Fizz/Strategy

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Skill usage

• Remember that Playful can hop over walls making it a good escape mechanism.
  • As long as you have vision of a targetable unit across an impassable terrain, making use of them to dash over the wall with Urchin Strike to escape or get closer to fleeing prey is possible.
  • Note that Fizz will not pass through terrain if he uses Urchin Strike on a unit on the same side as he is, e.g. targeting the large Wraith on Summoner's Rift will not throw him into mid lane.
• If timed correctly, Playful can be used to dodge powerful skills like Requiem, Ace in the Hole or even an enemy Fizz's Chum the Waters.
  • Playful cannot dodge delayed damage like Death Mark, Hemoplague, or Twisted Advance.
    • The application of Death Mark can be dodged however by using Playful before Zed reappears.
  • Playful can also be used for tower diving since he becomes untargetable from turret shots for a short period time. It also resets the successive turret damage as well should Fizz get hit by a turret.
• Chum the Waters can perform well as an initiation, due to its nature of delayed effects: it may cause your opponents to scatter themselves in their attempts to dodge the damage from Chum the Waters.
• Since  Chum the Waters will reveal enemy champions hit directly, make use of it when a nearby champion tries to stealth to avoid being targeted. Champions such as  Akali and Twitch have predictable stealths, so they are particularly vulnerable to this strategy.
• Fizz can do "hit and run" tactics with good use of Urchin Strike and Playful minimizing his income of damage.
• Take care when running from an enemy with Playful as you can get stuck in some places like the corners of the enemy teams base entrances or even your own.
• If in a teamfight you get focused try to use your Chum the Waters and your Urchin Strike when you're at low health and then a quick escape with Playful to deceive the enemy team making them think they can kill you to get an easy kill for your team.
• Seastone Trident can deal significant damage early game, allowing Fizz to come out on top of most duels.
  • Maxing this skill after reaching level three allows Fizz to harass effectively by using Urchin Strike to reach an opponent, autoattacking to proc the passive of Seastone Trident and using Playful/ Trickster to escape.
    • However, this offers a significant drawback in the burst damage Fizz is renowned for, while in turn offering much more harass at a noticeably lower mana cost.
  • Another, an even better way to poke your enemy is by using Playful/ Trickster to enter, try to make sure you land behind your opponent though. Then, use Seastone Trident and autoattack a few times before getting out of combat with Urchin Strike. Which, when used at close range, will propel fizz further away from his enemy, and when used while 'behind' the enemy will propel him towards his own tower.
     As soon as you have sheen/lich bane, this method does significantly more damage due to the fact that Urchin Strike will directly apply sheen/lich bane's damage, while Playful/ Trickster does not. meaning that the damage stays almost the same, but you will hit your sheen/lich bane passive twice instead of once, which adds quite a lot of damage to your harass.
  • Note that Seastone Trident deals damage based on missing enemy health.
• Unlike most assassins, Fizz's abilities lacks sustainable means of farming, as maxing Playful to farm will waste a lot of his mana pool and his escape potential. Because of this, it is recommended to max Seastone Trident to max his basic attack damage output and last hit minions under the tower.

Build usages

Fizz is an assassin that excels on bursting on squishy targets. His kit allows a different variety of item builds and can work with either an AP build or a tanky AD build. AP builds focuses more on bursting down squishy targets using Chum the Waters and Playful/ Trickster while and AD build focuses on sustained DPS using Seastone Trident and Urchin Strike.

AP Fizz

• Lich Bane is considered to be a core item for AP Fizz, because of its synergy with Urchin Strike. Fizz has very low cooldowns, allowing him to constantly proc Lich Bane's passive, and this item also adds to his burst damage, generally allowing him to easily one-shot squishy targets. On top of that, the mana solves his mana problems (to some extent) and the extra movement speed adds to his already great mobility. Because of these reasons, this item is most of time the first item Fizz should purchase.
• Although Fizz benefits from everything that Athene's Unholy Grail offers, especially the mana regeneration due to him being mana hungry early game, this item denies Fizz's early snowballing potential due to not purchasing a Lich Bane. However, this item can be a good purchase if Fizz is losing lane hard against an AP champion, due to the magic resistance, and the mana regeneration allows him to farm under tower, without worrying about being out of mana.
• Zhonya's Hourglass is also considered to be one of the best items for AP Fizz. This item allows him to jump on the enemy team, kill the squishy target, activate Zhonya to buy time, and then escape unharmed using Playful/ Trickster. This is easier to do if Fizz has a lot of cooldown reduction.
• Because Fizz is melee, purchasing a health item will help keep him alive.
  • Rod of Ages gives the most health out of all options, and solves his mana problems. However, it takes a while to reach its full potential.
  • Rylai's Crystal Scepter has a slow that allows Fizz to stick to its targets easier. It procs to its full potential with Urchin Strike, but not with Playful/ Trickster.
  • Haunting Guise's magic penetration allow Fizz to do high amounts of damage early game to any target that does not build magic resistance. Its upgrade, Liandry's Torment, synergizes with Seastone Trident dealing percentage from missing health. Be wary however, that Liandry's Torment will not proc with Seastone Trident itself. This item is especially effective alongside Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
• Deathfire Grasp allows Fizz to one-shot any squishy target, and potentially kill even tanks, provided they have low magic resistance. The cooldown reduction also helps with Fizz's combos.
• Nashor's Tooth can also be used due to Seastone Trident also scaling well with attack speed, and the cooldown reduction and ability power are also very benefical.
• Although Sorcerer's Shoes are useful due to the magic penetration, consider purchasing Ionian Boots of Lucidity instead. There are very few cooldown reduction items that provide significant benefits to Fizz. Cooldown reduction allows Fizz to constantly activate his Playful/ Trickster, making him extremely slippery and difficult to kill or chase.
  • If there is a Veigar on the enemy team, or if enemies are attempting to use all their CC on Fizz, buy Mercury's Treads instead.
• Fizz has great AP scalings, making Rabadon's Deathcap an essential purchase, like every other AP champion. However, be wary that Fizz will need to buy some items first, such as Lich Bane and Zhonya's Hourglass. Rabadon's Deathcap is more of a late-game purchase.
  • If there is more than one enemy purchasing magic resistance items - which is likely, considering Fizz's extreme amounts of damage - consider purchasing a Void Staff instead. This item also works well with Seastone Trident's health-based damage, and the base damage from Chum the Waters.
• Abyssal Scepter should be considered if there is an enemy AP that is a threat, or if Fizz is losing the lane against an AP champion.
• Guardian Angel is also a good purchase if you are fed as Fizz, as it will just make you even harder to kill.
• Although it's AP Fizz, there are three AD items that are worth mentioning:
  • Zephyr - which can replace the boots late game. This item provides tenacity and cooldown reduction. The attack speed isn't put to waste, as it works well with Seastone Trident's active. The movement speed compensates for not having the boots. While you may lose the flat magic penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes, purchasing a Void Staff should compensate for that.
  • Mercurial Scimitar - Fizz is already vulnerable to CC, but there are some deadly ones ( Malzahar's Nether Grasp, Warwick's Infinite Duress, Skarner's Impale, and Ryze's Rune Prison) that Fizz cannot avoid using Playful/ Trickster, because they are targeted. Mercurial Scimitar helps against them. If you are going to purchase this item, buy only Quicksilver Sash, and don't upgrade it to Mercurial Scimitar until very late-game, when you have completed your build, as AP Fizz gains no benefit from the bonus AD.
  • Hextech Gunblade - Because Fizz has no way to sustain himself late game, the spell vamp and life steal synergizes well with the on-spell and on-hit components of Urchin Strike. This item can also be considered in AD builds as well.
  • Note that the AD from those 3 items is not wasted, as Fizz is somewhat auto-attack based, and Urchin Strike also scales with AD (it deals damage equal to Fizz's total AD).

AD Fizz

• Although Fizz loses a lot of burst potential with an AD build, he can overcome some of the problems that he has with an AP build, such as having little sustained damage and being squishy. This allows him to potentially have a better lategame and teamfighting presence than his AP counterpart, but be wary that this build is a lot more item dependent and is not recommended if your team already has tanks/bruisers and is in need of someone who can get rid of an enemy champion as fast as possible.
• Blade of the Ruined King is extremely recommended for AD Fizz. This item provides him attack speed and lifesteal, both stats that synergize with Seastone Trident and Urchin Strike, respectively. Also, this item passive synergize extremely well with Seastone Trident; essentially you will be dealing damage based on the enemy's max health.
  • Similarly, other life steal items such as Ravenous Hydra and The Bloodthirster should be considered as well, especially the former due to the on-hit nature of the item.
• When playing jungle Fizz, a Devourer enchantment should be considered, because the on-hit effect synergizes with Seastone Trident.
  • While the Warrior enchantment may seem tempting, considering that it is an AD-focused enchantment, AD Fizz actually makes better use of attack speed than raw AD. Not only that, but none of Fizz's abilities do physical damage, so he makes little use of the armor penetration.
• Much like AP Fizz, AD Fizz is very mana intensive. Building an early Manamune can easily transform into a Muramana with a toggle that synergizes well with Urchin Strike (as it will proc twice, one from the on-hit component and the other from the single target on-ability component).
  • Another item to consider is Essence Reaver since the mana restoration from the item's passive will proc on every basic attack (fitting into Fizz's on-hit/basic attack nature of his build) and the life steal to go with it.
• An Spellblade item is also recommended due to Fizz being able to easily proc them with his abilities, and because he has decent base attack damage. While Trinity Force gives Fizz more damage, Iceborn Gauntlet can also be used due to the extra tankiness. The choice depends from whether you need to build a more powerful or a tankier AD Fizz.
• It's recommended to build tanky items for AD Fizz, because he usually deals enough damage with the aforementioned items, and this allows him to take advantage of one of the things that he can't do with an AP build: become sturdy and survive during teamfights.
  • Randuin's Omen, Banshee's Veil, Thornmail and Frozen Heart are good tanky items to build on him.
  • Sunfire Cape is also a good item to build on Fizz. Due to the damage over time from the item's passive, it synergizes well with the DoT of Seastone Trident.
  • Frozen Mallet is a solid tanky item to build. The unique passive slow per basic attack synergizes well with Urchin Strike on-hit component and stick to enemies better.
  • Guardian Angel makes Fizz surprisingly hard to kill by boosting both of his resistances and giving him a second chance should he "die".
• There are other damage items that are worthy building on AD Fizz, however. Maw of Malmortius provides magic resistance and a shield that potentially allows him to win trades against any AP or hybrid champion.
• Much like AP Fizz, AD Fizz builds can easily benefit Nashor's Tooth for the on-hit damage and attack speed.
• Although it's an AD Fizz, he benefits more from magic penetration than armor penetration because his main source of damage is still Seastone Trident. However, there are very few magic penetration/reduction items that AD Fizz can use effectively: examples being Sorcerer's Shoes and Wit's End.
  • Despite being an AP focused item, Abyssal Scepter works well, because it offers magic resistance and the magic resistance reduction which coupled with AP, significantly boosts the damage done by Seastone Trident.
  • The only armor penetration item that should be considered is Youmuu's Ghostblade, because it gives more mobility and DPS to AD Fizz, is cheap, and boosts the damage from Blade of the Ruined King and the spellblade item.

Recommended builds

Countering

• Fizz is fairly squishy early game and can be easily zoned.
  • He is also very easy to deal with, until he obtains a Sheen, as Fizz is very mana hungry and lacks good base damage early game. It's recommended to harass him and try to kill him at his point. That is easy to do, especially if you use a ranged champion, taking into account that Fizz is melee.
  • Once Fizz obtains a Sheen, his power spikes, because he can spam his spells a lot more due to the extra mana, and he has a decent base attack damage to take advantage of Sheen's passive effect. Once Fizz upgrades this item to Lich Bane, his burst damage spikes.
  • In other words, try to deny Fizz from buying a Lich Bane, because once he obtains this item, he becomes a lot more powerful and harder to control.
• Save your high-damaging spells for when his Playful is on cooldown.
• Avoiding his Chum the Waters is extremely important, as it has high AoE damage and a knockup and will amplify his damage against one target for 6 seconds.
  • Take note that even if you avoid the skillshot, the fish will remain at the end of its path and attach to any champion who walks into its circle.
  • Also note that you might still be hit by the shark if you remain close enough to the fish, just like if it were attached to a champion.
• Fizz mainly deals magic damage, either through his auto-attacks or his spells. Therefore, investing in magic resistance will mitigate his damage.
  • Even if Fizz goes with an AD build, you should still invest in magic resistance, as all of his skills still deals magic damage.
• Fizz is an incredibly effective counter against casters who utilize skillshots as their primary bursting capacity or initiations. Therefore, avoid picking champions such as  Kassadin, Anivia, Lux, Ahri, and Zyra.
  • However, Fizz is vulnerable to on-target click or point blank AoE Crowd control so champions like Annie, Ryze, Malzahar, Pantheon and Kennen are effective counters to him. Seastone Trident's DoT also doesn't put into consideration shields so champions like Diana, Shen, Rumble, Lee Sin and Mordekaiser, items like Maw of Malmortius and Locket of the Iron Solari and the Barrier summoner spell can survive well against Fizz.
  • A lot of Fizz's damage also comes from autoattacking with his Seastone Trident, so a Blind, such as Teemo's Blinding Dart and Quinn's Blinding Assault, can mitigate some of the damage over time effect.
• Despite Fizz's strong late game power, he is an extremely poor duelist in all stages of the game if he builds full AP as he lacks tankiness and sustained damage.
• However, if Fizz decides to build as an AD bruiser, don't understimate him. This build may be extremely rare, but Fizz has strong dueling power with an AD build. Unlike his AP counterpart, he is also very tanky, and worse yet, he can still kill squishy champions easily (he will not instantly nuke them, but will win trades due to his good DPS and tankiness).
  • Don't stack HP when facing an AD Fizz. He deals damage based on the enemy's missing health (and also current if he decides to build Blade of the Ruined King.
    • It's better to instead build resistances against AD Fizz, because most of his damage is mixed and based on the enemy's health. Although difficult to build both armor and magic resistance at same time, due to the amount of gold needed, it's well worth. For most champions, once you obtain Frozen Heart and Spirit Visage, it becames a lot easier to deal with AD Fizz. It's better to build Spirit Visage first; even though it's AD Fizz, most of his damage early game is still magic, because of his Seastone Trident.
    • Much like Shyvana, it's good to build magic resistance AND armor items that reduce attack speed against AD Fizz, since he is very dependent from auto-attacks.
  • Generally speaking, however, it's better to build offensive stats against AD Fizz, because he can't trade very well without tank items. Once mid-game begins, AD Fizz starts to be on par with other champions in terms of dueling power, if he don't have any tank items yet.
    • Because of this, champions who can match or surpass the dueling power of AD Fizz, or have good early game pressure, are good counters for him. Examples include Pantheon, Xin Zhao and Wukong.
    • If you manage to deny him farm, and thus, items, AD Fizz become useless for a long time. This is because he has a better late-game than his AP counterpart, but he is a lot more item dependent.
  • Although AD Fizz is not building AP, his ultimate Chum the Waters still has a very good base damage, so don't understimate it, especially if you are low on health.
• Jax is considered to be a strong counter to Fizz against both AP Fizz and AD Fizz. First, his Counter Strike punishes Fizz's Seastone Trident (unless if Fizz uses Playful/ Trickster). Second, Jax is naturally tankier than Fizz, even with glass cannon builds. Finally, Jax has better late game scaling than Fizz and punish a lot of Fizz's damage with Grandmaster's Might.

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