FIDDLESTICKS BUILD GUIDE

 

Introduction

This is a jungle fiddlesticks guide. I will assume that the reader has a fair level of knowledge about the game. Thus my terminology may not be intelligible to a reader who lacks a fair bit of experience with this game. If this applies to you, I suggest that you play more League of Legends before attempting to read this guide.

If you can master fiddle, you will have a lot of control over your games. He is a strong jungler(although he is mana dependent) with great dragon control and unbelievably strong ganks after level 6. With his ultimate he is incredibly strong in team fights and without it he still brings a lot of utility to his team. Fiddle also has great control of baron nash. Once you have a deathcap, a blue buff, and ~ level 12, you can grab an ally and 2-man nash really effectively. He brings a lot to a team.

Fiddle is a really difficult champion to learn. He is fairly easy to master mechanically, but a great deal of decision making skill goes into playing him. You have to learn to make a lot of decisions very quickly. It takes awhile to develop an intuition about how to play him, but the result is extremely rewarding.

Hello friends, I am Entheomancer. I reached a top elo of 2240 elo season one using fiddle(and nocturne). In season two I reached a top elo of 2278 playing jungle. I haven't done too much in season 3 other than reaching diamond 5 on a smurf, but I recently got a request to update this guide while ingame as fiddle. Moreover I noticed that the other featured fiddle guide differs greatly from my own playstyle. So here is my method of playing fiddle.

Are you afraid?

 

Masteries

Take 21 offense, it's really good for closing kills when you gank. The 21 utility approach allows for more ganking, and thus more opportunities to push towers, but I've found that I close the kill much less frequently using 21 utility; and that pisses me off.

For the 9 points in utility, obviously you take the buff duration mastery for your blue buffs. I also get 2 in the activated item cd because your hourglass cooldown is extremely important, even when you don't have your ult.

 

Runes

Reds - Mpen is standard for casters. It will make you scale a lot better with AP.

Yellows - Need armor for the jungle!

Blues - Cdr blues are far and away the best choice for fiddle. I think flat cdr is a better choice than scaling because they help a lot with early buffs/dragons and allow you to gank more frequently with your ultimate. Alternatives are: flat AP, scaling AP, scaling cdr.

Quints - Flat AP quints give you a good early game balance in conjunction with cdr blues. They are really good at boosting your damage for early ganks. There are a lot of Alternatives for quints, since quints are versatile. To list a few: Move speed(if you feel like being really cute), Magic pen, health, % exp gain.

 

Summoner Spells

Smite
Flash

Explanation:
Smite: Every jungler should take smite, even if you do not need it to clear the jungle. You need it for buff control and dragon/baron control.

Flash: Flash is essential for escaping certain situations and re-positioning your ultimate. Sometimes you can use it offensively in conjunction with your basic abilities(ie. flash then fear/drain), but mostly you want to try to save it for your ultimate or for escaping.

 

Skills

Passive: Dread

Nearby enemy champions have their magic resistance reduced by 10.

Explanation: If you are bushed and standing close enough to an enemy, this passive will give the enemy a debuff, which they can see above their skill bar. That is about as far as you have to think this passive through. This rarely creates an issue though, as most players would not notice the debuff quickly enough to react. Also, the debuff shows on nearby enemy minions if you click on them; this is relevant if you are ganking through a lane bush, although again, most people are not observant enough for this to matter.





Q: Terrify

Strikes a target enemy unit with fear, causing it to flee in terror for 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 second(s).

Cooldown 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds

Cost 65/75/85/95/105 mana

Range 575


Explanation: This is essentially a 3 second stun at max level. If you can manage to sneak into an enemy squishy's zone(eg. maybe because they feel safe on their tower), this skill becomes a kill button as long as you have 2 or more allies around. When you are using this skill offensively in a team fight, you want to try to fear valuable targets, such as carries. Use this ability IMMEDIATELY after using your ultimate. This will allow you to isolate and kill a valuable target while zoning(or killing) the rest of their team.




W: Drain

Drains 50 / 75 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+50% of ability power) health each second from target unit and gives 60/65/70/75/80% of it to Fiddlesticks. Lasts up to 6 seconds.

Cooldown 12 seconds

Cost 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 mana

Range 475

Explanation: Drain is not about when you start channeling drain. Drain is all about when you stop channeling it. You need to learn when to cancel a drain. Enemies like to punish you for standing still. Watch them, and cancel the drain right before they can get you. Obvious things to note: Try to channel drain while you are waiting for your fear and dark wind to come off cooldown. drain gives you good dragon/nash control. Drain allows you to sustain yourself. Drain gives you really strong 1v1 presence. Drain can be a good followup to your opponents using their cc (as they will not be able to cancel your drain until their cc is up again). Try to drain valuable targets in team fights because drain does a lot of damage.





E: Dark Wind

Strikes an enemy target and then bounces to a nearby enemy unit. Deals 65/90/115/140/165 (+45% of ability power) magic damage and silences for 1.2 sec for each strike.

Can bounce up to 5 times and may strike the same target multiple times.

Cooldown 15/14/13/12/11 seconds

Cost 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 mana

Range 600


Explanation: Use this whenever your opponents give you the chance. Damage is damage, and the cooldown is short enough that you will not need to worry about not having it. Use this ability after fear but before drain when you use your ultimate. The silence will help keep them from insta-killing you and can prevent them from flashing away if they are really slow with their flash. This skill is a 1 point wonder.





R: Crowstorm

A murder of crows flock wildly around Fiddlesticks for 5 seconds, dealing 125/225/325 (+45% of ability power) magic damage each second to all enemy units in the area. This has a 1.5 second channel duration and teleports Fiddlesticks to target location.

Cooldown 150/140/130 seconds

Cost 150 / 200 / 250 mana

Range 800


Explanation: CACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACAWCACA. This ability is your bread and butter. Try to use it on clumps of enemies when they are not expecting it. Usually you do not want to initiate with your ult. You want to allow your tank to initiate so that you can dps the enemy team after they have used their initial burst. Otherwise you risk getting insta-killed by the enemy team. A lot of times it is okay to use this on 1 to 2 opponents during the teamfight phase. If you can isolate and kill one opponent with it, your team should be able to win a 4v5 afterwards. Don't be too hesitant to use this ability. The best way to learn how to crowstorm is to use crowstorm.