Twitch has been terrorizing Summoner’s Rift for a couple of years now. He’s got a few different builds that allow him to carry games even in high elo.
But the most potent playstyle is the AP Twitch build that you can use for smurfing all ranks in League of Legends.
AP Twitch is a scary build to face in LoL, especially if he’s on a roaming role like a jungler or a support. Additionally, the build can be played in all 5 roles – top, jungle, mid, bot, and support.
Its win rates are different for each role, but one thing is sure – AP Twitch can carry from all positions!
And in this guide, I’ll go over all the needy-greedy stuff you need to know about playing AP Twitch. I’ll talk about his abilities, the playstyle of the build, as well as all the runes and items you’ll need.
So, if you’re ready to learn how to play AP Twitch, scroll down and let’s begin!
Is Twitch AP or AD in LoL?
Twitch is an AD marksman but has a few AP ratios on his abilities too. Normally, players build Twitch like an ADC and play him in the bot lane. But Twitch can also go full AP and be played in any role.
AD Twitch does more damage with auto-attacks (and R) while AP Twitch with abilities (W, E).
And so, Twitch can be both an AP or an AD champion in League of Legends. Depending on your personal preference and the items you go for, Twitch can have a different playstyle.
But if you take a look at his abilities, it seems like Twitch is better off with AP items than with AD items. This is somewhat true because his AP ratios are higher than his AD ratios, but most of his damage is still physical.
Twitch has a total of three abilities that scale with AP (passive, W, E) and only two with AD (E, R). He’s similar to champions like Varus and Ashe because he can play both AP and AD.
The AD Twitch build is a “meta” build, while the AP one is an “off-meta”. And if you’re interested, here are my top 15 best off-meta ADC picks and builds in League of Legends.
Read Also: AP Corki Build Guide
AP Twitch vs. AD Twitch – What’s Better?
Twitch’s champion design is all about sneaking up on your opponents and unleashing tons of damage. Both AP and AD Twitch can do this, but there are differences in the process.
For example, when AD Twitch sneaks up with the camouflage effect from his Q, he hopes to slay everyone with his ultimate-empowered auto-attacks.
However, AP Twitch only needs to apply a few stacks of his passive Deadly Venom and activate his E to instantly deal a lot of magic damage.
And with enough speed, AP Twitch can one-shot multiple enemy champions with a few auto-attacks and the Contaminate ability.
On the opposite end, AD Twitch has much more consistent damage than AP Twitch. Since the damage comes mostly through his auto-attacks, AD Twitch isn’t dependent on cooldowns, except maybe for his R.
AP Twitch is also a bit easier to play than AD Twitch because you don’t need as much kiting. And items like Crown of the Shattered Queen and Zhonya’s Hourglass give you additional protection.
So, here’s what to remember about AP Twitch vs. AD Twitch.
AP Twitch has much better burst damage than AD Twitch.
AD Twitch has more consistent AoE damage, especially in a team fight.
AP Twitch can one-shot a squishy enemy champion.
AD Twitch can shred down tanks much quicker than AP Twitch.
In this sense, both builds are great in certain situations.
Here’s an expert opinion on what is better on Twitch – AP or AD (YouTube video).
Read Also: AP Varus One-Shot Build Guide
Full AP Twitch Build – Runes for Season 13
- Hail of Blades
- Taste of Blood
- Eyeball Collection
- Ingenious Hunter
- Presence of Mind
- Legend: Alacrity
HAIL OF BLADES is the perfect keystone for playing AP Twitch. And the reason for it is that the rune allows you to build as much ability power as possible without sacrificing inventory slots for attack speed.
Hail of Blades activates when you first strike an enemy champion. It gives you a burst of attack speed that lasts for up to 3 attacks.
This is enough for AP Twitch to apply his poison, especially in combination with his ultimate ability.
TASTE OF BLOOD is a very convenient rune for the early game in League of Legends. It restores a bit of your health when you damage an enemy champion. The amount of healing scales with AD and AP, so it’s great on Twitch.
Also, Taste of Blood only has 20 seconds cooldown.
EYEBALL COLLECTION is another rune that increases your power early on. It will give you a bit of AP as you’re moving to the mid game. When fully stacked, this rune gives you a total of 30 bonus AP or 20 bonus AD.
INGENIOUS HUNTER is a very underused rune in LoL. However, it’s the ideal rune for AP Twitch because it synergizes with two key items – Crown of the Shattered Queen and Zhonya’s Hourglass.
You see, Ingenious Hunter gives you ability haste, allowing you to use your items more often. In the case of Crown, it makes it so the item refreshes faster so you always have its protection.
And with Zhonya’s, you’ll get to use it in every fight, so it’s a very helpful rune indeed.
PRESENCE OF MIND is a fantastic rune for mana management in League of Legends. Besides the mana regeneration during combat, Presence of Mind restores 15% of your mana upon a champion takedown.
This is super-useful on all mana-hungry champions, including AP Twitch.
LEGEND: ALACRITY is the second rune you take for increasing your attack speed. Like I mentioned above, this build doesn’t offer too much attack speed and you need to take Legend: Alacrity.
And if you do, you will have more than enough attack speed when you play AP Twitch.
Read Also: Full AP Ashe Build Guide
Full AP Twitch Build – Items for Season 13
- Sorcerer’s Shoes
- Nashor’s Tooth
- Crown of the Shattered Queen
- Shadowflame
- Zhonya’s Hourglass
- Rabadon’s Deathcap
SORCERER’S SHOES are the best boots you can buy on AP Twitch. They increase your magic penetration and allow you to do so much more damage, especially early on.
NASHOR’S TOOTH is the first item you need to get, even before you’re mythic. The reason for this is that Nashor’s Tooth offers all the necessary stats that AP Twitch needs – ability power, attack speed, and bonus on-hit magic damage.
In other words, Nashor’s Tooth perfectly synergizes with Twitch’s playstyle, so you should always have it in your inventory.
CROWN OF THE SHATTERED QUEEN is the best mythic item for AP Twitch by a long shot. And for a champion that doesn’t have any protective spell, Crown is a great addition.
This mythic item casts a shield on you that reduces the first incoming damage, making impossible for your enemies to one-shot you.
It breaks upon receiving damage, but with Ingenious Hunter it will quickly recharge after not receiving damage for a while.
SHADOWFLAME is your anti-tank and anti-shield item that you’ll definitely need. It allows you to have more magic penetration against shielded targets and targets with a lot of health.
Shadowflame is great on Twitch because he has a lot of damage and he only needs penetration to take everyone down in a team fight.
ZHONYA’S HOURGLASS is your defensive item for the mid and late game. Not only does it give you bonus armor, but it also provides you with the Stasis effect.
You can use Zhonya’s Hourglass to become invulnerable and avoid a lot of the incoming damage. The item can be instrumental to your success, especially when playing against champions like Yasuo or Zed.
RABADON’S DEATHCAP is the biggest damage-booster in League of Legends. It almost doubles your ability power and significantly increases the AP bonuses across all of your abilities.
RA will make it possible for you to carry team fights in the late game, so definitely pick it up!
Read Also: Full AP Kog’Maw Build Guide
Situational and Optional Items for AP Twitch
Depending on what the enemy team is playing and building, you might want to switch things up with your items.
For example, Morellonomicon can be a great answer if you’re facing multiple healing champions. Similarly, Demonic Embrace can help you shred tanky champions and increase your overall damage output.
When it comes to defensiveness, Riftmaker is a good mythic item that gives you more self-healing and more damage too.
But if you go for Riftmaker instead of Crown, make sure to also build Banshee’s Veil in order to protect yourself from that initial damage.
And if you need to be more threatening, go for Void Staff.
Ability Order and Summoner’s Spells for AP Twitch
As you can guess, playing Twitch is all about taking advantage of his E – Contaminate. And because of that, you need to max that ability first. But the second is W and the third is Q.
Here’s the full ability order for AP Twitch level by level.
| 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 |
Depending on the role you’re in, you have a couple of different options for Summoner’s Spells. However, here’s the best combination for all 5 roles.
Top: Flash + Ignite
Jungle: Flash + Smite
Mid: Flash + Ignite (Flash + Exhaust)
Bot: Flash + Exhaust
Support: Flash + Ignite
Read Also: AP Senna Build Guide
How Do You Play AP Twitch? (Tips)
If you still arent’s sure what is AP Twitch and how you should play him in all roles, even as a support, here are my tips to help you out.
START THE GAME AGGRESSIVELY.
No matter which role you’re in, you can use Twitch to dominate the start of every match. And you do this by taking advantage of Twitch’s invisibility early on.
Twitch is one of the few champions that can become invisible/camouflaged on level 1. So by activating his Q, you can sneak up on an enemy laner and make a gank.
And even if you don’t take that enemy down, you’ll help your teammate to win the laning phase.
I can tell you from experience how hard it is to come back and even the lane after you’ve been harassed by Twitch on level 1. No one likes to play against that, so use it to win more early games!
ROAM AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.
Again, it doesn’t matter whether you play AP Twitch on mid, jungle, top, or bot lane. Always try to gank another lane when the opportunity presents itself!
If you play Twitch as an off-meta jungler, your job is much easier. Simply enter invisibility and torment all three lanes. And the same can be said for support Twitch too.
But if you’re a laner, try to shove the wave as quickly as possible and use that timing to gank elsewhere. You’ll definitely get more gold that way and put pressure on all 5 players from the enemy team.
ALWAYS TRY TO SURPRISE THE ENEMY TEAM.
Once team fights start to break, always think of new ways to surprise the enemy team. This means appearing behind their backs and even remaining invisible until the last second.
Playing invisible champions in League of Legends is all about mind games with the opponents. And that’s precisely what AP Twitch should do too.
Read Also: AP Miss Fortune Build Guide
Conclusion
And there you have it!
Playing AP Twitch is honestly a blast. Sneaking up behind enemies and constantly ganking them is super fun. Also, the magic damage that this champion has is unbelievable and no one ever expects it.
So, I hope this guide helped you figure out how to play AP Twitch the right way. And if you want a similar guide, I can recommend my AP Lucian build.
Good luck and have fun!
