[On-hit Fiddlesticks?!] Redesigning Fiddlesticks - Matching Theme and Mechanics

DISCLAIMER: THIS REDESIGN IS NOT ACTUALLY A CASE FOR WHY FIDDLE SHOULD BE REWORKED. THIS IS ONLY MY VISION OF FIDDLESTICKS IN LIGHT OF HIS LORE AND THEMATIC CORE. THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY DESIGNED TO BE "BALANCED" EITHER (I DIDN'T SPEND HOURS POURING OVER ALL THE GAMEPLAY ITERATIONS OF THIS REDESIGN). THIS ITERATION MAY BE OP, UP, OR JUST BAD IN GENERAL. LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN COMMENTS.

For all of you too lazy to read to the end:

tl;dr I re-imagine Fiddlesticks as an AP, melee, on-hit, reset assassin. His passive, his new core mechanic, gives him increased move-speed, attack-speed, and on-hit magic damage for a short duration when near enemy champions. His other abilities are significantly changed as well. I think this iteration makes Fiddle a more interesting champion to play and play against while better capturing the theme of his Lore.

Okay, so Fiddlesticks has always been, to me, one of the most interesting champions in the game. This is mainly because of his champion lore. If you haven't read it, check it out on his champion page:

http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/fiddlesticks/#champion-lore

For those of you who didn't read it anyways:

Fiddle Lore tl;dr - A summoner attempted a forbidden inter-planar summon inside a sealed chamber and never came out (he died). Fiddlesticks resides in the sealed chamber, completely inactive and stationary, except to ruthlessly slay those who enter the chamber (either by foolishness or by force as a method execution). Fiddlesticks drives those that interact with him to madness (if they survive) and currently there is no known method of destroying Fiddlesticks.

What should Fiddle's Lore mean in regards to his gameplay?

There are 3 things to note about Fiddlesticks:

1. He is normally inactive except where there are nearby entities. Then he springs to life and kills them.

2. Fiddle has three weapons at his disposal: His scythe, his crows, and his presence (fear-inducing)

3. Fiddlesticks mere presence should drive away enemy champions. If you see Fiddlesticks, your first instinct should be to run away. Vision and zone control should be a key-part of playing Fiddlesticks (and playing against him) as you can't respond properly to Fiddle's presence if you can't see him OR if you can't get away from him.

What I think Fiddle's current iteration gets right:

Currently, Fiddlesticks embodies some of the above principles pretty well. His current gameplay revolves around vision control in order to get a good ult off. If Fiddlesticks can surprise his enemies and force them into a contained area, he will cut them down pretty quickly.

What I think Fiddle's current iteration gets wrong:

Although the mechanics of Fiddle's ultimate capture his theme well. The rest of his kit doesn't. Fiddle is heavily ult reliant and somewhat team-reliant to wombo-combo his opponents in skirmishes or team-fights. When Fiddle's ult is on CD, he hardly embodies the principals of his theme. In fact, in a 1v1 situation, a place where Fiddle should excel thematically, he often falls short. His squishiness and high cooldowns on his fear and silence make it impossible to fight other bruiser junglers. His drain is his one saving grace in this category, but if you can interrupt this, he's toast. His scythe, one of his most powerful tools to "cut down" his enemies, is spectacularly useless (unless playing Crittlesticks, God-bless) in his current state.

How I imagine Fiddlesticks

I imagine Fiddlesticks as an AP, on-hit, melee, reset assassin. His main role should still be jungler, as this role best captures his focus on vision and zone control. Fiddlesticks' scythe should be his primary weapon to slay his enemies. His fear-inducing presence and crows should supplement this mode of attack. (No, Fiddlesticks should not "suck" his enemies to death, or harass them with bouncing birds) Fiddlesticks should excel in champion vs. champion combat. When Fiddlesticks is not near enemy champions, he should be sluggish, slow, and immobile as depicted by his lore

My Fiddlesticks Kit Rework:

Old Passive: Dread - Fiddlesticks reduces the MR of nearby enemies. Comments: Okay, I suppose that this passive embodies the idea that Fiddlesticks mere presence should make his enemies weak. However, mechanically it is very boring. Moreover it lacks clarity. How do I know my MR is reduced? I look down at the tiny icon above my HUD, mouse over it, and read that my MR is reduced. Who does this in game? Nobody. Does anybody really factor this into their calculations when facing Fiddlesticks? No. The passive is boring, lacks interaction, and has 0 counterplay. There is nothing you can do about this, your MR is just reduced.

New Passive: Sense the Living - Fiddlesticks becomes excited when he senses nearby champions within 400 units and enters a frenzy. He gains increased attack speed, increased movement speed when moving TOWARDS enemy champions, and his auto-attacks do bonus on-hit magic damage that scale with AP. This effect lasts for 7 seconds. If Fiddlesticks gets a kill or assist on an enemy champion when this effect is active, its duration is increased by 3 seconds. Once the effect runs out, Fiddlesticks returns to his sluggish state for at least 30 seconds, regardless of whether or not nearby enemy champions are present or if he receives a kill or assist. Comments: This passive defines my iteration of Fiddlesticks. With this mechanic in place, Fiddlesticks actually becomes a terrifying, scythe-wielding, demonic entity that actively encourages his enemies to STAY AWAY from him (even if his ult isn't on). It further encourages his vision and zone control playstyle. Being melee, Fiddlesticks needs to somehow get in range of his enemies to activate his passive and thus his killing potential. Once activated, he needs to stay in range of his foes to actually auto and kill them before his passive runs out. Once it does, he becomes very vulnerable. The activation range is intentionally small so Fiddle players can control when it is activated so it doesn't go on CD before a big fight. Moreover, it prevents Fiddle from just RUNNING at enemies during ganks and killing them - he needs someway to get to them first. The CD is implemented to make sure he isn't dominant in lane (if you chose to play him there) and pushes him towards the jungle where he excels. It also gives his enemies a very definite period to launch a counterattack if Fiddle uses it improperly or if they can bait it out. Note: I would also give Fiddle really low base move-speed and attack-speed without his passive, this further fits his theme of inactive entity that only springs to life to cut down his foes. The increased move-speed only works towards enemy champions so he can't just activate this to run-away.

Old Q: Terrify - Fiddle fears target enemy. Comments: Thematically, this fits Fiddle. However, in conjunction with the rest of his kit, especially when his ult is on CD, it doesn't make him the terrifying killing machine he is meant to be.

New Q: Doombringer - Fiddle throws his scythe out in a line in front of him a moderate distance. If it collides with an enemy unit, it deals moderate damage and Fiddlesticks is teleported behind the target. The target is BRIEFLY feared (talking like .5 or .25 seconds). Comments: This move complements Fiddle's new passive. It provides him a way to stick to his targets once his passive is activated, or to activate his passive if he is trying to gank. The projectile should have a moderate speed, range, and hitbox so that it can be dodged by standing behind minions or simply side-stepping it. If you combine this with Fiddle's low movespeed, it should be relatively easy to avoid his ganks unless you are really overextended. The fear mechanic is maintained because Fiddle without fear would be lame. Again, this gives Fiddle another method of zone control and encourages denying enemy vision so you can hit an unsuspecting target with it.

Old W: Drain - Fiddle leashes himself to a target and channels, dealing damage. Fiddle is healed for a portion of the damage dealt. If a target moves away from Fiddle, they break the leash and the channel stops. Comments: - This doesn't match Fiddle thematically at all! A channeled attack? A health-return mechanic? What about Fiddle's lore says he sucks the life out of his enemies? NOTHING. Fiddle is a cool-blooded, frenzied killer! This mechanic roots Fiddle in place and doesn't encourage chasing your enemies to their doom. Although it could encourage zone-control, it also encourages his enemies to just walk up to him, interrupt his channel, and kill him. This is thematically the worst part of Fiddle's current kit.

New W: Reaper's Harvest - After a brief wind-up (.5 seconds or so), Fiddle swings his scythe in a cone in front of him. Enemies hit by the scythe take damage and are knocked-back. Comments: This again emphasizes Fiddle as a scythe-wielding demon. The ability is mostly meant to be combo'd with his Q when ganking (ie, Q, fear, E, knockback). Again, unless CC'd, this ability is easy to dodge. Late-game, this ability will be largely useless as the wind-up will prevent Fiddle from autoing, which is what he should be focused on to do maximum damage. This will likely be what Fiddle maxes first to enhance his otherwise poor Jungle clear.

Old E: Dark Wind - Fiddle throws a crow at target enemy, which bounces to other nearby enemies, silencing all targets struck. Comments: I can see how the silence works in Fiddles theme of striking fear into his foes by his mere presence and leaving them completely unable to react. However, bouncing birds? I highly doubt Fiddle kills those who enter his chamber by throwing a bouncing bird at them. Moreover, this ability gives Fiddle a rather good jungle clear. This is something I don't imagine for Fiddle as he should be sluggish and weak when not in combat with enemy champions.

New E: Death's Descent - Fiddle fades into the shadows and becomes briefly (again for like .25 or .5 seconds max) untargetable, then dashes a short distance in target direction. Comments: This ability is intended to give Fiddle some survivability in teamfights so he can't just be focused down. Moreover, the brief delay before the dash prevents him from just E - Q'ing to gank. It really is intended to be a defensive mechanic only. Moreover, since it eats up his passive time, Fiddle has to decide between avoiding damage, and dealing damage. It presents interesting gameplay choices to the player. No, Fiddle will not be able to wall jump.

Old Ultimate: Crowstorm - After a brief channel, Fiddle is teleported to target location with murder of crows dealing MASSIVE AoE damage. Comments: This is what makes Fiddle in his current iteration. No complaints. Great match with his lore. But it doesn't fit into my new kit.

New Ultimate: Crowstorm (same name) - Fiddle summons a murder of crows, briefly fearing enemies in a radius around him, but not doing the old AoE aura damage. The crows EXTEND and ENHANCE his auto-attacks, increasing their range and damage. After hitting his primary target, the crows will fly to nearby enemies, dealing damage. Enemies cannot be hit by the same crow twice. Comments: I make his new ult another auto-attack enhancer to fit with his current theme. The AoE damage is retained to still give him a potent teamfight, but I link it to his auto's instead to ensure that Fiddle is actively commanding his minions to devour his targets. This change is really only to get the ult to match my new version of Fiddle. Fiddle's range is also increased a moderate amount (say 125 base range to perhaps 300/350 ult range) to ensure he has some leeway to deal damage, because we all know how quickly melee on-hit carries can be killed if they're stunned (looking at you Master Yi). The teleport is removed as it is now linked to his Q instead. I still keep the previously criticized "bouncing birds" as it is still a core mechanic in Fiddle's current iteration. However, numerous bouncing birds is much more threatening than just one!

Gameplay Overview:

New Fiddle has low base move-speed, attack-speed, defensive stats, high CDs, anda weak early Jungle clear. However, Fiddle excels in Champion vs. Champion combat, whether that is in 1v1s or in full out 5v5 teamfights. This holds true even when his ult is on CD, meaning that Fiddle literally represents a "No-Go Zone" to the enemies. This is balanced by the difficulty Fiddle has obtaining gold if his enemies respect this zone, the general difficulty it is to drag that zone across the map, and the short active killing potential the zone presents. He relies on killing enemy champions to get ahead, but his high base and scaling on his auto-attacks will ensure that he is still potent when behind. Enemies can counter Fiddle's destructive champion-killing potential by avoiding his slow and clunky abilities (most with wind-ups or slow projectile speed) or kiting and CC'ing him while his passive and Ult are active. Once the time on these two abilities run-out, Fiddle becomes a slow, inactive shell again, presenting an EASY target for his enemies. Teamfights will be decided in the first 7 seconds depending on whether or not Fiddle gets a kill or assist to extend his passive. This encourages a Wombo-Combo style that can ensure Fiddle can kill his targets with ease (I'm looking at you, Jarvan, Malphite, Orianna, Leona). Moreover, Fiddle has to make very real and interesting choices in his combat: "Do I use my abilities to try and stay alive at the cost of time on my passive and ultimate? Or do I just try to auto as much as I can even if I take damage or get CC'd as a result?" Similarly his enemies will need to actively play around Fiddle's short up-time and save their abilities to keep him down once the teamfight breaks out. Vision control will be extremely important to both teams as getting hit by Fiddle's Q from the fog of war can decide a teamfight.

Feedback! Let me know what you think about my Re-design! Does Fiddlesticks original iteration, or this one, better capture his theme mechanically and in combat? Does this version of Fiddle seem a little bit UP, OP, or otherwise? Will he be more effective in low or high-elo or strong in both? Is this just a cool design for a champion, even if its not Fiddle? (I think so) What items would you build on new Fiddle and why? (I personally think Nashor's Tooth would be an obvious must. After that, there is a lot of freedom)

Thanks for reading!