Blitzcrank has always been one of the best off-meta picks for nearly all roles in League of Legends. Since his abilities scale so efficiently, he can take the mantle of support down and become the carry your team needs.
And the best way to do so is with a full AP build.
Building full AP on Blitzcrank results in explosive damage. With enough ability power, Blitzcrank can literally pull an enemy champion and one-shot them in less than a second.
His survivability and tankiness decrease but his potential to carry increases.
The cool thing here is that you can play Blitzcrank either as an off-meta mid laner, off-meta jungler, or off-meta top laner.
The build will remain mostly the same for all these roles with a few slight changes here and there (I’ll talk about them below).
Of course, you can always keep Blitzcrank in the bot lane and support your ADC with more damage. The choice is yours.
Now let’s talk about what makes AP Blitzcrank a good strategy and how it all works.
Blitzcrank AP or AD – Explained
Blitzcrank is an AP support champion in League of Legends. His two key abilities, Q and R, deal magic damage and have extremely high AP ratios.
In fact, Q – Rocket Grab scales with 120% of Blitz’s AP, and R – Static Field also has a 100% AP ratio. Only Blitz’s E – Power Fist is physical damage and scales with AD.
But in most cases, Blitzcrank doesn’t really build damage. As a support, his build often orients toward helpful items for his ADC such as Locket of the Iron Solari, Knight’s Vow, and even Redemption.
Some players go for an off-meta AD bruiser build on Blitzcrank which can also be powerful under the right settings.
However, with a full AP build, Blitzcrank is much more efficient at getting kills and carrying games.
For example, instead of simply pulling and immobilizing the enemy carry so that your team can finish them off, that same combo assassinates the carry with the AP build.
There are a lot of AP items that synergize with Blitz’s playstyle. One of my favorites is Everfrost which can be used to either root or slow down the enemies in front of you.
After that, it’s really easy to pull them with Q or knock them up with E.
One thing that most players forget about Blitz is his ridiculously high AP ratios. You rarely see 100 or 120% AP scaling on a champion in LoL.
And what this does is guarantees a lot of magic damage, especially in the mid and late game.
Of course, building ability power instead of tanky items results in Blitzcrank being more squishy. But items like Zhonya’s Hourglass can help you with that too.
AD Blitzcrank is also an option but it has a totally different set of strengths than AP Blitzcrank.
Read Also: Full AP Janna Build Guide
The Best Runes for AP Blitzcrank
- Electrocute
- Cheap Shot
- Eyeball Collection
- Ultimate Hunter
- Absolute Focus
- Gathering Storm
Electrocute
The keystone to go for here is definitely Electrocute. It’s a well-rounded rune that increases your damage output throughout the game, so it’s a reliable one to have.
Electrocute activates when you strike an enemy champion 3 times consecutively, either with basic attacks, abilities, or a combination of both.
And when it does, Electrocute deals additional adaptive damage that scales with your level and AP/AD ratio.
The cool thing here is that you have multiple ways of activating Electrocute with Blitzcrank. The basic Q > E > R combo always triggers this keystone. But you can even use Everfrost to quickly do so.
Cheap Shot
Cheap Shot is a rune that helps you out in most situations with AP Blitzcrank. What it does is that it deals bonus true damage to enemies you immobilize or are already in crowd control.
In other words, each time you pull someone with Blitz’s Q or knock them up with E, Cheap Shot is going to activate. The rune has only 4 seconds cooldown so it’s almost always ready for use.
Read Also: Full AP Leona Build Guide
Eyeball Collection
Eyeball Collection is mostly a passive rune that you don’t think about during the game.
With Eyeball Collection, you collect eyeball stacks during the early game. Each eyeball stack increases your ability power. And at maximum stacks, the rune gives you a total of 30 bonus AP.
Ultimate Hunter
Ultimate Hunter is one of my favorite runes in LoL because of how useful it is on all champions. And it works very well on AP Blitz too.
Ultimate Hunter gives you bonus ability haste based on how many bounty stacks you have. The way you get bounty stacks is by slaying each of your opponent ones (max 5) or at least getting an assist for their death.
The more cooldown reduction you have the more Qs you can throw out as Blitzcrank. And with the ability’s AP ratio of 120%, you’ll want to use it as often as possible.
Absolute Focus
Absolute Focus is a neat rune for champions that engage first. And since Blitzcrank is all about pulling an enemy champion with his Q, it works well for him too.
This rune gives you bonus ability power when you’re health is above 70%. The amount of AP you get is based on level, with 30 bonus AP being the maximum at level 18.
It’s not much, but it ensures that your hooks are going to hurt at the start of the fight.
Gathering Storm
Gathering Storm is a nice way to increase your total AP without doing anything for it.
Basically, the rune gives you a bonus AP every 10 minutes for the rest of the game. It’s a great rune for the late game, especially for Blitzcrank and his high AP ratio. So, always go for Gathering Storm!
Read Also: AP Senna Build Guide
The Best Items for AP Blitzcrank
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
- Everfrost
- Lich Bane
- Zhonya’s Hourglass
- Void Staff
- Rabadon’s Deathcap
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Ionian Boots of Lucidity are one of the cheapest boots in League of Legends but one of the most valuable ones too.
For only 950 gold, Ionian Boots will give you 20 bonus ability haste. This is really handy for Blitzcrank since his Q has a long cooldown early on.
Everfrost
Everfrost is the overall best mythic item for AP Blitzcrank, regardless of the role you go for. And there are a couple of reasons for it.
First, not only does Everfrost gives you more mana, AP, and ability haste, but it also increases your health.
Second, Blitzcrank can use Everfrost to slow or root his targets so he can easily aim his Q and not miss it.
And third, Everfrost contributes to the Electrocute proc.
All in all, the item is perfect for setting up your combo as AP Blitzcrank. And I really recommend sticking to it!
Read Also: 7 Best Synergy ADCs for Blitzcrank
Lich Bane
Lich Bane has a perfect synergy with Blitzcrank thanks to his E – Power Fist.
Besides the useful stats, Lich Bane allows you to deal bonus on-hit magic damage after you use an ability. But by simply activating Blitz’s E, Lich Bane’s effect becomes available immediately.
So, you only need to press E in order to take full advantage of this item!
Zhonya’s Hourglass
Zhonya’s Hourglass is your main defensive item on AP Blitzcrank and works very well against many different champions.
First of all, Zhonya’s Hourglass grants bonus armor thanks to Seeker’s Armguard. However, the active part allows you to enter Stasis and save yourself from sticky situations.
So, I always recommend having Zhonya’s in your inventory.
Void Staff
Based on the opponents you have, Void Staff should either be purchased pretty early or during the mid game. It’s a fantastic item that will definitely boost your damage, especially to tanks.
What Void Staff does is that it grants you the maximum magic penetration for the rest of the game. And with high AP, your abilities are going to hurt a lot!
Rabadon’s Deathcap
Rabadon’s Deathcap is the strongest ability power item in League of Legends. It adds a bunch of raw AP to your stats and almost doubles the ability power you have.
Depending on how the game is going, either purchase Rabadon’s Deathcap in the late game or a bit earlier if you need the extra power.
Read Also: AP Caitlyn One-Shot Build
Optional Items
There are a bunch of optional AP items that work well on Blitzcrank.
For example, you can also play with Hextech Rocketbelt as your mythic item and dash forward to surprise your enemies and hook them with Q. On the other hand, Luden’s Tempest will give you more burst damage.
On top of this, you should also build Morellonomicon or Banshee’s Veil to combat specific types of enemies such as healers or heavy crowd controllers.
Conclusion
That was everything on AP Blitzcrank! As you can see, the whole build fits very well together and boosts some of Blitz’s biggest strengths.
I enjoy playing this build on a regular basis, especially when I’m doing normal games with my friends.
Blitzcrank is a fun champion overall so I really recommend trying him out with this build! Good luck!
Read Also: AP Rengar Build Guide
