Fiddlesticks rework inspiration ideas

Hello. With Fiddlesticks getting attention due to the VGU poll (which is an awesome way to get players involved btw), I want to throw some ideas/inspiration out there since he's my most played champion in the last couple seasons (currently second highest mastery) and I really like his theme.

Fiddlesticks - Let's think about what Fiddlesticks is for a moment. Is he actually a living scarecrow, or is he/it some sort of greater external, malevolent force that merely haunts/possesses a scarecrow as a prop to terrorize people? I imagine the latter, and that Fiddlesticks is sort of a poltergeist that controls and inhabits the scarecrow, scythe, and flock of crows, but these are just his/its usual tools of choice. If that is the case, then it can be imagined that Fiddlesticks may be capable of possessing other objects or people as well. I suggest that this theme of a disembodied poltergeist could be expanded on in a rework to provide him a very interesting and unique identity.

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Gameplay-wise, Fiddlesticks could be said to currently have a very vague identity. He is considered a "Unique/Undefined Champion Class" and has been played in mid, jungle, and support roles at different times in history (mostly support/jungle recently). I think that role/position flexibility is a good thing to try to maintain in reworks as removing flexibility or changing positions causes alienation of pre-rework existing playerbases.

I think that having a firm identity as a specific champion class is useful, especially when designing a kit. I think Fiddlesticks currently leans towards being primarily a CC-focused Catcher, who is heavily rewarded by ambush tactics, with secondary traits as other types of mage classes. So what I have in mind in the ideas below is a kit for a Catcher class who can thrive in either the jungle or support roles (and possibly mid as a off-meta playstyle). Being designed as a catcher means he should have a large amount of CC while having a kit that does not encourage him to build either full tank or full damage.

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Now on to actual kit ideas. [Abbridged ability descriptions listed at the end of the post in case anyone wants to skip straight to those those.]

P: Haunting Similar to current - After standing still for a certain amount of time, the spirit haunting Fiddlesticks exits the scarecrow, leaving it as a limp regular scarecrow and begins haunting a larger area. The user playing as Fiddlesticks should actually see a green spectral were-light come out of the scarecrow and tether between the scarecrow "anchor" and the player's cursor. By left-clicking or holding down the left-mouse-button, the user can direct the were-light/soul to path towards or follow their cursor location within a vast area around the scarecrow, gaining vision where the were-light is even if it would be obscured by a bush or wall.

Essentially, while in this state you are controlling the real disembodied soul that is Fiddlesticks, making the nature of Fiddlesticks much more apparent to the player. The soul would have its movement speed inherited from Fiddlesticks' regular movement speed amplified by his scarecrow body standing still like current Fiddlesticks' passive. Enemies cannot damage Fiddlesticks' soul, but they can still attack the empty scarecrow (which will be vulnerably standing still) he is tethered to in order to kill him by destroying his "anchor".

While in this state, fiddlesticks can cast abilities from his soul's location but only when the target location intersects with a slightly-larger than normal cast-range radius extended from the physical location of his scarecrow. The range that Fiddlesticks soul can travel to "scout" is significantly larger than the radius around its anchor where it can target abilities. Attempting to move via right-click causes his soul to immediately snap back into the scarecrow, causing him to resume controlling the scarecrow as usual and gain the temporary speed boost like in his current passive.

Q - Posses Fiddlesticks possess a target, 'fearing' them. Possessed targets are slowed and unable to perform actions, but unlike other fear/charm abilities, possession is a multi-input ability where Fiddlesticks gets to aim the target direction the enemy will move towards. This allows Fiddlesticks more options to cause his victim to move into harm's way, like having them walk under a turret, into a skill-shot's path, or towards an allied juggernaut, etc. Clearly, this is very strong so this would be a big part of his power budget.

I think the possession duration should be less than his current fear duration but it should scale (up to a capped maximum duration) with AP. Utility AP scaling encourages him to build squishier AP even if his damage AP ratios are lower to compensate for his buffed CC, so this will cause him to build like a Catcher rather than a tank. His cast-range could be rather small (shorter than current) on his Q when it is not extended by his passive (farther range than current).

Level rank-up scaling only goes towards the cooldown so building AP is necessary for a strong CC duration. The max duration may seem like a lot, but 400 AP would be difficult to reach with a Catcher build that is encouraged by his overall kit. is 300 AP for a 2.5 second (slightly higher with runes) total duration near lategame. That is strong CC, but I am consciously shifting more strength into his CC to refine the identification that he is a Catcher.

W - Reap Passive: Fiddlesticks harvests a [very small] percentage of all magic damage dealt (by him or allies) to enemies and neutral targets near his scarecrow body, healing him. Active: Fiddlesticks haunts his scythe, causing it to begin spinning and glowing green (imagine the Twist of Fate cinematic) while flying from his scarecrow location. For a duration, the scythe can continually spin and fly around (moving at the rate that his passive were-light/soul moves) while controlled by the Fiddlesticks player via left mouse clicks (identical to controlling his passive), mowing down targets and healing Fiddlesticks at a greatly increased rate from his Reap passive.

If Fiddlesticks moves his scarecrow or casts another ability during his W, the ability ends early and his scythe flies back in a straight line to his scarecrow (like his soul snaps back when ending his passive); it can damage targets it flies through on its return path. If he is in his passive when casting Reap, the scythe travels very quickly in a straight path to his current soul location before beginning to move at its slower normal speed wherever the user commands it to move to.

Unlike his regular soul passive, the scythe is a corporeal object, so while it cannot be damaged and can't be targeted, it can be hit by hard CC from AOE and ground targeted abilities. If the scythe or scarecrow is hard-CCed, it interrupts the channel and ends Reap's remaining duration early. When interrupted, the scythe would stop spinning and visually fall to the ground before being pulled back to the scarecrow. Reap would have good synergy with or to slow down a champion target so that the scythe can stay on top of them. It would also be Fiddlesticks' primary jungle clearing and sustain ability, or his main farming ability in a solo lane, and I think it could deal bonus damage to minions and monsters to ensure jungle viability. [Here is the Twist of Fate cinematic battle that inspired this W change.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giEfHu3U-po

E: Dark Wind Fiddlesticks commands a murder of crows to fly in a line from his scarecrow, hitting targets on the way to their destination and then creating a lingering zone at the target location. Enemies within the affected areas are viciously pecked by the crows, causing them to bleed for magic damage over time and become nearsighted (fitting because crows are known to target the eyes, and it is called "dark" wind). Nearsighted monsters' and minions' attacks will miss.

This version of Dark Wind offers more counterplay because targets can dodge or move out of the lingering AOE and path of the traveling crows. This would have good synergy with slows, , and Fiddlesticks' Q (if he can get into Q range to use it, possession can force an enemy to walk into the crow zone). Monsters obviously won't attempt to exit the AOE zone, therefore making this a decent tool for clearing the jungle or minion waves by casting it first then using W. By blinding monsters, it also lets Fiddlesticks take less damage while clearing, thereby letting his W heal keep up with any damage he takes even if his clear times are slow and he is squishy.

I am imagining the damage from this ability alone to be fairly low if the target doesn't allow the bleed to refresh on them multiple times. A good part of its value should be from the nearsighted effect. His constant E poking as a support would be quite a bit weaker or at least less reliable.

R: Crowstorm I am imagining nearly the same effect as current but with lower AP scaling damage and longer potential duration with AP scaling. The damage could also ramp up over the duration of the Crowstorm. This is to further encourage Fiddlesticks to rely on surviving and keeping enemies CCed in longer fights. Casting during his passive would cause him to start channeling, and then his scarecrow would travel to his soul location, which could allow a farther blink range, but it would allow opponents to see exactly where he is going to ult to once he starts the channeling so it would have a tradeoff from ulting like normal. I think his ult channel should have new particles as crows begin congregating around his scarecrow and then surge up with the scarecrow when the channel ends and they blink to the target as if they are carried by a powerful wind. Interrupting the channel by attacking the scarecrow location should cause the crows that have gather to disperse, still dealing some AOE damage depending on how many crows have gathered (how long it has channeled).

For numbers, I am thinking somewhere around 3/4ths of its pre-rework base damage and AP damage scaling per second, but with duration scaling like his new Q, letting him get an extra 2 seconds of duration at full build. In my opinion, this would be weaker than the current version of his ultimate because of the added unreliability/danger of stretching the damage output over a longer duration.

It could also be interesting Crowstorm did even less damage (like 1/2 current amounts) but applied a powerful debuff to targets within the AOE, which would shift him even more towards purely being a Catcher. ...But that could alienate players who enjoy the battle mage characteristics of current Fiddlesticks, so it might be a bad idea to shift him that far off from his current role. Perhaps a magic resist debuff and somewhere around 2/3rds current damage output after factoring in the debuff would be perfect.

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Here are examples of what the concise ability descriptions might read like in-game. The numbers in general shouldn't matter much as they would be subject to balancing of course.

P - Haunting After 3 seconds of not moving, Fiddlesticks' scarecrow will stand completely still and his soul will begin to haunt the area around it. Haunting grants Fiddlesticks a 30% movement speed boost that persists for 1.5 seconds after Haunting ends.

Control Fiddlesticks' soul with the left-mouse-button. While haunting, some of Fiddlesticks' abilities have modified targeting. Fiddlesticks' soul is invulnerable and untargetable but he will still take damage that is dealt to his scarecrow. Anything that displaces or moves Fiddlesticks' scarecrow will end Haunting.

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Q - Posses Cooldown: 18/16/14/12/10 Fiddlesticks controls an enemy, forcing them to move in a chosen direction for 1(+0.05% AP) seconds as well as slowing them by 90%. [Max total duration: 3 seconds at 400 AP]

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W - Reap Cooldown: 10 seconds (Passive) Harvest: Fiddlesticks heals for 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% of all magic damage taken by enemies near his scarecrow. (Active) Fiddlesticks begins haunting his scythe for up to 5 seconds. The scythe spins while haunted, dealing 80/105/130/155/180 (+35% AP) damage per second to enemies struck. Damage dealt by Reap heals 3 times the normal amount of health Harvested. Monsters take 100% bonus damage.

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E - Dark Wind Cooldown: 12 seconds Fiddlesticks commands a small murder of crows to fly to a target location, remaining in a zone lasting for 4 seconds after arrival. Enemies in the murder of crows will be mercilessly pecked, causing them to be nearsighted and bleed for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds. Bleeding targets are dealt 50/60/70/80/90 (+30% AP) magic damage per second. Nearsighted monsters' and minions' attacks will miss.

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R - Crowstorm Cooldown: 140/110/80 After channeling for 1.5 seconds, Fiddlesticks blinks to the target location with a large murder of crows flying wildly around him for 5(+0.05% AP) seconds, dealing 85/150/215 (+40% AP) magic damage to nearby enemies each second. Enemies have their magic resistance reduced by 10 for each second they remain within Crowstorm.