I feel like most of the time alot of them are worse than mage assassins (like malz and ahri), ad assassins and other mid champions. Its just a general vibe im getting after studying this game for a while but I feel like people who main these assassins are not as likely to climb into a higher elo and some people may be hardstuck from otping one of these instead of a different champion.
Well, Malz isn’t an assassin, he’s a single target burst Mage. While that sounds like an assassin, he’s missing the Mobility and instead gets more straightforward damage.
Ahri and Ekko are great examples of AP assassins. Their viability is extremely volatile, and I don’t know how good their doing since the starting item they want, GLP cannon, is really struggling.
I think overall they are only slightly beneath meta. Their extremely difficult champions and when the player is experienced, their terrifying. As a result until you gain the skills to climb to high silver, your probably still working on the mechanics to handle them. Starting with them is a bad idea since it’s hard to use mechanics you don’t have.
sounds obvious, but it’s not that easy to tell for a lot of people.
Realistically Fizz and Ekko are Mage Assassins, and Malz isnt anymore a assassin then any other mage.
AP melee assassins have one huge issue that others don't - if they whiff their combo/combo is not enough, they are boned.
AD melee assassins don't have this issue as much because their items ALSO enhance their auto attacks. If an AD assassin whiffs his ranged Q, he can still rely on item amped auto attacks. If an AP assassins whiffs theirs, their autos do jackshit by comparison. AP melee tend to rely heavily on their spells because that's the only thing affected by the items they buy.
Thus, for most AP melee mids, their AP buys ONLY enhance their spells, generally. So, if they miss them or if they are not enough, oh well. An AD assassin's spells get enhanced by their items AND their autos do too, so if they miss spells or combo isn't enough, maybe a few 150 dmg autos will be.
That said, AP Melee burst tends to be up there as some of the highest in the game and their base stats are higher than their mage counterparts. IF the player can play around the range advantage, the ranged opponent is actually at a disadvantage because they CANNOT play "around" the base stat differences.
Take mid lane Diana vs something like Lux. I main Diana, i will spend every single minute of lane phase having to worry about trading my HP for a single CS because Lux can harass me with everything in her kit while i can only throw Qs every 10-6 seconds. If Lux can routinely land Es and autos, she will eventually force me out. If she does this, she can begin accruing an XP lead, which can lead to her being 1-2 levels over me. (example!)
IF she manages, her base stats are now higher than mine; my advantage is gone and her advantage is nearly complete. With a two level lead, there is NOTHING i can do to her alone. She will have too much HP (almost 200 more) and additional damage/effects on her spells and runes.
However, if i manage to only remain even in XP and snag one or two small Tomes, i one shot Lux at 6 with no effort whatsoever assuming i land my spells or don't fuck something else up royally. There's nothing she can do if she doesn't keep me out of her melee range, period. My stats and burst will be too high for her.
Are u saying fizz katarina akali ekko and diana are bad? xD
Yo do know that fizz and kat have been S tier mid laners for weeks right? It wasnt till ad assassin specifically got buffs that pushed them into good spots, realistically that push zed into a good spot, talon has been ok, so idk about you also their are like two ad assassin mid laners? Also I saw a thread about Kat lacking counterplay like yesterday. If you are talking about LB then ya she is trash thats why they are reworking her.
What the hell are you talking about. Malzahar doesn't do damage, who the hell is he assassinating. You haven't studied anything, Fizz is currently one of the best mid laners in high elo.
The only ap assassins i think are struggling right now are 
and maybe 
to an extent.
and friends are doing more than fine right now.
These three are doing just fine
These two aren't terrible but could use a little love IMO
This one is getting reworked so we will have to wait and see
How many are there?
Main problem with AP melee assassins is they have problems being poked out of CS early(imo). At least this is my experience with Katarina. Some matchups you just have to sit back and let the wave crash into your tower, and even then when the tower 2 hits a melee minion, and you auto attack it, it still doesn't die because you have no AD. It can be extremely frustrating. Although I think most melee AP assassins have a counter to this(empowered auto attacks, or abilities that buff their autos . In fact I think Katarina is the only one who doesn't.....In fact...Maybe that's why it's so hard to CS with her in the first 2-3 waves. Other than that I feel like the problem with most melee AP assassins is that they need to get really ahead early in the game in order to be relevant, because they don't really have any "assassin items" like AD assassins, and sometimes don't use mana so their items are somewhat limited in this regard. I mean Akali builds lich bane even though she doesn't have mana. That's just how important it seems to be for her, and I've always considered lich bane kind of an "AP assassin" item, but certain champions miss certain benefits from it. Ludens used to fill that niche, but now it's a full on mage item that gives mana and less AP than before. I dunno where I'm really going with this, except maybe that AP assassins need more assassin like items, because AD assassins get a much bigger power spike than them from lethality. Sure we have Morellonomicon(though oblivion orb costs quite a bit more than serrated dirk), but that's not something you really build first item imo, and it's kind of niche now. I do think they made these champions be melee for a reason, likely to put more power into their abilities. But it seems like build wise, AP assassins don't really have any items that they can all use, at least without sacrificing something for them(usually mana as an unneeded stat).
