Amumu hasn’t been a carry champion for a long time in League of Legends.
His simple champion design limits him from doing anything out of the ordinary despite him being a reliable tank for his team. And that’s why playing Amumu with a full AP build is a much better choice.
AP Amumu has explosive damage and can one-shot squishy enemies. With a few ability power items, Amumu starts to deal a lot of AoE magic damage and can 1v9 games if played correctly.
Speaking of which, I dedicate this post entirely to how to play AP Amumu in LoL.
I’ll go into great detail and explain how you should approach this playstyle as well as which runes and items you’ll need.
So if you want to learn how to play AP Amumu in League of Legends, scroll down, and let’s begin!
Is Amumu AP or AD in LoL?
Amumu is an entirely AP champion in League of Legends. He only deals magic damage and his abilities only scale with AP.
Most players build Amumu as a tank since he’s melee and some of his spells have armor/magic resist and max HP ratios. However, Amumu can also go full AP too.
Additionally, Amumu’s passive – Cursed Touch allows him to deal 10% true damage to Cursed enemies from any of his active abilities (magic damage).
This happens when Amumu auto-attacks a target first or uses his ultimate which marks the target and then casts another ability.
Besides this, Amumu actually has decent AP scalings across all of his abilities. For example, his Q has an 85% AP ratio, his W 100%, his E 50%, and his R has a huge 80% AP ratio too.
And this simply means that going for raw AP on Amumu is always the right answer.
By building Amumu full AP, you actually get a really powerful off-meta jungler.
However, AP Amumu can also be good off-meta support, off-meta mid laner, and even off-meta top laner. Slight changes to the build below will allow you to demolish your opponents, so I strongly recommend you give AP Amumu a chance.
Here’s the standard AP Amumu build you should use.
Read Also: AP Sejuani Build Guide
AP Amumu S12 Build – Runes
- Electrocute
- Sudden Impact
- Eyeball Collection
- Ultimate Spellbook
- Presence of Mind
- Legend: Tenacity
Electrocute
Electrocute is the best keystone for bursting down enemies. And frankly speaking, it’s much needed on Amumu because he needs to assassinate one target when he goes in since he doesn’t have a dash to escape.
What Electrocute does is that it deals bonus adaptive damage to your primary target after 3 consecutive attacks (basics or abilities).
This damage scales with levels and AP, so it stays relevant until the end of the game.
Amumu has the advantage of being a very quick Electrocute user. He can activate the rune with any ability combo he casts. For example, Electrocute always procs after Amumu does Q > R > E.
Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact is a super cool rune that fits Amumu’s playstyle.
Simply put, this rune grants bonus magic penetration when you use a dash ability. This also includes Amumu’s Q – Bandage Toss which is your primary ability early on.
In other words, Sudden Impact will always increase your damage as long as you’re using your Q to dash to your targets.
Eyeball Collection
Eyeball Collection works on champion takedowns to increase your ability power during the early game.
Each champion takedown grants you a bit of AP and when you fully stack it, the rune grants you 30 AP. This isn’t much, but it definitely increases your power early on.
Read Also: AP Xhin Zhao Build Guide
Ultimate Hunter
Amumu’s ultimate – Curse of the Sad Mummy is one of the greatest abilities ever created in League of Legends. And it’s a real game-changer if used at the right place and the right time.
This is even more true when you play AP Amumu since your R button can one-shot multiple enemies at once.
So, what Ultimate Hunter offers is a lower cooldown on your ultimate. The rune works on champion takedowns too but unique ones.
In other words, you must slay all 5 of your opponents at least once for the maximum cooldown reduction benefit.
Presence of Mind
Presence of Mind is one of the most useful runes when it comes to managing your mana in LoL.
It restores a portion of your mana instantly after a champion takedown and gives you mana regeneration when you damage an enemy champion.
With my AP build, you won’t be building any mana items on Amumu. And so, having Presence of Mind is actually a must if you want to have enough mana for bursting more than one opponent down.
Legend: Tenacity
And the last rune to pick up is Legend: Tenacity.
Being free to move is a necessity for Amumu when you aren’t building a tank. A squishy melee champion is easily eliminated if he’s stunned, so you need tenacity in order to survive CC and deal damage.
Luckily, Legend: Tenacity grants you enough of this stat for the whole game. You can easily stack the rune by slaying champions, minions, or monsters, so it’s a rune worth taking.
Read Also: Full AP Ivern Build Guide
AP Amumu S12 Build – Items
- Sorcerer’s Shoes
- Hextech Rocketbelt
- Shadowflame
- Demonic Embrace
- Rabadon’s Deathcap
- Zhonya’s Hourglass
Sorcerer’s Shoes
One thing that can set you back in the early game is not having enough magic penetration.
And that’s why the boots of choice for AP Amumu are Sorcerer’s Shoes.
Sorcerer’s Shoes grant enough magic penetration early on and enhance your damage.
And no matter which role you’re, completing Sorcerer’s Shoes before anything else is always recommended!
Hextech Rocketbelt
Since the whole idea of playing AP Amumu is to go in, one-shot an enemy champion, and do as much additional damage as possible, Hextech Rocketbelt is the mythic item to go for.
What Hextech Rocketbelt allows you to do is to dash forward and surprise-stun your opponent with Amumu’s Q. The active of this item also has a damaging part that helps you proc Electrocute even faster.
Besides this, Hextech Rocketbelt gives you all the necessary stats including health and magic penetration.
Read Also: Full AP Rammus Build Guide
Shadowflame
Once you’re mythic item is completed, it’s time to double up your power with Shadowflame.
Shadowflame is a very unique item in League of Legends because it lets you counter shields and tanky champions in general.
Simply put, it grants you bonus magic penetration against enemies with a lot of health or with a lot of shields.
What’s also great about Shadowflame is that it builds with Hextech Alternator which means even more burst damage for Amumu.
Demonic Embrace
Demonic Embrace is a key ability power item for many tanky AP champions such as Amumu.
The reason for this is that the more health you have the more ability power Demonic Embrace will give you. Additionally, your abilities will burn the target with magic damage that scales with your target’s maximum HP.
So, Demonic Embrace is a great anti-tank item too!
Rabadon’s Deathcap
Rabadon’s Deathcap offers the biggest buff in a champion’s power, especially after a couple of AP items in your inventory.
What Rabadon’s Deathcap does is that it gives you a lot of ability power and it even increases your AP by 35%. And with the magic penetration you already have, you’re going to deal crazy damage with AP Amumu!
Zhonya’s Hourglass
The last item on this list is Zhonya’s Hourglass. And make no mistake, this item is really a must-have on Amumu whenever you opt for this AP build.
The reasoning behind this is that AP Amumu is a squishy playstyle after all. You lack defensive stats and you can’t survive for too long.
However, Zhonya’s Hourglass allows you to enter Stasis and dodge a lot of incoming damage, especially when you find yourself in the middle of the team fight.
Plus, the item grants a lot of armor, so it’s a great purchase overall.
Situational and Optional Items
There are a few optional items you can build on AP Amumu, but the choice depends entirely on you.
For example, Everfrost can be a great mythic item for Amumu. It provides AP as well as mana, but it also lets you freeze enemies in place or slow them down.
This synergizes with Amumu in general and makes it easy for him to hit his Q.
On the other hand, Liandry’s Anguish is a great item and it works very well with Demonic Embrace. Both apply burn effects and increase your overall damage.
Additionally, you can always buy Morellonomicon or Void Staff if you need to counter healing champions or tanks in LoL.
Read Also: Top 5 Best Synergy ADC Picks for Amumu Support
How Do You Play AP Amumu?
The approach you need to take for learning AP Amumu largely depends on your preferred role.
For example, every laning phase is difficult for Amumu, no matter the matchup. But if you’re a jungler, you won’t see too many differences early on.
The key thing to understand about AP Amumu is to only go in when you’re sure you can one-shot an enemy champion.
This is important because you’re a squishy character and you can’t survive the incoming damage if you mess up too hard.
Next, I want to clarify a few things about your skill order.
If you’re playing Amumu as a support or a solo laner, max your Q first and your E second. This is because Bandage Toss has a lot more damage than Tantrum and a lot higher AP ratio.
However, if you’re playing AP Amumu in the jungle, max your E first and your Q second. Tantrum is a great spell for clearing jungle camps and you can’t use your Q for AoE damage.
And lastly, you should also know the basic combos for playing AP Amumu. If you play this champion regularly, then you probably know all of these. But if you don’t, here’s a list of ability combos for Amumu to help you out.
- Q > E > AA
- Q > W > E > R
- Hextech Rocketbelt > Q > E > R
- Hextech Rocketbelt > R > E > Q
- Flash > R > E > W > Q
- Flash > R > E > Q > Hextech Rocketbelt > Q
Read Also: AP Rengar Build Guide
Conclusion
Switching from tank Amumu to AP Amumu is honestly eye-opening. This champion can dish out so much damage to all enemy champions at once that it’s ridiculously why we don’t see more AP Amumu players.
Of course, the low survivability factor plays a huge part, but it’s definitely worth the risk.
If this build helped you get a few victories in League of Legends, I can also recommend other fun builds such as AP Skarner and AP Nocturne.
Bye!
