Why Fiddlesticks is frustrating to play against.
Hi.
I need to open my explanation with a simple disclaimer. My thread does NOT aim at asserting Fiddle's strengths. By no means what I'm going to say means that Fiddle is OP or UP. It however means that he's in dire needs of changes and it's been this way for years now. These issues are still visible when Fiddle is gutted and they are unbearable when he's meta and strong. To this day he is still my most hated champion solely for the reasons I'm going to elaborate.
Fiddle's issues specifically lie in 2 specific spells, Q and E.
Starting with his E. The spell is actually fine when Fiddle is in the jungle. It helps him farm, gives him a silencing tool for ganks and to allow him draining his target. The two issues are how little room for counterplay there is when playing against him in lane and how the bird seems to randomly choose wether it'll hit you or not. I'm totally OK with Fiddle throwing the bird directly at someone and it should remain as is in that situation. I find it really frustrating that his bird can bounce accross half the lane and still hit you no matter what. It's also quite infuriating to be hit when hidden in brushes you know he has no vision in.
I think that Fiddle's E shouldn't hit you if you're out of sight or if you're too far from him at the time he uses the ability.
His Q is a targeted, instant, hard CC. I have the same issue with Ryze's cage. It means that there is no possible way to react to the spell. You can't flash to get CC'd to safety, you can't use any "untargetable state" abilities. This design is unhealthy by nature and is a major reason why Fiddle feels outdated.
LoL is a game when you are constantly creating actions and reacting to actions. This balance between creation and reaction gives it all its depth. Fiddle's Q does not leave any room for this action / reaction balance. The fear just happens and you have no say in it.
I think that Fiddle's Q should have a traveling time.
Back when full vision was easier to achieve, it was your own fault if you didn't see Fiddle's ult coming. Nowadays there is too much room for Fiddle to ult while unseen. That's particularly visible when he is meta. I don't think it means that his R should be changed, but it's definitly an issue when the overall vision is low.
It's clear that is any of these where changed, Fiddle would need compensation buffs. I don't mind the character, I do mind broken mechanics. For instance, Fiddle could use a damage reduction buff when draining his target, making counterplaying by CCing his drain even more accurate and giving him an edge on CC-less colossus and fighters who shouldn't be able to destroy him the way they actually do.
I would love to get some insight on this opinion, especially from Fiddle mains, and how they think these changed would affect Fiddlesticks!
