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A little love to the AP players

StoryDuck·Feb 29, 2016·10 votes·1,154 views

I was just thinking about itemization and realized just how many items there are that can screw over an AP based character. I mean literally there is an item for every champion just to counter what they like to do and how they function. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to play AP mage champions.

For early game there is for AD for tanks and for AP assassins that like to build abyssal.

Supports can build a lot of MR to defend against AP mages. .

Mages used to be great against AD when they had to give up damage for their defenses. Now... is a pretty resilient build and it has massive damage.

Wave clear and delayig a game was a great tactic for mages to use with their long range abilities. Now... counters that.

I know enough that many mages have a great power spike in the mid game before ADCs built 2 MR items. I know that a good team is one that balances AP and AD. I know that AP champions with a lot of utility are still great. I also acknowledge that AP champions have it rough this season and to those that love their big ability powered champions I salute you and wish you the best of luck on the rift. I really hope that the mage reboot breaths some life back into your champion's diversity in which other classes can so easily itemize against.

9 Comments

one boosted birdFeb 29, 20162 votes

they better not hurt my Anivia anymore :( for once immobile mages could fight off champions like leblanc and fizz and kassadin. Then nerfs happened.

CenturosFeb 29, 20161 votes

And yet, there are THREE items specifically to counter autoattacks alone, on top of other armor items. item 3143 item 3075 item 3110

StoryDuckFeb 29, 20164 votes

Who is talking about that? I was just stating that AP mages have it hard at the moment. They still have a place but it is very easy to itemize against them. You don't see ADC buying item 3075 or AP Mages building item 3143 . My point is that every class can itemize against AP and it is very hard to be an AP mage when items can counter you. Only certain classes of champions can itemize against ADC.

WalkingInACircleFeb 29, 20167 votes

Right, and they're pretty much all designed for full tanks. The point is how easily you can slip mr into your build.

There's no ad/armor item and only one really expensive ap/armor item. Certainly no armor aura.

shteeebMar 1, 20163 votes

AD also has access to two % armor shred items in Last Whiper and Black Cleaver. The only % pen item on AP is Void Staff.

AD also has access to lifestetal while spellvamp is a joke. AD champions can heal to full without going back to base.

Autoattacks also have multipliers in crit, crit damage boosts, and attack speed. They also cost nothing to use, and be used up to 2.5 times a second. With enough AD, they will outdamage most spells. The only multiplier for AP is Rabadon's +35% AP.

The champions autoattacking also probably have spells that also scale off AD and output damage comparable to AP (Lee Sin ult with 600 base damage and 2.0 scaling, for example.)

There is also no armor aura item. The support/jungle builds Aegis, now anyone near them has bonus MR.

Also none of those give offensive stats, so they will only be on a tank most likely. AD champions can itemize AD and MR at the same time (Maw + Mercurial.)

Chaos Milk TeaMar 1, 20161 votes

My Ori build rushes item 3020 and item 3135 , and will often take item 3151 for last item. Mpen is legit strong.

shteeebMar 1, 20163 votes

That sounds like utter garbage.

You should be stacking straight AP on Orianna first. Penetration does absolutely nothing for her shield so it's a complete waste on one of her ratios.

Also if the enemy has 40 MR, which is probably around what they'll have by your first item unless they're rushing MR, you're paying 2650 gold for 80 AP and 14 magic pen. Abyssal scepter costs 300g less and lowers enemy MR for ALL teammates to use by 20, not to mention the defensive stats you get as well.

This isn't even bringing up how you're going to run out of mana after clearing 2 waves without getting a mana item first.

Chaos Milk TeaMar 1, 20161 votes

Sorry, that's after ROA. I should have mentioned that. It's a faster and bigger damage spike than the currently popular item 3027 > item 3158 > item 3089 . I should have been more clear by what I meant by rush.

KagagiouMar 1, 20161 votes

I have to agree with Steeben on this one. Shoes, okay, I can see that, then get a little AP power and keep an eye on your opposing laner. If they are building MR hard, then it's Shoes, Power, Pen, Power, Pen. Although I like where your head is at overall, get the pen out and done early... but power could've gotten you a couple of kills while they barely made it out. If you really feel you need a little something for the buck, hit up the item 3001 to add a touch of resist while cutting a flat amount of their MR. But if you don't want MR and wanna hit straight pen, then Pen, Power, Pen, Power. So you have a little punch at least.

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