Fiora Build Guide: Fiora's Maximum CDR Build by Boitata

Abstract

This guide is focused on building with max CDR ( FYI Cooldown Reduction, that is maxed at 40%), in order to be able to spam her skills more often, mainly . That alone can raise dramaticaly her survivability, being able to activate every one minute instead once in each 110 seconds without any CDR.

Plus, the suggested build provides: great damage, very considerable magic resist and defense as well as enough HP to make them worthy, move and attack speed and the much needed lifesteal/healing capacity.

This is my personal way to build , and I found that playstyle really viable, so I wanted to share it with MOBAFIRE community in order do gather more feedbacks to improve it.

Please note that I am not telling the other builds are wrong, or that I am pro and nothing about that. I believe MOBAFIRE is a great school for all of us, and sharing experiences and opinions is a great way one have to learn and improve itself.

Feel free to make questions into the reply zone, and please do it before downvoting for any random reason. At last I should know what you dislike and maybe solve it in the future.

Introduction

Hello everyone, this is my first guide on Mobafire, and not the last one I hope. My nickname is Boitatá (as well as in game name in US server), and no I am not french. It's a brazilian folklore name that means "fire snake". Google it for more info :D
As I said, I am brazilian, for that my english is not perfect, so I apologize for any grammar mistake you guys find around here.

I apologize as well for my country mates destroying the game community, but please don't rage against me just because you found a derp BR guy (HUEHUEHUEHUE) in game and he ruined everything. It was not me. I promise.

Now, what brings me here with this guide is, well, something that is bugging me about all the others 's guides, I really really don't want to mean they are wrong, absolutely not. Some of them are just amazing, with such a great pool of info and nice tips. What is bugging me is that the most of guides are directing to a playstyle that doesn't fits with her skill set, simply put.

Right-click-FTW really works, but I can't see on the tools to make that style effective. For exemple, if you equip with, let's say, 80% of the builds suggested here (and I am being nice, cause they all look exactly the same to me), he WILL do better than she would do, and costs 5000 less IP than her, WHAT!

Then, oh God, I asked myself: Why in the Jesus' name should I buy , if can do better than her?

And so I realized that 's skill set is unique, and, in my personal opinion, not properly built to support right-click-and-go playstyle, and later I will explain why (that's how you keep crowd interested in your text :D wait for the next chapter). Of course, if you build her in that way, she will do great. Even should do great, but is not designed to that style, and so is not.

The present guide will assume as a solo-top Champion. Everything in this guide was previously tested in normal games; it works, seriously. So, if you are tired of playing the same old 's style, give this one a try. Let me know how it went and what you would change to make it more effective. It helps a lot :)
Let me know if you just think it sucks as well, but try it in game first and be honest.

That's it, enjoy reading, make questions down there, point my flaws up here and be nice to me :D

Fiora's Pros / Cons

So, as I said before, is a unique Champion, with unique skill set, and with unique advantages and flaws as well. You got to keep that in mind before picking in the Champion Selection Screen.

Pros:

Strong lane presence;
Offensive//Defensive skill set;
Two gap closers;
Push towers like a boss;
Easy to Last hit with;
Draws Teemo ;3

spc

Cons

Squishy;
No natural Crowd Control;
No reliable escape mechanics;
Easily countered/shut down;
Very item dependant late game;
Not enough boobs.

Personal Notes: The up list doesn't represents all of Fiora's positive and negative points, but keep them in mind whenever you think about picking her. Fiora can best any enemy, but she indeed has problems against champions that can sustain in lane more than you, and also against people with hard CC. That said, if the enemy team has Garen, Warwick, Cho'Gath or maybe Yorick for solo top lane, maybe you should consider picking another Champion. Or should you try it and test your skills against that guys, but believe me, they are hard cookies.

Wisdom consists in knowing yourself and your enemy, and knowing what you can accomplish and what you cannot, as well as knowing what your enemy is capable of. Knowing what she actually can and cannot win is part of the game.

Theorycrafting and Common Questions

Here I explain the theorycraft of the build. Here, you will find if you like the idea or not, or if you will try it out or not. Not images here, prepare to read. If you don't like much reading just skip to the next chapter, but I will feel honored if you share my thoughts for a moment and tell me if they make sense or not.

When it comes about damage, in League of Legends we have three main sources: Physical Damage, Magic Damage and True Damage.

Being Physical or Magic, how you dishe out that damage is one of the main factors to be considered inside the game. There are two ways for dealing damage: Constantly damaging your enemy along the time (called Damage per Second or DPS, and unleashing a huge amount of damage at once (called Burst Damage). I believe that concepts you guys already have.

What this specific build wants to do is change 's way to deal damage from DPS (widely adopted in the game currently) to Burst Damage. Both of them works, but personaly I don't find 's skill set very suitable for dps assaults. Instead, they seem to be perfectly designed for quick assaults.

To achieve that goal I made use of proc, turned into to raise up each single hit damage AND the fact that has a clear potential in her skills if they has short cooldowns, mainly her ultimate, , that can deal major damage and dramaticaly increases her survivability per fight when used.

Talking about we all will agree that it is a great tool for dealing damage, but either is the only way that has to surely survive a fight, for escape mechanism is not trust worthy and 's cooldown is way too long. On the other hand, 's cooldown is too long that when the Team Fights starts, you will only find the oportunity to use it once in each two team fights, meaning has a high chance of dying into 50% of the fights, and maybe without accomplishing her main and only goal (take out enemy carry).

When you look at skills with shorter cooldowns, maybe maximizing CDR might not seems profitable if from 5 seconds your cooldown just change to 4 seconds. However, calculating the reduction from a high cooldown skill, such as 's ult, we have that each 10% CDR will take out about 18 seconds (!!) of the total cooldown at level 1. Comparing long cooldown skills with shorter cooldown skills, it is easy to see that the longer cooldown is a way to balance the power that skill possess, and that it is the most powerful compared to others with shorter cooldowns (as a proof, we have 's , 's and 's ).

Then, I ask, why not abuse that power? That was the first question that made me invest time and efforts on that build.

Now, talking about her other skills properly, one can easly notice that her skill set is designed for quick assaults followed by quick retreats, and then again quick assaults.

Burst of Speed attack speed bonus only lasts for 3 seconds, first stun you take and there goes your steroid;
Burst of Speed move speed bonus is longer than attack speed bonus, meaning you will use it to retreat quickly, chasing is secondary purpose;
Lunge recast time is around 4 seconds, just a bit further than Burst of Speed attack speed buff;
Duelist stacks only 4 times, and stacks with Lunge strikes.

Then, we have that the most logical skill combo follows:

+ attack + + attack + { stacks x4} + attack + + retreat.

That assault will take no longer than 3 seconds, hits enough to stack move speed bonus and maximum healing capacity.

That complete combo deals indeed great damage. But, the auto attacks between skills lacked power to make the assaults more deadly. So, I experienced along with dual cast. The damage was great. So great that I decided to writte a guide and share with
Mobafire what I've found.

You might not agree with my way to build , but experience, once, leveling up and purchasing early. Make that experience with Intermediate Bots (their defense is as good as any player with full rune set and mastery page). Even if you disagree with my build, you will not be able to disagree with 's burst potential.
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Questions/Comments that someone might do:

1) , the Jack of all Trades and Master of none is too expensive and it's not worthy purchasing, it gives a bit of everything but not enough of any.

A: So right you are. However, that would be true with usual 's build, that focus on dps. With the current cooldown reduction, becomes so viable to as it is for , and , or maybe even more.

2) ? Nice try, bro. Downvoting.

A: Now, now, Captain Skeptical. Let's remember what is the purpose of this build - to maximize cooldown reduction. And there are very feel items that can make it and still be somehow useful to , and one of them (and the most of them) is . Let's take a quick look at this underrated item's benefits:

250 HP (not bad);
30 Magic Resist (I can use that);
10% Cooldown Reduction (oh, wait, that I need);
+15% Healing effects (Huh... what?)

That last one is the chery on the cake. This 15% extra healing effect applies over anything that might heal you. Here enters , Life Steal, Spell Vamp, Natural Health Regeneration, , , , and healing skills, summoner spell, Baron Nashor's healing effect after you kill it and, obviously, 's passive, . Honestly, it's a pretty awesome effect.

Nowadays, this item is pretty underrated, just as was sometime ago. I believe people will open eyes for these underrated items soon, as Riot seems to be developing Tier 3 upgrades for those ones; and are exemple of this.

3) Fail guide and fail build. is a jungler.

A: No, she is not. Jungling is a complex role in any team that requires some specific abilities to be played with excelence. Abilities that doesn't possess. Yes, she indeed has a good sustain and a attack speed steroid. But she lacks stronger ganks and the tanky composition that is required for a jungler. In fact you can jungle , as you can jungle and but that doesn't mean they are the best choices for that role.

4) Y U NO DOUBLE AND ????? IZ MOAR BANG FOR UR BUCK!!

A: Despites me believing it's already very clear, this is not a glass-cannon build, neither an auto-attacking build. Try that on or if you like it.

The Build's Pros / Cons

Now, let me get deeper into my build, leting you guys know what to expect when building that way. Most of guides won't cover it, but considering my items choice very unusual compared with the usual builds, I believe it can be very enlightening.

Pros:

Very flexible;
Nice tankiness and damage;
Abuses Sheen proc;
Cooldowns are spammable.

spc

Cons:

Expensive;
Requires farming skills;
Requires game-reading;
Hard to replace items for situational items.

Personal Notes: Okay, bad news, the full build is expensive as hell. Good news, you don't need the full build to peform good. How?

Suppose you are facing Nasus on top lane, and your final goal is our recomended build. You can rush your Mercury's Treads, and after your Vampiric Scepter you can purchase a Chain Vest instead rushing The Bloodthirster straight foward. Later, Chain Vest will build into Glacial Shroud. You still are aiming the Final Build, but now you have a nice advantage against Nasus with that extra defense.

Now, lets say you are facing Olaf and his Reckless Swing is hurting a lot. It is true damage, so stacking defense won't help. Why don't we build a Phage first? It will help soaking some of his damage, as well as giving us some nice extra damage and a slow.

So, the enemy team has Karthus... Besides keeping high health should not be a problem to Fiora, an early Hexdrinker will guarentee he cannot take you down with low HP while you were trying to recall. You can think on that one early as well if the enemy team jungler is Fiddlesticks, or maybe the mid lane is getting owned and the enemy team has an AP carry with strong ganks, such as Kassadin, maybe Ahri or you are facing Fizz.

As you can see, all the recipe items that build into the Final Items are funcional with Fiora, providing two or more attributes that she will require:

Phage will provides HP and damage, plus the passive;
Hexdrinker is a good item to get early if you are facing strong AP enemies;
Glacial Shroud will make Fiora tankier, and provides some needed CDR for our final goal, as well as Kindlegem with extra HP and CDR.
In the case everything is going smooth and you don't feel like you will need extra HP, MR or Defense right now, I highly suggest rushing The Bloodthirster first.

That items alone can take you through the lane phase and help you do great in the mid game team fights. And, if you farmed enough to have your The Bloodthirster, you can pretty much end the game with that current build.

You must be aware that nothing in the world is ethernal, everything is transitional. How you can adapt yourself to each situation will show how strong-minded you are.

Summoner Spells

Talking about Summoner Spells, there is only four acceptable choices that I can think about. I won't mention any spell that I don't believe it's worthy of mentioning. Just stay away from them with .

They follow bellow:

Usual Choices

: Very common choice overall. Gives you that last amount of damage you need to pick up the kill. Some say this spell is useless late game, I say it is not. deals 410 true damage at level 18!! That's TRUE damage, the enemy cannot do anything about that. Think about percentage: if your target has 2000 HP (average HP for any ranged AD Carry), 410 damage means 20% of its HP; popping it in the middle of your skill combo will raise your overall damage to the moons. Combine that with the sexy health regen reduction effect. Remember when I said has problems with high sustain Champions? This babe can solve that problem for you.

: Another very common choice. It solves 's problem with escape mechanics. It can be used offensively as well, but honestly, with two gap closers will you really waste your to catch up a fleeing enemy?

Another Options

: This one is a very versatile spell that works both in offensive and defensive ways. It will cripple the enemy's DPS to the ground, plus the slow will help you catch up to them. Pop that one in a 1 vs 1 fight, and with your you have a guaranteed win. As we are getting I suggest picking this one or . If you want to be super-offensive, pick both, but you will miss another utility oriented spell.

An ace in the hat for a solo top player. Recall to purchase your next item and get back to the lane before your enemy can push the next minion wave. Also very useful for back dooring and makes you able to gank mid lane often. It's not mandatory, if you don't like it, just ask your jungler to cover your lane while you recall.

Stay away if possible

: lacks some key elements for making an optimal jungler. She has sustain, she has speed steroids, she has nice dps and gap closers. But without an reliable CC her ganks will lack strenght, plus, the current meta requires an tanky oriented jungler. All that makes an OK jungler, but less than optimal. If you wanna jungle , go ahead, she is awesome enough to make a nice jungler, but if you can pick another Champion with better jungling abilites, your team will thank you.

: M O R E attack speed? Seriously?... Try that one with , maybe . definitely don't need that one.

: I used to pick that one with , then I took an arrow to the knee... No, seriously. Just get used to how much mana has. You won't be spamming your skills until late game, for that you shall not have mana issues.

: Decent one, however I'd suggest you purchasing instead, it removes everything from you, has lower CD and gives nice MR. won't remove from you , and health regeneration reduction effects, such as one (the bleeding heart over your Champion's head) while will do. However if you find any problems with replacing any other item for QSS, you may get this one.

Runes

I believe there are very low viable options besides the recomended rune set. With time and luck, I should come up with new solutions. For now, these are by far the best options for runes with almost all melee oriented Champions.
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Runes

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Marks:

Greater Mark of Desolation: Not much to say about these ones. The more armor penetration you have, the more physical damage you do. Combined with Greater Quintessence of Desolation will give you 25 Armor Penetration, pretty nice to start with.

: This configuration will give a boost on your starting damage, you will get greater lane presence and early dominance, but you will feel that you fall behind in damage output as soon as your enemy builds some armor. There are better configurations for some extra damage output early game.

I don't think these ones are actually viable, but I spoted some people recomending these ones. I don't plan to ignore others recomendation, so, if you prefer attack speed instead some extra damage, there you go.

Seals

: Average choice if you are going solo top. The extra armor will keep you alive and healthy for much more time, also making you capable of trading blows with your enemies from early on.

: Same as the marks. I just find this option much more IP effective, since these ones will give you much more Attack Speed than the Marks. But you will surely miss the extra armor.

Glyphs

: Even if on solo top you might not need the extra magic resist early on, when the team fights begin and if you don't have these ones you will feel like their AP Carry is melting you down. Flat magic resist glyphs are not IP effective, as around lvl 7 these ones will catch up the amount of MR the flat ones have.

: Same as the marks and seals.

Quintessences

Greater Quintessence of Desolation: The most common choice overal. Paired with Greater Marks of Desolation will give you 25 armor pen, enough to dishe out some true damage hits to squishy targets early game.

: Extra Attack Damage early game for lane presence and dominance.

Personal Notes: Here we have some options of runes that synergizes well with Fiora. My rule here is: configure the rune page according to your play style. Customize it, if possible, ignore my rune advice up there. There are N rune combinations that you can adapt to your playstyle. Even Move Speed Quints can be interesting if you enjoy more mobility while playing. Try different combinations and see how it goes. For me, the optimal combination was the recomended one. But anything is writen in rock, you must customize your own rune page according with your likes.

I have fixed that I need at last 20 armor penetration to start with. That, I can achieve with runes only, which allows me to run my 15/15/0 mastery page. That allows me to cap 40% CDR at level 18, thats how I play.

If you want to run the traditional 21/9/0 or maybe 21/0/9 mastery pages, keep in mind that with the items only, you will have 30% CDR, which is indeed great, but in order to max your CDR, you must keep purchasing Elixir of Brilliance. Never forget that this build's purpose is to maximize the CDR.

That is an exemple on how the Rune Page and the Mastery Page works togheter to achieve your Final Objective. With that in mind, you can achieve another N viable solutions. Keep trying and see what you like the most.

If you walk the same path as everyone, you won't make to anywhere but where everyone already gone.

Masteries

Down here is the Mastery Page that I came with after testing in game most of possible configurations of Items/Masteries/Runes to achieve 40% CDR, good tankiness and damage.
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Masteries

The 15/15/0 configuration allows me to raise my CDR as I level up, meaning you will feel your skills more spamable later on game, which is exactly when you have no problems with Mana.

In this configuration I come with 4 points in ; that grants me and extra boost on my damage per level. Combined with early points into , makes 's early damage really destructive.

Also, you may afford 3 points from to level up ; that will grant extra sustainability in lane earlier.

The reason why is left with 2 points giving only 2% CDR is that combined with 's 8,1% CDR at level 18 you already reach 10% CDR from masteries, more than enough no cap CDR along with and .

Tier 2 Masteries also synergizes well with 's other skills, such as and .

You may also run the traditional 21/9/0 Mastery Page, but you will lack at last 6% CDR to maximize CDR. However, 34% CDR is indeed a great number to play with, meaning you may run the 21/9/0 page without much of a problem. But, if you want the chery in the cake, you should purchase as soon as you finish your CDR items. You might miss some of the tankiness and sustainability provided by the extra points into the Defensive Tree.
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Masteries

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Also, if you went far enough into the Offensive Tree to have 3 points into , you may want to reconfig your Rune Page with some or maybe one for stronger lane presence early game.

I raise an argument against and utility. In my very own opinion, the percentage raised in damage is too low, for that, putting points into those 2 mastery might be a waste.

Extra tankiness can be achieved with 9/21/0 configuration (with 1 point into ) which is possible and viable as well. With that, you will mitigate enough damage to feel the full power of sustain abilities.
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Masteries

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You will barely fall under 70% HP, which will make mastery a very viable choice to level up; the extra mobility will allow you to start with a more offensive oriented item choice, maybe or ; or even more defensive oriented item choice with Or and 5x s.

As well as the 21/9/0 configuration, the 9/21/0 configuration won't let you maximize CDR alone, but will throw you into the late game with 38% CDR, which is indeed great. You actually may maximize the CDR by upgrading to level 2, but you WILL miss the extra damage provided by , as the Mastery Page is more defense oriented.

That said, remember that this way to build end up being very flexible. For that, you can customize almost the entire build to fit your liking.

Skills Description and Tips

Here I meant to give a quick overall review over each skill into 's set and explain how they fit with this playstyle. Also, I will discurse about some tips and combos that I apply in actual games, hopefully it shall be useful to you guys as well. The combos themselves are focused on abusing 's proc with auto-attacks between skills. That alone will maximize your damage and easly let you drop squishes to half health with your standard combo.

Duelist

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This one is actually a very good passive. It is the main source of 's sustainability. It will gives you a max of 4 stacks of healing effect over the time, but only if you are hitting a champion; for minions, the stack will never surpass one. You may have not noticed much of its action until now. Today, you can spot the current health regen that your Champion possess by hoving the mouse arrow over the Health Bar.
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Without full-stacked Duelist

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Full-stacked Duelist

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Yes, you heard me right. Full-stacked at level 18 will raise your health regen per 5 into 83 points just by attacking your enemies. It's a free whenever you want. I dare anyone say this isn't amazing.

Tips

Keep always last hitting the minions. It will mantain at last one stack of your passive turned on, thus will raise your health regen over time considerably;
When trading blows with your enemy, be sure to always have your passive to stack 4 times. It will recover much of the damage you suffered while your enemy won't have that advantage and maybe will have to burn a Health Potion;
Once your passive is full-stacked, you have two options: retreat and wait for some health regen or bully your enemy by smacking it with some random auto-attacks/lunges, that will keep your stacks high and your health regeneration going. The stacks will last for at last 6 seconds, so keep calm and play smart.

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Lunge

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In this build, this one is your bread-and-butter skill, only because you can cast it twice before it goes on cooldown, and each time you cast it you will trigger 's proc to your next auto-attack. Another interesting fact that is ignored by most of players is the nuking potential this skill has hidden.

Allow me to call your attention for a quick math. damage raises in a flat amout each time you level it up, as well as the cooldown fall down to the half at level 5. Now, keep in mind 's damage at level 5: 140 + 0.6 per bonus AD . Now, remember that we are able to cast it twice before it goes on cooldown, so you have, actually: 280 + 1.2 per bonus AD. Besides being a very quick math and disconsidering armor pen and enemy's defense, very low skills on the game have that amount of bonus AD, 1.2 is a GREAT ratio, which if put into action early can result into an AD nuking skill.
I am going further, let's compare and one of the best ad-nuking skills in the game imo, 's .

= 150 + 1.1 per bonus AD

= 280 + 1.2 per bonus AD

Besides having an inbuilt debuf, our wins in therms of damage. That if we disconsider that we got 2 extra auto-attacks powered up with proc, while proc powers up itself. The calculation is different for both skills, however it's just to give us an idea of this skill's amazing potential.

FYI, with 40% CDR, cooldown will fall to 5 seconds.

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Tips

As your bread and butter skill, this is your main tool for harrassing and moving around the battlefield. Maximize its utility by using smartcast;
Currently there is a bug that happens when you re-cast Lunge too quickly. Fiora will not move the whole distance, she will kinda slide back and you will lose a bit of the skill's mobility. To avoid that, keep in mind that you have 4 seconds to re-cast Lunge before it goes on cooldown, use that time on your favor, move around and attack your enemy before you Lunge again or Lunge a different target;
Besides Fiora not possessing any reliant escape mechanism, making use of Lunge's mobility can take you out of a bit of scary situations. Remember that Lunge will stack Burst of Speed movement speed bonus. So, if you are about to get ganked and activate Burst of Speed and then Lunge into a faraway minion, you might have a better chance of escaping alive.

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Riposte

This is what I like to call your 'surpries butseks' skill. This skill is the main reason that makes so deadly when fighting against Physical DPS champions. The ability to completely nulify the damage of one attack and rebound some magic damage is very unique and special. Most of AD carriers and DPS bruisers relly on lifesteal to keep them into the fray for more time. If they cannot land those hits, their survivability is severely compromised. Simply put, the more times you successfully and enemy attack, the less damage you take, the higher is your damage output and the closer to death the enemy is. That perfeclty justifies and fits on our maximum CDR build.

Not only that, also provides us with an useful 35 damage buff when maxed. It's a free for no costs. Whenever you start a game and you decide to level up this skill first, focus yourself into building survivability, cause its passive AD will give you enough damage for early game.

With maximized CDR, 's cooldown will fall to almost 3 seconds.
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Tips

To use Riposte properly may be tricky. Don't waste your time trying to Riposte quick ranged attacks, that ones are the harder type to counter, in special those with longer range, like Caitlyn; you just don't know when they are attacking minions and when they switch to attack you. Instead, save your mana and take your time, let your enemy forget about your Riposte nor think you don't know how to use it. Once you engage your enemy, as the most of the time they will try to fight back somehow, you will activate it, making it easy to successfully Riposte their attacks. However, some enemies will specifically move in a particular way when trying to hit you. For exemple, the same Caitlyn will mostly always try to shot you when her Headshot is fully stacked. In that kind of situation, it's imperative you at last try to Riposte her attack;
Ripost can rebound auto-attacks and AD based skills that applies on-hit effects. No magic//AoE skill can be rebounded. Poppy's Devastating Blow applies on-hit effects but its damage is magic, so it can't be rebounded, as well as Jax's Empower. Crowd Control effects added to the attacks won't be canceled, for exemple, Garen's Decisive Strike will still silence you, while Wukong's Crushing Blow will still shred your armor. Red Buff slow/true damage effect won't be canceled as well. However you can Riposte one hit of Fiora's ult, if that can be a good thing lol.

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Burst of Speed

If you believe is the female version of , you also will believe this skill is the main skill on 's set. And it can be, if you enjoy right-clicking for high crits and inhuman attack speed. But if you came until here, I doubt you are still seeking for that.
This two-in-one steroid skill is in fact what you will use to improve your chasing/fleeing abilities. It's a huge burst on your dps and move speed but it only lasts for 3 seconds, so it's all the time you have to dishe out all the damage that you can and retreat if losing. That fits perfectly the maximum CDR build which allow you to deal a high amount of damage in a short space of time.
When you hit your E key, the time countdown for the 3 seconds attack speed buff start running down. However, the move speed countdown only starts after you land the first hit. That design is the main reason that makes perfectly suited for short and strong assaults, and not for long fights and chases as it is the way most of the people plays .

Q: But when you kill someone, cooldown refreshes. Won't that allow me to right-click-and-go forever?

A: Yes, if you can ensure a kill within 3 seconds. However if you get stunned/slowed/rooted you will lose at last 1 of your 3 seconds of buff, and killing someone within 2 seconds? Only if you are really fed. Then, even if you later get a kill, cooldown will refresh only to make you have the same problem again and again and again and again. Furthermore, if you can easily kill someone after your buff fades in order to refresh it's cooldown, why did you needed it from the start?

With maximized CDR, 's cooldown will fall down to 6 seconds.

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Tips

Absolutely never activate your Burst of Speed before you get in range for attack your enemy. Usually you will want to activate it after your first Lunge in order to enjoy its full effects;
Never forget about the move speed bonus. It is (the only) a way to escape ganks while in lane phase;
Often people forgets about the cooldown refresh upon a kill/assist. Remember that when team-fighting. It can be the difference between you surviving or dying.

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Blade Waltz

This is the source of all 's awesomeness. Your blindly-fast-five-strikes that makes you invincible and lifesteals a buttload of your HP back. Besides don't having a trustworthy escape mechanism, it suited in such a way that is capable of dramatically raising 's survivability from the level 6 on. With unpaired damage when facing an enemy 1vs1, while executing the ultimate, becomes untargetable. In other hand, has 180 seconds cooldown at level 1, which is almost unpracticable. Simply put, it has the power to completely save your life and turn a lost fight into a win, but only once in 3 minutes. This is the main reason that makes the CDR build so viable. With that large cooldown, every and each 1% CDR will be noticed over cooldown.

With maximized CDR, cooldown will fall to 66 seconds.

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Tips

Each one of Blade Waltz's five hits can be considered a very strong auto-attack. For that, they can be Riposted, missed and dodged. Be careful when facing Teemo, Heimerdinger and Jax;
Enemies that can become stealth requires a little bit more attention when you intent to use Blade Waltz on them. If they got stealth while you execute your ult, Blade Waltz will just stop in its middle;
Remember that this skill synergizes very well with high amount of lifesteal. For that, you can use it for coming back to a lost fight and turn it into a win.

Skill Sequence

The sequence of skill upgrading must change according to the situation you are currently facing. Assuming a standard melee physical damage dealer enemy, which you will find the most of the time in the solo top lane challenge, you might take the following sequence:

Usual Sequence
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Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

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: Maxed as soon as possible for extra damage and stronger counter-attacks.

: Second maxed out. Will raise your farming and chasing power.

: Mainly utility oriented skill. Maxed last. Also, gets power-up from , for that you can let it low level until later.

: Level up whenever it is possible (levels 6, 11 and 16).
...

But we do know that Solo Top is not always composed by bruisers. Sometimes you might see yourself obligued to face AP enemies such as or , or Ranged auto-attack harrassers such as . That guys won't engage you for time enough to make maxing out neither first worthy; they will try to burst you down with some mighty skills, and if they notice you won't fall and will fight back, they will retreat.

This is when our build works even better. Potentially, has the power to become an AD nuke if leveled up early and with some extra AD. Our Solo Top AP fellas has low defense, which is sweet for us. Simply put, when you -auto-attack--auto-attack, you will easly drop them to 60% HP. For that, against that kind of enemy, we max out first.

Your enemy is not a Bruiser

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

...
: Main source of damage, max it first.

: Even if you will only these enemies' attacks often, the AD bonus of synergizes well with AD ratio. You are getting a power up to your main source of damage.

: In this scenario, this one is the utility skill. However we need that extra move speed to chase down fleeing enemies (oh yeah, they will run/flash away from you just like the Devil would run away from the Cross), for that, I cannot let it level 1 until the end of the game, I want to max along with .

: Level up whenever it is possible (levels 6, 11 and 16).

Personal Notes: That great burst potential and chasing power that Fiora has are the reason that makes me believe that Fiora can actually be a nice counter to AP carriers in the mid lane. However it is still to be tested, but take a time and think about a match against Fiora and a standard AP carry, such as Brand or Cassiopeia at mid lane from level 1 on. Unless you can't play smart and eat a BIG minion aggro, I don't see how Fiora can lose.

Items and Viable Replacements

As a melee Champion that fights at short range, 's optimal item customization must cover at the same time: Extra HP, Defense, Magic Resist and Sustainability; all that for survive entire fights. Why is that?

If you invest your money in only HP, you will have indeed buttloads of that, but without enough Def and MR, you will still melt in fights.

Otherwise, if you invest your money into Def and MR, you will take less damage, but without enough HP to make it worthy, you will end up with the same problem as if you invested only in HP, you will feel like you are dying too early.

For that, combining Def, MR, HP and some sort of healing capacity is the key for a nice survive ratio.

That said, I will dissert about my items choice. Please note how they cover the most possible scenarios that you might face in a real game while still providing Attack Damage Boost, which is desired as well.

Starting Item and Options
.....

spc

This is a classical opening that will grant you the greater amount of survivability early game. With 's double steroid (AD steroind on and AS steroid on ), you can open up with boots and 3 potions easly, which will give you the much needed extra health regeneration before you can purchase your . With those, you can enter for a quick harrass combo or last hit a particularly far minion and retreat quick enough and with the possibility of recovering from any damage you might eat in the process. This allows you to escape ganks more easly, so be aware who is the enemy team's jungler and know how much time it might take to start ganking. If it is an early ganker such as , you might want to start with this item set. As well as if your solo top enemy has some sort of skill shot, this set will allow you to kite their shots more easly, thus taking less damage and lasting longer in the lane.

spc

...

spc

Another classical opening, more used for those players who like to rush . It's indeed a great start against AD oriented enemies, whose you will face the most of time in Top Lane. For enemies like , , and (amongst others), this might be the best start available. Note that won't build into anything setted on our final build, so give preference to the start. However, if you feel like you have to start with extra armor, remember to rush as usual, to make more worthy of taking.

spc

...

Starting with will enable to stay in lane like 'forever'. It is even more evident if you maxed out the mastery; with that one, you will start with 13% Life Steal. Sustain is the word of order here, so, chose this start if you are facing a potentially passive enemy in top lane. and are both good exemples of passive enemies early on game that becomes aggressive from level 6 ahead. With the extra life steal from the start, you will be able to recover quickly from their harrass, as well as win short trades due to your superior sustain. Winning the trades and recovering fast from damage makes you able to zone your enemy and deny them from experience and the much needed gold.

...

This starting will do great... if your enemy is a moron. You lack mobility, you lack health sustain, you lack survivability. This start, IMO, is only viable if you are duo laning, which won't be our case here. Try to avoid starting with if possible.

...

Opposite to the Blade, this one is the Jack of All Trades of starting items. It only won't improve your early damage, but in therms of defense and sustainability, this item is by far one of the best choices for starting. Basically you want to start with this item when you are not used to face that enemy and doesn't know what to expect from them. The bad thing about it, it's that it won't build into anything later. But when you sell it back to make room for a different item, it will refund you by half of its value. That means to say that, effectively, will only cost you half of its price. Very nice, huh?

...

Q: Things are going bad and I am falling behind. What to do?

A: While starting with is not a good thing, stacking 2 or 3 of those within the first 10 minutes of game will allow you to catch up your enemy if you got killed a couple times, or are getting zoned due to any other factors. With the extra HP, damage and life steal you will be able to recover yourself from a bad start. It depends on you knowing when that bad start is settled and starts stacking s as soon as possible. As with , you will end up selling back the s to make room for your definitive items, making them cost you effectively only half of its price.
...

Item Explanation and Purchase Order

The following item sequence will assume your game is going fine, and you are farming enough minions and have one or two kills over your oponent.

1st Core Build

That core build alone is enough to carry you through all the game. Trust me. You have enough HP, Defense and MR, amazing damage and lifesteal, functional shield against magic damage and a slow, plus 25% CDR, which is always good.

Your first goal is to finish ASAP. If possible, buy in the same trip, which can be in your first trip back. After, gather money to buy your and finish . Once you finish this item there is no much more that your enemy can do to harm you, unless it is stacking armor to counter you, you will notice the huge boost on your damage and sustainability.

After is finished, go for either , or , knowing what you need the most in that moment. Finish the other two items in the order as you feel it is needed. Build between these items if you feel like you need the extra HP, if not, finish it last.

Of your next available purchases, is the most expensive, also, it is the one that will raise the most your damage. I recommend rushing it if you are winning with certain ease the fights. If not, finish for MR or for Defense, depending on which damage are hurting you the most.

has a special place into this build. Not only gives you great armor and some mana, it is the item with stronger CDR, which is our goal. The passive will cripple the physical dps of your enemies while you are around, making , with this build, a perfect anti-carry Champion.

is the final touch on our build. Will raise the last amount of our MR, raise a bit of HP and boost our healing power. As the CDR amount given by won't raise when upgraded, you can let it be your last item to be finished.
...

2nd Core Build

The one and only difference between the two builds is the replacement of for . Due to that, the second build end up being more offensive than the first one and a little bit more expensive.

By replacing , one must work again over the rune and mastery pages, in order to adjust and round skill points and rune specializations with the benefits of the new item.

will provide you some more armor penetration, for that, this build can be an alternative when you realize that the enemy team is starting to stack armor to counter you.
I don't actually recommend it, but if you enjoy gold per 5 items, can be purchased soon and can be built into later.
...

3rd Core Build

This item sequence allows you to build , thus that, building early on for major sustain. is more utility oriented, as well as . Your team will highly benefits of your presence in team fights. Besides its being more utility oriented, this build doesn't loses in damage to the others.

This build has higher HP, however it has lower defense as well. For that, I recommend it to counter AP solo top enemies.

Building early on is imperative for the success of this item sequence, as well as , as we are maxing out first, we may miss some early damage provided by 's passive. That will perfectly balance sustain and damage.

Another Viable Options

spc

This one is a very viable replacement for . It will provide you of some nice extra HP and health/mana regeneration. The active will highly benefits your team's positioning when the team fights starts.

spc

...

spc

A more offensive replacement for spirit's visage or maybe . Keep in mind that you will lack some armor if you throw away the , but with it shall not be much of a problem.

spc

...

spc

Another utility oriented item that benefits you and your team. As it is not and CDR item, it can replace if you feel your team needs that defensive boost in the team fights.

spc

...

spc

Another underrated item and oriented for supporting AP characters. As I said, it's a support item, so expect someone else to pick it. However it's still an option, as it reduces 10% of cooldown, which is a good value for us.

spc

Personal Notes: The purchasing order will change according to the situation you are currently facing. Nothing is written in rock, so you must be able to READ the flow of the game to know what your next item might be. If your team is face-rolling, go straight foward to pure damage. If your mid lane is getting owned, you might want to complete Maw of Malmortius early. If bottom lane fed, Frozen Heart might be a good first item to finish up. That requires skills and experience, and unfortunatelly that nobody can teach. Think ahead before buying anything. As Fiora would say, always be "one step ahead".

Situational Items

Amongst the items of our core build, the one that is the most affordable is, in fact, Spirit Visage. That one you can open hand and feel less impact on the final result. Not meaning Spirit Visage is not necessary. It is necessary, but paired with the other items, is the one that you will feel the less impact on replacing. For that, consider all the following items replacing Spirit Visage. Remember that without it, you will need constantly purchase Elixir of Brilliance to cap your CDR.

I actually do not believe there is another viable option for Boots. For that, I am not giving any options besides Mercury's Treads. I am assuming that you are playing against half-brained people, that will not let you slice through their entire team without CCing you at least once, nor pick 4 AD based Champions. But, you know what, that happens often, but in that case proceed as you wish.

....

spc

The enemy team is eating you alive with CC. This item is your key to break free from jail and complete your role in the fight. Also has an awesome price and provides you some MR, which is lost by the lack of .

spc

....

spc

Widely adopted item for raising dps, armor shredding and extra damage. If your enemies are stacking armor to counter you, this might be a good alternative. However, keep in mind that it will only shred 45 flat armor, so it might be better if your enemy has not passed out that 100 armor. Remember, you already have 20 armor penetration from runes. Take that into your calculation before replacing by this one.

spc

...

spc

For when your enemies really stacked armor, and they have more than 140 flat armor (actually 108 armor calculating with your current armor penetration marks/quits and ). The more armor they got, the more this item will by pass. For that, it fits better against beefy teams with high armor values. Remember, your goal is not to kill their tank/off-tank. Your goal is to take their carriers out, and this item will only be justified if and only if their carriers has stacked armor enough to make it worthy purchasing.

spc

...

...

These options are more than situational. In the case of , i believe it fits better glass-cannon builds, which is not our case here. and are items that only take place into the game if you are facing a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY fed carry, that can, lets say, 2 shots you (not an easy task). Keep in mind that these items can appear to be viable once in a while.

Final Considerations

Fiora's skill set makes her an unique Champion, with unique potential still to be explored. This way to build/play Fiora is only one of many that I believe can exists besides the right-clicking style. It has still some things that I can add on, but the very heart of the build is written already. I will make a list of things to do and let you guys know when I update it.

It took a nice amount of time to writte this, plus another nice amount of time to test everything that I wrote and come with that build. Again, if you are about to downvote me, at last let me know what problem you found and maybe I can fix that up.

If you are downvoting me for teh lulz, try to construct a guide from the zero, coming up with a new idea and writting it in a way that can be clear and enjoyable to read. Then think again before downvoting any guide only for teh lulz.

Special Thanks/Credits

I alone could not come up with such an idea, let alone write it in an enjoyable way to read.
The guide is becoming very in-depth thanks to you guys that support me with suggestions. Greater supporters and special thanks are listed bellow.

letaljc for the original idea;
Jpikachu1999 for helping me ALOT with theorycraft. This guide is as much yours as it is mine;
jhoijhoi's guide for making guides;
BlackIceT's and Minkey's Fiora's guides for a lot of useful info.

All of you guys, thanks for reading and supporting!

Changelog

Release (22/04/2012)
Added alternative build with Youmuu's Ghostblade replacing Spirit Visage (23/04/2012)
Added a more utility oriented alternative build (24/04/2012)
Added Skills Description and Tips section (24/04/2012)
Added Items and Viable Replacements section (24/04/2012)
Added Situational Items section (24/04/2012)

"To do" Section

Add game play section;
Add warding section;
Add Team Work section;
Add some more pictures for aesthetics benefits;
Research differente ways to build in order to add new CDR builds;
Add 'Combos' into Skills Description and Tips section.

	Fiora - A Double-Edged Sword By BlackIceT
	Fiora - the Striking Sword Top [S3] By Return of Bob
	Fiora - Fazendo desenhos fofinhos (PT-BR) By lucaswitier
	Fiora ~ Fencing in mid lane. In process of being updated. By OhNos

	MOBAFire Community Cup NA June Registration Open
	Dominate Dominion #62 Registration Open
	MOBAFire Community Cup EUW June Finished
	Dominate Dominion #61 Finished

Defensive//Offensive//Utility

Defensive//Offensive//Utility

Fiora Build Guide by Boitata

Fiora's Maximum CDR Build

Defensive//Offensive//Utility

Champion Build: Fiora

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 15

Defense: 15

Utility: 0

Defensive//Offensive//Utility

Champion Build: Fiora

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 20

Defense: 10

Utility: 0

Defensive//Offensive//Utility

Champion Build: Fiora

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 9

Defense: 21

Utility: 0

Abstract

Introduction

Fiora's Pros / Cons

Theorycrafting and Common Questions

The Build's Pros / Cons

Summoner Spells

Runes

Masteries

Skills Description and Tips

Skill Sequence

Items and Viable Replacements

Situational Items

Final Considerations

Special Thanks/Credits

Changelog

"To do" Section

Fiora

The Grand Duelist

This Week's Free Champions

About the Author

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