Support Fiddlesticks: How, Where, and Why?

Hey everyone, Darwin here with another support guide.  This time I will be examining Fiddlesticks - The Harbinger of Doom.

The most common role for Fiddlesticks is usually in the jungle.  I would argue he is almost, if not equally good in the hands of an aggressive support player (you also occasionally see him either top or mid. Fun fact: Fiddle is the single hardest counter to Vladimir in the entire game. Try it out sometime, you won't be disappointed). This may surprise some people, but after reading this guide I hope you will see the viability of support Fiddlesticks, and want to try it out. 

Skills: I know many of you are familiar with Fiddlesticks' kit, but I want to revisit how each of the skills is used differently as a support.

Dread: Nearby enemies have their Magic Resist reduced by 10.

While this isn't the most gamebreaking passive on a support it definitely has its uses.  Obviously this benefits Fiddlesticks himself and any ability power champions on your teams but AD carries that also deal magic damage such as Tristana will deal additional damage when Fiddlesticks is close enough to enemy champions. 

Terrify: Strikes a target unit with fear, causing it to flee in terror for a duration.  Strikes a target enemy unit with fear, causing it to flee in terror for 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 second(s). Cost: 65/75/85/95/105 Mana. Range: 575.

This skill is support Fiddlesticks' bread and butter and should almost always be maxed first. At rank five it causes the target to walk aimlessly for three whole seconds, and it's not even a skill shot.  When paired with an early aggressive carry like Tristana or Draven this skill gives you a great chance of getting first blood.  After being feared and hammered on by your ad carry the opposing lane with either be dead, or terrified (get it?) of you and be forced to play ultra-passive, essentially winning the lane for you.  In team fights this skill can be used as an engage if you can flash-fear a carry who is a little too cocky, or it can be saved for peeling those pesky bruisers off your carries.  It's on a relatively short cooldown so don't be afraid to use it!

Drain: Fiddlesticks saps the life force of an enemy, dealing damage to a target over time and healing himself. Deals 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.45) magic damage each second to target unit and heals Fiddlesticks for 60/65/70/75/80% of the damage dealt. Lasts up to 5 seconds. Cost: 80/90/100/110/120. Mana. Range: 475.

This is probably Jungle Fiddlesticks' signature non-ultimate skill, but for support Fiddlesticks' it's actually his least useful spell.  That being said it's not something you want to ignore or forget about.  I usually get a point in this skill at level three or four and max it last.  The single early point is for self healing in lane.  If you are low, feel free to drain a minion (preferably don't kill it) in order to gain your health back, just be aware this will push your lane.  If you are blue side and pushed to your turret, but it's not being pressured too hard, you can walk back to the double golems and drain the large one at max range until they get close and then walk away for some free healing.  In a close trade, after you have popped all your cooldowns, make sure to cast this spell for that extra bit of damage and remember especially early on with this skill active you are actually quasi-tanky because of how quickly your health regenerates. Just be aware of champions that can interrupt your drain and leave you vulnerable! 

Dark Wind: A wisp of wind strikes an enemy unit and then bounces to nearby enemy units, dealing damage and silencing the victims. Strikes an enemy target and then bounces to a nearby enemy unit. Deals 65/85/105/125/145 (+0.45) magic damage and silences for 1.2 seconds for each strike. Can bounce up to 5 times and may strike the same target multiple times. Damage to minions is increased by 50%. Cost: 50/70/90/110/130 Mana. Range: 750.

The use of this skill is generally what separates great support Fiddlesticks players from mediocre ones.  Early game this skill, if used properly, gives Fiddlesticks some of the best harass in the entire game.  If you can successfully push the other duo lane off the minions and then get this skill to bounce between them this will do massive damage and possibly even net you a surprise early kill.  Again be aware that using this skill will result in pushing your lane.  Early on the mana cost is fairly low, especially for the potential results, so feel free to spam away, especially when your opponents are close together or near minions. 

Late game this use of this skill changes completely to focus on the silence aspect of the skill because the damage becomes very negligible.  You want to try and land the skill so that it will silence your opponents who deal the most damage via their spells (generally the AP carry or an Assassin like Zed).  Try to get it to bounce off them multiple times if possible in order to maximize the silence time. 

Crowstorm (also known as CAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAW): A murder of crows flock wildly around Fiddlesticks, dealing damage each second to all enemy units in the area. A murder of crows flock wildly around Fiddlesticks for 5 seconds, dealing 125/225/325 (+0.45) magic damage each second to all enemy units in the area. This has a 1.5 second channel duration and teleports Fiddlesticks to target location. Cost: 150/200/250 Mana.  Range: 800.

This is the skill Fiddlesticks is famous for, because it does high amounts of damage and is also the spell in League of Legends most likely to make your opponent @#$% their pants. When you hit level six and acquire this skill, it is your biggest skill gap in relation to your enemy in the entire game.  It's a great time to go deep and try to all in the other lane (assuming you're relatively high health).  Otherwise, take advantage of bushes you know aren't warded or when one of your two opponents is alone in lane and pop this on them when you see an opening.  

This skill can be tricky in team fights.  At low levels (soon after acquiring the skill) this is very strong and can be used to deal great damage in fights. Later in the game it is much less effective (assuming you're not crushing and have tons of AP).  Even if you have something like a Morellonomicon you still won't do much damage to level 18's with a lot of MR.  It is a useful tool for causing chaos and for cleaning up low opponents, but it shouldn't be used the same way a jungle Fiddlesticks would use it.  In NO circumstances should you be initiating a fight with this spell unless you have a Zhonya's Hourglass - you will simply die too quickly to be useful. 

 

Tips and Tricks:

- Fiddlesticks is an aggressive support.  If you and your lane partner are more of the passive, farm oriented players, you should generally avoid running this.

- In that same vein of thought Fiddlesticks pairs best with aggressive AD carries.  My personal favorites are Draven, Tristana, and Miss Fortune.

- You generally want to take Dark Wind at level one.  If a team fight breaks out it's one of the better level one skills. If not, it's your best skill for early harass in lane.  

- In a team fight you generally want to babysit your carries and scare big mean bruisers away from them with your Q and E. 

- Flash fear is a powerful tool for catching out enemies who are out of position. 

- Support Fiddlesticks is still excellent at drain tanking early dragons as long as you have others to take it down quickly.   

- If the enemy is doing barron and you ult into the pit you can generally cause enough chaos to get a steal off. 

Itemization:

I generally run standard support items on Fiddlesticks.  Rush a Philsopher's Stone for early mana and health regen, follow it up with a Sightstone and Kage's Lucky Pick for tankiness, free wards, a bit of damage and extra gold generation.  These three items should almost always be your core.  

From here it depends on the direction of the game.  If you are doing really well in lane you can go for early ability power in Morellonomicon and Zhonya's Hourglass. These can give you enough damage to be a bit of a second AP carry, and a massive amount of utility.  The active from Zhonya's can be used in tandem with your ultimate to initiate or clean up a fight, and the healing debuff should never be underestimated. 

If you're not doing as well try and buff the play of your teammates through items like Runic Bulwark, Shard of True Ice, and Shurelya's Reverie to provide additional utility to teammates.  

Get out there and try support Fiddlesticks in a few normal games before trying it in ranked.  Above all, remember: BE AGGRESSIVE!