Honestly, AP itemization is garbage right now.

AP items don't burst because overall ap has been nerfed to the ground. Very few items give over 100 ap. And Death cap is so expensive that it is not cost efficient until you have a 3 items before. This gives mages a weird power spike as early and mid game simply lacks raw ap. Then late game you get this huge power spike from death cap.

Ap items don't give utility either since the rylies nerf. Not only was the slow nerfed, the ap it gave was nerfed to.

Blue buff kinda suck and is only good for mana while red buff give great healing and a great slow that can be used for early ganks.

The new ap items provide low ap. One has an awkward dash and the other active is useless. I can't recall the last time I saw someone build .

The state of the AP items are terrible and needs to be revised.