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Middle Runes, How to build your AP Carry

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Introduction

BLABLAHello everyone, welcome in my new guide !

BLABLAThis time I won't be devoting my time to a Champion of the League but to you fellow summoners. This guide is meant to make you able to choose your runes alone, accordingly to different relevant factors. I will explain what Runes can be taken Middle Lane as an AP Carry.

BLABLAI'm writting a guide abour Runes, because I figured out that a lot of people just copy/paste the runes they see in a high LKS rated guide. It's not the right behaviour in my opinion and I'll try to explain why.

BLABLAI currently have around 1k8 ELO and my main role is to play as a Middle AP Carry. Consequently I believe that what my League of Legends experience can help other people building up their own rune page.

BLABLAEither you'd be a new or experienced player I trully believe this guide can help you to have a new vision over all the runing process and how runing actually works.

BLABLAI give some Middle AP Carry Advices but there's a lot of generic stuff that can be applied to any lane, so even if you don't play AP Carry I'd love you to read my guide ;)

BLABLAYou can find a short dictionnary of the term used among the guide.

BLABLAHave a nice read ladies and gentlemen.

What are Runes meant to be ?

Common Ideas on Runes

BLABLAThese are general tips on what to remember when you build up your rune page.

Runing is highly Situational

Runes depend on what you expect to face on your lane. Basically a Top-Laner needs to have the Runes to face the enemy Top-Laner (AD or AP Damages), or the Bot-Lane (AD/AP or AD only Damages) or also the AP Carry (AP Damages). But the Top Laner can also be an AD Assassin, an AD or AP Bruiser or an AP/AD Tank so he needs to have both Resistance Penetration for instance.

To one Champion belongs several optimal Rune Pages

If you follow what's written upside, you will need different set of Runes for the same (or same kind of) Champion. You may want to have two rune sets for an AP Assassin in order to play either really aggressive either more defensively versus a difficult opponent.

Runing depends on Enemy team's in-game Skills

That's why copy/pasting high Elo's Rune Pages is not effective. Understanding why he chooses his Runes is wiser. A high ELO gets Greater Glyph of Magic Resist on his Kassadin ? Maybe because he likes to play defensively when you prefer to go for the kill. A high ELO gets Greater Quintessence of Gold on his Jungler ? Because at his ELO he can't have that much successful ganks. A high ELO gets two Greater Mark of Attack Damage on his AP ? Because Farming is far more important at his level than our. I could give a lot of other example, but to be clear, just understand why someone chooses a Rune and not another. Make your Runing effective at your level.

Theorycrafting can help you knowing wether or not a Rune Set is optimal

You don't know if Greater Mark of Magic Penetration are better than Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration ? Just put down the maths on a piece of paper and check by yourself. Repeat the process for anything you want to compare. You can also check on the internet to see the maths done by less lazy people.

Runing rely on the Champion you are playing with

Runing for Vladimir or Zilean or Kassadin would be really different. If it's not, there's a problem. All of these champions share the same type of damages but needs really different buffs for their early game, Vladimir could benefit a lot from Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp when Kassadin would need Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power as an AP Assassin.

Runing rely on the Champion you are laning against

Basically don't get Greater Glyph of Magic Resist if you face an AD Assassin Midlane. But remember that Greater Seal of Armor can still be useful even if you face an AP Carry mid, think about the 90 AD Xin Zhao that will jump on you with his Three Talon Strike activated. You need to think beyond the lane level, beyond the jungle Level. Why do Top Elos get Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist when they face an AD Top ? Because Magic Resist does not increase per level and really few Magic Resist items are interesting for Top Laners, so they prefer to pick these Runes to cover the lack from MR/Level in the end-game.

Runing rely on your Playstyle

If you are constantly pushing, or dodging the enemy skill shot, why did you pick these Greater Glyph of Magic Resist for ? You would have dealt more damages with proper Greater Glyph of Ability Power set rune. On the contrary, if you find yourself being a really good mana manager you should not need Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration. Make yourself ***fortable with your playstyle and choose your Runes accordingly.

Your ultimate Rune choice will come from in-game Experience

No matter the maths, the theorycrafting or other people's advices, if you like to play with Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed on Katarina or using Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp with Vladimir, just go ahead. You should never stop using a Rune Setup you were cunformtable with unless it is really uneffecient.

Any Rune Page is viable if his owner can give a logical reason for his choices

Always listen to people that seem to be giving explainations for their choices. Never think that your choice is better than your friend's one before you actually tested it or did the math about it. People thought Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration was a complete useless choice on Shyvana and Dr. Mundo (Season 2) before a High ELO Jungler publish his guide and put the Damage Theorycrafting with it.

The Reasons Behind the Choices

BLABLA

- Quintessences -

Flat Ability Power

Why ?
- Increases early Trade potential, early kill capabilities alone or on a gank
- Gives early push power, push control and spell-farm capabilities

Why not ?
- Only early offensive choice

Scaling Ability Power

Why ?
- Increases Late Game damages by amplifying %AP bonus
- Scales well with late-game champions like or

Why not ?
- Few to none advantages early game

Flat Attack Damage

Why ?
- Gives easier last hits with hard Champions like
- Increases pushing potential of Champions that does not have AoE spells like or
- Increases early lane control for strong Auto Hits champions like or

Why not ?
- Absolutley no use after level 3-4
- Decreases your Magic Penetration even if you take only one of these

Flat Ability Power

Why ?
- Increases early Trade potential, early kill capabilities alone or on a gank
- Gives early push power, push control and spell-farm capabilities

Why not ?
- Only early offensive choice

Scaling Ability Power

Why ?
- Increases Late Game damages by amplifying %AP bonus
- Scales well with late-game champions like or

Why not ?
- Few to none advantages early game

- Seals -

- Marks -

- Glyphs -

Vocabulary

Flat Rune : Opposed to "Scaling". It means a Bonus that does not increase per level.

Laning Phase : The "early game", time you spend farming/trading with your opponent when your two turrets are still up.

Push Control : The capability to push or be pushed easily (by killing all the minions under your turret with one or two spells).

Push Power : The capability to quickly push the minion wave under the enemy turret.

Scaling Rune : Opposed to "Flat". It means a Bonus that increases every champion level up.

Sustain : Sustain means being able to stay on a lane for a long time, thanks to Mana and Life regeneration or LifeSteal/Spellvamp or any other form of hp/mana recovering from the Champion abilities.

Theorycrafting : The Art of using maths to compare two things to know which one of them is optimal.

Trade, Trades, Trading : Calculating Damage Received versus Damage Dealt when a fight occurs on your lane between you and your opponent.