Fizz Build Guide by Qbius

Greetings

Hey.

If you are reading this, then most likely you're a friend of mine who asked me how to play Fizz. That's cool.

Since he is my most played, I have accumulated quite an amount of experience concerning his playstyle. Giving this knowledge a quasi-physical form in a shape of a mobafire guide seems like a very convenient thing to me, since right now instead of covering every little thing I can just drop you the url leading here. That way you can learn the theory behind this adorable blue critter without me doing anything. That is convenient, isn't it.

If you're a random guy who lurked the depths of the mobafire Fizz guides and somehow ended up here, then I am afraid the whole thing won't seem very convincing to you. You're better up with solomid or toopro anyhow, they've got guides that mobafire can only dream of.

Let's start with a quick overview of what you want to do as Fizz:

- You want to get fed. Fizz is a snowbally assassin. You either kill or do nothing besides dealing moderate damage and providing an unreliable knock-up once in a while.
- You want to be an annoying little cu.nt to your enemy. He bullies almost all lanes so hard it's stupid. Denying farm and experience is part of every successful Fizz game ever.
- You want to try to get your other lanes get fed. Being a natural roamer, Fizz should be a nightmare not only for his lane, but for all your opponents. When fed as Fizz in a team who is considerably farmed, for the enemy team it is either "Focusing the Fizz and dying to the rest of his team." or "Focusing on the rest of the team and getting destroyed by Fizz".

We are going to cover a typical Fizz game here

The Very Beginning

Go mid. I won't be saying anything about top laner, or - god forbid - jungling Fizz here.

Most importantly, don't use your skill point yet.

Your most typical example of the beginning of the game is helping your jungler with one of the lesser jungle camps and then leashing him the buff camp. In such a case, you will want to level up your Seastone Trident just after your jungler is finished with wolfs/wraiths. To leash, activate your freshly leveled W, attack the buff monster once, and go straight to your lane.

If you're invading, which isn't certainly your thing, since you're just a poor little fishy with no reliable CC pre-6, you generally want to spend the point to learn Playful / Trickster, but try to avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary. (That is, when your rectum is being ravaged and you need to get out ASAP.)

Invading teams ALWAYS show up before the time the lesser jungle camps appear, which is the reason you don't want to invest the first skill point by then. If you find yourself in a rather unsatisfying situation, proceed to learn how to E away.

Duh, the whole thing was pretty straight-forward. Why not just take Playful / Trickster level 1 at ALL times?

Thing is, most of the time you won't use it once during your level 1. It eats your mana like crazy, if you are going to spam it all day long since the very first character level then enjoy not having enough mana to even harass your opponent. Seastone Trident is a superior level 1 choice in every single case which doesn't include Playful / Trickster saving your a.ss.

The Laning Phase (Pre-6)

We are assuming you took W as your first skill. This ability helps with last-hitting like crazy. The DoT makes it so you can pull a Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions at most minions, which is not only awesome but extremely useful as well. Activating Seastone Trident just to farm at the very first levels is not such a bad idea due to its low cost.

Level 2. Take Urchin Strike. Since you now possess your full harass combo, you can start thinking about harming your opponent. Mind that you still lack a disengage. You will typically want to wait with doing anything till you're level 3, but if you're up against someone rather weak early, say Kassadin or Katarina, the rape train starts at this moment.

Level 3. Now you're beginning to look like a broken piece of annoying **** you are (At least that is how things look like in lane). Just as soon as you hit 3 and you learn all your skills, WQ your lane opponent and quickly E away. Do it always, in all games. Unless, of course, your lane opponent is a Ryze under his tower. In a vast majority of your games though, WQ+E-away should be the beginning of your third level.

The fun thing here is that your opponent will be now at a little over half health. 70% of games you can kill your enemy if he gets too close after this. Since this time your E will be used offensively and you still have your Ignite, you can imagine that the kill potential in this situation is extremely apparent. Most of the time your opponent won't be so stupid as to give you a kill, which is why he becomes extremely cautious after your Harass Combo. He has to wait till his Health Potion will start to show effects, which makes it so he is forced to either farm using his abilities, or back off completely. If he doesn't have pots though, then it's a Base-or-Death situation for him. Fizz likes that.

Continue to be an annoying little blue fishy. If they get too cocky, WQ+E-away to scare them off. Important point-and-click spells, say Null Sphere, can of course be avoided using your Playful / Trickster, but please try to limit that as much as possible, due to its tendency to drain your mana completely. Against harass spells such as Lucent Singularity (Which are WAY more common), learn how to use Urchin Strike to dodge them. It moves you a very large distance forward after all.

The Laning Phase (Post-6)

Roam.

When you play Twisted Fate, your goal is to use your ultimate whenever it is off cooldown. The same thing applies here. Chum the Waters is an EXTREMELY capable ganking ability. If you find yourself unable to use it effectively against your lane opponent due to him playing very carefully, think about using it on other lanes. In many cases you don't even need your ultimate. Even as early as when the game transitions from early to mid, Fizz's damage is ridiculous. WQE (not "-away", meaning you want to use it offensively) + help from your lanes is enough to kill practically anyone.

Wards don't stop you. Most of the time they are going to be at the entrance to the river. When roaming, go the Baron Nashor / Dragon (depends on what lane you are ganking, of course) lair and jump over the wall to the other side, and proceed to enter the lane from the tribush. Even if that is warded, most of the time your opponent(s) will be too far away from their turret to escape you.

If not roaming, you are going to do everything you did until now, but even better. WQ+E-away your opponent when given a chance. That makes them somehow low, at least when it comes to bursting them down with a Fizz. When they are not expecting anything, surprise them with a Chum the Waters, WQ to them, Ignite them and - depending on their current health - use your E either offensively or to back off. YOUR AUTOATTACKS FRIGGIN HURT. When under the slow from your shark, you should be able to tag your enemies a few times.

Teamfights

Your role here is what every assassin in the game has to do. Wait till the battle breaks out, find a dislocated squishy part of the enemy team, kill it within 0 seconds and back out. Playful / Trickster is the best disengaging ability in the game. Do NOT use it to get close to your target. If you can't Q to them, they are out of your reach. In most cases, the moment you use E in teamfights, you die. True, you still have Flash, but mind it does not have the benefit of negating all damage that your enemies tossed at you before you escaped.

As Chum the Waters stops at the first enemy champion it hits, most of the time in teamfights you will have to use it point-blank. If you are ahead and you know that your ultimate can take a huge chunk of health of ANY enemy champion, consider initiating the whole fight with it and simply kill the unlucky guy who got the fish. Most of the time though, save it. Save it for the AD Carry, save it for the AP carry, save it for the bruiser if he goes in to deep. If the enemy tank gets hit by it, consider it wasted.


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If you, by any chance, find a lone enemy champion (who is NOT a tank) in the jungle, hit him with Chum the Waters, active W, Urchin Strike them, and let them taste ignite while unleashing your furious autoattacks. If he isn't dead by the time sharky hit him, too bad. Chances are, the entire enemy team is right behind you. That's why I haven't mentioned E at all. After you get (or don't get) the kill, run for your life and use E to escape any sticky situations.

Item choices, Mastery reasons, Rune variations

ITEMS:

At the very top of the guide you can see the item build you will build in majority, if not all, of your games. That is Fizz's core.

Double Doran Rings add that little bit of survivability you need at the beginning. Sheen adds so much to your burst it's ridiculous. And although Lich Bane is even better, it isn't all that amazing until we get some more AP. Rabadon's Deathcap is my first big item practically always, since Fizz scales beautifuly off AP. Mind the 1.0 ratio on his ultimate.

Most of the time you will want to return to your base when you have enough for double dorans and some useful consumables (namely couple of Health Potions and maybe a Sight Ward). If you find yourself possessing a greater amount of cash, maybe due to getting a first blood, Sorcerer's Shoes + Doran's Ring is an amazing first trip back. Magic Penetration boosts your damage like nothing else, which is why you will not be building Sheen until after you upgrade your boots.

What else?

After collecting your core you become a humongous threat. A Rabadon's + Lich Bane Fizz can destroy every squishy in a matter of seconds. After completing this two items, I find myself going into three different paths. That is, three different items of course.


Bursty mage's best friend. Consider building Deathfire Grasp when very ahead to further show your opponent when their place is.


An overall amazing item. It lets you actually engage in fights with Playful / Trickster. Build ONLY if somehow ahead. It doesn't add to your damage at all, which is why you want to build it that fast only if your core has been finished rather early in the game.

/
Against situations when the enemy team has a fed physical/magical damage dealer.

WHAT TO FINISH MY BUILD WITH?

And the items mentioned above are all great choices.

USE ONLY IF GETTING CONSTANTLY EATEN ALIVE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING:

If after the laning phase your score looks like 0/5/0 rather than 5/0/0, then let's face it, there isn't much you can do. Fortunately you can dish out some damage even in such a case, but getting all the money for a Rabadon's Deathcap seems like and IS an impossibility in a long run. Getting an Abyssal Mask first lets you still be a threat to an enemy due to the aura. You are melee, which is why the range nerf doesn't affect you at all.

MASTERIES

I use my standard AP Carry rune page for Fizz. Besides the obvious 21 in offense, you could of course spend the remaining points in either Defense or Utility.

My reasoning behind going for Utility is Runic Affinity . Most mid laners like Blue, and Fizz does too, but he absolutely loves Red. Also, mana masteries make it so your mana pool is not a problem at any stage of the game.

At the beginning I recommend spending the 9 points in Defense as it considerably improves your survivability and thus helps in learning the champion.

Against heavy damage laners with which Fizz can have problems, such as Annie, consider going 9/21/0.

And if you are really looking for fun, try 29/0/1, taking Brute Force , Alacrity and Weapon Expertise . The only point spent in utility then is the Flash's cooldown reduction.

RUNES

There isn't really much you can do here.

Marks are pretty much obvious, due to the fact there is simply no other choice for a heavy AP champion other than the penetration.

There are several paths you can take with Seals.
- You are melee, and thus you are prone to take a bunch of autoattacks on your face. Consider taking Armor.
- When new to Fizz, you will probably be unfamiliar with proper managing of his mana pool, thus think about Mana Regen.
- You can also, like me, go with Health/level seals to gear against magic damage-dealers even more. Health is what matters against bursty wizards, and at level 18 you will find yourself having an extra Ruby Crystal that doesn't take an item slot.

Glyphs can also be a topic for a discussion:
- A mixture of scaling and non-scaling Magic Resist can be crucial against difficult laners and ensure extra survivability.
- I like boosting my damage with glyphs. Fizz scales with AP so well it's stupid, and Glyphs give a vast amount of it.

Quintessences present choices as well:
- Movement Speed is good on everyone. I would not use them in case of Fizz, however, as he for one isn't a champion who has a problem chasing people down.
- Health Regen can provide a huge boost to your survivability.
- Ability Power seems like the best choice for reason I've already explained before.

IN GENERAL: STATISTICS HIERARCHY

- What Fizz likes the most is, by far, Ability Power. This is your number one stat you want to get on this champion. EVERYTHING he has scales off AP, even his AutoAttacks.
- The second most important skill would be Magic Penetration, due to his damage being 90% magical.
- Offensive statistic that comes third in Fizz's hierarchy of needs is Cooldown Reduction, due to obvious reasons.
- Defensive values such as Armor, Magic Resist and Health should be placed here.
And everything else doesn't really matter.

Please DO remember

that you do NOT need Attack Speed on him. DoT on Seastone Trident only refreshes duration on subsequent hits, and its active damage is only a small minority of all Fizz's damage.
Same goes for Spell Vamp:
- Seastone Trident does NOT proc Spell Vamp.
- Playful / Trickster and Chum the Waters are both AoE abilites.

Who to be scared of and who should be scared of you

YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE A HARD TIME AGAINST THOSE:

This little girl here relies on her stun. Even though you can negate Disintegrate with your E, her stun won't go off then and will be ready for her next spell. There is no way for you to avoid getting hit by Summon: Tibbers which is her main damaging ability. Molten Shield is a nightmare.

WHAT DO: 9/21/0 Masteries, preferably more defensive approach when it comes to runes. Magic Resist glyphs are a must. Consider Health Regen quints. Your jungler has to camp your lane, try to feed off other lanes.


It is impossible for you to kill him. It is extremely hard to roam when up against him. Galio can push lanes really hard, which is why he leaves you with a choice of either trying to get fed or saving your turret. In most cases you won't have both. Each tick of your DoT heals him if he used Bulwark.

WHAT DO: Do EVERYTHING YOU CAN to make him go back to his base, and then go roaming. It is going to be extremely hard, but is practically the only thing you can do.

/
Champions you simply cannot fight. Pantheon blocks most of your damage and can harass you from distance. Talon has a silence.

WHAT DO: Armor seals, 21/9/0 or even 9/21/0 masteries. Roam a lot. Ask jungler for a very early gank.

MIND THOSE GUYS:

Treated as a natural counter to Fizz. Has a targeted instant snare which is the most gay thing to you, ever.

HOW TO WIN: Play VERY cautiously at the very beginning. Start playing VERY aggressively once you are 4. You want to kill this guy over and over. Use the time just after he uses his snare on you to teach him a lesson.


You cannot avoid Malefic Visions by any means, his Nether Grasp as well. Malzahar is able to push the lane with ease which prevents you from roaming effectively.

HOW TO WIN: You will want to harass him a lot just before you both hit 6. At 6, kill him before he has chance to react. After 6 do NOT towerdive, unless you are confident your WQ will kill him immidiately.

FIZZ STOMPS ALL OVER THOSE GUYS:

Playful / Trickster negates all of her kit besides her ultimate.
Playful / Trickster negates all of his kit as well as his ultimate.

And generally everything that relies heavily on abilities you can avoid by pressing E.

Little tricks

Generally people consider Playful / Trickster as Fizz's "escape", but actually three of his abilitites are escapes.

If a scary guy is chasing you, drop a fish on him and he will not heavy any hopes of catching up.

Urchin Strike moves you forward a set distance. When escaping, try to take routes by enemy minions, and use Q on them to be even further away from the enemy. When surrounded by enemy champions, simply Urchin Strike by the one who is on the way to safety. This ability makes it impossible for enemy champions to "cut off" your escape.

Playful / Trickster can, of course, be used to jump over walls. All but the thickest ones can be jumped over using this ability. What is most important:
- It is possible to jump over Baron Nashor / Dragon walls.
- It is possible to enter Blue and Red through their walls (though there are places in the walls where it is impossible. See for yourself)
- It is impossible to jump over the Base walls.
- It is impossible to enter the Wraith camp directly from the middle lane.

As Urchin Strike moves you a set distance, when used behind your enemy, can be used as a disengage (Maybe escaping from a tower).

Please do remember that Playful / Trickster immediately ignores any turret shots on you. That makes Fizz the only champion who sometimes wants to towerdive simply to HARASS. (Do NOT use against Ryze, unless he used Rune Prison just before)

When up against someone like Lux or Morgana, generally champions with important skillshots, taunt them. Do not hide behind your minions, make it so it should be easy to land the binding on you. If they use it, immidaitely use Playful / Trickster to jump RIGHT ON THEIR FACE, as they are now without a tool to defend themselves.

Use Urchin Strike on targets in front when you have to quickly reach the ones at the back.

Consider playing Fizz mid when you have a Galio support/top on your team. Idol of Durand will gather people close to each other, allowing for Chum the Waters to hit multiple targets.