Hello, I am ne0cha0s, I main AP champions and I am here today to bring to you a full guide and inside look on playing the AP Carry champion Fizz. Fizz is an amazing carry and extremely underused and underplayed especially considering the amount of damage he can dish out. In this guide I will explain why the masteries/runes/item build is the way that it is and how to fully take advantage of your skill set and offer the most to your team in team fights. Thank you for visiting my guide via mobafire and GLHF!

Strengths:

• Passive - NO UNIT COLLISION!!!
• High AOE burst damage
• High sustained damage over time
• Great mobility/maneuverability
• Good AOE crowd control/team fight control

Weaknesses:

• Melee (means you're always in the middle of everything)
• Weak early game

This is a pretty standard Caster mastery page setup, I take the point in Summoner's Wrath instead of a 4th point into Mental Force because it's altogether better, especially for Fizz, considering he auto attacks for a lot of his damage, the extra AD and AP after using ignite is going to be a lot more useful than 1 extra AP. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory, my guide is for expert play on fizz, so I don't have any points in the Defensive tree because Fizz's mobility and maneuverability is more than enough to get out of sticky situations, and the more damage/utility you have, the better for you and your team. Because Fizz relies on his Playful / Trickster to get out of sticky situations quite often early game, I like to take Expanded Mind and Meditation over Good Hands or Swiftness for the extra mana and mana regeneration to be able to use the ability when I'll need to. Taking the point in Summoner's Insight isn't a necessity, but I generally like having the reduced cool down for Flash on Fizz.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
I love taking magic penetration on Casters, it scales well into late game and serves a purpose no matter how little or how much Magic Resistance the enemy has.

Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power
These aren't a requirement, you CAN swap these out for different seals, but scaling AP on Fizz will never fail you.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
Probably the most set in stone runes I use for fizz, the amount of AP this gives added to the amazing ratios on Fizz make this too useful to pass up.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
Having this 15 extra ability power at level 1 is extremely helpful, and increases your damage output more than you realize, I definitely recommend these over any other Quints.


Using this set of runes will increase the damage you deal with Fizz more than you realize, there are so many ways to build Fizz, and in my experience using this set gives you the most damage possible, and because of your skill set, damage and skill is all you REALLY need to play Fizz.

This is the most common ability sequence I use. For the first 4 levels, however, it can change, depending on how much escapability I'll need. Let's say I'm playing against a Ryze at Mid lane with a jungling Rammus, I might have both Playful / Trickster and Urchin Strike by level 2 so that I have the option to Urchin Strike through a minion towards my tower to gain a little distance and then Playful/Trickster even further to get back to my tower safely. Yet, if I were laning against another melee caster such as Kassadin and there was an enemy jungling Shyvanna, then I might not have Urchin Strike until level 4, and I'd have 2 points in Playful/Trickster by level 3 for the extra damage/harass opportunities. I ALWAYS get Playful/Trickster at level 1 because having the option to become invulnerable AND a gap closer ANNNNNNND the option to slow somebody is too much utility to give up at level 1. I also always max this skill first because it is your main burst damage + offers a great crowd control effect for chasing or ganking. Then of course I max Seastone Trident for the amazing amount of damage over time it does followed by maxing Urchin Strike last as you'll only need it early for chasing/maneuverability.

I always make sure to grab and on Fizz and here is the reason. The extra true damage damage over time has great synergy with the burst damage from Fizz's other abilities combined with his built in damage over time, and taking the point in just makes it so much more worth it. I've also seen a few Fizzs take instead of Flash, but with this build I would definitely recommend Flash for both escapability and possibly aggressive Flash plays in either a gap closing situation or an opportunity to save your Playful / Trickster ability for its damage potential as opposed to being a gap closer.

I know this item is generally frowned upon to start with, but with Fizz, it's definitely useful and very worth it. Because of Fizz's mobility and damage output with this build, adding a little more AP, HP, and mana regeneration will substantially decrease your problems in laning phase. You might be a little slow, but as long as you know how to position yourself, you should always have the mana to Playful/Trickster your way out of something, and should even be able to force the enemy laner into a great ganking spot for your jungler.

Early game
Sight Ward
Yes. That is correct, your eyes are not deceiving you, I am recommending you rush tier 2 boots. This is almost always going to be your immediate 2nd item. The extra magic penetration early game will give you an amazing amount of damage output that you yourself won't believe until you see it. You will no longer need to sacrifice that early game movement speed just so that you can get some damage output, the mastery and rune build I've provided makes up for that early game. Of course, playing mid lane there is a possibility that the enemy mid lane will have quite a bit of sustain (which is ok! you counter that! but we'll get back to that later), so every time you go back to base, you'll want to make sure you grab 1-2 health potions and OF COURSE a ward for each side of the lane (will show where to ward/when further down).

Alternate Early game
+ OR
Now, with all of that being said, there is a possibility that you will not need the extra movement speed early on and you have enough gold to get tier 1 boots followed by a high damage tier 2 item such as Sheen or Needlessly Large Rod, in which case, I recommend doing so, but still recommend upgrading your boots as soon afterwards as you can.

Mid Game

These 2 are your 2 core items. If you manage to get these before 25 minutes and you're properly using Fizz's skill set, then you most likely have the game in the bag. As for sequence, you generally want to get Rabadon's Deathcap as soon as possible, but if you're having trouble getting the money, you can settle for Sheen + Needlessly Large Rod until you can build Deathcap. Afterwards, you'll want to build your Lich Bane because of its great synergy with Fizz, especially considering Urchin Strike applies on-hit effects. If your laning phase continues into mid game, keep buying wards and pots when you go back to base to be able to sustain in lane and have eyes on the river for getting ganked.

Late Game

If you're lucky enough to have the match extend into late game and have the opportunity to build these items, they make a great addition to your set. First build Zhonya's Hourglass for the extra AP (once you have this, it's all the AP you'll need) and its awesome activatable which synergizes great with Fizz's Playful / Trickster. If you combine your Zhonya's activation with your Playful untargetability in a team fight, you could have up to 3.5 seconds of not being focused, which for a carry, is a long time in a team fight. Afterwards, Guardian Angel is a must for being able to stay in the fight after getting focused down. Once you have Guardian Angel, the last item is COMPLETELY SITUATIONAL, but I find Banshee's Veil useful in most cases, so it is what I recommend and what I list.

(Passive)
NO UNIT COLLISION!!!!!!! I absolutely love this passive, no creep blocking, no getting stuck on allies/enemy champions in team fights, such a useful passive.

(Q)
Activate this to dash at an enemy target and deal damage, also applying on-hit effects such as the damage over time from Seastone Trident. I USUALLY don't take this skill until level 4, as you generally can't go aggressive in mid lane until then, and don't need it. However, there are so many different uses for this skill once you have it. In lane your Urchin Strike can be used to engage on an enemy, chase an enemy, dash through an enemy unit AWAY from your enemy to escape, or to harass and apply the on-hit effect from Sheen or Seastone Trident. The damage output from this skill alone is the lowest of your 3 main abilities, so I only recommend taking it when you intend to use it for an engage or running away from an enemy and max it LAST.

(W)
The passive on this skill applies damage over time on any enemy unit you use your Basic Attack on, and the damage is increased depending on how much health the enemy is missing. Activating this skill adds an additional flat amount of damage to each of your Basic Attacks, applies reduced healing on them, AND still applies the passive of the skill. This is such a strong ability and synergizes great with Urchin Strike. Max this skill 2nd and be sure to activate it whenever harassing an opponent, or right before you Urchin Strike to an enemy to make sure you get the most damage output. This ability also makes it a bit easier to last hit with Basic Attacks.

(E)
This skill can be activated either once OR twice. If you activate this skill once, Fizz will jump onto his trident, becoming untargetable for 0.75 seconds, then he will drop down, damaging and slowing anything he lands on. If you activate it while Fizz is still on the trident, he will jump again to your cursor ONLY DAMAGING an enemy and not applying the slow. You want to max this ability FIRST because it is great for clearing creep waves, harassing, or committing on an enemy. This ability is what makes Fizz Fizz and can be used to jump over walls as well. For more details on what you can do with this ability, I recommend you check out this video:

Play Video

(R)
Lastly, casting Fizz's ultimate will cause him to throw a small fish in a straight line to your cursor (BE SURE TO DRAG YOUR CURSOR THE FARTHEST AMOUNT YOU CAN, BECAUSE YOU COULD EASILY ACCIDENTALLY THROW IT TOO SHORT) and if it hits a champion, the fish will slow that champion and a shark will attack after a short delay, knocking the champion up and knocking any other enemies in the area back, dealing a LOT of damage and slowing all enemies hit. This ability is amazing for team fight control, disengaging an enemy, or for sneaking up on enemies. It definitely takes a bit of getting used to so don't be too hard on yourself if you miss it every once in a while. In a 1v1 situation, you may not want to lead off with this skill because if you miss it, it could change the outcome of the fight to the enemy's favor. I recommend leading with your gap closer ( Urchin Strike) followed by slowing the enemy with Playful / Trickster so that you can ensure your ultimate will hit, of course auto attacking in between all of this to improve your damage output. In team fights, however, it can be a great idea to lead with this, as the enemy bunching up will make it a lot easier to hit, and even if you miss, the fish can attach to someone if they walk over it.


When you are in the middle of a team fight, make sure you're auto attacking as much as possible, activating Urchin Strike and Seastone Trident whenever they are off cooldown to get as many Lich Bane procs as possible. Try to save your ultimate for when either the enemy team is extremely bunched up, or your team needs to disengage. The same goes for Playful / Trickster, only use if you are in the middle of everything and an AOE slow will be extremely useful, or you need to become untargetable, OR you need to use another gap closer. Also remember to use Zhonya's Hourglass(trust me I know how easy it is to forget) if needed.

Going to provide 2 pictures with ward placement. You should only need 2 wards near mid at any given time.

This first picture is suggested ward placement if you are playing closer to YOUR tower and are not as likely to be ganked. The green dots represent wards.This will give you vision of either an opponent moving through the river or an enemy jungler leaving their jungle and either entering your jungle or one of the brushes at mid lane, be sure to keep an eye out.

This next picture is suggested ward placement if you are playing closer to THE ENEMY tower and are more likely to be ganked. The green dots represent wards.
This will still give you vision of opponents moving through the river, but will also grant you vision of an enemy jungler leaving their jungle sooner so that you'll have more time to back off.

Here I will list some champions that can counter you and you can possibly counter, and why that is true.

Champions to watch out for!

Brand's passive is great against Fizz considering Fizz's Playful / Trickster can not block an damages over time currently applied to him AND the fact that Brand is a ranged caster. Brand's Pillar of Flame is also awkward in its cast time and hit box, which makes it hard to judge when to try to dodge.
What do I do against him?
Stay away from him. This may mean sacrificing some CS, but trust me, a few CS is not worth a death, because you'll lose a LOT more in the time it takes you to revive and come back to lane. At level 6, you should be able to take him considering you CAN block his ult with your Playful/Trickster ability, just be careful when/where you initiate on him, try to make sure it's when one of his abilities are down to make sure you'll have the advantage. Before level 6, there is also a high probability he'll be in such an aggressive position that he'll be easy for your jungler to gank. NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK YOUR JUNGLER TO COME MID AND GANK YOUR LANE, FIZZ IS GREAT FOR FORCING THE ENEMY INTO HORRIBLE POSITIONING FOR YOUR JUNGLER

Cassiopeia has the passive and cooldowns that counter this build, she has reduced mana cost with each spell she casts, which allows her to spam abilities and force you to use your Playful / Trickster when you would rather not, then taking advantage of the fact that it is on cooldown and utilizing her high early damage output. She also has an ultimate which will stun you for 2 seconds, in which time you'll most likely die from the amount of damage she dishes out.
What do I do against her?
STAY AWAY FROM HER!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough. With the movement speed that you have in this build, it is very unlikely that you'll be able to dodge every single one of her Noxious Blasts and therefore you must stay as far away from her as possible. If this means sacrificing some CS because you have to wait for your jungler to take advantage of her aggressive positioning, so be it. ONE CREEP IS NOT WORTH YOUR LIFE!!! The only thing you can really do against Cass is wait for your jungler to take advantage of her bad positioning. There IS a possibility that you can 1v1 her at level 6, using your Urchin Strike and Playful / Trickster to dodge her abilities, but I strongly suggest you learn your limits with Fizz before trying.

Galio is a great counter to mid AP champions with a damage over time ability, Fizz is a great example of this. Because the passive on Fizz's Playful/Trickster is a relatively low damage over time ability applied on Basic Attacks, it will be perfect for Galio to activate his Bulwark and heal back to full health with, therefore having no sustain problems whatsoever.
What do I do against him?
There are 2 ways you can play this lane. The first is to bait his shield ( Bulwark). Auto attack him with your Seastone Trident active on until he is forced to use it (be careful of aggression from creeps though!), then back off for a bit until his shield is down. He will take reduced healing from the damage over time because of the grievous wounds from your Seastone Trident, now is when you need to be aggressive, give him everything you have and take advantage of the 10+ seconds that his shield is on cooldown, then rinse repeat until he's low enough for you to kill. The second way is to just farm it until level 6. Galio pushes lanes relatively easy and on accident as well, this will be a great opportunity to farm safely at your tower. Once you reach level 6, you SHOULD actually have more damage output and here is why. You should lead off with using Seastone Trident into Urchin Strike, applying the reduced healing and getting you closer to him. You want to land your ultimate on him AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after doing this, because he is most likely going to try to use his ultimate. If you landed Chum the Waters and he uses Idol of Durand, then your ultimate will interrupt his, SIGNIFICANTLY reducing his damage. You then continue to Basic Attack, followed by Ignite and Playful / Trickster to finish him off thanks to the reduced healing. Remember, this is a SHOULD, and you'll need some practice before taking this course of action successfully.

Malzahar is another champion you have to watch out for, because his Malefic Visions can transfer from creep to creep and possibly you, it is selectable damage over time ability that could easily force you out of lane and has a relatively short cooldown.
What do I do against him?
Fortunately, as with most other champions that counter Fizz, Malzahar will have to force himself out of position to be able to harass you out of lane, which leaves him in a great position for your jungler to gank. Also, if you managed not to get forced out of lane and you both get level 6, your level 6 1v1 fight is much stronger than his. Malzahar's usefulness against Fizz lies solely in his Malefic Visions, and once you hit 6, just give him everything you got and if he manages to use his Nether Grasp, your ultimate can interrupt it and he'll be helpless considering his other 2 abilities are skill shots and you'll likely be moving around too much to get hit by them.

Ryze is another extremely annoying champion to play against as Fizz. If he manages to snare you, you're completely helpless for the complete duration of that snare, and Ryze has the damage output to follow up enough with that snare to scare you out of lane. Also, because Ryze is not your every day Caster, he will not be nearly as squishy as the other champions you lane against, therefore it is almost impossible to win a skirmish with him before level 6.
What do I do against him?
Again, it is simply a matter of staying as far away from Ryze as possible until level 6. Fizz has a really tough time against strong early game champions with low cooldowns, and Ryze's passive makes him one of the toughest. You can ask for ganks, but this will be risky before level 6. Once you are level 6, make him use his snare defensively, trying to run away as opposed to aggressively trying to kill you. Either have a jungler lead of and let Ryze snare him/her before you commit, or use your Chum the Waters and begin chasing him. Be wary though, the second course of action could get you killed if you don't pay attention. Once you get the slow on Ryze and begin moving towards him, he will do one of two things, he will either snare you and continue to try running away (if he does, you commit), or he will realize his damage potential is higher than yours and snare you and try to commit on you (BE CAREFUL OF THIS). If he does snare you aggressively, I advise you to back off and wait for another good opportunity.

Champions you are good against!

Fizz counters Ahri in a few different ways, so let's get started. The 2 abilities that you really need to look out for are both skill shots and that is her Charm ability and her Orb of Deception. These abilities are both relatively easy to dodge, so they shouldn't give you too much trouble. Now the other 3 abilities Ahri has are the reason you counter her. Ahri's passive ( Essence Theft) gives her spell vamp, which you can reduce with your Seastone Trident, her Fox-Fire ability will automatically attack the closest 3 targets to her, preferring champions, HOWEVER if you activate Playful when she activates Fox-Fire, all 3 orbs will attack minions (if they are there) instead of you, therefore wasting most of her burst potential. Ahri's ultimate Spirit Rush works in a similar way, sending 3 essence bolts with every dash, and you have the opportunity to dodge some of the damage from that as well. This leaves Ahri with only 2 damaging abilities to hit you, both of which are skill shots, so after you avoid most of her damage, you can counter engage on her and easily win a skirmish. BE CAREFUL with your ultimate as it can easily miss it if you time it incorrectly with Ahri's Spirit Rush.

Kassadin is generally considered the ultimate anti-mage because of the skill set that he has, but because Fizz has sustained damage and an ability that can cancel out Kassadin's silence, he's great to play against Kass. It's pretty self-explanatory as to why you counter Kassadin, considering all of his damage is in a burst and afterwards he has pretty high cooldowns. When Kassadin Null Spheres, you activate Playful before the projectile hits you so that you dodge the silence and damage, and then you click towards Kassadin so that you'll drop down onto him for the damage and slow, then Basic Attack him a few times to counter harass him and he'll be sorry he ever tried. That is for pre-6 aggression, once he hits 6, you can basically do the same thing, but when you slow him, he will most likely Riftwalk away, at which point you back off and go back to farming. You'll end up zoning the "ultimate counter" for AP champions. As for committing on Kassadin in lane, if you notice he's low enough after he Riftwalks away, throw Chum the Waters at him while he's still slowed, then use the rest of your skill set to finish him off.

LeBlanc is another assassin/anti-mage that counters most casters, but with correct timing on Playful / Trickster you can cancel out the high burst that she does. Generally when you want to activate it is when her Sigil of Silence's projectile is on the way to Fizz. Leblanc usually follows up with another spell to set off the trigger from Sigil of Silence so activating Playful/Trickster while the projectile is on its way to you will dodge both skills and if Leblanc used Distortion to get closer to you, you can drop down on her, apply the slow, and counter harass with Basic Attacks and Seastone Trident. When Leblanc is level 6, it's basically the same concept, most Leblancs cast Sigil of Silence followed by Mimic almost immediately, so you can dodge both skill shots by activating Playful/Trickster while the first projectile is on its way to you, cancelling most of her damage output and allowing you to counter-initiate on her for a kill.

Mordekaiser is countered by Fizz in a different way, this requires higher level play than the other counters, because you have to pay attention to your positioning in correspondence to creeps at mid lane. Mordekaiser is almost impossible to trade with in lane, but here's what you have to do with Fizz to counter it: when Morde starts to go up to a creep wave to get his shield up, activate Seastone Trident and then use Urchin Strike to dash through him and be behind him so that any abilities he uses to damage you, he won't get much of a shield from. Continue using basic attacks for the sustained damage and if you start taking too much damage from his creeps, use your Playful / Trickster to break minion aggro and apply the finishing burst for your harass. At level 6, it's the same concept, just follow up with your Chum the Waters and Ignite and the reduced healing (whether it be from ignite or Seastone Trident) will prevent him from surviving your combo.

It's pretty self-explanatory as to why Fizz counters Morgana, He has high burst, sustained damage, AND a reduced healing capability that just completely shuts down Morgana in trades. If you time Playful / Trickster correctly, you can dodge her snare every time and she'll be helpless against you.

Swain's ease to push people out of lane comes from his Torment ability which Fizz can dodge with Playful / Trickster if timed correctly, and once Swain hits 6 Fizz's reduced healing from Seastone Trident combined with the damage over time and Ignite should ensure a kill every trade.







THIS SECTION IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS GUIDE FOR 3 HOURS AND WANT TO TAKE A BREAK >_>

Fizz is a high skill cap champion and requires a lot of practice before you have everything down. I've tried to provide a guide that will help you be one of the best Fizzs in the game as long as you follow it. Be sure to check out the youtube video I provided as it should give you quite a bit more insight on Fizz's main utility. REMEMBER, with this build you will be very squishy until you get further into late game, so be aware of your surroundings and use Playful / Trickster wisely. Thanks for checking out my guide on Mobafire and I hope it helps!

Feel free to post any comments about the build and I will update the build if you point out something that I missed!

Play Video