Smolder vs Syndra Counter Pick

Both champions have a 550 attack range, 583 health against 575, 25 armor against 24, and 2,283 against 2,275 at level 18, so their bodies are nearly interchangeable. The 34.0% win rate across 144 games on patch 16.13.1 comes down to the kits, not the frames.

• Dark Sphere leaves an object on the ground that her other abilities draw on, so each cast builds value for the next one.
• Scatter the Weak pushes both spheres and enemies outward and stuns any target a sphere touches, giving her firm crowd control from long range.
• Unleashed Power sends every sphere she is holding into one champion, while Transcendent enhances specific abilities as she collects Splinters of Wrath.

Smolder, by contrast, is slow to get going. Dragon Practice stacks build when he lands abilities on champions and when Super Scorcher Breath finishes off enemies, yet Syndra controls how often those chances appear. Her difficulty rating of 8 against his 6 is the main tool the weaker side has: a badly timed sphere can be survived, while a badly timed step into her stun cannot. Smolder stays behind the wave and tolerates a sluggish opening fifteen minutes instead of fighting for range he cannot win. With a shared Mana bar and a shared 330 move speed, his only real escape is Flap, Flap, Flap and a wall.