Which 5 items grant max ability power (ap) on any champion?

Question

The recipe used to be rather easy and common, stack 5 Archangel's and a Deathcap, but in S3 many things have changed and as I understand it, that's not viable anymore as it doesn't stack, but also due to the reset of the mana pool when an item evolves.

So my question is, what build of items gets the highest AP in 5v5? and also for 3v3?

This should be item specific, without champion specific abilities etc.

My typical Kassadin build yields 787.94 AP and only 4 more AP now if I swap Lich Bane for another Seraph's Embrace.

Note that i'm not sure of the accuracy of the item builder used above, but my typical build in 3v3 Kassadin got me ~732 AP.

When I say typical, I mean what my end game build is, without sacrificing boots for another core item.

Answer 1

If you're going for pure AP, then obviously you want to have a Rabadon's Deathcap. It grants 120 AP, and has a unique passive that modifies your AP up 30%.

Another item you'll almost certainly want is Seraph's Embrace. It only grants 60 AP, but grants 1000 mana, and has a unique passive that grants an additional 3% mana as AP, this makes it worth more than a second Deathcap as soon as you have 1000 mana from other sources.

Lichbane is worth only 87.5 AP, not worth taking in a pure AP build

Rod of Ages is worth about 100 AP, still not worth taking in a pure AP build

Mejai's Soulstealer, fully stacked, is worth 180 AP, definitely worth taking if you can keep the stacks up. It drops to 124 on a single death. (13 stacks)

Deathfire Grasp is worth 120 AP, exactly as much as Rabadon's Deathcap, and would make a good filler item, as while the Active won't stack, you will get the 10% cooldown reduction repeatedly.

Zhonya's Hourglass is also worth 120 AP, and can be stacked for Armour.

Add in Elixer of Brilliance, and Exalted with Baron Nashor for an extra 80 AP and 10% CDR

Final Build: Boots, Rabadon's Deathcap, Seraph's Embrace, Deathfire Grasp, Zhonya's Hourglass, Mejai's Soulstealer. Elixer of Brilliance and Exalted with Baron Nashor. =(120+60+120+120+120+40+40+3%mana)*1.3 = (620 + 3% mana) * 1.3 = 884 + 3.9% mana.

This itemization is the best you can do with boots for a generic champion.

This should work for almost any given mana'd champion with any given rune/mastery set. Here is a link to this build on Anivia (my main) for 1166 AP

Edit: Sorry, I missed the part about 3v3, That section below:

3v3 Rabadon's Zhonya's, and Mejai's are all disabled, as are Exalted with Baron Nashor and Elixer of Brilliance.

Wooglet's Witchcap, while only 100 AP, multiplies AP by 1.25, and so is still worth taking.

Exalted with Baron Nashor is replaced by Crest of Crushing Wrath, also worth 40 AP, while Elixer of Brilliance is replaced by Ichor of Illumination, which yields 64 AP, up from 40.

Additionally, the 2 altar bonus from Twisted Treeline gives an extra 10% AP. In total the build consisted of 3 Deathfire Grasp's, Seraph's Embrace, Boots, and Wooglet's Witchcap, and I was able to get 1131 AP.

Answer 2

It seems to be the following:

Twisted Treeline: Ability Power: 875 (or 725 with boots) From 1x Wooglet's Witchcap and 5x Deathfire Grasp

Summoners Rift: Ability Power: 936 (or 780 with boots) From 1x Rabadon's Deathcap and 5x Deathfire Grasp

Note that in the case of more than 1k mana, Seraph's Embrace yields more AP. Also note that Deathfire Grasp is interchangeable with any 120 AP item.

The above are without other AP effecting your build (i.e. runes/masteries/abilties).

My Kassadin build would then max to 1038.91.

Answer 3

Rabadons Deathcap Zhonya's hourglass Deathfire Grasp Mejas soul stealer Rod of Ages or Athene's Unholy Grail or seraphs embrace if charactor run out of mana quick Sorceror shoes

Answer 4

it really depends.... if your looking for most damage other items may have more potential than other, higher ap items. Such as if your fizz and your either going for Lich bane or deathfire the lich bane would be more helpful, But this also works the other way round if your playing a champion that doesn't really rely on an item like lich bane such as Katarina where most of her damage is from her ult and high ap ratios then obviously deathfire would be the case.

Answer 5

My main champion is Katarina, and she doesn't rely on mana or energy, so getting mana items would usually be pointless.

I find that Rabadons Deathcap gives the most AP, apart from Mejai's Soulstealer, which gives more than 120 AP at 18 stacks(max stacks).

My usual build is to get a Mejai's first, Zhonya's, Socerers Shoes, Rabadon's, Hextech Gunblade, and any other item you desire.

Answer 6

None of these builds are the highest. Ive made a build with fiddlesticks that ends with 1300 AP.

Build Order: 1. Rod of Ages 2. Mejai's Soulstealer 3. Rabadon's Deathcap 4. Archangel's Staff 5. Rod of Ages 6. Rod of Ages

Flat Ap total: 890 With Max Stacks: about 1100+

Other perks that lead to 1300 AP: Baron kill 5 dragons Elixir of sorcery Runes and masteries

Why this works: 1. Rod of ages' passive is NOT unique, so its stacks can reach up to 30 between three rods. 2. Not only does ROA give AP per stack, it also gives lots of mana, even with NO stacks, which gives even more AP from seraph's embrace. 3. As a side note, even though this is a late game build, it grants a character great early game survivability from the health bonus given from the 3 ROAs (3271 on the build i used with no stacks) 4. Although its true that building magic pen is crucial on AP characters, the massive health, mana, and AP from this build can turn any character into an AP Tank of Death