AP Champion general concept.

Something that all champions start with is a base/scaling AD score and 0 AP that does not scale without runes and masteries. This actually kinda annoys me because it literally makes EVERY champion viable with an AD build, even pure mages. On the other hand, there are champions that make very little sense to build AP, for example Riven . It can still be done with items like Nashor's Tooth and Lich Bane but I find this incredibly limiting, .. but that's a slightly different subject.

My idea would require a change in the way a champion's stats start and scale throughout the game. I have not done the math to balance this idea, but here's the general idea The champion would start with 0 AD that will not scale per level, but will start with 80 AP (This is just a number I made up atm, but would obviously require some balancing) and they will gain AP per level. I'm sure I have already lost some support of this idea, but hear me out. The first argument would likely be that if they have no AD their auto attacks wont do any damage. This is where the passive comes in. I've definitely noticed that Riot likes to take passive item effects and give champions this as their passive, so we will do the same thing.

The simpler solution would be to use Nashor's Tooth's Unique Passive that grants a percent of the champion's AP to each auto attack. Auto attacks will still use the bonus AD granted from runes, masteries, items, buffs, etc, as normal, (maybe even greater than 100%, again depending on how the champion is balanced). This will ultimately make this an auto attacking champion that becomes more efficient to build AP than AD.

The other idea would be to use a passive more like Spellblade from Lich Bane. I actually like this idea better. This champion would generally have weaker auto attacks but would be able to deal more damage per auto attack immediately following an ability. This means the champion will need to have very low cooldowns. Starting with such a high base AP means this champion will very likely end up with very high AP late game. My thought for this means that damage dealing abilities would need to have lower AP ratios than the average mage. Alternatively a majority of their abilities could be buff/debuff effects, dashes, or crowd control on a low cooldown.

A completely different option would be to make this champion less of an auto attacking champion and more of a true mage. Keep the lower cooldowns and grant higher AP ratios making abilities the only source of damage. I honestly don't even like this idea because it would really just be like making a stronger version of the true mages that we already have instead of encouraging the player to build an AP champion like they would an AD champion.

Anyways, that's my general idea. I'd love to hear your ideas for how to balance this sort of champion without using Nashor's Tooth or Lich Bane as their passive. Something original could even be incorporated into an item if it's not already in the works.