Rise of the Supports: Unusual AP Mids

Rise of the Supports: Unusual AP Mids

Whether through boredom with the same champs, compensating for poor last picks by their team, or wanting to stick it to the meta, some players have taken odd characters into mid lane. These characters are usually played in a support roll, but with some proper itemization and skilled playing they can offer a good mix of damage and utility to the team.

Items

If there is one item to get on these strange mids, it’s a Lich Bane. The main reason these characters tend to be pushed into a support role is that they lack the burst damaging abilities of more typical mages. The Lich Bane turns all of the utility spells of the supports into a potential “spell” on their next autoattack every 2 seconds, greatly increasing their damage output.

Deathfire Grasp also adds another damaging spell to their arsenal, as well as providing a good amount of AP and CDR. The long cooldown means it won’t help their DPS, but it will help them to burst down tough opponents. The early Kage’s Lucky Pick will also help them with its increased gold per 10 seconds.

Athene’s Unholy Grail synergizes well with these champions as well, since they tend to perform better through extended fights than burst engagements. With Athene’s, Deathfire Grasp, and masteries, they will be close to the cooldown reduction cap as well.

Other basic AP items should be considered, but be careful when picking up a Rylai’s. Many supports offer a built-in slow already, so if you want health and AP, then a Rod of Ages could serve better.

Zilean

Usually considered just for his speed modifiers and life-saving ultimate, an AP Zilean will do extreme amounts of burst AoE damage, and can do so from relative safety during team fights by placing bombs on the tanks and bruisers as they initiate. His early laning phase does suffer until he has enough sustain to quickly farm entire creep waves with his Q->W->Q combination without going out of mana. His ultimate also has a 2.0 AP ratio, meaning that AP Zilean will bring most any carry back with full health.

Sona

With her passive, Power Chord, an AP Sona attacking with her Q and leading into a double-damage Power Chord plus Lich Bane proc will burst for a large amount of damage. The recent changes make it so keeping Lich Bane active constantly will come naturally to her, and her Crescendo will put a noticeable dent into the enemy on top of its hard crowd control. Her auras will still continue to help the team, and even with its small AP ratio her heal will help sustain a bit more than a support Sona’s would. If it goes into late game, start utilizing her other Power Chord settings: the damage output reduction and slow can help more than an extra 188 damage (minus resistances) in level 18 team fights.

Janna

With some impressive AP ratios on her abilities, tons of utility, and relative immunity from ganks in laning phase, Janna makes for a great mid. She won’t bring down champions alone with her damage in mid to late game, but her shield will get to insane values with +.9 strength per AP, and a well-timed ultimate in a team fight will swing health values into her team’s favor much more than Soraka’s Wish. At 400 AP, and all 5 allies sitting within her Monsoon during the full duration, she will heal for a total 5800 health.

Soraka

With maximum cooldown reduction, Soraka can spam her Starcall every 1.5 seconds, meaning she will be able to proc Lich Bane at will, and do more damage with it each time through Starcall’s magic resist debuff. With low AP ratios on her Q and E her burst damage suffers, but she will be able to keep up consistent pressure in extended fights, heal for massive amounts instantly, and can survive quite well in the middle of a team fight. In laning phase, Infuse’s silence and her passive magic resist help her deal with the enemy AP carry.

Galio

Galio was designed to take on champions that deal magic damage, making him a great choice for mid. With an early Chalice of Harmony and Mercury Treads on top of magic resist runes, he will win exchanges with practically every possible opponent he will see in mid. His slow, speed buff, and taunt make for easy ganks from a coordinated jungler. His Bulwark also offers more armor and magic resist than Leona's Eclipse at later levels, heals Galio, and can be placed on allies when the occassion calls for it. 

Honorable Mentions

These champions can function as an odd AP mid, but mechanically suffer in the role, or could function much better in another lane.

Amumu can make for a hard-hitting AP carry, but with his Bandage Toss being intercepted by minions, his laning phase suffers. He does much better once he can roam, but he still does better in the jungle regardless.

Nunu has great sustain in lane, especially with his recently buffed passive. His easily shut down ultimate and single attack spell are his downfall, but with a full AP build he can hit for insane amounts of burst damage when he does channel his ultimate completely.

Blitzcrank and Nautilus both suffer in mid for the same reason as Amumu, but Nautilus comes out ahead in farming ability and ability to avoid ganks by using his E for its slow and his Q for a quick retreat. 

Have Fun, Experiment, Dominate

In certain situations, an unusual choice can make for a great counter to a more typical one that follows the meta. The key thing to remember is to experiment, know your champions, know your items, and never take the word of someone preaching a metagame to you without testing for yourself.