What the differences between ability power and magic damage?

JARmates·Nov 26, 2015·2 votes·4,317 views

Like for example Rammus ability has one that say he deal extra magic damage and one that say he deal extra ability power? What is the differences between those two?

8 Comments

KyrrionNov 26, 20152 votes

Ability power is a stat you can buy. It is a universal stat on all champions. If you notice the greenish/teal number in a tool tip, that is what's called an "AP ratio" - ability power ratio. This number is quite literally a % of the ability power your champion currently has. It is a flat bonus to the effect of the ability. So if Powerball shows a +50 in those green numbers, it'll deal 50 more damage based off of Rammus' current ability power. Each AP ratio is dependent on the ability itself, there is not a universal set amount. You will see different ratios on different abilities on the same champion as well as on other champions. You may not even see any AP ratios at all.

Magic damage is just a different type of damage that's mitigated by magic resist. Auto attacks deal physical damage, while abilities can deal either physical, magical, or true (not mitigated by ANYTHING) damage. This will always be noted in the tool tip. While AP (ability power's common abbreviation) is generally tied to magic damage, there are a few exceptions scattered through out the game. For example, Skarner's Q ability has both an AD ratio (Attack Damage ratio) and an AP ratio - it deals more damage based off of Skarner's total AD and his total AP.

Basically, magic damage is a type of damage that is mitigated by magic resist. Ability Power generally makes abilities deal more damage based on the AP ratio of that ability (or what % of your total AP is added to the damage).

TehNACHONov 26, 20152 votes

Ability Power is the input, Magic Damage is (usually) the output.

Typical example is the more Ability Power you build, the more magic damage you tend to do. However, some abilities can gain more Physical Damage if you build Ability Power, like Twitch's E. Furthermore, Ability Power also sometimes augments Heal effects and CC/Utility effects (alternative outputs to damage).

Check the champion's stats in the wiki page or by mousing over their abilities in game. Green numbers are almost always indicative of Ability Power scaling, meaning the ability will hit harder if you build Ability Power or have better augmented effects.

7ha7guy777Nov 26, 20151 votes

Ability power is what the ability scales off of (green number). Magic damage is the type of damage it does.

JARmatesNov 26, 20151 votes

I'm still confuse so does magic damage have anything to do with ability power? Like would buying more AP item scale with magic damage?

ModWulf HelhammerNov 26, 20152 votes

As a general rule, yes. There are some exception though, where an ability scales with AP, but still does physical damage (and in rare cases, the ability scales with AD but still deals magic damage)

BeatzBoyFTWNov 26, 20151 votes

Ability Power: What you have Magic Damage: What you deal with

StellafreyjaNov 26, 20151 votes

Think of it like this, Intellect/Intelligence is usually used in other games to increase magic/spell damage. Ability Power (AP) is the same thing. And just like Strength tends to increase Physical Damage, Attack Damage does the same thing here.

But AP =/= Magic Damage all the time, because there are some special cases where an skill could scale with AP but deal Physical Damage or True Damage.

MathbalnaseNov 26, 20151 votes

AP is a stat Magic damage is an effect