Fiora Build Guide by YAAAATZY

Currently on standby

Since I'm studying for my exams I won't be updating this build for the next couple of weeks.

STOP!

Please read the build and not only the cheat sheet before commenting or voting since everything about the build will be explained in the respective chapters.

Introduction

Sharp blade, Sharp mind - Fiora, The Grand Dualist



Fiora, The Grand Dualist, is an extremely sticky champion with high burst.
I have presented 3 build that I, myself, have been trying intensively to work out myself through playing her since she was released.
It is still in progress and I'm working hard on getting as many details into this guide as possible. The estimated time until completion of this build will be during this week.
I will be updating this build frequently up to several times a day or hour if I'm writing. Will continue to experiment with the builds so some minor changes can occur.
Feel free to write me or comment if you have any ideas which could be useful.

Updates

A list of updates to keep track of my progress.
2012-03-02: Guide created and published.
2012-03-03: Updated several chapters
2012-03-04: Updated several chapters, items in jungle, tanky and carry build and added Greater Glyph of Scaling Mana Regeneration
2012-03-05: Updated several chapters and added "The Big No!"
2012-03-07: Added Consumables chapter and updated Jungling chapter

Pros / Cons

Pros [+] High damage [+] High burst [+] Insane ultimate [+] Extremely aggressive champion [+] Parries basic attacks with Riposte [+] Can close big distances with Lunge [+] Extremely fun to play [+] Carrying like she's pregnant [+] A sexy French mademoiselle

SPACE

Cons [-] Very squishy [-] Very vulnerable to cc, especially stuns and sustains [-] Early levels are crucial for Fiora [-] Tends to fall behind fast if you don't gank or kill [-] Lacks crowd control [-] Easily countered [-] Heavy focus during teamfights [-] Low manapool compared to skillcost [-] Can be hard to solo lane or jungle because of her squishyness [-] No turning back after using Lunge and Blade Waltz

The Big No!

"The Big No!" is a build that I have presented to show you what you shouldn't do. It is basically the build that might seem jaw dropping but isn't really that good if you actually play against people with.. well a brain for starters. I will be commenting this build further in the following chapters.

Summoner Spells

Main spells

Flash is every junglers best friend, as a jungler you need this spell when either chasing or escaping. This is especially important at baron and dragon to either steal or escape if you are getting ganked.


This spell is your best friend if laning. With Summoner's Wrath it decreases the opponents armor making them extremely vulnerable to your Burst of Speed. Furthermore their attack speed and damage is reduced making you able to save your Riposte if your helpless prey isn't fighting back. If you don't prefer having some sustain with Fiora then you should pick ignite.


Recommended for beginners who tend to die a lot or low survivability builds. Providing you with an extra lifeline, heal can be a useful tool for taking down heavy busters or carries.


If you like being super offensive this spell is the good choice for Fiora. This is a great alternative for Fiora especially late game if you already have Frozen Mallet. Other then dealing true damage it also reduces the healing done making this very effective in teamfights if you focus a carry. Simply pop ignite and watch the health burn away while slapping them with your rapier.


Dealing true damage to monsters and pets, smite is a must for a jungler. Great tool to jungle faster, earn money and more importantly Barons and Dragons. I've experienced a lot of junglers who tend to avoid getting smite. Not only does it help you get through your jungle faster it is also great at counter-jungling.
Counter-jungling and warding the enemies jungle is as important as securing your own. Not only do you have to keep an eye out for monsters and buffs to spawn but also the enemy jungler. More of this under Jungling and Counter-Jungling.




Optional

Cleanse is a great alternative to a summoner spell since Fiora often is the focus of crowd control since her Burst of Speed only lasts for 3 seconds, you shouldn't use this spell unless you don't want to buy Quicksilver Sash. Note that it removes all disable including summoners spells, other then the healing debuff from Ignite, since it's a debuff and not a disable like Exhaust. Debuffs like Children of the Grave or Malefic Visions are not removed compared to Quicksilver Sash that removes everything. Other then removing all disables and summoners spells, it also lowers incoming disables by 65% for 3 seconds.


Ghost provides you with some extra maneuverability which can be very useful when chasing or being chased. I don't prefer this skill on Fiora myself since her Lunge and Burst of Speed already provide her with enough maneuverability.


Teleport is one of my personal favorites. If in a bind you can teleport away from champions who lacks cc or teleport to a fellow champion in need. Also very useful early game for going back and forth from the fountain to the lane making your loss of gold and experience if dead or shopping minimal. There are a lot of excellent uses for this spell, the only drawback is the channeling time of this spell. If interrupted during the channeling, your teleport will be left at half the cooldown.

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation
Since Fiora is all about physical damage. As many prefers a high amount of attack damage early game I prefer to actually be effective the whole game. Not only does it cut all their armor in early game but it also makes her damage strike as if she was carving cheese with a freaking lightsabre. At level 1 she will be having a stunning attack damage of 76 alone from her basic attack damage and the passive by Riposte, additionally you will have 31/10% or 21/10% armor penetration, depending on the runes you choose, which is more then most have at level 1 and 2.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Fiora tends to become pretty weak against casters late game unless you buy magic resistance this will give her a bit of extra survivability.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
All carry need attack speed, if you find Burst of Speed not enough this is a great choice making her able to almost hit the 2.5 attack speed cap (Got it to 2.487 with Burst of Speed) with a full carry or jungle build.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Since the cost of her skills are combo of skills cost her 160 mana only by using ->-> making Fiora very mana thirsty which not only exhausts her mana quickly but limiting how long she can stay in the jungle and how often she can gank.
"These pretzels are making me thirsty"

For quintessences I put out a few runes which I've been experimenting with. Desolation makes her an excellent burst, but lacks the survivability. Swiftness on the other hand is a more balanced between offense and defense, while endurance is all defensive unless you grab an Atma's Impaler.
The choice between Vitality and Endurance runes are based on the items you are going to buy. If you prefer having a consistent boost of health Vitality runes are the better choice. Endurance runes on the other hand give you a % of your total health. On the carry and jungle build it would be preferred to use the Vitality runes since the bonus % of your total health will not exceed the bonus you receive with Endurance runes. For the tanky build on the other hand you will receive a small boost with Endurance runes. The tanky build has potential on the long run with Warmog's Armor's Passive increasing it even further.


Base Health + Masteries + Runes + Items = Total Health

Without Warmog's Armor's Passive

Greater Quintessence of Vitality
1980 + (6 * 18 + 30) + ((9.72 + 8.10) * 18) + 1870 = 4308.76

Greater Quintessence of Endurance
(1980 + (6 * 18 + 30) + 1870)) * 1.09 = 4346.92

With Warmog's Armor's Passive

Greater Quintessence of Vitality
1980 + (6 * 18 + 30) + ((9.72 + 8.10) * 18) + 1870 + 350 = 4658.76

Greater Quintessence of Endurance
(1980 + (6 * 18 + 30) + 1870) + 350) * 1.09 + = 4728.42


As you can see there is a difference in the total hp with further increases when you add the 3% from Juggernaut from the tanky build.

Masteries

Jungler

TankyCarry

Description coming soon..

Skill Sequence

Jungler

Carry/Tanky

The reason why I choose to level Riposte is because of the flat attack damage which gives her a massive early game advantage when combined with Armor Penetration runes and her 325 movement speed making her an extremely good ganker already at level 2 especially if you have cc on the lane. Burst of Speed might be the first priority to the majority, since it offers extra Attack Speed and Movement Speed which is fine if you are able to fight a target who has the same amount of Movement Speed or tries to fight. On the other hand it has a major drawback of not being able to use this skills full potential because of the lack of teamfights, how easy it is to counter and that people mostly just run, cc or use summoner spells, wasting those a lot of the duration on the skill.



The preferred Skill Rotation is

->->->->->ETC...


Duelist (Passive)

Dualist makes Fiora an excellent jungler and harasser. Because of the passive stacking on champions you can ignore smaller creep waves when harassing, furthermore it makes her able to solo a wave of minions while restraining her Health. Note that this passive works on everything you hit including tower.


Lunge

Lunge is Fiora's initiate ability which allows her to close a great distance. Not only does it make her extremely sticky, it can also close the distance from Flash, if used with Burst of Speed, Exhaust, red buff or Phage/ Frozen Mallet/ Trinity Force, making it almost impossible to escape her grip once she gets a hold of her target.
So keeping your second Lunge is vital when chasing a target and not using both just to deal damage, which is actually very low and not meant for damaging purposes.


Riposte

Riposte is my one of my favorite skills in the game. It gives Fiora a passive Attack Damage boost by 15/20/25/30/35 additionally it makes her able to block the next incoming Basic Attack from Champions, Monsters and Larger Minions (This works on wolves' critical strikes and as the game progresses, all monsters other then buff underlings). How well Riposte is timed has a big impact on Fiora's survivability. When fighting champions like Ezreal or Gangplank with Mystic Shot and Parrrley your timing of Riposte can be fatal since it parries any skill that is auto-attack based or has on-hit effects (Can even parry other Fiora's Blade Waltz and greatly decreases the deadliness of it).
There a several uses of Riposte which makes it a very viable skill which requires extreme precision. I prefer to save this skill to see if the even want to put up a fight. If they do you then punish their mistake with Riposte and finish them off.


Burst Of Speed

Burst Of Speed is Fiora's primary damage ability. This ability gives her a big boost to her attack speed for 3 seconds. Additionally it gives her a attack speed bonus for each successful Attack which stacks up to 3 times. I specifically chose not to level it to 5 until 13 since she still lacks the movement speed to keep up with enemies unless you upgrade your boots, which you should between level 10-13. Beware of cc when using this skill since it only lasts for 3 seconds.
To make this skill even better it's cooldown resets after a successful kill making it ideal to focus the squishier players first before working you way through the rest of the team.


Blade Waltz

A lot of summoners make the mistake of initiating with Blade Waltz. Unless you are dealing with two to three enemies who luckily for you are stacked up like sardines, which is very unlikely.
What is awesome about Blade Waltz is that it does not only deal an insane amount of damage it also adds on hit effect. Combining this with The Black Cleaver and Wit's End makes this ultimate even more insane then it is. Furthermore, if you have Life Steal you will regain a heavy amount of health, which is why you should never initiate with this skill unless they are very low on health. Saving it until Fiora is either low on health or having her skills on cooldown will not only improve your damage output but also the likeliness of killing your enemy and surviving. Note that Blade Waltz makes you untargetable for the duration of the ultimate, use this to your advantage by avoiding AOE, crowd control and ultimates. If you successfully kill the targeted champion it will drop you off at the closest nearby champion after the 5 hits.

"The Big No!" would be to initiate with Blade Waltz if starting a teamfight. Might seem a good idea but it's more like jumping into a wall head first. Anyone with the slightest brain function will be expecting you to dive in for the carries with either Lunge or Blade Waltz. These skills can be countered with a list of skills and items and any crowd control will be fatal, resulting in you laying face down.
Not only do you have to get past the tanks. You also have to be in the 400 range to even use Blade Waltz.

Item builds

Note that these builds are guidelines of how to be a successful Fiora and not a build that should be follow from tip to end. As mentioned before you pick our items according to the enemy team.

The Balanced

This is my recommeded build if facing a balanced team. Giving you a great balance of damage, survivability and maneuverability.


The Tanky For countering high burst or heavy crowd control teams giving you excellent survivability and be a threat.


The Jungler Unlike the carry build it has Wriggle's Lantern for warding dragon, baron, lanes or buffs making it an extremely valuable item for any jungler. Should be replaced with The Bloodthirster late-game.


The Big No! I'm not a big fan of glass-cannon builds, especially not with melee DPS'. This might seem to be the ultimate build but I do not recommend builds like these since it's a big IF that you will even be reaching this build. Not alone is it an ridiculously expensive build, but it also requires that you are against a team with no sense of whats going on. You will have a base health of around 2500 at most and Armor and magic resistance won't even be worth mentioning. Carries with long-ranged skills like Lux, Nidalee, Kog'Maw and Sivir will be the end of you, unless you have a support that even wants to heal you after taking half your health in damage rather then asking you to go back to the fountain.
To top it all off you would be expecting a lot of crowd control and focus because there's no way that anyone wants to be close to you, not even you teammates if you get focused.

Items

Core items

These items presented above are any Fiora's first pick. It provides Fiora with the sustain she lacks, better maneuverability, damage and survivability. There are several alternatives of builds but they should all boil down to these items. I have pointed out several items which in my opinion are some of the best choices for Fiora depending on the enemy team.

Atma's Impaler

40 armor, 18 critical strike chance. One of my favorite items since it scales with health. Not only does it add a decent amount of damage it also gives you 40 armor and 18 critical strike chance. This is one of the most important item's in any fighters arsenal.


Mercury's Treads

25 Magic Resistance. Providing you with Magic Resistance and 35 Tenacity this item is the best choice of boots. Some may prefer Berserker's Greaves which provide Attack Speed which will reduce your survivability dramatically and makes her very easy to counter, since Burst of Speed is Fiora's primary damage ability.


Madred's Razors

23 Armor, 15 Attack Damage. Made for jungling this item is a must for any jungler. Providing you with a 15% trigger ability of 300 magic damage, armor and attack damage it cuts your loss of health in jungle dramatically. I tend to keep this item to buy Madred's Bloodrazor instead of Wriggle's Lantern if dealing with a team with a lot of fighters, like Jarvan IV, Olaf, Nasus or Volibear.


Madred's Bloodrazor

25 Armor, 40 Attack Damage, 40 Attack Speed. Of the item's providing %'s this is the best. Not only does it provide extra attack, high attack speed and armor from Madred's Razors, it also gives you a huge amount of magic damage, ideal for taking down champions with a high Health total. This item decimate tanks and fighters and deals more damage then Wit's End when their Health total is 1050. This item works extremely well with Blade Waltz since it applies on-hit effects. Note that it's still 25% after consecutive strikes. Can be replaced with The Black Cleaver.


Phage

18 Attack Damage, 225 Health. This item should be the first item you assemble. Combined with Burst of Speed you are almost certain to trigger it's 25% chance of slowing you enemy for 30% for 2.5 seconds. This item is all Fiora needs to deliver her devastating combo. We can now chose to upgrade to either Frozen Mallet or Trinity Force.

Greater health Greater slow effect

SPACE

Critical strike chance Greater movement speed Higher damage output

Quicksilver sash

56 Magic Resistance. A very underrated item in my opinion which provides you with an amazing ability to remove all debuffs. In example. Children of the Grave, Grog Soaked Blade, Light Binding and Malefic Visions


The Black Cleaver

55 Attack Damage, 30 Attack Speed. Providing Fiora with all she needs to deliver a big salvo of damage, The Black Cleaver is one of the best items on Fiora damage wise. Reducing Armor by 15 per stack up to 3 makes this item the best Armor Penetration item when dealing with carries. Not only does it provide Fiora with an extra damage output but also decreases the survivability for the benefit for your team making this an item an awesome way to make your team focus a target. It even makes a big pink mark on the enemy to make it even clearer.
Combining this item with Blade Waltz makes it one of the most valuable items for Fiora. It can be traded with Youmuu's Ghostblade which is a bit cheaper and easier to assemble. Only recommended if you have a bad start and have a low income of gold.


Vampiric Scepter

12% Life Steal. Adding life steal to Fiora's attacks greatly increases her survivability. Not only does she regenerate from Duelist she also steals a huge amount of health even in early levels. Survivability is really important for Fiora who needs to stay outside the base for extended time and still being able to gank several lanes.


Wriggle's Lantern

30 Armor, 23 Attack Damage, 15 Life Steal. This item is preferably only for your jungle build since it provides you with a 20% chance of dealing 425 magic damage. Not only can it be used to ward dragon, but I personally prefer to counter-jungle with this item or to secure your own. Very handy for any jungler who wants to save 75 gold for use of Health and Mana potions. Should be replaced with The Bloodthirster or Zeke's Herald lategame since Fiora won't be needing the ward or triggered ability. I will only recommend this item if you are on top lane and warding or jungling.


Youmuu's Ghostblade

30 Attack Damage, 15 Critical Strike Chance. This item is a great alternative to The Black Cleaverif you are struggling early game. Adding 20 Armor Penetration, 15% Cooldown Reduction and an activated ability that provides you with +50% Attack Speed and +20% Movement Speed for an extra burst of damage.


Zeke's Herald

250 Health, 15% Cooldown Reduction. Zeke's Herald is only recommended if you are on a team which is heavy on AD. Giving nearby allied champions +20% Attack Speed and 12% Life Steal. This item does stack on yourself if another allied champion has this item providing you both with +40% Attack Speed and 24% Life Steal. Very nice indeed.

Consumables

Elixir of Agility and Elixir of Fortitude

Jungling

Helping your teammates are the key to winning. A jungler main job is to communicate with the lanes and keep the enemy jungler at a disadvantage. This can be done by warding off the lanes by warding key points of the river if unwarded or counter-jungling. Having the exact location of the enemy jungler will reduce any jungling threat since junglers are all about the element of surprise. And by having map control you will be having the advantage of being able to counter-gank or by dominating the enemy jungle.


My first choice of the three recommended starting items is Vampiric Scepter. This item gives you a much safer and sustained jungling and can save you a lot of money by being able to jungle with a lower amount of Health Potion. The reasons for this are Duelist, Riposte and Burst of Speed, all these skills make Fiora an incredible jungler who will start stealing about 20-25 health per hit at level 4-5.

Starting with Vampiric Scepter and Riposte I go to blue buff. You can start at red buff if you want to take the advantage of being very strong early game. A risky move that might slow down your jungling afterwards if your gank/ganks were unsuccessful. If you come out empty handed from a gank make a second attempt. It can be worth it if the enemy is reckless and returns to the lane without going back.
As Fiora and any jungler I always carry 2* Health Potion] and 2*[[Mana Potion in early levels if I can afford it. Being able to stay in the jungle, farming minions and being able to gank does pay off on the long run.

Alternatives to Vampiric Scepter are Cloth Armor and Boots of Speed.
Cloth Armor and 5* Health Potion is excellent for keeping you in the jungle without needing to return to the fountain. This also makes it possible for Fiora to gank early and often. The only drawback is the total amount of gold you will be spending on Health Potion. Since it makes you able to stay in jungle for a longer period of time it will also cost you, which may cripple your early game if you have unsuccessful ganks.

I will upload a video of Fiora's jungling route unless someone can provide me with one. I'm lacking the software to record my screen without being choppy and bad quality. So instead I have this picture of my amazing paint skills.
The usual route I take is:
1a->2a->3a->5a->4a->2a->3a
This standard blue buff route will depend on how the lanes are doing. If an enemy is pushing early game makes an easy kill. Either ganking at level 2 after blue buff or level 3 after golems. Depending on the situation red buff can be taken before golems if an immediate gank is needed.

Red buff can be taken to start with but requires several ganks. Recommended for this path would be to buy Cloth Armor and 5* Health Potion.
Starting with Red buff I gank a lane directly after getting the buff. Mid lane is an excellent choice because of the possibility to slip behind the enemy and forcing him to either go down river or flash. This is extremely risky and will require a lot of communication with your team.

A problem that I often see with a lot of junglers is that they keep jungling while being level 11-13. At this point you should only jungle if everything is under control and for moneymaking purposes. A jungler only gains the amount of experience and gold to keep up with the team by assisting lanes, getting kills and taking down boss monsters. Remember that you are a carry, people will rely on you.


Dragon

Spawn Time: 2.30 mins.
Reward: Gold 190 (+25 Kill reward), Experience: 400
Respawn Time: 6 mins.

Providing your team with a total of 975 gold, taking down the Dragon is one of you main objectives to give your team a head start. Make sure to have killed either one of the bot and mid lane carry or the jungler to engage in a safe take down. Make sure to check your true damage on Smite before using it since it scales per level. A failure of smiting without killing can be fatal leading it to be vulnerable enough to be stolen by autoattacks or skills.


Baron Nashor

Spawn Time: 15 mins.
Reward: Gold: 300 (+25 Kill reward), Experience: 900
Respawn Time: 7 mins.

Providing you with the buff Exalted with Baron Nashor, a total of 1525 gold to your team and a huge amount of experience. Killing Baron can be a gamechanger or seals the win. Taking down Baron is a team effort or a single fed Warwick. Again, using smite until he is low enough to be killed is crucial since a successful steal can in many cases lead to an ace or a turn in the game.
Exalted with Baron Nashor gives:

40 Ability Power
40 Attack Damage
3% of your maximum health in health regeneration per 5 sec.
1% of your maximum mana in mana regeneration per 5 sec.

Counter-Jungling

Still under construction..

Counter-jungling is high risk but of great reward. Buying wards early can give you the advantage of being able to keep track of the enemy jungler and monsters, especially the buffs.
Not only do you mess up his route, you also give him a disadvantage by not being able to gain as much money and gank as effective.

Laning

Description coming soon..

Team Work

Description coming soon..

Screenshots and Videos

I currently have no recordings of my games, but I might put some on later. At the moment I only have a screenshot of my Match History.
The 13-9-11 was with my tanky build. Died a bit too many times because of too many tower dives and tanking.
Here a some records of my wins.