Riot Games has announced an interesting method for selecting which champion they will add next to the update schedule in League of Legends. The fanbase will get to select between five champions — each of which is in desperate need of changes — for this spot. They have a choice between Dr. Mundo, Fiddlesticks, Nocturne, Shyvana, and Volibear.
Let’s cover each of these champions and why they each need a rework. At the end, I’ll give my opinion on who should most likely get the fan vote.
Dr. Mundo
Mundo is a cornerstone of the League of Legends champion roster. While he experienced balance problems in the past, his current kit is in a solid spot for fulfilling a unique niche. In short, Dr. Mundo is the roster’s resident HP-focused hyper tank psychopath. He builds as much health as possible and activates his ultimate, Sadism, when low to restore up to 100% of his max HP. This gives him an identity of an individual solo tank top laner who is more focused on health and damage than crowd control.
The biggest issue with him is his visuals, which lack a modern appearance despite his visual upgrade last year. Not to mention his kit sometimes provides too much reward for too little effort, giving him a “noob champ” label. Even with these issues, the good Doctor could be far worse off. The rework’s focus could upgrade his visuals and explore the “Madman of Zaun” vibe assigned to Mundo.
Fiddlesticks
The scariest thing about Fiddlesticks is the state of his kit. He has a tethered heal, a bouncing area of effect point and click silence, a point and click fear, a passive that compliments two abilities, and a teleporting AOE high DPS ultimate. Yet he is still consistently one of the lesser champions in the game. He has an overloaded kit in concept, but in practice, it falls flat.
To start, his whole design requires him to get close, but he is fragile as an egg. Dark Wind is a terror in ARAM, but it falls flat on Summoner’s Rift. Fiddle found a home in almost every role over the years, most recently as a cheesy support pick. His originally-designed position of jungle no longer welcomes him because of a weaker multi-mob clear and easy invade.
As if to put a fat rotten cherry on top, his visuals are among the worst in the game. The scarecrow’s only plus is that he perfectly reflects his horror scarecrow thematic. A potential rework would focus on his ultimate and original role as a mage jungler while adding counter-play and synergy in his kit.
Nocturne
Nocturne is a mixed bag of a champion. He looks the part of his lore, being Runeterra’s Freddy Krueger, but fails to reflect that in-game. The power of Nocturne lies in his ultimate, Paranoia, a semi-global dash that blinds the enemy team. With this, he gets the role of an assassin initiator and long-range diver jungler. The rest of his abilities are where he has issues. His base abilities and passive are pretty underwhelming, both visually and in a gameplay sense.
His recent resurgence as a champion due to the change in meta last year brought him back to relevance, where he sits in a balanced yet slightly undertuned spot. Nocturne likely needs the rework the least out of this batch, but his issues will stack up down the line.
Shyvana
Shyvana has an extremely one-track kit and simple design. She is a hard farming jungler centered around auto attacks, speed, and transforming into a dragon. Her gameplay is balanced more often than not, being simple to learn but hard to master. She sports solid engage with her dragon form, mobility, and has a solid kit for a jungle bruiser.
Where Shyvana falters is that her transformation seems like a secondary gimmick rather than a part of her identity. Her kit is fine when considering balance, but she rarely comes off as a true transformation-based champion. Expect a rework to change up her transformation abilities like Gnar, Elise, or Nidalee, while still keeping the same core, like the Akali or Irelia reworks did.
Volibear
You read that caption correctly. In the current lore, Volibear is a Freljordian demigod of war, destruction, and the storm. He can change his size, has a nightmarish appearance, is Ornn and Anivia’s brother, and is stronger than an entire army. He is called the Thousand Pierced Bear because his body is adorned with the weapons of foes who never got the chance to pull them out. This is a monster that scared Udyr and Sejuani to their core and blew up a mountain with Ornn. That is Volibear.
Now the question is, where is any of that in Volibear’s current kit? This question sits on top of his kit being one of the worst in the game in terms of design and effectiveness. His passive is weak in an age of grievous wounds, he is easily kited even with Rolling Thunder, and his roar is lackluster, to say the least.
Volibear’s ultimate is probably the worst part of his kit, dealing chained magic damage on hit scaling with ability power. He is mostly built as an attack damage tank jungler or top laner. But his only ability that really makes sense or works is his W, a stacking attack speed steroid with an active execute. His pick and ban rates are among the lowest in the game for both of his roles.
Finally, if to add insult to injury, his visuals are among the most outdated in the game, even if they did still reflect what he looks like. A rework would shake the champion to the core, giving life to the fantasy of a storm-based unstoppable force on the rift and giving him a much more monstrous appearance.
Who needs a rework the most?
All five of these champions need a rework, no doubt about it. However, the two that stand above the rest are Fiddlesticks and Volibear. Personally, I think Volibear is the more pressing issue given what we are playing isn’t even Volibear. The Thousand Pierced Bear (yes that is his actual title, not the Thunder’s Roar) is the most deserving of a rework among the five champions to choose from.
That’s my personal pick, though. Who would you select for a rework? Why? Let us know down below! And stay with Daily Esports for all your League of Legends updates.
