wtf is the fighter class even supposed to be?

CasterGilgamesh·Dec 28, 2015·3 votes·627 views

like my tittle says why is it that i see fighters deal assassin like damage and get to be tanky?what is the main role of fighter class when they fill the role of tank decently and have assassin like damage?not really a QQ thread but seriously what's the point of classing them "fighters" if the role doesn't seem to have a clear focus.

9 Comments

TehNACHODec 28, 20156 votes

Oh, yeah, actually this is a big problem.

How long have you been on the forums, because if you remember the old forums, you should remember the grand "Fighter Rework", a multi-year promise that has only now been tackled with the Juggernauts and itemization changes this year. See, the biggest problem with the Fighter class right now is that it's way too broad a definition. Due to the way Riot has designed Fighters during the big 'Fighter era', when they started copy pasting a crapton of Fighters with identical kits, you can really break down the Fighter subclass into three broad strokes: Juggernaut, Dive Fighter, and Light Fighter.

You should know what Juggernauts are, these big, slow, usually defensive built behemoths with titanic base values on their damage capabilities but extremely little team-based utility.
The Light Fighters are the exact opposite end of the spectrum within the Fighter subclass; melee DPS champs that don't suit the burst-based Assassin definition. These are champions like Master Yi, Yasuo, and Fiora, as you never really see these champs ever build significantly tanky due to their reliance on sustained damage and some defensive utility in their abilities like Alpha Strike's invulnerability to the iconic and infamous Wind Wall.
Dive Fighters are the class near the middle. These are the champs with abilities that allow them to traverse large amounts of distance in an instant, allowing them to be fantastic threats to squishy champions in the back line like a damage based Assassin or force and initiate fights like a Tank. They're often designed in a way that they can't do both however, due to how they always tend to lack built in defensive steroids and that their damage is based off the AD or AP that you build; if you want to use a Dive Fighter in a particular way, you need to build that particular way. An example of this is Wukong; AD Wukong is a fantastic Assassin, but prone to exploding immediately after the knock up of his ultimate is over if he dove 1v5. On the other hand, Tank Wukong has one of the most powerful (for its execution and versatility) initiations in the game, but because of the Bonus AD Ratio on his Ultimate, Tank Wukong does very very very insignificant damage relative to what an AD Wukong would be doing.

The main role of the Fighter class is a spectrum between being slow and Tanky damage dealers (Juggernauts), mobile and squishy DPS dealers (Light Fighters), and the spectrum of Tank based or Damage based possibilities in between (Dive Fighters). Once you dive into these subclasses, the individual Fighters themselves start to distinguish themselves better, and tend to make more sense within the context of strategic value in the game. Unfortunately, Riot hasn't overhauled Light Fighters and Dive Fighters to the same level as the Juggernauts, and I'd argue there are still many more Juggernauts than the main 4 Riot has looked at, meaning that, at least for now, we still don't see the complete and ideal picture of what a Fighter could be according to what Riot wanted to tackle with in the original Fighter rework.

tl;dr: Fighters aren't a thing, it's the Fighter subclasses that really are things.

RalanrDec 28, 20151 votes

I've always seen the fighter (and Mage) as the most versatile classes due to their build paths.

TehNACHODec 28, 20151 votes

While that is true, this is really only best seen in the Dive Fighter subclasses which heavily relies on the player utilizing their utility. Other than that, to say Fighters are the most versatile class is really more or less the same as saying they don't do anything in particular, which is a sucky trait to have in a game with over 120 characters.

RalanrDec 28, 20151 votes

True, there's little reason to have a fighter over a tank since you have an ADC.

CasterGilgameshDec 28, 20151 votes

thanks for clearing that up ive only been on the form since a little of 2 years this being my second year

WoodakoodashoodaDec 28, 20151 votes

Fighters generally lack the mobility and burst of assassins. Fighters are suited for sustained and prolonged combat whereas assassins are geared for jumping onto and deleting priority carries in just a few seconds if not faster.

BluePolarizerDec 28, 20151 votes

High sustained damage, mediocre to zero mobility, mediocre burst (COMPARED TO ASSASSINS AND MAGES ONLY), mediocre to zero CC, average-high tankiness and most of all (this is the big part): has to build damage to get damage and has to build tanky to be tanky.

Usually separated, as Nacho said, into Juggernauts, Light Fighters and Heavy Fighters.

Juggernauts have relatively high sustained damage as "sustained burst" (with cooldowns in between), are very tanky, have weak CC and zero mobility. You are not supposed to facetank them, you are supposed to kite them since they WILL win 1v1s where you just stand there and auto each other. Garen Nasus Darius DrMundo Shyvana

Light fighters have very high (almost ADC level) sustained damage as autos, are not very tanky (but still moreso than most mages and assassins), moderately mobile though not as much as assassins and have zero or weak CC. You are supposed to CC them and burst them since most of their defenses comes from maneuvering and flanking the sides of the battle. MasterYi Riven Yasuo Fiora Nocturne

Heavy fighters have decent burst, decent sustained damage, decently tanky and moderately mobile though they do not excel at anything. They do, however, have significant CC which is used for either locking down priority targets or starting a fight with AOE CC. Depending on how they build you can either facetank them and beat them 1v1, CC them and burst them, or kite them. MonkeyKing Irelia Hecarim RekSai

The role of a fighter is to serve as the secondary DPS source on a team next to the ADC and a secondary tank on the team next to either a dedicated full tank or a support. If there is no primary tank, often a heavy fighter or juggernaut will build full tank or only 1 damage item and become the team's main engage.

WoodakoodashoodaDec 28, 20151 votes

I suppose then that it can be argued that the fighter class boasts an overabundance of diversity; diversity that, say, the ADC class continues to lack despite Riot's attempts to provide them with it.