Why Does Fiddlesticks Need a Rework?
If you didn’t know, in the early seasons of League of Legends, Fiddlesticks and Warwick were two champions frequently recommended by the game when you wanted to learn jungle. The reason is quite simple; they both have skills that allow for healing or sustain, helping them survive in the jungle at a time when jungle monsters were extremely “aggressive.”
However, as the game evolved, many new champions emerged, and jungling became more than just farming; Fiddlesticks gradually became obsolete. At one point, this champion was often used in the Support position, but that was only temporary. Furthermore, his skill set no longer provided players with the thrill they desired, and his appearance was more laughable than fearsome, which led Riot Games to rework this champion.
What Jungle Group Will the “New” Fiddlesticks Belong To?
First, we need to understand that to be a strong jungle champion at this point, you must meet two conditions: Either you have to be a strong ganker, able to dive towers to create advantages for teammates, or you need to have strong teamfight capabilities to create advantages in objective contests. In the first group, we have Lee Sin, Rek’Sai, Elise… champions that gank well, deal high damage, and can dive towers early. The second group consists of control junglers like Zac, Amumu, Sejuani…
After Fiddlesticks’ skill set was revealed, we can easily recognize that this scarecrow will belong to the latter group, those with strong teamfight capabilities, with the ultimate ability “Crowstorm” for surprise engagement and the ability to fear multiple targets with the passive of his Q ability. Typically, such champions are easy prey for jungle invades because they are quite weak early on, and Riot understood this, giving Fiddlesticks a super imba tool to counter this. It’s not some skill, but rather his passive ability – “Harmless Scarecrow.”
Highlights in the Reworked Skill Set
To make it easier for you to understand, this passive turns placed wards from items into a dummy that looks exactly like Fiddlesticks. Whenever this dummy is detected by an enemy, it will mimic any action of the main champion, from basic attacks, using skills, even summoning Flash. Many players with “faster fingers than brains” will see this dummy and use all their skills, including summoner spells, to dive in thinking it’s the champion, resulting in losing everything without gaining anything from the opponent.
However, that’s only half of the issue; Fiddlesticks’ dummy also has the ability to detect wards like a Sweeping Lens when he reaches level 6. This greatly enhances his vision control, which may not impact low ranks too much, but at higher levels, having a champion that can clear wards upon leveling up instead of having to return home to swap for a Sweeping Lens is extremely powerful.
The remaining skills of Fiddlesticks are mostly upgrades of his old skills. The Q ability, which previously only had the effect of causing fear, still retains that effect but now also deals damage, even scaling with the target’s health, so this skill will always be effective in any situation.
The W ability – “Harvest” still retains the life-steal effect but now deals damage to all surrounding targets, significantly enhancing Fiddlesticks’ jungle clearing ability. The E ability – “Reap” still has the silencing effect but requires a certain level of finesse from the player to execute it effectively. It’s no longer a straightforward skill; now, the E skill requires players to have a certain finesse to use it effectively.
Conclusion
After the rework, Fiddlesticks will bring a fresh breeze into the jungle position, this champion demands a lot from players such as cunning in placing dummies, choosing the right position to unleash the ultimate, or the ability to “go big” during Silence on enemies. This scarecrow is no longer a boring character but has become a champion that is extremely “fun” to play once mastered.