The unusual picks: Mid Lane APC Corki

AP Corki

 

Abilities:

Q: Phosphorus Bomb

Deals 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to enemies in a target area. In addition, the blast briefly reveals the nearby area and champions hit for 6 seconds.

W: Valkyrie

Corki surges to target location creating a trail of destruction that deals 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+40% of ability power) magic damage per half second for 2.5 seconds to enemies in the fire left along his path.

E: Gatling Gun

Corki's gatling gun fires at all targets in front of him every half second for 4 seconds, dealing 20 / 32 / 44 / 56 / 68 (+0.4 per bonus attack damage) physical damage per second and shredding 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 armor with each shot. The armor reduction persists as long as the enemy is under continuous fire.

R: Missile Barrage

Corki fires a missile towards his targeted location that will collide with the first enemy it hits. Each missile deals 120 / 190 / 260 (+0.2 per attack damage) (+30% of ability power) magic damage in an area. He stores one missile every 12 / 10 / 8 seconds up to 7 missiles at any given time. Every third missile will be a Big One, dealing 50% more damage than normal missiles and the explosion has a broader radius. After dying, Corki will respawn with 4 missiles.

 

Why should I give AP Corki a chance?

Corki is really strong when played in mid lane. He has the requirements of a good APC, since he has an escape ability, high damage, low CD poke (in late game) and he can carry games like any other mid laner. He excells at mid to late game, where you get the most out of your damage input.

Do I build Corki with straight AP then?

You should try to take advantage from your high base damage and try to build Corki around Magic Penetration actually. You have a few reasons for doing this, first one being that you have really high damage, but pretty low scalings. Take a look at Missile Barrage, the main damaging ability on Corki. It does 260 base damage at level 16, although it has only 30 percent AP scaling. But now try to think about how you could make this more efficient.

Let's imagine we have this Corki player who is using one Missile Barrage on a Teemo that has 2000 HP, 78 Magic Resist and they are both level 16. Let's take a look at two different builds this Corki player could use: 

Route A: Sorcerer's Shoes, Rabadon's Deathcap and Zhonya's Hourglass. With this build route, without counting the masteries or runes, you have 240 Ability Power plus 30 percent more from the Rabadon's Deathcap's passive, which makes you have a  total of 312 Ability Power. That makes your rockets do 93.6 more damage and you have 15 Magic Penetration from your Sorcerer's Shoes. This makes Teemo have 63 Magic Resist against your damage on impact.This means your missiles do about 216 Magic Damage to the poor Teemo.

and Route B: Sorcerer's Shoes, Liandry's Torment and Void Staff. In this build you  have  130 AP and you also get 30 flat Magic Penetration and your Void Staff ignores 35 percent of the Teemo's Magic Resist before it counts the flat Magic Penetration. So let's do the math. The AP makes your rockets do 39 more damage. BUT, it denies 35 percent of Teemo's Magic Resist, which leaves him with 51 Magic Resist. Now, you have 30 flat Magic Penetration still left to count. This means that on impact, your missile makes Teemo have only 21 Magic Resist against your missile. This makes your Missile Barrage do a whopping 247 Magic Damage (without counting the damage from Liandry's)!

You see that the difference of building Magic Penetration makes you do more damage against AP Carries. So how about tanks? Let's do some math behind that.

Let's look at a Malphite who has 3000 HP and 150 Magic Resist. Both, you and Malphite are level 16.

Route A: Since I have already explained the factors, I will just do the math for this one. Your missile does 260 (base damage of Missile Barrage)+ 93.6 (the amount of extra damage from AP), which equals 353.6 Magic Damage, but since the enemy has 150 Magic Resist, you deny 15 of it which leaves Malphite with 135 Magic Resist. This means that one Missile Barrage deals only 141 Magic Damage.

and Route B: You deal 299 damage with one Rocket (260 + 39). But, since the enemy has 150 Magic Resist, you ignore 35 percent of it, which leaves 97.5 Magic Resist left. Now, you still have 30 flat Magic Penetration left, which leaves this Malphite with with only 67.5 Magic Resist! That means you do 180 damage on hit!

This basically means that if you use all of your seven Missile Barrages to this 3000 HP Malphite, you do 273 more damage to him with Route B than you do with Route A! That is basically one Phosphorus Bomb's damage you are missing if you are building him straight AP. This is why you should always try and build Magic Penetration to AP Corki.

What is the excact build you should use on Corki then?

I myself prefer to use a build that makes you a late game killing machine. This is why I like to build Corki slightly different than many people do, but this is only due to my personal preferences.

 I personally like this very much as a starting item with Corki. There are actually two choices, either start with a Crystalline Flask and three Health Potions, or a Faerie Charm, various Potions (based on the champion you are laning against) and two wards.

The benefit from starting with a Faerie Charm is that you can either have a passive lane or an agressive lane. This is mainly because of the two wards you take at the beginning. The benefit from starting with a Crystalline Flask is that you can have a pretty agressive lane because of the high amount of Mana/Health Regeneration you will have with this item and Health Potions.

If you don't like this item, and you would like to start with a Doran's Ring, my only advice is that don't buy it. Start with Faerie Charm if not with the Flask. The thing with Doran's Ring is that you have high Mana Regeneration and you get free Mana for every minion you are able to get. But it is the same reason why you don't start with a Doran's Ring when playing Galio. You don't simply need it. It becomes useless after you have bought Chalice, and your main goal with Corki is to rush Chalice as fast as you can.

 Pretty obvious choice for Corki. Corki has high mana costs and your damage is based on your spammable skills, which all cost huge amounts of Mana. So, you get Mana for missing Mana? This item is a spot on for AP Corki. Remember, always, always when you are rich enough to buy a Chalice, push the lane, go back to base, buy a Chalice and your lane will get so much easier.

 Every AP mid laner pretty much builds this. It is a really good item, since it gives you a reasonable amount of Magic Penetration and Movement Speed in one small pack. 

 This item is the most debated item with Corki. Some people say it is a must have with Corki, others say you don't need this item. My personal opinion? This is a great item for Corki!

The reason why I like this item so much on Corki is that it gives great statistics with a cheap price combined with something that makes Corki an invincible beast; Spell Vamp. The thing with this item is that it gives two stats you optimally want on Corki (being Cool Down Reduction and Spell Vamp), which makes you have high sustain without hurting your damage output. There have been so many times that I have been ignited and I have saved myself by launching as many Abilities in to the enemy minions as I possibly could. This has saved me so many times that I have no reason not to use this item.

 This is an item I suggest you get on Corki. I don't think you should get it specifically early, but I think you should get it because you lose nothing by building this. It gives you a nice amount of CDR and gives you so much mana back from teamfights. And you already have a Chalice, so why not?

 This item is incredible with Corki. You already have high amounts of damage and some sustain, now you just need Magic Penetration. I love this item, since squishy Champions, tanky Champions, Assassins, Bursters, basically everyone, are afraid of this. The tick on the burning effect ensures you a huge poke.

 This item is ridiculous with Corki. You build it basically only for its passive. The fact that it denies 35% of the enemy's Magic Resist, means that you do huge amounts of damage. No one is safe after you've built this item!

Now you have three choices to build for your last item:

Your last item should be considered around sustain. The thing with Corki is, that they could've had a roaming Ahri or a Vayne that has snowballed really hard in to the late game. So, the question seems to be, what to build?

 This item is for the occasions where no one on the enemy team has become out of control. This means that you are probably safe in the back line, and you aren't facing huge burst. The reason why you build this item in these occasions is that Corki is not a front line champion. That's why you face only a little bit of burst in fights and you are still able to dish out damage. With this item, you get some sustain and a good amount of slow. This slow benefits you in your teamfighting and makes escaping bad situations much easier.

  This item is built when there is an enemy Zed/Riven/Graves (I will explain this one later) in mid lane that is facing you. And the reason why you do it, is not because you would need the active of the item (the active of this item is usually used pretty rarely because of your role in the team) but for the reasons that in laning phase, you are going to need armor. And the best way to get some, is to build Seeker's Armguard. That is why you want to build this item towards late. You have no reason not to buy it if you have already built Seeker's and you have otherwise a full build.

 This item is actually really useful against some dive in AP Casters.If an Ahri decides to Spirit Rush in to your team, she loses Magic Resist, and you have some sustain against the high AP Burst for building this. So if you are facing a fed, dive-in styled AP Caster like Morgana/Ahri/Fizz, this item is pretty decent against them.

Well what is the role of AP Corki in a team?

AP Corki's fighting is a lot different from many AP Carries. Your role is not to dive in or even stay near the front line. Your role is to target down the enemy team, and do as much damage to them as possible from a safe distance. This makes AP Corkis usually have a really low amount of deaths, since nobody can chase AP Corki because of his easy escapability and high damage towards the chasers.

How should I play AP Corki in laning phase?

Corki is usually played really agressively. He gets strong after he has Fiendish Codex and Chalice of Harmony and you should try to farm as much as possible while poking the enemy constantly. Your level one is strong, your levels two through five are mediocre and after level six you are ridiculously strong. Everytime you have cleared the lane, Valkyrie to wraiths, use one Phosphorus Bomb and few Rockets. This way you get the most gold out of your laning phase. And the one good thing about Corki is that he is an easy champion to farm with.

But how about if the enemy mid laner counters you? And is Corki a safe first pick?

Did the enemy laner pick this champion to mid:

Or possibly this:

If not, then congratulations! You are not countered. 

This is the thing I like about Corki, there is a minimal amount of champions that can actually counter you. That is why he is one of the safest mid lane first pick there is. These are the two times I have lost my laning phase hard, and those were when I was facing Yorick or Graves. And yes, I have seen Graves mid. The problem was that he was able to outburst me until I hit level 13. If you don't have any idea who to pick against a Corki who is probably going mid, pick Graves. If you can shut down Corki really early and get yourself two or three kills, you will keep outsustaining the enemy Corki.

And about Yorick? Sigh. I have never seen a guy that has enjoyed playing against Yorick. He has self sustain, high poke, movement speed buff and a cabapility to revive himself. That is what makes him a ridiculously strong mid laner against Corki. If you are playing as Yorick against a Corki, I suggest you go overaggressive in the lane. This way Corki's game gets so irritated that he has hard time to rise from that.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

+ High base damage
+ If played correctly your level one poke is pretty high
+ Amazing Late/Mid Game
+ Has only two specific counters and only a handful of hard matchups
+ Kiting is easy since the enemy becomes vulnerable when chasing you
+ One of the fastest, if not the fastest, wave clear in the game. This makes you able to get high amounts of farm
+ Can clear a wraith camp in seconds

Cons: 

- Levels one to five are they only stages of the game you are an easy target to trade against, since you only have one damaging ability at that moment (since you don't max your Gatling Gun before level 13 and your Valkyrie should be used on escaping).
- Your wave clear can have side effects, the worst one being that if you have no ward coverage, you easily overxtend and give the enemy team free kills.

My opinion on AP Corki:

I think Corki is an underestimated mid laner very few people have gave a chance. The thing with AP Corki, is that he has an unique, fun playstyle that you will enjoy time after time. I have played about 50 games with AP Corki, and the only thing that I don't enjoy, is all the people that assume I am a troll.

If you want a champion that can shine out in the cycle of assasins, this is one I recommend you give a try.

Thank you for reading :) On the next part, I will be going through Galio.