Fiddlesticks Build Guide by Achillzy

Intro

Welcome to my Fiddlesticks Guide

I will try to explain how to play Fiddlesticks; use of his abilities, teamfights etc.

Hopefully you know how to play Fiddlesticks after this. Any questions or remarks? Just pm. (Im not English so yeah...sorry for any bad grammer and vocabulary)

Pro's and Conn's

Pro's
- Insane Teamfight potential
- Has Terrify as a hard CC
- High sustain
- Has Dark Wind to control enemy AP casters
- Underrated 1v1 potential
- Can be played as a supporting jungle if not fed due to high utility.
- Shuts down any assasin if played correctly


Conn's
- Is fairly squishy
- Is VERY dependand of 1st Blue Buff
- Is vunerable to early invades
- Can be countered by (over)warding
- Can be shutdown fairly easily if not played correctly
- Lacks waveclear
- Has a hard time in 2 (or more) versus [fiddlesticks].
- Relatively weak ganker.

Abilities

Terrify is Fiddlesticks (Q) Ability: It is fear which prevents any actions including movement, abilities and SS like Flash. It is a hard crowd control (CC) ability which has no casting time and no delay; it hits champions immediately! It is a very usefull tool to shutdown champions like LeBlanc, Katarina, Zed and Fizz. The fear lasts for 2.25 seconds at max level.
Some things which you should really consider while using this ability:
Who do I want to target?


1st -->
Always try to go for an assasin first. Champions like Katarina and Fizz can kill your ADC within seconds if you do not use it on them. They are also really squishy and provide (most of the time) a decent amount of damage from the enemy team.

2nd -->
there are no real assasins in the enemy team or they pose no threat --> ADC.

3th -->
Most threatening target (If your carries are in danger)

4th -->
Most squishy target (If you engage into the enemy team).

You will learn who to target the more you play Fiddlesticks. There are always exceptions.

Sometimes it is better to hold your q when near enemy champions. Try to think like this: Do I need it now to safe myself or others? Do I need it now to kill a more valuable player? Am I able to kill a less valuable player and get out after I used my Q? etc.
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Drain is Fiddlesticks (W) ability: It is an channeling leashing ability. It ' Drains' hp from your opponent and heals you for up to 80% at max level!. This ability gets underrated by lots of players in a 1v1 trade, because it can wreck your opponent completely due to the insane heal and damage at a low cooldown. The real issue with your Drain is the channeling, which can be easily shutdown by enemys like Vayne. thats why timing and combo'ing your abilities is vital when you use this ability (Check combos chapter).

The use of this ability outside of combo'ing is also quite good, but not that hard. Use it to sustain (at late game you can get full hp with one Drain) by jungling.

In teamfights, only use it when you are NOT a priority target. You will get instantly shutdown if you do. Try to hit enemys at closer range so the leash wont break that easily.
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Dark Wind is Fiddlesticks (E) ability: Crows!: This ability sends out a crow that hits one unit, does damage, silences for 1.2 seconds, and then hops towards the next hostile unit to repeat that for up to five times. This ability has some INSANE potential if you use it right! You can basically silence the entire team for 1.2 seconds, or some of the champions for even longer.

Try to use this on the AP caster or ability dependand champions; like LeBlanc, Rumble and Syndra. The ability works at it best when other champions are close to your target, so the crow will hop on to other champions and silence them as well. If the AP caster and another champion are close to each other but no other enemy unit is around, either one of them is your primary target.

You can use this ability when minions are in range, but since the crow randomly choses a target, it can hop onto other minions which you do not want in a TF (teamfight)

Dark Wind is the only form of 'waveclear' Fiddlesticks has (cuz you dont want to use your ulti for it), and (most of the time) can only instakill the ranged minions. This can be kind of annoying if your the one who has to clear up that monsterwave of creeps.
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Crowstorm is Fiddlesticks (R) ; Ultimate ability: It is a channeling ability that makes you flash towards a close range target, and create a ' Crowstorm' around you that does tons of AOE (Area of Effect) damage!

The most vital things about this ability is positioning!: The channel takes 1.5 seconds and you can be easily denied if you do not use it properly. You can catch your targets offguard by a sudden ult from bushes or unwarded territory and do huge damage. (Check Fiddle Plays chapter)

The Ult ability is fairly useless in 1v1 fights since any form of CC will deny it andsquishy targets can run away from your target location. It also has a cooldown which makes it usefull for waveclear only in emergency situations.

Still it is one of the most powerfull teamfight ults in the game. A Crowstorm which lands you between 3 or more champions can easily win your team the fight. Squishy champions cant really afford to stand in it and tanks will still take a large amount of damage from your Crowstorm. If you hit your Terrify on a squishy target in your Crowstorm it will be (almost) dead.

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Leveling your abilities

You need your Drain first to sustain the jungle:
You level your Dark Wind 2nd unless you want to help your midlaner with an early gank (if thats the case level Terrify 2nd).
Get your Terrify at level 4 so you can gank.
Max your Drain first for fast jungle clears, sustain and damage.
Max your Terrify second to make ganks more effective. (the Dark Wind silence wont get longer after leveling, and you do no not really need the damage).
Ofcourse your ult should get leveled at any time possible (6/11/16)

Items

Starting Items
I personally prefer Amplifying Tome over Hunter's Machete because:
- you get more AP damage for first ganks
- It does not slow your jungle clearing
- You do not need the health pots because of your Drain
- It is also needed for your Stalkers Blade


Rush
Try to go for Zhonya's Hourglass and Stalkers Blade - Magus as fast as possible. Also try to get boots for faster jungling and ganking.
Stalkers Blade - Magus hightens your jungle clearance.
Zhonya's is a MUST item for Fiddlesticks. At any engage into the enemy team you will get instakilled if you do not use it. The Crowstorm still works after the use of Zhonya's.


Core
Rabadon's Deathcap gives Fiddlesticks the insane damage he needs.
Void Staff Is necassary against MR stacking Champions (Lategame)
As a jungler you need an Oracle's Lens to clear wards for ganks and later on for baron.
Sorcerer's Shoes Give you extra Mpen and movement speed which you need for jungling.
Boots of Mobility is also an option.


Other Items
Abyssal Mask is an item which gives you extra damage, Mpen and MR. You can use it:
- If they are AP focussed
- If they do not stack MR

Rylia's Crystal Scepter gives you a very usefull slow and some nice HP
You can use it:
- If you need some extra sustain
- If you or your team needs a slow
- If you want more damage

Will of the Ancients Gives you extra Spell Vamp which is really usefull on both your Drain AND Crowstorm, It also gives some extra CDR.
You can use it:
- If you need extra sustain in engages (Your ult heals you)
- If your Drain gets outscaled by enemy champs.
- If you want to spam your abilities more. Most people underestimate 10% CDR.
- If you want to heal during your Zhonya's Hourglass time.

When to pick & champions to play with

Fiddlesticks is an AP teamfighter with lots of CC
Pick Fiddlesticks when:

- You lack AP damage
- You seriously lack AOE
- You seriously lack CC
- You want to shutdown champions like Katarina
- You have a champion with AOE stuns like Lissandra, Braum or Thresh


Do not pick Fiddlesticks when:

- You have an AP- focussed top- and midlaner
- You are playing against early invade champions like Lee Sin
- You are playing against a splitpush focussed team.
- You expect an fight for blue (due to strong early picks)
- You need a tanky jungler.


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Champions to play with:
- Champions with an AOE CC like Lissandra, Zyra and Thresh

Combo's

Fiddlesticks has some relatively easy and some harder combo's:

Most easily:
Non-ult damage dealing.



Ult engage into enemy team.



- disengage

use Terrify to disengage and Dark Wind as the Terrify timer runs out while you are running away

1v1's
-Enemy has no CC (This way the enemy will be silenced after the fear)



Enemy had CC but you can tank him for some time



(they will interrupt you)
If not just keep Draining, if you cant win disengage).

If they do CC your Drain do:

if you want to keep on the trade. If not disengage
- Enemy has CC and you cant tank him: Disengage
- Enemy is assasin and has high damage but denyableult like Katarina or an ALL in from LeBlanc
HOLD Terrify till the other champion ults (or in LeBlanc's case after her (Q) Sigil of Malice):



till ult then



As you gain skill with Fiddlesticks you will notice all skills can be used in all kinds of combinations really, depending on the situation. I just gave some options. You will have to learn the exception to the basics. Also when you can win from a champion by trading and when its better to disengage. Before you use your Terrify Always check: could other enemy champions be nearby? because you will miss your only form of disengage.

Fiddlesticks Plays

It is quite hard to write about where to engage and some nice places to engage: So check out these video's about some Fiddlesticks plays and how the pro's do it.