Editing my item order as I recently have found myself building the Rylai's scepter before I went with the deathcap in order to give me early survivability, especially since early game is when fiddlesticks is at his most vulnerable.
Haunting Guise is another item I have been building mid gameish. Helps ALOT when they build MR early.

Being that I play Fiddlesticks so often and that I dominate most games I play in I decided that I should make a guide to show how I play him. This guide can be applied to Fiddles if you are playing Mid/bot/top/jungle. Fiddle is great at all these roles but really shines playing mid and jungle. The build works for all those areas.

***IMPORTANT*** This build is for a typical game in which you are doing well and have a team that can work with and support you. Obviously every match isn’t going to be like this. I have been in games where the entire enemy team built items to counter me or people on my team was... well... you know what I'm talking about. The second build in this guide shows you how to build Fiddles in a game that isn’t going well for you.

The second build uses items that give Fiddle more health and survivability at the expense of damage. Use this build if: your team doesn’t have a tank, you aren’t getting support from your team, if the enemy team is doing everything in their power to counter you, if you are new to Fiddle or the game and dont want to feed.

You play almost exactly like you normally would except you are playing more of a support role instead of a carry. With all the extra health and defense you will be able to survive long enough for your *cough* nub *cough* team to kill the enemy while they are worrying about you.

The third build is if the enemy team builds magic resist early and starts to stack it throughout game. This usually happens if you go 4/0 before even hitting level 6. Luckily there are some awesome items that increase your damage/defense and at the same time eat through their MR. Building Haunting Guise after the Will of the Ancients will give you an extra +20 magic penetration. Since Fiddle does his damage over time, these items are even more effective and important to use in these situations. Abyssal Mask + A Harmless Scarecrow will further increase your damage. And, just to spite those cocky tanks who think they have nothing to fear but fear itself, build a Void Staff to make sure they stay in line.

Fiddlesticks is one of the few champs that can jungle without smite and without changing his item build. I do, however, recommend using smite if you plan on jungling him. Unfortunatly, he is easily counter jungled and has slow clear speeds so make sure you keep that in mind when choosing him. His pre-level 6 ganks are possible but pretty weak due to him being so slow and having few to no ranks in fear. With smart teammates however they can be done.
Route:
Start at blue, work your way through to wolfs, wraiths, red, and then golems. After this I would try to gank a lane or two while farming jungle until I get to 6. When you get 6 focus on ganking and helping your team push lanes while controlling dragon at around lvl 7. Fiddle is one of the few champs that can take dragon solo easily. Try to make sure you stay behind dragon as a lot of enemies wont even noticing you getting it this way. Also keep flash up in case you are caught in order to flash over the wall to safety.

Pros:
Easy to play.
Great at staying in lanes Bountiful Harvest.
Awesome crowd control ability Terrify.
Multiple hit silence Reap.
Super OP/FUN ultimate Crowstorm.
Can jungle very easily.

Cons:
Difficult to master.
Terrible pusher.
Terrible farmer.
Slow jungle clearing times.
Susceptible to crowd control.
Squishy.
Teams surrender before you have the pleasure of destroying their nexus.

***UPDATED***

OFFENSE
4/4 Mental Force
4/4 Sorcery
1/1 Aarcane Knowledge---3/3 Havoc
4/4 Blast
4/4 Archmage
1/1 Executioner

UTILITY
1/1 Summoner Insight---3/3 Good Hands
4/4 Swiftness
1/1 Runic Affinity

Pretty basic runes for an AP carry. The magic penetration works well with Fiddles passive and how I build items on him. The mana regeneration helps keep you in lane and has saved me several times when I needed that little extra mana to escape or finish someone off.

The glyphs of celerity are awesome for two reasons. The first is that they scale with level and the higher you get the more you will need to use your ultimate. The second is that it can be used to replace a cooldown item with something that could be more useful.

***EDIT*** I changed my runes around a little bit. I kept the same Marks but use flat armor seals, per level magic resist glyphs, and AP quints. With proper mana conservation and getting the blue buff, mana isnt an issue and while I like Cooldown reduction my ultimate is usually up by the time the next team fight is about to start and would rather get the other runes for the added defense.

Sometimes I start off with a Doran's Ring and sometimes I don’t. Generally I think it is a good idea as it gives you a little more punch and some more health. I stay in lane/jungle until I can buy Sorcerer's Shoes then teleport back. After my boots I used to go right into the Rabadon's Deathcap but after trying will of ancients I always make it my first major item, no matter what team comp I am going against. Its just way too awesome on fiddle. It gives you some AP and makes your Bountiful Harvest even more OP. This helps you survive better early game.

After this I build a Rabadon's Deathcap for damage or the Rylai's Crystal Scepter depending on how the game is going. I get this item for several reasons. First, it gives you a health boost which helps when you are tower diving. Second, it also gives you AP to boost your damage. Thirdly, its passive slows targets that get damaged by spells. Unfortunately, Fiddles can’t take full advantage of this passive due to the fact that its effectiveness is reduced if it’s a multi-target spell. Even so it still slows enemies 15% which DOES makes a difference.

After the Crystal Scepter I will buy a Zhonya's Hourglass unless they are stacking crazy magic resistance in which case I will drop it for a Haunting Guise instead. PS - I upgrade the Hextech Revolver to a will of ancients randomly. You can save it for last or you can rush it after your boots.

Notes: I don’t like getting Rod of Ages due to the fact that it’s an expensive item that doesn’t contribute to my damage as much as other items can. Sure it gives you extra health and mana but I don’t think the payoff is worth it, especially on a champ like Fiddle. I have thought ALOT about using Morello's Evil Tome or Athene's Unholy Grail and in the past have used it. They are decent items and having cooldown reduction on Fiddle is awesome BUT with blue buff I usually have no issue with my ultimate not being up in time for the next team fight and have decided to drop it for other items that give me a better bang for my buck.

Mejai's Soulstealer is another item I have agonized over but decided to drop for a couple of reasons. The first is that I play aggressively and I would be too scared to tower dive or do my job correctly if I am scared of losing my stacks. Secondly, you will already have a big enough target on your head without having the Mejai's Soulstealer. I see a few Fiddlesticks with Spirit Visage.... pass. If Bountiful Harvest itself isn’t enough, you already have enough health gain via the Hextech Revolver or Will of the Ancients and it doesn’t contribute to your damage at all. Yeah you get magic resistance and cooldown reduction but there are other items that do this and help you in more viable ways.

***You might need to change build order and the items you buy depending on the specific game and how the enemy team is building. The item build, especially for Fiddlesticks, will change and adapt differently for each game. Knowing what and how to build comes with learning and playing the game***

A Harmless Scarecrow: Reduces nearby enemy’s magic resistance by 10. This passive works great with the item build but a word of caution, it can also reveal your location to enemies.

Terrify: One of the best CC in the game. Maxed out it makes an enemy wander around in a small area for 3 seconds. Use it to keep enemies in range of Drain or to stop someone from chasing you down.

Bountiful Harvest: Drain deals damage to a target while healing you for 70% of that damage. This is your main way of dealing damage and keeping yourself alive. Keep enemies within its range as long as possible, this spell can do major damage long term. Beware of stuns/knockups/silences when using drain.

Reap: Throws a crow that bounces between 5 enemies dealing damage and silencing them. Good for harassing and farming. Also really annoying in team fights late game.

Crowstorm: Select, click where you want to go, watch everyone die. This ultimate is one of the biggest game changers in LoL. Use it for ganks early/mid game and for team fights late game. Try to use it from brush or behind walls or in situations where you can’t be countered.

LANING
My first skill is Reap. This is a important choice for several reasons. It's a awesome harass ability and can soften the enemy up enough for a early kill (Especially if a fight breaks out in the bushes before minions spawn), it silences anything it hits (Sometimes multiple times), and its allot safer to use at lvl 1 than drain. Fiddle is very vulnerable early game until he levels his drain a couple of times.

After lvl 1 put as many points as you can into Bountiful Harvest. If you can’t put points into Bountiful Harvest put it into Terrify. Not only does Bountiful Harvest do a crazy amount of damage but it also heals you. ALOT of players underestimate this ability and will feed you kills thinking they can finish you. Just in case it needs to be said, make sure you level Crowstorm above all other abilities.

JUNGLING
Same as above except that you get Bountiful Harvest first.

Flash Is a MUST for Fiddlesticks. There is NO excuse for not using this ability. This will get you kills, it will save your life, and it will get you penta kills. If you don’t know how to use it, learn it.

The second summoner spell is smite or if you are laning its just a matter of personal preference. I use teleport because I am too lazy to walk and it helps me sneak around the map for surprise attacks. Use common sense on this one.

1.The first thing you need to know about playing fiddle is this. NEVER use your ULTIMATE in PLAIN SIGHT. JUST DONT DO IT!

2. The hardest part about playing Fiddle is your timing with Crowstorm. If you don’t use your ultimate at just the right time it could mean the difference between winning or losing. The more you play Fiddle the better you will get at choosing the right time to make your move.

3. Don’t wander around the enemy jungle with allot of MIAs. Fiddlesticks is a terrible counter jungler. You WILL get ganked.

4. Don’t over extend. If fiddle gets caught away from backup or a tower he could be in alot of trouble.

5. Hide in the bushes, be one with the bushes, the bushes are your best friend.

6. Grab blue buff whenever possible. Mana regen plus the cooldown reduction means more
owning for you.

7. Use your ultimate as often as possible, especially early and mid game, but only when you are 90% sure you can get a kill. Keep this in mind when using Crowstorm, "Use me often but effectively".

8. Beware of champions with stuns and silences, if possible wait for them to use them and THEN use fear and drain. A good team with CC can shut you down very fast if you are not careful.

9. Try to stay out of sight as much as possible. Having a MIA Fiddlesticks makes enemy teams nervous.

10. If possible try to time your Terrify with other team members CC abilites.

11. Your passive gives the enemy a debuff. The enemy can see this debuff. If you are hiding don’t stay too long or your passive will betray your location.

12. If you are being chased down and you see blood in their eyes, run into a bush and immediately use your ultimate at your location. I have gotten so many double and triple kills off greedy players doing this its not even funny. Just make sure you have enough health to actually cast your combo. Don’t do this with one bar of health.

13. Fiddle works VERY well with another champ supporting him. Champs like Rammus, Amummu, or Alistar all have abilities that keep enemies in range of your Bountiful Harvest and Crowstorm.
Bountiful Harvest minions when your health is below 75% just incase. Better safe than dead.

14. Using a combination of your ultimate with Flash can save failed clicks or catch a team running in fear of you. Make sure you don’t get excited and press flash BEFORE your ultimate goes off, if that happens your ultimate is cancelled and your flash wasted! Bummer!

15. Last but certainly not least, try to last hit minions if you are laning!

At the beginning of the game, if I am laning top or bottom, I like to go with my partner into the bushes for a possible early gank. Don’t do this by yourself and be ready to run if it goes bad. Actually, doing this isn’t a good idea period but I personally like playing aggressively. If a fight breaks out I immediately cast Reap. This silences them both for a good amount of time and with no minions around it bounces between them doing massive early game damage.

After this phase I play defensively, throwing Reap until I get two or three levels in drain. At this point I coordinate with my ally and try to time our CC abilities in order to keep them in range of Bountiful Harvest as long as possible. Rinse and repeat. I do tower dive every so often at these levels but I recommend not doing this unless you are 100% sure you can get away with it. I also try to steal their blue around lvl 4-5 if I'm sure I can get away with it.

Early game skill combo Terrify-> Bountiful Harvest-> Reap
I don’t use Reap first in the combo early game. It doesn’t do much damage with all the minions around and the silence last just about as long as the fear does at these levels so it’s not very effective against 1-2 players in a lane. Instead I Bountiful Harvest them and when it runs out or when the target gets out of range I quickly toss Reap to finish them off (Dark Wind has a longer range than Drain).

As soon as I get Crowstorm I either pick up another few kills in the lane I am in or, if they are tower hugging, I go and gank mid. If you are playing mid then just do the reverse. After I use Crowstorm for the first time I go back to base and buy getting my boots for sure and maybe start on the Hextech Revolver. I go back to my lane and farm/murder until team fights start forming. In most games I am in this starts happening around lvl 8. In this phase of the game work with members of your team as much as possible and start watching how people behave and how the team works together. This will help you make the right decisions late game.

Mid game skill combo Crowstorm*--> Terrify-> Bountiful Harvest-> Reap
*if available

At this point you have ganked members of their team, you have some nice items, and you have Bountiful Harvest and Terrify leveled up. If they thought you were a pain in the arse early game, they have no idea what’s coming next. During late game try to grab blue buff whenever possible. If you see team fights forming, waddle over to them and start hiding in bushes or behind walls where they might break out. Make sure you are careful when doing this however; you don’t want to get ganked.

Tell your tank to position himself close to you and attempt to bait the enemy. As soon as a team fight starts and MOST of the enemy team is engaging IMMEDIATLY Crowstorm in, follow that with Reap and then target the biggest threat to you or your team with Terrify+ Bountiful Harvest. This combo silences up to five enemies in the area(which has a list of benefits) and ensures that, at the very minimum, one or more enemy players are dead. You want to target carry and support champs with your Bountiful Harvest and you want to Terrify any champ that could ruin your ultimate. This makes sure you can deal ALOT of damage relativly risk free for 3 seconds or more.

Your Hextech Revolver/ Will of the Ancients will also help keep you alive during these moments. After wiping their team a couple of times they will NOT want to engage team fights. They will instead send one or two champs (usually tanky) in to bait you to use your ultimate. Don’t fall for it. Be patient and wait for your team to catch one or two of them. Human nature will kick in and the rest of their team will dive to help, after that happens go ahead and blow them away again.

If you have your Zhonya's Hourglass or Rylai's Crystal Scepter tower diving becomes more viable. If the team is tower hugging late game, inform your team that you are going to tower dive them. Again, make sure you are behind a wall or in a bush. Once you Crowstorm in use your regular late game combo. When your team sees the punishment you are handing out they will (hopefully) dive in and cover your retreat. Most of the time you will wipe them and knock down a tower or two.

A example of how NOT to use your ultimate. Notice that you are in plain sight and the enemy can see you. If you used your ultimate now, the enemy could flash/run away or interupt you.


A example of when to use your ultimate. Notice how you are in the brush and the enemy cannot see you. If you used your ultimate now, the enemy wouldnt have time to react.

Fiddlesticks is easy to play but difficult to master. The more you play him the better you will get at choosing the right time to use your ultimate. Triple and quadra kills will be a common occurence for Fiddlesticks using this build late game. I have scored a few penta kills as well but they are harder to come by because of people kill stealing you :D Also, remember to communicate with your team. Fiddlesticks requires heavy teamwork to truly dominate games.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAB6MOdhVEw&feature=youtu.be
A video I made for fun. This song goes through my head every time I press R.