Reworking Fiora

Fiora is on Riot's rework list, so I wanted to share my thoughts on how to make Fiora better fit her theme as a Grand Duelist. I understand that this post won't have any effect on Fiora's rework; this is just a creative exercise for one of my favorite champions.

Fiora is a proud and highly skilled fencer. As a melee AD carry and a duelist, she should have high damage, good survivability, and single-target abilities; most of her damage output would come from her auto attacks. Her weaknesses would be her low mobility, lack of crowd control, and poor teamfighting skills. I imagine she would be picked for her lane bully potential and her splitpushing ability.

Note: I am not a fencer, but I did research fencing techniques and terms and did my best to translate them to Fiora's mechanics.

Second Note: By 'opponent', I mean enemy champion or large monster. I don't want to kill Jungle Fiora, but I don't want Fiora fencing with minions either.

Passive - Duelist Fiora has innate 5% life steal. This amount increases to 10% at Lv. 9 at to 15% at Lv. 16.

This passive will allow Fiora to sustain in lane and will scale into the late game better than her current one. Plus, this style of heal is more visible.

Q - Lunge Fiora dashes to an enemy champion, dealing damage and putting her in melee range (125). Range: 500/525/550/575/600 Damage: 40/80/120/160/200 (+25% AD) Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 Cost: 60 mana

Fiora's engaging ability, allowing her to dash in and deal damage. This version of Lunge can only be cast once. Fencing Note: Lunge - a method of getting closer to an opponent with acceleration to make an attack and while maintaining balance and making it possible for a rapid recovery to En Garde

W - Parry/Riposte Fiora blocks the next enemy auto attack or single-target ability in the next 1.5 seconds. If successful, Fiora gains the buff Riposte for the next 2 seconds, empowering her next auto attack or Lunge. Damage Amplifier: 1.25x/1.5x/1.75x/2x/2.25x Cooldown: 8 Cost: 45 mana

Fiora's defensive ability, rewarding players for predicting their opponent's next move. This version of Riposte more accurately reflects what a risposte is, in my opinion, and makes successfully Parrying mean more. Current Riposte has magic damage; Fiora doesn’t build AP. Fencing Note: Parry - defensive action to deflect an opponent's attack by opposing 'forte to opponent's foible' Riposte - an offensive action following a successful parry of an attack

E - En Garde Fiora takes a defensive position, putting her at Lunge range from her opponent, marking them for 3 seconds. Fiora can Lunge to the opponent to consume the mark for additional damage. Range: 500 Mark Damage: 60/110/160/210/260 (+25% AD) Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 Cost: 55 mana

Fiora's disengage ability, allowing her to reposition and/or get some space between her and her opponent. Fiora has the option to Lunge back into the fight for extra damage or to run away. Fencing Note: En Garde - French for "on guard"; spoken at outset to warn the participants to take a defensive position

R - Allez Fiora prepares to duel, increasing her attack damage, her attack speed, and her movement speed. Kills and assists extend the duration by 3 seconds. Bonus Attack Speed: 50%/75%/100% Bonus Attack Damage: 20/40/60 (+25% bonus AD) Bonus Movement Speed: 20%/30%/40% Duration: 3/6/9 seconds Cooldown: 30 seconds Cost: 50/65/80 mana

Fiora's steroid ability that increases her dueling strength and objective control. Burst of Speed is probably Fiora’s most useful skill, so I decided to turn it into her ultimate. The extend-duration mechanic is meant to improve Fiora's teamfighting ability and to give her a a soft escape. Fencing Note: Allez - French for "go", command used to commence action in a match. (Sequence is "En garde, prêts, allez")

The goal of this kit concept was to cement in Fiora’s identity as a fencer without removing too much of her current kit. Though I do personally like Blade Waltz and consider it an iconic ability, I believe it doesn’t match the Grand Duelist identity. The damage output decreases on the same target, so Fiora is encouraged to use it on multiple targets, which isn’t a duel. I tried to merge some of the feeling of Blade Waltz into Allez by giving it an attack damage steroid: Fiora will be hitting hard, hitting fast, and moving fast.

One thing I hope that I achieved is some offense/defense choice: Fiora can Lunge in and immediately En Garde back to relative safety, or En Garde then Lunge for increased damage at the cost of most of her mobility. I also wanted effectively all of Fiora’s mobility to depend on her having an opponent: Fiora can only Lunge to an enemy champion, En Garde away from an enemy champion, and her movement speed steroid is in her ultimate.

I remember seeing some talk about making Fiora a resourceless champion like Garen; I can see that happening, but for this concept I kept Fiora using mana. I did my best with the numbers, but the main purpose of the kit concept is the mechanics.

Thank you for taking your time to read this concept.