League of Legends: Fiora Lunges Into the Meta on Patch 10.16
Fiora is set to return to the League of Legends top lane meta on Patch 10.16
In the Patch 10.6 preview released on Tuesday, it was announced that Fiora would be receiving buffs in the top lane. Her Q – Lunge cooldown will be decreased from 16-8 seconds to 13-6 seconds. Along with this, the refund on hitting an enemy was slightly nerfed, dropping to 50% from 60%.
At first, this buff may seem unnecessarily impactful, considering that the Grand Duelist is losing 3 seconds on her Q cooldown at rank one, making it much easier for her to win trades in the early laning phase. However, by nerfing the refund percentage on the cooldown by 10%, the buff isn’t too oppressive when Fiora can land her ability.
This buff is more important for when Fiora is trying to escape ganks, as she will be able to dash more frequently even though her Q will miss. As a champion already able to turn around ganks easily with her R – Grand Challenge, this buff will only strengthen that aspect of her kit.
In Platinum and above ranks in solo queue, Fiora already has a positive win rate (50.57%) along with a decently high presence (5.85% pick rate). With the reworked Death’s Dance, Fiora now has an extremely strong three-item spike along with Ravenous Hydra and Trinity Force.
More from Editorials
- Why It’s VETHEO’s fault that Excel are 1-5?!?
- 3 Tips to Rank Up in Season 13
- The LCK is the Premier League Scene
- Looking at Excel’s New Roster Ahead of 2023 LEC Winter
- Worlds 2022 Group Stage Tier List
In competitive play, Fiora has been appearing mostly in the LPL and wildcard regions. Her main strength is her side lane pressure in the later stages of the game, as most meta top laners cannot hold up against her when she attempts to split push. Champions such as Mordekaiser, Ornn, Volibear, and Aatrox have no chance to contain the duelist in the latter stages of the game.
Other split push champions, such as Camille, can hold their own against her, but the matchup mostly comes down to skill. Malphite is Fiora’s main counter that’s in the meta right now, as he can shut her down in lane with his attack speed reduction, while easily trading back with his Q – Seismic Shard and E – Ground Slam.
Therefore, for Fiora to be picked in competitive play it will have to be after the second ban phase, allowing teams to ban out potential counters.
Next. Patch 10.16 Preview - The Yone Patch. dark
Despite the fact the buff may seem more overpowered than it actually is, look out for Fiora to see a rise in presence in both solo queue and competitive play on Patch 10.16 onwards.