My Achilles' Heel in LoL right now is that I'm not a very good AP mid player. Part of it is because I haven't set a good rune page up, but part of it is my own lack of experience. I've had some good games with AP casters, but it's really hit-or-miss.

I've tried out a variety in mid and have had ranging success. My best games have been with Annie, but I've also had moderate success with Ryze, Xerath, and even Soraka in mid. My attempt to play Veigar and Lux were an epic fail.

If you are good at playing mid, who are your favorite champions to play as, and how do you build them? Thanks for anything you can tell me.

when playing ryze get movement speed quints and always start +sapphire crystal instead of boots if you plan on winning the lane vs the opponent in the early game. The extra mana allows you to use almost 2x more spells and you can harass/cs more effectively. Not to mention the extra ap it gives you. Only go boots if you need to play super defensively because you don't know how to beat this brand or leblanc, etc.

Cassiopeia start her with a Doran's ring then go for sorcerer's boot or godess's tear and then Sheen and then will of ancients

I really like Ryze and Anivia, and I start with a mana crystal and 2 health pots, focusing on an early tear then working on Rod of Ages after boots 1. From there the build will vary depending on what the other team looks like, and how much CC we will need. I tend to refer Ryze since he has no skillshots meaning lower skill cap.

morg is more of a faceroll champ since she is so easy if you get to play her
just build somewhat sturdy like a RoA then whatever you want for ap

ahri and swain are both strong ap mids
swain builds more sturdy: RoA, Rylais, more ap
ahri is more of a burst: DFG, Rylais, wota, Rabadoon

cass is a very strong ap also, rylai for hp, wota makes her unstoppable 1v1, rabadoon after

I prefer AP mid and have had a lot of success as Ahri, Anivia, and recently Cassiopea.

Ahri I grab D. Ring, Hextech Revolver, Sorc/Merc Boots, Kage's Pick early. Then go Rabadon's, DFG, Wota, Rylai's. I also like Zonya's for late late game or if you get too fed and are being focused. I tend to max Q first, but max W on character's that burst in such as Akali, Graves, Katarina, or anyone I outrange.

For Anivia, I go Boots + 3 health pot, or 2 health + 1 mana... then go for a Chalice or Goddess Tear and again a Kage Pick. Then it's Rod of Ancients, Rabadon's, DFG, and Athene's Grace or Archangel's staff. I like the DFG with Anivia because it does great burst with your Q+E.

Cass i'm relatively new to and am still working on a build but i've had some good success going Boots + 3pot if you can get an early blue buff or Doran's Ring. Rush a hextech revolver for sustain, then kage's pick. Sorc boots, into Rabadon's, DFG, and Rylai's/Zonya's/Abyssal Cepter depending on team comp.

I find that I tend to build similarly by rushing Hextech Revolver, Rabadon's, and DFG on all of them. Kage's pick is great now because it builds into DFG and gives you some extra gold per 5/AP early and burst later on.

I'm by no means a pro, but these builds work for me and suit my playstyle.If are good with Skill shots, Ahri all the way. Anivia is probably the easiest to learn but the hardest to learn how to last hit with until she gets her ult. Cass is a great harasser with blue and can push lanes hard. At level 6 her ult + full combo kills everyone.

TLDR: Play around and see what you like.

I like to mid with Veigar. Build chalice to stack with his passive, then deathfire grasp, then profit. Nothing is funner than landing a stun on an enemy and watching their face melt as their health goes from 100% - 0 within a second and a half.


Edit: Sometimes I grab bewts before deathfire grasp if I'm getting roflstomped. Which happens about 50% of the time.

I use ahri.

I reccomend ahri or morg. Both can use tank runes. Both have flexible early-ish game builds. Both are hard to kill 1v1 in mid unless the other person is just bad. Both can farm pretty well. But as you build morg may tend to become harder to kill and harder to kill with whereas ahri becomes easier to kill and easier to kill with. Morg has more obvious team fight potential and can rescue team members a lot but in your darkest hour when the entire enemy team is closing in on you with nowhere to run [que rocky music] ahri will pull miracles make amazing escapes and even more amazing underdog kills hence the phrase "don't chase ahri"

As morg I've rushed into a team grabbed a teammate who might not survive spammed abilities on the most threatening opponent and ran before I could be killed with my shielded teammate. We lost the teamfight but killed a snowballing tank because morg left him somewhat crippled. 3 of us got away they at least lost 1.

As ahri I rushed over to the team fight but I didn't engage. I hid in a bush and watched my team about to lose a teamfight in a similar manner. Viegar put up his cage to trap my teammates, ready to try and round them up with his CC. I get in position running out of the brush dashing past viegar with my w up severly damaging him with half of a combo. His cc and Q are down, I've captured the teams attention. I charm one of their carries launching her orb of deception then dash to the otherside of viegar bursting him again and now putting him in line for the true damage return trip of orb of deception which has just clipped his partner and then kills him. Seeing this the teamfight breaks up and a mundo comes after me along with possibly others. I run into the forest easily outdone in speed but use my last ult burst for some turn and burn going through the trees where mundo couldn't give chase. Meanwhile my team regrouped seeing that the opponents had scattered. They scored another kill on someone unseen who had been trying to help catch ahri. Mundo got a free kill and ran away before they could finish him.

Also.. There's a slight difference in the sort of stories you get from playing ahri as opposed to morg. Ahri is capable of a lot of insane stunts. Morg is consistant and reliable. Like fire and ice.

I personally main Ziggs as my AP mid and I've yet to go wrong with him. He's fairly hard to master because his combo requires precision to pop off properly, worlds away from a combo like Leblanc's or Ryze's.

Ziggs main attraction is his insane range with his bouncing bombs. While there is a range indicator when you hover over them, this is deceiving as it shows the maximum range for the initial throw - the bomb continues to bounce three times in the direction you threw it after this throw, making the range quite long. Because of this Ziggs' bombs make the perfect harassment tool during laning phase as the only way for an enemy to escape them will be to dodge or move out of their long range, denying them CS and possibly XP if you zone properly.

During laning phase I'll usually start with the standard boots + 3 pots. I'll aim for lots of last-hits, using my bombs for harassment so my passive (bonus damage on autoattack) procs more often (cooldown is 12 seconds but it is reduced by 4 seconds for every spell you cast). I'll usually max bombs by the end of laning phase, with my minefield a close second for the CC (the C4 charge is for utility and is maxed last). I'll pick up a few kills from jungle ganks during laning phase and if I'm doing well by its end I'll have picked up a Rod of Ages (for some tankiness and more mana for bomb spam), a Hextech Revolver for sustain (build into Will of the Ancients if you have the gold), and boots (usually go with Sorc Boots for magic pen).

During mid and late-game Ziggs main goal is to win lanes by dropping his combo whenever a lane is being pushed in order to clear out anyone camping at towers. First, drop your minefield BEHIND the person you're targeting (I cannot stress this enough - dropping it on top of him allows him to flash out of it or to see it coming and move back; dropping it behind him catches him off guard as he attempts to escape and runs into all the mines, being slowed). As soon as the animation shoots down, drop a bomb right on or close to that person (you can take advantage of the bounces to be able to move a bit away in case you're afraid they're baiting you), and begin chasing. Between spells, make sure to hit autoattacks as they will do more damage thanks to your passive. Continue dropping bombs and if he attempts to flash, drop your C4 charge and blow it up to catch up with him (remember: Where you stand determines in what direction you'll jump!) and pick up the kill.

Your ult is quite special and only for use under certain circumstances. When dueling characters, if you know that you cannot escape and you must drop your ult to survive, make sure you do so a few seconds AHEAD of when you'll be low on HP. The drop is delayed even if you target the ult right on top of yourself, so if you shoot it off when you're low you'll die before it lands. Otherwise, never use your ult for single character kills as its much better for targeting a cluster of enemies (useful for following up a hard CC such as Amumu's which forces all the champions to stand still in their cluster, leaving them at your mercy). Only exceptions to this rule are for saving teammates and killing the carries (both AP and AD). As always, the time and place when it's proper and not proper to use your ult all depend on the situation. What's key is to ask yourself, "Will this ult do maximum damage and accomplish something that my other abilities cannot due to range or damage restrictions? If so, will this accomplishment help my TEAM or only myself?" If the answer to the first question is no, or if the answer to the second is "myself", don't use your ult.

Now, as for late-game items, you'll be looking at investing in Rabadon's Deathcap (the standard AP item for most mids), Crystal Scepter (for the slow and for more tankiness), and possibly a Void Staff if the enemy is stacking Magic Resist. Items worth looking at as well include Lich Bane (to stack with your passive) and perhaps Abyssal Scepter (for tankiness). The end-game build really is up to you but it should emphasize having lots of AP (of course) and, if possible, some magic penetration and tankiness (Ziggs has to be rather close to enemies to pop his combo, so it's not unheard of to be bursted while doing so and a bit of health doesn't hurt).