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Reasons why I Feel that Fiddlesticks is in the most dire need to be voted in the Rework Poll

6FlagsFunnelCake·5/10/2019, 8:48:57 PM·10 votes·7,069 views

https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/fiddlesticks_ambebe4wz1xfg9ylq44z.jpg

So with the recent release of the "Choose a Champion Update" post from Riot, there has been lots of talk on who to vote for. Now personally, I voted for Fiddlesticks for various reasons that I believe should be brought to many peoples' attention. Now to start off, I'm not trying to advocate an anti-rework attitude for the remaining four champions. I am in full agreement that Mundo and Nocturne are in just as dire of reworks, but Fiddlesticks is in most need for attention.

  1. The Thematic - Now Fiddlestick's theme is actually pretty unique in the Champion roster. In short, Fiddlesticks is a sentient scarecrow who's focused around inducing tremendous amounts of fear and surrounding himself with a constant swarm of murderous crows. However, Fiddlesticks simply doesn't express this thematic as well anymore due to recent Champion releases. Want someone really scary? Pyke is our most recent 'horror' Champion and even then, Nocturne seems more resonate with a focus around fear and nightmares despite being in need of a rework as well. Worst of all, Swain's rework has recently ripped Fiddlesticks off of the throne of 'bird swarm Champion,' as Swain's thematic around demonic ravens and having a swarm of them creepily spy on your enemies on the rift is much more thematically cohesive than Fiddlestick's E and R alone. All that I'm saying is, Fiddlesticks has a really unique thematic to his character, something that I hope Riot can finally bring to true glory once they rework him. If they're keeping his R the same, maybe make the crows blind Champions in his ultimate? Maybe have a small group of crows constantly plucking at the corpses of Champions that Fiddle kills. And most of all, make Fiddlesticks SCARY, and not a goofy shambling stick figure.

  2. The Jumpscares - In the Choose a Champion Update post, Riot briefly mentions their goals for each Champion if they were to be voted the winner of the poll. In Fiddlesticks's desciption, they mention that they want to push the idea of a "terrifying scarecrow that comes out of nowhere," something that can make Fiddlesticks really stand out in comparison to all the other 'fear' Champions. Nocturne induces fear in-game through paranoia, blinding the enemy as they scramble about while Nocturne flies across the map to his prey. Shaco induces fear with the placement of his boxes, making his enemies dread walking near him in fear of his hair-pulling boxes. Fiddlesticks should induce fear through jumpscares, playing a psychological game of cat and mouse with whatever unfortunate enemy wanders into his jungle.

  3. The Mage Jungler - AP Junglers are a really small minority in League's roster of characters. Along with that, mage junglers are basically non-existent unless you're into experimenting with Taliyah or Neeko in the jungle. Now, Riot's new policy with new champions has been to introduce a completely new feature into the game, whether that be a completely batshit insane new mechanic or some new role that no other Champion seems to fill. In the Choose a Champion Update post, Riot mentions that they want to maintain Fiddlestick's identity as a mage jungler, something completely unique to the roster of junglers in League. Of course, Fiddlesticks has always been a jungle in a sense, but due to his aging gameplay and visuals he always fits awkwardly in the strangest of roles, whether that be jungle, mid or even support. Emphasizing Fiddlesticks as a mage jungler not only brings a new playstyle for junglers to use, but it also fits Riot's policy on introducing new roles and mechanics with each of their releases.

  4. The Lore - This is the Story Art & Sound board after all, you wouldn't think I'd leave this out would you? Now compared to the other four candidates to be voted on getting a rework in 2020, Fiddlesticks is the absolute most desperate in needing any mention whatsoever in lore. As of right now, we only have a small blurb in the Universe website, an outdated bio and a color story that may or may not be canon depending on what happens during his rework. Surprising, isn't it? Well, Volibear has had some very explicit time in the spotlight through the new fantasy by the Ursine being Freljord's wendigo cannibal demons, while Shyvana, Nocturne and even Dr. Mundo have gotten new updated biographies in past lore updates, giving them their own places in Runeterra. Fiddlesticks however is still stuck in a strange limbo of lore, with having no mention or even role to play in Runeterra whatsoever as far as the canon is concerned. With that, a rework could not only give Fiddle a proper theme to fit in the roster, but also finally give him a place within Runeterra's universe as the legendary scarecrow demon that he is.

  5. A Gun - Give Fiddlesticks a Gun.

13 Comments

ChaosReyn5/10/2019, 8:58:31 PM5 votes

They should give him better mindgames options. I'd suggest a rework to his fear. That he places a (visible) scarecrow that after a delay erupts in crows, fearing enemies away from it. This means he can position in a way to fear people into his drain like the old days, but it can be counterplayed by quickly killing the scarecrow or by staying out of the radius.

To also up his mindgames, lets also say he can place it on a ward, and people that trigger it see a fake fiddlesticks ult (does no damage, literally just scares the bejesus out of them)

Sukishoo5/10/2019, 9:21:11 PM4 votes

I voted Volibear

DarkSoul19945/11/2019, 4:47:18 AM3 votes

He's in need of a VGU but ultimately, a reworked Fiddlesticks would still do exactly what he does now, just in a way that has more skill expression and counter-play (e.g. Swain, Galio, Warwick etc).

Volibear, on the other hand, needs a Mordekaiser/Aatrox-level rework where Riot basically needs to take one core aspect of his gameplay (either the lightning or the Q charge) and his lore and use those two things to build an entirely new kit around.

I'd honestly scrap everything except his ult and look at a way to put the on-hit lightning on some other ability as a passive (e.g. mark someone with one ability, then proc it/every 3 auto attacks/stack up X number of attacks/abilities and every subsequent attack summons lightning).

I'd actually really want to see fear become a more prominent part of Volibear's kit based off his new lore (the Udyr, Sejuani, Volibear short story).

mrmeddyman5/11/2019, 5:38:03 AM3 votes

Riot very much skewed the vote in Volibears favor for the Story, Art and Sound Board by giving us that epic sneak preview. TBH I want to see Volibear fully realized as much as anyone but my boi Fiddlesticks is in such a poor spot right now that I would rather have him be integrated in the lore and we can still at least have ANYTHING. Volibear is effectively VGU for our purposes because in the lore the Narrative team has locked down his thematic and they don't need him to be VGU to be a part of canon as they have demonstrated in Udyrs short story. Only thing that's missing is honestly... a new splash art? Same goes for Udyr. They both are canon in the lore which is wwhat I care about.

Fiddlesticks doesn't exist though so I want him to have priority. Luckily we are a small demographic. Most League players just play the game so they're going to vote based on who is most annoying to play against right now. That is not Volibear. I honestly think Nocturne or Fiddlesticks is going to win. It's in Gameplays hands now though.

The Ecdysiast5/10/2019, 9:18:04 PM2 votes

Nah man, Mundo all the way.

Take one look at his model and then try to argue anyone else.

If there was an option for JUST a VU, then sure I'd choose Mundo for that and definitely Fiddle for a full VGU. But unfortunately that's not the case.

Karn Bishop5/11/2019, 1:40:28 AM2 votes

Disagree, i would much rather have a cthulhu bear god hivemind as the potential is there if they give it the time and love they should instead of giving up because they don't like designing monster gods.

Shadowkirby145/11/2019, 10:21:45 PM1 votes

Fiddlesticks needs a LOT of improvement as each season passes by, it's much harder for him to even jungle anymore. He can't Top, he can't Mid (damn assassins), and I'm not gonna even mention the ADC roll. He's forced to be a support because it's the only roll that makes him viable and even then he gets countered by champions like Pyke, Morgana, Lux, Morgana, Braum, Morgana, Brand, Vel'Koz, Nautilus, Morgana, Rakan, Thresh, and did I forget to mention MORGANA!? As new, buffed, and reworked champions come in, it makes life for a Fiddle player to even... well, play!

Let's go into detail on each ability and what needs to be improved/changed.

Dread:

If he stands still for a bit, he gains a brief moment of movement speed once he moves. Simple pimple. However, it doesn't help him as much as intended now since champions can literally zoom towards him with ease. Even if it synergizes with his ult, they'll still get out of his range and come back to wreck him.

Make him untargetable as he stands still, it seems better than standing still and still get hit. As a jungler, Fiddlesticks needs to move around A LOT, so standing still for the sake of a split second of movement speed isn't worth it unless it has worthwhile value to standing still.

Terrify:

It just fears enemies away from you. That's it. Maybe it would work if the Flee is incorporated into his abilities passively and not a main ability, but as it is, it's not as viable as it was in the early days of League. It strangely works and yet counterproductive once you know the ability.

If you fear the enemy, it will flee from you. No problem right? Well, if you try to Drain them while they're fleeing, it makes it easier for THEM to get out of your range because they're fleeing FROM you, not AT you.

I also remember there's two types of debuffs that may be similar but acts differently: Fear and Flee

  • Fear is a debuff done by Darius, Hecarim, and Volibear in which forces minions, monsters, and players to literally run around frantically.

  • Flee is a debuff done by Warwick, Shaco, Nocturne, Urgot and a few more I forgot. This just forces them to run in the opposite direction.

If the target is fleeing from you and you're draining from them, they'll just eventually break that short tether (I'll explain that nerf once I get to Drain).

So I believe it's better if it's a Fear and not a Flee. It makes it easier for Fiddle to drain his enemies and now worry about them going out of his tether range. In fact, make his Fear/Flee part of his new Passive and put a new ability in its place.

Fiddle has a "scythe" that he never uses gameplay-wise, so give him an ability that makes him use his scythe! With the Fear/Flee passive, Each time Fiddlesticks hits an opponent, they gain Dread and if stacked up and gets hit by the scythe ability, they get feared/they flee.

Drain:

Fiddlesticks's main source of damage. His bread and butter. The Go-To ability. The first ability to max first. His ultimate SUCC ability.

It's a point and click (like all of his abilities) that drains health from his enemies and heals from it. You can throw in lifesteal items and/or runes to make him a definite draining machine. The thing is... he's not suppose to build those items or runes. He doesn't benefit from lifesteal, but you know what does? Spell Vamp, and Riot removed it. Lifesteal works only for melee champions

The problem with this ability is the tether range... it's too short. A long time ago, Riot released a nerf that shortened Fiddle's tether range, making it harder and much more riskier for him to go up to an enemy and SUCC them dry. Since it's also a point-and-click, it makes it even harder to click on champions that keeps moving around so much, especially those that can dash through walls and minions. You can't move once you're draining and if you do move, the draining ends, which is annoying. Have you tried draining a scuttle? It's not fun when they get out of your range and you have to wait until the cooldown finishes, and it all thanks to the tether range nerf.

I propose that it should be something like a mini Xerath ult, but it's just Fiddle spitting out a flaming ball of wychfire at a targeted location and if anybody gets hit by it, Fiddle can drain them from a safe distance. If it hits multiple targets at once, the draining and healing DOUBLES depending on how many players the fireball lands on.

Dark Wind:

Fiddlesticks throws a crow and bounces around 4-5 times while also silencing them first hit.

This one's a bit tricky as it's a possibility that this one might get removed during the rework. It's an RNG ability, meaning that each cast has a chance of hitting the champion once, twice, or none at all. If thrown at a row of minions as a way of directing the crow towards the champion, it might either hit them or direct away from the champion and keeps on hitting the minions.

It's too much of a gamble when used as there's a fluctuating possibility of it hitting or missing the intended target. The silence only works once when hit and it bounces back, it won't silence the second time. Oh, and it's also a point-and-click, meaning that Fiddlesticks has to get close enough to use it.

Crowstorm:

His iconic ultimate! He clicks on a targeted area and channels for 3 seconds before blinking towards said area. Crows fly everywhere in his radius while dealing damage. and it also follows Fiddle until it finishes.

This is what makes Fiddlesticks a more "jumpscare-y" champion as he can blink out from a wall or brush and cause problems for the enemy team. The problem is that since Fiddlesticks is super squishy, he can be taken down quick. He's not like other junglers where they can build health/armor items along the way to make them a bit tanky when ganking. As a mage jungler, he can't truly 1v1 champions like he use to, he's incredibly dependent on his team to rally up their enemies and then add a bit more damage with Crowstorm.

Crowstorm is EASILY interrupted. I'm sure it goes for most ultimates, but this ult is far more feeble when it comes to interruptions. All the enemy needs to do is stop him as he's channeling. If he gets interrupted, then Fiddlesticks is fiddled. He can't do anything as his ult is thrown into cooldown.

Zhonya's Hourglass is a guarantee item for Fiddle and his ult; without it, he's far too vulnerable when ganking. Fiddlesticks can't do anything without the Hourglass. The item is expensive, too, so it has to be rushed first before anything else, and the item is only thing that keeps him from dying so much.

Since Fiddle won't be getting his Zhonya's until Level 9 or 10, to keep him alive during ganks would be adding the Fear/Flee debuff once he blinks into action. This provides him enough time to cause mayhem against his opponents while they're still feared and taking hits by the ult. It's a better way to increase his survivability until he gets his Zhonya.

I've already explained much on what I want to say. If you like to see a rework concept of mine, go here: Fiddlesticks Rework Concept V2

AIQ5/10/2019, 9:19:56 PM1 votes

So a really cool fiddle sticks ability could be a Q replacement.

Scarecrow Clone* (workshop this)

Cooldown 25/22/19/16/13 seconds Inital range 500 Max range 700 Fear duration initial Always .5 seconds Fear duration 1.35/1.45/1.55/1.65/1.75 seconds

Active 1 Whenever fiddle sticks is in range of an opponent (initial range) he channel their fears for up to 1.5 seconds while slowing himself by 40%. After releasing them he fears all enemies in range. Holding Q allows the fear to grow in size and duration.

Active 2 When no enemies are in range and fiddlesticks is in a brush, at the end of the channel Fiddlesticks will make a clone of himself that remains at that location forever. (up to 2 clones) Vision range is only the initial range. If an enemy steps in range of fiddles clone enemies in the max range are feared and pinged for 1.5x the duration. Afterwards the clone disappears. Minions and monsters are fear for 2X the duration.

Clones look identical to Fiddlesticks when standing in his passive, all stats and items will show as they do on fiddle.

So imagine having this for Jungling covering areas with this scarecrow. if an enemy wards they may see the Scarecrow and freak out or if they step into the bush and instantly get feared that can result on some follow up. Fighting around a clone could bait the enemy in to a double fear. Theirs a lot of options with this. Fiddle could also set up near a clone and enemies have to guess which is him. If the ult is allowed to channel while frozen it could lead to some spicy plays. Random idea.

Still voted for Shyvana and I have much better abilities in mind for her.

Grizzley1175/11/2019, 4:29:25 AM1 votes

+1 for effort and explanation! I voted for Volibear because the potential there intrigues me the most, but I really enjoyed all five thematic approaches, so regardless which one is chosen, I'll be excited. Love the idea of his ult blinding champions in the circle, but that'd be incredibly strong. It'd need some more work done to it to make it balanced.

Ryusaether5/11/2019, 6:11:50 AM1 votes

I'm gonna add a fair point:

He's the point-clicker of the spellcaster.

He has: A point&click fear on demand A point&click silence that bounces A point&click lifesteal ability An immense blink + AoE ult (that therefore requires proximity more than aiming skills) His passive is LITERALLY "stand still and get rewarded with Movespeed" like ok it's really funny but for real?

He delivers so poorly on his thematic and is so unfun to play against that it's legit that he gets reworked asap.

Even though I voted for Shyvana because she has so much potential yet she so poorly delivers it.

Nocturne is in the same spot as Fiddlesticks in the thematic department, the nightmare itself is just an ult-bot, that aside they are not scary at all and their Visuals and animations are really lackluster.

Vlada Cut5/10/2019, 8:52:19 PM1 votes

Now I feel like I should've voted for Fiddle and not for Nocturne. :I Now I see that they could've given Fiddle the VGU treatment Nunu recieved. Enhancing him that is.