How do you build Fiddle?

Taliyah Rocks··5 votes·1,071 views

I picked up Fiddle not long ago after they announced the mages rework, and i've gotta admit, he's really fun!! I have no idea why i never even tried him once after playing for over two years.

My problem with him, (although it applies to other champions as well) is his lack of flexibility in his build. I just never ran into a case as worse as Fiddle. He has so many core items.

You need boots. Rylai to stick to your target. Zhonya to avoid getting stomped during teamfights. Rabadon because you NEED that AP otherwise your base damage sucks without it. And an item to help you manage your mana since his mana costs are so high, which is usualy Runic Echoes if you're playing jungle. His cooldowns are also huge, but i took 30% scaling CDR runes to make up for it.

That leaves with one spot open, but so many items that are desirable. Liandry is nice against health, Void staff against MR. Abyssal against AP. Even a Banshee could be interesting if they have can knockback your ult, and many others.

It just seems like if you skip one of his core item, it hurts his gameplay so bad compared to any other champions i've played. But i'm still relatively new to him so maybe you guys could help me out!

12 Comments

ltmetal3 votes

Fiddle's most important stats are Ability Power, Armor/Magic Resist, and Movespeed, in that order. Items that provide more than one of these stats are very valuable. Usual jungle build looks like this when I play him: item 1410 item 1313 item 3157 item 3116 item 3001 item 3089 Magic Pen marks, Flat Armor Seals, Scaling CDR Glyphs, Flat AP Quints. You can run whatever masteries you want as long as you have a minimum of 12 points in Resolve to make use of Runic Armor and Summoner's Insight.

I've actually had more success with Fiddlesticks as a Top Lane Tank than as a jungler. Try it out sometime. item 1308 item 3110 item 3065 item 3116 item 3001 item 3050

EstebanElGuapo2 votes

{quoted}

I've actually had more success with Fiddlesticks as a Top Lane Tank than as a jungler. Try it out sometime.

I've played him Tank top and Hybrid AP/Tank top as well as full tank jungle. So I salute you. :) for not forcing yourself into one role.

Muted Summoner2 votes

Needs a lot of core items. Ability Power, Magic Penetration, item 3116 and item 3157

  • item 3157 To avoid instant death in mid-late game fights
  • item 3116 To keep enemies slowed in his Ultimate AOE or prevent enemies from escaping his Drains (W) Full duration.
  • item 3135 item 3020 item 3001
  • item 3157 item 3116 then you have
  • item 1410

The issue is with those items he will lack a lot of AP and an item such as item 3089 helps so much.

  • but you only have 6 slots so you may need to ditch item 1410 for item 3285 because ludens echo has 40 more AP and 3% more move speed and drop item 3001 or item 3020 for item 3089 because item 3157 will be losing AP in favor of CRD with a longer active CD

  • Right now Fiddlesticks items suck so much ass and will only be getting harder to build with him requiring more CDR to keep his W drain active more due to its longer cool down if you were already able to get its full duration off thanks to items such as item 3116 . But if you were not building item 3116 and were constantly getting your drain cancelled by what ever else it would be a buff for you.

  • Next Update: If boots become way to useless with tier 3 enchantments gone grabbing 3.0% or 4.5% move speed quints may be better for you in the long run and grab a few scaling ap glyphs/seals for the AP loss for the mid-end game conversion. Grabbing aitem 1056 instead of item 1039 may be a better start for fiddlesticks in the jungle as it will give you some extra hp for being so fragile and with you lacking AP early on with some mana regeneration as item 1410 may be cheaper than item 3285 but its possible Runic could just be shit with all the recent nerfs (Udyr/etc) it has gotten especially with Zhonya is still possibly a better buy early on you may not even need to go down the item route item 1039

Fiddlesticks kit suffers in poor itemization. He requires way to much to be effective in this snowbally meta. That doesn't mean you can't make it work.

as for masteries 18/12/0 may be good as this gives you greater Magic Penetration at all levels in the game while giving fiddlesticks more damage over time via Drain/etc with DFT where he is all about AOE and DOT damage.

You can go for expose weakness or double edge sword. One will increase the damage you deal by 2% but make you take 2% more while the other could give your team better damage (3%) and you more survive-ability without having to take 2% more damage. The issue is expose weakness does not stack so if someone on your team has that mastery it could be wasted.

Keep in mind without jungle item early you will suffer on xp though so...idk, if you get invaded after 1 jungle mob you are probably fucked.

notmebuthim1 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxbiXHULmG0 Follow these instructions very carefully :)

cuddlykitten41 votes

Never build to the champ you are playing. Always build to the champs your enemies are playing.

L Psy Kongroo1 votes

{quoted}

Never build to the champ you are playing. Always build to the champs your enemies are playing.

Just because the enemy team is mostly AP doesn't mean you shouldn't build Zhonyas on Fiddle. Some items are simply core no matter what the enemy's team comp is.

YumaS2Astral1 votes

[{quoted}](name=L Psy Congroo,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=gkFL4yU1,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2016-05-03T02:14:33.313+0000)

Just because the enemy team is mostly AP doesn't mean you shouldn't build Zhonyas on Fiddle. Some items are simply core no matter what the enemy's team comp is.

You build Zhonya for the active, not for the armor

Calabok1 votes

buy lots of twigs and sticks from the vendor.

Stained Spear1 votes

As a luthier I certaintly know how to build a fiddle. Step 1: Obtain Aged Wood Step 2: Some Tools; a regular plane, and several sizes of finger planes. Step 3: Select a mold Step 4: Glue Linings to Ribs Step 5: Joined Plates Ready for Gouging Step 6: Gouge the Plates to Form a Rough Arch Step 7: Smooth Surfaces with a Scraper to Desired Plate Thickness Step 8: Glue Base Bar to Inside of Spruce Top Plate for Shaping Step 9: Glue the Finished Plates to the Rib Assembly Step 10: Carve the Neck and the Scroll from a Piece of Maple Wood Step 11: Finished Violin or "Fiddle"

EstebanElGuapo1 votes

Aren't you supposed to use a tree with a tighter ring pattern for better sound rather than one with larger growth between rings. Might be something to keep in mind.

PermabannedGaren1 votes

item 3508 item 3087 item 3006 item 3031 item 3036 item 3072

EstebanElGuapo1 votes

You can't get everything. I end up sacrificing the hat. My late game dmg item then is void staff. Also if the enemy doesn't have a lot of MR you can just rely on the flat pen ones like abyssal and liandry's and never build the voidstaff. If you do not need the MR then skip the abyssal though. I recommend avoiding a mana item as a full ap fiddle relying instead on the Hunters potion. The hunters potion will refill itself with each big jungle creep you kill and automatically drink itself when its charges are full. With it and blue buff you won't need a dedicated mana item. Unless you are handing off blue to mid. But I think unless you are doing an offbuild or tanky or adding something for mana just so you can hand off the blue that you are losing a slot unnecessarily to do a dedicated mana item. I'd get the runic echos for efficiency of the jungle items are more efficient than non jungle items. Its good poke and clear item anyway.

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