With the right build, Kog’Maw can be one of the best hyper-carries in League of Legends. As an ADC, he requires a lot of attention from enchanter supports throughout the game.
But with a full AP build, Kog’Maw can dominate the laning phase and carry his team alone.
AP Kog’Maw is one of the strongest builds I’ve ever tried in season 13 of League of Legends.
And in this post, I’ll go over the runes, the items, and the other necessary info you need for playing AP Kog’Maw on a high level.
So, even if you’ve never played Kog in LoL, this guide will teach you how his damage works and how you can take advantage of it.
And you can also check this video to see me how I play AP Kog’Maw!
Let’s begin!
Is Kog’Maw AP or AD in LoL?
Kog’Maw is generally considered an ADC/marksman in League of Legends. He’s played in the bot lane and his build includes all AD items.
However, all of Kog’s damaging abilities deal magic damage and scale with AP. Thanks to these AP ratios, Kog’Maw can be played as an AP carry too.
Even though AP Kog’Maw hasn’t been a “meta” pick in such a long time, he’s one of the most fun off-meta mid laners in LoL. But this playstyle isn’t only interesting, it’s actually extremely powerful too.
As an ADC, Kog’Maw is much more reliant on his teammates. Since his poke damage isn’t as high, he needs to auto-attack enemy champions in order to deal damage.
Because of this, supports like Lulu, Soraka, and Janna need to be around Kog’Maw at all times to support his AD playstyle.
They need to spam shields, heals, and movement speed buffs for Kog’Maw to be able to keep his damage up.
To summarize, Kog’Maw is an AP-based champion that often builds AD instead of AP in order to fit the ADC meta in the bot lane.
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AP Kog’Maw vs. AD Kog’Maw – What’s Better?
AD Kog’Maw focuses on building attack speed and on-hit items. This gives him a lot of consistent damage, especially when supported by Lulu.
AP Kog’Maw is all about increasing the damage of his abilities. Because of this, AP Kog can poke, burst, and one-shot enemies with his spells.
Rather than saying what’s better overall, I’d like to explain why both the AP and the AD Kog’Maw’s builds can be good in certain scenarios.
With the AD build, Kog is in a much more difficult position. Since he needs his support at all times, it’s easy to fall behind if your partner isn’t performing well.
On the other hand, you can always play AP Kog’Maw in the mid lane alone and thrive. When you’re building AP on Kog, you don’t need a support to babysit you.
You can go toe-to-toe with the enemy mid laner, trade, and even slay them 1v1.
In the late game, both the AP and the AD Kog’Maw builds have fantastic damage.
AD Kog’Maw can quickly shred tanks due to the max-health damage bonus from his W – Bio-Arcane Barrage. But he needs to enter an auto-attack range.
AP Kog’Maw can one-shot squishy enemies from afar but he can’t do the same to tanks.
So, the battle of AP vs. AD Kog’Maw is all about your personal playstyle and what you prefer.
But if you need to see it, here’s a YouTube video of build fights for AP and AD Kog’Maw. Make sure to check it out.
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Is AP Kog’Maw Still Viable in LoL Season 13?
AP Kog’Maw is a super powerful playstyle in season 13 of League of Legends. Thanks to the AP mythic items, Kog gets a power spike very early on.
His laning phase is relatively safe and his damage is insanely high. With enough ability power, Kog’Maw can defeat the entire enemy team from far away.
One of the things that makes AP Kog’Maw such a fun pick is his range. All of Kog’s abilities are relatively long-ranged, especially his ultimate.
Because of this, Kog’Maw can always stay off the screen and simply poke his opponents. He doesn’t need to enter auto-attack range in order to deal damage, so he’s often away from all the danger.
And this is especially useful in a meta where champions like Zed and Katarina are so popular.
So, definitely give AP Kog’Maw a try!
And if you want to do so, here are the runes and items you’re going to need!
AP Kog’Maw S13 Runes – Explained
- Arcane Comet
- Manaflow Band
- Transcendence
- Scorch
- Presence of Mind
- Coup de Grace
ARCANE COMET is the perfect early-game keystone fo AP Kog’Maw. Not only does it fit his generally playstyle during the laning phase, but Arcane Comet also synergizes with Kog’s E – Void Ooze.
Each time you use Kog’s E to poke your opposing laner, you also slow them down. This simply makes it possible for the Arcane Comet to always hit the target without a miss.
And since your opponent can’t dodge the additional damage, you get so much value out of this keystone.
MANAFLOW BAND is here to increase your mana and mana regeneration. Its cooldown syncs with Arcane Comet and you can proc both effects at the same time by simply using E.
Manaflow Band grants you a total of 250 mana and 1% missing mana regeneration. AP Kog’Maw is a mana-hungry champion, so you’ll definitely need this rune.
TRANSCENDENCE is a super-useful rune that grants a lot of cooldown reduction. It gives you 5 ability haste on level 5 and additional 5 ability haste on level 8.
Once you reach level 11, Transcendence resets 20% cooldown on your basic abilities upon a champion takedown. This is a huge benefit in the mid/late game, especially in team fights.
SCORCH is another early-game rune that helps you deal more damage and sometimes slay enemies on low HP. It burns your target with bonus magic damage when you use an ability against them. And it only has 10 seconds cooldown.
PRESENCE OF MIND is a must-have rune for AP Kog’Maw. You mainly need it because it refunds 15% of your missing mana upon a champion takedown.
Kog’s ultimate, his hardest-hitting AP spell, takes more mana the more times you use it. And it can easily take up to 20% or 30% of your mana per cast.
That’s why you always need Presence of Mind. The mana regeneration is absolutely required for spamming Rs during a team fight.
COUP DE GRACE is the last rune you’ll need to pick up. It simply increases your damage against low HP targets. This makes it easier for you to take your enemies down, so it’s worth taking.
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AP Kog’Maw S13 Items – Explained
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
- Luden’s Tempest
- Horizon Focus
- Rabadon’s Deathcap
- Void Staff
- Morellonomicon
IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY are the best boots you can take on AP Kog’Maw. Kog’s magic damage is actually pretty high in the early game, so you don’t need need magic penetration early on.
Ionian Boots will give you 20 ability haste and allow you to spam E and Q all days long. And they only cost 950 gold!
LUDEN’S TEMPEST is the perfect mythic item for Kog’Maw. It grants all the essential stats – ability power, bonus mana, mana regeneration, and ability haste.
On top of that, Luden’s Tempest gives you 6 magic penetration plus 5 for each legendary item you buy during the game.
And lastly, Luden’s passive allows you to deal AoE magic damage every couple of seconds which further increases your damage output.
HORIZON FOCUS is a fantastic item for any long-range champion in the game, especially a nuke-focused AP Kog’Maw. The bonus AP, health, and ability haste are great, but the passive is what makes this item crazy.
When you hit someone with Kog’s E, Horizon Focus will mark that champion for you. This mark will allow you to see the target even if they’re invisible while also making them take 10% more damage from you.
So, it’s the ideal item for poking and one-shotting.
RABADON’S DEATHCAP is an absolute must-have for AP Kog’Maw. Kog has very high AP ratios on across all of of his abilities. And they’re all magic damage.
Because of this, Kog’Maw benefits the most from raw and bonus ability power. The more AP he has the harder his abilities hit, so make sure to get Rabadon’s Deathcap in each game.
VOID STAFF is here to give you all the magic penetration you need on Kog. And since you won’t be taking Sorcerer’s Shoes, Void Staff will be the only source of magic pen for you.
Magic penetration is always needed because it allows your abilities to deal way more damage. It is useful against targets that build magic resist but also against squishy enemies because of potential one-shot.
MORELLONOMICON is another item you’ll definitely need in your inventory. It’s especially powerful against teams that have multiple healing champions such as Aatrox, Kayn, and Soraka. In that case, you’ll need to get Morellonomicon a bit earlier.
Morellonomicon applies Grevious Wounds and reduces the overall healing on the enemy team.
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Optional and Situational Items for AP Kog’Maw
As far as optional items are concerned, these are the ones that you can take on AP Kog’Maw.
The mythic Liandry’s Anguish in combination with Demonic Embrace can work wonders against tanks. These two items actually counter tanks since they do so much bonus damage based on the target’s maximum HP.
Besides them, you can always go for Lich Bane and Nashor’s Tooth if you’re facing an all-melee team and you want bonus on-hit magic damage.
Also, you can always purchase Tear of the Goddess for more maximum mana and upgrade it into Manamune or Seraph’s Embrace.
And lastly, Zhonya’s Hourglass and Banshee’s Veil are two great defensive items that you can spend your gold on.
AP Kog’Maw Ability Order and Summoner’s Spells
When you play AP Kog’Maw, you want to max your E first. Then comes your Q and finally your W.
Here’s a chart to help you out.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | |||||||||||||
| W | W | W | W | W | |||||||||||||
| E | E | E | E | E | |||||||||||||
| R | R | R |
And for Summoner’s Spells, the best combination is Flash + Ignite because it gives you a lot of pressure in the lane, especially mid lane.
However, you can also go for Flash + Heal, Flash + Barrier, and Flash + Exhaust if you’re playing AP Kog’Maw in the bot lane with a support.
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Conclusion
That’s all on how to build and play AP Kog’Maw in season 13 of League of Legends.
Honestly, this is one of the most fun builds you can play, especially if you like the long-range poking playstyle.
AP Kog’Maw has so much damage that your enemies won’t know how to play against you. You’ll likely int an oppoent or two, but that’s free LP for you. So, definitely give AP Kog a try!
And if you want similar guides like this one, I’d recommend checking full lethality Caitlyn!
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