What makes a good AP Solo Mid? What should you train for, and what kind of items, runes, and mastery trees Should I use?
I want to try out for a AP Solo Mid position on a team, but am new to League of Legends and need to know what to practice to improve my game.
Does anyone know of a team that is willing to recruit and train new players?
First and foremost, practice your last hitting. That is the single most important thing in any lane role in League of Legends.
Pick a champion that seems right for you. Right now, the popular ones are Kassadin, Ahri, Sion, kennen, Ryze, Karthus, Morgana, etc. After you pick your champion and are ready to practice, learn their auto attack animation and get comfortable with it. You can push A then click on a minion to force your character to attack a certain minion the millisecond your champion can autoattack.
As for masteries, I would run 21/9/0 grabbing all the AP/damage you can in the Offensive tree, as well as magic resist in Defense with the extra health. Runes should be Magic Penetration reds/marks, Ability Power per level yellows/seals, and Ability Power per level blues/glyphs with flat AP quints.
Your build usually starts with boots and 3 health potions, as the mobility to farm, evade ganks/harassment, and harass back is super duper important, as well as it enhances your ability to go gank other lanes. And as a tip, always build to win your lane. If you start taking too much damage and keep getting CC'ed by your opponent (or their jungle) and there is nothing you can do, grab merc treads for boots.
The magic resist and CC reduction is well worth giving up extra damage. but I'm going to go my usual build from farming and a normal not incredibly fed game. I usually go 2 Doran's Rings into magic pen boots, into a Deathcap, Void Staff, and then defensive items or more AP damage to either nuke harder or to help keep yourself alive.
If you happen to get super fed, go 3 Doran's Rings, into magic pen boots, Deathcap, Void Staff, into more AP. But these builds are just the normal AP route. Different champs call for different builds.
To put a short version on this:
Those are the things that go through my mind when I solo mid as an AP. I hope its not too confusing and gives good pointers.
I disagree with last hitting (*added this: Last hitting is the technique of hitting a creep just before it dies, without doing any previous damage to it) making or breaking an ap mid. AP champions tend to have problems last hitting, especially near tower(You don't want to miss creep kills due to your tower). So it works great for champions like morgana to push her lane with and area of effect ability like tormented soil.
In my opinion things like this are good to focus on (not in any particular order):
High CS: Kill as many minions as possible. Try to aim for about 200 cs by 20 minutes. You can maximize your cs by taking wraiths when your minions are by the enemy tower. When pushing to the enemy tower, you also don't want to stand up by their tower to poke the tower without safety from wards. Also, by pushing your lane, it gives you the chance to kill wraith camps/leave lane to gank side lanes.
Map Awareness: This is probably the most important if you want to live or die. You are in the center of the map with the least distance to travel to any lane. If a side lane has an opening for a gank, you should take advantage of it. If an enemy is missing from a side lane, you might be in danger, an ally might be in danger, or an objective is being taken. Wards can help you stay alive.
Counterpick: Some AP Mids work better against other AP Mids, use lolpro.com which is a website guide with proven counters from pro LoL players.
21/0/9 Fares well always, since you want to maximize your damage as ap mid.
Items: (I obtained these item recommendations from observing professional play, summarizing guides from professional players):
Starter: Boots + 3 pots. This is the most effective to start with since with it, you can avoid getting ganked, you can chase, you can harass, and you have potions. It is more effective than doran's ring because low level skills don't benefit as much from the extra ap from doran's ring. The mana regen from doran's ring will probably get you enough mana for 2-5 spells before you buy again, but you might lose health because you can't escape trades with the enemy player.
Doran's Ring: Most commonly bought 1-2 times, usually not when a rod of ages is rushed.
Rabadon's Deathcap: The core ap item for any ap champion,
Will of the Ancients: A strong, rushed sustain item for Kennen, Morgana, Cassiopeia, Ahri, Vladimir, Swain, Malzahar and Viktor. Usully rushed after boots.
Rod of Ages: Strong, rushed health/ap item on Annie, Swain, Malzahar, Kassadin, Anivia, Morgana, Veigar, Zilean, Orianna, Galio, Gragas and Viktor. Gives a good amount of health and mana with a very fair 80 AP.
Zhonya's Hourglass: Strong item that has synergy with Morgana's ult and Kennen's ult that makes it worth rushing. Works well on all AP carries as a defensive item.
I disagree with last hitting making or breaking an ap mid, but then the first thing you mention is Kill as many minions as possible. Aim for about 200 cs by 200 minutes. (also I think you mean 20 minutes, not 200).
An AP Carry is a champion that does damage with ability power versus attack damage. It is also a champion that is responsible for 'carrying' the game or doing the most damage in a team fight. Think of it as the 'star player' in a team game. The quarterback in football, the striker in hockey or the shooter in soccer. The goal of the rest of the team members is to make sure to 'support' or make the Carry shine. AP Carries do damage with Ability Power, this Ability Power is built-in with the types of spells that they have.
Check out this guide for more info: http://www.lolpro.com/guides/game-play/197-how-to-ap-carry
Last hitting is HUGE, probably your main focus. Items are different depending on the champ but a good core item is will of the ancients for the spell vamp for sustain. Get wards and get some vision to prevent you from getting ganked.
Outfarming your opponent is always good, but really map awareness is key. By having good map awareness and ward control, you can avoid ganks (usually, ganks happen in mid), roam, take enemy wraiths, and farm until late game.
Very few people know how important it is to last hit minions when they start. Items depends on situation, but you want to start with boots and 3 pots to get away from ganks and harassing.
As for runes, it can vary depending on person.
For masteries, I recommend 21/0/9.
Smartcasting is your friend. Like it, learn it, love it. It will never steer you wrong when you become accusmted to it.
YouTube video about it.
