Riot talk about the current state of AP and AD champions
Mages have traditionally been one of the best classes of champions in League of Legends, particularly in the mid-lane, but just a few have been effective picks on the Rift this year. Riot is aware of the problems, but hasn’t decided how to address them because each mage is unique.
In answer to a Reddit post on the state of attack damage vs. ability power, Riot Axes revealed that he and the team saw a mismatch between the values of both AD and AP.
The mid-lane, where the majority of AP champion is played, has been relatively unaffected by the multiple meta adjustments that have happened during the year.
However, this has had an influence on the role’s champion diversity. Only a few mages have been preferred alongside bruisers in pro play, but in solo queue, players have predominantly prioritized assassins—a trend that has only intensified with preseason item changes.
“AD being cheaper than AP is weird, [but] it’s not intrinsically a problem,”
“We tune ratios around the items that exist. If we added a lot more AP you’d probably see your AP ratios go down to match. But I think on balance I’d prefer to see those AP numbers go up.”
Players in the discussion noticed that it has been progressively easier to get more AD than AP in the last year, which is why mages have gradually become unpopular in League. Riot Axes stated that, while the connection is undeniably evident, there are so many variances between champions in the mage class that the devs would have to address the issue one case at a time.
While he gave some insight into certain potential improvements, Riot Axes stated that the team “can’t promise action yet” on any system changes.
Other than that the team is aware of the displeasure, no information of adjustments to AP itemization and values have been provided at this time, but we should anticipate more from the developers as we approach season 13.