Permaban this champ, but if somehow youre vs it, then this is how to beat him: Start with W lvl 1 and bait his Q out, wait for him to use every single one of it and then W and play for lvl 2 first to get the push in. You wanna E max in this lane 100%. When he is around half HP past lvl 6, that’s your kill angle. Poke with E until then.
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Riven
Quite difficult matchup. The most important part is yet again spacing. Be aware of her flash combo at all times as it can easily oneshot you. If she has no MR, then past 6 you can kill her. Before you engage, bait out his shield or wait for her to use her spells on the wave. Once she does it, then that’s our opportunity. You legit just poke her in lane: E silence, Q, AA run away with electro proc or if shes chasing you, buffer her knock up with Q, E silence, run, AA, Electro and it’s free. If shes half HP then shes almost always a kill
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Renekton
Pre 6 it is your favored. You wanna start W or E here, depending on what he starts with. Getting HP items is really good against him. Liandry/bloodletters curse 1st item are both great as it gives you damage + some tankiness. Whenever he ults, then you usually wanna run away if u can or ult away as he beats you in extended fights.
Runes - Aery
Max: W
Yone
Start E in this matchup. Just play for lvl 2 and try to poke him as much as possible. When it comes to trading after lvl 3. You wanna keep your Q for his dash. You should be able to oneshot him quite easily after 6 unless he has MR.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Darius
Heavily darius favored, since if you misplay, he can kill you quite easily. Start Q into darius and always try to hold it for his E. The moment you see darius’ E animation and you get pulled, use your Q and run away, followed by your E afterwards to win the short trades. If he zones you out level 1, then feel free to give up some minions since most of the times the wave will slow push into. Look for plays elsewhere.
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Garen
The first 1-5 levels the matchup is quite easy. Level 1 start W and wait to see what he started. If its Q then he will AA Q AA first 3 melee minions. That allows u to W the wave. Keep in mind to use your E before Q since Garens can react to your fear and reduce the duration a lot with his W (Garen’s W grants him tenacity for a short duration). After 6 the matchup becomes significantly harder if you don’t time your fear and silence correctly, he can kinda run you over with his ultimate. Your combo from fog can still get him to low hp/kill but that’s only if he isn’t ahead.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Sett
You wanna look short trades against sett. He does have passive that heals, yes, but if you get him to half hp you can easily one shot him (considering you have Crowstorm up). The key to this lane is to always have your Q up and cast it after/moments before getting hit by his E ability. This matchup is really about spacing. Lvl 1 you wanna start Q and just space (Sett should start E).
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Olaf
You gotta play incredibly safe VS him. The way the lane usually goes is that he slow pushes the wave to your side where you can easily punish him. He cannot run you down because of tower and you outtrade him due to healing from bunch of minions + fear and Q. Only go for solokills if you have your ult up and he has lost about a quarter of his HP. Keep in mind that distance is the most important factor here - whoever engages first, wins. His ult has shorter CD than your ult (About 20 sec difference) so. You wanna play AP build vs him (Liandry - Zhonya)
Runes: Aery with ignite
Max: W
Gnar
Gnar matchup really becomes difficult when he is in mega form and that’s when you actually have to space correctly and keep your distance. The moment he is mini he is killable and you can bully him. Keep in mind that once his mega runs out, it actually goes on a CD which means he won’t get stacks for some time which gives you an all in angle.
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Cho'Gath
You won’t really be outpoking/sustaining him in lane to the best rune choice is Aery/. If he goes tank then you won’t be killing him, if he is ap then an ult from fog is an easy kill. The early game can be a bit rough, I don’t recommend using your drain as much, but rather play around last hits. Look to play for teamfights
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Tryndamere
Go for W start. Don’t try to fight him as you dont win vs him. Must rush tabis vs him and then it’s a Really easy match up since he doesn’t have any abilities to interrupt your drain. Whenever he engages at you pre 6, just use your Q into E into W and you’ve won the trade. If you’ve poked him enough, then you can even look for dives. After 6 you can still kill him quite easily, just keep your Q up for his ultimate. Whenever he Rs then just q him, you’ll have enough damage and healing with your E and W unless he has items + healing reduction. Feel free to Q if you’ve ulted out of vision since then your fear was used either way.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Fiora
Ignite is rly good in this matchup. Fiora is quite strong of a champion overall right now and it makes it difficult to play fiddle into her as well. You need healing reduction in this matchup to have a chance. It all comes down to her parries. If she parrys your W, then you lose. If she parrys your Q and stuns you, you lose. The most optimal trade pattern vs her is to hit your silence and then W. She either parrys your W or waits for your Q. It’ll allow you to get a full drain. Matchup is easy VS bad fioras, but difficult vs good ones. Go full ap. Whoever gets on top of each other first, wins.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Kennen
Your poke is stronger than his. Play from behind the minions in order to avoid his Q. The matchup is quite straightforward: Pre 6 you poke as much as possible with your E and after 6 you play for all ins for easy kills. If kennen goes anything but E start, go E. If he does go E then start W.
Runes: Aery
Max: E
K'Sante
Very hard matchup. You control the lane until lvl 6. After that u always gotta keep your distance. Whenever you get ulted, just ult out as he is RLY strong with ult (you wont outdmg him) Just look to play teamfights later on as youre 10x more useful than he is and just scale in lane.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Irelia
You wanna start W and rush healing reduction. You hard win lvl 1 so don’t be scared. You NEED TO hard play for level 2. You wanna start hitting the minions ALREADY before the collide in the middle. Your goal is to NOT let her Q the melee minions as then she wins against you so pretty much: Hard push and poke her lvl 1, take Q 2nd and keep poking her under the tower. If she all ins you, then just fight her and you win as long as you don’t get your W cancelled
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Akshan
As long as you keep your fear to disrupt his heroic swing (E) then you’re good to go. You mostly wanna poke him in lane with your E and try to avoid letting him proc his passive. After 6 he becomes quite easily killable as long as he doesn’t have his E or you ultimate from out of bush.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Rumble
Go for W start in this matchup, you win it. Your goal is to play hyper agro lvl 1 and look for a cheater recall (slow push first 2 waves and shove 3rd into reset) and then fiddle checkmate. Don’t underestimate his dmg. You gotta fight fire with fire with him aka get mostly dmg items. After 6 your combo is gonna look something like E into R and W once rumble has ulted. You wanna hold your Q for his overheat
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Gragas
Nothing really happens in this match up. Your goal is to kinda just farm and play for teamfights. After 3 points in Q, you can Q and W him at max range without him being able to cancel your drain. Start E and just farm.
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Nasus
This matchup is all about how much you bully him pre 6. It can be really easy and a total nightmare. Start W and just trade with him as much as possible every time he comes to Q a minion. You can also use your E and Q to deny him the stack. Past 6 you can look for kills quite easily if you managed to bully him.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Jax
If he tries to zone you out (lvl 1) just kite and keep auto attacking him with aery. If he has lethal tempo ignite and starts Q, then don’t try to fight him - just go Q and kite back. Keep in mind if u use Q to match his Q, his ability will be back sooner than yours so play it slow. If he doesnt do that then just play for lvl 2 which should ultimately give you W and Q unlocked ot play agro. Only use your Q to match his E from there on forward. If he jumps at you with Q with no E, then just E silence W him and Q afterwards
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Gangplank
Go for a W start. You fully control this lane, even if he gets a free barrel on you. As long as u drain multiple targets it’s a free win. It will be quite hard to kill him if he spaces correctly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a lead anywhere else. Past 6 just perma shove waves and roam to other lanes/kill enemy jungler. Gp becomes scary when he hits his first item, but he still won’t kill you unless you don’t use your ultimate
Runes: First Strike
Warwick
Your goal with warwick is to just keep autoattacking him. The only time you can look for an engage is when he is below half hp and it’s with your ultimate. DON’T GET BAITED BY HIS BARRIER AND HEALING. Must rush healing reduction VS him. You can also look to pre click your Q to cancel his ult (yes, it works that way) Something similar I did vs renekton in this clip: click on me.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Malphite
Really easy to lane against. Your poke is a lot better than his, your sustain is a lot better than his. Start W first to perma shove in waves as Malphite sucks at csing under the tower. Whenever he comes in for a Q, you can always out trade him. You can also dive him if he is low enough. Since he has no way of stopping your wave clear, you can use your roam timer to help your mid laner.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Quinn
If she tries to zone you, start Q, if not, start E. It’s quite easy to lane versus as well. You lose prios until 6, but then you have full control over the lane (given you didn’t die before). You just wait for his E (the jump thingy) and then you Q R and it’s a free kill almost every single time. Start with doran’s ring.
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Poppy
You wanna start W in this matchup. You pretty much have full control over the lane until first item. Your trading goal is to use your abilities at the max range (Q and W max range). After first item you kinda get outscaled as she does way too much damage meaning u just wanna play for teamfights after that. You won’t necessarily die in lane if you just keep ur distance
Runes:
Max: W
Sion
Mostly W start (You wanna make sure what he starts before you use your spell. A great way to check is by clicking on him and checking if he has the W icon or not) You have 2 ways to cancel his Q knock up. Don’t use both of em at once, because canceling sions q will put his ability on a 2 second cooldown. You can always finish you drain after canceling his Q. Go liandry first item vs him. The only reason he is in even tier is cuz he outscales you quite fast.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Singed
W start in this matchup. You wanna cover the top entrance to the middle of the tier 1 and tier 2 to make sure he doesn’t proxy. That’s the only way he can do anything. Don’t let him proxy and perma fight him. Make sure to use your W smart as you gotta make sure u don’t get flipped or u lose. Take second wind or conditioning instead of boneplating in runes
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Vladimir
Really easy matchup. You can start W/E and in both cases get prio. Whenever his Red Q is about to come up, silence him, Q at the end of the silence duration and drain. He has no counterplay VS u. Make sure to 100% press Q after ult as it deals like 1k dmg
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Kayle
Go for W start. Really easy matchup as you can bully her pre 6 and after 6. Pre 6 you wanna zone her/poke her out of lane as much as possible. You wanna burst her down as fast as possible within your CC duration that even if she does press R, she’ll be low HP for you to kill afterwards. It’s quite important you ult her from fog of war as it’s quite necessary to get your Q extra damage off
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Teemo
E and W start are both okay here. I usually go for W for lane push as your aery + scorch does quite a lot of dmg to trade w him early. You kinda just chill and poke til 6 and after that u start killing him on repeat with ult. Make sure to answer his boots buy (usually u wanna rush sorcs)
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Vayne
You just wanna start E and poke her. It’s a bit annoying as she is very mobile making it harder to play early, but by being patient until 6 is all it takes. Really easy matchup after that. Every ult is a kill
Runes: Aery
Max: E
Skarner
Matchup is rly similar to sion. You wanna hold one of your CC abilities against his E. If you can do that, then neither if you will die, but you have perma prio in lane (Here lies the difficulty of the matchup). You wanna heal from minion whenever he uses his W (slams the ground). You outheal that making your champ a perfect counter to skarner.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Shen
You never wanna use your W unless he has used his CC ability. W/E/Q start are all good here. You focus should be AA at first to know what ability he started with. If it’s Q, then you can go for W start and kite towards your wave. You always wanna hold your fear to buffer his taunt. Past 6, keep your E for his ult.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Illaoi
You kinda just wanna chill until level 6 and after that it becomes quite easy for you. Make sure to not ult right in front of if ulting from vision, but slightly next to her as illaoi players predict that you’ll throw your R into their face making her hit her E easily.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Kled
Quite easy matchup if you play it correctly. You always gotta use your Q for his Q (unless you know it won’t be buffered). Playing for fiddle checkmate here is the easiest way to achieve victory. Whenever he has lost quarter of his HP, then you can OS him if you ult from a bush. Keep in mind that if you W and kill his pet, then your W won’t be canceled. You also win level 1 so start W and play for 3 wave crash (just keep in mind to time it in a way his Q wont cancel your W)
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Ambessa
This matchup is actually really easy until first item. Start W and just perma shove waves as you control the lane. It’s rly important to put your LVL 3 ability upgrade into W ( so you have 2 points in W and one in Q). After first item u wanna keep ur distance. Also put effigies into bushes as if Ambessa ults it hits the effigy as long as u stand in front of it.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Zac
The most important thing about this match up is your ability sequence. If you fail that, he will always be able to cancel your W making the matchup impossible. Most of the times you wanna start W (make sure what he starts first tho). Make sure to use your Q before W as it usually allows you for a full drain
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Gwen
You control the lane early game. Start W and try to play for lvl 2 first while keeping up the poke. You win hard early game and even past 6. The difficult part about this matchup is to not grief your Q as she can easily use her immunity effect so always keep that in mind. What I like doing is just pressing W in this lane as that’s harder to react to. Past 6 it’s all about who engages who first. Also it’s rly important to play full damage setup into her.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Camille
You control this matchup, but you do get outscaled quite hard. You really need HP vs her making liandry the best optimal first buy followed by the classic tank items. The way you trade is by trying to avoid her passive shield meaning you mostly wanna trade at max/half of your abilities range. Keep your Q for her true damage Q. Play tank VS him
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Ornn
You wanna go for E start here and just chill and play for teamfights. You mostly just wanna take short trades as he wins long ones. Match up requires using your spells in the correct order. You wanna Q him at the end of his W as fearing him during it has no effect on him. You do that and you should win every single trade. Another way of using your Q is to shoot it just before the knock up (you got his by his Q and he tries to E in) or just before his ult. You can also use your silence to now allow him to hit his ult, but that has to be really well times as he can buffer it.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Zaahen
Start W and make sure to play for level 2. Before you use your spell see what he started with. Usually zaheen players go for the dash into ranged matchups. You can bully him hard level 1. As for itemization, make sure you play tank vs him (Frozen heart rush) or if snowballing then AP tank. In terms of trading, make sure you always buffer his CC with your Q (usually the pull ability)
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Mordekaiser
Kinda rough matchup as its bugged. His ult cancels your W aka the main damage. Your goal is to poke until he is around half HP and has used his W on the trades. That’s your kill angle.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Volibear
Rough matchup. Make sure to take second wind from runes instead of boneplating. Your goal is to keep ur distance and poke with E. Look to play around fiddle checkmate. Whenever he starts running at you with his Q, then you have 2 options: If you’ll be safe, Q him and run away, if not, then use it the moment he stuns you - pretty much buffer it. You gotta keep your Q for after his ult
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Urgot
You wanna start your E and keep your distance. Most urgot players will go for E lvl and and if you get hit by his flash E then the lane is pretty much over. From lvl 2 it’s already gonna be easier. Just poke with E until 6 and then you can start killing him. Tabis is your friend here.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Trundle
This matchups is all about holding your distance in a way that him pillaring you doesn’t kill you - hold your Q for it. Whenever u wanna trade, just silence and then W (usually he follows a pillar to cancel your W and then u Q and run away). Rush healing reduction once he has full raevonous hydra.
Runes: Aery
Max: W
Kha'Zix
strong 2v2
Lee Sin
strong 2v2
Rek'Sai
strong 2v2, easy gank setup for her
Rengar
strong 2v2
Bel'Veth
strong 2v2, free resets
Nocturne
strong 2v2, ult combo
Hecarim
okayish 2v2
Jarvan IV
okayish 2v2
Viego
okayish 2v2. Easy reset for viego
Ivern
okayish 2v2 as long as enemy doesnt have mr stacked
Kayn
Kindred
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Kha'Zix
strong 2v2
Lee Sin
strong 2v2
Rek'Sai
strong 2v2, easy gank setup for her
Rengar
strong 2v2
Bel'Veth
strong 2v2, free resets
Nocturne
strong 2v2, ult combo
Hecarim
okayish 2v2
Jarvan IV
okayish 2v2
Viego
okayish 2v2. Easy reset for viego
Ivern
okayish 2v2 as long as enemy doesnt have mr stacked
Inventor of Topplesticks and a challenger peak fiddle otp
Hello I’m cabex - Inventor of topplesticks who is consistently challenger with it. In this guide I'm gonna give you all of my knowledge about matchups and how to play the character !
Before we dive into this I wanna explain some phrases,in case you dont know the meaning of them, which I'll be using throughout the Guide:
Slow Push:
Stacking up waves, which usually consists of 2-3 minon waves, and crashing it.
Fast Push:
quickly killing the wave to crash it under the tower.
Freeze:
Controlling the wave and having it close to your tower.
Spacing:
being able to AA your enemy while he is running away but also not being able to be engaged at.
Fiddle Checkmate:
Forcing a FREEZE despite the enemy being there or not.
The best rune tree for topplesticks is Sorcery with Precision tree seoncdary as it matches perfectly with fiddles kit.
Sorcery primary
Keystones
As of making this guide, the best keystones for fiddle top, under sorcery tree, is Summon Aery. The major reason for this is cuz Fiddlesticks wants to fight close combat and Summon Aery cooldown is pretty much the distance between you and the target. In some rage cases u can take First Strike if rune doesn't change outcome of the lane or Arcane Comet if you can't AA (like vs ranged champs
Summon Aery: Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects, and summoner spells against an enemy champion will apply Summon Aery. This is really effective in matchups that you can melee (melee matchups only). Applying it consistently over and over again grants you a lot of early pressure.
Arcane Comet: Damaging an enemy champion with an ability hurls a comet at their location, or if Arcane Comet is on cooldown, reduces its remaining cooldown. This rune is really effective VS champions you can't AA and wanna poke them from far away. Really good choice VS ranged champions.
Rune Tier 1
Axiom Arcanist: This is the best choice if you can handle mana (which should be pretty easy until you have 3 points in Bountiful Harvest.
Rune Tier 2
Transcendence: This rune fits perfectly for lane fiddle because you need quite a lot of ability haste. Upon reaching lvl 11, your CDs are also refreshed 20% after a takedown, which helps a lot in teamfights - you can use multiple fears. Best choice out of the three
Rune Tier 3
Scorch: Combining this rune with Summon Aery or Arcane Comet makes you a really strong lane bully. Constantly applying it with your keystones makes this rune really strong. Best choice out of the 3
Resolve Secondary
Option 1
Legend: Haste: Passive: Gain 1.5 basic ability haste per Legend An icon representing the keyword Stack stack, up to 15 at maximum stacks.
Option 2
Cut Down: This is perfect for fiddle as he struggles getting people to low, but is great at finishing cuz of Bountiful Harvest dealing damage based on missing health.
Offense:
8 Ability Haste
Flex:
9 Adaptive Force
Defense:
10-180 hp
Inspiration primary
Keystones
First Strike is the only viable rune for Topplesticks under the Inspiration tree. It's heavily dependent on matchups. You usually take it only VS tanks where you have full control over the lane for example VS Sion. Getting a full drain off with First Strike still does some decen't amounts of damage. Taking it VS ranged tops is also somewhat fine, but I prefer going for Sorcery
Rune Tier 1
Cash Back: For now, take this rune as it gives you some cash back after buying items. Not even close to Future's market, but it is what it is. Might swap it to Magical Footwear in the future.
Rune Tier 2
Triple Tonic: This rune is actually quite decent not gonna lie. The only bad potion from it is the first which gives you 5 extra true damage vs minions since it doesn't work with abilities. The second elixir giving you more ap which is clutch in close fights as you heal and deal more damage. 3rd elixir is a banger as you get a skill elixir so at level 9 you have 3 points in Terrify and Bountiful Harvest maxed.
Rune Tier 3
Cosmic Insight: This rune is really great for Topplesticks as most of the times you play Teleport. It grants you summoner spell haste allowing you to do more flash combos and roam more often by having tp up.
Resolve Secondary
Option 1
Legend: Haste: Passive: Gain 1.5 basic ability haste per Legend An icon representing the keyword Stack stack, up to 15 at maximum stacks.
Option 2
Cut Down: This is perfect for fiddle as he struggles getting people to low, but is great at finishing cuz of Bountiful Harvest dealing damage based on missing health.
Offense:
9 Adaptive Force
Flex:
9 Adaptive Force
Defense:
15-140 hp
Flash
This is the overall best summoner to take on Topplesticks. Flash enable you to survive situations and is overall the most broken spell in the game. It also allows you to do a flash fear combo which grants AOE fear.
Teleport
Tp is quite good and I'd recommend it to players that are not comfortable playing agro in lane with ignite.
Ignite
Ever since season 16 I've been taking ignite every game because it unleashes the full potential of fiddlesticks. Whenever you full combo, they are always left off with like 100 hp and ignites helps with that. You still get TP later to play macro across the map.
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Some matchups I'm currently running 3 points W into Q max as it's way more consistent to deal damage and play the lane. The dmg difference is almost nonexistent compared to W max
[video]
A Harmless Scarecrow
A Harmless Scarecrow
INNATE - Scarecrow Effigy: Fiddlesticks begins the game with an exclusive Scarecrow Effigy, which permanently occupies the Stealth Ward slot. Fiddlesticks can pretend to be an Effigy by standing still and not acting nor being acted upon for 2 seconds, during which it adjusts its body into a scarecrow and extends its arm out to expose its lantern.
INNATE - A Harmless Scarecrow: From level 6 onward, placing an Totem Ward icon Effigy also summons an Oracle Lens icon Sweeper Drone at the location for 6 seconds.
[video]
Terrify
Terrify
PASSIVE: While Fiddlesticks has been out of combat for at least 2.5 seconds and is not sight visible to the enemy team, or is pretending to be an Effigy, its next damaging ability will additionally fear targets hit for a duration.
ACTIVE: Fiddlesticks launches a crow at the target enemy that deals magic damage and fears them for a duration. Terrify has a minimum damage threshold and is capped at 400 against monsters.
Targets feared by Fiddlesticks by any means cannot be affected by it again for a duration equal to Terrify's cooldown. Against these targets, Terrify's damage and minimum threshold are doubled.
ACTIVE: Fiddlesticks forms a tether between itself and each nearby enemy over the cast time, then channels for up to 2 seconds to harvest their souls, revealing them in the process.
While Fiddlesticks is channeling, the tethered enemies are dealt magic damage every 0.25 seconds, with the final tick at the end of the channel dealing additional magic damage. Bountiful Harvest deals 135% damage against monsters and 50% damage against minions.
Fiddlesticks Heal power icon heals itself for a percentage of the pre-mitigation damage dealt, modified to 45% against monsters and 15% against minions.
Bountiful Harvest ends if all targets have died or broken their tethers. If the channel was not interrupted, 60% of the current cooldown is refunded.
A nearby enemy is required to cast this ability. The target does not have to be S visible to be tethered by this ability.
[video]
Reap
Reap
ACTIVE: Fiddlesticks slashes the target location with its scythe, dealing magic damage to enemies within the area and Slow icon slowing them for 1.25 seconds.
Enemies hit in the center of the area are also Silence icon silenced for 1.25 seconds.
[video]
Crowstorm
Crowstorm
ACTIVE: Fiddlesticks Channeling icon channels for 1.5 seconds, then Flash blinks to the target location upon completion with a murder of crows flying wildly around it for 5 seconds, dealing magic damage every 0.25 seconds to nearby enemies.
Starting items
Doran's Ring
You always wanna start your game with Doran's Ring and 2 Health Potions as it gives you mana regen, HP and AP - all which are really strong at the beginning of the game. Doran's items are incredibly broken right now so it's not even worth going anything else.
Core Items
As of right now, the best build is AP TANK. You can OS squishies and deal relatively well with tanks as well + you live long enough to actually deal damage.
AP DPS
You wanna rush Rylai's Crystal Scepter as it unlocks so much more potential in the champ and makes it way more consistent (which is really important in soloq). Usually you follow that up with something like Liandry's Torment if they stack HP and Bloodletter's Curse if enemy team has a bunch of MR - the one which u buy first depends on the comp as previously mentioned. After that it's all situational. If you need more damage, then you can go for Shadowflame. If you already have enough of it then Frozen Heart or Zhonya's Hourglass + Abyssal Maskare your great options.
Keep in mind there are games where you need Banshee's Veil. You don't have to complete the item right away as the Verdant Barrier gives you the effect. The items mentioned earlier are your usual go to items, but remember that every game is different and you wanna build according to your team and the enemy team. Some games you need Zhonya's Hourglass as you second item.
TL;DR
You always wanna get the first 1-2 items and then press tab and think ahead. Some games Zhonya's Hourglass is better as your third item compared to something else. The situational items listed are the ones you get 95% of the games, but in different order. You only go Verdant Barrier only vs noc/tf as it blocks their ult.
Boots
Sorcerer's Shoes
These are gonna be your go to boots most of the games. Getting that early magic pen helps you a lot with bursting. Works especially well with Full AP build as you kill your opponents even faster.
Plated Steelcaps
The armor and the passive is insanely valuable vs full ad teams. It makes a huge differene even in lane. You definitely have to go this against Tryndamere as it makes the matchup so much easier. All he does is autoattacks and Plated Steelcaps blocks 12% of the damage.
Mercury's Treads
Anti mage boots are really good VS full AP teams. Feel free to go for these even if they have 3 ap champs as most of the items give deal AP dmg
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
These are your go to boots whenever you play a DPS build. They're good even vs squishies. I'd even recommend getting them before you get an item (unless its a good spike item) as it makes bunch of matchups so much easier.
Early game is the most important part of the game. It can go in 4 major ways which is mostly matchup dependent:
1st: Matchups where you have full control over the lane ( Malphite/ Sion. You can either freeze and force your opponent to walk up or perma shove to look for roams [FULL CONTROL]
2nd type of matchups are skilled and its a combination of easy and medium. These are the type of opponents who might zone you out lvl 1 but win from lvl 2 / 3. Most of the matchups are here because the laning phase goes exactly the same way. The difference is how big of a threat they are to you. Usually how the lane goes is the enemy slow pushes into you to crash the 2nd/3rd wave (Example 1). By then you are at least lvl 2 and have Terrify and Bountiful Harvest or Reap, which helps with poke. Now the enemy can’t really do anything because he cant get close to you (your Terrify + Reap + Bountiful Harvest) and he can’t chase u down because the tower is right there behind u. If they do manage to crash the 3rd wave, you’re gonna be stacking up the 4th-5th wave and having a level on your opponent despite them having an item lead from the reset. If they didn’t reset then it’s even easier due to your wave stacking. [SKILLED]
Example 1
3rd: Matchups that are winnable only by playing hyper agro ( Renekton/Irelia. In these type of lanes you usually go W start in order to play for lvl 2 and have a 3rd wave bounce back. This works 90% of the cases. Depending on how they play lvl 1, you can even look for a towerdive and trade a kill (Trading a kill is ok if they lose 3 waves from it). You dont wanna leash when playing vs such champions. In these type of matchups you need to have good matchup knowledge and xp tracking [CHEESY]
4th way your early game can go is you needing to play really safe. In those type of mathups You’re just looking to survive lane and roam. [SAFE]
Tips for early game
Around 2:00, junglers are USUALLY at the middle of 2 towers in mid as shown on the pic below
At 6:00 - 6:15 jungle fruit spawns so you can look to trade and then get HP back for a lead.
Look at timers 4:00 and 6:20. These are the timers junglers usually are at the side they started at. Keep in mind they can varey if they have ganked or not.
If enemy top is somebody who can cheese (like Olaf/ Jax/ Darius) , then put it in the first lane bush
Use bushes, perma walk into bushes especially after 6. That way u can zone out your enemy without having the intention to Crowstorm. You can also look for short trades such as you Reap from the bush which grants fear into double dmg from Terrify. Whenever there are minions nearby, enter a bush after AAing an enemy to drop minion agro.
If enemy is freezing, you can break it alone with your ultimate or roam mid. Most of the roam timers are when enemy freezes top or you have a stacked up wave and u cant towerdive.
Your trade patterns are quite simple, every ability rotation can be used. It just depends what you can/cannot use, for example Terrify AA Reap and back off, Terrify AA Bountiful Harvest back off, Terrify Reap Bountiful Harvest and back off. You really just have to know how much tenacity enemy has in order to know if you should apply AAs inbetween or not. If you're playing E max, then it's E - walk up to Q - AA - run away
Mid/Late game is really about playing hide and seek or being a tank in front of your teammates, looking to fist fight whenever you have your Crowstorm up.
Your goal is to get as many objectives as possible. You legit have to write it in chat (I do it pretty much every game) “Play (objective’s name like drake or baron) I have R” and then u spam ping it.
If there is an upcoming objective:
-like 1 min 30 seconds before, write it in chat
-spam ping it
-take control of the objective
-camp bushes and wait
If there are no upcoming objectives:
-push in side lane
-shadow mid
-repeat until objective
Feel free to leave top tower to get an important early drake if u have a Teleport up ( For example you walk to drake from base, once it’s secured, you Teleport back top)
Even if you lost your early game, your gamestyle is still the same.
Be careful of getting caught in the late game as respawn timers are so high.
NB! Don't use your Crowstorm before an important objective UNLESS you will have it back up again/they'll still be dead during the objective
Here I'm gonna discuss how to position with Fiddlesticks, when and where to move and how to use your ult as I see bunch of Fiddlesticks players wasting it when your entire champion is based on your ultimate. Your goal is to deal as much DPS as possible in teamfights, but how to do it ?
Remember to be patient as patience is key with fiddle !
Positioning
Positioning is the most important part as Fiddlesticks as one bad Crowstorm can legit cost you the game. Look at your surroundings, think of the most common ward spots and be patient.
Look what objectives are up and move according to it (I have ult spots as well in the guide). Don't just sit on 1 place, but look where you teammates are and where could your opponents come from. Your goal is to land your Crowstorm on as many people as possible (Prefebly on the back line).
When you have to move, then try to avoid being seen. You pretty much play hide and seek
Target priority
"But cabex, fiddle has AOE spells so I dont have to focus anyone☝️🤓"
Fiddlesticks's Terrify is a really broken ability, even when getting the double damage off so you must know who to use it on. To find out, press tab and check out enemies items, who is fed. That ability helps you to oneshot especially when you're playing FULL AP.
Choosing who to Crowstorm is important as well as mentioned before. Just be patient and wait.
Don't tunnel vision on somebody, but be aware of your surroundings: click on me
The following ult spots can be used from both of the sides. What I mean by that is you can be red side, but still ult from the blue side's raptors if its an angle.
There's also a video (First 10 mins) of the ultimate spots:
Top
Baron(blue and red side)
Mid
Dragon
Bot
Your Scarecrow Effigy can clear the entire mid entrance bush if placed in the middle.
The drain grants true sight and reveals invisible enemies for example Akali's shroud.
Ranged minions: You AA the minion, wait for towershot to go through and then kill it with W, finishing the drain the moment the minions dead. The next ranged minions die from towershot and AA.
At the beginning of the game, you can kill melee minions with full W if they are around 100 hp
I’m gonna have a list of most of my used combos here
Laning:
Q → E → W
AA → Q → AA → E → AA
AA → Q → AA → E → W
Q → E → W
Ultimate combos:
Q → R → E → W (From out of fog)
E (hit silence) → R → Q → W (From out of fog)
R → Q → E → W (From fog)
R → E → Q → W (Extending fear range with E)
R → W (Extending fear range with W)
For visual explanations check the combo section of this video:
I'm not gonna go deep into matchups because I've already explained everything in my matchups doc which you can find here (for newcomers I recommend banning aatrox): Fiddlesticks Matchups Docs File
That's the end of the guide ! Thank you for reading it. I hope you learned something new !
I wanna so KeepItTaco as I took inspiration from his guide.
Good luck on the rift and make sure to drain some LPs.
Challenger Topplesticks Guide - Best Fiddlesticks Top World
Build Guide By PlayCabex
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