League of Legends: Fiddlesticks Guide

Follow the yellow brick road... If I only had a brain… Picture that loveable Scarecrow as the subject of a demonic possession and you’ll come close to describing this abomination. A wretched sack complete with jagged wyrmwood limbs and green, lustrous, piercing eyes- Fiddlesticks is quite a sight to behold. No ordinary scarecrow, Fiddlesticks’ form houses the darkest of souls. This dark being, a product of Noxan sorcery, was spurned by even the Noxans themselves. Fiddlesticks cannot help but to instill fear on his victims. It is this fear too, which fuels his already terrifying magical skills. Perhaps even more troubling is the mythical aura which seems to surround Fiddlesticks. Few know exactly what he is capable of for few have been able to survive a face to face encounter.

One of those select few lived to tell his tell. He claims that Fiddlesticks is able to summon dark wisps of energy, which ravage other mages into a silent, stupefied state. It is precisely then, in their moment of weakness, that these poor bastards are subjected to the full brunt of Fiddlesticks’ wrath. The scarecrow strikes fear into their hearts as he begins to suck forth the life force from their mortal flesh. Near death, these mages attempt to flee for the last time. Alas, there can be no escape. For his final terrifying trick, Fiddlesticks summons a swarm of demonic crows whos sole purpose is to feed on the hearts of men. When the debris clears, there is no trace of humanity. No light at the end of the tunnel. Only the crows remain. Tearing at the once majestic wizards’ cloaks - now ripped to shreds. 

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Fiddlesticks is without question one of the best all around champions in the game. His crowd control, utility, and the high dps of his ultimate are simply unparalleled. If you have the opportunity to play him, by all means do it. He’s a valuable asset to any team combo. Triple, quadra, and penta kills are all within reach for Fiddlesticks.Timing is key though. One second too late and your quarry escapes. One second too early and you’ll end up eating humble crow pudding (pun intended) :P

At first glance, Fiddlesticks seems like a pretty straightforward hero to play. However, many players end up feeding as Fiddle primarily because they lack the patience to play him to his full potential. If I had to name the most important thing to doing well with Fiddlesticks, it would be patience. Contrary to popular belief, Fiddlesticks is one of the LEAST item dependent mages. However, don’t use this fact as an excuse to play recklessly and feed (who would ever do such a thing?) =D For this guide, I’m going to start with a discussion of abilities followed by a section on itemization and basic strategy.

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Passive: Dread- This is a wonderful passive that gives you 16 MR reduction at level 1! This makes your spells hit harder and it benefits your team throughout the game. It also synergizes well with magic pen runes and items.

Terrify- A 3 second CC on level 5. Absolutely invaluable. Need I say more? Well, I will =D. Terrify is great for setting up Drain and Crowstorm. Crowstorm + Terrify + Drain is a very potent combo which I will get into more later.

Drain- A 6 second channeling lifesteal. Very very useful for jungling. This skill also synergizes very well with Terrify. Terrify + Drain is an effective way to get enemies off your back. The Drain/Fear combo is particularly strong against melee champs who must come within range of your spells to engage you. With this combo, you’ll make them think twice before taking you on alone. If you can get the whole 6 seconds in at rank 5, this spell deals/heals 960 damage.

Dark Wind- A bouncing silence/nuke which can hit the same enemy multiple times. This spell is one of the best in the game. It’s multi-purpose. It’s great for farming/last hitting creeps, jungling, and it’s wonderful for team fights. Pop this spell in a 5v5 and you have effectively silenced the enemy team for the duration. Needless to say, this spell goes a long way towards winning team fights.

Crowstorm- A blink/aoe aura, which deals heavy damage to nearby enemies for 5 seconds. This skill is money. It will get you kills, double kills, penta kills, and even the occasional ace. If you can manage to blink on top of an enemy and fear them before they can escape, it’s almost a guaranteed kill every time. Setting this off on a group of enemies huddled together is even more potent. If your team is able to flank effectively, you can literally murder the entire enemy team.

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Priority: Crowstorm>Dark Wind>Terrify>Drain

Dark wind is taken first for farming. Taking Terrify at Lv 2 affords you great protection from early ganks/harassment. If anyone tries to get near you, fear them, take a step back, and nuke/attack them from a distance. Rank 2 Drain is required for jungle/golem, so if you want golem, it’s smart to get it by Lv5. Terrify is preferred over Drain because it’s such a great CC. Crowstorm is self explanatory.

I almost always start with a Sapphire Crystal + mana/hp pots. From there I get boots/catalyst/Meki Pend. The Catalyst can become ROA or Banshees Veil. Most of the time I go Banshees for protection against my ult being interrupted. The Boots become Sorc Shoes for the magic pen. The Meki Pendent can go into Chalice or Fiendish Codex depending on the situation. If I have easy access to the golem, I’ll skip the Chalice. If not, I might consider getting it over Codex. If the other team is tank/hp heavy, Codex is also a great choice since I can eventually use it to make Deathfire Grasp: the ultimate anti-tank item for mages.

Meja’s Soulstealer is also a great item on Fiddlesticks. As Fiddle, you have the potential to get lots and lots of kills. Meja’s rewards you for them in the form of bonus AP. Take this as early as possible if you’re doing well in the kill/assist department. Another great item to take is Rylai’s Scepter. The AP, HP, and the slow it adds to your spells are all very strong benefits. Aside from the items I mentioned already, Abyssal Scepter, Frozen Heart, and Zhonaya’s Ring are all clear winners.

As you can see, there are so many great items that Fiddlesticks can take. The main stats you want to itemize for are: CD reduction, MR pen/reduction, and AP. However, you also need Mana and HP. If you have easy access to the golem, you can afford to skimp a bit on Mana and CD reduction. Also, with regard to Rylai’s, I find it to be more like icing on the cake. It helps, but it’s not required to do well.

If your team is carry heavy and you find yourself in more of a support/CC role, then consider taking Soul Shroud. The CD aura/Mana Regen are very helpful if you’re playing support. I usually don’t take on a support role with Fiddle, but it does happen occasionally depending on the team composition.

It’s difficult to pick a definitive final inventory. The items depend highly on the particular game, allies, enemies, and the needs of the team. However, if I had to pick 6 items without factoring in any of these variables they would be:

Sorc Shoes, Banshees Veil, Abyssal Scepter, Meja’s Soulstealer, Frozen Heart, and Rylai’s Scepter.

Again, by no means are these the be all end all as far as items go.

The clear choices here are: Ghost/Teleport, Ghost/Flash, or Flash/Teleport. Teleport is good for farming/ganking/pushing. Teleporting to wards, Teemo’s mushrooms, or Shaco’s JITBs are all great strategies. Ghost is good for chasing enemies with Crowstorm. Likewise, Flash is great for positioning your Crowstorm into a group of enemies. Flash and Ghost are also useful for escaping ganks.

For runes I do it like this:

Reds: Magic Pen | Blues: CD Reduction | Yellow: HP/Lv | Quints: Flat HP

For all casters I go 9/0/21.

Offense is taken far enough to get the 3% CD reduction and 15% Magic Pen.

Defense is ignored completely.

Utility is taken far enough to get the 4% CD reduction. The other points in Utility are up to you. Personally, I go for the 5% Exp Bonus, the Mana Regen, the time bonus to neutral buffs, and the 15% CD decrease for summoner skills.

Try to get mid solo. If that’s not possible, take the lane adjacent to the golem. The spammability of Dark Wind makes Fiddlesticks a great solo. Terrify and Drain also allow you to harass enemies very well – especially early. If you’re laning against less experienced players, they may, albeit foolishly, attempt to rush you.

If someone tries to 1v1 you at mid, first reposition yourself behind a minion wave. If they continue to chase you, let them get in close so you can fear them near the minions. While they’re feared, immediately begin to Drain them. At this point, the wave of minions should be attacking them as well. If they’re not dead already, the fear will have worn off and the enemy will likely be making a run for it. As they flee, Dark Wind them. If they’re still not dead, look at the CD left on your spells. If the CD is up on Terrify or Drain, you can try using Flash to reengage and nuke them once more. If you’re laning with an ally, you can apply this same process while coordinating with them. Early on, it isn’t imperative that you get kills as long as you can harass the enemy and hinder their farming.

Early game, Dark Wind is going to be your main farming/last hitting skill. The best way to farm with Dark Wind is to target minions on the verge of death. Don’t worry about timing it perfectly to take out entire mobs. Simply try to last hit at least 1 minion per cast of Dark Wind. If you can accomplish this, you’ll find that many times you’ll end up last hitting 3-4 minions.

When I’m farming, I also try to aim for minions adjacent to enemy champions. This way, I’m able to slingshot Dark Wind onto enemy champions without having to target them exclusively. Doing so allows me to capitalize financially on each cast of Dark Wind while simultaneously hindering the enemy. As the game goes on and your Mana pool increases, you can increasingly use Drain to last hit minions. Early on, however, you’re better served by saving your Mana for Dark Wind.

Fiddlesticks jungling ability is higher than any other mage in the game. With Drain, Fiddle can heal himself while damaging the neutrals at the same time. This allows you to jungle earlier and longer than most champs. It also allows you to take out the golem sooner and more frequently. In addition to Drain, Dark Wind also provides a great boost to your jungling. The neutral camps all have 2-3 minions for which you can bounce Dark Wind.

At the top of my list, I’d put fellow disablers/stealth champions. These include: Twitch, Shako, Malphite, Alistar, Blitzcrank, etc. These types of champs syngergize wonderfully with Terrify, Dark Wind, and Crowstorm. Chaining stuns/disables and coupling them with high bust damage is a very potent killing tool. Tanky characters also work great with Fiddlesticks. They provide a meat shield to draw enemies in so that you can set up a perfectly placed Crowstorm.

You never want to initiate team battles with Fiddlesticks. I never initiate against more than 2 enemies. The risk/reward is just not worth it. In team battles, you want to have your tanks/carries go in first and draw the enemies’ fire. During this time, you want to find a patch of grass to hide in, if possible. If you’re not near any, hide just outside the fog of war. Once the enemies begin focusing on your tanks, you can Crowstorm in, Dark Wind, and fear/drain their highest dps threat. If you time it just right, you can walk away with a pentakill/ace.

Thank you for reading my guide to Fiddlesticks the Harbinger of Doom. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please give me some positive feedback. To do so, just click the vote up button below. Thanks!