There are lots of champions in League of Legends that many players consider overpowered but Fizz may be one of the worst offenders among them. This stupid little fishy champion is equipped with several abilities that require little to no skill to pull off dominating performances. What other champion in this game can kill you in 0.00 seconds?! (see image above).
The biggest problem with Fizz is that he becomes too powerful, too quickly. If he is able to kill you even once, his strength "snowballs" so that he becomes nearly unkillable. This especially becomes a problem in dominion where players earn experience and (increased) gold over time allowing Fizz to snowball in power without even having to do anything!
What makes Fizz most annoying is his E - "Playful" and "Trickster." When Fizz uses this ability, he hops up on his trident and becomes untargetable for 0.75 seconds. When he comes down, he has a choice to slam the ground where he is (dealing a ton of AP magic damage and an area of effect slow) or jumping away in order to escape or chase someone (still dealing massive damage but losing the slow). This ability is way too powerful.
Why should Fizz have an ability that makes him untargetable and invincible? Riot must have thought that a 0.75 second window of being untargetable wouldn't make that much of a different but it really does. For example, in a game I played recently, an enemy Fizz with less than 100 health was being chased by a teammate who was playing Teemo. Teemo had full health, which at this point in the game was around 1,600. The enemy Fizz turned around and before Teemo could even fire off one dart, Fizz jumped up on his Trident, preventing Teemo from targeting or damaging him in any way. He came down and then immediately cast his dash, Urchin Strike. The combined damage between the two abilities killed the full HP Teemo before he could do anything. This should not have happened.
Becoming untargetable does not take any skill and should not be an ability that Fizz has or needs. It also makes no sense in-game. Why would someone not be able to shoot Fizz just because he is currently standing on the top of his trident? Other champions like Tristana can still be hurt and even killed in mid-jump. Why can't Fizz?
In my opinion, Fizz's E is even more valuable than Kayle's ultimate. At level six, Kayle's ult makes her invincible for two seconds. Kayle's ult may last longer than Fizz's E, but it also has a 90 second cooldown compared to a 16 second cooldown on level one Playful/Trickster (which could be even lower by level six). Kayle's ult does have more utility because you can also cast it on a nearby ally but although it makes Kayle or an ally invincible, it does not make them untargetable. This is a huge advantage for Fizz's "Playful." Here's why:
Becoming untargetable throws off enemy combos. Someone using auto attacks (such as Xin Zhao or Graves for example) may inadvertently start attacking a nearby minion because their target is no longer valid. This gives Fizz even more time to get in cheap hits as you have to readjust your targeting. If you try to cast an ability on him, the cast itself will simply not work. Many times players have set combinations that they work through when engaging an enemy champion. For example, playing Ryze you might engage with Q, immediately press W, E, and then Q again. Even if your initial cast of Q is nullified, you are so used to automatically going through these motions that you simply move on to the next ability without thinking. By the time Fizz can actually be targeted again, you might now be engaging him with an E. Your entire combination was disrupted and now you're in really bad shape.
As you can see, Playful/Trickster is what needs to be fixed. He is already slippery enough with his passive "Nimble Fighter" that allows him to ignore unit collision and decreases auto attack damage against him by up to 14 per hit. Fizz can also hop over walls and escape danger using the "Trickster" function of his E (another reason it is more useful than Kayle's ult). He doesn't also need to become untargetable while casting it. That is absurd.
As mentioned before, Fizz also has a dash called Urchin Strike. It is a ridiculously powerful combination coupled with Playful. Try playing an ADC or a Mage against Fizz. He will fearlessly dash right at you. Normally, this might not be a problem against other champs with dashes because you could wreck him with damage or back off and get out of there before he did too much damage to you. But you can do neither of those things against Fizz. After dashing into you, Fizz will immediately go into Playful. This prevents you from targeting or damaging him in any way so your first option is out. If you try to run away, he'll transition into Trickster and hop over onto you again before you can get far. Basically, it is an automatic kill for Fizz against any non-tank champ.
If you are playing a tank you are equally screwed. You won't be able to catch him because of his Nimble Fighter passive. Let's not forget he'll be hopping all over the battlefield with Playful/Trickster. Riot also just so happened to equip Fizz with Seastone Trident, a passive ability that rends targets of his auto attacks for a percentage of their missing health (up to a whopping eight percent). Because tanks typically have a ton of health to begin with, Fizz will soften you up first and then own you with Seastone Trident. Oh, and it can also be activated for up to 30 (+35% AP) magic damage per hit and adding Grievous Wound for five seconds.
Fizz excels against all types of champions. And I haven't even mentioned his insane ultimate yet. Chum the Waters is an area of effect ult that he throws at you which scales with 100 percent AP, stuns enemies for one second, and slows by up to 70 percent afterwards.
To see just how ludicrous it is, let's compare Chum the Waters with Amumu's ult Curse of the Sad Mummy - a solid ultimate in its own right but nowhere near as useful as Chum the Waters. Amumu's ult has a much larger area of effect cone but it also emanates out from around him (thus meaning he has to be right on the frontlines to maximize its effect), Fizz can throw his at you (from a very safe distance of 1,275 range) which keeps him out of harm's way.
Fizz's ult does more damage because it scales with 100 percent of his AP while Amumu's scales with only 80 percent (Fizz's also does 450 base damage while Amumu's does only 350 base).
Amumu's ult entangles enemies for two seconds but keep in mind an entangle isn't a stun. Enemies can still cast and use abilities, just not move or use auto attacks. Fizz's ult knocks enemies into the air for one second. This prevents them from doing anything so is much more useful than an entangle. On top of that, Fizz's ult also slows enemies by up to 70 percent for 1.5 seconds afterwards. This makes it nearly impossible for someone to retreat after being hit with it. Amumu's has no slow effect at all. Effects combined, Fizz's ult stuns/slows you for 2.5 seconds while Amumu's entangles for just two seconds. Again, Fizz's ult is superior here.
As if that weren't enough perks, Fizz's ult also has a lower cooldown so he can cast his already more powerful ultimate, more frequently. The cooldown on Chum the Waters is 100 / 85 / 70 compared to Curse of the Sad Mummy at 150 / 130 / 110.
It is very easy to land as well because if you actually hit someone with it, it sticks to them. If you miss them, the ult still lands on the ground and has a chance of hitting with no penalty to functionality. Why is it that every other skill shot simply misses if you miss? I'd love if Varus's tendrils had a secondary effect if you missed. Or maybe Ashe's arrow could explode if you miss and damage people anyway? Or why doesn't Brand's Pillar of Flame ability burn the ground for 1.5 seconds and hurt anybody who walks on it? Why is it that only Fizz gets a second chance? He can even utilize this part of his ult to throw it where he thinks people will be or to cover his own retreat.
In summary, Fizz is a low-risk, high-reward champion. His abilities not only focus on quickly assassinating enemy champions but also on keeping him alive. It should be one or the other. Fizz has a normal ability that is arguably more useful than another champ's ultimate which in of itself is laughable but when combined with the fact his ultimate is also better than the ult's of other champs, it becomes moronic.
Disclaimer: Click here to see my recent game history. Going 133/19/83 over the course of 10 games shows I'm not just "bad" at the game.
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