The Ultimate League of Legends Fiddlesticks Guide

One champion feasts on the fear of other players and lives to hunt those that are consumed by this emotion. Fiddlesticks is a champion that has been a favorite among junglers because he’s extremely fun to play but thanks to his recent rework, he has achieved a competitive level in terms of strength. This Fiddlesticks guide aims to help players get a basic sense of how to use this champion so that they can use him in future games as their main pick for the Jungle.

The Ancient Fear

Long before civilizations appeared on Runeterra’s soils, the world was ruled by ancient demons whose power can only be described as unimaginable. Fiddlesticks, whose name was given by modern-day villagers’ folk tales, was one of the original demons that roamed the planet. It was only recently that this demon finally reappeared in Runeterra and took the form resembling the humans that he was so curious about. While many believe he’s a legend, his thirst to consume human fear is real and there are only a handful that live to tell the tale.

Fiddlesticks has always been one of the most fun champions to play in the Jungle because of his unique gameplay and the ability to troll opponents. Despite being extremely weak during his rework release, he slowly got buffed to become an extremely strong teamfight jungler. This Fiddlesticks guide focuses on the points that has made this champion so popular and how players can develop their own strategies to make sure that they have a deeper understanding of this champion.

Fiddlesticks General Gameplay

Fiddlesticks is an AP Jungler which means he relies heavily on being able to do huge bursts of damage to the target. Just like a lot of junglers, his sustain mostly comes from being able to absorb health from enemies. Despite being really weak in the early game, he becomes a deadly teamfight engage champion in the mid to late stages where this champion is able to set up for the allied team. We’ll be explaining more about that in this Fiddlesticks guide to understand it better.

Fiddlesticks Guide: Skills and Abilities

First off on our Fiddlesticks guide. we’ll be taking a look at this champion’s ability. The most unique part about Fiddlesticks is that he has his own mechanic in the Trinket Slot that plays towards his theme of fear. As we already mentioned, he has a lot of sustain and control, including silences and fears against the enemy team. As a mage, he also deals a lot of AoE damage.

Passive: A Harmless Scarecrow

Innate: Scarecrow Effigy – Fiddlesticks begins the game with Scarecrow Effigies occupying his trinket slot. Fiddlesticks cannot remove or replace Scarecrow Effigy for other trinkets in the game. Scarecrow Effigies look exactly like Fiddlesticks and will move or flash away when revealed by an enemy champion. Fiddlesticks can pretend to be a Scarecrow Effigy by standing still and not being acted upon by an enemy for 2 seconds.

Innate: A Harmless Scarecrow – Starting at Level 6, Scarecrow Effigies also provide obscured vision in the area of enemies that have not already been revealed in the area for 6 seconds. In addition, Scarecrow Effigies also reveals and disables wards and stealthed traps.

Scarecrow Effigies are extremely versatile and are annoying to deal with especially in lower ELOS. Opponents that are not familiar with this ability might end up using their abilities on the effigy or run away from it when it is seen. However, in higher ELOS, the proper strategy is to find creative ways into making the enemy think that you are a regular effigy instead of the real thing. The most practical usage is to simply use it like a regular ward since most of the enemies can distinguish between an effigy and the real Fiddlesticks.

Q: Terrify

Passive – While Fiddlesticks has been out of combat for 2.5 seconds and is not visible to the enemies or is pretending to be a Scarecrow Effigy, Fiddlesticks’ next damaging ability causes all targets to flee for a duration. Targets feared by this effect are placed on cooldown equal to the cooldown of Terrify‘s active, during which they can’t be feared again.

Active – Fiddlesticks launches a crow at the target enemy, dealing magic damage and causing the enemy to flee for a duration. If the enemy is affected or is on-cooldown by Terrify’s passive or fears, they will instead take increased damage.

One of the best ways to trigger Terrify’s passive ability is to stay behind a wall or hide inside a bush before using your other abilities such as Reap or Crowstorm. Make sure to use other abilities first to trigger the passive effect of this ability before using its active so that you can increase the damage that you deal. Once the enemy is feared, don’t be afraid to follow up the damage.

W: Bountiful Harvest

Active – Fiddlesticks forms a tether between himself and all nearby enemy units for the duration of this ability’s cast time, channeling up to 2 seconds, revealing them, and dealing magic damage every 0.25 seconds with the last tick dealing additional magic damage. For the duration of this ability, Fiddlesticks heals himself for a percentage of the damage dealt to all enemies tethered.

The channel is interrupted when enemies have died or enemies have broken their tether. If the tethers have not been broken, 60% of the ability’s cooldown is refunded.

Bountiful Harvest is a great ability the more enemies you are facing. This is an extremely important ability when you’re jungling because it’ll be your main source of sustain. When using this against an enemy, try to stick as close to that enemy as possible to prevent them from breaking the tether instantly. In addition, be wary of any hard-CC that might break the tether too. Remember that this is not your main source of damage so don’t use it if you think approaching an enemy might cause you to die instantly.

E: Reap

Active – Fiddlesticks swings his scythe in an area in front of him, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit and slowing them for 1.25 seconds. Enemies hit in the middle are also silenced for 1.25 seconds.

This ability is best used when inside a bush so that you can also trigger Terrify’s passive effect. When pursuing an enemy, it’s a great idea to try to use this to slow them down. This ability deals a lot of damage but requires excellent positioning to hit them at the right spot. Players should practice hitting the ability in the middle since a 1.25 second silence is actually really strong.

R: Crowstorm

Active – Fiddlesticks channels for 1.5 seconds, then blinks to a target location after completion, bringing a murder of crows flying wildly around him for 5 seconds, dealing magic damage every 0.25 seconds.

Make sure to use this ability over a wall, from inside a bush, or while you’re pretending to be an effigy so that enemies will be feared upon your arrival. Try to sweep the area you will be using this ability from by using control wards or letting your allies use sweeper lens so that you can still use the passive effect from Terrify. Without it, this ability is underwhelming and the enemies can instantly pop you once you arrive.

Fiddlesticks Guide – Items and Builds

Next up on our Fiddlesticks guide, we’ll be talking about this champion’s items. While he was historically built as a semi-tank during the early stages of his rework, the champion is popularly played as a battlemage that has high ability power with a bit of health so that he doesn’t get popped once he goes in the middle of 5 people. Having mobility also helps to make sure that Fiddlesticks is able to hit as many enemies as possible with his ultimate.

Starting Item

Hailblade – Blue Smite is the best for Fiddlesticks because he won’t really be dueling anyone. Being able to slow opponents is also really good if you have them trapped in the Crowstorm or prevent them from breaking the tether of the Bountiful Harvest quickly. It’s also a good idea to buy Vision Wards alongside this item since Fiddlesticks won’t be needing potions since Bountiful Harvest will give him all the healing he needs.

Core Items

Hextech Rocketbelt (Mythic) – Fiddlesticks has very low mobility so having this item will solve his problem involving having to close the gap between him and an enemy. The extra magic penetration from the Mythic passive is also really great because Fiddlesticks deals a ton of damage in the later stages of the game.

Zhonya’s Hourglass – Most of Fiddlestick’s damage and usefulness really lies in his Crowstorm which is why he needs to stay in battle as long as possible with this ability activated. Rather than building items, Zhonya’s Hourglass achieves the same effects. Use this ability immediately after you use Crowstorm on multiple enemies. Once you’ve completed the stasis, your allies should have taken care of the enemies so Fiddlesticks is free to use his other abilities.

Recommended Items

Void Staff – This item provides such a powerspike in terms of magic damage since magic penetration allows you to instantly melt carries down quickly. Since most carries don’t build a lot of magic resist, simply being able to jump on top of them will instantly take them down.

Morellonomicon – Anti-healing is really important in this season so having this item will really help the teamfight go well since enemies won’t be able to heal up quickly.

Rabadon’s Deathcap – The item to use when you’re ready to take the damage output to the next level. This is a good item to have as your 4th item but you can wait a little later if you think the fights will drag out. A huge burst of Ability Power should ensure that you’re a threat in teamfights.

Banshee’s Veil – This item is really good if you find yourself getting CC’ed instantly after diving in with your Crowstorm. Buy this item so that you can buy enough time to click on your Zhonya’s Hourglass while diving in.

Fiddlesticks Guide – Runes

Primary: Domination

Keystone: Electrocute – This rune is really great since Fiddlesticks is able to use all of his abilities instantly after using Crowstorm before activating Zhonya’s Hourglass. The extra damage will ensure that you soften them up before your teammates start piling up on the enemy team.

Sudden Impact – The extra magic penetration is extremely useful when using Crowstorm. Since using Flash or Crowstorm is considered a blink effect, it’ll always proc this rune.

Eyeball Collection – This rune helps increase your damage output. You can gain Eyeballs quickly by getting kills or assists or using your effigies to clear wards.

Ultimate Hunter – Fiddlesticks’ strength lies in his ultimate ability. Being able to cast it more often means that you’ll be winning teamfights a lot.

Secondary: Inspiration

Perfect Timing – Having a Stopwatch early is extremely important because Crowstorm doesn’t deal a lot of burst damage and Fiddlesticks is really soft. It also saves you a lot of money for buying Zhonya’s.

Cosmic Insight – Allows your Zhonya’s Hourglass and Hextech Protobelt to cool down a lot faster so that you can use them more often.

Fiddlesticks General Overview

Fiddlesticks is a champion for players that are really opportunistic. Finding the right position and staying out of sight is everything for this champion so it’s a good idea to read how the enemy is going to act so that you can stay hidden longer. Since Fiddlesticks is a teamfight-oriented champion, using this champion in disorganized settings can really be frustrating, especially in low-ELO solo queue. Hopefully, this Fiddlesticks guide has introduced all the good and bad points about playing this champion.