With the new Fiddlesticks released in Patch 10.7, now is a great time to learn the finer points of the rework and prepare a bountiful harvest of LP in your solo queue ladder! Today's discussion will focus more on the core concepts of the reworked champion kit and less on specific ability statistics, as Fiddlesticks may be subjected to some tuning in the patches immediately after his release. Let's begin with a review of changes to each ability, followed by a discussion on play patterns, and finishing with item builds.

Passive Ability - A Harmless Scarecrow

Fiddlesticks' passive replaces its trinket with the ability to place Scarecrow Effigies. The Effigies act as wards with the form of Fiddlesticks, increasing in duration and decreasing in cooldown as Fiddlesticks grows in levels. Upon reaching level 6, the effigies will reveal invisible units as well. If an enemy champion enters vision of an effigy, effigies will fake an action and die shortly afterwards. These actions vary greatly and are randomized, ranging from screaming while standing in place, to running towards the enemy, or even flashing in a direction.

The change in passive ability is a huge flavor win for the Fiddlesticks' scarecrow narrative. Skillful usage of the effigy can lead to valuable exchanges of cooldowns, including panicked expenditure of escape tools and misguided use of damage abilities by confused opponents. Enemy champions see the effigy as an exact copy of Fiddlesticks, as seen below, and I can't imagine anything more terrifying than a Fiddlesticks immediately flashing at you upon entering a bush. As someone who has blown more than my fair share of cooldowns on Shaco and Neeko clones, this passive will definitely earn its weight in summoner spell cooldowns.

First Ability (Q) - Terrify

Terrify is similar to the past version of Fiddlesticks' first ability, as it can function as a point-and-click fear, but is now equipped with a passive and can also output scary amounts of damage. The passive portion of the ability enables Fiddlesticks to fear an enemy by damaging them with any ability while unseen outside of combat. The active portion differs based on how recently the target has been feared. If the target has not been feared recently, Terrify will fear them and deal a percentage of their current health as magic damage. If the target has been feared recently, Terrify instead deals twice the damage but does not fear the target.

The passive component of Terrify allows Fiddlesticks to fear an enemy by damaging them with any ability while unseen, heavily increasing the potency of ganks and ambushes. This can be particularly oppressive in the jungle, where bush vision is easier to leverage, and catching an opponent by surprise can mean certain death. By utilizing another ability to trigger an initial fear, Terrify's damage can be doubled, ripping massive chunks of health away from an unsuspecting victim. Terrify deals damage as percentages of current health, so it is best used in the beginning of a fight when enemies are most healthy.

Second Ability (W) - Bountiful Harvest

Bountiful Harvest is a channeling ability that damages all enemies around Fiddlesticks, dealing magic damage every second for 2 seconds, with the final instance dealing a percentage of missing health. Fiddlesticks heals for a percentage of damage dealt before mitigation, and both damage dealt and healing from Bountiful Harvest are heavily reduced against lane minions. If the channel is completed or all enemies have died, a majority of Bountiful Harvest's cooldown is refunded.

Bountiful Harvest is the Swiss army knife of Fiddlesticks' champion kit. It allows for pushing in lane as it damages all enemy minions within range, and harassment of the enemy laner at the same time. In the jungle, healing from Bountiful Harvest is incredibly potent, allowing Fiddlesticks to kill two camps at once in the earlier stages of the clear. It is a channeling ability, and has the risk of being interrupted, so it is best used when an enemy is retreating to ensure the channel is completed. The pain of the drain is heavily loaded onto the final instance of damage, dealing a percentage of missing health as magic damage. To maximize damage, be sure to use it last in your ability cycle when an enemy is lower in health. Another neat component of Bountiful Harvest is that it will only allow you to use the ability when an enemy is near. If the ability indicates it is ready for use and you don't see any enemies around you, you might just have an invisible Teemo somewhere nearby! Simply activate Bountiful Harvest to immediately damage and gain vision of invisible enemies near you.

Third Ability (E) - Reap

Reap deals damage in a crescent shape area and slows enemies hit. Enemies in the center of the crescent are also silenced for the duration of the slow. This ability slashes the location chosen rather than the enemy champion, making it possible to dodge damage if aimed poorly or timed incorrectly.

Reap is an effective tool for harassing enemy laners as it has a very fast animation and can be used from a far distance as shown by the range indicator above. In some situations, the area-of-effect damage enables Fiddlesticks to both kill enemy range minions while also poking down enemy laners. Due to the slow and silence, it can be incredibly difficult to return fire against Fiddlesticks in trades. The silence can be used to disrupt channeling abilities, and critically can also prevent the use of escape tools. In the jungle, Reap and Bountiful Harvest have the capability to damage multiple enemies at once, enabling expedited clear of camps with multiple units such as Raptors and Krugs.

Ultimate Ability (R) - Crowstorm

Crowstorm is the ability most like its predecessor, dealing magic damage in a circle around Fiddlesticks after channeling for 1.5 seconds. The ability deals magic damage every second for 5 seconds to all enemies in the area as seen below. This ability can be used to jump over walls as was the case prior to the rework.

The strongest change to Crowstorm stems from Terrify's passive ability. Using Crowstorm to ambush an unsuspecting victim will immediately trigger a fear, enabling the amplification of Terrify's damage. Crowstorm can also fear multiple enemies at once, providing massive amounts of teamfight utility through crowd control. Enemies feared by Crowstorm are also highly susceptible to Reap as they are unable to use escape tools to dodge. Following the initial fear with a slow and silence from Reap keeps enemies within range of Crowstorm, maximizing damage output.

Play Pattern for Trading and Ganking

Prior to reaching level 6, Fiddlesticks' main method for trading and ganking will incorporate chaining the fear from Terrify into the slow and silence from Reap, finishing with Bountiful Harvest. Reap slashes at a target location and can be dodged if an enemy anticipates its usage. Starting the animation for Reap while an enemy is still feared almost guarantees a connection, with the silence preventing the use of escape tools and the slow enabling a full channel of Bountiful Harvest. Terrified enemies will always move in the opposite direction of Fiddlesticks, so try to fear the enemy at an angle that will force them farther away from safety.

After reaching level 6, the strongest combination is started by channeling Crowstorm out of vision, triggering a fear at the very beginning of a fight. The initial fear will double Terrify's active damage, shredding a large percentage of their current health. As previously stated, Reap's usage should be timed to finish animation as the target is released from fear. Utilize the time spent feared and the slow from Reap to close as much distance as possible and begin the channel for Bountiful Harvest. The amplified damage of Terrify and continuous damage of Crowstorm will ensure the target has a large percentage of health missing, maximizing the impact of Bountiful Harvest.

While ability leveling patterns are still being optimized and may change over time, currently the most popular build is to max Bountiful Harvest first in the jungle. The healing from Bountiful Harvest is not reduced against monsters and enables Fiddlesticks to clear the jungle quickly while remaining close to full health. The healing is so strong it enables clearing without a leash from other laners and to fight multiple camps at once. As a laner, the leveling patterns tend to differ quite a bit, with most players opting to max either Reap or Bountiful Harvest first. Reap is an excellent tool for harassing enemy laners, with a low cooldown period, little mana cost, and a silence to stifle effective return of damage. Bountiful Harvest allows for more sustain in lane, keeping Fiddlesticks healthy in poke-heavy match-ups, and is also an effective tool to push minion waves.

Item Builds

Like most magic damage champions, item choices can differ greatly depending on the main priority of the build and composition of the enemy team. The most common builds are focused on either maximizing single-target damage or teamfight utility. The builds below are initial concept themes for Fiddlesticks, and should be changed often as more performance information becomes available. When played in the jungle, substitute one of the items for Runic Echoes. The item replaced should be determined by game situation with the exception of the single-target focused build, as Luden's Echo is the correct choice to replace due to the unique Echo passive.

Damage to Single Targets

The damage-heavy builds focus on items that give the most ability power such as a Rabbadon's Deathcap. Below is an idea of what a damage-focused build looks like:

Sorcerer's Shoes, Spellbinder, Zhonya's Hourglass, Luden's Echo, Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff

This build specializes in killing single targets. While all of Fiddlesticks' abilities scale with ability power, Terrify's active specifically scales as an added percentage of current health per 50 ability power. This build maximizes the amount of damage available through Terrify on a single target through building a massive quantity of ability power.

Teamfight Utility

Fiddlesticks deals area-of-effect damage with Reap, Bountiful Harvest and Crowstorm. The teamfighting build is focused on applying debuffs on as many champions as possible, keeping them slowed and trapped with Fiddlesticks to ensure his damage-over-time abilities connect for as long as possible.

Mercury's Treads, Zhonya's Hourglass, Hextech Protobelt-01, Banshee's Veil, Liandry's Torment, Rylai's Crystal Scepter

This build focuses on positioning Fiddlesticks into the middle of the enemy team formation utilizing Crowstorm and Protobelt. This configuration applies slows with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and synergizes with Liandry's Torment dealing extra damage to movement-impaired units. It also provides extra durability with the health added from Liandry's, Protobelt, and Rylai's. The combination of the Spell Shield passive from Banshee's Veil and added Tenacity of Mercury's Treads enables Fiddlesticks to continue his onslaught even after a counterattack of crowd control. Zhonya's Hourglass is a staple in both builds, as it allows Fiddlesticks damage enemies with Crowstorm even while in Stasis.

Conclusion

The rework of Fiddlesticks will bring a whole new terror to Summoner's Rift, with potent gank potential and oppressive harassment tools in lane. Fiddlesticks has massive amounts of utility packed into its champion kit with crowd control in Reap and Terrify and vision control through the Scarecrow Effigies. Bountiful Harvest allows Fiddlesticks to clear the jungle quickly while keeping healthy and also provides sustainability in the laning phase. Crowstorm now has the capability to fear upon landing and is supported with tools to keep enemies within range of the damage. This rework has artfully captured The Ancient Fear's manipulation of fear, and greatly improved the capacity for skill expression in abilities.

I hope this discussion provides a clear explanation of the rework, and valuable information to consider as you venture onto Summoner's Rift with a reworked classic. As always, thank you for reading and GLHF!