Thank You Riot for the Fiora Rework

JACKlNG OFF·Aug 8, 2015·2 votes·964 views

Dear Riot,

I have been playing this game for years. Since day 1, I have been a huge fan of your melee carries. Master Yi was one of the first champs I mastered, both AD and AP. I later became a Tryndamere main and learned the joy's of splitpushing and counter jungling. I dabbled some in GP, often taking him bot lane with my friend who was an avid Soraka player (he quit playing her after her kit changes because the mana restore). But when you guys released Fiora, I saw a champ that had everything I wanted in a champion.

She had a significant gapcloser. With mobility creep becoming an issue, and champions like Ezreal, Tristna, and Corki destroying me with their range and escapes, getting a champion that would allow me to close the gap was a welcome change. Even more so, the synergy Lunge had with her Burst of Speed as far as instantly generating more move speed on Lunge's hit allowed for easier chasing in order to get the second Lunge off once the enemy used their blink/flash.

She had a way to mitigate damage. Fiora's ability to get in your face and then retreat in order to make the most of duelist stacks. During her retreat, harass would normally follow in the form of minion damage, enemy skillshots, or point and click Teemo or Pantheon shots. Riposting while running away was, in most cases, the answer to a lot of these problems. More so, Riposte and the crazy in your face burst even allowed me to take her bottom with hard-engage supports like Leona and Alistar. I could parry enemy auto attacks while farming, and then all-in people with my support after the riposte damage added up over time.

She had a massive steroid. Fiora's Burst of Speed was an amazing dueling tool, and was often the game-winning factor when fighting Jax in top lane. Careful use of this skill could create chase opportunities, escape opportunities, and even assassination opportunities. BoS was an amazing tool that gave Fiora identity as the grand duelist.

Her ult was unrivaled (unless you had zhonya's, a nearby bush, were fizz/vlad/shaco/a good jax/etc). Fiora's ult enabled her to exit combat during teamfights, support her team through AOE black cleaver procs, tower dive, and even engage teamfights with good follow up. The skill was ludicrously powerful when ahead, but utterly useless if behind - a tendency that fit in with her character as a whole due to her scaling abilities.

I ENJOYED PLAYING AS THE OLD FIORA, AND BE THIS AS IT MAY, I AM ENJOYING THE NEW FIORA FAR MORE THAN THE OLD

Riot, I cannot tell you how many games I was called a "troll" or other horrible word due to me picking Fiora as a champion. I would play her in all lanes, and gained absolute mastery of her kit by doing so. I even learned how to orbwalk in melee range thanks to her attack speed. But every time I asked why I was being called a troll, I was told it's because I was playing a champ who was too risky, who had zero utility, and who was a liability if behind.

You fixed all of this with the rework. Disregard everything people say otherwise.

The Vitals passive is what changed the game for me. It had burst, enabled me to split push against tanky champs, and even had a move speed feature built in. In addition, all of the healing from her old passive now seemed to be delivered up front, making for trades in lane early on to be even better. Thank you for providing me with something that is not only interactive, but that pays off. This is a perfect example of innovation that is not done for the sake of innovation, but for actual progress in character health.

Her new Lunge contains multiple facets. An escape, an auto attack reset, and a gapcloser. While it may no longer be an instant double gapcloser, I feel that the new Lunge is still better due to the cooldown reduction. I can still use it to duel people in the jungle or in lane, and can then use it again shortly after in order to disengage or jump over a wall to escape from trouble. The added fact that it now procs Vital hits add to the duelist fantasy of precise and powerful strikes.

The new Riposte is my favorite part of the kit. I take pride in my fast reflexes, and have always wondered why i could not parry a slow-flying Pantheon spear or a Blitzcrank hook. But now I can! This alone has allowed me to escape so many ganks. Even going bot lane with her now enables me to save myself from support stuns and engages. Even better, the skill now allows me to skillfully harass ADCs from far away while pushing the minion wave. I feel very rewarded when I pull off a successful Riposte now, because I know that my reflexes should be king when it comes to parrying a stray spear or arrow, not whether or not the attack was a point and click spell and thus immune to my superior reflexes. The added slow for attack and move speed is

The new Bladework skill feels slightly confusing. The skill provides a slow, and then a crit. While I see the use for this in chasing due to its slow effect and maybe very early trades, I feel that the skill falls off later on. This isn't necessarily bad though, as I use it to primarily begin a chain of slow effects (Bladework -> Riposte) to peel for my ADC (if I have one) or any other soft champions. The skill has its uses, but I feel I need more time to fully master and appreciate it.

Her ultimate is amazing - even while laning. It took some effort, but I have devised a way to normally hit 3 to 4 vitals every time I ult. When fighting another champ straight up, I generally ult during the animation of my first auto attack. This instantly procs a vital. I then lunge through the enemy, striking their rear vital. Then I combo into Bladework for an auto attack reset and use the burst of speed from the first vital in addition to the slow to strike at a side vital. By now, Lunge is normally back up, so I dash to the last vital and hope for a hit. I also save my ult until the enemy's current health is less than or greater to a value equal to 3 hits of my ult. This allows me to know that my engage will normally result in their death and the ability to fight anyone else who might come into lane (such as an enemy jungler) thanks to the massive heal. As for teamfights, I simply ult their tank and use my true damage to ensure a quick kill and the heal usually helps my team survive the incoming engage, allowing us to follow up.

Fiora works great as a bruiser now, and just as well as a pure AD champ. My favorite builds on her right now are: