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The tanky tidal trickster: Cinderhulk Fizz

Riot·6/12/2015, 9:00:19 PM·1 votes·31,959 views

Anarchy support No "SnowFlower" Hoi-jong switches from Fizz to Rengar for top laner Kim "cvMax" Dae-ho. Top lane Rengar is simply another champion in cvMax's off-beat arsenal. At the last minute, SnowFlower swaps back to Fizz. cvMax locks in Smite and Teleport. Anarchy won the game, the set, and earned a spot in Champions Summer 2015 as a result.

At the time, Cinderhulk Fizz was simply another oddball pick from cvMax, who is known for his unusual champion choices. That is until Edward Gaming's Shek "AmazingJ" Wai Ho locked it in against Team King in their first match of LPL Summer 2015. Invictus Gaming's Liu "Zzitai" Zhihao followed suit shortly thereafter, and soon the tanky fish began to swim rampant across the region.

In a world where Teleport/Smite top Shyvana quickly ran her course, Hecarim is now a predictable meta staple, and Rek'Sai never really took off, Cinderhulk Fizz has become a crucial power pick for Chinese top laners. Now, the near unkillable fish has now been played in LPL, LSPL, Demacia Cup, Champions Korea, the LMS, and most recently, the European LCS.

The question is: Why?

Why Cinderhulk Fizz?

Facing a Fizz is always an obnoxious endeavor, even in the top lane. His passive ignores unit collision and Playful Trickster (E) makes him untargetable for up to 0.75 seconds. Urchin Strike (Q) and Seastone Trident (W) add bonus physical and magic damage respectively, while his ultimate Chum the Waters (R) deals true damage before an area of effect knockup.

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Cinderhulk, with Challenging Smite, is a cost-efficient tanky addition to this build, offering true damage over time. And extended team fights give Fizz more room to continuously apply these bonuses. In previous iterations of top lane bruiser Fizz, Trinity Force and Frozen Heart were prioritized, boosting movement speed and cooldown reduction. The added health from Cinderhulk makes Fizz unkillable all while being occasionally untargetable and dealing more damage the longer the team fight or trade lasts.

Fizz was always an annoyance, and required early attention to shut him down. Now, with Challenging Smite, he can fall behind early and still be as aggravating as ever, recouping his laning losses by smiting jungle creeps.

A Love Match: Invictus Gaming's Zzitai

While Edward Gaming's AmazingJ first brought top lane Cinderhulk Fizz to 2015 LPL Summer, no other player fits the role of Cinderhulk Fizz quite like Zzitai. A mid-turned-top laner, Zzitai possesses a vast champion pool that naturally includes the wriggling trickster. 

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Zzitai's role on Invictus Gaming is a simple one: be pesky enough to distract opponents so mid laner Song "RooKie" Eui-jin and AD carry Ge "Kid" Yan can farm freely or push objectives. Frequently drawing enemy aggression to the top side of the map, Zzitai needs a quick, cost-efficient first item that will help him stay alive in 2 vs. 1 or 3 vs. 1 engages. As a flashy player who rarely backs away from a skirmish, even an unfavorable one, Zzitai benefits from Cinderhulk's bonus health and damage in a long lane. Invictus Gaming doesn't rely on Zzitai as much for team fights, so Cinderhulk first allows Zzitai self-sufficiency while leading opponents away from his teammates.

With RooKie and Kid as the primary carries on iG, Zzitai depends on Fizz's high base damage and Cinderhulk, while prioritizing Frozen Heart next for additional survivability and CDR on Playful Trickster -- which means more time to be as obnoxious as possible.

Snake's Flandre: The Original Top Lane Fizz

This rising tide of Cinderhulk Fizz in China -- started by AmazingJ and the aforementioned Zzitai -- began on Patch 4.8. In a recent interview, Snake Esports' Li "Flandre" Xuan-jun claimed that Fizz would be a must pick or ban following Patch 4.9.

An expert top lane Fizz player, Flandre drew target bans on the Tidal Trickster in the LSPL throughout 2014. It was inevitable that he would showcase his Fizz prowess in the 2015 LPL, and Cinderhulk Fizz's popularity presented a perfect opportunity. Flandre fans finally got their wish in Week 3 of 2015 LPL Summer in Snake's set against LGD.

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Interestingly, Flandre's Fizz cannot be called "Cinderhulk Fizz" immediately. While he built Skirmisher's Sabre for the Challenging Smite first, he then completed Trinity Force before purchasing Cinderhulk.

Like Zzitai, Flandre draws enemy attention top side, but he also plays a large role in Snake's team fighting. While his Fizz in LSPL was more of a split-pushing threat than a team fighter, Trinity Force first now gives Flandre the best of both worlds. He pushes waves when able and has the additional true damage from Challenging Smite should an enemy appear. If Flandre gets into trouble, he is slippery enough to stick around and duel against his opponent, often taking them down with him. When he Teleports to join a team fight, Flandre immediately jumps into the enemy backline, allowing teammates better target prioritization.

Against LGD, Snake relied on the movement speed and damage from Flandre and his Cinderhulk Fizz. Even when Flandre eventually died in late game team fights, he softened opponents up before handing janitorial duties over to AD carry Yang "kRYST4L" Fan's Sivir.

Chumming The Waters

Following Week 2 of 2015 LPL Spring, Cinderhulk Fizz was everywhere in China as a priority pick or ban in both the LPL and the LSPL. From there it spread to the top lane of Champions Korea. Recently, nerfs to both Cinderhulk and Skirmisher's Sabre on Patch 5.9 have somewhat dampened China's enthusiasm for Cinderhulk, but not the fish.

The latest LSPL matches that were played on Patch 5.10 saw the return of top lane Fizz with Ignite instead of Smite. However, in the most current LPL Week 4 matches, Fizz remained a high priority ban. Vici Gaming's Choi "DanDy" In-kyu was the only player allowed on the fish, and he still chose the tankier Cinderhulk build.

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Now, the cult of Cinderhulk Fizz swims elsewhere, far from Chinese shores: The Tanky Tidal Trickster was played in the LMS by Hong Kong Esports' Wang "Stanley" June Tsan, and Origen's Paul "sOAZ" Boyer made a splash in his first game of Cinderhulk Fizz while Elements' Jesper "Jwaow" Strandgren faltered in the European LCS. Both opted for a more defensive build of Spirit Visage and Frozen Heart without Trinity Force, indicating that different regions are still experimenting with the Challenging Smite fish. If Chinese Solo Queue, and Korean jungler Bak "TusiN" Jong-ik are any indication, Fizz will next make waves not in the top lane, but in the jungle.

What's your favorite way to play Fizz? Let us know in the comments!

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28 Comments

Earl Eulrich6/13/2015, 1:00:12 AM4 votes

this is litteraly the worst thing that ever became meta - the only thing Tankfizz can do later on is force a fight, so if you don´t snowball from the get go the game just turns into a 4v5 and that´s it. It´s actually the main point why Origen lost to Roccat...they had to force the fights cause that´s all tank-fizz can do, but if you are too far behind to fight it just means you´ll lose fast. Even Teemo would be a better competitive toplaner.

Dao786/16/2015, 3:06:34 AM2 votes

I still feel assassin ap fizz is really good. He didn't get nerfed since MSI and mid fizz was pretty common there. I don't see why people only focuses on bruiser Fizz nowadays.

DarkStrike10086/12/2015, 11:58:23 PM1 votes

Jungle Fizz CHallenging smite, devourers BOTRK TANK

ArcticWolf246/13/2015, 2:57:09 AM1 votes

Fizz ult does true DAMAGE?!?!?!?!?!?

Jenzoah6/13/2015, 4:55:56 PM1 votes

Riot Fizz Ult NEEDS to deal TRUE DAMAGE - This is a FANTASTIC IDEA.

Artorius816/13/2015, 9:15:53 PM1 votes

and here we go again, EU copying KR picks 4Head

Gilded Blade6/15/2015, 9:01:52 PM1 votes

Fizz ult doesn't deal true damage lmfao. I'm bronze and I know more about the game than these writers, that's sad. Try playing the game before telling players how to play it.

Jozie Cole6/23/2015, 3:10:22 AM1 votes

item 3726 jg Fizz is best imo. He can clear his jg so damn fast and when he invades he has a few tools to escape so you can farm up and shred late game.

Fizz 's Q applies on-hit effects so the more item 3726 stacks you farm the more damage it does.

So item 3153 , the + melee damage from item 3057 items, ect.

the final build will look something like: item 3726 item 3078 item 3153 item 3110 item 3158 item 3156

Only thing that sucks is if you have to spend too much time ganking and helping your lanes you'll lose time to get item 3726 stacks, and fall behind... and his pre-mid (lvl 2-3 damage is decent) game damage is nonexistent untill you get a item 3153 or a item 3078. As long as your laners dont suck or get countered you should be fine.

Once you get about 65+ stacks You'll be able to dive into the backline and kill just about anyone before hopping back out or dying and setting up a winning teamfight. And since his w does % hp dam once you get a item 3153 youll be shredding tanks too.

Kiyo Crescent6/12/2015, 9:33:49 PM1 votes

mid :c pure cdr assassinFizz

ShizaX7/9/2015, 12:51:46 AM1 votes

This is a good idea tank fizz and if I have to carry the team I can change to my other build

Cripple Oracle6/12/2015, 10:48:04 PM1 votes

Fizzzzz izzzzz goooddddzzzzz!!!!