AP or AD?

[fabiojuanton]

Hi everyone, I'm new to LoL (but I've played HoN, so I'm familiar with the genre).

My question concerns whether I know a certain champion is built around AP or AD.

It's obvious to me, champions like Veigar is all AP and Master Yi is AD because my auto attacks do the majority of my damage.

However, take a champion like Teemo. All of my spells are boosted by AP, but I've also read guides that say you should build him AD. I just don't get the reasoning behind it. Or Twisted Fate. He can go either way? How do I decide which is better?

There's many champions where I'm just not sure whether to go AP or AD. Any tips? Thanks so much!

[Duilliath]

LoL purposely set out to create champions you can play multiple ways. In some cases, they're equally viable, in others there's one 'accepted' build which has become the norm. Kennen, as an example, generally as played as AP in either mid or top lane. However, he has seen use as AD champ in tournament play.

Even Master Yi can be built as AP (though, imo, that's making a fairly weak champion even worse) to some extent.

In Teemo's case, AP Teemo somewhat banks on the idea of people actually walking into his mushrooms. People generally prefer actually being able to influence fights themselves rather than hoping their enemy is stupid.

Solomid.net has a number of guides, as does Lolpro. You can always do a bit of research there if you want to.

[Kaj392]

However, take a champion like Teemo. All of my spells are boosted by AP, but I've also read guides that say you should build him AD. I just don't get the reasoning behind it. Or Twisted Fate. He can go either way? How do I decide which is better?

Teemo is a perfect example of 'he can go either way'. So is TF. Both AD and AP they can own. Teemo AD will have hard / fast auto attacks while AP Teemo will mostly get its kills from his shrooms and his dot.

Like Duilliath said, Solomid.net, Lolpro, or even Mobafire (forums can work too here on mmo-c).

[fabiojuanton]

Hmmm, okay. Right on. Thanks so much!

[Deleted]

AP Yi is boss. Watchu bout'?

[Deleted]

Even Master Yi can be built as AP (though, imo, that's making a fairly weak champion even worse) to some extent.

I wouldnt call Yi a bad champion but the problem with Yi is that many people dont know how to play it.

If I play Yi mid (AP) then I am almost garanteed with getting the highest farm in game, I have tried Yi AP top but that doesnt work out because then you will play against champions that are most likely going to pick items like Wits end or Merc treads just to counter you.

If I play Yi AD then Im going jungle for sure, but to make the ganks better(because you dont have a slow on Yi if you dont got a phage/red buff/ [insert slow here]) I always pick smite + exhaust.

Nevertheless I dont want to go too much offtopic but as said before LoL is a game that focusses around letting people choose how they want to build a champion and most champions can be build AD and AP, some champions can even be built with support items for example there is Yorick support.

You should find out how you want to play a champion and play according to that instead of what a site tells you to pick(IMO).

[Sergar]

The easiest way is to go to a site like LoLPro and see what they do, since they usually have a pretty good justification of why you'd build those items on that champ.

The harder way requires knowing a lot about the basics of what makes champions work. AP/AD ratios can be a good starting place, but when it comes down to it you have to use intuition. Take Tristana for example. Her Passive and AS steroid would lead you to go AD, but her other abilities have great AP ratios and no AD scaling.

In practice an AP Tristana in a team fight is going to only be able to use her Ult once near the beginning for heavy team damage and her explosive shot once or twice even at 40% CDR. Her Rocket Jump's spamability relies on her using it on people near dying and getting refreshes, or else it too has a long CD. Also, her Q is nearly useless mid to late game. Add to that the shortish ranges on everything but Rocket Jump, and her low base mana and high spell costs and she's a poor choice for an AP compared to most AP champions.

Meanwhile, the abilities AP Tristana needed for damage all retain usefulness for AD Tristana. Rapid Fire is a no brainer, Rocket Jump is an amazing re-positioner and a good slow, Explosive Shot reduces healing and her Ult remains unique in that it's the best self-peel on an AD carry. Add to those the highest base range at 18 of any auto attack and you have a very solid AD champ.

[Bombkirby]

Champions like that are good candidates for "on-hit" builds. Which is where you build a bunch of items that deal damage everytime you auto attack. Like Malady/Wit's End. Items like Nashor's Tooth/Malady offer Attack Speed, some AP helping you gain AP for your spells while being able to deal damage with your auto attacks without building AD. Teemo's a good candidate for such a build since his poison is "on-hit" and scales with AP.