The nightmare-inducing Fiddlesticks rework is finally here, with a whole new kit and visual update to boot. If you want to pick him up, we’ve got a guide to the best runes, items, and general tips and tricks to get started.
After 11 years of minimal changes, Fiddlesticks has been brought up to speed for the modern League meta. The champion struggled with identity issues throughout the early years of the game, before being left by the wayside as new champions replaced him.
Now, though, he’s back with vengeance, and he’s ready to become your worst nightmare. His new kit has made him a decently strong champion, with defined strengths and weaknesses.
If you want to pick up the Harbinger of Doom when he hits live servers on Patch 10.8, follow our guide for all the tips, tricks, build paths, and runes you need to know to master him.
What are Fiddlesticks’ new abilities?
Fiddlestick’s kit has been reworked to give him a clearer identity on the Rift generally. While he was used in jungle, support, and even solo lanes pre-rework, the Scarecrow now has firm footing in the jungle.
With a lot of AoE camp clear, a strong ganking mechanism intertwined into his ultimate, and trinkets to deceive enemies across the map, Fiddlesticks should find a way into the meta. Here’s a rundown on what his new kit actually does.
Passive: A Harmless Scarecrow
Fiddlesticks’ passive replaces his trinket slot with a Scarecrow Effigy. Fiddle can place clones of himself around the map that last for three minutes, and can act as wards and sweepers. They fake an action, then fall apart once seen.
They are good for keeping vision on jungle entrances, and trying to bait out summoner spells or other key abilities.
Q: Terrify
Fiddlesticks’ first basic ability has both a passive and an active effect. Terrify’s passive allows Fiddlesticks to fear enemies when he’s unseen and out of combat. This then ties into his active, which fear them further, and then deals increased when targets were recently terrified.
It does current health damage, making it very strong against tanks, and can help Fiddle clear his buffs very quickly. It does cap out at 400 damage against monsters, but this won’t really be a factor until it comes to Dragons and Barons.
W: Bountiful Harvest
Fiddle’s old W, Drain, has been reworked into an AoE ability in Bountiful Harvest. The ability does damage over time, healing Fiddlesticks back, and the final tick deals missing health damage.
If Fiddlesticks gets a full channel of the ability off, 60% of the cooldown will be refunded, making it absolutely essential to complete it during your clears.
E: Reap
Reap replaces Dark Wind as Fiddlesticks’ E. Fiddle cleaves an area in front of him, dealing damage and slowing enemies, and silencing those in the sweet spot. It’s a good follow-up to his engage, with the slow making it easier to land a full channel of your W.
Ultimate: Crowstorm
Fiddlesticks’ ultimate, Crowstorm, has barely changed. It’s a good way of activating his Terrify passive to decimate teams in fights due its large AoE, and it still does a lot of damage if you stand in it, but there hasn’t been anything special added.
Best runes for Fiddlesticks
Fiddlesticks has a few choices for what he wants to run in jungle. There’s a couple of solid options to run, depending on if your team needs instant burst damage, or someone a bit tankier to live longer in fights.
Dark Harvest is the ultimate burst damage rune on Fiddlesticks. He can farm heaps of stacks easier in the jungle and in teamfights thanks to his ultimate. On top of that, his whole combo can nuke carries before they have a chance to escape the crowd control.
With Cheap Shot, Ghost Poro, Ingenious Hunter, and Ravenous Hunter all proving to be really strong options depending on your game plan, there’s plenty of good utility in Domination. Electrocute and Predator can also be super strong as a keystone, with Triumph / Coup De Grace to round it out.
Aftershock is the more defensive option if you feel the need to get in the fight and survive for longer. The issue with Aftershock is that there’s only a couple of runes in Resolve Fiddle benefits from, like Revitalize and Second Wind.
If you want to run a bit more of a poke-focused build, Arcane Comet is your friend. Nimbus Cloak also synergizes with his kit nicely, giving Fiddle a speed boost when he flashes in with Crowstorm.
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In secondary, you can run either Ghost Poro / Ravenous Hunter in Domination. If you need to play even more defensively, Second Wind / Revitalize in Resolve should do the trick.
For support, it’s still probably your best bet to run Aftershock, even after the rework. He is too squishy otherwise on engages, and because he now has an even easier way of activating it, it makes it remarkably strong.
Best build for Fiddlesticks
Fiddlesticks is best built like your traditional AP jungler, like Elise or Gragas. He benefits a lot from Runic Echoes as his jungle item, and blue smite can help keep enemies in range for longer to drain.
After that, items like Zhonya’s Hourglass, Luden’s Echo, Liandry’s Torment, and Oblivion Orb are incredibly strong. Zhonya’s gives Fiddlesticks the protection he needs when he launches into a team, while Liandry’s Torment and Oblivion Orb synergise well with his percent health damage.
The extra boost of magic penetration helps take down enemies who itemize very tanky, and the damage increase in combat on Liandry’s makes it one of the best items in the game. If you need Grievous Wounds, you can upgrade your Oblivion Orb into Morellonomicon. But, the 1400 gold upgrade isn’t always worth it until later into the game.
To round off a build like this, Rabadon’s Deathcap and Void Staff are smart choices, depending on how much magic resist the enemy itemizes. If key targets have more than 90 magic resist, it’s more efficient to go Void Staff. Otherwise, Deathcap is your best bet.
Situationally, there are some quirky items that can help Fiddlesticks survive longer in fights. If you need some magic resist, Abyssal Mask and Spirit Visage go a long way. They both synergize well with his kit — one doing more magic damage to nearby enemies, one boosting healing.
If you decide to run support Fiddle — which is still possible with his rework — getting Spellthiefs or Relic Shield, and then branching out into more AP items is the play. Not many support items really suit his playstyle, so just play like you’d play Zyra, Brand, Vel’Koz, or Xerath.
How to play Fiddlesticks
Jungle
The new Fiddlesticks is the ultimate full clear jungler. His clear is one of the fastest in the game, second to only Karthus. However, in saying that, he is incredibly fragile early. If you get invaded a couple of camps in, you won’t have any way of fighting back.
If you get left untouched though, it’s easy to build an experience lead. Be sure to drag out as many camps as you can to maximise your W. Fiddle can actually leash red buff and chickens at the same time, as well as blue buff and gromp, and not die, so his clear is remarkably fast.
Maxing W is a must in jungle, but your second ability depends. If you want the longer fear, go Q second. However, if you need the extra slow and consistent damage, E is better.
When it comes to combat and ganking, if you are not yet level 6, you’ll just want to lead with your Q — preferably from out of vision — before moving into your E and W. This will maximise your DPS, as the slow from your E will keep them in your W for longer.
Once you get your ultimate, that’s where the fun starts. Jumping in from out of vision and landing a massive Crowstorm can turn the tides of the fight. Then, if you layer crowd control with your Q and E straight afterwards, enemy carries stand no chance.
This style of play also works for solo lane Fiddle. Top lane Fiddle is better than mid lane, just because of how he can utilize bushes. Putting some points into W is good for wave clear, and focusing on E second will help that too.
Support
If you are playing Fiddlesticks support, then harassing the enemy from range with E is the way to go. Using your W in lane is a nice way to shove it in, but try and avoid doing it randomly so as to not mess up your wave control.
Fiddle’s all-in from the alcove is very strong, and dashing in and out of bushes to activate your Q passive can make the lives of the enemy carry hell when they are trying to CS. It’s also a great way of setting up ganks.
You’ll also want to focus on putting points in Q and E when playing support Fiddle, almost flatly ignoring W. One point is good enough for sustain, but you won’t need it until level 4 or possibly even later.
Fiddlesticks’ rework will be released during League of Legends Patch 10.7, which goes live on April 1.