(I'm going to give you a heads-up before I begin. This guide is not meant to teach you about Amumu or how to learn a proper playstyle for him. I assume that those reading this extensively, already have a firm interest in the versatility of this champion. For more details, I ask you to look at any other guides for anything you might find (in your opinion) lacking here. It is not your typical guide, and most of my gudies will share that aspect. I am one with my theories.)

The highest majority of the population considers Amumu a tank and don't know him by anything else. Some say he is strictly tank. I say you are fools. All of his abilites scale with AP and his passive reduces enemy magic resistance. He is a great AP/Support/Off-tank if you ask me.

(If you are looking for a jungle or tank guide, please refer to the top rated Amumu guides.)

I am going to show you how I play Off-tank/AP DPS...

Welcome to my Amumu, he who punishes all who oppose him.

People say that tanking requires health, defence, and most importantly CC. Have you ever noticed how the enemies (or allies) always go for the person on the other team that is dealing the most damage, that causes the most threat? Have you ever thought about your tank having the highest threat?

In order to make the enemies realize that they are dead if they don't attack you, you must actually have the damage to show them that. You have to be able to kill them. For the most part, they are going to avoid attacking you because smart people don't focus the tank. Well, playing like this, they will have no choice but to focus you.

Think about it this way: It's easier to make your tanks (the people that aren't under threat of being focused quickly and dying) deal more damage than it is to make your DPS (those that will die if they get focused) take more damage.

With this, you will be able to deal so much damage and still be able to take it when the enemies finally realize that you are making a much greater difference than just stunning them.

Pros:
Great at farming (in jungle or in lane).
Excellent harasser.
Good ganking capabilities.
Doesn't need farming as much as other champions.
Possibly the best sustained AoE damage in-game.
Expected to tank and not deal as much damage.
Still beefy without straight tank items.

Cons:
Takes up laning space that could be used for jungling (of course, you could have another jungler).
Not quite as invincible as a pure tank build.
It really sucks to end up fighting against him (a good one).
We're talking about Amumu here. There isn't much of anything you could honestly say bad about him. :P

Magic penetration is the best friend of any AP user. Cooldown reduction is fantastic. The more you get to use your abilities, the more damage you can put out. To do that, I use mana because he is mana reliant. This means that mana regeration helps a lot.

These will change accordingly if you plan to jungle.

He needs to regenerate not only his mana, but his health as well. That is why I give him Strenth of Spirit, Meditation, and Perseverence. He also receives some survivability and extra mana. My favourite part about this though, is Archaic Knowledge that completely ignores 15% of the enemies' magic resistance. He also gets CDR, and have I mentioned how much I love CDR?

These will change accordingly if you plan to jungle.

I have Exhaust because I like being able to slow any enemies trying to run away or slow them so I can get away myself. It also helps against those auto-attack champions that can do serious damage if they aren't stopped.

Flash is a great escape or chasing mechanism. I prefer having this over Ghost if I find myself in a any useful position. Flash can teleport me immediately a good distance (whether it be chasing or running away from an enemy). Ghost is useless if I use it and then get slowed or CCd immediately after.

Clairvoyance is also a good option since a team will usually need the extra map awareness and Amumu doesn't rely on summoner spells completely as much as other champions.

Teleport is good for getting where you need/want to be. Using ward placement to your advantage can provide for great ganking position. It also allows you to get back to your lane or jump to another lane to push or defend.

This is one of the parts people saw at the beginning and started to think about how fail Amumu would be. Need I remind you that this is not a tank build?

I have the main items that I want to get, no matter what my enemies or allies think. I like to call these my core items:


With all of these items I have my fair share of AP, mana, armor, and magic resistance. Games will most of the time not last this long, and rarely beyond this point.

Now I will get to my item order preference.
For Amumu going in a lane (yes, it can work) I start with Meki Pendant and 2 Health Potions. If Amumu is going to jungle, start off with Cloth Armor and 5 . (For more jungling detail, please refer to a jungle-specific guide.)
I don't want to go back until I can get Tear of the Goddess and at least Boots of Speed. If I have a little extra gold, I might spend it on a few more .
After that, I want to finish Mercury's Treads and then get Glacial Shroud or Negatron Cloak depending on the enemies main source of damage.
Once I have these basic items I can start to work on ability power. Immediately you want to finish off that Archangel's Staff to give that mana good usage.
Personal preference (and enemies AD/AP) generally determines whether to finish Frozen Heart or Abyssal Scepter first.

After all these items are safely acquired and putting forth full usage of themselves, the game should be getting very situational. By this point the enemy should have realized that you are a threat (if not, you are doing something wrong). If they start to target you, let them!
This is where you might want to turn it against them even more. A Thornmail or Force of Nature will definitely do the trick, depending on what the situation calls for, assuming you need any extra defence at all.
So, the basic idea right here is that you will be the main damage of your team if the enemy is dumb enough to leave you alone. You are basically forcing the enemy to target you, and as the enemies are unsuccessfully trying to kill you, your allies will rip them to pieces.

If you don't need any extra defensive items, why not get even more damage? Rabadon's Deathcap is a great first choice. You can get Rylai's Crystal Scepter first though, if enemies attack you and then try to run, realizing they have made a horrible mistake.

Here I will give you a list of items that you can get in the place of other items. Almost all of these are according to personal preference.

Rod of Ages gives you a significant amount of health, mana, and AP. You want to get it early though, because it takes a while to build to its full usage.

Sunfire Cape adds to your armor and health. It also provides you with extra AoE damage, and that is what this build is based on.

Sorcerer's Shoes can be very useful with magic penetration at the expense of the magic resistance.

Will of the Ancients is good for returning health while dealing damage, but since most of his damage is AoE, the effects are reduced.

Mejai's Soulstealer kind of speaks for itself. It is great for AP, but not very useful if you can't stay alive or you are never a part of the fight.

Guardian Angel is an option if you fear death or if you die too much (which should never be an issue).

I get the first point in Bandage Toss for an early stun and good harrass for the lane. It also becomes Amumu's only nuke late-game. I don't initiate with it though, because I like being able to stun my enemies as they run.
Despair and Tantrum should level together. They both provide Amumu with excellent farming abilities and even more harrassing.
Curse of the Sad Mummy will be very useful in team fights, and who doesn't absolutely love an AoE stun?

Overall, and side-by-side will be the basis of this build and your existence as Amumu. One is constantly passive while the other is on a very low cooldown. This is almost unrivaled AoE damage.

These will change accordingly if you plan to jungle.

Amumu is very good at farming. He can do so equally efficiently in the jungle or in a lane. Laning is a little bit harder to farm because although he is AP, he is still a close-range champion. He has to get in close to do his best damage.

Allies that are better to lane with are those that have shields/heals that allow you to get in the middle of the minions and get all the kills you want. He is also very good with allies that have very good CC. It pushes the enemies back, keeping them from farming and letting you or your ally farm.

He is also very good at harrassing with the long range stun, especially if he has allies to help. Champion kills in the lane are easy in this way and he can counter any ganks, turning them into his favor.

When mid-game comes around, he can be a floater/jungler/ganker/pusher because all of them can be done with ease. Timing and positioning of the stuns is what makes all the difference in fights.

Late game is where Amumu shines. He can put out ridiculous amounts of damage with no effort while being able to take it just as easily.

As amazing as Amumu is and as nearly truthful it is to say that he can take on multiple enemies by himself, it is not a smart idea to pretend that you are unstoppable or pretend that you are an entire team. Amumu is just as good a Support as he is Off-tank/DPS and Tank. You have multiple stuns for a reason; to help allies win fights, to help allies run away, and to give your team an overall advantage.
In harassing during early-game, you will help allies get kills and CC the enemy out of experience. While ganking during mid-game, you are doing exactly the same thing.
Late-game, you have so many options. You can build up insane amounts of damage, add a fair amount of damage with survivability, or become nearly invincible.

Amumu adds much more to a game by helping his team than he does trying to win the game on his own (but it can be done if necessary).



Thank you for your time. :)