Fiddlesticks Build Guide by decadeoftherion

Introduction

With season two's changes to the jungle, our poor Fiddlesticks doesn't have much of a home in it any longer. He's just too slow and inefficient, overshadowed by jungle lords such as Lee Sin, Udyr, and really anyone that doesn't absolutely have to start at blue. AP-based junglers such as Maokai and Amumu are strong in their own right, but they're so dependent on the blue buff to jungle safely that one good invasion will gimp them severely.

Fiddlesticks is still a decent mid in most matches but I've recently found that he's surprisingly good in bottom lane as a support, with devastating CC and respectable damage. With a mobile AD carry like Ezreal or Corki, you have a great chance of winning the lane and taking dragon whenever you want to. I have successfully used this very same composition in normals/ranked and people are severely underestimating the power Fiddles has as a support.

Also, if your AD carry has no idea what to do (a common problem in ELO Hell), you can pick up their slack and help carry - something supports like Sona and Soraka can't do very well.

Pros and Cons

PROS
+ excellent CC and harass
+ innate MR reduction
+ long range on abilities
+ decent damage even without items
+ can solo dragon pretty well


CONS
- it's easy to accidentally push your lane if you spam abilities
- somewhat high mana costs require a degree of conservative play
- cooldowns can be an issue
- people know you're nearby because of your passive
- can't sustain lane partner; only provides CC and harass

Skills

Dread Lowers the magic resistance of nearby enemies.
Fiddlesticks has a good passive (bad when facing attentive players because they'll always know when you're nearby, another reason why he's a bad roamer/jungler/ganker in general) that helps anyone who deals magic damage with their abilities, which is actually a surprising amount of carries.

Terrify Make your enemies useless derps for a couple of seconds.
The random aspect of Fear is a bit meh, but this is still pretty much a 3 second stun at level 5. It's some of the best CC in the entire game and will guarantee excellent harass/kills. You max this ability first for that very reason.

Drain Damage enemies and heal yourself.
Good damage and allows Fiddles to stay in lane as long as he wants, through careful play and conservative use. It can be canceled while channeling to prevent last-hitting but it does push the lane so you need to be careful when using it. Drain is generally maxed second, because it does more damage than Dark Wind and heals you for quite a bit especially with Will of the Ancients.

Dark Wind 1.2 second multi-hitting silence.
I always get this at level one in case there's an invade, because with godly luck you can silence an entire enemy team for 1.2 seconds. It's also a good silencing harass on par with Soraka's Infuse, with the damage definitely adding up over time. Because this is a utility spell more than a damage spell, only having one level in it is usually enough to tide you over until later levels. Lowering the cooldown is the only real benefit to leveling this.

Crowstorm CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW
This isn't exactly an initiation tool, but if you're in bushes or behind a wall it's a giant "hey guys, let's kill these people" sign to your teammates to rush in. It also does quite a bit of damage even without a lot of AP (125x5 at level 6, with your passive reducing whatever low amount of MR people usually have at that point). This ability has a lot of uses and good things going for it, to be used at your discretion.
Note: Randuin's Omen, Abyssal Scepter, and Rylai's Crystal Scepter will help you do maximum damage and slow enemies down for your team to finish off. Since Crowstorm is an ultimate you get it whenever possible.

Runes

Runes don't really matter since Fiddles is for CCing and not much else, and he's ranged so he usually won't take damage for doing his job unlike a melee support like Alistar.

- Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is the most common pick on AP champions.
- Greater Mark of Armor for extra armor.
- Greater Mark of Magic Resist or Greater Mark of Scaling Magic Resist for extra MR.


- Greater Seal of Armor is good for anyone. Fiddlesticks is squishy and you don't want to get bursted down by the enemy carry.
- Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration helps with potential mana issues.
- Greater Seal of Gold isn't that great of a choice considering your other options, but if you want a bit more gold they're fine. It's better to get the GP/5 quintessences though.


- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is also good on anyone, and I prefer it to scaling MR most times.
- Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist is pretty standard, mostly for junglers.
- Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power or Greater Glyph of Ability Power work if you want extra AP but you're better off with Magic Resist glyphs since you're going support.


Here you have a lot of variety; just about anything will work. Here's what I would recommend:
- Greater Quintessence of Gold for more gold.
- Greater Quintessence of Experience for faster leveling.
- Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed so your positioning can be adjusted more quickly. Fiddlesticks has a relatively low base movespeed.
- Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp or HP/5 quints for extra lane sustain, though you probably don't need the extra sustain.
- Greater Quintessence of Armor or greater Quintessence of defense for armor.
- Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist or Greater Quintessence of Scaling Magic Resist for magic resist.
- Greater Quintessence of Ability Power or Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power for AP.

Masteries and Summoner Spells

Masteries are pretty open, although x/x/21 is best because of its sheer usefulness for supports. 9/0/21 gives you 10% CDR at level one which is pretty helpful, and the Mpen/AP doesn't hurt either. For extra resilience in lane, 0/9/21 is the way to go.

Summoner's Insight is your only must-have for improved Flash and CV. Ghost/ Heal/ Exhaust are also options if you want them, and if you do then obviously you don't need this mastery. Personally I prefer flash to ghost for a variety of reasons (for example: flash is better for positioning yourself, and you often buy Shurelya's Reverie, which is a good substitute for Ghost), and CV is such an incredible utility spell that at least one person should have it in every game.

Heal is okay to have but it's just a popular misconception that supports are there to just heal the AD carry. Your support is there to SUPPORT the carry in ANY way possible: this isn't limited to being a healbot; in fact, I find that almost anyone can be a support if you have a smart bottom lane. Someone with good CC or initiation is best - even support Jarvan IV works if you know what to do! If you overextend and get ganked, or screw up and are about to die... yes, heal helps. But with Fiddlesticks you press Q on the closest enemy, throw Dark Wind to silence everyone, and run back to your tower. You probably just saved both you and your AD carry - burn your Flashes if need be, however that's rarely necessary.

Items

Usually I start with the traditional Support items: Faerie Charm, 2x Sight Ward, and some hp/mana pots. If you see a stealth champion on the enemy team and think they'll show up early at bottom, get a Vision Ward. If you feel confident in your lane, or forget you're support at the very beginning, you can get a Doran's Ring - it's actually pretty helpful if you don't expect you'll need wards for a few levels. But the first time you go back, you better get some wards! You can't be a support and not ward, but it's not JUST your job to ward. I hate it when my team gets ganked or whatever and complain about there not being any wards next to them (even if they're at top) as if it's the support's job to cover all the lanes. ALL PLAYERS IN THE GAME SHOULD BUY WARDS WHENEVER POSSIBLE. There are guides here that explain where to put wards if you don't already know about ward placement.

Anyway, on your first trip back, finish a Philosopher's Stone and get at least one ward. Your next priorities are Boots of Speed and Heart of Gold. You can get a Kage's Lucky Pick if you want, but it doesn't build into anything useful for you.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity are usually your next buy. Sorcerer's Shoes are good too if you're wrecking your lane or feel you can sacrifice early CDR for extra damage, and if the enemy team has significant AP/CC buy Mercury's Treads instead. At this point you have your full early/mid build. After this, your build is 100% situational. Buy what you feel you need.

Below are the items I find I buy the most, or feel would be good depending on your individual playstyle.

- Frozen Heart helps with mana and is a anti-AD item in addition to giving you 20% CDR.
- Zhonya's Hourglass is for extra damage and helping you not die; note your ult still works through Zhonya's active. I like it more on AP champions than Guardian Angel.
- Randuin's Omen is health, armor, CDR (admittedly pathetic - 5% CDR is nothing), and also anti-AD with a useful active for teamfights. It does a lot for you and builds from your Heart of Gold.


- Abyssal Scepter is something generally only one person on your team gets, but it's really useful in general. Extra damage, extra MR, and it synergizes with your passive.
- Quicksilver Sash is more situational, like Banshee's Veil. You won't need either against certain team compositions, but when you need them you need them.
- Force of Nature isn't for you, but it could be a smart buy in some games.


- Rylai's Crystal Scepter isn't something you will often get, but it's pretty good for adding onto your CC.
- Shurelya's Reverie does a lot and is a core support item. You'll almost always build your Philosopher's Stone into this at some point.


- Aegis of the Legion isn't something that really fits Fiddles, but if no one wants to get it and your team wants someone to get it... it's probably up to you.
- Will of the Ancients is for when you feel you have one or more allied AP champions who benefit from the aura, but it does help with your survivability when you start getting more AP.
- Soul Shroud is a rare buy for me, but if your laning partner wants CDR and mana regen it can't really hurt. If you like to be spammy with Fiddlestick's spells it helps too. Be sure to modify your build as you see fit when you get this, as you don't want to go over the CDR cap of 40% by more than 5% if you can help it.


- Morello's Evil Tome is CDR, mana regen, and AP. I almost never get this unless my team is absolutely stomping everyone and I want the CDR from the Tome instead of something like Frozen Heart.
- Void Staff you'll almost never get. If you have a lot of AP on your team and the enemy is stacking MR like no tomorrow... maybe. But with your passive, Abyssal Scepter, and Sorcerer's Shoes everyone should still do good damage.
- Rabadon's Deathcap for when you want AP and nothing else. You usually won't buy this as it has zero utility.
- Eleisa's Miracle for when you want tenacity but don't want Mercury's Treads or Shurelya's Reverie for some reason.
- Locket of the Iron Solari if you don't want Randuin's Omen, or if you want another support item in general.
- Spirit Visage is something I'm not a fan of unless you're Dr. Mundo, but if you really like it the stats aren't too bad so it's not a terrible choice.
- Mejai's Soulstealer is something you should never get unless you're 99% sure you will die less than 2-3 times after buying it. It's actually decent on supports such as Fiddles because it also gives you stacks on assists, but snowball items are absurdly unreliable so it's not a safe buy at all.
- Phantom Dancer is something I bought ONCE in a normal game because I wanted to push towers faster and move more quickly. I was INCREDIBLY fed this game however (13/1/11 and the one death was because I turret dove their entire team under both nexus turrets; there is a screenshot below) and I doubt I would get this item again. It's just not a good choice in 99.999% of your games.

General Gameplay

At 00:00 Wait a few seconds, maybe begin buying an item or two, then CV the enemy base. You should be able to see what items most/all of them bought, and perhaps what direction they plan on going in (bot/top). Finish buying your starting item(s) if you haven't already and head to the nearest buff camp on your side of the map to help guard it. For purple side (upper right) this means blue buff, and for blue side (lower left) this means red buff. Make sure you have a level in Dark Wind to silence people and do damage to multiple enemies at once.

At about 01:30 CV the jungle BETWEEN the camps you believe the enemy jungle wants to be at first. Usually this means you place CV between the enemy blue/wolves, but occasionally you may want to do it by wraiths/red. You don't CV the buff camp exclusively because generally the jungler will not start there (if they do, they're missing out on a small EXP/gold head start), and you want to see where everyone is if it all possible. CVing between camps gives you extra vision of enemy champions. If your CV does not turn up anything, type "watch for invade" to your team and hope the enemy jungler is staying in their own jungle. If you're next to your jungler, help leash blue/red and continue to keep an eye out for the enemy team if you don't know where they are! Only go to your lane after your jungler has finished with their first buff camp, if you think there might be an invade, but be sure to stay away so you don't accidentally leech EXP from your jungler.

The next time your CV comes up, use it near the jungle camp you expect the enemy jungler to be at next; if your timing is good and you guessed correctly, you'll see them doing their thing. DO THIS WHENEVER YOUR CV COMES UP AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE ENEMIES MAY BE. Map awareness is OP. If necessary, CV dragon/baron or certain bushes when you need to. If someone requests that you CV a certain area, and you haven't used CV yet, CV the spot to help your team.

When actually in lane, play conservatively. Don't spam everything whenever spells are off cooldown, as you'll run out of mana too quickly too early. You want to stay in lane as long as possible before recalling, only going back to get your GP/5 items and wards if you're not low. Don't go back the same time as your carry, as this will leave your lane open and later on this can mean your team will lose a tower.

Harass with Dark Wind whenever you can hit both the support and the carry; the bounce is not entirely random so good timing will reward you. Note that this WILL push your lane even a tiny bit, as you may hit some minions. Harassing with Drain is less safe for you but it doesn't push the lane. Only Terrify enemies if a carry overextends - it will help your carry by letting them avoid getting hit, or it will let you get extra harass on the enemy. For the most part, target the enemy carry with your damage as they're more important targets, but if you think the support will be a pushover forcing them to go back helps you out too.

Try to keep your GP/5 items until about the 30 minute mark, as they should have either completely paid themselves off or are close to doing so.

Conclusion: Don't spam your abilities, try not to push the lane, harass to be annoying and do damage to enemy champions, don't overextend, place wards in appropriate spots, and watch out for the enemy jungler. Watch the minimap to see where people are, CV the fog of war at your discretion, call MIAs, and green/yellow ping people when you feel it's appropriate.



Initiating fights should always be up to your tank or offtank (most often your jungler or solo top), not the support or AD/AP carry. From time to time you should check the screen and look at what items people have, see how many kills/assists/creeps they have under their belt, and determine who the most threatening enemy champions are. In team fights, this will be very important when it comes to determining who to focus down first. Almost always, kill the enemy AD and AP carry first - the tanks/offtanks are primarily to soak up damage and the support rarely does enough damage to be a real threat. You should be able to tell who the biggest threats are as they often have the most kills and are closest to having their full builds (if they don't already). Look at their items/stats - you focus on the person with 500 AP, not the one with 5000 HP and a Thornmail.

A typical example of how to use Fiddlesticks in a team fight:
1) Begin channeling your ult toward the enemy team and have your tankiest ally initiate a fight. Crowstorm in and activate Randuin's Omen if you have it, trying to hit the entire team.
2) Throw out a Dark Wind to prevent people from using their summoners/abilities, and Terrify whoever does the most damage.
3) Lastly, use your Drain on someone that isn't a tank to help keep yourself alive a bit longer.
4) If need be, Q/W/E champions again.
This is a really tough amount of CC to deal with all at once and it should make fights a lot easier for your team - typically these fights don't last more than a few seconds, so your Q can be absolutely game-breaking (sometimes you're removing someone from the fight for the entire duration of the fight and a little bit beyond that).

Score Screens

Most recent on top; you can click the images to view the full score screen for each game.



[ranked] I used tank runes for this one because I felt too squishy in a previous supportlesticks game, and I liked how it turned out. It was Fiddles + Kog bot versus an Ashe + Soraka combo. In this case, Soraka can outsustain harass, so you harass primarily to annoy the bottom laners and keep Soraka's spells on cooldown for when your jungler comes to gank. My job for this game was to ZONE ASHE and deny her farm since a straight harass strategy would not work unless I went AP/damage, which as a support I did not want to do. Using Terrify on the opposing AD carry denies them a surprising amount of farm, but again it will probably push your lane so don't do it a lot and stay on top of your warding.




[ranked] An Ezreal was with me at bottom for this one. He's a good laner for Fiddles to support because of his mobility and harass.




[normal] Also with an Ezreal bot here.




[normal] With Twisted Fate bot.




[normal] I was going to be support but Leona jumped all over it. This isn't that much of a Supportlsticks game but I had a lot of fun and we pulled off an incredibly successful level 1 invade at their blue. I don't remember our lane setup but I think it was Annie top, Fiddles mid, Ryze jungle, and Leona/Nocturne bot. It was the dumbest draft I've ever been in but it worked well.

Summary

Fiddlesticks is an unconventional choice of support that brings a unique flair to games. He isn't the best choice of a support - if he was he'd be a lot more popular! However, in team select, picking Fiddles is great to confuse the enemy team if you get to pick him early: they'll assume he's jungle/mid and try to counter you there... but you won't be there so they counterpicked incorrectly and could have a tough time depending on the rest of each team's picks. If you're doing blind pick, oh well, they can't counterpick your team anyway.

Fiddles doesn't see a lot of serious play anymore but he's still fun to play.


For further information on League of Legends in general you can check out the following guides:
- Mowen's New Player FAQ
- Searz's Rune Tips
- Slappiz's Counterpick Guide
- Panglot's Ward Guide
- And, of course, jhoijhoi's the guide on how to make a guide helped me with any BBcoding I forgot about.

Changelog

25 April 2012: Published guide.

26 April 2012: Fixed two typos. Added more information to everything (especially Items, where I added descriptions and more possiblities), and put in more sections: General Gameplay, Summary, Changelog. Added a third build for Tank-Support Fiddles, because why not, and moved a few things around in the other builds. Began formatting aside from my initial bold/italics.

27 April 2012: Added more information including a teamfight section in General Gameplay. I'll add more to it later. I began adding some score screens so you can get a better idea of what I do.