1) Introduction - Why you should play Fiddlesticks.
Fiddlesticks is an AOE damage dealer with disables and a life drain. With team coordination, you can literally wipe an entire team out in 5 seconds. He's an asset to any team, good at high ELO or any ELO for that matter. Team fights will revolve around you. Fiddlesticks is also a great jungler - this opens up opportunities for your team to outlevel the enemy.
2) Credentials - Why you should trust this guide.
At the time of writing this, I've had 22 wins 4 losses as fiddlesticks with a record of K:231 D:67 A:267. I also have 61 more wins than losses so I'd estimate myself to be mid-high ELO. I most often end a winning game with around 15 kills, 3 deaths, 15 assists. My goal in this guide is to help you achieve similar stats. So, the first thing you need to know:
You are VERY squishy. That means you need to have a mix of HP and AP items. Just because you are a damage champion does NOT mean you buy all damage items. This is the #1 mistake I see in almost every pub game. I call it DPS syndrome. At the very least, you should buy Merc's Treads. This item is way too good to pass up. Having 25 MR + 40% reduction on any debuff is tremendous. Remember: you do 0 damage when you are dead.
3) Runes:
Marks - Magic Penetration
Seals - Mana Regen/lvl or HP/lvl
Glyphs - Flat CD Reduction
Quintessences - Flat HP or Magic Penetration
Magic Penetration runes are a must. Most champions have a base of 30 MR which does not increase with level. Combined with your passive, masteries, and runes (marks) they will only have 8 magic resist the whole game (math in section 7). This means you will be hitting for nearly full damage unless they get MR items. You can also rune more magic penetration quints/glyphs to get the opponent's MR to 0 but you'd have to sacrifice a stat. I would recommend going with quintessences before glyphs.
I generally don't like mana regen runes because I feel that it an early game stat. Fiddlesticks is an exception though. He rarely has to blue pill to heal because of drain. Mana regen runes work particularly well with this build because you won't have mana regen items aside from catalyst. This build relies on getting the golem buff whenever you can. You will eventually run out of mana if you do not have the golem buff or use mana regen runes. At lvl 5, mana regen/lvl > flat mana regen. You should always have the golem buff during those levels so there is no point in getting the flat mana regen.
You want flat cooldown reduction because 9 runes gives you 6% CDR. Combined with masteries, you'll have 15% CDR at level 1. Add a golem buff on top of that and you'll be maxed out on CDR without any items.
4) Masteries:
9/0/21 with 2/2 Utility Mastery
5) Summoner Spells
Flash + Ghost
Great spells that can be used both offensively and defensively. These are the best spells to have during a team battle. Why? Because your job is to keep people in crowstorm. Misplaced your crowstorm? Use flash to reposition it. Did the enemy run away while you were channeling? Use ghost to catch up to them. Other enemies will also have flash and ghost and will try to run away from you when you crowstorm. Show them that they cannot run away by doing the same.
Other Acceptable Spells
Teleport
Clairvoyance - You should always have someone on your team with this
Don't get:
Smite - If you know how to jungle you don't need smite. Waste of a summoner spell.
Fortify - Good skill, but for someone else on your team.
6) Skill Order:
1. [W] Drain (1)
2. [E] Dark Wind (1)
3. [W] Drain (2)
4. [Q] Terrify (1)
5. [E] Dark Wind (2)
6. [R] Crowstorm (1)
7. [E] Dark Wind (3)
8. [Q] Terrify (2)
9. [Q] Terrify (3)
10. [Q] Darkwind (4)
11. [R] Crowstorm (2)
12. [Q] Terrify (4)
13. [E] Dark Wind (5 - Max)
14. [Q] Terrify (5 - Max)
15. [W] Drain (3)
16. [R] Crowstorm (3 - Max)
17. [W] Drain (4)
18. [W] Drain (5 - Max)
Dark Wind > Drain. Drain builds suck. Noone is going to sit there and let you drain them. Anyone that is competent will interrupt your drain or run away. So why level 2 drain early game? Because you need it to kill dragon at level 4. Generally the rule is level up Dark Wind and Terrify evenly, with Dark Wind taking priority. If you are getting owned really bad, you should consider leveling Terrify more.
7) Items:
Start: Amplifying Tome + HP pot
First trip back: Boots + Mejai's
Final Item Build:
* Mejai's Soulstealer
* Merc's Treads
* Banshee's Veil
* Rylai's Scepter
* Zhonya's Ring
6th Item is always situational, but here are some suggestions:
Abyssal Scepter / Sunfire Cape / Thornmail / Guardian Angel / Void Staff
You should buy the items in that order. Ok you're probably wondering, how am I going to do leet DPS with no damage items? The truth is, you don't need them. All you need is Mejai stacks from early-mid game. With your -MR passive and Magic Penetration runes, you will be doing a lot of damage early on. Spells will hit with nearly no mitigation. At full duration, crowstorm hits for 750+ dmg (at lvl 1) and Drain does 450 dmg (at lvl 2). The most important part is building survivability during this time so A) You won't lose your Mejai stacks and B) Mid-Late game when the enemy team gets stronger, you will not repetitively die over and over like all the other glass cannons. I've maxed out 20 stacks on Mejai's as early as level 11. That is 180 AP, which is more than enough for mid game. The truth is, people will probably not get magic resist, if at all, until mid-late game, so you won't need to build AP until then. Most people have DPS syndrome anyway and will probably just build all damage items (another reason why you get survivability).
Last item is your choice. The game should be over by the time you have Zhonya's Ring. You'll have a whooping 3000+ HP with 537 AP and 112 MR. Your crowstorms will do 2800+ damage unmitigated. If you are actually dying frequently, get another defense item. If you have trouble with physical DPS, get a thornmail. If you want more damage, are going against magic damage, or have magic damage teammates, get Abyssal Scepter.
Sorc's Shoes - No. Don't get this item. You will be infected with DPS syndrome if you get this item. 99% of the time Merc's are better. Do not get this item unless you are going up against Master Yi, Sivir, Yi, Tristana, and Yi.
ESPECIALLY with fiddlesticks, you should not get Sorc's shoes. This item is a waste unless your enemy bought magic resist items. Most champions have 30 magic resist, which does not increase with level. Your passive grants -10 MR, so with runes (marks)/masteries/passive, your total magic penetration should be -22. You can go even further, and push a enemy's MR to 0 if you get quintessences/glyphs of magic penetration.
The math: 30 Base Magic Resist
30 MR - 10 = 20 MR (Dread - Passive)
20 * 0.85 = 17 MR (Archaic Knowledge - Talent)
17 - 9 = 8 MR (Magic Penetration Marks)
This means that throughout the whole game, your enemy will only have 8 magic resist. Which means if your enemy didn't buy MR, you wasted 750 gold to get -8 magic penetration. Trash.
8) Jungling - You should always start off jungling.
First off, you need to know WHY you jungle. It's to allow 2 solo lanes, which means your team will have 3 level 6's in the time the other team only has 1 lvl 6. The reason you want this is the same reason why there's a solo mid. It's so that when that person gets level 6, they can gank the top/bottom lane with their level advantage over the other 2 lanes. If you do not take this advantage, you waste the solo lane.
Having you jungle is also very advantageous because it allows you to move to any lane that needs help. If your teammates are getting owned or need to heal, sub in and let them go heal. You should only continue to jungle if your 1v2 lane is comfortable with it and not getting owned. You should NEVER neglect your teammates and only focus on jungling. You are about as useful as a leaver if you do this. Once you get level 6, you need to stop jungling. The only reason to go back is to get buffs.
If you plan on jungling, make sure you get Utility Mastery and the +EXP masteries. Start with the golem buff. Yes, you can take him at level 1. For maximum effectiveness, I sit at the edge of the bushes and attack him 3 times, then start life draining. Use the HP pot after your first life drain, while it's cooling down. This is the hardest fight. Basically after this you just go around the map and life drain everything with infinite mana. Pretty simple. You can take dragon at level 4 but ONLY if you put 2 points in drain. Make sure you get the other golem buff before you start it. It's a long fight. I usually do not dragon unless my team is doing very well. You need to interrupt jungling if your teammates need help. Having a person in each lane getting exp is priority. Like if mid dies, you need to sub in until they run back.
9) Get the golem buff
Try to keep the golem buff going, but do it at the right time. The best time to do it is after your team backs off from a successful push. If your team is about to engage in a 5v5, it's not a good time to get the golem buff. If an Udyr on your team tries to steal your golem buff, punch him in the gonads. The only justification for someone else getting the golem buff is if they have some type of game changing ult like Amumu. Otherwise, no, steal the golem buff if you have to. Ace their team every 150 secs or every 90 secs? The choice is obvious.
10) Laning
Use Dark Wind to harass & last hit creeps. It is an excellent farming ability. Typically you should not stay in a lane if it's occupied unless you are pushing or defending. For a lot of the mid-end game you'll want to be hiding in the bushes and helping your team gank. If you know a team battle is about to happen, you should never reveal yourself. You should be hiding across some terrain or in the bushes. This is also risky, so try to be somewhere relatively close to your team. If the enemy team is missing use extreme caution. This is why you NEED someone on your team to have Clairvoyance. You might get jumped walking into the bushes when you are trying to jump someone.
Never initiate a team battle. By that I mean never be the first person to walk into a group of enemies. DO coordinate with your team with crowstorm. When you start channeling that is the queue for your team to engage. At that point your TANK/team should initiate, but never you.
11) How to Gank
Charge up your lazer - when you blink in, immediately Dark Wind someone (make sure it will bounce). If you've owned them the whole game and followed the build, 99% of the time their team will just run away from you. If you didn't get any defense items like I pointed out in the guide and have DPS syndrome, they will probably laugh, focus fire you, and you will die in like 2 seconds. The main thing is, you need to KEEP UP WITH THE ENEMY. Use ghost/flash if you need to. The most important part is to keep as many people in crowstorm during those 5 seconds. Every second that you waste is 350+ damage lost. Fear someone if they run too far from your crowstorm. If you are confident that they will stay in your crowstorm (like if Amumu/Nunu ults), life drain someone for extra damage.
**NOTE: If it's only 1 person and they run while you are draining, DON'T interrupt your drain to try to catch them. It requires a ridiculous amount of range to stop drain, and continues to channel even if you do not have sight on them. You will do more damage with drain than auto-attack.
Once that's done, their whole team should be dead or running for their lives. At this point if you are able to still keep a small distance, your Dark Wind should be back up. Hopefully there are 2 runners next to each other so you can rofl as it bounces back and forth for a double kill.
12) If you get ganked...
Obviously the #1 defense here is to flash over terrain or fear someone. If there's only like 2 people ganking you, you have like 60-100% HP, and they are dumb enough to chase you, do this: run to the nearest tower/teammate or bush. Once you are in the bushes, start channeling your ult. Once they are in the bushes, they'll be in the epicenter of your ult. Dark Wind and watch as it bounces over and over on those 2 idiots and laugh when you get a double kill. I've actually done this with 4 people chasing me (they all had about half HP) into my tower and killed 2 people while my teammates picked the other 2 off as they ran away. It's the greatest feeling to have their chase backfire on them.
13) Fiddlestick's best friend
The Sad Mummy. I know he's not supposed to have any friends, which saddens me, but you guys actually have a lot in common. 1) You both have no brains 2) You're both undead 3) Your ultimates synergize very, very well. Got a friend who plays with you often? Get him to play Amumu! Basically what you do is, hide in the bushes, as you begin to channel your ultimate, Amumu hookshots someone and uses his ult, trying to trap as many people in it as possible. If you play Amumu, seriously please don't waste the ult on like 1 target because you wanted to "get the gold for a kill", it's such a game changing ability that should be saved for crucial team battles.
14) Conclusion
Welp, that concludes my guide. I hope you found it helpful. Rate the guide if you liked it or found it helpful. I also wrote a Pantheon guide.
