I'm xFresko, lowly Silver (Lowest Silver 3 until this season, bad placements of I think 2-8 put me in Bronze, where I only played like 10 more ranked this season. I guess we'll never know where I can get to) player on the NA server. I'm not posting this so much as to serve as a guide, but as documentation that I can change and review during my use of the champion as I accrue more games and experience. I learn more when I sit down and write out what I've learned. It makes me dig deeper, and I'll pull things I wouldn't have otherwise noticed.

If you're reading this, take the information as the Elo it's from. I play against mostly Mid Silver to Mid Gold players. I have some Low Bronze friends that I often play with (Which I guess I am now), who pair me down with players as low as Mid Bronze.

Matchups I come across may be incorrect at higher Elo's due to mechanical/skill difference in players, or that I play far more normals than I do ranked (I actually play more ARAM than anything), and my lane opponents could be trying something new, not knowing exactly how to play the champ well.

With all of that being said, I'll be updating matchups, and possibly changing sections as I play more AD Fizz. I may learn more about specific matchups and either improve on them, or play better players and realize certain matchups are actually a higher difficulty than I first believed.

I'm always open to advice. I'm still learning, and any help to accelerate my knowledge of him will be more than accepted. Though I do like to debate to see things from other angles, so I will definitely question any points brought up.

This is my first post on here, so I'm not used to the coding. I wanted to get the information down first. I'd like to add pics later on, and link skills and items for mouse over effects.

AD Fizz is pretty much the adopted term for Bruiser Top Lane Fizz. It's honestly more of an On-Hit, tanky Top Laner.

Iceborn Gauntlet/ Trinity Force is a major factor in this, and yes, their procs are Physical Damage. Blade of the Ruined King has seen nerfs, but it has a buff on the PBE that will bring it back to nearly a core item if it goes through.

You generally only build 1-2 damage items, and go straight into full tank, so take the moniker of AD Fizz with a grain of salt. It's basically the name that has been given to Bruiser Fizz. Please play around with all sorts of items, AD, AP, tanky, you will have a ton of fun. Few items are bad on Fizz.

Blade of the Ruined King was a major part of the build I used in Season 5 on Fizz. Then thew nerfed it into oblivion by raising the cost AND lowering the on hit damage. We're now in Season 8 where Bork has even more AD at the cost of some of it's attack speed. This is good for Fizz's Q scaling, making it do more damage overall.

Trinity Force has been all over the place with nerfs and buffs (Nerf/buff as far as top Fizz is concerned), but it's arguably in it's best spot now for him. The attack speed buff a while back is really good for him as the majority of his damage is auto attack based. The loss of attack speed on Bork on it's last change is fine due to this. I think the two items combo together really well for him.

Iceborn Gauntlet is still a solid choice for Fizz vs all ad teams, but Trinity Force will def be the go to if they dont have 4 ad champs. The slow is less relevant to Fizz than other Iceborn Gauntlet users as he rarely has a hard time sticking to people with his mobility.

I've yet to play him top since Runes Reforged was added to the game, but as stated, this is where I write down my thoughts and change them as I play. Theorycrafting is the best place to start with a brand new system.

It's actually been a while since I've played Fizz top. I hardly touched him last season, so the last main experience I really had was Season 6. I've been playing a lot of things since the new runes were added, and I've really yet to find something I really enjoy. I had actually forgotten about Fizz top until I saw this old guide here on Mobafire.

His W was recently semi converted. They took away the triple damage after youve had a bleed on them for so long, and instead just buffed the damage on it. This is great for Fizz as the old trade pattern was basically Q-auto-W, then either continue trading, or E away so you win the trade. It's a very fast trade. IF you take PtA, you can often continue fighting as the trade pattern will proc it, and you'll get the damage buff. He also fights well in minion waves due to his passive. You don't get minion blocked, and you take reduced auto attack damage (which includes minions). So if minions are attacking both players, you have an advantage.

I think the current meta might be terrible for Top Fizz. Some top lane champs are REALLY strong. Gangplank used to be a great matchup, but has a far better laning phase now. There are also a lot of strong champs like the recently reworked Aatrox and Akali. I'll have to play matches vs tanks to see how it is now vs them, but it should be overall favorable when played correctly.

It just seems that some carry matchups could be harder now than it used to be.

The matchups I had written in were mainly from Seasons 5-6. I deleted them as they are definitely irrelevant being not only 2-3 seasons ago, but now we have Runes Reforged. As I get playing him again, I'll add my thoughts.

When playing normals (Most of my SR play time)I play around a mid gold mmr, so take my thoughts and matchups with that mmr in mind. Also take into account that I play mostly normals, and a lot of people are trying new champs or new roles, so my findings may be wrong.

Why should you play Fizz?

Pros:
- Can dive harder and faster than most champions
- Hard to lock down due to a highly mobile kit
- Ability to dodge skillshots
- On hit based damage
- Snowballs very quickly. One kill not only gains Fizz some kill gold, but will give you a gap in CS. Fizz scales very very well with both gold AND levels, and it can be really hard to come back from.

Cons:
- While you may get tanky, you don't have any sort of major tank skills in your kit. Sure your passive reduces some damage on auto attacks, but 14 late game damage against an ADC isn't nearly as useful in tanking as Maokai's passive, Mundo's Ult, Renekton's Ult, Nasus' Ult, etc. Large bonus health pools or damage reduction. A lot of them also have built in sustain, which Fizz also does not have.
- Lack of good, hard CC. Your E slows, and your Ult knocks up, but your ult has to land on someone, and you can't if it hits more than the one person. You also don't usually use his E for the slow as you usually want it for the gap closing since the damage is low since you aren't AP. So you don't usually hold it for the slow.
- Weaker early game. A lot of top laners tend to have a fairly strong early game. You can harass through attrition, but you are trading Corrupting Potion counters for it. One bad trade and you can be put behind. Thankfully it only takes a Sheen or so to help put yourself over over the hump.
- My opinion is that Teleport/ Ignite is the best Summoner Spell setup on Fizz. The lack of Flash, even with his slippery kit, does makes you easier to dive.

I think there are a lot of possible options for Keystones for Fizz.

Conqueror - It's a solid choice, but I think PtA is better overall. You have no AD scaling outside of Q, though your damage is auto attack based, making it pretty solid. It's prob better vs tanks overall since you get the true damage shred.

Press the Attack - Fizz can proc PtA very fast with Q-AA-W. This gives you a quick damage bump in laning phase, almost like a mini Electrocute. Then it gives you more sustained damage in the split push since it buffs your magic damage. Precision also has a lot of good options for runes. Triumph is probably the only tier 1 option for Fizz as it's great for diving sustain if you get the kill. I think all 3 tier 2 are good options, Bloodline being the worst, but possibly relevant for sustain. Attack Speed probably being the most usable option since auto attacking is the majority of Fizz's damage, but Tenacity is very relevant vs a high CC team, especially combined with Mercury Treads and possibly Sterak's Gage. Coup De Grace is probably the best 3rd tier option. I could see Last Stand, but that would prob be best if you know you will be purely split pushing.

Kleptomancy - Kleptomacy is really easy to proc on Fizz. Just press Q on them. It can be a bit mana intensive if you decided to E out after. I think every tier has a couple options. Magic Footwear would be my go to in tier 1, with possibly Stopwatch if you expect to be camped and dove. Biscuit Delivery would be my tier 2 go to, but Future's Market is great. I think Minion Dematerializer could be tested to see how it works with Titanic Hydra/ Sunfire Aegis to see how much faster it could help you clear waves at those item spikes. Tier 3 is almost definitely Cosmic Insight. Fizz loves CDR of all kinds. Time Warp Tonic could be relevant for more mobility, but Fizz should have more than enough mobility. Tbh Im not sure when I would take this keystone. Maybe vs a low damage tank where you can smack him with Q consistently without much trade back.

Grasp of the Undying - Solid laning summoner that helps make him tankier later on. If his laning phase is as weak as I think it might be, this will be a really solid choice. Demolish will obviously be great for split pushing. Tier 2 is full of good options. Second Wind or Chrysalis are really strong choices. Bone Plating/Second Wind with a Doran's Shield and a Corrupting Potion should be amazing sustain to get through tough matchups. I think the build I would go on Fizz would put him around 4000hp, which would make Grasp pretty solid late game for split push sustain on top of being great lane sustain.

Electrocute - Easily the best option on Assassin Fizz, not so much on Bruiser Fizz. It could be decent vs a very squishy team, but I would probably still prefer Klepto in that situation for the Trinity Force rush. Only highlighting this due to how much of a staple it is on AP Fizz. Could be relevant in a squishy matchup since it's pretty easy to proc (Q, auto, W for reset). You can proc it really fast then hop away before they can get much trade back.

Im not 100% on what would be the best option. It mainly depends on how his mana is during laning.

Resolve - The standard go to for top lane secondary. Bone Plating is too strong for trading. Second Wind or Chrysalis is almost definitely the best second option. Almost definitely should be the secondary of choice.

Sorcery - Tier 1 the only real option is Nullifying Orb. Mana Band might be an option, but it's doubtful. All three tier 2 options are decent. Transcendence is great as Fizz loves CDR. Celerity is solid as movement speed is great. It would be a definite, but was nerfed recently. Absolute Focus isn't awful vs good matchups. If you get to bully a matchup, you get bonus damage from this. In tier 3 more than likely you would take Gathering Storm. Solo Queue games often go long, which makes Gathering Storm extremely strong. Water Walking is also solid if you expect to roam mid frequently, so you'd have to be in a matchup where you have push priority, and probably an early Tiamat for constant wave clear. It's also great for Baron/Dragon fights.

Domination - Could be a very solid secondary tree. I think the only options are Sudden Impact and Zombie Ward, but those are two amazing options. Sudden Impact is really good vs a squishy team, and Zombie Ward is just great in general. Im generally a huge fan of Ravenous Hunter for extra sustain, but it really doesnt mesh well with his kit as a bruiser since most of your damage will be from autos.

Precision - Probably only if you want more damage. Coup de Grace and Triumph would probably be the only options. I think Precision is a fantastic Primary with now easy it is to proc Press the Attack, but I think it's lacking as a Secondary. You get some really strong utility from the other runes.

Inspiration - If you want the utility. I think it's a lot better in pro play overall as Stopwatch gets better the better the opponents teamplay is. Free boots is really nice, though. Biscuit Delivery could be really good for laning if he needs more sustain. Cosmic Insight is always a great option.

The skill sequence I have posted on here isn't a definite. Seastone Trident should be maxed first in most cases, but the others are dependent on how/what you are doing. Leveling Urchin Strike or Playful / Trickster reduces the cooldown on both.

Level Urchin Strike if you are looking to be more offensive as you get more damage with a shorter cooldown.

Leveling Playful / Trickster allows you to dodge/escape more frequently. It gets more of a cooldown reduction per rank compared to Urchin Strike. It can allow for faster wave clear too. It's generally your level 1 skill in the mid, but you have less need for it in the top lane. I'd probably only take it level 1 when vs a bully with spammable harass. Potentially maxing it vs them for the cooldown, too. It can be pretty important in matchups like Gangplank, where if timed correctly, you can dodge targeted skills, like his Q. That's really important as it will put his Q on cooldown, and he won't get his Klepto proc.

In a lot of cases I'll level them back and forth when Seastone Trident isn't an option. That allows for slightly more damage on Q and slightly better cdr on E.

Summoner spells are always an important choice to make, and Fizz's choices are far more wide open than most champs.

Teleport - I pretty much look at this as standard on most top laners. AD Fizz want's to make plays when possible. Pretty hard to roam to bot lane from top in a timely manner without Teleport. Since you do solid damage, using Teleport behind bot lane should earn the team a kill in most cases.

Flash - The standard on most other champions. Fizz has two gap closers, so he can stay extremely safe without it. Still good on him, but you CAN be more offensive.

Ignite - Tends to be the second Summoner Spell of choice on Fizz. Allows for a much higher kill potential as it gives you more damage and cuts their healing. This is my main choice along with Teleport.

The only Trinket I even look at is the Yellow Trinket. Obviously everyone starts the game with it. Being a split pusher, lighting up multiple points in their jungle is a huge boost to your safety.

I honestly can't see the reason to get a sweeper on Fizz. If I have the lead in lane, I'll buy a Control Ward for the river bush. This allows you to use your Trinket Ward more aggressively (When in lane, I'll put it in their TriBush when I have a Pink down). If they go to ward, follow them. Even if they get it down, they will get out fast if they know you are stronger. Kill their ward. I've noticed in lower elo that players really want to kill the Pink themselves. I've had plenty spend resources to shove the lane, thinking they can use that advantage to kill your Pink Ward. I'll follow them down, ult them, and often kill them if they don't run to TriBush immediately, giving up on the ward.

I could see an argument for Blue Trinket later on. It allows you to get deep vision from a safe position or without wasting time to stop pushing to ward. That can often be more valuable than having two wards.

These items will be outlined in the next two sections, but as a group are important to the overall build for Bruiser Fizz. Fizz loves cooldown reduction to allow him to be super mobile. His skills outside of W have pretty high base cooldowns, which really allows him to make use of cdr.

Back when I played a lot of AD Fizz, this was done with Trinity Force, Frozen Heart, and cdr boots (Trinity Force only had 10% back then). Old Banshee's Veil was perfect for how slippery Fizz is, allowing you to shake off any cc that you dont dodge, so you didnt have Spirit Visage to cap your cdr.

One of the problems is that every tank based magic resist item has cdr on it now, and Trinity Force/ Frozen Heart caps you by themselves. Cdr isnt worth a ton of gold (10 = ~248g), but there's no reason to waste gold efficiency if possible. Luckily, Sunfire Aegis is amazing again, allowing you to not overcap on cdr.

Spirit Visage isnt bad, but it doesnt do what Fizz needs in a magic resist item. He has no built in sustain, and you wont always build Blade of the Ruined King. Losing Frozen Heart from the build also means you don't have as large of a mana pool as you want. If you're being fairly aggressive with your harassing, then you'll need more mana than you'll get from Trinity Force. This is where Abyssal Mask comes in. The item gives you everything you want. Cooldown reduction, Magic Resist, Health, Mana, minor sustain, and a passive that increases magic damage, which affects his ability base damage and damage from Sunfire Aegis.

As stated earlier, Sunfire Aegis was recently reverted to it's old form, making it THE go to armor item. This is also the main reason Frozen Heart isn't part of the core build anymore.

Most games I'll build Trinity Force, a tank item, then potentially another damage item.

Trinity Force - Attack speed, Spellblade proc, health, mana. All stats Fizz wants. Should be the first item you rush every game. Not much to say about this.

Titanic Hydra - I think this is the go to second damage item for Fizz instead of Blade of the Ruined King. It has wave clear and health on it. It also gives you another auto attack reset. It's better overall in a lot of cases than Blade of the Ruined King. The wave clear lets you clear push side waves really fast, and the health on it makes it a far better team fighting item.

Blade of the Ruined King - This is still a great item, especially for split pushing. It's also a better option vs a tank as you get %hp damage, sustain, and more attack speed.

Iceborn Gauntlet - Was a Major Core Item up until the recent Trinity Force. Sheen items have always been a major part of Fizz builds. Trinity Force is just better now in most ways. If the opposing team somehow drafted all AD, I could see an arguement for this.

Sterak's Gage - Boosts the damage from your Trinity Force proc. The passive on it is also fantastic. I could see it vs a high cc team as the passive shield and tenacity would be amazing. Just a great overall item.

Wit's End - A very good item on Fizz against a Magic Damage heavy team. The stealing of Magic Resist is better on Fizz than others who can build Wit's End due to his mixed damage. Not only will it make you tankier against AP's, but it boosts your own Magic Damage. The Attack Speed allows for more attacks, which means more resetting of his DoT. If their magic damage isn't super bursty, this is probably a better choice than Maw due to the on hit and attack speed.

Maw of Malmortius - Maw is another really strong Anti-AP item. I look at this as a better choice than Wit's End if their Magic Damage looks to focus you asap. Wit's End can allow for more Magic Resist than Maw of Malmortius, but it takes 5 hits to get to 55 Magic Resist. More often than not you will be around 40-45 Magic Resist after an Urchin Strike and 1-2 auto attacks when the burst will target you. The Shield that Maw of Malmortius gives is a far better way to defend a large Magic Damage burst.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter - The slow is relevant with his dot. 400hp is great for a tank, too. 100ap will allow you to do quite a bit more damage. I rarely stray to this item. I tend to keep it fairly standard, but it's still a decent option.

Morellonomicon - Recently reworked. I would only build this if I needed Grievous Wounds and Thornmail is a bad option vs their comp. It has health on it, so it allows you to keep your bruiser hp up. The Grievous Wounds is applied by your auto attacks due to your built in on hit magic damage. I can really only see building this vs Vladimir. You could build Executioner's Calling, but Mortal Reminder is really bad on Fizz. The overall stats from Morellonomicon work well with Fizz.

Sunfire Aegis - After buffs the past season, this has become relevant again. It's really good for wave clear, and with the potential for extended trades, this could definitely stay relevant. Maybe third item after you cap your cdr?

Dead Man's Plate - Gaining movement speed on an already super mobile champion makes him harder to kill, or lets him get to his targets faster. If that wasn't enough, it also deals damage. The damage isn't much, 1 damage per 2 stacks, doubled if it was stacked to 100. So 100 damage. Not super impressive, but on someone looking to delete a squishy asap, it's definitely welcome. The slow is pretty big too (And you get the slow from it on your Q, which is amazing). Yeah, you can go Randuin's Omen for this, but I do like the mix of having a slow and some damage. Look at how much physical damage their team has, and how much crit they may build. If they only have 1 crit champion, I will probably build this. If they have more, I'll likely build Randuin's Omen. It's also really good when split pushing to run those long lanes more easily when being chased.

Randuin's Omen - Not a bad choice as you don't have a hard time diving, so you can AoE slow when you get deep. High HP and Armor are also really nice. Really good against a high damage comp with mainly physical damage, but also does solid magic damage. Both high Armor and HP are needed for that. The go to item vs Yasuo/Tryndamere.

Thornmail - Good vs auto attack based teams. It didnt apply Grievous Wounds last time I played Fizz, so it could also be relevant vs teams with significant lifesteal (Like Bloodthirster. Great in combination with Randuin's Omen vs a Yasuo and an auto attack based ADC. Situational, but very effective. Having health on it now also makes it better overall.

Frozen Heart - This was a core item for me on Fizz in Season 5. I'd rush it right after Trinity Force for the cdr and the mana pool. Sunfire Aegis has recently been reverted, making it the obvious armor item to rush. Probably unneeded now. Though it does have a VERY large pool of armor, and the cdr could benefit from Transcendence, so it could be tested. The aura is also really strong vs certain team comps.

Some of the MR option are in the Offensive Items section.

Abyssal Mask - Probably my go to for MR items. The 10% aura probably isnt huge, but it will be appreciated vs tanks in the split push. The main reason is the mana. Ive been trying to figure out where to get mana from if I'm not running Frozen Heart. Mana, Health, cdr, and a slight damage boost. Feels like everything you'd want. You also get some minor sustain from the Catalyst passive.

Spirit Visage - If Fizz's mana isn't as bad as I think it is, and he doesn't need the mana from Abyssal Mask, and you're running Blade of the Ruined King, this would be the go to.

Adaptive Helm - Always relevant vs the right champs. If Fizz needs more mana in general, I would probably make sure to have multiple starter items like Doran's Ring and Corrupting Potion/Seal.

Banshee's Veil - This used to be the go to MR item before they made it into an AP item. I could see this being good vs a mostly magic damage team, but not really much more.

In a Standard game, I think I would consistently make everything but the Dead Man's Plate. I think that's the only real optional slot vs a balanced team. DMP puts you around 4200hp. If you go with a 3 damage item build with something like a Blade of the Ruined King, you'll still have around 3700hp.

Warmog's Armor is a legitimate final item that will put you at cdr cap if you dont have Transcendence. It's really good for team standoff's to shake off poke. It's also decent for split pushing if you get caught and burned down, but get away. you can hide, heal back up, and continue to apply pressure once they've moved back to where your team is. In most cases I tend to like having an item with a resist, but there are definitely applications for this. This used to be a fairly standard 5-6th item a couple seasons ago. It didnt have the cdr back then, but the hp was important as you ran with 2 items that didnt have health. So the mass hp pool this gives you isnt really as big of a deal.

I used to have sections for Early/Mid/Late game. But with all the changes since the last time I played him top (Season 6), his laning and such may be different.

In general, he wants to split push. Being a Trinity Force champion, he's good at taking turrets. With Sunfire Aegis being great again, and Titanic Hydra probably being part of my build, he'll wave clear really fast and being able to pressure really hard. Running a third damage item with Blade of the Ruined King will have you destroying towers.

During laning you want to use Teleport opportunistically. A good TP to bot lane can really snowball Fizz and allow him to take over a game. Not to mention having Ignite allows for extra potent ganks.