The Future of Fighters in League: Class Differentiation

As we're aware from past talks, Fighters have always been an interesting beast for Riot to handle. They were primarily created to serve as a "melee Marksman" class, but a great number of fighters ended up just being a "ball-of-stats" that would use abilities whenever they wanted to. As the game has evolved, it's become obvious that the Fighters of the past are creating FAR too many issues, and the class needs attention as a whole.

When looking at fighters, they're an incredibly mixed bag of champions who seem to not have that much in common other than a focus on melee combat. I've heard the term "light fighter" being thrown around lately, and I started thinking that fighters as we know them should really be split into two different classes: Duelists ("light fighters") and Bruisers ("heavy fighters").

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Duelists

I see these types of fighters having the following traits:

• Relatively Squishy: though these characters should be beefier than Marksmen and Mages, in relation to Tanks and Bruisers they should have much less all-around defense.

• High Situational Defense: though Duelists have weak all-around defense, they should have strong, short-lived, and situational defenses for surviving in a fight. The player of a Duelists should be rewarded for pulling off the perfect defensive move at the right time. A Duelist may die if this defense is not used well.

• Mobility: Duelists should dance in and out of fights, going in at opportune moments and making an exit when things go south. In this way, they're a bit like Assassins, but with sustained damage over burst damage. This and situational defense can go hand-in-hand, as mobility can act as a form of defense.

• High Sustained Damage: Duelists shouldn't be as bursty as Mages or Assassins; their damage output should be more like that of Marksmen.

• Little to No CC: This should not be the Duelist's job. Duelists should be a primary damage source. If Duelists have CC, it should be relatively weak or situational.

Champions I see / can see as being Duelists (taken from current Fighter list):

Aatrox

Diana

Fiora

Fizz

Spank... err Gangplank

Hecarim

Irelia

Jax

Lee Sin

Master Yi

Nocturne

Olaf

Pantheon

Poppy

Rengar

Riven

Tryndamere

Udyr (Tiger Build)

Vi

Wukong

Xin Zhao

Yasuo

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Bruisers

In contrast to Duelists, Bruisers should have the following:

Relatively Tanky: Closer to Tank spectrum, though not that far. Commonly referred to as "off-tank" in most cases.

Overall Defense: Goes in hand with being tanky. Bruisers shouldn't be afraid to wade into a fight. Duelists should actually have higher defenses than Bruisers, but in very short, situational boosts rather than all-around.

Low Mobility: Might have a way to get into a fight, but not much in-fight mobility.

Sustained Damage: Bruisers should act as a sponge while putting out considerable damage over a long teamfight, though not as high as Duelists. A Bruiser's damage is spread out.

Good CC: Bruisers should have a way to prevent the enemy from escaping them. Though they shouldn't have the same amount of CC as tanks, they still have respectable CC for singular targets instead of the often AOE CC of tanks.

Champions I see / can see as being Bruisers:

Darius

Dr. Mundo

Garen

Gragas

Jarvan IV

Nasus

Rumble

Shen

Shyvana

Singed

Sion

Skarner

Trundle

Udyr (Phoenix Build)

Volibear

Warwick

Yorick

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Champs Somewhere In-Between Right Now:

Elise

Renekton

TL;DR: Fighters should be split into two classes, Duelists and Bruisers. Each class has specific things they're good at instead of being lumped together. Using these general classes as a guideline, Fighter champs can be buffed, nerfed, or reworked according to what Riot / Community sees them as. Some champs fall into one class, some into the other, while a select few are a little confused on where they belong.