@Riot Rework Team: On the Subject of Fiora
Fiora has been (and probably always will be) my favorite champion since starting to play LoL. Since the rework was delayed, I though I would take this opportunity to discuss the idea of a Fiora rework, including an example reworked kit. I will be avoiding numbers as much as possible, and focusing on how the gameplay would feel, look, and sound. I will also discuss the goals that each skill is attempting to meet. Hopefully this will serve as some inspiration and indication of what an actual Fiora player would like to see in the rework. To start with, here is my example design:
Passive: Duelist - Hitting the same enemy champion or large neutral monster (number) times in a row will mark it as your opponent. Damaging a marked opponent restores health. Killing a marked opponent resets cooldowns and grants one ult stack. Hitting a different markable enemy removes old mark.
The theme here is dueling. The choice to switch targets is not one to take lightly with this passive. It also provides interactions with Fiora's skills. The goal is to have a meaningful passive that is noticeable and will factor into gameplay decisions more than just being something that happens in the background. While I do think about Fiora's current passive in the early game, it disappears into a meaningless abyss once life steal is purchased, and I hardly notice it or consider it late game.
Q: Lunge - Dashes in the chosen direction, damaging all in path for (number) base damage + (number) percent bonus AD. Does not proc anything including passive.
Nearly every single rework suggestion I have read suggests making Q untargeted. Fiora players really want this. Personally, I think making it untargeted means it should be a single dash. This benefits player with mobility, and also makes skill dodgeable for opponents. Again, please make this untargeted.
W: First Cast: Parry - Next AA (skill? Melee only? Physical damage only?) in (number) seconds has its damage negated. Successful block allows second cast within (number) seconds. Perhaps only block if Fiora is facing the direction the attack is coming from. A noticeable sound effect/animation on success is important here.
Second Cast: Riposte - After a successful Parry, Fiora can Riposte, doing damage in a small aoe forward facing cone, and applying a small knockback/stun/root (whichever you can balance). The idea of this is that a Parry/Riposted enemy should feel their combat flow being interrupted, and the Fiora player should notice it and be able to push the advantage. Please do not make this scale with AP. AP scaling should not be present on Fiora at all in any form.
Third Cast: Backstep - Backsteps (number) distance. Resets Q, maybe buffs it, too. The important thing with W is make it less of a spam button and to give it an interaction with Q. The player must choose whether or not the hop backward is useful, and cannot simply mash w as many currently do (or forget to do) during team fights.
E: Relentless/Merciless - For (number) seconds each AA provides a stacking buff up to (number) stacks increasing AS by (number) and MS by (number). Each time an enemy is hit by an AA he gains stacking debuff "Fatigued" up to (number) stacks decreasing AS by (number) and MS by (number). Reaching max stacks on debuff applies hard CC (stun?) (optional for utility). Boosts AD for duration as well? AA reset on cast?
The important thing for E is to try to give utility and power when Q and W are on CD. Right now Fiora is damage, damage, and more damage. It would be nice to have a little utility in the mix.
For all above skills it is important for them all to be useful when R is on CD. Currently, Fiora has a lot of power in her ult, and when it is down, she is not very useful against any group of enemies. The goal with the above skills is to provide more meaningful gameplay than "dash and die" without her ult. When the player is using these skills, it should feel like skillfully maneuvering around the battlefield, not point, click, dash, spam, die. The interactions between Q and W would provide numerous combos for engage, escape, disengage, re-engage, and general outplay ability. They are also markedly less useful in unskilled hands, as spamming W or lunging in the wrong direction would render FIora vulnerable or useless.
R: Coup De Grace - Gains a stack every (number) seconds up to (number (5?)) stacks. Targeted on enemy uses a stack, blinks/dashes to opposite side of enemy and deals (number) base damage + (number) percent missing health bonus damage and (number) percent bonus AD damage. AA reset. Gives enemy "En Garde" buff which decreases damage from "Coup De Grace" by (number) for (number) seconds. Procs Passive and E and on hit effects (no crit). A killing blow with this skill allows immediate passive marking of Fiora's next target.
Blade Waltz, in its current state is quite possibly the single coolest (not best, not most fun, not most balanced) skill in the game (yes I am biased). The feeling it gives the player with its animations, sound effects, and combat effects is one of the most important aspects of Fiora in my mind. While I acknowledge that it is not the healthiest skill, above all else, I want this feeling from whatever may replace it. The animation for Coup De Grace would be to suddenly appear behind the opponent and strike with a grand, elegant animation (.25s - .5s ish... again a number) and being untargetable/immune to damage for the duration (except existing dots). It should still look, sound, and feel epic. Additionally, I think the stacking mechanic is ideal on Fiora. The number of times I have to secure a kill with my ult, and then have to sit around like a lame duck during the teamfight 30s later is huge. The number of times I wish my ult would target who I want is also huge. This would allow the player to actively decide who to damage, realizing that choosing the same target maintains the passive, but loses out on damage. It would allow the player to secure a kill, and still have stacks for the team fight. It would allow the opponent a period of time between uses to cc/damage/kill Fiora (I believe the magic word is counterplay). Her ult becomes less of a win/lose button depending on if it is available.
I have read the ult posted by Guinsoo and I don't know if it got scrapped when the rework got delayed, but it does worry me. Simply making skills usable with low CD seems like it encourages spam buttons and the time limit seems like it would be unpleasant alongside the cast count. It also suffers from the same problem as the current ult in the form of being on/off, although it does still allow the player to choose targets. Being that I can't know what other changes accompanied it, I can't understand the full scope of the skill, but I had very mixed feelings about it when I read it as it had potential to be fun, or a spectacular failure.
I understand that my design will not be implemented as it is, but I wanted to provide the example to demonstrate the goals I would like to see Fiora meet. It would also provide tons of those balancing levers that the balance team loves: dash ranges, damage numbers, stack counts, cooldowns, aa reset vs. not, what kind of cc, how long cc, and more.
To reiterate the goals: Meaningful passive at all points in game that influences decisions, Interaction between skills (Q and W in my example), added mobility/escape/engage/disengage/re-engage, added utility, give feeling of outplay when outplaying (riposte interruption style), maintain feeling of epicness, distribute power of ult (not an on=win/off=lose button), and generally provide opportunities for outplaying her opponent and being outplayed when she screws up. I realize that my design is intricate, even a bit complicated, but if any champion is going to be intricate and require substantial skill, it should be Fiora - the Grand Duelist.
Finally, this is my opinion, and I am a single Fiora player (albeit a passionate one). I look forward to reading the respectful opinions of my fellow Fiora enthusiasts. I also hope that whoever ends up working on this from Riot can derive some measure of inspiration and guidance from my design example and explanations.
