Riot Games had one goal for Fiddlesticks’ VGU: “To transform it into the most terrifying champion in League of Legends.” Today, fans got a closer look at how far the art team has gone to achieve this in the latest dev blog.
The quirky, bounce in his step Fiddlesticks is dead. It’s become an abomination with arms of differing lengths, legs built with mishmash parts and rope, and two sets of razor-sharp teeth. While Fiddlesticks’ new concept art is enough to stir up some late-night trauma, it’s terror truly comes to life in the animations.
Its longer arm drags and scrapes the terrain behind it as Fiddlesticks limps across the Rift during the walking animation.
“Imagine in a horror movie, the enemy dragging his bloody weapon to the ground and walking toward the main character,” Riot said.
A close up on the rigging of the head shows an unnatural movement that makes the jaw swivel as if it were broken. Its voice is described as a crude mimicry of those unfortunate enough to cross paths with Fiddlesticks. And that’s just the start.
Pure horror ensues during Fiddlesticks’ running animation. In the dev blog, Riot pointed out that Fiddlesticks has no brain. Instead, it contains a demon living inside its chest. Normally the demon is unseen, but it’ll appear when “it’s eager to hunt.” Two arms protrude from its chest as Fiddlesticks runs like a ravenous beast on all six. Its head loses all sense of control and flaps around with a black tongue shooting from its mouth.
We see the demon come out in Fiddlestick’s ultimate animation as well. As Fiddlesticks charges the Crowstorm, a rush of shadowy tentacles propels it forward into a flurry of black mist and wings. Through the remainder of the ultimate, Fiddlesticks defers to walking on six limbs.
The League community seems to have taken to Fiddlestick’s appearance as Riot intended as well. A thread on Reddit regarding the update is flooded with comments emphasizing the fright Fiddlesticks invokes. Despite this, fans are enamored with the level of execution and detail the VGU has shown.
“Props to the people working on this they captured the essence of fear, scarecrows, and dark magic well while retaining Fiddle’s identity,” one user commented.
The Fiddlesticks update is a work in progress and a final release date has yet to be announced. Regardless of the date, we can’t wait until this monstrosity of a champion hits the Rift for a second time.
