League of Legends - Fiddlesticks Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

Fiddlesticks

Basic Information

Champion Stats

Lore

Skills

Icon	Description
	Dread Dread grants Movement Speed, but only lasts for 1.5s after Fiddlesticks starts moving.
	Terrify (Target Range: 575, Cost: 65 Mana, Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11, Duration: 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25)ACTIVE: Terrifies a target, causing it to flee from Fiddlesticks for 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds.
	Drain (Target Range: 575, Tether Radius: 650, Cost: 80/90/100/110/120 Mana, Cooldown: 4/3.75/3.5/3.25/3, Magic Damage Per Second: 80/105/130/155/180 (+45% AP), Total Magic Damage: 400/525/650/775/900(+225% AP), Heal Ratio: 60/65/70/75/80%)ACTIVE: Fiddlesticks creates a tether to the target unit and channels Drain on it, dealing 80/105/130/155/180 (+45% Ability Power) magic damage per second to the target. Fiddlesticks heals for 60/65/70/75/80% of the damage dealt.Drain lasts up to 5 seconds, dealing a total of 0 (+0) damage.
	Dark Wind (Target Range: 750, Effect Radius: 450, Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 Mana, Cooldown: 12/11.5/11/10.5/10, Magic Damage Per Bounce: 65/85/105/125/145(+45% AP), Total Single-Target Damage: 195/255/315/375/435 (+135% AP), Enhanced Magic Damage Per Bounce: 97.5/127.5/157.5/187.5/217.5(+67.5% AP), Total Enhanced Single-Target Damage: 292.5/382.5/472.5/562.5/652.5(+202.5% AP)ACTIVE: Unleashes a Crow at the targeted enemy, dealing 65/85/105/125/145 (+45% Ability Power)magic damage before bouncing to another target. Units struck are also silenced for 1.25 seconds the first time per cast.Dark Wind can strike up to 6 times and will prioritize enemies being Drained or ones it has not yet hit. Deals 150% damage to minions and monsters.
	Crowstorm (Target Range: 800, Effect Radius: 600, Cost: 100 Mana, Cooldown: 150/140/130, Magic Damage Per Second: 125/225/325(+ 45% AP)ACTIVE: Fiddlesticks channels for 1.5 seconds, then blinks to the target point unleashing a murder of crows that flock wildly around him, dealing 125/225/325 (+45% Ability Power) magic damage per second to all enemy units in the area.The effect lasts for 5 seconds, dealing up to 0 (+0) total magic damage.

Strategy

Jungle

• Use (E) Dark Wind on neutral camps that have two or more monsters. This makes you clear your jungle easier, as it bounces on multiple enemies.
• (E) Dark Wind prioritizes enemy champions that have been hit with Fiddlesticks’ skills such as (Q) Terrify, (W) Drain, and (R) Crowstorm when it bounces – keep this in mind during team fights.
• When you gank a lane, prioritize casting (Q) Terrify on squishy champions to disable them, then follow up with (E) Dark Wind to silence them to decrease their chances of hitting back with their skills.
• (W) Drain is a great skill to use on disabled champions (i.e. Stunned, Rooted, Taunted, etc.)
• (W) Drain is effective in consistently dealing damage to objectives such as Dragon, Rift Herald and Baron.
• (W) Drain heals Fiddlesticks for a portion of damage he deals to enemies, as long as the tether to his target is not broken. Consequently, (W) Drain is a channeling spell, and enemy champions can interrupt this skill with hard crowd control (i.e. Stuns, Fears, Taunts, Roots, etc.)
• Consider maxing (Q) Terrify as it increases its Fear duration against enemy champions, especially when your team needs more single-target crowd control.
• Fiddlestick’s (R) Crowstorm works best when he uses it to blink into unwary enemy champions or during team fights. Coordinate with your teammates and position yourself at the right place to maximize your ultimate.
• Use the brush and fog of war when channeling your (R) Crowstorm. It needs to be channeled, and if an opponent sees you, they can either disengage or cancel your channeling with their crowd controls.
• Casting (R) Crowstorm during a team fight in the jungle is a good idea, as the jungle paths are narrow, usually making enemies clump together. Remember to remain unseen when you begin channeling, though.

Runes & Masteries

COMING SOON

Summoner Spells

Jungle
Flash	Smite

or

Mid Lane
Flash	Ignite

Item Builds

Jungle

Starter Items

Starter Items
Hunter’s Talisman	Refillable Potion	Warding Totem

Early Items

Early Items
Stalker’s Blade	Aether Wisp	Boots of Speed
Amplifying Tome

Stalker’s Blade – This item gives Fiddlesticks a slow he can use when ganking lanes to further increase (W) Drain‘s tether on enemy champions.

Aether Wisp – This item gives decent bonus Ability Power and movement speed, two things Fiddlesticks needs to clear the jungle and gank lanes faster. It also builds into the Runic Echoes enchancement, the jungle item for most Ability Power Junglers.

Amplifying Tome – This item builds into most of Fiddlesticks’ core items. It gives good early game Ability Power.

Core Items

Core Items
Stalker’s Blade Enhancement: Runic Echoes	Zhonya’s Hourglass	Sorcerer’s Shoes
Rabadon’s Deathcap	Hextech Protobelt-01	Void Staff

Stalker’s Blade Enhancement: Runic Echoes – This is a staple Smite Item for most AP Junglers. The Runic Echoes enhancement provides a splash damage to Fiddlesticks’ skills, further increasing his clear speed in the jungle and his damage output when he ganks.

Zhonya’s Hourglass – This item enables Fiddlesticks to survive clashes when he manages to channel his (R) Crowstorm and charges to the enemy team. Zhonya’s Hourglass gives bonus Ability Power and armor. Its active skill places Fiddlesticks in stasis for a short duration, rendering him immune to all kinds of skills. Furthermore, it is best used when you are right smack in the middle of a team fight – (R) Crowstorm‘s damage still persists even if he’s in stasis, ensuring he damages enemies while his team follows up with their own skills.

Sorcerer’s Boots – This boots upgrade increases Fiddlesticks’ magic damage on enemies. Sorcerer’s Boots synergizes well with his (W) Drain, (E) Dark Wind and (R) Crowstorm.

Rabadon’s Deathcap – This item greatly bolsters Fiddlesticks’ Ability Power, thus increasing the potency of his damaging skills.

Hextech Protobelt-01 – This item gives Fiddlesticks a good gap closer to hit enemies with (R) Crowstorm in the event that his Flash is on cooldown. Hextech Protobelt-01 gives bonus health, cooldown reduction, bonus Ability Power and its active dash skill also damages enemies in front of its user.

Void Staff – This item makes its users’ damaging magic skills ignore a percentage of the target’s magic resistance. Void Staff synergizes well with Fiddlesticks’ (W) Drain, (E) Dark Wind and (R) Crowstorm, as it enables the skills to deal more damage to single and multiple enemies.

Situational Items

Situational Items
Banshee’s Veil	Morellonomicon	Liandry’s Torment
Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

Banshee’s Veil – This item gives bonus Ability Power, Magic Resistance and cooldown reduction. More importantly, it can block the first enemy ability casted on its wearer. Banshee’s Veil is a good counter to enemy champions who tend to displace or provide hard crowd control, as well as have strong AP burst damage.

Morellonomicon –  This item provides decent Ability Power, bonus mana and cooldown reduction. Morellonomicon serves as Fiddlestick’s main mana regeneration item, as it restores a percentage of his mana for every kill or assist; it also inflicts Grievous Wounds to enemies who are below 35% health.

Liandry’s Torment – This item complements Fiddlesticks’ damaging skills and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. It gives bonus magic penetration, health and Ability Power. Aside from this, Liandry’s Torment also deals bonus damage to enemies based on the target’s current health, and this is doubled when the targets are inflicted with hard crowd control skills.

Rylai’s Crystal Scepter – Usually bought to increase the magic damage of AP mages and junglers’ skills as well as Liandry’s Torment, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter gives bonus health and Ability Power to its user. Furthermore, it also adds a slow effect to its user’s damaging magic skills which is useful to catch enemy champions.

Mid Lane

Starter Items

Starter Items
Spellthief’s Edge	Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation x3	Warding Totem

Early Items

Early Items
Frostfang	Lost Chapter	Fiendish Codex
Boots of Speed

Frostfang – Frostfang gives good bonus mana regeneration and ability power, as well as additional gold whenever you hit an enemy laner with an ability. It can build into Frost Queen’s Claim or Eye of the Watchers.

Lost Chapter / Fiendish Codex – Getting one of these two early items provide Fiddlesticks to stay in the lane more: Lost Chapter gives bonus mana replenishment each time you level up, while Fiendish Codex gives decent cooldown reduction to spam your skills.

Core Items

Core Items
Frost Queen’s Claim	Morellonomicon	Sorcerer’s Shoes
Zhonya’s Hourglass	Rabadon’s Deathcap	Void Staff

Frost Queen’s Claim – Frost Queen’s Claim has an active skill that can slow enemy laners and help Fiddlesticks scout his surrounding area for potential ganks from the enemy team.

Morellonomicon – Fiddlesticks’ main mana regeneration item. Morellonomicon gives enhanced mana regeneration and ability power, enabling him to spam his skills and remain in the lane.

Sorcerer’s Shoes – This item increases Fiddlesticks’ damage, as it gives him bonus magic penetration.

Zhonya’s Hourglass – Zhonya’s Hourglass is Fiddlesticks’ failsafe item. It protects him whenever he enters a team fight with (R) Crowstorm or if he gets targeted by enemy assassins by placing him stasis.

Rabadon’s Deathcap – A must-have for AP Burst Mages, Rabadon’s Deathcap gives significant bonus Ability Power and greatly bolsters Fiddlesticks’ skills by increasing their damage.

Void Staff – Given that Fiddlesticks needs to get close to enemies to maximize his damage, Void Staff further increases his potency by granting bonus Ability Power and ignoring enemy champions’ magic resistance.

Situational Items

Situational Items
Luden’s Echo	Banshee’s Veil	Liandry’s Torment
Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

Luden’s Echo – Luden’s Echo improves Fiddlesticks’ farming in-lane. It gives bonus Ability Power, movement speed, and cooldown reduction. Moreover, it also lets Fiddlesticks’ damaging skills gain splash damage when fully charged.

Banshee’s Veil – For enemy laners who deal single-target magic damage, buying Banshee’s Veil can help quell their willingness to spam their skills. This item blocks one magic-damage skill, allowing Fiddlesticks to carry out his combos without being disabled.

Liandry’s Torment / Rylai’s Crystal Scepter – These items complement Fiddlesticks’ (E) Dark Wind and (R) Crowstorm pretty well – Liandry’s Torment further increases the aforementioned skills’ potency, while Rylai’s Crystal Scepter adds a slowing effect when Fiddlesticks’ skills hit enemy champions.

If both items are with Fiddlesticks, it greatly enhances his team fight damage and crowd control. However, due to their prices, most players often only choose one over the other, depending on the situation of their game. For instance, if their team needs more damage during team fights, most players go for Liandry’s Torment. If they need more crowd control, others go for Rylai’s Crystal Scepter.

Playing Against

• Avoid grouping together with your teammates when you cannot locate Fiddlesticks. He could be channeling his (R) Crowstorm and flash into your team, then follow it up with (E) Dark Wind and (Q) Terrify to deal significant damage.
• Distance yourselves when Fiddlesticks casts (E) Dark Wind to avoid being damaged and silenced multiple times.
• If Fiddlesticks manages to get into your team with (R) Crowstorm, do you best to distance yourselves from him at all costs. If you have teammates that can displace him (i.e. Alistar‘s Headbutt, Lee Sin‘s Dragon’s Rage, etc.)
• (W) Drain and (R) Crowstorm are channeling skills, therefore they can be interrupted with hard crowd control skills (i.e. Stuns, Silences, Taunts etc.)
• Ward areas in the map where Fiddlesitcks would most likely be hiding to avoid his skills and even catch him off guard and eliminate him quickly.
• Most of Fiddlesticks’ damaging skills are only effective if he gets close enough to your team.
• Fiddlesticks is reliant on getting his Blue Sentinel creep camp for its buff, Crest of Insight. This buff enables him to increase his mana regeneration when he’s casting his spells. Coordinate with your team to invade his jungle and disrupt his jungling path.
• Fiddlesticks is generally a squishy champion – your team’s assassins can quickly dispatch him if you manage to spot where he is. Fiddlesticks is extremely vulnerable when his skills are in cooldown.

Hard Counter

General

Janna – Her Howling Gale can interrupt Fiddlesticks’ (W) Drain and (R) Crowstorm‘s channel. She can also push away Fiddlesticks’ (R) Crowstorm with her Monsoon. In the event that Fiddlesticks manages to fully channel his ultimate, Janna can slow him down further with Zephyr, ensuring Fiddlesticks won’t deal much damage to her team.

Alistar – The Raging Cow provides enemy displacement and hard crowd control against enemy champions. He can stun Fiddlesticks with Pulverize or a charged up auto attack with Triumphant Roar. Aside from stuns, he can also push away Fiddlesticks when he casts (R) Crowstorm with Headbutt. Alistar can also cleanse himself of (E) Dark Wind‘s silence and (Q) Terrify‘s fear with his Unbreakable Will.

Tristana – She can jump away from Fiddlesticks’ skills with Rocket Jump, as well as push him away with Buster Shot. Unless Fiddlesticks gets additional crowd control from his teammates, he’ll have a hard time dispatching an enemy Tristana.

Jungle

Xin Zhao – Xin Zhao excels in dispatching single-target champions. For example, his Three Talon Strike can interrupt Fiddlesticks’ (W) Drain and initial channeling of (R) Crowstorm. Given Fiddlesticks is squishy until he gets his items, he is an easy target for Xin Zhao.

Evelynn – Evelynn excels in counter-jungling and stealing jungle objectives. Given her passive, she can stalk Fiddlesticks and take advantage of his early-game squishiness to steal his buffs and other jungle creeps and effectively kill him should he find him roaming his jungle with low health.

Mid Lane

Kassadin – Kassadin has strong single enemy burst damage. For instance, he can poke Fiddlesticks with Null Sphere, damaging him and silencing him as well. Kassadin can jump into him with Riftwalk to deal massive damage and most of the time, the killing blow or blink away from Fiddlesticks’ (W) Drain and (R) Crowstorm.

Ahri – Similar to Kassadin, Ahri is an extremely elusive champion who specializes in dealing single-target magic damage to champions. She can get away from (E) Dark Wind and (W) Drain easily with Orb of Deception or Spirit Rush while damaging Fiddlesticks at the same time. Moreover, when she starts to play aggressively, she can use the same skills to close in on Fiddlesticks, including Fox Fire and Charm, to burst him down. Charm also taunts Fiddlesticks, effectively interrupting (W) Drain and (R) Crowstorm‘s channeling.

Zed – Zed boasts massive physical damage and elusiveness against any laner. To illustrate, he can avoid skills while damaging his opponents with Living Shadow–Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash combo. Furthermore, if he manages to whittle down Fiddlesticks to dangerously low health, he can finish him off easily with Death Mark.

Strategy video

COMING SOON

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