Azir will make League great again!

Specifically, Azir "APC" bot. All in all, I would call this pick at LEAST comparable to midlane Azir for the purposes of Solo Queue, for a handful of reasons. Furthermore, it's just so damn fun to play that it's hard to get salty- Azir is a high-skill cap, high skill floor champion and you know that going in- otherwise his kit feels kind of sparse and disjointed from the beginning (you don't meet the skill floor). When you dive under a tower and ult, there's a lot that can go wrong- but no matter what happens, you either messed up or got outplayed.

So, why do I think this is any kind of viable? Well, aside from my success with it, it makes sense from a theoretical perspective. Here's some points about Azir "APC":

• Most importantly: Your primary meaningful weakness (compared to most other mages) is totally nullified by having a support. What I mean and what I see this as being is Azir's lack of HARD CC. He has a displace and dash-stopper on his ultimate, and a slow on his Q- but nothing that will 'lock down' an opposing laner. Now pair him with a support- WHATEVER the support, you completely cover that weakness. Which brings me to the next point!

• He can adjust his playstyle to have synergy with ANY support, though some are definitely better than others- and his kit is so versatile, he can adjust to do any number of things within a composition. Poke heavy? Either focus on farm while your support pokes and surprise the enemy with a burst, or join in and completely zone your laners. Tanky engage? You have poke now, too. Enjoy free kills if the laners stay around for your engage! AP support like Morgana? You can engage and let her ensure kills with a follow-up lockdown.

• Azir APC addresses the most important issue of other AP botlanes: Tower pushing power. Thanks to his W- passive and active- not only does he gain attack speed to apply his AP-scaling tower damage, but he can also sacrifice a sand soldier charge to do another hefty chunk of damage to a tower- even early game. This allows a very tower-focused lane strategy and opens up an option NO NORMAL ADC has: Taking the tower, and then pushing on the second one in relative safety, instead of roaming being the 'most safe' option. A focused Azir botlane can take an inner turret well before 20 minutes, if they win lane- with the jungler relatively helpless after the outer turret goes down. Yay passive!

• Something I don't think gets enough attention: Magic damage is significantly harder to itemize against. This shines through in two places: The lower overall amount of MR available, even to pure tanks, and the power of Void Staff- unlike Last Whisper, it still is just a flat 35% magic pen, before the flat stats you build with it. This means you can force hard choices, particularly with AD-heavy teammates- have a Talon mid? Help him out by pressuring his lane with your overwhelming magic. Anyone who builds armor first, you can burst. Anyone who builds MR first, Talon can burst. Win-win. As for void staff- are they actually building MR? Make it wasteful. Void Staff is on the cheap end of the AP spectrum!

• Pairing a late game hyper-carry with a babysitter just makes sense. Making plays with Azir early on is high risk, high reward in a solo lane, just because he's so squishy- especially if he doesn't hit his E, oh dear! In addition, his mana-hungry early levels are less risky- if you really have to back for mana, you aren't wasting XP- and if you accidentally OOM yourself, you aren't as defenseless as a midlane Azir while you try to get it back up with . Having a support, depending on what support you have, turns that high-risk, high-reward playstyle into a moderate to low risk playstyle with the same massive rewards- even greater if you're dominating, as you have two laners to get fed on.

• Speaking of his E- you don't strictly need it until you're really ready to all in, where the mobility and shield are necessary right at 3 in the midlane. With a support hopefully keeping the other laners off of you, you have the option to level Q again at level 3 to really press a poke advantage- they won't even know why they're taking more damage from your poke, or that you don't have that extra gapclose-escape-maneuver potential offered by E.

• Okay, let's take a break from his kit and talk about BUILDS. A big topic! Recommended items and most mobafire builds for Azir include . Generally, the components are rushed because of that juicy AS and CDR- but throw that away for a minute. Remember, you don't need a first-back power spike. With NO attack speed in his build, only his maxed W's passive, Azir ends up with ~1.2 attacks per second. That's pretty decent, when you consider the scaling on those soldiers: A whopping 60% AP! That's 1.2 times every second, plus the damage dealt by your Q (50% AP / soldier). We're ignoring the base damage, even though it's considerable as well and scales will level, agnostic of your build. The primary point to notice here is that you have a baseline of ROUGHLY 72% AP magic damage per second in terms of sustained damage- this part is your job as the 'ADC'- plus the considerable scalings of your other abilities adding burst even though that isn't your 'job', per se.

What does this mean for builds? Well, first of all- your role is more like that of a sometimes bursty marksman than traditional Mage Azir. That means you're going to focus on your auto attacks- or more accurately, your soldiers' auto attacks. In the average teamfight, two soldiers can effectively cover all of your allies with minimal re-positioning, whether you're fighting in the jungle or in a lane. This means cooldown reduction is negligibly important, as long as the fight area doesn't change too drastically (say, in higher elos, or when your Ahri goes crazy and they ALL chase her in lower elos). Your first Q of a battle can often be the only one you need, against squishy targets affected by allied CC. Further, as mentioned before, you already get a 72% AP/second ratio (technically more if you build a Ludens, but I'm not doing hard math in this thread) by level 18. Attack speed isn't a huge priority in the lategame, either. That means you're free to focus on a beautiful, perfect triangle: Sustain, AP, and Utility. With that stated, and the given fact that you'll have a 'babysitter' for the early game, one item really shines: This is the only thing I will ever say, for any pick, to rush 100% of the time always. For a bot-lane Azir, no matter whether you're winning or losing, getting this item as early as possible will only ever be a boon. If you're taking too much damage or running out of mana often, will save you. If you're ahead, or first blood your laner but have to back before you can afford your Catalyst, is a decent first back item in itself. The only other item I would consider essential for Azir is since the buff to AoE slows. 100 more AP translates to a flat 60 magic damage, 400 health translates to more survivability and a stronger shield if you use your E to all-in. On top of the amazing base stats, the slow ALWAYS guarantees your soldiers a second auto attack on anyone passing through their zone (unless they just brush the edge and then turn back).

So that's the long and winding reasoning about builds.

• Last, but not least- one more note about why his KIT is good in the botlane. I want you to repeat after me: The mobility meta. Azir's ult not only forcibly displaces opponents, allowing you to separate an ADC or squishy support from their laning partner, or thwart a gank, or 'safe dive' by pushing your opponents out from under their turret and flashing out to help your support finish them- the wall left behind can be passed through by your team and not the enemy. Further, it stops dashes and bounces the user back to where they started or even beyond! It plays havoc on the positioning of the many high-mobility champions in League without inhibiting your own team whatsoever- even though abilities interact with it as a wall, like Bard's Q or Vayne's E! It's basically everything good about Jarvan's ult, with all the bad parts taken out and a bit of flavor thrown in to sweeten the pot, since it's a line and not a circle. A true thing of beauty. Beyond his ult, you're just as mobile as the champions you thwart with your EQ combo- dodge skillshots, all in, get behind or in between them. You are an emperor, a master of the battlefield, and you excel at controlling the conditions of any engagement- small skirmish, duel, or full-on teamfight. This sheer utility, combined with his level-based scaling, mean Azir is not only a powerful scaling hypercarry but a master of unlikely comebacks.

Now that I've discussed the ups of Azir, let me prove I'm not just bronzing you out! I do realize there are downsides to this pick, though I personally believe they're even fewer than what you'd see in the midlane. Here are a couple issues I've identified:

• As mentioned in the last part of the benefits segment- Azir scales with level almost as much as he scales with items. His base damages, cooldowns, and most importantly his mana pool all grow immensely from relatively meager base amounts. Although you offset his early weakness and potentially gain a lead with this pick, the flipside is that you will level more slowly than a midlane Azir. Getting behind in lane will harm you even more than it would mid, though arguably it's only roughly as bad as any 'traditional' ADC.

• No lifesteal! None at all! This is a HUGE factor to consider before you go into the rift with this pick- you can't stay in fights the same way a normal ADC can. It's very, very different- once you lose health, barring heals, it is GONE- but you do still have a shield that you can count as effective health, so keep that in mind! I also personally love far more than I would midlane for this reason. For the love of GOD, if they have multiple assassins for some reason, be wary of this and watch your positioning.

• To complement the no lifesteal point: Imagine playing Tristana or Twitch without Bloodthirster or even BoRK. This is the kind of balls-to-the-wall all-in that will completely change an entire game in one fight and set this pick apart from anything you've ever seen botlane- but the margin for error is the barn behind the target. My mechanics are personally not always on point- I die a LOT with this pick, even if it enables my team to win a fight. If you have superior mechanics and decision-making skills (or just don't miss your ult AND your E after diving in like a spaz), your foes will TREMBLE. laugh

• You are playing Azir. It is very, very, very, very, very, very, very... fills a page with very very easy to misplay with Azir. It is easy to feed with Azir. Unless you are good with his unique mechanics and have very good decision making skills, it does not matter if you are bronze, gold, diamond, or even Master tier. This is a champ you practice in normals first. (Anyone above Gold tier already knows that, but it still should be said).

• You are playing off meta. You're going to be raged at, you're going to be blamed when your midlaner (and/or jungler) goes 0/6, your support might decide to leave lane and not come back the first time either of you dies if it's lower elo. Whatever goes wrong, it's always your fault- try to keep your biting retorts vague, or you can be punished if they report you. Just remember- the problem in league is that noone wants to admit they're not the most skilled OP 1337 MLG carry every scrub player in all of LoL. Win or lose, just report them, try not to be baited into arguing, and take solace in the fact that this player is going to stay at their elo or- if you're lucky- fall to the fabled Wood V division.

Now, before I close this out- I want to share some of my favorite items and strategies for this pick. - As mentioned before, these are always in my build- RoA first, and Rylai's third at latest. I like to rush this right after RoA, or grab it if I don't have enough gold to finish my RoA/buy the next piece. I am Bronze (for now). Games for me last as long as an hour, especially with how good Azir is at the delaying game. That means this item gives me an AVERAGE of 160 AP by the end- 80 from the item, 80 from the passive. That's huge, plus the stats both this item and Tear bring passively, and the huge mana gains ensuring I never, ever, EVER run out. I love this item, so much. Mundo goes where Mundo pleases- but only if he's looking for a shortcut to his fountain. Forget Spirit Visage, Banshee's Veil, Locket of the Iron Solari, and more! There is no counterbuilding you with this item. You waste so many gold worth of stats with this item that it's worth taking any time the enemy has even one player building MR. SHIFT, AZIR, SHIFT! No really, please take boots. I will cry. Magic pen is nice too. Fourth or fifth item, at the EARLIEST! You can stack nearly 1k AP with this thing, best combined with . Did you say base MR? What base MR? AHAHAHAH! HAHAH! Between this and boots, most 'squishies' are reduced to zero or below. No DR at all! This is nice enough to warrant replacing boots as a seventh item! It adds more AP scaling to your kit and you don't lose much mobility. 60% passive attack speed on W. 25 true damage per auto attack on turrets. Take this for the final siege. I usually buy one or two of these in a game. It would be more, but my teams usually fail to contest objectives I set them on- so I simply deep ward and replace it the one time the other team ever finds it. It's completely different if you lane versus a , ewww. Place like a million, your support is probably too lazy- but I will tell you, stealth reveal is probably the most devastating thing you can do to any champion with stealth in their kit- it gives the power back to you.

As well, a couple short strategy notes!

I love to remind my teams of my passive, and as Azir, you are uniquely suited to take charge. Simply remind the other players that you can make a turret from a dead turret and let them know which lane to push- the smart ones will group around you and push it, opening a siege opportunity. In low elos, the sun disk is easy to underestimate.

Again on the passive, I love to try forcing a double tower right after I take bot tower, saving it and placing it to retreat to when their jungle comes in or the laners come back to retaliate. Double-triple kill and often some serious tower damage, even if you don't take it! You can also use the passive to 'safely' recall after pushing a wave- you have to stay attentive, but anyone trying to catch you out will have to essentially turret dive you. As a bonus, when their wave pushes back, you will auto-CS it.

Now, engage tips. If you have hard engage on your team- cool! Dive in AFTER that hard engage and try to separate the tanks from the carries- or shove the most fed/cc heavy member of their team out of the fight into the jungle to burn their flash or make them go around. At this point, as long as your team is paying attention, it's the least favorable kind of fight for the other team- their CC or carry isn't there to save them, meaning you and your team can clean up or shut down the person you separated.

... If you don't have a hard engage, oh boy. You're going to try this and die soooo many times, but even if you do- it can be worth it. Do exactly as described above, with one CRUCIAL difference- Q your soldiers solidly onto their backline and be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN your E hits their frontline before you ult. If you don't have that shield, or if you land in their carries, you will die almost instantly. There is no coming back. If you separate their front and backline, congrats- you have soldiers in command range among their backline, with yourself hopefully just out of their range. Abuse this while your team probably focuses the tank.

That's all! I'll leave you with this age-old wisdom:

> , is the word. -Ghandi