After the rework, Fiddlesticks appears quite weak in the jungle position, and it’s no wonder that Riot Games had to quickly buff this scarecrow just days after his release. Indeed, the efforts from the creators of League of Legends have paid off as Fiddlesticks’ win rate has slightly increased. However, this champion has only moved from being super weak to just a bit less weak. The reasons are numerous, but mainly stem from players still not understanding the essence of this “new” Fiddlesticks.
Recently, a player who only uses the reworked Fiddlesticks to climb to Grandmaster, known in-game as Nikkone, shared his experience using this scarecrow on the Reddit forum. From item builds to rune setups and gameplay mentality, this player’s approach is drastically different from the average player. Perhaps we have indeed been playing this champion incorrectly.
Firstly, regarding the mentality of using Fiddlesticks, according to Nikkone, Fiddlesticks actually has a playstyle very similar to Karthus, meaning you will need to farm a lot and find the right position to unleash your ultimate. Thus, the priority for most of the match should be farming in the jungle, controlling enemy jungle invades, and finding ways to secure dragons early. Even when your ultimate is ready, your goal will still be to farm; only if a truly good opportunity arises should you use Crowstorm to counter-gank.
In contrast, the average player tends to look for ganks as soon as they have their ultimate, but this approach is more harmful than beneficial. At level 6, Fiddlesticks’ damage is quite limited; even if you manage to Fear an opponent, it’s hard to take them down simply because your W ability makes this scarecrow stand still. Early ganks are not effective, so it’s best to just farm safely.
Another key difference is in the choice of runes; Nikkone opts for Electrocute to supplement the damage that Fiddlesticks severely lacks. With the farming-heavy and extended playstyle mentioned earlier, the Gathering Storm rune in the Sorcery tree will provide Fiddlesticks with significant damage in the late game, which is when this champion shines.
However, according to most guide sites, which players often learn from, they wrongly direct this champion towards a gank-heavy playstyle. Just looking at the image from LoLalystics above, we can see that the typical build often includes the Keystone rune Dark Harvest to gain power after each gank combined with the Nimbus Cloak + Transcendence in the Sorcery tree, which enhances ganking ability.
Finally, regarding item builds, Nikkone never builds Zhonya’s Hourglass as his second major item after the Everfrost. Instead, he frequently opts for Liandry’s Anguish, even pairing it with a Spellthief to increase mid-game damage instead of relying on survivability from Zhonya’s Hourglass.
One thing that few people notice is that Fiddlesticks interacts extremely well with Liandry’s Anguish. When using W – Harvest, it increases this champion’s ability to endure fights, and the longer he can last, the more valuable the damage amplification effect from that mask becomes. Moreover, this champion’s Q – Terrify also deals damage based on a percentage of the enemy’s health, which benefits significantly from Liandry’s Anguish, making it an essential item for Fiddlesticks.
Just from these three points, we can see how wrongly the average player is using this champion. The new Fiddlesticks is a strong late-game champion when equipped with many items that increase his nuisance in combat, rather than an early ganking machine as many believe. Hopefully, with the guide from this Grandmaster player, gamers will use the new Fiddlesticks more correctly and effectively than they currently do.