Solving the Solo AP Problem: A Deep Dive on Magic Damage in League of Legends

We've all heard that some champions need to be the only magic damage on their team, but it's hard to precisely define why. In this video, Quinn explains how magical champion design, itemization, and the complex dynamics of each role play a part to create a very nuanced set of constraints about how much magic damage can be drafted without harming the output of your team.

This project took several months of research and another month or so of production, making it easily the largest video I've ever released. If you enjoyed, I would sincerely appreciate support in the form of sharing, or visiting my links below:

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Introduction
0:39 - Defining the Problem
2:12 - Overview of MR Itemization
5:16 - Categorizing Magic Damage Dealers
7:30 - What Makes a Solo AP Champion?
9:10 - Explaining the Solo AP List
11:36 - The Solo AP Jungle Rule
13:06 - Support Mages
13:43 - Practical Itemization
15:36 - Breaking Solo AP Conditions
16:20 - Why Keep a List?
17:37 - Draft Example: GAM vs. TS (Solo AP)
19:03 - Draft Example: DRX vs. LSB (Multiple Magic Champions)
21:02 - Draft Example: EG vs. G2 (Breaking Solo AP)
22:43 - Draft Example: RNG vs. PSG (Magic Damage Disaster)
24:53 - Conclusions

Thank you to everyone who submitted clips or joined me in my games while gathering footage!

#leagueoflegends #strategy

[VictorisGG]

Incredible analysis. You can tell how much time and effort went into making this video. Great stuff Quinntik, keep up the amazing work!!

[bennieboi]

damn this was an amazing deep dive into magic damage in League, I had no idea how complex it was!
You have yourself a new sub

[ce]

"Auto attacks matter". That's why AP is lower class than AD. Most champs dont have a way to apply magic damage with autos, AND(no one thinks like this and that's why most people are low elo) autos are essentially spells with a low cooldown with the requirement you get into range to attack. The prevelance of auto attacks mattering (cant deal damage to buildings with most abilities) and costing no mana, WHILE ATTACK SPEED EXISTS as a stat (further enhancing auto potency, theres no way to speed up the damage your abilities do) means that in this game AD will always be more relevant 99% of the time

edit: I suppose ability haste is a way to "get spells to do damage faster" somewhat, when I think about it. However attack speed is STILL more potent because it increases the frequency of autos within a period, so you get additional benefit from CRIT and ON HIT with more attack speed

[Coffeekakerr]

This deserves more attention, this video is amazing.

[scarreddwarf]

Good vid bro😮‍💨clicked on it randomly ended up staying for 25 minutes. Well put together, raised good points and it never felt boring or overdone. Keep it Up man fr ❤

[fluid]

Really good video, I think your analysis is spot on. I might have changed a round a few of the champs "roles" or "classes", but that's just differing interpretation of these ever changing characters.

[georgeg]

I am impressed with your passion here and good job on this thorough analysis. This video deserves views and likes for the amount of work you put in.

(As a side note, being a science major seeing anyone do such fine work is inspiring)

[jmgalloway]

Impressive! I really enjoyed the draft breakdown at the end. Ty for this

[JasonJOu]

Holy shit, this is some good ass information. I really like this style of video. Idk how you could do more but I enjoyed it very much so

[vexingvexillologist]

I'm blown away by the amount of thought and care put into this video. Your game knowledge is insane (or at least it seems that way from my perspective!) - I so often hear casters, pros, streamers etc. imply some of the points mentioned here, so to have it all spelled out and strung together so clearly here... well, it's like completing a jigsaw puzzle in the daylight after spending months trying to finish it in darkness. And all the little details, nuances and futureproofing you included just shows how dedicated you are to comprehensively getting your point across. Also it's so nice to hear a fucking nuanced opinion on mage supports! I'm so sick of the constant whining around them, to have someone intelligently analyse them is so refreshing

[BloomPlays]

the mercury threads have more mr than sorcerer shoes provide magic penetration, i am not saying they have to be equal in valor, it can be just a little bit

[KasaiiruAMV]

this is such a cool video and honestly I think this helps a lot with my game knowledge a lot. I hardly even knew the basics and now I feel like a pro. thank you for the info!

[hakan]

Damn, amazing analysis. What a great video!

[jacchann]

I don't understand anything you explained in the latter half of the video but it's cool to know how much team compositions and AP/AD damage spreads can predetermine the outcome of a game

[alekanzus]

I've been struggling with this since the durability update. I had to change a lot my champion pool because mages feel so underwhelming to play even against squishy comps because only one MR item completely eliminates Lux or Leblanc's burst

[Vero-city]

I would argue Katarina is more dps than burst. Since she has access to dps items like nashors, wits end, Riftmaker, Blade, Kraken Guinsoos.

[xvainear]

finally, someone with a goddamn brain

[knowvoid]

What if amumu with evenshroud and abysal mask latches onto someone? How much magic damage is that?

[trashemail]

nah homie this shit go stupid dummy hard

[nicholasfigueiredo]

I disagree with vex being a solo AP. With her normal playstile sure, but she can perfectly go with either everfrost/liandry first and lich bane/cosmic drive second you swap pen boots for cdr boots and then you focus on providing utility/peel after those itens you can go for defensive itens like zhonya/banshes or if you don't need just go for rabadon/void, you are perfectly fine playing the same role as an ahri but with way more damage in the neutral game, heck you are even better than ahri at doing what she does at the cost of not being as safe