Mid Lane in League of Legends is said to be the most influential role of all five as it is in the center of the map. With the meta shifting so often, you might be confused about what the best runes are especially for the AP Mid Laners in Season 12. Don’t worry because we’ve got you covered!
The best runes for AP Mid Laners in Season 12 are First Strike, Electrocute, Phase Rush, and Conqueror. They have been dominating the meta synergizing with various mages and being crucial parts of various playstyles.
Also check out: Best top lane runes
Most Commonly Picked Runes for AP Mid Laners
First Strike
First Strike is a keystone introduced in season 12 that rewards you for playing a poke playstyle where you constantly take short trades with the enemy and a percentage of the damage you dealt as bonus damage and gold as long as you ‘strike first’. Champions like Viktor have greatly benefited from it in the current meta.
Dealing damage or applying a crowd control effect to an enemy champion within the first 0.25 seconds of champion combat grants 5 gold and First Strike for 3 seconds, causing all your post-mitigation damage dealt against champions to deal 10% bonus true damage.
First Strike is most often used alongside Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery, and Cosmic Insight.
Electrocute
Electrocute is an aggressive rune that amplifies your trading in lane with bonus damage. If you damage your enemy using at least two different types of abilities, applying three total stacks (one per hit), the keystone deals bonus damage to the target. Champions like Ahri and Annie benefit greatly from this.
Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects, and summoner spells, as well as the application of crowd control and damage over time effects generate stacks against them, up to one attack or cast per champion. Applying 3 stacks to a target within a 3-second period causes them to be struck by lightning after a 0.25s delay, dealing them damage.
It synergizes best with Taste of Blood / Cheap Shot and Ultimate Hunter.
Conqueror
Conqueror has been a very strong keystone for some time now. It is most beneficial to champions such as Sylas or Swain who like taking extended fights and stacking up the keystone. It provides bonus AD/AP upon the number of attacks done and also offers healing when fully stacked.
Basic attacks on-damage attacks against enemies grant stacks of Conqueror. Each stack of Conqueror grants bonus Attack Damage or Ability Power (max stacks: 12) for 5 seconds. While fully stacked, you heal for a percentage of post-mitigated damage from the damage dealt to enemy champions.
It synergizes best with Presence of Mind, Legend: Tenacity, and Last Stand.
Phase Rush
Phase Rush is another keystone that greatly benefits from short trading. It is best suited for mages like Ryze, Viktor, and even Syndra. Like Electrocute, it activates upon reaching three stacks gained by damaging the enemy champion. Unlike Electrocute, however, it grants you bonus movement speed and slow resistance instead of bonus adaptive damage.
Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects, and summoner spells, as well as the application of crowd control and damage over time effects generate stacks against them, up to one attack or cast per champion. Applying 3 stacks to a target within a 4-second period grants you bonus movement speed and 75% slow resist for 3 seconds.
Phase Rush is most effective with Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch.
Summon Aery
Summon Aery is a poke-style keystone that does consistent damage upon poking the enemy champions with abilities and auto-attacks or summoner spells against them. It also gives you a small shield.
Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects and summoner spells against an enemy champion signal Aery to pounce at them dealing damage. Healing, shielding, or buffing an ally champion signals Aery to jump to them, shielding them.
Summon Aery is best when picked with Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch.
Who are AP Mid Laners in League of Legends?
There are mainly three types of AP Mid Laners:
- Control Mages
- Battle Mages
- Burst Mages
Mages
Mages are one of the many classes of champions you can pick from in LoL. They generally target marksmen in fights and are capable of bursting them down. They are well-kitted with area-of-effect damage abilities and crowd control putting them at the same level as the Fighter class.
Mages in League of Legends are the champions who have ability-based damage. They use mana as their resource of strength and possess crowd control abilities that can be the deciding factor in a fight. Mages are most powerful in skirmishes and team fights.
Control Mages
Control Mages are one of the many types of AP Mid Laners. Their kits focus on crowd controlling, area-of-effect damage, and wave clearing. They are a safe pick in the Mid Lane due to their decent range and fast wave clear.
Control Mages like Viktor and Orianna are safe picks that guarantee you a strong mid-game and a comfortable early-game due to their range and wave clear.
Viktor
Viktor is proof that no champion is bound to a singular keystone. He benefits from First Strike, Phase Rush, Summon Aery and even Electrocute. Viktor is capable of dominating the laning phase with strong poke and outstanding wave-clear. He is one of the strongest Mid Laners in season 12, pairing up First Strike with Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery, and Cosmic Insight.
AP Assassins
AP Assassins are a category of mages that primarily focus on swiftly taking down higher priority while putting themselves into dangerous positions. They are capable of dealing an immense amount of damage in a short period of time.
Akali
Akali is one of the most popular AP assassins. She is very mobile and is capable of outputting an immense amount of damage to her targets, a perfect mixture for a deadly assassin. She benefits from Electrocute as well as Conqueror depending on the playstyle. While using Conqueror, Akali also uses Presence of Mind, Legend: Tenacity, and Coup de Grace.
Battle Mages
Battle Mages are champions that barge into fights, dealing sustainable area-of-effect damage in extended fights. They are relatively short-ranged but stay capable of incredible damage matched by sustainability.
Sylas
Sylas is one of the most popular Battle Mages in League of Legends. He stacks Conqueror really fast and gains a strong buff in any fight that he takes. It is the main keystone that Sylas uses along with Presence of Mind, Legend: Tenacity, and Last Stand.
Burst Mages
Burst Mages are the type of mages who specialize in bursting down a target with an incredibly high amount of damage in a very short period of time. These mages generally rely on landing their abilities on the target in combos to output as much damage as they are capable of, making them extremely fearsome.
Ahri
Ahri is a great example of a burst mage. She uses Electrocute to her advantage making her capable of dealing a large amount of damage in a short combo. Ahri has great sustain as well throughout her laning phase, making her a great champion to pick up. Ahri often pairs Electrocute with Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, and Ultimate Hunter.
More AP Mid Laners and Runes in League of Legends
- Ryze (Phase Rush)
- Syndra (Electrocute)
- Cassiopeia (Conqueror)
- Katarina (Conqueror)
Final Thoughts
Various keystones and runes suit various champions in various matchups. The same champion might utilize two different sets of runes based on the matchup of the playstyle. We recommend experimenting with each of them to see what you prefer best! AP Mid Laners have been dominating the meta in season 12, are you going to pick up any new AP champions anytime soon? What are your thoughts on the newest patch? We love hearing your feedback, so hit us with it in the comment section below!
Also check out: Gathering storm rune
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