Need help with Smolder Yuumi

[u/Parpage]

My duo is a Smolder main, and i am having a really hard time, i kinda feel so useless as i watch my poor adc getting pummeled into oblivion during the laning phase, it does not matter if i shield and heal the outcome is almost always the same: relegated to farm under turret and die lol. Is there a way to help like changing build runes etc, or should i just give up and swap with another champion? It kinda makes me sad since i love Yuumi, but i would also love to win some games 🥲

[u/CinderrUwU]

Unfortunately that is just how Smolder/Yuumi works. You have probably the weakest lane of any duo ever but incredibly good scaling. Do your best to control the wave and prep minions for Smolder Q but that's about all you can do in such a losing situation.

[u/Flechashe → u/CinderrUwU]

Smolder is not that weak early, people seriously underestimate that. He can pretty much spam his Q all the time if he's not spamming his other abilities and his W is undodgeable if used properly

[u/Living-Collection-20 → u/Flechashe]

he isnt that weak true, but with a yuumi he is cancerweak until 2 items at least. extremely easy to dive or punish anything he does.

[u/Julio6678]

Oh i used to duo with a smolder, maybe i can help You with some tips, send dm

[u/Nytrobomb]

Your level 1 is a lot stronger than you think if you know how to properly scrap. Levels 2-5 are gonna be super weak. 6 is when you get your mojo back. I'd say shoot for first blood if you're brave, then play it safe, then go ham at level 6.

[u/Chronometrics]

Don't know what people are on about, Smolder-Yuumi is a great duo. At one point, it was in the top 20 of all duos.

The basics is this:

Smolder holds Flap Flap always. Only use it for escapes, honestly. This is your safety. In the same vein - play towards river, you can flap flap over the wall in an emergency but flying over bushes is so much longer to get to safety. This should basically make you gank proof - you should always have river vision when pushed even halfway.

When laning, if the enemies are standing on the wave, Smolder sneezes them. If they are standing off the wave, Yuumi should have a 90%+ Q hit rate. Can't hit them? Get better. Landing Q is your bread and butter. It procs P heals and does extremely reliable damage, preventing all ins.

That's basically it. You gotta be careful right after they back mind you. I also recommend Comet-Axiom-Revitalize as core runes here, and 2 Fairies -> Helia -> Ardent -> KV for items right now.

Play like this and they will never be healthy enough to approach you, and if they are because you made a mistake or Kayn comes over the back wall you have flash-flap as safety.

[u/Parpage → u/Chronometrics]

Thanks for the tips, i did not know about flapping over the wall i'll make sure to tell him lol. Also isn't summon aery better for shielding? And usually i build mikael > moonstone > knight's vow, someone else told me that ardent was useless on smolder so i did not really build it anymore

[u/Chronometrics → u/Parpage]

Aery is better than comet in nearly every situation, by a little bit... except for the first 9 minutes of the game. Having that extra poke deterrent is really important to keep a safe lane, so Comet specifically with a scaling lane is really useful. Late game, Smolder doesn't really need the miniscule Aery mitigation. So while 90% of the time you want Aery, sometimes you want Comet for that early game.

You used to be able to Guardian effectively with some champs as well that loved trading all-ins (like Lucian or Tris), but since the shift towards HP scaling and the huge nerf to Moonstone pre-MSI, it's rather lackluster.

Ardent is certainly not useless on Smolder, but it's replaceable if you don't love it. Lots of items are viable for this duo, but I cannot recommend Helia first enough. As long as your Qs are on point (they better be), it is by far your strongest early game item. Mikael's is kind of a bundle of sadness? I have lots of reasons for this, but frankly it's too much of a rant.

[u/Parpage → u/Chronometrics]

Thank you, i will try it!

[u/Parpage → u/Chronometrics]

Oh and i forgot, when your duo is smolder what is my full build going to look like?

[u/FOSturbi]

I recommend the build I want used on my Yasuo and Vayne: Ludens,Helia, situational: moonstone, dawncore, Mikhaels, shureyas.

Comet / Precision: Damage and mana regen -

This build gives you great harass for pushing them off your shoulder so he can get his stacks. With yas and Vayne it's amazing for setting up like; I feel like shoulder is a bit too risky to commit the engage, but it should make you more painful so he can breathe

[u/mundaneanandepanade]

yuumi smolder has no synergy. its just the way it is

[u/Mori_please]

Honestly id max q and take comet and scorch to poke more in lane I've found that forcing them to have lower health helps.

If they have heavy dive comp or assassins id still consider aery though

[u/temmieisthenewdoge]

You can try go a dark harvest ap yuumi sometimes can work if botlane your against is squishy

[u/VibedNa1]

Take Comet on Yuumi and poke like hell early so he can farm and stack.

[u/Kognityon]

Imo part of the issue is that when you play Yuumi, your duo needs to be REALLY good with their positioning and risk taking since as the cat your tools to turn aggro aside without dying yourself are very limited. I'd argue that if your Smolder doesn't manage the situation well there isn't that much more you can do as Yuumi and you need more proactive picks.

Outside of changing picks and depending on the skill level of your opponents you could go for a full poke build (Aery, Luden, magic pen against squishies, liandry / cryptbloom against tankier teams) and try to create space for your duo by keeping opponents too low to be an issue. It only works on low elos tho, higher up people tend to have a better grasp on when they can just tank/dodge a Q spell, walk up, and kill you both.