The New Harbinger: Fiddlesticks Rework Concept

Xaviertrix·Feb 2, 2018·3 votes·1,683 views

Hello, I'm Xaviertrix, and I like writing and crafting ideas. My proficiency at either is questionable, but here we are anyway.

Today I'd like to present my proposal for a potential Fiddlesticks rework to the community at large for feedback and opinions. I crafted this out of my appreciation of the character and lore of the champion, as well as a personal challenge to see how I could tackle the idea of taking a pre-determined character and update his kit to reflect what I have held as the core design philosophies for League 2018.

I am not one for elaborately decorating my ideas in stats and colorful justifications, so please take them for what they are and judge them as such. I actively encourage feedback and comments, as my ultimate goal with this is to create a healthy champion kit concept that abides by modern design standards as well as pays respect to his old design.

So let's roll.

Redesign Goals

Maintain Fiddlesticks' identity as a caster who the enemy wants to run from, or they will die.
Maintain Fiddlesticks' identity as a jungler and sudden-engage ganker.
Give Fiddlesticks tools that are less binary to help him outmaneuver opponents, get in their face, and kill them.
Give outplay potential to both Fiddlesticks and his opponents.
Give Fiddlesticks pronounced moments of tension and suitable moments of power.

Important Note

This rework was designed with the kit in mind, not numerical balance. Any given numbers will be noted in [brackets] to denote that they are not final and are only approximations included for the sake of denoting a reference point to visualize how the ability may function or 'feel' in-game.

Base Changes

Fiddlesticks is made melee, utilizing a farming scythe for his attacks and abilities.
Base stats adjusted accordingly for a reasonably squishy melee champion.

Context

In line with refining a champion kit that already encouraged you to get as close as possible to achieve maximum damage on a priority target, the change from range to melee felt natural. Fiddlesticks' rework has been designed with this in mind, giving him large incentives to remain in melee range through his new abilities and reinforcing his get-in-your-face gameplay.
Creates a layer of clear counterplay, given the power Fiddlesticks' Passive, Q and R gives him at close range: either get out of his effective zone to avoid his ramping damage or punish him for getting too close as a melee squishy.

Passive - Harbinger

Doom: Every [fifth] ability Fiddlesticks casts is empowered, gaining bonus effects.
Terror: Fiddlesticks deals [x] bonus magic damage with his basic attacks.
Other:
Enhanced abilities share the same cooldown as their standard variants.
Bonus damage is fairly low, but scales respectably enough with level and AP as to warrant the inclusion of basic attacks for damage.

Context

In a manner similar to Rengar, the enhanced ability playstyle serves to give the champion an adaptable skillset depending on a given scenario. As detailed below, this gives Fiddlesticks the option of better CC, sustain, engage or damage, design components which compliment his identity of a spooky, ganking, health-drain-ing scarecrow.
The bonus ap damage on basic attacks provides both a meaningful damage contribution during Fiddlesticks' moderate cooldowns as well as a natural incentive to use basic attacks in order to enhance the burst damage of his ultimate (see below). Additionally, it creates an interesting space to explore builds such as nashors, on-hit, or for those more zealous Fiddles, critical strike chance.

Q - Reap

Active: After a brief delay, Fiddlesticks brings his scythe down upon target enemy, dealing [x] damage and briefly slowing by [90%].
Empowered: Shackles the target for [1.5s], preventing them from moving [x] units away from the location they were hit.
Other:
- Damage is average for a Q, cooldown is medium-low [~12-8s with rank]
- Shackled functions similarly to Camille’s ultimate, preventing movement more than a certain distance from a location, but can be broken with CC immunity and cleansed.
- Reap has a short cast range (similar to melee attack range) and a long [~.5s] cast time. Effects will apply to the target wherever they are at the end of the cast time.
- In order to account for visual clarity, a 'spectral' scythe accompanies Fiddlesticks' physical swipe, as there is ample time for enemies to leave the cast range (in the manner of Garen's ultimate, albeit greatly subdued).

Context

This ability serves as Fiddlesticks’ primary/consistent lockdown tool, replacing Terrify with a more interactive form of guaranteed cc. For Reap, both the delay and the inevitability of the hit are very apparent, giving opponents a choice: they can either run to create distance from the fairly immobile Fiddlesticks before the ability lands, or actively decide to tank it and keep fighting, because it's already guaranteed to hit.
For Fiddlesticks, while it now provides damage and remains a key gank tool, it is intentionally a net loss of CC power from the extremely polarizing Terrify. However, he regains much of this capability if he chooses to utilize his enhanced cast, which either forces the target to deal with any follow-up coming their way or blow key cooldowns to escape the tether.

W - Harvest

Active: Fiddlesticks swings his scythe in a cone, dealing [x] damage and healing for [y] per champion or monster hit. [75]% reduced healing on small monsters.
Empowered: Fiddlesticks additionally receives [200]% of the heal value as a shield for [3] seconds.
Other:
Damage is moderate but scales reasonably with level, cooldown is moderate [~14s]

Context

Likely the most impactful change in the proposed kit with regards to playstyle, Harvest (as opposed to Drain) encourages keeping up with and beating on your target, using this fairly quick heal to stack Dread and keep yourself alive rather than counting on out-healing their DPS in a stationary fight.
Giving a shield on the empowered cast, as opposed to defensive stats or bonus healing, allows the focus of the player's build to remain offensive-based, as excess heals or resistances may feel wasted given a squishy character (and the lack thereof may discourage oppressive tank builds). It also gives the choice of using the enhanced ability proactively, to block, rather than the solely reactionary action that is healing.

E - Manifest

Active: Fiddlesticks channels for [2s] to blink to target location [750] units away. Upon arrival, nearby enemies are feared for [1s]. Taking damage interrupts and places Manifest on a short cooldown.
Empowered: Blink range is increased by [40/55/70/85/100]%
Other:
Does not deal damage, cooldown is lengthy [~40s-20s with rank]
Manifest does not charge or consume the enhanced spellcast until the spell succeeds.

Context

This spell, drawing from the power lost from Terrify, offers a powerful gank tool that isn't directly tied to an ultimate cooldown.
Given the long and apparent channel time, a direct hit with the fear is unlikely, but adding the threat of it gives an incentive for the Fiddlesticks player to hit it directly and be in the target's face, and for the enemy to specifically avoid it.
The enhanced version gives this spell much stronger gank paths, and as such the bonus distance is tied to spell rank, as to force the Fiddlesticks player to opt into blink distance or damage on his other spells at early levels.
The combat lockout is in place to reinforce Manifest as a primary engage tool rather than saving it as an emergency escape - while that is still possible (as is the case with Tahm Kench's ultimate), it is a clear sign to enemies that if pressure is kept on Fiddlesticks he has no real mobility or escape.

R - Murder (Alternatively, Crowstorm)

Passive: When Fiddlesticks hits an enemy with a spell or basic attack, they are marked with Dread for [x] seconds, stacking up to [8] times.
First Cast: Fiddlesticks begins to channel, drawing in a murder of crows. Nearby enemies are slowed by [25]%, stacking up to [3] times over [3] seconds in a steadily increasing area.
Second Cast: Fiddlesticks releases a wave of crows, slowing all enemies in the area by [80]% for [1s] and purging all Dread marks. Enemies take [x] damage as well as [z]% maximum health damage damage for every Dread mark purged.
Empowered: Murder deals an additional [x] damage for every Dread mark purged.
Other:
Initial cast and charge do not deal damage. Second cast deals a moderate amount of damage that is calculated separately from Dread damage. Cooldown is that of a typical teamfight ultimate.
Base Dread damage is percent-health based, while empowered adds a flat bonus to each stack that scales with ability power. A high amount of detonated stacks will do a very large amount of damage - even more if empowered - but in lower numbers should not be enough to kill outright.
Murder can be recast early to immediately end the windup and apply R2's full damage and effect in however large the affected area is at that time.
While channeling this ability, Fiddlesticks can move at a significantly reduced rate, but not perform other actions. Hard CC will break the channel.
Enemies can only be marked with Dread when this ability is off-cooldown or nearly off-cooldown, similar to how Jhin's snare functions.
The [3] hits of R1 apply dread, as well as Fiddlesticks' basic attacks and direct ability hits.

Context

The long and short of the ultimate rework is to give it both more counterplay as well as more threat. The current ultimate is either underwhelming or overwhelming based on how much unconditional damage it can do, with the counterplay being “don't stand in it.” This rework dramatically amps up the effective charge time and adds conditional power based on the play of Fiddlesticks, his team, and his targets.
Stacks need to be individually placed
Enemies need to remain in the detonation area
The area needs to charge before reaching sizes comparable to live
Fiddlesticks is extremely vulnerable while charging, and can no longer negate this weakness with Hourglass, giving agency to both his enemies and allies with regard to how it may turn out.
Fiddlesticks can stack up Dread independently of R1, opting to instead snapcast R2, but doing so will give opponents more time to fight back or completely avoid his ultimate.
Dramatically increased damage under ideal circumstances.
Powerful utility in the slow of R1, given the risk of losing the ultimate altogether.
While R2 by itself deals moderate base damage, the majority of the damage contribution is intended to be through the purging of Dread stacks. At base, these deal percent max health damage in order to give it effectiveness against both squishy and beefy targets alike (rather than the overbearing/underwhelming split currently on live).
The enhanced version adds a high level of risk/reward investment - adding ap-scaling damage to each dread stack will improve Murder's effectiveness dramatically against the targets Fiddlesticks wants to kill, but in choosing to use the enhanced cast on the ultimate, the player must make due without the additional lockdown, survivability and engage that he could opt into with his other enhanced abilities.
In this, enemies have an easier time either leaving Fiddlesticks' threat range or simply killing him, and Fiddlesticks players get to feel like mighty harbingers of doom when they manage to pull off a max-stack enhanced ultimate anyway.

Thank you for reading this far, and though I've put a lot of thought into this, I know it is far from perfect. Listed below are the points that came up in designing this update that I found myself either unable to answer given my limited viewpoint (I'm only an individual, after all!) and self-identified areas of design weakness. Any feedback - be it concerning the below points or anything at all concerning my suggestion at large - would be incredibly helpful.

General Concerns/Feedback Requests

The first and most important question, is, of course: Does this redesign satisfy what it means to play Fiddlesticks, both as those who enjoy his character and design currently and to the league playerbase as a whole?
I feel as though my proposed rework satisfies this on a personal level, but I am but a single player. I enjoy Fiddlesticks' lore and concept much more than his current kit design, and I imagine that it shows throughout my proposal. Any perspectives - neutral, against or for this viewpoint - are both welcome and encouraged.
Is the shift from range-focused to melee focused appropriate for Fiddlesticks? Does it read as something that you would enjoy playing?
A primary goal of this rework was to give more agency to Fiddlesticks, his allies, and his opponents. Do you feel as though this was successful?
Assuming balanced numbers, does this updated kit give Fiddlesticks enough conditional power to warrant his new weaknesses?
Throughout this design, the ideal build I had in mind was for the player to be able to build one semi-tanky item (ala Protobelt or Rylais) and proceed to go full mage. To further this, W scales off of AP, rather than health. Is this sufficient to keep Fiddlesticks alive, given his new skillset?
The role in mind when designing this kit was the jungle. Does this kit feel appropriate for this role? Does it feel sufficiently powerful? Does it stifle or encourage his presence as a laner in a negative way?
On this, I think it is important to note that, while I envisioned Fiddlesticks primarily as a jungler, two concerns came up which I myself could not give thorough answers to.
- Assuming his numbers are balanced, does his QWE (+ enhancements) ability combination give him sufficient jungle clear? My gut feeling said that either Q or W needed more to be viable (be it extra monster damage, in-jungle cooldown reduction, or some other effect), though I couldn't specify what, or even if this was truly necessary. Feedback from experienced junglers with regard to this would be extremely helpful.
- Does this proposed rework kill lane Fiddlesticks? His range is all but gone and his poke is very limited aside from burst trade patterns. Is this too much of a loss, or even relevant? General thoughts here would be appreciated.
Does the concept of Fiddlesticks utilizing a farming scythe as a melee weapon overlap too much with Kayn's design? If so, would the use of sickle(s) in this manner share the same issue?
While I had envisioned their fighting styles and weapon appearance to be entirely different (in the vein of how many champions use swords, but differentiate via playstyle), I can also see the novelty of the niche weapon in itself being spread too thin if applied liberally.

Ability/Kit Concerns (Once again, all assuming that the numbers would be balanced according to game health)

General
- Do these abilities synergize well?
- The idea with the names was to make them one word long and 'spooky'. Is this restriction too arbitrary? Would other names be more fitting?
- Do these abilities work well for Fiddlesticks as a champion interested in both clearing the jungle and ganking?
- Do these abilities work well for Fiddlesticks as a champion interested in laning?
- Do these abilities work well for Fiddlesticks as the game progresses past the laning phase?
Passive - Harbinger
Is 5 the correct number of spellcasts for his enhanced ability, assuming fairly moderate cooldowns across the board?
Is a stacking ability system appropriate for this, or would a different trigger be appropriate?
Does the basic attack AP damage feel appropriate and meaningful?
Q - Reap
- Does this ability feel reasonably impactful for a Q?
- Is the base ability too powerful for being on a low-medium cooldown? Is it powerful enough?
- Is the enhanced ability appropriate? Is it powerful enough? Is it fair to enemies?
W- Harvest
- Is this ability and its enhanced version relevant and/or interesting enough?
- Does the shift from Drain impact Fiddlesticks negatively?
- Does this ability give Fiddlesticks sufficient survivability in larger fights?
E - Manifest
- Assuming a moderate-long cooldown and a base cast range similar to his current ultimate's blink range, does this ability give Fiddlesticks too much gank pressure?
- Should Manifest be able to be cast in combat? Doing so would allow him to combo his enhanced Q with the fear, and may lessen its impact as a raw engage tool.
- Is the fear on direct hit appropriate?
R - Murder
- Is this ability powerful enough to warrant all of the counterplay available to enemies?
- Does this ability feel healthy in the context of League in 2018?
- Does the Dread stacking mechanic feel appropriate and impactful?
- Would % health damage be appropriate on the base Dread stacks or only on the enhanced Dread stacks? Would % maximum or % current be more appropriate? Is % health damage appropriate in general?
- Is 8 the correct number of maximum stacks?
- Players will ideally go for maximum, but placing it too high may give the base cast too little power and make the best case unrealistic and/or a trap for Fiddlesticks players. Assuming Fiddlesticks' R1 applies 3 stacks by itself and W can apply an AOE stack from range, I felt 4 other hits against a priority target for maximum damage would be plausible but not inevitable.
- Is the removal of hourglass as a safety mechanism while charging R1 justified?

And that's my proposal. Thanks for reading, have a great day and leave a comment if this managed to pique your interest!

The New Harbinger: Fiddlesticks Rework Concept

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