Fiddlesticks Rework Concept: He Who Walks Behind The Rows

#INTRO

http://66.media.tumblr.com/8cd0f73a172bc578cfb14474f58494c4/tumblr_mnh11snIpc1s5nlk4o4_500.gif

A Fiddlesticks rework is rumored to be on the radar, so while development is still either distant or incomplete, I thought I'd throw this out there with the hopes that it might gain player support and steer the design in a cool direction.

Ever-present scarecrow clones have been in most Fiddlesticks rework proposals I've seen, and I can't imagine Riot will overlook its potential. Considering the recent change to his passive which causes him to freeze, I'm sure that's the direction they'll go. However, I wanted to share my thoughts, which I brainstormed over the past two days.

There is a lot of content to read, so skip to your favorite header. Chapter 1. ABILITY SUMMARIES Chapter 2. DETAILED ABILITIES Chapter 3. DESIGN APPROACH

Apologies if images don't show up correctly.

#ABILITY SUMMARIES

Passive: Standing in brush allows Fiddlesticks to periodically leave an identical Fiddlesticks Scarecrow behind in the brush. Fiddlesticks other abilities can be used separately or by targeting a Scarecrow to have it use a version of his abilities.

Q: Fiddlesticks stores fear charges. He can use 1 charge to fear a local target, or use 2 charges to cause a Scarecrow to fear all enemies in its radius. The Scarecrow has a warning animation before the effect happens, allowing about as much counterplay as a normal gank.

W: Fiddlesticks slashes in a line with his scythe dealing magic damage. Fiddlesticks leaps to the first champion or large monster hit and tethers himself to them for up to 5 seconds.

• deals magic damage each second.
• slows the enemy while tethered.
• a portion of damage dealt to Fiddlesticks is instead dealt to his tethered target.
• when the ability ends, Fiddlesticks heals for a percentage of damage dealt. Fiddlesticks can cast his other abilities while tethered. Fiddlesticks can end the ability early or be shaken loose if his target runs the required distance. Casting on a Scarecrow allows Fiddlesticks to slash twice with the Scarecrow's scythe and apply a slow.

E: Fiddlesticks stores a crow every 3 seconds. He can rapidly send available crows to deal magic damage and steal armor, magic resist, and tenacity from a target, before returning it to him. Targeting a Scarecrow will send his crows to perch on the Scarecrow. If an enemy approaches, the crows will attack them and steal their armor, magic resist, and tenacity for the nearest allied champion.

R: Fiddlesticks targets a Scarecrow and all Scarecrows on the map become animated and menacing, after a brief channel, Fiddlesticks trades places with it, becoming the targeted Scarecrow and gaining a burst of movement speed. He also replenishes all his crow charges from E. On second cast, Fiddlesticks releases all his crows out to hit random enemy champions and monsters, causing damage based on his E's level. Fiddlesticks can target himself to choose not to teleport to a Scarecrow.

#DETAILED ABILITIES

#Passive: He Who Walks Behind The Rows https://i.imgur.com/DJ4iIB5.png Standing still in brush for 2.5s will spawn a Scarecrow that lasts 30/70/110/150 seconds and grants 500 vision and reveals camouflaged champions for the first 10s of its lifespan. Other scarecrows within 1000 units will be replaced with the new one.

Scarecrows do not move and are visible from outside brush. Scarecrows will attack any visible wards (0.25 attack speed). Each Scarecrow can be damaged by basic attacks only, has 4/6/8/10 health and grants +5 gold when killed, but they become invulnerable after 20/25/30/35 seconds. They do not grant vision except while attacked by enemies.

Scarecrows match Fiddlesticks' skin and will remain frozen in place unless attacking a ward.

#Q: Scare [insert better name here] https://i.imgur.com/zmcK7Ip.png Passive: Fiddlesticks stores 1 charge every 15/14/13/12/11 seconds (reduced by cooldown), up to a max of 1/2/3/4/5.

Active: On Enemy: Applies a 1.25-2.25s fear and 90% slow to a single target and consumes 1 charge. (Holding Q while targeting will instead cause Fiddlesticks to perform the Scarecrow version of this ability himself)

On Scarecrow: Targeting a Scarecrow (must hold Q button down while targeting Scarecrow) will consume 2 charges, grant the Scarecrow vision and cause it to animate menacingly for 2.25s before fearing all enemies within 400/500/600/700/800 range for 1.25-2.25s.

#W: Scythe-able Appetite https://i.imgur.com/6SsxXck.png Active: On Enemy: Fiddlesticks lashes out with his scythe in a direction, dealing 40/52.5/65/77.5/90 (+22.5% AP) magic damage to enemies it passes through. The scythe will impale the first champion or large monster it connects with and tether Fiddlesticks to the target.

While tethered, Fiddlesticks laughs maniacally and slows the target by 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% and deals 40/52.5/65/77.5/90 (+22.5% AP) magic damage every 0.5 seconds. Additionally, 20/25/30/35/40% of damage dealt to Fiddlesticks is redirected to his tethered target as magic damage (before mitigation). Fiddlesticks can not basic attack but can channel and cast abilities while tethered.

Second cast: Fiddlesticks will remain tethered to his target for 5 seconds or until they run 850/950/1050/1150/1250 units. Fiddlesticks can also end the ability early by recasting W.

When the ability ends, Fiddlesticks heals for 60/65/70/75/80% of damage dealt during the tether.

On Scarecrow: Targeting a Scarecrow (must hold W button down while targeting Scarecrow) will cause it to animate menacingly for 2.25s while Fiddlesticks channels. After this time, Fiddlesticks channels for an additional 2.75s, during which he can recast Scythe-able Appetite twice from the chosen Scarecrow, dealing 40/52.5/65/77.5/90 (+22.5% AP) magic damage in a line to enemies and slowing the first champion hit by 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% for 1.5s.

#E: Scavenge [or Scavengeance for extra edge] https://i.imgur.com/asAFCqd.png Passive: Fiddlesticks attracts a crow from the sky every 3 seconds, up to a max of 3/4/5/6/7. Crows are attracted twice as fast while Fiddlesticks stands still. Once a crow reaches Fiddlesticks, it becomes fixed to his character.

Armor, magic resist, and tenacity stolen by crows is granted only when the crow returns to an ally or Fiddlesticks. The armor and magic resist is returned instantly to its owner 16 seconds after that (32 seconds for monsters). When Fiddlesticks dies, all scavenged armor, magic resist, and tenacity is returned to its owner immediately.

Active: On Enemy: Fiddlesticks sends a crow to scavenge the enemy, dealing 20/26.25/32.5/38.75/45 (+15% AP) magic damage and stealing 1/2/3/4/5 armor, magic resist, and 3/4/5/6/7 tenacity. This ability deals 100% bonus damage to monsters.

On Scarecrow: Targeting a Scarecrow (must hold E button down while targeting Scarecrow) will send a crow flying to perch on the Scarecrow for 30s. It can travel to any Scarecrow but will fly at normal speed of 1100. A Scarecrow can only hold crows equal to Fiddlesticks' max.

If an enemy champion comes within 700 units of the Scarecrow, it will send any perched crows to deal their damage. They will return stolen armor, magic resist, and tenacity to the nearest allied champion instead of Fiddlesticks.

#R: Murder https://i.imgur.com/hIDCh4K.png Active: On Scarecrow: Fiddlesticks targets a Scarecrow, and every Scarecrow on the map begins to animate and wave menacingly, becoming invulnerable. Fiddlesticks channels for 3.0/2.25/1.5s before vanishing and becoming the targeted Scarecrow, while leaving a new Scarecrow behind in his starting location.

Upon arrival, Fiddlesticks replenishes all his crows. Fiddlesticks gains 30/35/40% movement speed that decays over 1.5/2.0/2.5 seconds.

On Self: If Fiddlesticks targets himself, he does not teleport or leave a Scarecrow.

Second cast, within 2.5 seconds: Fiddlesticks consumes and releases all crows to randomly Scavenge nearby champions and monsters within 750 units for 5 seconds. Effects are based on Scavenge's level, but each hit also steals an additional 3/4/5 armor, magic resist, and tenacity while Murder is in progress. Each crow can hit a maximum of 3 times during this period, then returns to Fiddlesticks as a crow charge.

If Fiddlesticks does not cast the damaging portion, half of Murder's cooldown is refunded.

Visual flavor & counterplay for enemies: While on cooldown, Scarecrows are empty, but when his ult becomes available (off cooldown), crows begin to circle around every Scarecrow on the map (differentiating them from E's perched crows).

#DESIGN APPROACH

Passive: Scarecrows have enough health to not be destroyed too quickly, allowing allies to guard them with more efficiency in hopes for a gank. They remain frozen unless they can see a visible ward. They attack wards very slowly with their scythes (16 seconds for 4 hits to a control ward), and they provide no vision of their own after the first 10 seconds, so they only partially aid in the vision game.

Q: Fiddlesticks must have a fear ability. You simply can't have a scarecrow with no fear. It wouldn't make thematic sense. I've offered a global fear ability with a timed delay similar to Nocturne's fear warning. Scarecrows are always visible in brush with or without vision, so if they start to wiggle around, it's time to run.

W: Other rework concepts often mention Fiddle's unused scythe. Wicked as it is, it deserves a job. Since everything else Fiddle does is targeted, I thought a skillshot with a little more difficulty and a little more reward would make Fiddle more fun to play, so he impales a champion and then springs onto them for a piggyback ride (inspired by Warwick's new Q). The longer he rides, the more health he gets at the end, but he doesn't heal during the spell, only damages and slows. To make things more interesting for teamfights, Fiddle transfers a % of damage received to his target, so enemies attacking him must consider their ally's well-being. I also kept the range-breaking mechanic from Drain, as I felt it encouraged enemies to run without being physically feared. I calculated units traveled under the slow effects and compared them to the minimum time to break free. (It's not listed, but ranges from 3-4 seconds out of the total 5. Building movement speed in lane will lessen Fiddle's effect on you slightly.) For the Scarecrow version, having the whole Scarecrow jump onto an enemy for free felt too cheap, so a couple of scythe slashes from within range felt fairer.

E: A scarecrow must have scare (Q) and crow (E), so I think the theme should keep here. The randomness of the old E makes him unreliable at times. I made it targeted, but also reduced each crow to 2/6 damage, since a champion probably averages 2 hits out of 6 bounces when minions were involved. Gathering crows over time seemed cool too. And when he stands still, he can regenerate 7 crows over 10.5 seconds (same as casting a 6 bounce spell every 10 seconds). Instead of a silence, I felt E should synergize with Q and W, stealing AR and MR for durability during W's piggyback and his ult, and stealing tenacity to prolong the duration of fears (inspired by Ornn's new brittle effect). Stealing armor is important for Fiddle to be an all-out offensive menace.

R: The scarecrow theme is silent, silent, silent, silent, GANK! Having Fiddlesticks literally become an existing Scarecrow is so beautifully obvious. His ganking options become more varied, but only if he's maintained a solid map presence hitherto, all while managing to farm. He doesn't get the perfect over-the-wall surprise of the old ult, but at max rank still only gives 1.5s warning before coming to life in the brush. Getting into range means movement speed, which stolen tenacity should help maintain. I calculated 7 crows x 3 hits each to arrive at about the same max damage as his old ult, as well as the same timing if enemies are 750 units away and crows travel at 1100 speed. However, the closer enemies are to fiddle, the faster crows can hit and return to him, meaning he may be able to push that damage cap the closer he gets to targets. Using a W during the ult would guarantee a ton of up-close crow damage super fast. Essentially, it would be slightly less effective in team fights and slightly more effective in solo ganks. The armor/mr shred should still help teammates though. Last, if fiddle doesn't activate the "crowstorm" portion of the ability, half the cooldown is refunded. So he can use the ability to Scarecrow himself across the map and place more Scarecrows or gank without the damage if not needed.

Conclusion: While the kit ultimately needs far more than 2 days of design to reach perfection, I think giving Fiddlesticks a little more subtlety and strategy than "spam abilities always" will make him more fun, and more scary. The W makes Fiddle kind of an off-tank. I think even if it weren't used for him, the W and E concepts might be useful for some kind of melee vampire or scavenger in the future. He's always had support elements, but having watchful Scarecrows near every lane could force enemy laners to play more cautiously in their shadow. Balance things to watch include: Fear duration and scalability with E's brittle effects. W damage, healing, and damage transfer. Additions to ultimate if underpowered (tenacity, spell vamp, small aura of silence, etc). Scarecrow health and duration.

THANKS FOR READING I like the Scarecrow concept. How about you? Any suggestions for improvement?