User blog comment:Willbachbakal/(Champion Rework) Fiora, the Grand Duelist/@comment-33536623-20150324041329/@comment-1330314-20150324043314

Damage types have more to do with gameplay and itemization than thematic consistency ('s abilities, which all involve him punting his opponents around, deal magic damage, for example). The reason I chose magic damage for Duel is so that it would provide a consistent reward for Fiora, in the same way as and 's ultimates which also deal magic damage. Changing it to physical damage would cause the ability to be severely affected by armor (so enemies would naturally just counter-itemize against what is meant to be her biggest success) as well as armor penetration, which would just give her a very weird damage curve.

The true damage on her E is a little similar: since Fiora already has a lot of item-based counters ( especially), I think she deserves to have one reliable source of non-physical damage that lets her perform well even when her opponents itemize against her. I also chose true damage for that ability because its success is heavily reliant on Fiora and her opponent interacting with each other, and I want to focus its countering potential on the interaction ("sidestep when she goes for a Flèche") and not so much on counter-itemization. I dislike armor penetration as a mechanic, as it's a second-hand counter that devalues tanks and tanky builds, and I'd rather not rely on that to bolster Fiora's damage.