Smolder vs Vayne Counter Pick

Across 1,808 games on patch 16.13.1, Smolder’s 53.5% win rate against Vayne is about as dependable as matchup data gets. Both champions have a 550 attack range and a 330 movement speed, so the fight turns on how quickly each one can get its damage going.

Vayne needs three straight attacks or ability hits on a single target before Silver Bolts turns a share of maximum health into damage, and Tumble is what lets her land those hits. Condemn pushes a target back and deals extra damage if they collide with terrain, while Final Hour adds attack damage, grants invisibility during Tumble and reduces Tumble’s cooldown. Night Hunter boosts her movement speed as she closes on nearby enemy champions, so a retreat started too late seldom gets away. Her whole kit depends on staying in contact. Smolder avoids that requirement: Super Scorcher Breath hits from range, Achooo! explodes when it touches a champion, and Flap, Flap, Flap soars over terrain to bomb the enemy with the lowest health. Early on Vayne is the more fragile of the two, with 550 base health to 575 and 23 armor to 24, and her difficulty rating of 8 against his 6 means the harder champion is also the one forced to close the gap. Late game shifts some of that balance, with 2,301 health and 101.2 armor against 2,275 and 92, yet a fully built Smolder no longer needs a long fight to win.