In Demacia, the horrible tales of the demon known only as Fiddlesticks still haunt Valoran to this day. He feeds off fear, taking the lives of many that are unlucky to meet this abomination of a scarecrow. In League of Legends season 10, Fiddlesticks is currently the strongest fear-using champion, able to win fights for his team by fearing the whole enemy team. He is heavily reliant on his ability to control vision on the map. His strengths rely on macro play and not on mechanics, heavily rewarding players that know their way around objectives and playing fights well.
Abilities
A Harmless Scarecrow (Passive)
Fiddlesticks doesn’t have wards. Instead, he has scarecrow copies of himself that he can put down. These copies grant vision like actual wards. When an enemy champion comes close to a scarecrow, it’ll mimic a basic attack or pretend to cast his ultimate ability, after which it destroys itself.
Videos sourced from Riot Games.
This passive is decent. Its primary function is its vision control, which is essential to Fiddlesticks at the later stages of the game. At level 6, it allows these copies to act as a control ward for a few seconds. This is vital to Fiddlesticks’ play style in season 10 as his primary crowd control ability is at its strongest when unseen by the enemy.
You can also use this ability to play mind games with your opponent; counter-jungling with this passive might be able to psych out an opponent or get some deep vision of your enemy’s jungle. In my experience with the rework so far, it’s not too effective due to the fact that the effigy disappears too quickly for the opponent to fully react to it.
Terrify (Q)
Passively, while Fiddlesticks is out of combat and unseen, his next damaging ability will fear a target. When used as an ability, Terrify fears and damages the enemy based on their current health. If this ability is cast on an enemy that was recently feared, the ability will deal double damage and not fear the target.
This is the bread and butter of Fiddlesticks in season 10. His passive that allows him to fear multiple targets can literally change the outcome of a game if done correctly. Playing around out of vision, especially in the later stages of the game, allows Fiddlesticks to control a massive area. The enemy team cannot go in mindlessly into the jungle due to the fact that Fiddlesticks can crowd control an entire team. Of course, it’s limited to the player’s macro skills in managing vision in vital areas.
Another thing to consider is the active part of the ability. It allows Fiddlesticks to still fear at least one target even when in combat, meaning even if you fail to fear the enemy team, you can still target the enemy carry in team fights. The double-damage part of the ability is too lackluster to be relied upon by itself in battle though.
Bountiful Harvest (W)
Fiddlesticks drains health from all nearby enemies, damaging them and healing himself based on the damage dealt. The last damage and healing ticks are based on the target’s missing health.
This ability allows Fiddlesticks to sustain in the jungle or in lane (though in lane it is severely weaker). Its ability to clear camps quickly allows Fiddlesticks to farm well despite being a mage. It’s also decent sustain damage that allows a bit of survivability in team fights due to its long duration. After using all of Fiddlestick’s abilities, using Bountiful Harvest allows you to continuously damage the enemy long enough for you to have your other primary abilities once it’s duration is finished, meaning that there will be rarely a time where you will solely rely on auto attacks to fight an enemy. Your enemies cannot ignore you due to the fact that Bountiful Harvest’s range is massive.
Keep in mind thought that this ability forces you to stay still, meaning you are susceptible to crowd control and being engaged on. While the range is large, Fiddlesticks in general is easily killed. You usually want to use this if your team or you can crowd control the enemy team first.
Reap (E)
Fiddlesticks swings his scythe in front of him, damaging and slowing enemies. Enemies in the center of the skill are silenced.
This ability is a decent poking tool in season 10. Its cooldown is relatively short, its range is massive, and it does overall a nice amount of damage to squishy targets. If you don’t have your ultimate, this is the main ability to use to proc your passive fear. Its huge range allows you to strike from the fog of war easily.
Its silence is icing on the cake. Using Reap after fearing a target effectively hinders the opponent to run away. Firstly, it slows the enemy so your team can get a pick. Secondly, its silence stops the enemy from using movement skills or flashing away. It’s basically the only true skill shot of the entire kit, so it’s essential that you constantly land this ability for good poke in extended team fights.
Crowstorm (R)
Fiddlesticks channels for a bit before blinking to the target location, damaging all enemies around him for several seconds.
This is a game-winning ultimate in League of Legends season 10. When used with Fiddlesticks’ passive, it can fear the entire enemy team if you are outside of vision. It’s a good engaging ability despite Fiddlesticks’ squishy stats, but the crowd control it provides allows your team to act within its duration, thus potentially winning the team fight.
The downside is, again, vision control. It’s essential to use this when your enemy cannot see you and you are out of combat for maximum effect.
Play style
Early game
Fiddlesticks is at his weakest here. He can sustain in the jungle or in lane relatively well, but his damage and clearing speed is quite slow and takes time to build up. You lose a lot of fights, but Terrify can get you out of a lot of tricky situations if need be. Ganking is a bit difficult and requires team coordination as Fiddlesticks does not have a gap closer. It also helps to get your team to confirm where the enemy doesn’t have wards, so you can use your passive to get off a better gank.
At level 6, your ganks and vision control become a whole lot more dangerous and are a huge power spike. At this point, you can probably counter-jungle safely with your effigies acting like control wards. You should have your first jungle item and thus can farm fast enough to counter-jungle effectively.
Mid-game
Fiddlesticks may shine most in the mid-game. Your ability to win team fights allows your team to get ahead, even if you yourself are behind in farm. Stay with your team, secure vision and objectives as a team, and pick good fights when you have your ultimate. It’s also possible to push out waves quickly with your abilities, but I advise staying with your team at all times to support them.
There is almost no weakness to Fiddlesticks in this period if you are smart.
Late game
In season 10, there isn’t much that Fiddlesticks can do in the late game. The enemy carries have out-scaled you. Assassins can kill you easily, and your primary objective is to be a crowd control bot and an engage for your team. It is essential you have vision control to constantly land good ultimates to fear the enemy team. Your damage is a lot weaker to a lot of champions, and so is your survivability. Landing crowd control and securing vision is your primary role to win at this point.
Continue on to Part 2, covering runes and items.
