Fiora Build Guide by letaljc

Introduction

Hey everyone :) This is my first guide here, so don't expect it to be perfect !
I made this guide because I couldn't find any I really liked, so I wanted to share my point of view on how to play Fiora !

Boitata wrote:

SHE BURSTS LIKE HELL, AND HITS LIKE A TRUCK.

BTW, my build isn't based on crits. I'd rather go pure ad (but it can change, depending on how the game is going (= you're fed).

Pros / Cons

Skill Sequence

FACING AP

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FACING AD

Further explanation below

Gameplay

WHEREVER YOU ARE, YOU HAVE TO FARM ! Fiora has a really strong farming potential, try to get the best of it !

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MID

You managed to have the mid lane. We suppose you'll be facing against an AP Carry, otherwise go to the Top section.
At the mid lane, you need to be able to burst the opponent quickly. Therefore, max her Lunge and try to harass as much as possible. Since you have boots, try to avoid getting poked. The goal here is to obtain and maintain Lane dominance, needed if you want to last hit and farm properly.

By level 2, if the opponent has some kind of high damage on auto attack (eg. Ziggs passive, Fizz, ...) take your Riposte once. Max it last. If he doesn't and you feel comfortable at last hitting without the AD Bonus, just wait until level 4 to level it.

Ay level 3, put a point in Burst of Speed. Now you are able to freely harass :
Activate your Burst of Speed to get bonus MS on your first Lunge, use the first Lunge to close the gap between you and him (you can Lunge a creep too, just try not to spam it or it will blow the 2nd charge)
auto attack twice if you can with your Burst of Speed activated, then second gap closer and another auto attack (or more if you can)

With the bonus ms, you'll be able to escape without getting to much damage,

AND THIS WILL TRIGGER 4 STACKS OF YOUR PASSIVE !

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Burst of Speed Start by activating your e since lunge trigger the bonus ms/as, then instant q => Lunge => AA => Lunge => AA as much as you can with your bonus as from Burst of Speed

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Level 6 : You now have your ultimate Blade Waltz . A very important rule is to NEVER ENGAGE WITH YOUR ULT ! Remember that you have no escape mechanism, and if you are getting focused you'll regret using it to engage. It can also be used as a "follow" ability if you feel you won't be able to stick on your target.

Same mechanism than before + ult : Start by activating your Burst of Speed since lunge trigger the bonus ms/as, then instant q => Lunge => AA => Lunge => AA as much as you can with your bonus as from Burst of Speed then to finish => Blade Waltz

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By this moment, and even before if you are farming the ennemy laner, you can and HAVE to gank other lanes. Fiora has a strong gank potential, but also needs to farm a lot. That's why I consider midlane to be the best if you know you can handle it. Remember this :)
You should be able to kill both ennemies bot, allowing your team to easily win at least bot and mid. You can obviously gank top, even more if he's failing and/or pushing too much.
Try to focus on the lanes which are losing hard and remember that your jungler can't be everywhere.

DON'T DO THIS IF YOU'RE LOSING YOUR OWN LANE OBVIOUSLY :)

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TOP

Here you will likely be facing an AD, so start with Cloth Armor Cloth Armor + 5 pots Health Potion and go for your Riposte first. If you feel like you can dominate him with your Burst of Speed-harass, don't max your Riposte but the Burst of Speed instead !
I also like to harass him the same way I do for midlane, with maxing Lunge, if you're against a ranged champion. It's up to you and how you prefer it really.

Here a wriggle Wriggle's Lantern is a must have, it gives you a ward, armor, sustain and damage, pretty much all you need to harass and farm like a boss.

Try to help your mid if he's failing, or try to counter jungle (trying to check Red/Blue buff by the 9'/7' mark is never something bad !).

DON'T DO THIS IF YOU'RE LOSING YOUR OWN LANE OBVIOUSLY :)

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TEAMFIGHTS

Focus the ad/ap carry. As I said before, NEVER ENGAGE WITH YOUR ULT, except for a pentakill...

Use your Lunge to reach the carry and kick the **** out of him. Don't forget that your Burst of Speed cooldown is reset when killing an ennemy, and halved for an assist. If you're getting focused and going down, TIME TO Blade Waltz ! That will totally **** up the ennemy team's organization and allow your carry to do a lot of damage, while you're dealing amazing damage too. You should survive every teamfight if playing like this.

That's also why I love buying a Quicksilver Sash, it allows you to cast your ultimate when you want to.

Tips

I would like to give a special thanks to Boitata for his comments, and for pointing out some tips that are really useful, i hadn't so much time yet to give mine, so here are Boitata's tips !

I have to say that i've always, since her release, played her in smartcast, play with ALL your skills in smartcast (not needed for Riposte and Burst of Speed though), at least try to have Lunge, Blade Waltz and Ignite in smartcast. I'm sorry for not pointing that out earlier, since i pretty much always play my char in smartcast.

TL;DR : Smarcast IS a thing you HAVE TO master with Fiora, at least following this guide !

Discussion

First of all, remember that the main part of this guide is playing mid lane

Therefore i go for burst damage since a classic midlaner won't let you auto attack him !



Lunge :
Cooldown: 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 / 8 seconds
Physical Damage: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage)[/color]

At lvl 1 you should have around 70 ad (picking lunge first) => 40+42=82 * 2 = 164 damage lvl 1
For a classic midlaner, it'll get to 124 with his basic armor
BUT you also add at least one auto attack on each gap closer => 124+(70-20)*2= 224 damage by level 1
So yes, fiora as a great burst potential, and since you're mid, you won't auto attack that much => e doesn't need to be maxed first

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Each time you harrass with your lunge, you deals significant damage, deals at least 2 auto attacks and trigger 4 stacks of your passive. Imo there's enough synergy here to sustain yourself through harrasing.
Moreover, a Wriggle's Lantern at mid lane helps your team cleans the drake faster + free ward + enough sustain to counter any pokes.
And i'd like to say that if you auto attack with your Burst of Speed, you will keep on pushing your lane => that can be nice, giving you the chance to gank, put also to be ganked and lose a lot of farm.

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Imo Fiora as a strong burst potential : with my build,

you are able to take down a squishy enemy simply by Lunge->aa-> Lunge->aa-> Blade Waltz-> Ignite

...
Killing the carry is your job, and this is the right way to do it before he deals significant damage (for example with my build i os a kog maw, with yours i'm not sure that you'll win an 1v1 against him just by auto attackin)

But once you killed the carry, the items i give allow you to deal significant damage with your aa, since you have enough sustain and as with a Wriggle's Lantern and your Burst of Speed, even at lvl 1 (60% as + The Black Cleaver is strong enough)

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I TOTALLY disagree : i never lost a mid or a top playing this way (and i never max Burst of Speed first, either Lunge or [[riposte]) !

Summoner Spells

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The others are useless for you (except smite, but there are other chars who are better jungler with stronger ganks)

Items

The part everyone is waiting for !
Since Fiora has a strong basic AS thanks to her Burst of Speed, I would go for a lot of AD and a bit of AS. Some items can give us both, so they are, imo, must have !

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CORE

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Defensive items :

This can save your *** if you failed somewhere in a teamfight

I love it. Allows you to clean all the cc and launch your ult

Banshee veil Another good option, but require better placement skills

Against an heavy ad team, but i'd rather go for a

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For Sustain and Lifesteal

If you're facing an AD, or an AP with a strong poke, go for Wriggle. It also gives a free ward, so it's also great at midlane.

If you want a bonus attack damage and can easily farm, buy a BT

If you're pretty much fed, go for both :D

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BOOTS

If you're facing an heavy ad team, must have. Buy a quicksilver slash if too much cc

Great item for middle lane. Gives you tenacity and magic res.

If you feel like you can kill everyone w/o problem. A qss will be useful with this

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ALTERNATIVES CHOICES :

Facing a team with low magic res and high hp, you have to buy it.

I gave it a try, and i gotta say that this is quite good, giving you as + mr / since you're facing an ap that's great

Gives you the control you want, and can be combined with

: Since you'll have around 30% crit chance, you can buy it, though i only recommand it to replace your wriggle

Atmog : If you want to play w/o a brain, go for it

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Being denied

Although I never lost a lane with Fiora since her release, forget BT and Wriggle and buy two dorans blade. Then buy the cleaver and you should be able to deal tons of damage

Runes

Quintessences :

Since you're playing an ad char, it seems quite appropriate to go for ArPen here. Moreover, I chose to pick ad marks, to mix arPen and attack damage here

Greater Quint of Swiftness can also be a good choice, so you can stay w/o upgrading boots and give you nice ms to gank/avoid ganks/harrass more with AA


Usually, go for either :
3 * Greater Quintessence of Desolation + 9 * Greater Mark of Attack Damage
OR
3 * Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage + 9 * Greater Mark of Desolation

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Seals :

Go for armor, to have much resistance against the ennemies ad, and strong early game
9 * Greater Seal of Armor
You can also pick hp seals, either flat or per level, as you want if you think it'll improve your survivability

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Glyph :

Since i love playing fiora mid, picking magic resist is quite obvious. It's also useful for tf, even if not playing mid
9 * Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

If you have any suggestions for other glyph, you can comment to post them !

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As you can see it, i go for flat runes : in my opinion, fiora is a snowball char => if you can grab some kills early game, you will literally roll over the ennemy team.
Win early game and you will own late.

Masteries

Classic 21/9/0

Go for the 4 points in Sorcery to grab some cool cdr, which will synergize well with a Youmuu's Ghostblade. Take one point in Deadliness , and one in Summoner's Wrath for improving your ignite/exhaust. I don't pick the bonus damage on crits, because my build isn't based on it. I'd rather go pure ad (it can change though, depending on how the game is going).

Summary

This guide is far from being finished, but I think the essential is here.

Give Fiora mid a try, and let me now how was your game ! Ask questions if you want to, and try to bring constructives objections !

Thanks to jhoijhoi for his "how to make a guide", and kOrtiah for helping me redacting it !

My best game :