Fizz's days of purely being a mid-lane bursty assassin are over. After seeing a brief run as a top lane AD bruiser before changes to his W set out to put him back in the mid lane, top lane Fizz is back with a vengeance. Armed with the ever powerful Cinderhulk jungle item and the dueling Skirmishers Sabre, Fizz is able to dash in and out of team fights, putting pressure on the back line in a way that he never could have before.

Despite being a skeptical pick to some casters and analysts, star players on some of the best teams in the world have used Cinderhulk Fizz to great success, including AmazingJ of EDG, Zz1tai of Invictus Gaming and Ssumday of kT Rolster. Let’s look at some of his strengths and weaknesses, as well as what is making him a high priority pick in competitive play for some teams.

Why Cinderhulk?

So far, Season 5 of League of Legends can be defined by what is popularly known as the “tank meta,” and the most powerful tank item in the game right now is the Cinderhulk jungle enchantment. Only available to players that run the Smite summoner spell, Cinderhulk grants 300 health, +25% bonus health, and does persistent AOE damage with the “Immolate” passive that used to be exclusive to Sunfire Cape. This mix of stats, originally aimed at making tank Junglers more viable, has leaked out onto the top lane due to the powerful scaling it provides.

Courtesy of http://korhiper.deviantart.com/

So why Fizz?

Fizz has always been defined by his insane burst damage and mobility. This mobility is why tank Fizz is being picked professionally as of late. Fizz’s kit gives him the tools to bypass the frontline and dive onto the squishy damage dealers in the back. Usually a full AP Fizz (like most assassins) needs to pick his spots carefully or risk being blown up before he accomplished his goal. Tank Fizz doesn’t have that problem. While his damage does take a hit by building defensively, Fizz’s base damage levels are moderately high. Seastone Trident (W) does bonus magic damage per hit, damage over time, AND a percentage of a targets missing health per hit. Also, Chum The Waters (R) increases Fizz’s damage against the target by 20%, making every other attack do significantly more damage.

When is Cinderhulk Fizz a good pick?

Cinderhulk Fizz does a lot of the same things that Irelia does, albeit with less physical damage and more magic damage. However, Fizz’s passive, Nimble Fighter, decreases the damage of auto attacks by a flat amount that scales with level, and applies after armor reduction. With the rise of popularity of double AD comps and champions like Ezreal, Corki and Varus being played in the middle lane, Fizz’s passive has double the impact. The Immolate passive of Cinderhulk also works when untargetable during Playful/Trickster (E). While not a huge amount of damage, it can certainly help your wave clear. Cinderhulk Fizz’s job is to dive the damage dealers in the back line and keep them off of your carries, so during team fights you should use your mobility to disrupt them and peel for your ADC and mid-laner.

Take this game for example. Zz1tai of Invictus Gaming picks Cinderhulk Fizz into Hecarim top, Varus mid and Vayne ADC, which are three auto attack based AD champions. Fizz's passive now deflects damage from all three of Vici Gaming's main damage sources, which paired with Frozen Heart and Cinderhulk makes Fizz extremely hard to deal with.

So I bought Cinderhulk on Fizz, what’s next?

The best second item pick on Cinderhulk Fizz is Frozen Heart. Frozen Heart synergizes very well with the champion and role. 100 armor is a huge defensive steroid that makes Fizz much harder to kill, and cooldown reduction and mana makes it possible to spam more skills, which increases your mobility and damage output.

Cooldown reduction is the most beneficial stat to Cinderhulk Fizz, and should be maxed as soon as possible. Max CDR will let you have your Seastone Trident’s cooldown up before the spell ends, allowing you to keep the bonus damage on hit active throughout prolonged fights and while clearing waves. Lowing the cooldown of Urchin Strike (Q) and Playful/Trickster (E) gives you much needed mobility that helps you maneuver around in team fights, sticking to your targets or escaping a bad engage. The best way to hit max CDR with Cinderhulk Fizz is through scaling CDR glyphs in your rune page combined with Frozen Heart. However, if MR runes are needed you could always opt for CDR boots.

After Cinderhulk and Frozen Heart, you can make a choice based on how the game is going and what the opposing team is building. Trinity Force is excellent on Fizz, but it’s a luxury item that better built if you get fed some kills early or dominating the opposing top-laner in farm. Since Seastone Trident (W) is your main form of damage, Blade of the Ruined King and Zephyr are both decent items to build after Frozen Heart. If you need magic resist, Banshees Veil is the preferred item due to the extra health it gives over Spirit Visage.

An ideal top lane Fizz build would be:

Cinderhulk -> Frozen Heart -> Trinity Force -> Blade of the Ruined King - > Banshees Veil -> Ninja Tabi/Mercury’s Treads (situational).

So that's it! Give the Tidal Trickster a try with Cinderhulk and see for yourself. Given his rate of play internationally, as well as his rising ban rate across the world, Cinderhulk Fizz looks like it is here to stay. I’ll be back soon with more insight into new professional picks, as well a few strange/off-meta picks for you to try!

Header image courtesy of http://artsed.deviantart.com/

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