Like either they go full tank or full AP, with the only exception being those hybrid items like Zhonya or boots. You don't have a lot people who go like Rod of Ages and then fulltank but you DO have people who go stuff like Black Cleaver or Titanic and maybe another item into fulltank. You have some exeptions to this rule from time to time but honestly not that often. So why is that?
nuclearwarpotato27 votesA main reason why is because of auto attacks. Bruiser like champions are a mix of durability and damage. Too much of either sets them up as just a tank or an assassin. This means most are relegated to more of a sustained damage/duelist play style. while building 1 or 2 ad items you not only have abilities for small burst but autos to really cement the sustained damage role. Ap champions are harder to make fill the same role because of their reliance of abilities so much more than autos. This means that if they rely entirely on abilities there isn't a reason to not just build straight ap and have burst. The closest champs we have to this are battle mages like swain and vlad.
M00ndanc33 votesand even then the only reason they build tanky is to make use of the sustain or anti burst they have in there kit
P00PD1CK5 votesThis actually makes a bunch of sense ( on first glance at least ). It could also explain why Singed is an exception to the rule, his Q poison gives him the same kind of sustained dmg autos give AD bruisers.
Targon11 votesThere are many reasons why AP bruisers are virtually non-existent. One of which is that many AP champions that have potential to be AP bruisers lack sufficient DPS through their kits and through itemization. Many AD bruisers can build 
or
and remain a threat through most of the game. Such an item combination doesn't exist for an AP bruiser to exist. The closest combination I can think of is 
which is nowhere near as strong as the item pairs above in terms of DPS or even survivability. With this combination you get 180AP (after ROA is fully stacked), which is 15 + 0.15*180 = 42 bonus magic damage on-hit from Nashor's Tooth - quite underwhelming. Not to mention, AP bruisers desperately need magic penetration by the mid game, the only decent option would be to build 
since there is no AP Black Cleaver, but Void Staff offers no durability and takes away a slot for more defensive items which are a must for a mid/late game bruiser. There's also the problem of mana issues and lack of sustain.
As mentioned, battle mages are the closest thing we have to an AP bruiser.
P00PD1CK2 votesDo you think this could change if they introduced some AP bruiser items? The idea of an AP Black Cleaver sounds exciting.
Also, why does Singed seem to be an exception to this? What allows him to go AP bruiser while other champions aren't really all that effective with these kind of builds?
Targon3 votesI think so! Unfortunately, I don't think this will be any time soon. I was hoping that the AP itemization rework a few months ago would help diversify items betweens the various types of AP champions (mages, assassins, battle mages, ap fighters, etc...) but it didn't really do that.
As for Singed, I had completely forgot about him. His play style is so unique that it's debatable whether he should be considered as a bruiser or should be in a class of his own. He seems to do okay with a mixed spread of AP items and defensive items due to his persistent AOE DPS, decent durability and bonus damage when he ults, and of course, lots of items synergizing well with his kit (
slow, 
movement speed, etc...)
ninjaroxas1 votesI mean isn't wits end pretty much an AP black Cleaver? They could just make some changes to it to make it better
Marothennan3 votesWhile it certainly shreds magic resist it's not really an AP item. Wit's end is an on hit item
CasterGilgamesh2 voteswits end use to be the AP black Cleaver when it was Malady an item that shred mr and dealt magic damage on hit so it was combined with 
which was pretty good idk why it got removed and split into two items that are so underwhelming maybe they thought it was op even though the only one who really used it (at least as i could see) was 
i used to go hybrid teemo for fun building malady and black cleaver
Anu3isII2 votesMalady was used only by Teemo and sometimes Kayle. And it was in a kinda weird spot where it had synergy with On-hit builds, but it barely offered any Damage, and with AP builds, but it offered very little AP and not enough Attack Speed to use the Passive.
Riot's logic was pretty much separating the item into 2 items that filled different item builds:
is for High AP builds that focus more on their abilities/AP Scalings for DPS (
,
, 
, Korean 
)
is for On-Hit builds that have naturally Higher Magic Base Damage (,
, Old 
)
Z3Sleeper1 votesNew Warwick is still nearly 100% magic damage. Basic attacks deal magic damage, Q does magic damage, R does magic damage.
The only physical damage he has is through base AD and Titanic Hydra.
Z3Sleeper4 votes
... that’s about it.
LordGeovanni1 votes 
?
Ap bruisers dont need magic penetration the only reason mages use magic penetration compared to ad champions is to keep burst high (because burst is supposed to be windowed and gated by long cooldowns buy Ha long cooldowns) but sustained damage negates that need.
Z3Sleeper2 votesLaundry Torrent doesn't give magic pen.
LordGeovanni1 votesNo it increases the amount of magic damage you do which is just a different way of saying the same thing same with Abyssal mask. Just than abyssal mask and Liandrys are worse against champions with low amounts of magic resist than flat magic pen and better against champions with lots (180+) of magic resist than flat pen.
Z3Sleeper2 votesDon’t let that distract you from the fact that it doesn’t give magic pen.
That’s all i was sayin.
Also yes AP bruisers value flat pen. There’s just no good items for them besides the component Oblivion Orb.
Vztah1 votesamen
Ignika D6 votesold sejuani
AS I LAY FEEDING3 votesDiana is the only true ap "bruiser". But Diana works more like a mage/assassin since diana's only option is blowing up people. Rod of ages is just a garbage item. A ap bruiser item would have like 10% cdr, resistances, 30 ap ish and a unique passive
SwiftKitten881 votes[{quoted}](name=Top Deck,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fl4vNVKL,comment-id=000d,timestamp=2018-06-09T00:01:15.741+0000)
Diana is the only true ap "bruiser". But Diana works more like a mage/assassin since diana's only option is blowing up people. Rod of ages is just a garbage item. A ap bruiser item would have like 10% cdr, resistances, 30 ap ish and a unique passive
diana is a "diver" which is much more like a much tanker assasin that is designed to stay in fights instead of leave them after a kill., and has ss and or shielding or mid fight heals
i dont ever recall her being a "bruiser"
AS I LAY FEEDING1 votesno one really cares about the sub classes. there is either fighter (bruiser), mage, adc and assassin. The bruiser or fighter whatever its called builds both defence and dmg. But Dianas only option to be effective is building ap to blow people up. When you blow people up, you are considered a assassin not a diver. Because there is no good itemization for ap with hp is one of the reasons tanks for example dont build rod anymore and tanks is overpowered because riot gave them too much stat instead of giving them better items to deal and soak dmg.
4th3t0s3 votes
?
P00PD1CK4 votesAll Mordekaiser builds atm are full AP. You don't see a Mordekaiser picking up 1-2 AP items and then going fulltank.
Zane Zephyr3 votesgunblade Sorc boots and rylais into tank is amazing
DuskDaUmbreon2 votesThe AP items that also give health or resistances aren't typically what most AP bruisers would want.
The only exceptions I can think of are RoA (takes a while to get going, though) and Banshee's (but pretty much every champion would want to use it if they used AP, anyways, so it's a moot point).
I guess you have Mordekaiser, but he's more juggernaut than fighter (which is what I assume you meant).
Sire Hippington2 votesWell, there are more champs that could go ap-bruiser if people actually would want to. 
for example all work great with 
for a total damage amp of ~26.5% and some nice aditional burn damage and a bit ap.
As for RoA into stuff, it just needs to long to kick in and delays important stats like CDR, while bruiser builts usually want pen or other damage amp to support their high base damages. If you look at cleaver, it gives cdr, %pen and mobillity, so stuff that amps you're kit quite well.
RoA only gives some solid stats with a delay and no utillity at all.
Another issue with roa is that is just the go to ap-bruiser item, giving some cdr, some %damaghe amp and solid def stats, and it shares the Eternety passive with RoA while also solveing most mana issues so you don't need RoA for that.
Honestly, RoA needs either to have something more outstanding once it reaches max stacks, or atleast eternety should be stackable so it feels better to pair it with abyssal.
However, in the current state of the game, sacrificeing more than maybe one item for offense will leave you to squishy to support tanky-dps patterns, so most of the time it's just more effective to either be fulltank or go full ap and just burst people.
Nhifu2 votesHaven't you noticed Korean players build more on the tanky side; than they do pure damage?
> or 
Unless they're like a pure poke champ lol
Radiant Wukong2 votes 
CatSith1 votesHeimer? O.o
Radiant Wukong2 votesYes sir
SociopathFriend2 votesYou have some exeptions to this rule from time to time but honestly not that often. So why is that?
Largely it's just player preference/adherence to meta. I enjoyed building RoA on multiple AP champions (I largely started maining support a few seasons ago, prior to that I was a diehard mid main) back when I played mid often. It's the same reason you rarely see Lich Bane- there's nothing wrong with the item but people don't want to use it too often.
They 'optimal' strategy for AP is to sit back, blast with mana, CDR, damage, and hopefully just never get caught. Tankiness, like Lich Bane, requires risk; something nobody wants to have.
On another note- a lot of tanky-AP champions simply aren't meta/"good" at the moment.
Typical top RoA then tank users:
I can count maybe a dozen of how many of those you could pick for top and not immediately have your team yell at you. And out of them, only a handful will be objectively better for it compared to other builds. I built RoA on Diana, that doesn't mean it's the best item for her.
Kitten of Evil2 votesBecause Riot is incredibly lazy when it comes to developing AP items. I've posted on this before, but they're perfectly willing and able to come up with items for ADCs, assassins, and even tanks that attempt to fill different playstyles and fantasies.
But when it comes to AP items, they just put absolutely no effort. Every item they release seems to be "here, have more damage". And so itemization ends up being super flat and bland, and it doesn't work well for a lot of AP champions, like AP bruisers.
DeusVult2 votesA. There really are no AP bruiser items. AD bruisers get things like 
etc to build health while still gaining damage through passives or AD, especially since they can weave in autos into their combo.
B. Bruisers break items. Or other classes break items meant for bruisers. Riot has THE HARDEST TIME making an item that is meant for class X that doesn't immediately get cannibalized by class Y. Looking at you 
C. For AP bruisers to be a thing they would have to have high enough ratios to not just build full tank, while having those ratios not high enough to just build full glass cannon and try to assassinate people. Diana is a perfect example of someone who SHOULD be an AP bruiser. AP ratio on autos? Check. Shielding? Check. Ability to stick to a target? Check. But her ratios are high enough that you either go full AP and try to assassinate a target or you are useless because their really are not AP bruiser items.
Vztah1 votesthat diana bit...feelsbadman
VoraciousX2 votesThe reason is simple. There are no real "bruiser" AP items EXCEPT for Rod of Ages. The only other possible one we had was Abyssal Scepter and obviously Riot nuked that option. Rylai's and Liandry's could also be considered bruiser AP items but the problem with those two is there's not enough health in either and they only synergize with certain kits. You can't really have an AP bruiser without building damage and HP/armor/MR, and there are only a few options for all three in the AP category, with most of them being niche items outside of RoA. One thing though I never understood was WHY people don't build ROA. It's an amazing item, sure Ludens gives more burst, but it gives you lots of mana, lots of health, and lots of AP, making you a more durable mage. I personally love it on every mage that uses mana. I sometimes wish champions had mana so that it'd be a decent choice on them considering HOW MUCH mana it gives, it makes it extremely suboptimal despite wanting the health and the AP it offers.
Vladimir for example only gets away with being an AP bruiser because his passive allows him to build tank items and still get damage from it. That's the ONLY reason he builds like a bruiser, because tank items don't give AP, and there are no real AP bruiser items outside of RoA which he cannot build.
The Yetii Rider1 votesGoing to point out, in addition to everything said here, that the vast majority of champions who have AP scaling are ranged, and there is no such thing as a 'ranged bruiser'.
Ranged AP: 
Melee AP (Has to be divided further into assassins, tanks and bruisers): 
See the difference? The reason for this is because AP is associated with magic, not with brute strength like AD is. And magic is typically shown being cast by your hands or from a wand or something. It's something that weak, ranged casters use, not beefy warriors.
Risen295 votes[{quoted}](name=The Yetii Rider,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fl4vNVKL,comment-id=0020,timestamp=2018-06-09T14:08:27.508+0000)
Going to point out, in addition to everything said here, that the vast majority of champions who have AP scaling are ranged, and there is no such thing as a 'ranged bruiser'.
Mimr1 votesYes, and he has huge itemization issues because any ranged AD bruiser item Riot would try to create would immediately get abused by ADCs. At this point Urgot (and Gnar) should just be flagged as melee.
Risen292 votesYes, and he has huge itemization issues because any ranged AD bruiser item Riot would try to create would immediately get abused by ADCs. At this point Urgot (and Gnar) should just be flagged as melee.
Your point is irrelevent to what you're responding to. You claimed that there were no ranged bruisers, but there are.
The fact that ranged bruisers do exist doesn't change just because you think urgot has bad itemization.
CasterGilgamesh1 voteslogic and game play balance dont mix well
The Yetii Rider1 votesWhat does 'balance' have to do with character concepts? The decision to make a champion AP or AD has nothing to do with balance (except in Ekko's case, where Riot blatantly stated the reason they didn't make him AD was because he would have too much damage from autos), it's based on what makes sense for the character.
It would probably be more "balanced" to have Twisted Fate be a standard crit-based marksman with a proper AS steroid. That doesn't mean we should do that.
LordGeovanni1 votesExcept making character concepts only happen because you are making them for a game thus the balance of that champion concept should be of utmost priority. they are not separate because without the game in mind you then lose the reason to make the character.
The Yetii Rider1 votesYeah but the Character Creation team and the Balance Team are separate...And more importantly, what does 'game balance' have to do with having more ranged APs than melee APs anyway?
LordGeovanni1 votesEverything. I used to work at a water distribution company. I worked in the lab with water testing. Do you think when the customer asked about a broken pipe i could say Sorry not my department. No I had to work with and collaborate so that the info got to the right department Or offer my own knowledge about it even though its not my role. This Different departments excuse is nothing but an excuse for lazyness and bad work. If Your Job is to make the champion not balance it that does not mean that you make a champion with no regard for balance and how it fits into the game.
The Yetii Rider1 votesFair enough, but why is AD being primarily melee and AP being primarily ranged a balance issue?
LordGeovanni1 votesAd Being Primarily Melee Is because Earlier in the games development They couldnt distinguish ranged more than melee. The still currently cant do that but feel more obliged to make ranged damage dealers and melee's all be tanks. Ranged champions are ranged because they are supposed to deal burst damage and in dealing burst damage they either sit far away like mages or they go in and pop you one time like akali and diana. Many Mage and adc players dont find the dash in and blow up patten fun or fair to play against (but are okay with the same thing from long range) and at the same time People playing the dash in and blow up champions dont find it fun to not be able to do the same thing to tanks and fighters as they do to Adcs and mages even though they still end up beating them in drawn out fights.
The Yetii Rider1 votesNone of that has anything to do with AD or AP. We have AP sustained damage and we have AD burst damage.
LordGeovanni1 votesIt does. Ad Burst is lower than ap burst (outside of what used to be crit combined with attack speed) because ad champions can supplement with auto attacks. While ap does have some Champions that have sustained damage. The problem comes in with making sustained ap damage different enough that its not all just Ekko w passive Dianna Passive Eliese passive Evelyn Q rumble q and Azir w. If they want to copy and paste abilities its becomes much easier but everyone wants to feel like they have 'unique' champions
If you know none of that has anything to do why we dont have more ap bruisers then you must also know why we dont have those.
Risen291 votesLike either they go full tank or full AP, with the only exception being those hybrid items like Zhonya or boots. You don't have a lot people who go like Rod of Ages and then fulltank but you DO have people who go stuff like Black Cleaver or Titanic and maybe another item into fulltank. You have some exeptions to this rule from time to time but honestly not that often. So why is that?
You have to first define what "bruiser" means. Bruiser is not an official riot class definition. It is a generic MMO term. Bruiser basically only means you have good damage mixed with good defense, but that's way too generic to be useful for LoL.
You specifically say you want AP champions who build some damage but then go full tank. That would typically describe juggernauts in LoL. You might also have some vanguard or even warden type tanks that can build that way and be effective, although I'm not sure if it's always optimal to do so.
Mordekaiser is the only AP juggernaut we have. BUT - he doesn't build the way you describe. He builds more like Galio, using hybrid AP/defense items primarily. Galio is a warden tank though. So even he doesn't want to build full tank.
This could be a problem with AP itemization in general that makes building a few damage items and then going full tank not a viable option.
Trinity force and Steraks, and the upcoming atmas, are all designed with AD juggernauts in mind. But the juggernauts themselves also have kits that tend to allow them to do more damage with less items to begin with. Maybe Morde isn't designed that way.