Fiora Build Guide by Trilkin

Introduction

A new revision is in the works!
I know I JUST posted this guide, but it was made from notes and other things that are about two months old. It's still valid, but after doing some science and working with a friend who is also a regular Fiora player, the potential builds have changed slightly. THIS BUILD STRUCTURE STILL WORKS and I still use it, but there are potentially better, match up dependent ones. Stay tuned!

TL;DR ALERT: THIS GUIDE HAS A LOT OF WORDS IN IT. PLEASE DO NOT DOWNVOTE WITHOUT AT LEAST READING SOME OF THEM.

So hi. This is my first, published Mobafire guide and it’s on a champion I very much love: Fiora. You’ll forgive me if there aren’t a lot of pretty peek-churs or a lot of fancy formatting due to my general philosophy that information is better processed with the fewest amount of distractions.

Also note that this is very text heavy. I believe a guide should... guide, rather than simply direct a player. As such, this can be very tl;dr for a lot of people. Please do not downvote this guide because you didn't want to read all of it. Please do not downvote this guide WITHOUT reading all of it. If you don't want to read it, than I would prefer you didn't vote at all.

My guide assumes you know some of the basic mechanics of LoL as well as things such as ward placement (and importance,) how to last hit and other things that are not in the scope of this guide. This guide is specifically about Fiora and how to leverage her strength. My guide also assumes you know how to mouse over icons to get additional information, so I'm not going to reiterate what the site already tells you.

My guide has sections labeled for what lane/role they are geared toward. As of right now, only mid lane-specific things are completed, but those builds can still be used for top lane. Top lane, however, may be best served with different builds for maximum effectiveness.

Before reading this guide, especially if you’re a newer player, I do suggest everyone take a look at BlackIceT’s guide to Fiora. It’s excellently put together and has a lot of very good information – especially in regards to the basics. I disagree with him on a fundamental basis regarding how to build her as well as some playstyle decisions, but I wouldn’t say my way is more valid than his. Definitely have a read of it.

Changelog

Revision 1

06/17/2012

• Beginning ground work to alter guide to include both more in depth top strategies, jungle strategy and some changes to core items and build possibilities.
• Changed SampleTop build significantly in preparation for above changes
• Added more match up information
• Probably some other minor changes and editing

First Release

06/15/2012

• Guide is complete! Yay!

What Is Fiora?

So what exactly is Fiora? What role does she play? She doesn’t have any inherent tankiness as, say, a Jarvan or a Garen. She does not have incredible sustain either despite what her passive may suggest. Her passive combined with her Riposte, however, gives an effect that is very conducive to what I believe is the proper play style of the champion: constant, overwhelming pressure with some of the aspects of an assassin.

Pros + Significantly bursty + Very good disengage mechanic + Can soft initiate + Respectable sustained damage + Good chasing mechanic + Extremely good harasser + Peaks early and can dominate come mid game

Cons - Escape mechanism (Lunging to a creep) is unreliable - Very vulnerable to CC - Easy to hard counter, although the pool of champions that can do this is small - Chasing requires an item (or red) for optimal effectiveness - Plateaus in effectiveness late game

She acts, thus, very effectively as a cross between a ‘soft’ melee AD carry (similar to most any top lane AD champion) and an assassin due to her effective burst damage. This damage does fall off a bit later on due to the underwhelming AD ratio on Lunge (0.6) and the simple fact she needs to be at melee range to do damage (a significant problem for a non-bruiser,) but due to Fiora’s naturally high base AD (especially with levels of Riposte) and proper runing, one can easily build into a strong early game position that will take her well into the late game.

Fiora's Skill Set

(P) - Duelist

Remember that you keep the initial stack from attacking a creep if you then attack a champion, allowing you to last hit for a stack and then immediately go into harass to get a quick set of stacks. This passive is what allows you to harass so effectively with minimal risk early game. Do NOT look at this as a sustain ability – it is not one and it isn’t meant to be one. Remember, if you go in to harass a champion, they ARE going to strike back (along with whatever minions are in the vicinity.) What this does is allow you to do so without having to pop a health potion afterward. This is the half of the reason why Fiora is built for aggression. Leverage it at all opportunities.

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(Q) - Lunge

This is your bread and butter ability. This is what makes most of Fiora’s early game burst and it is what makes you extraordinarily frightening to AP champions. With this, their ability to outrange you is nearly useless except in the cases of very long ranged champions such as Lux or Xerath, but those champions tend to come with the caveat of expensive spell costs while Lunge stays consistently cheap at 60 mana. There are a few ways to use this ability, mostly depending upon the stage of the game and what your aims are.

For burst and harass, it is generally best to use both ‘charges’ of Lunge twice in very quick succession. If you wait the briefest moment to get an auto attack in (or if you have high enough attack speed where you will auto attack between Lunges anyway,) you will be able to gain three stacks of your passive nearly immediately. If you already have a stack from last hitting a minion, you have your four stacks of Duelist just by mashing Q. You’ll have done a significant amount of damage in the meanwhile, but remember that this leaves you somewhat vulnerable as you lose your mobility. Until you have a point in Burst of Speed, keep an eye on the map and make sure you aren’t about to get ganked if you dive using double Lunge. If you suspect or see the jungler coming, it may be best to Lunge onto a minion and get out instead.

For later game chasing, it is best to wait between Lunges in order to stick to your target. If, for example, you are chasing a Gangplank and have a Frozen Mallet, the first Lunge may make them panic and Remove Scurvy to remove the slow. In this case, it’s best to wait for them to blow their cooldown and then go for the second Lunge. This is also applicable for champions with Flash. If they are not in a position to Flash over a wall, you may well be able to catch up with them without burning your own simply by Lunging toward them. Good judgment is key here and all situations are different. Be deliberate, but don’t waste a potential kill.

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(W) - Riposte

This is the other part of what makes your harass so strong and significantly safer than other melee champions. This is also a leading reason for your dominance early game as Fiora – the additional damage is what makes her ‘work’ early on, otherwise her harass would be significantly weaker. The passive is straightforward, but the active is often overlooked and especially so by her opponents. In general, it blocks autoattacks and anything that is physical, targeted and passes on weapon effects. Thus, it will block Parrrley, but it will not block Mystic Shot.

One thing to keep in mind here is that you will still be affected by most onhit effects that do not augment the attack damage of the attack. For example, you will not get hit by the additional damage afforded by a Sheen proc, but you will get hit by something like Grog Soaked Blade. This is VERY important to keep in mind if you are facing someone like Ashe ( Frost Shot). You will still get slowed if she autoattacks you, but you will not take damage from that attack.

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(E) - Burst of Speed

This is an ability that I believe is simultaneously overvalued and undervalued. While many seem to focus on the attack speed buff it gives, my concern, especially mid, is with the movement speed buff. It’s there that this ability shows its greatest value and is a very key part to Fiora’s ability to harass safely in a lane. The attack speed increase is actually not very impressive until the ability is maxed out – something that is not inherently valuable if you do not have any damage or additional attack speed to benefit from it. As a result, in all of my builds, this ability is ALWAYS leveled last. You still take a level of this early, however, for the movement speed buff. I’ll go into more on effective skill use in another section, but do not overvalue the attack speed buff this gives and do not undervalue the movement speed.

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(R) - Blade Waltz

Fiora’s ult is her party piece and is the foundation that makes her, as a champion, work as well as she does. This is what gives her her early kill power, her ability to keep a team fight presence even if focused and allows her to kill in certain situations and survive them where other champions simply could not. There are quite a few uses for this ability, with one of the more obvious being a tower dive into an early game kill against a weak opponent. This is the ability that will make less experienced players think she’s broken just because of the sheer amount of power it has. It, however, like anything else, has a few caveats:

• The damage reduction on subsequent strikes is very high, so don’t expect a kill from full HP with this alone from any, but the most underfed and underleveled of champions. It’s generally a very stupid idea to dive in to a full health AP hero at their tower and opening up with this. This is your finisher in one on one situations. Treat it as such.
• You will always end up at the person you targeted after the ult ends if they’re still alive. A smarter player will take advantage of this and ‘drag’ you backward into a more vulnerable position. This is an especially important point to remember in teamfights and especially teamfights with a significant healing presence. If your target does happen to die mid-ult, you will end up at the last person you jumped to which itself can be a very hazardous situation, but one you have little control over. If you’re able to, save your Lunge for a possible escape out of a bad position, but if you ult into an already poorly positioned teamfight, you are likely going to die without Flash shenanigans. Again, good judgment is important.
• Remember that the invulnerability and untargetable aspect of the ult is the same mechanic as Sanguine Pool. It does NOT cancel dots on you. Keep this in mind if you decide to blow your ult to disengage at low health after being hit with Ignite. You may end up dying anyway if you are low enough and/or will not be able to steal a significant amount of life if you have any lifesteal.
• If your opponent becomes untargetable for any reason such as invisibility that you can’t see through ( Twilight Shroud or Deceive, for example) or an effect that renders them untargetable for any amount of time ( Mirror Image, for example, poofs LeBlanc for a brief moment,) your ult will IMMEDIATELY stop if you have no one else to blink to. This is crucial to remember in lane against certain champions. If you wish to use your ult on them, you will have to somehow bait out the offending ability that causes this before going in for the kill. Also note that you WILL follow Flashing champions over a wall which may be a good or bad thing depending on your situation and intended positioning.

Why Fiora Mid? Why Fiora at all?

It's not a terrible question. Most League players in general will scoff at the idea and assume you're trolling, so if you intend on going mid with her, expect some dodging now and then.

Fiora is, however, a good mid due to her closing ability, her burst, and the survivability-through-harassment that is offered to her through her passive. You can and will do half of a typical AP champion's health in a single set of Lunges as early as level 3 (and oftentimes, even earlier for the squishier ones) and they will find it very hard to retaliate against it this early.

Because of these qualities, I feel that she is much better middle lane than she is top or jungle. She can't clear the jungle as fast as the top picks can and her sustain is not quite as good as other typical top lane champions. She is not inherently tanky either and her burst is somewhat less valuable against the more tankier/sustaining top lanes. She would have to play a more passive role here and count on her ability to snowball in the late game like a typical top AD would which, I believe, completely neglects a good deal of what makes Fiora, well, Fiora.

There are some match ups top lane that are in Fiora's favor, and I'm aware of the potential effectiveness of maxing E over Q for lifesteal sustain as I've mentioned before, but again, you are not leveraging Fiora's early game power doing this and she does not snowball nearly as well as, say, a Riven or an Olaf can.

In short, Fiora mid is essentially a counter pick to AP much the same way Talon is. Unlike Talon, however, Fiora has sustained damage in the late game that can make her EXTREMELY threatening in teamfights beyond simply popping squishy targets. She is a cross between a melee AD carry and an assassin and brings the virtues of both to a team.

Mastery and Rune Choices

Mastery-wise, there are only really two variations you'll be looking at for Fiora.

and


I, personally, prefer the former in most any given situation since it adds more effective health which is significantly more useful throughout the game than the Utility tree can offer you until the late game. In the late game, the benefit of being about to get up earlier from a death, having baron buff longer and the small increase to movement speed DOES end up being ultimately better. Either choice is valid, but the former gives you earlier power, allowing you to establish lane dominance easier.

In the case of the Defensive tree, having hit points over regeneration is primarily a manner of taste. I prefer the regeneration since it has better synergy with Duelist, but it's up to player preference at that point.

Runes also have a degree of player preference involved, but...


...will never steer you wrong. Some other possibilities include the following:

Marks Greater Mark of Desolation Greater Mark of Attack Speed Greater Mark of Scaling Attack Damage

Seals Greater Seal of Attack Damage Greater Seal of Replenishment Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration

Glyphs Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

There are more possibilities than these, such as CDR runes and crit runes that can work with Fiora, but you generally don't get as much raw value from them as you will from raw attack damage, attack speed, armor penetration and defensive runes. I generally don't recommend additional health regeneration or health nor do I recommend a more experienced player take mana regeneration runes, but no matter what you do, ensure that your eventual item build supplements your rune and mastery choices properly.

Summoner Abilities

Recommended

Flash is, in my opinion, mandatory for Fiora due to her innate lack of any escape. The positioning possibilities it gives you are also extremely useful and, of course, there's always the use of Flashing toward a retreating enemy for a kill. A top pick for any champion and for good reason.

Ignite is another great ability with equally as obvious and straightforward uses as Flash. Whether it's securing a kill, neutering an enemy's lifesteal or making an enemy healer hate you, Ignite is always a barrel of laughs. Remember that its damage is based on your champion's current level, so periodically check (or just memorize) how much damage the ability does before you use it to try to finish off a champion. REMEMBER: It isn't luck if you goof=)

A very good pick, but more oriented toward a top laning Fiora to neutral particularly heavy-hitting AD champions such as Riven or Tryndamere. It's naturally also very good for chasing or for semi-disabling an AD carry during team fights. It will also likely save you more than once against ganks.

Good Picks

Ghost, coupled with a few stacks of Burst of Speed gives you a VERY significant amount of movespeed that can help you chase down even the fastest champions. It also gives Fiora a form of escape, though not as sure of one as Flash. Having additional fight mobility without having to use Lunge is a very valuable thing, although Flash is generally the better pick for this purpose. Remember, when you pop Ghost, it's fairly obvious what your intentions are. With Flash, they have significantly less time to respond.

I know what you're probably saying. 'Heal on Fiora? WTF?' Don't discount it. Heal's primary purpose on a champion like Fiora is to bait people into attacking her while she's at low health. Again, this is more of a top-oriented pick as middle lane champions will almost always have Ignite and make Heal significant less useful. Later in the game, of course, this can be used to save your life or give you more longevity in team fights. Remember - if you're picking Heal as someone like Fiora, it's a mostly selfish pick much like an AD carry.

Teleport is a staple of most top lane champions now. Having map mobility, especially if you're squirreled away in the corner of the map playing touch and go with your lane opponent, is extremely valuable in such a position. A timely Teleport to intervene in a gank or a team fight can turn the tide of a game.

Decent Picks

CC is NOT your friend. Neither are dots. Generally, I'd suggest getting a Quicksilver Sash over getting this, but having both against an enemy team full of nasty disable is NOT a bad idea by any means. Other summoner abilities tend to be stronger picks overall, but Cleanse can be invaluable in certain matchups.

Surge is not awful and stacks decently with Burst of Speed. To get the most use out of it, though, one would use it AFTER BoS's duration is up in order to continue the assault. I've experimented with this a few times and found it to be surprisingly effective, but Ignite and Exhaust tend to be much better picks overall.

Not Recommended

CV is always useful to have on a team, but your support should be the one taking this. If you ABSOLUTELY must take this for whatever reason, make sure you pair it with Flash in order to make as much use of the information as you possibly can. There are rare occasions that a CV into a bush will reveal a potential kill for you, but again, you should not be the one taking this.

For less experienced Fiora players, this might actually be a rather tempting pick if you intend on staying in lane for a while. Her natural mana regeneration is quite low and if you're playing Fiora most effectively, you are going to be spamming your abilities quite often - especially Lunge. Regardless, don't pick this. There aren't too many champions that would pick this in the first place and there are ALWAYS stronger choices than this even for them. Learning how to manage your mana is a much more valuable thing.

I'm actually torn where to place this, but for now, it will stay Not Recommended. Fiora is an excellent tower pusher with her Burst of Speed, so the debuff this gives to towers can be VERY useful to net an early tower kill. That being said, however, an early tower kill doesn't always work in your favor - you may end up forced to overextend regularly in order to get any CS. As a top-laning Fiora, this can also be reasonably useful against champions that you know do a lot of tower diving. With Riposte to block a potentially fatal auto attack on a particularly close dive, this ability could net you a kill in a situation where you would not get one. It actually happens a lot more often than one might think, but again, I don't recommend the use of this ability over the other potential choices.

Tempting if you want to push a lane early in particular, gimmicky quick-win matchups, but overall, not a wise choice for Fiora. You generally DON'T want to push your lane since the longer you're able to CS safely, the better off you'll be.

You shouldn't be dying often enough for this ability to be particularly useful to you. This is, in my opinion, solely a Karthus pick and POSSIBLY a Yorick pick. They are the only two people whose deaths might actually be useful to a team. Besides, the high cooldown makes it even less useful in a high-death game. That being said, the rare occasion where you'll actually have the time to make it back into a team fight and will make a difference (your base is being pushed by multiple low-health champions, for example) can make this fun to pick on occasion. I wouldn't do it in Ranked, though=)

Smite is not listed here because its use and purpose is very obvious. You should never take Smite as a laning Fiora and should always take Smite if you are jungling.

[MID] Why Do You Max Q before E?

Early game, what is most important is your ability to establish a presence in your lane. Burst of Speed is an excellent ability, as most attack speed steroids are, but it shines most when you already have some of your items and your autoattack damage is actually threatening. Also remember that at low levels, your attack speed, even with BoS, is just not that high. There are big enough gaps between auto attacks that your opponent will be able to respond with something in order to mitigate or completely neuter it. The moment you activate Burst of Speed is the moment you tell your enemy you're trying to engage on them and will give them ample time to respond.

Yes, you can Lunge to them, activate BoS and start doing damage, but again, after the Lunge, they have a chance to respond to you. This severely cuts BoS' effectiveness early game against all, but the most inexperienced of players. Another thing is that you simply will do less damage in a shorter period of time at the early stage of the game maxing out Burst of Speed early. It has a relatively long cooldown (especially compared to Lunge,) for only a moderate benefit early in the game.

If you max Lunge first, however, you gain a significant amount of burst damage that is harder for them to respond to. For this, I -HIGHLY- suggest using smartcast, which I will go into in the Play Style section. This will allow you to double-Lunge onto someone nearly instantly. Oftentimes you will even get an auto attack between Lunges, especially if you wait just a split second before the second Lunge. This can end up being up to 3/4 of a champion's health in the early levels - even as early as level 3 once you get two points into it. The psychological impact this has is tremendous because it immediately makes your lane opponent scared of you and sends them back to the tower or, indeed, back to base before they're able to buy anything substantial.

This is the KEY to Fiora harass because it is this pressure that you must establish early and must establish often. They have little recourse against the double-Lunge and can only respond after the fact while, with a Burst of Speed pop, they can make that buff essentially worthless if they have CC of ANY sort. Fiora is -NOT- a bruiser and she is not meant to be played like one. She is not a true AD carry either and, again, is not meant to be played like one.

Aggression is the key and there is nothing more aggressive than doing 250-300 damage instantly at level 3 against most champions. You will burn through their potions very quickly repeatedly doing this or, if they were foolish enough to start with a Doran's item or a non-potion form of sustain, you will force them out of the lane or even end up killing them extremely early.

There is a merit to skilling up E over Q early, however, but only if you intend on playing a more passive early game as Fiora and utilize your E with lifesteal as part of your sustain. This is a different play style that is closer to the classic AD top mentality which I don't believe works with Fiora's kit. Fiora is meant to be aggressive all game - she is an all-in champion and should be built accordingly.

[MID] Building Fiora [Flowchart]

Note that this flowchart only includes items that I believe are optimal for Fiora. More situational picks will be listed and discussed in another section as well as where to place them in the flow loops. I will eventually make a visual version of this for quicker digestion, but I'm more concerned with finishing the guide as a whole first.

Standard build flow should be as follows:
START -> 2x Doran's Blades -> BOOTS -> OFFENSIVE ITEM -> Frozen Mallet -> OFFENSIVE ITEM -> DEFENSIVE ITEM -> LUXURY ITEM

Starting Items for Lane

Does your opponent have skill shots -OR- are you confident against them?
IF YES ... Boots of Speed + 3x Health Potions ... ELSE
Is your opponent AP?
IF YES ... Null-Magic Mantle + 2x Health Potions ... ELSE
Your opponent is AD.
TAKE ... Cloth Armor + 5x Health Potions ... DONE

First Base Returns

TAKE ... Doran's Blade ... THEN
Do you have enough money for wards?
IF YES ... Sight Wards + GO TO NEXT LINE ... ELSE Health Potions ... DONE
Do you have enough money for a second Doran's Blade?
IF YES ... Doran's Bladex2 ... ELSE Health Potions AND/OR Finish Boots ... DONE

If you could not get both Dorans' at this point, make sure you get the second blade on your next trip back in addition to other items you'll be able to afford. Carrying two blades early will help you significantly.

Boots Choice

Is your lane opponent AD and doing significant damage to you?
IF YES ... Ninja Tabi ... ELSE
Does the enemy team have a lot of disable and/or AP?
IF YES ... Mercury's Treads ... ELSE
Do you want (A) increased attack speed or (B) increased CDR?
IF (A) ... Berserker's Greaves ... IF (B) Ionian Boots of Lucidity ... ELSE
Do you want (A) out of battle loitering ability or (B) in battle mobility?
IF (A) ... Boots of Mobility ... IF (B) Boots of Swiftness ... GO TO NEXT SECTION

Note that you are free to change boots mid-game to match the current flow of the game. You can start with Ninja Tabi and sell them to get Mercury's Treads later in the game, for example, against AD lane opponents.

First Item

Is your opponent threatening enough that you need something defensive?
IF YES + OPPONENT IS AD ... Phage into Frozen Mallet ... ELSE Hexdrinker into Maw of Malmortius ... GO TO NEXT SECTION
Is your opponent building a significant amount of armor (at least 120 armor?)
IF YES ... Last Whisper ... ELSE B. F. Sword into The Bloodthirster ... GO TO NEXT SECTION

Standard Item Loop

Do you already have Frozen Mallet?
IF NO ... Phage into Frozen Mallet ... THEN
Do you already have The Bloodthirster?
IF NO ... The Bloodthirster ... THEN
Do you already have Last Whisper?
IF NO + ENEMY BUILDING ARMOR ... Last Whisper ... ELSE
Get more damage, you goof.
GET Infinity Edge ... GO TO NEXT SECTION

Defensive Item Loop

Are you getting focused with CC?
IF YES ... Banshee's Veil -or- Quicksilver Sash ... ELSE
Is the enemy team relatively balanced?
IF YES ... Guardian Angel -or- Aegis of the Legion ... ELSE
Is the enemy team AD or AP heavy?
IF (AD) ... Randuin's Omen -or- Frozen Heart -or- Thornmail ... ELSE
IF (AP) ... Hexdrinker into Maw of Malmortius ... GO TO NEXT SECTION

Luxury Item Loop

Do you already have six items?
IF YES ... DONE ... ELSE
Do you need more damage?
IF DAMAGE ... Infinity Edge ... ELSE
Do you already have a Guardian Angel?
IF NO ... Guardian Angel ... ELSE
Is armor an issue?
IF YES + HAVE Last Whisper ... The Black Cleaver ... ELSE ... Last Whisper ... ELSE
Screw it.
GET Phantom Dancer ... DONE

[MID] Building Fiora [Explanation/Rationale]

This one is a bit trickier as EVERY player should be building situationally. There are a handful of core items that every Fiora build should have, but your defensive item should always change with the match up. Depending on how you're doing in a game, you may not be able to actually afford your core items when you need them either, so once again, you must adapt. Every match is different.

Starting Items

What your choose depends on your match up, of course, and what lane you eventually end up taking. As a general rule, the boots+pots combination is a great neutral starting set that will never let you down. The other options depend primarily upon your confidence against a certain champion and how defensive you want to play against them. In the case of champions that have skill shots, you will want to stick with boots to give you the increased ability to dodge and better bait out abilities.

I never recommend starting with Doran's Blade unless you are extraordinarily confident in your ability to defeat your lane opponent without needing potions for sustain OR you intend on going for an early first blood/gank with your team and will have the lane to yourself for a significant amount of time.

First Base Returns

An early Doran's Blade gives you all of the stats you need to keep you in your lane and staying either ahead of or on par with your opponent. If you have an overabundance of money on your first return back, don't be afraid to get a second one. You'd be surprised how much that extra bit of damage and HP can help you snowball. Under no circumstances should you get more than two of them in any game, though, regardless on how you're doing. Save up for a cheaper first item instead of getting a third blade.

ALWAYS ward around your lane. If you're mid, that means warding both sides. If you're top, that means warding in the river near their jungle opening and, if able, your tribush. Regardless of where you are, ALWAYS be warding. The information will save your life and the lives of your team.

If you're particularly rich or are simply able to loiter in your lane long enough, you may be able to buy your boots at this point as well, which leads me to...

Boots Choice

This should be a relatively straightforward decision dictated by the current momentum of your match. Almost every set of boots (besides Sorcerer's Shoes) give Fiora something useful. You should steer away from Boots of Mobility and Boots of Swiftness. Since you have Burst of Speed coupled with some sort of slowing effect, both of those boots tend to be unnecessary and not as valuable unless you intend to do a LOT of roaming. In general, I personally prefer to build defensive boots (that is, Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi) over the offensive choices, but if you are not being focused or are winning your lane by a significant amount, Berserker's Greaves or Ionian Boots of Lucidity are not terrible choices, but remember that the game can always turn around and the other team may indeed decide to start focusing you if you are the one leading in kills on your team.

First Item

Generally, in most games, you want your first item to be a The Bloodthirster. It helps Fiora in so many ways that just reading the item should make it self-evident. If you are REALLY taking a beating in lane, however, going for the early Phage may be the better choice. The option of getting a flat defensive item (like a Negatron Cloak or Chain Vest) is always there and most of them do turn into something that will be useful for Fiora, but remember that if you are not building damage early, you are losing effectiveness rapidly. You are not a tank, but you don't want to get blown up out of lane either.

If you do end up getting a Phage early, unless you ABSOLUTELY need more HP, this is your time to at least get the B. F. Sword needed for your BT. From there, you can finish the Frozen Mallet and have some bigger lane presence. Again, your primary concern is damage and the ability to stick to a target. Getting a Phage -> Frozen Mallet in lieu of another defensive item early will allow you to complete at least one of those goals without sacrificing much survivability.

Another option here against a particularly troublesome AP enemy or one that is able to do constant damage to you safely (Ryze, Akali) is the Hexdrinker into Maw of Malmortius. This will replace the luxury item you would normally get at the end of your build while simultaneously giving you damage and survivability against an AP threat. I do NOT suggest getting this item every game or against every match up.

The reason I suggest this over, say, a Wit's End is because of the passive. In team fights, you will generally be ulting when you start getting focused and at that point, you will be rather low on health. This is when your Maw ends up truly shining. It's an additional 35-40 AD at that point for you (depending on how low you are) on top of the 55 AD the item already gives you while also giving you MR and a very useful shield to survive long enough to get that ult off. It is, however, a bit expensive at 3300 gold. For raw damage, Infinity Edge is a much better value, but the survivability increase the item gives you makes it very worthy against an AP-heavy team.

If your lane opponent is stacking armor very early (you'll see this especially in a Ryze or against some top picks like Malphite,) getting an early Last Whisper is always a good idea. It's one of your core items anyway, so you lose absolutely nothing getting it. If you do, make sure to get a Vampiric Scepter not too long after that to get a little bit more survivability and sustain. Whether you build that into a BT or go for the Mallet next depends on your needs.

Standard Item Loop

These are your core items. They're self explanatory and give Fiora all of the tools she needs to succeed by giving her much needed HP, damage and a slowing mechanism to give her sticking power. If the enemy team is being REALLY foolish and isn't building any armor (VERY rarely does this happen) then you can probably skip the Last Whisper and just build an Infinity Edge instead.

Defensive Item Loop

This is also reasonably self explanatory. It's a matter of building situationally depending on who on the other team is the biggest threat. If the threats are varied or you don't feel particularly threatened by anyone specific, the Guardian Angel is always a good go-to item. It dissuades the enemy team from focusing you early in a team fight, allowing you to do damage without having to blow your ult immediately. If they DO focus you early, you'll pop right back up, ult some of your life back and they'll have gotten no where anyway. If you do take a GA, make it a point not to get caught alone by their team, or you'll essentially be wasting it. Hell, you shouldn't get caught alone ANYWAY.

Other than that, your defensive item choice should always be building toward what threatens you the most. If it's CC, a Banshee's Veil or Quicksilver Sash will give you much needed seconds that can make or break a fight for you. If they're AD heavy, getting a Randuin's Omen or Thornmail are excellent choices to dissuade them from attacking you early in the same way a GA would. On occasion, getting a Frozen Heart is not a terrible idea either if someone else hasn't already gotten it, although you'll tend to want to let the tank, support or Ryze get an item like this.

Luxury Item Loop

For the most part, your last item will likely end up being an Infinity Edge. A Phantom Dancer is absolutely a good idea as well if you feel you need more speed and the added ability to crit in both cases will give you a significant amount of fight presence. If you already have an Infinity Edge over a Last Whisper and don't feel you want the speed, getting your Last Whisper now or even a The Black Cleaver are both good ideas. Most games will not last long enough for you to get your last item, but if they do or you have a particularly great farm, the best options are listed in the loop. There are other possibilities as well, but they're extra-situational and will be gone into in the next section.

[MID] Building Fiora [Other Possibilities]

Offensive Items

This one goes first because it deserves special mention. This item is specifically as a counter to Fiddlesticks and AP Yi if you happen to face either of them in lane. The active on it is CRITICAL in being able to face either champion, but it is not an item I would suggest keeping to late game. If you are going to buy this item, make it your first item and then sell it around the time you finish your Mallet.

I used to get this relatively often on Fiora until I realized that it really isn't worth the money. Yes, it gives you crit and armor and yes, it does give you a decent amount of damage with the HP you'll get from Mallet. If you're facing primarily AD and you don't mind supplementing this with another HP item (Randuin's is a great option vs. AD,) you can use this item in replacement of your Last Whisper or Luxury item.

This is actually a very attractive item for Fiora for a multitude of reasons. In my opinion, if you build this, it will be in place of your Last Whisper and is a VERY strong candidate to replace it in the main build as well. I'm still doing experiments with it. It's very cheap for what it does, it synergizes EXTREMELY well with Fiora's kit (it's essentially a second Burst of Speed) and it provides a good source of crit. Really, the only thing that's prevented me from using it over LW is LW's larger armor penetration rating.

The active makes it sound better than it really is. It's not a terribly expensive item and the lifesteal makes it pretty attractive if you're REALLY doing poorly and just can't seem to farm for your Bloodthirster in a timely manner. If you do get it, it should be your first item and you should eventually sell it, but I recommend pursuing other options first.

You don't really need the mana nor the regeneration and this provides almost zero synergy to Fiora's kit. You can stack it up pretty quickly and you'll have mana for days, but there's nothing to really do with that mana. Skip it entirely.

It's good for a laugh and it's extremely cheap, but in order to get the maximum effectiveness from it, you need two. Using it in conjunction with your ultimate in the middle of a team fight can actually produce some pretty big AOE damage... if they're all tightly clustered together. The only time you should EVER consider building one in a relatively serious match is if you have someone with an ability to bunch champions together (Darius and Galio, for example.) Even then, you should have SEVERE reservations on getting this item. The radius is tiny (they practically have to be in melee range of your target,) and there are just better items overall.

This is not an awful item, especially in conjunction with Burst of Speed and possibly a Youmuu's. The problem is, it's not a good item either. It doesn't proc often enough to outdamage other possible item choices and you do not have the magic penetration to really make that proc hurt. This is a hybrid item and Fiora is not a hybrid.

This has a similar problem to Ionic Spark in that the magic damage you'll be doing with this actually won't really hurt as much as it sounds. If it were true damage, it'd be an entirely different story since the attack speed works rather nicely with Fiora, but since you tend not to be attacking a single target for too long (remember, you aren't an AD carry,) and you shouldn't be targeting tanks anyway, this item ends up being very much not worth the cost. Only get this if you're facing truly fat champions with 4000 HP or more. Leave it to the AD carry to get this against tanks otherwise.

Defensive Items

This is nearly useless for Fiora. The amount of health regeneration she'll get is piddly and there are much better MR items out there for her. Only get this if you're tanking up (generally because no one else is) and already have at least 3000 HP.

This does really nothing for you as Fiora. You're not a tank and won't have a long enough presence in a team fight for the aura to actually matter. The survivability from this item can be gotten elsewhere with much better effects to supplement it.

You should only get this item if you intend on getting an Atma's to supplement that HP. Having a lot of HP doesn't necessarily make you tanky, especially late game, but it can dissuade people from attacking you immediately. In reality, though, you shouldn't be building this much HP unless you absolutely have to tank/initiate because no one else on your team will.

Not a bad little item and it synergizes okay with Fiora's passive and the lifesteal she should be getting. It's not quite so good when compared to Banshee's Veil or Quicksilver Sash, though, which have MUCH more desirable effects if you happen to need MR. It's really meant more for champions with a better innate healing mechanism than Fiora has, so I would suggest skipping this and getting something else for MR.

The CDR with the health is nice, but it isn't worth taking up an item slot. Get a Shurelia's Reverie instead if you want something with health and CDR. It has a very useful active. Speaking of which...

It isn't awful and works well in conjunction with a Youmuu's if you REALLY want to stick to someone in a fight. It also has team utility, but honestly, you should really be focusing on something that gives you more survivability than this. Armor or magic resist are always better investments than raw health unless you're getting an Atma's.

Misc. Items

You shouldn't really be getting this item and should be focusing on items that give you bigger benefits than these. That being said, you benefit a good amount from this if someone else (say the tank or support) ends up picking it up for you. Still, you shouldn't be getting this yourself. You need damage.

I don't think very highly of snowball items, even if I'm stomping a game. I can't stop you from taking them, but items that have better, immediate effects should be considered LONG before a snowball item. That said, they're fun to play with, and hell, going Bravery every now and again keeps people on their toes.

[MID] Play Style and Skill Usage

Play style wise, Fiora is best played very aggressively and deliberately, especially mid. I'll break it down roughly by game phase.

Early Game

Early game is where Fiora's burst will really put the fear of God into people. It's usually best to wait until level 3 before you start Lunge spamming people, but if you really want to force someone out of lane early or force them to burn through potions, you can start as soon as level 1. I don't recommend doing much harass until at least level 2 so you can Riposte any parting autoattacks off of you and do that much damage.

By level 4 you'll have Burst of Speed and your routine for harassing the average AP champion will be something like this:

Activate Burst of Speed -> Lunge -> AutoAttack -> Lunge -> Riposte

You activate Burst of Speed first to give you the movement speed you'll need to retreat after your initial burst. If you're able to continue to attack safely, you should do so and lay in as much hurt on them as possible, but generally, the moment you lunge, they will start backing off and toward their tower. For champions that have a snare of some sort, make sure they've already used it before you do this near their tower or you may well end up getting yourself killed.

Ultimately, your goal is to make sure that the mid lane champion that isn't you is not useful for the majority of the game and to keep them from being a threat. You want to make sure that they leave their lane as little as possible and keeping them unfarmed and underleveled will lessen their confidence in being able to gank.

Level Six

Once you hit level six, you can start really going for kills. Generally most people will try to linger in lane as long as possible for CS and exp. You'll probably be low on mana so they may see you as less threatening. The Lunges will be fewer and they'll get a bit more confidence that they can stay in lane without getting bursted any time soon. You only need 160 mana to finish off a champion at half health or lower at this stage in the game, though, provided they haven't gone back yet for a Doran's item or any other form of HP.

At this point, you can simply double Lunge, ult and Ignite them for a kill and likely be able to escape alive even if they're under tower. If you have the mana for it, pop your Burst of Speed as if doing your normal harassment rotation to give you the extra MS you need to get out of tower range after your kill.

You will end up doing this a lot during the game. Blade Waltz gives you an amazing amount of safe diving opportunities and you should take full advantage of it.

Early-Mid Game

This is generally the point where a mid laner will start leaving their lane. This generally happens at about level 7 or 8, but for some champions, it can be earlier. KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR LANE OPPONENT. You will not be doing a lot of proactive ganking as Fiora this early unless an opportunity arises somewhere nearby (such as the jungle or in the river,) since you are concerned with keeping mid lane from farming while farming yourself. If they do leave, and they eventually ultimately will, it is your responsibility to follow them.

It is generally obvious where they'll end up going - just look at the map to see which of your lanes is overextended or who's at low health under a tower. Having wards is EXTREMELY important for this reason, among others. Calling MIA is also important, especially if you're unable to follow them because of low health or low mana due to the fact that most people tunnel vision by nature. Rather than argue about map awareness, just take the time to type 'mia mid.'

Mid Game

Generally by this point you have two of your items, towers may be down and you're probably getting ready to leave lane and do some ganking of your own. Your general rotation does not change here, although you may end wanting to save Burst of Speed for after the Lunge spam in order to maximize how many hits you get on a target rather than worry about the movement speed for retreating.

NEVER forget Riposte. Riposte is your friend in any situation where you'll be attacking champions. It will allow you close escapes, prevent big reprisals (if timed properly) and do a fair little bit of damage in its own right. Since you'll really be interacting with enemy champions more in this phase, I'll go over some good uses for it:

• Blocking Caitlyn's charged shots
• Blocking Vayne's Tumble hits
• Blocking Gangplank's Parrrley
• Blocking Sheen, Trinity Force or Lich Bane charges

There are others as well, but this should give you an idea. Good use of Riposte is one of the keys of good Fiora play.

If you are chasing down a champion, particularly one that will not go down to your burst quickly, it is best not to use both charges of Lunge immediately, especially if you don't have any form of slow yet at this point. You have around five seconds before Lunge will go on cooldown after you cast the initial one so you have plenty of time to pop it again if need be to secure a kill.

Something to keep in mind is that Lunge is very good at positioning you somewhere to get a kill. If an enemy, for example, Ghosts out of a fight at low health, but is still in range of his own creeps, one can use the first charge of Lunge to jump to a creep and then quickly Lunge onto the enemy champion and either score a kill with this alone or with some combination of ult, ignite and auto attacks. It seems fairly obvious, but is something that is easy to forget in the heat of battle. Getting kills this way also has the bonus of getting the occasional 'really slick kill, fiora' from someone.

This is also the stage of the game where most team fights start to happen and thus, you will be acquainted with Blade Waltz's other use: disengaging. If you're getting focused during a team fight (and you will if you're farmed or fed,) ulting when you see them all turn on you will buy you time for your team to either get better positioned in the fight or take a few people out of it in the brief second when the enemies lose their target.

During team fights your primary targets are squishies, so this will be the support, the mid laner and the AD carry. Your goal is to take the AD carry out of the fight as soon as you can and then likely either the support or mid lane, depending on which one is more threatening to your team as a whole. If the jungler is squishy (which they likely will not be,) they are also a fair candidate, but you should save them along with any bruisers or tanks for last.

Late Game

This is the point where good positioning during team fights and knowing when to engage REALLY starts mattering. A single bad team fight can end in a loss of either Baron or the game so you need to be extra aware of where you are, where your team is and where the enemy is.

Wards become a necessity in this stage of the game - even more so than earlier. You can never have enough vision of the map, so if nobody else is warding and you have the inventory room, you should do it. The information may win you the game by helping your team assemble in a better position to intercept the enemy team.

Positioning during fights is beyond the scope of this guide, but in general, as Fiora, unless you've built yourself specifically for the role, you tend to not want to be with the bulk of your team and initiating. You will want to come in along the side or from behind if at all possible and jump on their AD carry shortly after the initial engage. You will probably get focused at this point so, again, good judgment on when to use your ult is critical here for your survival and for the team's success. Fiora has only Lunge as an escape mechanism unless you've taken Flash so if you're going to commit to a fight, you are likely going to be ALL IN. Make it count.

Do not be afraid to leave a fight that you know is going to fail (usually due to bad positioning.) Do NOT help another teammate if they're caught by the entire enemy team and you are both alone. It sounds selfish, but you are likely only going to get yourself killed along with them. This is generally only a problem in low ELO public games, but do not allow yourself to be baited into a fight that can't be won by your own teammates. If they are engaging as a whole, you should join them, but if they are walking in single file, you are best not bothering.

These are tips that are universal, but they are always worth reiterating.

[MID] Match Ups

The stars are the difficulty of the match-up. More stars = more difficult.

REMEMBER, no matter what is posted here, player skill determines everything in the end.

- Fiddlesticks [*****]

Suggested Starting Items: Null-Magic Mantle + 2 Health Potions

Between Fiddle's fear and life drain, he completely neuters Fiora's kit by just interrupting whatever she's doing (outside of ult, of course) and then negating it. He is VERY hard to harass out of lane until later when you start getting significant amounts of damage and usually by then, he's already gone and roaming.

I HIGHLY recommend an Executioner's Calling very early (as in, first item) for this match up. I would even suggest it after getting your first Doran's and just skipping the second one. It is the ONLY way you are going to win this lane unless he ends up being bad or you get jungle support.


- Anivia [****]

Suggested Starting Items: Null-Magic Mantle + 2 Health Potions

Anivia is almost as tricky as Fiddle for a different reason. She can burst you VERY hard, especially come level 6, and can do so while you're Lunging at her. This wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have her egg to complicate things since you could otherwise just dive her and take advantage of her squishiness. As a result, you should NEVER use your ult on her unless the egg is down or she is in a VERY bad position and you can kill her before she respawns. Having help would be nice too. This is a lane where you will appreciate jungle support.


- Mordekaiser [****]

Suggested Starting Items: Null-Magic Mantle + 2 Health Potions

Mordekaiser's difficulty is in his shield. He can negate your burst as Fiora and chunk you pretty significantly in the process. If you can establish lane dominance early and don't allow him to farm you can win this lane simply by keeping your damage above his ability to sustain and keep his shield up. Start your aggression early and do NOT let up on him. This is a very winnable lane as long as he's afraid of CSing. Make him afraid and keep him zoned.


- Lux [***]

Suggested Starting Items: Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potions

This is a potentially very boring lane. She will try to poke you out if you stay near your own creeps and then try to snare you if you move away from them. Bait out the snare - it isn't terribly difficult the first few times until she catches on. Stay out of the Singularity. It'll be fairly obvious where she places it since she'll want to use it to farm since it's very mana intensive early. If you see an opportunity to dive on her after she uses her snare, take it, but don't forget her shield.

I suggest starting with a point in W for this match up since, early on, you won't get too many opportunities to really dive into her until six. Just play patient and opportunistic. Your farm is more important than hers anyway.


- Xerath [***]

Suggested Starting Items: Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potions

Xerath's raw range is very threatening to you - especially early when you may not have much MR. This is a match up where I would suggest getting an early Hexdrinker if you find yourself having a lot of trouble with him. Early Merc Treads, however, are ESSENTIALLY to beat that stun. If you're playing Draft or Ranked and can see the Xerath ahead of time, taking Cleanse may even be a good idea here.

The only reason this is not a 4 or 5 star match up is because in order to really utilize that range, he needs to be immobile - generally not a good idea against an AD champion. As soon as you see him locking himself in place, start moving toward him and be ready to dodge the obvious bolt coming your way if at all possible. He'll either blow his load on you in an attempt to kill you - in which case, you can ult to avoid the worst of it if need be or, better yet, use a creep to Lunge or flash out of the way and make him waste it OR he'll pop out and run back.

This is a match up that may require some jungle assistance, but if that assistance is unreliable, you may have to stay getting your hands dirty and accepting some early damage to keep him pushed back. Like Morgana and Lux, though, he's able to farm safely out of your range if he absolutely has to.


- Ryze [***]

Suggested Starting Items: Null-Magic Mantle + 2 Health Potions

Ryze can hurt. A lot. They also tend to build armor, so you may need to get an early Last Whisper for him, but getting your Merc Treads early is more important to mitigate the Rune Prison. You can't avoid it and you WILL take damage harassing him so the best you can do is make that damage as little as possible. You CAN play this lane passively, but if you do so, you're allowing him to farm. If you can stay on top of him early, he'll have a hard time catching up.


- Kennen [***]

Suggested Starting Items: Null-Magic Mantle + 2 Health Potions

Because of his ability to chunk you with his dash/zap combo, he can be threatening if he's particularly aggressive. In general, though, it's safest for them to try to poke you with shurikens - something you can easily dodge. A smart Kennen will probably be able to read your harass dives and return the favor thus the suggestion to start with a Mantle. Dodging shurikens is fairly simple as long as you stay behind creeps or stay in constant movement, even without boots.

After six, you will be able to tower dive him relatively safely. Most Kennens, upon getting tower dived, will panic and ult - perfect for you as his ult doesn't hit you while you're ulting making you a rather effective counter to him in lane. Just remember that he has the speed to leave lane to gank unexpectedly, so keep your eyes on him.


- Morgana [**]

Suggested Starting Items: Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potions

Similar to Lux in that you want to bait out her snare, but she's much easier to deal with because she doesn't have any potential burst. Not only that, but her shield is worthless against you. The only thing that makes her remotely threatening is her snare, really. Her ult can be scary as well, but generally not in lane if she's alone.

The most aggravating thing about facing a Morgana is that she will typically, especially after she gets some AP, simply pool your creeps then walk back to the tower. There is very little you can do about this outside of coordinating with your jungler to tower dive her and make sure that she is unable to farm so safely.


- Akali [**]

Suggested Starting Items: Null-Magic Mantle + 2 Health Potions

She's really not very tough... as long as you have a pink ward with you post six. You can treat her like any other AP hero with the same diving rules as long as you have a pink ward to negate her shroud. She'll likely try poking at you with her Q, thus the suggestion to start with a mantle. Use your Riposte to block her auto attacks if she tries to dive in after Qing and tear into her. Don't be afraid - you burst harder than she does early on. Just mind the shroud.



- Brand [**]

Suggested Starting Items: Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potions

Also not a very tough match up. Almost everything he does is clearly telegraphed with a loud grunt from him. His ground blast has an indicator before it goes off and is easily escapable while the fireball is slow and easy to dodge. The smart Brand will keep his targeted nuke available so he can quickly combo that into his fireball to stun you once you get into melee range, so be aware of this when diving into him.

If at any point you notice any two of his spells are on cooldown (he's used them in rapid succession) to farm, that is your time to dive in on him and do damage. Since his ground blast is his most dangerous ability (outside of his ult,) you can also be a bit bold while that's on cooldown as well. The fireball itself is not threatening except for the stun so if there are no ganks coming, he has no other real way to damage you - just don't get caught under the tower.

Conclusion

So that's it. It's a LOT of words. As my friend said:

I do hope this helps people with their Fiora play, however. Remember that this guide will constantly change as I and others discover better combinations of items and better tactics that better leverage what is considered by most competitive players as a mediocre champion.

If this does help you and you found the information in it useful, please upvote it! If you have any suggestions or criticisms, feel free to leave a comment. I would ask that you allow me to response first before you commit to a downvote and only downvote if you really feel my answer is not to your satisfaction or is way off base from reality. In the future, I will link replays (I have QUITE a few to zip up) to demonstrate how I play Fiora and the multitude of builds I've used on her.