Ability Power (AP) is a stat that increases the damage and potency of a champion's abilities. Most mage, support, and AP assassin champions scale with it. The higher your AP, the harder your spells hit — or the stronger your heals and shields become.
How AP works
Each ability has an AP ratio — a percentage that determines how much of your AP gets added to its effect. For example, if an ability deals 50 + 60% AP damage and you have 200 AP, it deals 50 + 120 = 170 damage.
AP stacks additively: 100 AP from one item plus 100 AP from another gives you exactly 200 AP. The exception is Rabadon's Deathcap, whose passive amplifies your total AP by 30% — so it's most efficient as a third or fourth item when you already have a large AP base.
Not every champion benefits from AP. Champions whose abilities have no AP ratios — like most pure AD fighters — gain nothing from AP items.
Items that increase AP
| Item | AP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rabadon's Deathcap | 130 | AP amplification passive — buy after 2–3 AP items |
| Shadowflame | 110 | Magic pen passive; strong vs. low-shield targets |
| Banshee's Veil | 105 | Magic resist + spell shield |
| Zhonya's Hourglass | 105 | Armor + stasis active; essential vs. assassins |
| Lich Bane | 100 | AP + ability haste; empowers next auto after ability |
| Luden's Echo | 100 | Poke burst; good opener for artillery mages |
| Void Staff | 95 | 40% magic penetration; core vs. magic-resist stacking |
| Actualizer | 90 | Ability haste item; amplifies first ability in a trade |
| Malignance | 90 | Ability haste; reduces ultimate cooldown further on hit |
| Stormsurge | 90 | Burst amp passive on kill; strong on high-burst mages |
| Blackfire Torch | 80 | % max HP burn on abilities; strong vs. tanks |
| Nashor's Tooth | 80 | Attack speed + on-hit AP damage; for on-hit AP champs |
| Hextech Gunblade | 80 | Hybrid AP/AD; niche on champions that scale with both |
| Cryptbloom | 75 | Magic pen + healing amp; support/jungler AP option |
| Morellonomicon | 75 | Grievous Wounds; buy when enemy healers are a problem |
| Horizon Focus | 75 | Bonus damage on abilities that slow or root; long-range mages |
| Dusk and Dawn | 70 | Dual-mode item switching between AP and survivability forms |
| Archangel's Staff | 70 | Stacks to Seraph's Embrace; scaling mana + AP for sustained mages |
| Hextech Rocketbelt | 70 | Dash active; good on champions that need gap-close |
| Cosmic Drive | 70 | Move speed amp; for champions who stay in extended fights |
| Riftmaker | 70 | Omnivamp + damage amp; for AP fighters and battle mages |
| Rylai's Crystal Scepter | 65 | Slow on abilities; enables kiting and follow-up CC |
| Imperial Mandate | 65 | Support item; empowers slowed/immobilized targets for allies |
| Crown of the Shattered Queen | 65 | Damage reduction on first hit; safe laning option for mages |
| Bloodletter's Curse | 65 | Shreds magic resist on hit; strong on poke mages |
| Liandry's Torment | 60 | % max HP burn; strong vs. tanks |
AP values from patch 16.7.1.
Runes for AP champions
Runes that increase your AP stat:
- Adaptive Force shard — 9 AP flat; stat shard; standard Offense/Flex shard pick for mages
- Gathering Storm — 8 AP at 10 min, 24 at 20, 48 at 30, 80 at 40; keeps scaling after that
- Absolute Focus — 3-30 AP while above 70% HP, based on level
- Conqueror — 21.6-48 AP at full stacks, based on level; also heals at full stacks
- Waterwalking — 13-30 AP in the river, based on level; good on roaming mids
- Jack of All Trades — 10 AP at 5 item-stat stacks, 25 AP at 10 stacks; niche
Rune values from patch 16.7.1. Adaptive Force shard remains a manual row because Riot does not expose stat shards in runesReforged.json.
Keystones whose damage scales with AP but don't increase the AP stat:
- Arcane Comet — damage scales with AP (0.05 AP ratio); poke damage; solid for control mages
- Electrocute — damage scales with AP (0.05 AP ratio); burst proc; strong on combo assassins
- Dark Harvest — damage scales with AP (0.05 AP ratio); stacking execute damage; scales into late game
Neutral buffs that increase AP
- Infernal Drake stacks (Infernal Might) — each Infernal Drake your team kills grants a percentage increase to your AP and AD. Four stacks give the Infernal Soul, which adds an additional burn on abilities.
- Hand of Baron — killing Baron Nashor grants this buff, which provides bonus AP and AD to nearby minions and a small amount directly to the champion carrying it.
Note on Blue Buff: Blue Buff (Crest of Insight) does not grant AP. It grants 10 ability haste and mana or energy regeneration. It has not provided AP since patch V6.24 (2016).
AP vs. AD — what's the difference?
AP amplifies abilities that have AP ratios — most mage and support spells do, while tank and fighter abilities typically have none. AD (Attack Damage) works the same way for physical abilities and basic attacks. You can tell which is which from the tooltip: a purple icon next to a value means AP scaling, an orange sword means AD scaling.
AD is countered by armor; AP is countered by magic resistance. When enemies are stacking magic resist, adding magic penetration (Void Staff, Shadowflame) often outperforms adding more raw AP.
