MMOs like Destiny and FFXIV along with MOBAs like League. He started writing while at university for a Bachelor’s degree in Media and has experience writing for GGRecon and GameRant. You can contact Liam at liam.ho@dexerto.com or on Twitter at @MusicalityLH.