About the Author: Hello, I'm Gleebglarbu, a challenger player on the NA server and have peaked at rank 4 on the ladder, but am currently sitting at rank 26 in Challenger as of 12/18/13. Fiddlesticks is one of my more commonly picked supports in tournament play because of the power his Terrify along with the high damage he can do in the early to mid stages of the game.




Fiddlesticks is one of the most powerful support picks in the current meta and can excel in both 1v2 and 2v2 laning. His kit is pretty easy to use on a basic level, his main CC, Terrify, is a targeted ability so you don't have to worry about whiffing it like a Nami Aqua Prison, unless you fear a minion of course. The main thing that separates the good Fiddlesticks players from the great Fiddlesticks players is positioning, being in the right spot at the right time is pivotal. Good positioning will allow you to CC key targets and catch the enemy out of position.

Pros

1. High base damage
2. Incredibly long CC on incredibly low cool down
3. AoE silence that can also serve as long range poke
4. Reap's bounces can be very effective in 2v2 fights
5. MR Shred aura to all enemies within 1000 units

Cons

1. Squishy
2. Weak auto attack range (480) compared to the average 550
3. Can be poked down
4. Sustain requires you to put yourself in a vulnerable position

9x 9x 9x 3x

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Greater Mark of Magic Penetration Greater Seal of Armor Greater Glyph of Ability Power Greater Quintessence of Health

9 x Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

All of your skills do magic damage and your auto attacks aren't strong enough to make greater mark of hybrid penetration worthwhile. I take these every game on Fiddlesticks, Greater Mark of Armor will make you more tanky but in 2v2 fights the enemy duo lane will primarily focus your AD instead of you, unless are grossly out of position in which case a little bit of armor is not going to save you.

5 x Greater Seal of Armor


These runes are very effective at mitigating physical damage. They are mandatory as a support because you will be taking physical damage from the enemy AD, the enemy support, and creeps in lane.

9 x Greater Glyph of Ability Power

Fiddlesticks has amazingly high AP ratios which can make you a huge damage threat in lane as long as you take advantage of them. A full Bountiful Harvest, Crowstorm, and one bounce from Reap has a total AP ratio of 4.95, which makes every point of AP you get through runes valuable. If the enemy team has heavy amounts of magic damage or you just want to focus on surviving to make use of your utility, take magic resist instead.


3 x Greater Quintessence of Health

Health quints are really nice to have because they give you a solid boost to your durability which makes your laning a lot safer. 78 HP is a big amount in the early game and can often be the difference between you living or dying in an early game fight.

0/9/21 is the main mastery page I run on Fiddlesticks. It works great on him especially in the new patch, giving him CDR for Terrify, two forms of movement speed to help catch people off guard, and gold generation to help move your build along. Fiddlesticks has pretty low base stats so I like to grab defense to help make him a bit more durable in the lane phase. You can trade off 4 points in the defense tree for more CDR in offense if you choose as well.

This start is emerging as one of the most common builds for supports in the new season. The Sweeping Lens has a very long cool-down before level 9, but can still be very useful for setting up ganks and forcing the enemy to play scared by denying vision. Ancient Coin is the strongest of the 3 new support starts on almost all champions, especially ranged ones, after the nerf to Relic Shield. Getting a ward helps make sure you stay safe in lane and grabbing potions will keep your health and mana high.




These are the items you should aim to buy when you first head back to base. Sightstone will give you vision to protect yourself from ganks and the Nomad's Medallion will give you increased regen as well as gold flow. Picking up a Vision Ward at this stage of the game is nice as well because they no longer have a duration. You can usually put it down in the small bush in the middle of the river early game and often have it last for 10+ minutes because most players just walk through the river without actually checking that location.





This will be the new commonly seen core item set for most of the supports who decide to not itemize as tanks or to be heavy damage threats, neither of which make sense for Fiddlesticks. Talisman of Ascension is an incredibly strong item currently, giving you a whopping 20% CDR, regen stats, and the old active that used to be attached to Reverie. The CDR is incredibly important on Fiddlesticks because it allows you to cast Terrify, your main contribution to fights, more frequently. Mikael's Blessing also saw a massive reduction in price in the new season which makes it almost always a worthwhile purchase. These items will allow you to better set up engages with Crowstorm and Terrify, keep your mana pool afloat in longer fights, and cleanse/heal your allies with Mikael's Blessing's active.

Situational Items

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This item gives you a solid amount of AP as well as an active you can use after casting Crowstorm to protect yourself. Damage is not your main priority as support Fiddlesticks but if you get ahead and have the extra gold to spend it your best bet in terms of damage items.

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Twin Shadows provides you with a large amount of AP as well as movement speed and a useful active. The active can be used to scout unknown areas, catch straggling enemies, or help engage a fight and the movement speed helps you position yourself to get your Terrify off on the correct target.

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This is a nice alternative to Mobility Boots in competitive play. You can spam Terrify and also have your ultimate up more often. It does diminish your ability to roam and get wards across the map, though, so take that into consideration when choosing your boots.

Maxing Terrify first in lane will give you longer duration cc which helps you set up ganks and escape from them. It's hard to rely on getting a full Bountiful Harvest channel or a full set of bounces from Reap. This is the most reliable skill to max and guarantees you will be able to significantly aid you AD in a 2v2 fight.

Bountiful Harvest is maxed second after Terrify because the damage on it along with its healing goes up by a significant amount and its mana cost increases by less with each rank compared to Reap. Reap also does not gain any silence duration increase with rank so you are not losing out on CC duration in a fight by maxing your Bountiful Harvest second.

Reap is maxed last for the reasons above. It is a great one point wonder skill, the cc duration does not increase with rank and the mana cost increases by a large amount with rank. Also, the bounces are not always reliable where as you can be much more assured to get Bountiful Harvest ticks off on a target you fear.


For solo queue, Flash and Ignite are always the best summoners to take. Soloqueue is about snowballing the game and getting a lead for your team, this is easiest to do with the added kill pressure from Ignite. In competitive play, Exhaust is a smarter choice vs certain champions such as Kennen and Zed, while Heal is a strong teamfight summoner against a lot of AoE damage such as Karthus and Vladimir.

Laning as Fiddlesticks is actually very simple compared to other supports who have more skill shot based kits. You have a very powerful level one with Reap, especially if the enemy bot lane clumps up and allows you to bounce it between them. This ability can also be used to shove the wave, ensuring that you hit level two first.

For the early lane phase, use your Vision Ward to get control of the brush you are sitting in and just throw Reap at the enemy whenever you see a good opportunity for it to bounce. Terrify can be used to either go on an enemy who is out of position or to disengage any aggression the enemy bot lane puts on to you.

IMPORTANT TIP: One of the best things you can do as Fiddlesticks is watch your experience bar when you are close to level 6. Hide in a brush during this time so that the enemy will not realize you are level 6. This is the best time to go for an ultimate, the enemy will rarely expect it and it is usually a free double kill. This is because the enemy does not know you have leveled up and when they press tab they still see you as level 5 as long as the brush you are camping in is not warded.

1. Yout passive, A Harmless Scarecrow, gives a de-buff icon to the enemy that they can see whenever the effect is on them, even if they do not have vision of you. Most players will not constantly check their buff bar to see if they have recently had A Harmless Scarecrow applied, but this can give you away if you are camping in a brush.

2. Chain your crowd control. Your Terrify lasts three seconds and the silence on your Reap lasts 1.2 seconds and is reapplied with each bounce. By waiting until your fear is near ending before silencing, you can maximize the amount of time the target is unable to escape.

3. Use minions to cast Reap. You can start a Reap cast on minions that are near the enemy champion in order to have it chain from the minions to the champion, often getting multiple bounces on the champion and allowing you to harass from even farther away.

4. Channel your Crowstorm when the enemy least expects it. Your ultimate is a very powerful skill in 2v2 fights bot, but it has a relatively long cast time. This tip is a bit vague but as you play the champion more it will start to make sense. The best times to use your ult are when the enemy would not suspect you to ult at all, giving them a false sense of confidence which you can then take advantage of by ulting on top of them and securing a double kill for your team.

I hope you enjoyed my guide for Fiddlesticks! This is one of my favorite heroes and his kit offers great damage and disengage , allowing you to bully your laner and also be a menace in teamfights. Following the advice presented here should make you a much better Fiddlesticks player and help you to perform well in lane and in teamfights. If you want to see me play Fiddlesticks, you can follow my stream at www.twitch.tv/gleebglarb1 or follow me on Twitter.