Traditionally, mid lane has always been the role where AP champions thrive. Both assassins and mages who scale with ability power are go-to picks there.
And in solo queue, it’s often expected from the mid laner to play an AP champion.
Luckily, there are many unique ability power champions in the mid-lane, from long-range poke mages to high-mobility assassins that deal insane amounts of burst damage.
So if AD mid laners aren’t your cup of tea, you don’t need to learn them for mid lane.
In this post, I’ll give you the 7 best AP mid laners in LoL for carrying your teammates in solo queue.
I’ll also tell you what their strengths are and how well they perform against other champions in League of Legends.
These Are the 7 Best AP Mid Laners in LoL:
7. Ahri
Ahri has been one of the best mid laners since the early days of League of Legends. Her ability kit was specifically designed for assassinating key targets on the enemy team and it has definitely stood the test of time.
Ahri is an all-AP champion in LoL. All of her abilities deal magic damage and have fantastic AP ratios which allow her to snowball and convert the early leads into huge advantages later on.
On top of this, all of Ahri’s abilities synergize with each other and there are many combos you can do.
But mainly, you want to use her Charm first so your target can’t escape, and follow it with the rest of her damage, mainly the Q when it travels back (true damage).
Throughout League’s history, Ahri has always been one of the champions with the highest burst damage.
Her E > W > Q combo is a recipe for one-shotting the enemy ADC or support, eliminating them from the fight.
Ahri’s main strengths:
- High burst damage
- Single-target crowd control
- Good at ganking and roaming
- Insane mobility
Besides the explosive damage, Ahri’s mobility is notorious. Her R, Spirit Rush, is a dash with 3 charges but she gets an additional charge with each champion takedown.
Spirit Rush allows Ahri to catch enemies off-guard, one-shot them, and make it out of there safely.
And in my opinion, every mid laner should have Ahri in their champion pools.
6. Vex
Speaking of explosive playstyles, Vex makes that list as well. She’s a fantastic pick to one-trick or main for climbing in solo queue with more than a dozen strengths as a champion.
Here’s what makes Vex so strong:
- Enough defensiveness thanks to the shield on her W
- One-shot potential and resets
- AoE crowd control
- Performs well into most matchups
First of all, Vex is a great champion to blind pick in solo queue. There aren’t too many counters for her and she’s especially powerful against melee assassins.
Remember, each dash or jump from the enemy allows Vex to deal bonus damage with her auto-attack and shorten the cooldown of her Fear.
Through her passive, Vex can apply Fear through one of her basic abilities, Q, W, or E. And since they’re all AoE, Vex can fear multiple enemies at once.
This is very convenient because it lets you surprise your opponents with CC each time you go for a kill.
Next, Vex is a control mage that keeps the mid lane secure. She can clear minion waves pretty quickly and rotate to help her jungler or her other teammates.
Vex’s ulti, Shadow Surge, is perhaps the best ganking spell a mid champion can have.
It’s a long-range damaging spell that can be reactivated to dash through the target. It resets if Vex’s target dies, so she can use it up to 5 times in a single fight.
With her ultimate, Vex can dash into a fight, fear all enemies around her, one-shot the primary target, and win the teamifght single-handedly.
Vex’s scaling is more than impressive in the late and you can always go for defensive items like Zhonya’s Hourglass to keep you safe.
Read Also: How Does Fear Work In LoL? (List of Champions with Fear)
5. Sylas
In recent years, Sylas has been one of the most influential AP mid laners in League of Legends. He’s simply amazing at carrying games from mid lane and he has only minor weaknesses as a champion.
As Sylas, the laning phase is actually pretty simple. Level 2 and 3 are big power spikes and you can always use them to trade favorable.
Sylas’ W, Kingslayer, grants a huge heal even on rank 1, so it’s not a bad idea to play aggressively early on.
Once you unlock Sylas’ R, it’s time to make plays around the map. Since Sylas can steal any ultimate from the enemy team and it often takes creativity to fully unlock his potential.
So what you can do is roam to the top lane, steal the Maokai’s ultimate, for example, and move bot lane to gank with it.
In most games, the bot lane enemies won’t expect you to gank in such a way, so Sylas is fantastic at creating these surprising situations.
Here are some of his biggest strengths:
- Highly adaptive pick
- Durable and able to fight longer than most mid laners
- Great damage and scaling
- Unstoppable when he gets ahead
On top of this, Sylas’ dueling potential is always freaking high. He beats most mages in 1v1 fights, assasinates ADCs, and even holds his ground against some top laners.
I often say that almost every ultimate ability in League of Legends is better on Sylas than on the original champion simply because of how useful Sylas’ ability kit is and how well it synergizes with most ultimates in the game.
Lastly, another reason why Sylas is the best AP bruiser in LoL is because his stolen ultimates scale with his AP even if their original ratios are AD.
So, even if you steal Jhin’s ultimate for example, all 4 shot will do damage based on your current AP.
Read Also: 5 Best Champions You Can Main for Both Mid & Jungle
4. Viktor
For the longest time, Viktor has been one of the best control mages in League of Legends. His ability to establish and maintain a control over the mid lane is often the biggest reasons why he wins so many games.
With Viktor, it’s all about applying lane fundamentals and sticking to the basics. First, you want to farm as much as possible early on and avoid ganks.
Post level 6 is all about clearing minion waves fast and assisting your jungler. And in the late game, Viktor shines in teamfights!
A part of what makes Viktor such a great AP mid laner is the fact that his ability kit is very flexible.
Unlike with Orianna, for example, you can make a good use of Viktor’s abilities in any situation and apply unbevelaible amount of damage, time and time again.
When it comes to actual teamfighting, Viktor can deal good single target damage, AoE damage, and even apply crowd control. His entire damage is magic and he scales extremely well thanks to his passive.
These are Viktor’s key strengths:
- Extremely fast wave clearing
- Defensive and mobile
- Scales pretty well in late game
- Has full control over the mid lane
Another thing that high elo players value in Viktor is his movement speed. Especially in the late game, Viktor gets bonus MS from his Q and it allows him to kite so well, even when multiple enemies jump on him.
And if you’re looking to improve your skill as a mid laner in LoL, Viktor is a great champion to do so with!
3. Katarina
Katarina is easily the most feared AP assassin in League of Legends. And despite the fact that she’s a champion without CC, her damage is explosive and she’s can often 1v9 games, especially in lower elos.
Kata isn’t the easiest champion to play at a high level, but she’s pretty intuitive for assassin players. Her kit is pretty simple with lots of different combos that all require skill and reflexes.
But if you master her mechanics, there’s really no stopping you.
The reason why Katarina wins so much in solo queue is that she thrives in chaos. She capitalizes on the mistakes of her enemies, especially when they overextend or don’t have their Flash ready.
Kata can usually one-shot the enemy mid laner or ADC in a teamfight and turn it into a 5v4.
A part of what makes Kata a tough opponent is that she’s only countered by heavy CC team comps. However, since Katarina can jump all the time, she often dodges crowd control effects and rules the teamfights anyway.
Here are Katarina’s big strengths:
- Insane amounts of AoE damage
- Extreme level of mobility (multiple jumps)
- Constant resets
- Can come back from any gold deficit
Another thing that Katarina offers is flexibility in itemization. Even though her damage is magic, she also has AD ratios besides the AP ones.
And so, you can either play Katarina AP or AD. Both builds are viable but they offer unique advantages.
Lastly, Katarina is just an amazing AP champion to one trick or main. She’s one of the most fun mid laners and you’ll never get bored of playing her.
You always feel like you have the potential of carrying with her, so make sure to give her a try.
Read Also: Top 15 Best Off-Meta Mid Laners
2. Vladimir
If you’re looking for a champion that always has the potential to solo carry in League of Legends, it’s Vladimir. He’s a scaling AP mage with unbelievable amounts of damage and sustain in the late game.
Playing Vladimir in lane is actually pretty simple. All you really need to do is spam your Q to keep your health up and focus on CS.
Trading with your opponent isn’t a must but you can certainly win many 1v1 duels. And if the enemy jungler comes to gank, you have your W to escape.
Once teamfights start to break out, Vladimir can dominate them with good R casts. His ultimate, Hemoplague is an AoE spell that makes enemies take more damage from all sources, including Vladimir’s teammates.
And after a few seconds, Hemoplauge explodes dealing a lot of magic damage and healing Vladimir up to full health.
Combined with his Q, Transfusion, Vladimir has the biggest sustain an AP mage has in LoL. The amount of healing he gets is honestly broken and most champions in League can’t do anything to stop it.
Sure, there are anti-heal items in LoL but even they are sometimes not enough to counter Vladimir’s healing. And the more AP he builds the stronger the healing is.
Here are Vladimir’s key strengths summarized:
- Safe pick with great sustain
- Lots of AoE damage
- Easy to play
- Very powerful in the late game
All in all, Vladimir is an invaluable pick for climbing in solo queue as an AP mage player. He will let you fight longer and survive even after you make a mistake in a teamfight.
So if you’re struggling to stay alive as a mid laner, Vladimir is the clear answer!
Read Also: 15 Best Mid Laners for Beginners
1. Syndra
Syndra has always been one of my favorite champions in League of Legends. She’s an extremely fun pick with an unbelievable power presence in the mid lane.
As an AP control mage, Syndra is pretty good at dictating the flow of the laning phase since level 1. With her Q, Dark Sphere, she can poke and bully the enemy laner, especially if they’re melee.
If she’s successful, she can zone the opponent away from the CS and force them to base, gaining leads in XP and gold in the process.
With Syndra, you don’t have to wait for late game in order to stomp your enemies.
On level 3, she gets a huge power spike that allows her to win 1v1 fights with most mid lane picks. A stun in combination with high burst damage is what Syndra does best.
Once Syndra unlocks her ultimate, Unleashed Power, she can challenge any champion on the map.
This is a point-click spell that can’t be missed and it does an insane amount of magic damage, especially if there are multiple orbs laying around.
Syndra’s big advantage is that she can stun her target from long range (Q > E) and burst them down (W > R) before they can do anything.
It’s realy tough to play against a good Syndra player because you never feel like you have a chance to do anything to her.
This is what makes Syndra such a good AP mid laner in LoL:
- Long range AoE crowd control (stun)
- High burst damage with excellent scaling
- Control over mid lane from level 1
- Great at teamfighting and picking kills
Even though Syndra is technically a high skill champion, her ult is easy to use and does lots of damage which is perfect for solo queue.
And even if you miss your stun, you can still one-shot the enemy ADC just by using your R.
So, definitely give Syndra a shot!
Read Also: The 7 Worst Mid Laners
Conclusion
Of course, there are more than 7 good AP mid laners in League. Some of them are great at stomping the early game while others are particularly powerful in the late game.
Needless to say, you need to test more champions and find the one that you like the most.
But the champions you see on this list are all super strong AP picks that dominate the mid lane role.
They all scale super well and are usually the carries that your team needs. So, I can’t help but recommend them!