I am re-posting my first build since I have completely revamped it. My AP build is targeted towards making a Tf powerful AP mid. Tf won't be a two ability nuker like LeBlanc or Ryze, but he has a great potential. He has one of the best poke abilities in the game, a spammable stun and fantastic utility ult. The target of this build is to give Tf a massive amount of AP, MP and a bit of survivability on top of that.

Note: The focus of this post is Team 1. The AP alt. is just a different point of view on AP Tf (heavy power early and more burst). Btw, I use ignite and tele interchangeably between builds.

Blaze
A Non-standard poker hand of five face cards that outranks a flush. (Wikipedia, source1)

Pros

Versatile AP
The Destiny Ult has a large range, is a natural escape, it provides fantastic map awareness and reveals impending ganks, and it is one of the best counters for Akali, Twitch, Shaco or Evelynn's invisible abilities.
Wild Cards can hit the entire enemy team at once
Gold Card is a good stun, especially for team fights and ganks
Great poke damage
If blue card is used right it effectively means Tf never runs out of mana in lane
Lvl 2 & up Q makes farming and knocking out minions lines very easy
Great AP Solo pusher
Great assassin champ and can gank top and bot lanes very quickly with ult
Awesome at chasing thxs to Destiny

Cons

Squishy
Easy to gank
Slow
Squishy
Easy to get nullified in early game if you die
Easy to be a feeder
If you get focused in a team fight, bye bye
If you get pushed out of lane or regularly miss your farms, bye bye
Stacked Deck is an unreliable damage boost (maybe its there in time for extra burst damage, maybe it isn't)
Wild Cards are pretty flippin slow when you get down to it
Your PaC animation makes you easy to predict (Red = harass, Gold = gank, Blue = cs)
SQUISHY & SLOW

Fortitude Quins are a possibility for early game survivability.

Use Seals of Focus if you want to more CDR to spam Q. (I would use this for the Team 2 build, maybe with a set of mana or mana regen glyph/seal runes)

Clarity runes are a good idea if you want to reduce dependence on your blue card, but I would only do this if your a new Tf user.

Personally, I use seals of warding which give you some great DEF against AP mids.
I like to stack Potency Quins, this will give him some extra umph early game to help get kills and force your opponent out of lane. If you want every scrap of AP get Force runes all the way. But I think the early game AP boost is better than that extra bit of AP (lvl 11 is roughly when most of the Force runes begin to surpass Potency runes)

Always use Flash.

Depending on your play style, either use Exhaust, Ignite or Teleport. (Chasing/damage reduction, Assassination/finisher, or Map Control/solo pushing)

I like to have a double teleport, it gives Tf crazy map control which really can't be matched by anyone else. (Some champs have a tele ability, but none with the same versatility of Tf's ult) If you want to push down a tower and port out, boo yah. If you want to port behind enemy lines for a quick kill and then port back to tower, go right ahead. Love this combo.

However, ignite makes assassination far easier and can be the difference between getting a kill and nothing at all. Notice I do have a lot of advice on dble tele in this build, while I think that dble tele is a wonderful thing, ignite is what many AP mids use. Truly does depend on your play style.

These are your abilities and passive.


Wild Cards (WC), Pick a Card (PaC), Stacked Deck (SD), Destiny and your passive, Loaded Dice.


Pick a Card is your bread and butter. Since the card pops up above his head when you use it any half decent player will stay out of range when you pick gold, be wary when you pick red and do whatever when you pick a blue. You can use this automatic reaction to your advantage, sometimes picking gold card will make them back off. However, this is a real pain when you try to stun for ganks. I've found the best way to get past this is to either go in the weeds or to do it at the very last second when in range. (this is risky since your timing must be perfect, and DO NOT FORGET to tell your ally when you are going in) If times are desperate hit gold, flash in, ignite (if you have it), WC. ONLY do this if a kill is a sure thing. Gold card is best, but red card can do the trick if the ganker is a nuker or super fast. Just throw the red card at them or somewhere near them for the slow and move in.

Wild Card is your main damage ability. It has super long range, great damage if you have the AP, and it can hit an infinite amt of enemies along three different trajectories. The only problem is that they move pretty freaking slow and can be juked at long range, so you'll need to get creative to keep landing WCs.

Harassing 1
Build up a Stacked Deck, Red or Gold card the Champion and throw Wild Cards. Rinse and Repeat.

Harassing 2
This is good for early game, but its best against melee champions. (Talon is the exception) Simply build up Stacked Deck and hit the enemy with it. Keep this up and you will seriously annoy the enemy champ. The damage is good early on and it doesn't use mana.

Harassing 3
Use Red card on a minion nearby a Champion for AoE damage/slow and then toss Wild Cards. Be careful though, if you hit too many minions your minions will push out too far.

Harassing 4
You should try to predict when an enemy is going for his last hits. When he/she does make sure you hit them with a gold PaC. (if you can, build up a Stacked Deck to go along with it) At the very least, you'll really annoy them by damaging them and making them miss cs. If you can't get close enough, try using WCs. Again, try not to hit too many minions.

If you don't care about damaging minions, make sure you throw your Wild Cards when they're stuck in a group of minions.

Work on throwing WCs at an angle. When you use Wild cards there are 3 trajectories. Your natural instinct is to use the middle every time. USE THE OTHER TWO DUDE. Most people don't expect to be hit if your not even facing them. This can take some practice since each Wild Card has a pretty narrow damage path. But this is worth it your opponent keeps dodging your direct WCs.

Stacked Deck is unreliable since it only activates every 4th attack. It is most useful during the laning phase when you have time to set up your attacks properly. If you use this in conjunction with PaC and follow it with WCs, you can do some great burst damage. If you time it with the Lich Bane proc the damage can go from great to serious burst damage.

Finally there is Destiny. This is one of the best Utility ults in the game and helps Tf be one of the best assassins in the game. It has a range of 5500 and will show where every enemy is on the entire map. Don't be afraid to use Destiny to get the hell out of dodge. If you see a gank coming, but you can't run out of it hit Destiny RIGHT NOW and quickly click a random spot in your territory on the map. DON'T WASTE TIME DECIDING EXACTLY WHERE TO CLICK, JUST MAKE SURE IT IS IMMEDIATELY WITHIN RANGE! After you click a location, it takes 2 seconds for you to actually teleport, SO BE CAREFUL. If possible (translation, DO THIS ASAP), run into a patch of weeds so they don't see your Destiny animation. A knock up or stun will interrupt your ult, so don't even bother ulting if a champ with one of those sees you and can get to you in 2 secs or less.

Early game is easy. Don't push out and build up your creep score like your life depends on it. (It does.) Make sure you last hit with blue card. Harass with above combos, stun your opponent for ganks, and DON'T DIE! Don't even bother with WCs until they hit lvl 2. (no damage at all at lvl 1) As I said above, when you harass try not to hit minions too often with WCs or rec PaC because you don't want to push out. No matter which mid you are playing against or who is jungling you have to be careful about getting pushing out and risking a gank.

Mid game you have to have good communication with your team and really good map awareness. At this point CS isn't enough and you need to get some kills. The best way to do this is with your jungler's help mid or to use your ult and port top or bot to assassinate the carries. You need to do this right because if you die or don't get a kill or assist you'll have lost a lot of CS for nothing. Timing is everything and communication is key. It is this aspect that separates a good Tf from a bad Tf. If you can't gank regularly and well, your team is in trouble.

If you can, push out to the enemy tower first. Then make sure you let your team know your porting in for a gank. Don't port in too far away or too close. You don't want to give them time to get away. REMEMBER TO HAVE GOLD CARD PICKED BEFORE YOUR PORT!

You should also watch for when a unit has to port back because they have low health. If they try to port anywhere besides under tower you should seriously consider porting in for the kill. Obviously you don't want to do it if he/she has other champs (supports are usually safe though) nearby that can get you. Basically you should scan the map real quick after you hit Destiny and see where the rest of their team is before you actually teleport.

There are countless good gank situations, YOU HAVE TO BE AWARE AND TAKE ADVANTAGE.

STAY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If they are ignoring you be 3rd or 4th into combat, if they hate you (which means your doing your job) be 5th.

The best way to be an effective asset in a team fight, and not die in the process, is to duck in and out of combat. Get in range for a stun/lich bane proc, wait 2 secs, wild card, lich bane proc, and pull out. Rinse and repeat as cooldowns allow. If they chase you that is ok too. Try not to die obviously, but if you can distract a major player from the fight for even a short amt of time, it will make a big difference for your team. DO NOT FORGET TO USE ZHONYA'S IF YOU GET FOCUSED.

Make sure you stun the AP or AD carry; and please don't embarrass me, yourself and your mother by picking the wrong card. (Hint, hint. Gold is the answer)

Another useful aspect of Tf is his teleport. If you are in engaged in a major push, or defending against one, someone like Yi may solo push or backdoor your towers. Tf can help finish the push or defend the tower, then port down to save those towers and keep that a$$hat Yi at a distance.

This is more of a judgement issue, but it is very tempting to try and solo that half health champion by porting in with Destiny. JUST DON'T. You can do this if you have team help or their health is ridiculously low. If you can't get them with that initial burst, most champions will have enough life left in them to kill you.

Tf is great if you and your team are chasing a champ and he/she is getting away. Pick gold card, hit Destiny and port in slightly ahead of them or in a patch of weeds along their route. BE CAREFUL, you don't want to port in so far ahead that your teammates can't help out. As I said above, most champs can solo you no problem if you don't have help. Also, be mindful that porting in too close or too far away from the enemy gives them time to change their route and Tf is not terribly fast.

Also, be very careful defending your turrets without teammates late game. You are very divable to a duo, or solo champ with lots of health and decent good burst. (BEWARE FIORA AND SKARNER)

NOTE: The actual AP total on Build 1 should be roughly 581. The reason is that the above calculations do not take into account the Deathcap passive. Go figure. (There is some variance if you get Rod of Ages since I do not know if the extra 20 AP from the passive is included in the calculation for the 30% AP increase from the Deathcap.)

If your worried about their jungle or their mid has range and power I'd go boots and pots, but if your sure you can dominate and they don't have a fast jungle go ahead and grab Doran's ring. I still prefer boots and pots though. If you get stuck bot for some reason I'd suggest Doran's Ring for sure. You can get boots and potions, but I think the D Ring works best with a partner. If your destroying the other team, wait on Banshee's Veil until after Lich Bane or Void Staff.

Of course all the items at the top are situational. I've listed a few items below which I think would make apt replacements.
The items I think are the best to replace are Void Staff (see below), Banshee's Veil, Lich Bane or Zhonya's Hourglass:

Rod of AgesTrinity ForceGuinsoo's RagebladeGuardian Angel
Rabadon's DeathcapAbyssal ScepterRylai's Scepter
Athene's Unholy Grail

Rod of Ages is here because it gives a balanced amt of mana, health and AP stats. You need to get it early though since it take so much time to build up. (10 mins) This is a decent item if your not quite sure what stats you'll need later.

Trinity is the buffet item, no huge stat numbers there but there are ALOT of stats involved. But its pretty expensive. I would suggest this if its a stupid long game and you've got gold to spare. Dump Banshee's Veil if you've already gotten Zhonya's.

You can use Guinsoo if you hate your sucky attack speed and want to make Stacked Deck a more effective ability. Only get this if your not getting focused down every fight. (remember your range is pretty measly) This does go more with a hybrid build, but what the hey. I wouldn't suggest this, but you may find a use for this in one of these AP builds. Btw, this paired with Rylai's will be pretty nice.

If you find yourself getting rocked super fast and Banshee's Veil just isn't doing it grab Guardian Angel. You get armor, MR and, more importantly, an extra life. Look out though, this won't help you if your on the run or alone. If your getting murdered this bad I would dump Lich Bane or Void Staff. (This is assuming you've already gotten Banshee's Veil instead of Rod of Ages, you won't do much damage but you won't feed as much and you'll be able to get your stuns in) This item is a good choice against a well balanced team.

If you find you need even more power and none of these other items will cut it, throw in another Deathcap. (passive does not stack though)

I have Abysmal Scepter here because it can put low MR champions into negative territory and will also make magic attacks and abilities more effective for everyone in team fights. As mentioned above, if their MR is low use this instead of Void Staff.

Rylai's Scepter has some nice survivability, decent AP and a wonderful passive. A nice thing about this item is that it turns your Stacked Deck into a 35% slow and Wild Cards into a 15% slow. I would suggest this if they have several fast characters.

Athene's Unholy Grail would be a good choice for the Team 2 build, you'l get a lot of mana regen and some more CDR. Its also got a good AP and survivability boost. Overall this is a strong item and worth considering. I would suggest replacing Zhonya's with this if you want to keep Void and Lich Bane.



Fun Fact: MP is only SOFT capped at 49%. User ProtonZero explains it quite well,
A soft cap is a point at which the game specifically begins reducing the effectiveness of a stat. For example, if there was a stat that increased at half effectiveness after 100 (so 180 would actually function as 140), that would be a soft cap. (ProtonZero, source2)

Fun Fact 2: Void Staff is PERCENTAGE MP, while Sorcerer's boots, Haunting Guise and your MP runes are FLAT MP. Thus, Flat MP is better for lower MR champions, while percentage MP is WAY better for high MR champions.

A note on solo pushing. (This is best with dble tele) When their whole team has decided to push a lane and your team is holding them off turret you can either run or tele (if both are up) to the farthest lane and quickly push down a tower with minions and PaC (Blue is best, Lich Bane expedites this process). When their team dispatches someone to take care of you, all you have to do is hit one of your two teleports and voilà! Its now 5v4 at your own tower. You can do this with one tele, but Tf is so slow it'll make it hard to get out or in quick enough.

You could get Lich Bane before Rabadon's, but I'd only do that if your sure you can devastate those towers. Blue card does the best damage to tower and don't forget to throw your Wild Cards to activate Lich Bane. Btw, I learned the hard way that there is 2 second cooldown on the proc. (It feels like eons when your in a hurry to push down a tower lolz)

I'll be updating this list as I go along. And remember, this is my opinion. If you know of some better strategies against these champs or others, feel free to post something on the discussion board.

Wukong = Early game Nimbus Strike makes getting close for minions kills very very dangerous. I wouldn't expect to see him anywhere near mid though. If for some reason he ends up mid or you end up bot or top (yikes) make sure you stay out of range and keep your minions just outside of tower. (Like with Talon) In team fights, make sure you stun him the second he hits his ult. If you actually face him in lane, early game is when I would really watch out for Wukong. More likely than not you won't be first on his list in team fights come mid and late game.

Xin Zhao = Early game Audacious Charge makes getting close for minions kills very dangerous. This guy is really, really dangerous throughout the game. You typically see Xin bot with support, top or jungling. I would treat him similarly to Wukong in lane. If he is jungling BE VERY CAREFUL. He will mess you up before you even know whats happening if you get cocky. In team fights there isn't much you can do about him, your stun can help slow him down but unlike Wukong there is no golden moment perfect for stunning him.

Lux = Ok while she isn't the most dangerous opponent, Lucent Singularity is a pain in the a** thanks to its range and speed. It makes poking difficult against her since she can almost out range you and both her poke spells are MUCH faster than yours. That snare spell on her's can also make things tricky, but really its Lucent Singularity that's a b*tch. Like with all snare spells, just don't get hit. You'll see her mid and maybe bot as support. Fortunately she drops off late game and can be shut down pretty easy with some good ganks. If you are having an really difficult time dodging her snares (Once she gets her ult, getting snared can possibly be a death sentance) grab Banshee's Veil early. I know you need AP to carry the team, but feeding the enemy mid is even worse than being a bit under powered early on. P.S. If you get Banshee's Veil you have to dodge Lucent Singularity or there was no point in getting it in the first place.

Leblanc = This lady can hit like a train in an instant. You can be full health one second and dead the next. Do not try and solo her from full, or even half health, because she will own you. My advice is to poke her down with Wild Cards since she has little in the way of range, or health for that matter. If you watch out for Distortion you can stay out of range of her other abilities. Throw your red cards at nearby enemies and then hit her with the WC. If you can keep her at arm's length and force her into missing last hits you have a good chance. Once she is down to quarter health or some such, look for an opportunity to Gold card with full SD and mop up with WC. Also, ABSOLUTELY GET BANSHEE VEIL. This will save you from getting insta-killed. Any mildly intelligent individual plays LeBlanc solo mid, so you only have to worry about her mid.

Healer support & AD Carry = You'll only see this if you get shoved bot for some sumb reason. (Usually a troll game) Healer support makes things annoying in lane for any champion who relies on poking. Most healer champions aren't going to have the power to kill you off solo, but they will make poking down their companion champ a royal pain (Who will almost always be an AD carry). The presence of a healer usually makes AD champs more aggressive. If the AD is bad, YAY! If the AD is any good, S***! Tf is SO squishy early game (well, all game), so be careful.
With single target healers (soraka or taric) I would poke the healer enough to make them waste their heal on themselves and then gold card and/or Stacked Deck the AD carry. Rinse and repeat. If they are multi-target healers (sona and alistar) your best chance early game is to burst down a champ enough to at least make them port back, then push and take down the remaining champ. Another option is to poke down the healers mana. Basically, use your blue card religiously for mana and spam your Q and land every stacked deck on either champ so the healer has to use their mana faster than they can get it back. After the healer is out of mana target the AD carry. However, this strategy will really only work early game before they grab more mana regen items. (philo stone probably) Lol just realized how dam much I wrote on a duo you will probably never see as AP Tf. Direfailblades!

Shaco, Twitch & Evelynn = These 3 can be nasty since they all can go invisible long term. Destiny doesn't help much with preventing ganks since you have no idea when they are coming. You have to be VERY careful since you're so squishy; pink wards are expensive but well worth it if you know they like to gank you. (buy sparingly though, you cannot waste a sh*t ton of gold on pinks and still be effective) Fortunately, you can counter them pretty easy when your in a team fight or chasing them down (hit Destiny). P.S. Akali's Twilight Shroud is also very easily countered by Destiny.

Brand = ***H*(E. His stun & nuke is a pain. Avoid his stun by staying behind minions when you're ablaze. Most of his abilities have much longer range than your basic attack range, so you'll have to poke him down with Wild Cards and deny him CS. You may also have to resort to getting most of your CS with WCs. Keep in mind that a potion will nullify ignite and Brand's passive, Blaze. Watch out for conflagration or pillar of flame when Brand moves past his minions, when you go for cs, and of course, when he flashes.

Zilean = Ok this guy isn't too bad to mid against. Your Q WAY out ranges his Q. If he's pretty good at dodging your WCs, hit a minion near him with a red car to slow him. You do need to watch out for his Q once mid game roles around. Time Bomb will usually drop a quarter of your health at this time. I would suggest getting a Health Crystal after Sheen. This will give a little extra health till you get Banshee's veil. Watch out for when he drops a dble bomb on your face. If you can take the bombs, get in close enough to destroy Zil with PaC/SD & Wild Cards.

Morgana = Morgana is one of the nastiest counters to Tf. She has a ranged stun which hits like a truck, an evil ult and most of the time she'll have a **** ton more effective health than you. However, Black Shield is what makes her such a good counter to Tf. (And many other mids really) Basically, this ability makes porting in for a stun impossible and makes her especially hard to hurt in lane. You have to watch for her Q, if you get hit with that mid game you are so dead. Only use your stun on her if you know she recently used Dark Shield or if its useful to force her to use it on herself and not an ally. The only way you can win a mid lane against her is if she is a dumbsh*t or you get many good a gank to give you a leg up. MAKE SURE YOU GET BANSHEE'S VEIL AGAINST HER, EVEN IN THE TEAM 2 BUILD. You can get away with out having Banshee's Veil against many champs but not in this case. (Unless Morg is dumbsh*t) If your having lots of trouble and no ganks, get Banshee's before the Deathcap and just try to survive.

Talon = You won't go against a Talon mid very often, but if you do it can be very annoying. Talon will insta drop you with the cutthroat + noxian diplomacy and rake combo. If this Talon is worth anything at all he will use cutthroat anytime you get within range. DO NOT PUSH OUT. The crux of your strategy is to outlast him and wait to kill him when you have help. Make sure you get boots and pots first. What you do is stay in turret range, that way if he tries to use cutthroat he ends up under turret. Use your blue for mana every chance you get (even if its not a last hit) and you probably can't safely get a last hit with your regular attack so use WCs. Your job is to not die, so even if your minions push out I wouldn't suggest following them. If you do want to harass him ALWAYS have gold card up. The key to beating Talon is attrition, ganks and getting him to take turret hits.

Galio = Is a royal pain. His Q does SO much damage. Go boots and pots against him also. Honestly you need to shut him down early and that means an early gank or poke him down some then go for an all out blast with all your abilities + Ignite. You can't hug turret very effectively cause of his Q (so don't bother keeping right at turret like with Talon) and his passive will make him nearly impossible for you to kill mid game without help. Fortunately his Q is pretty slow, so just watch for it and be ready to dodge. Be careful when you get close because if you won't have as much time dodge his Q. You need to out last him in lane early game. Once he gets Chalice of Harmony (Which any decent Galio does) you cannot out last him mana wise and you probably won't be able to out last him in the health dept either. So keep him from having the capital to get the Chalice for as long as possible. Again, you've GOT to shut him down early. Btw, denying Galio CS is almost as effective as killing him in my opinion.

Mordekaiser = Umm going mid against this champ as Tf is a bad day only surpassed by Morgana. (unless they are terrible) His shield makes poking a royal b**ch and his Q makes it nearly impossible to get cs with your basic attack. You have to have ganks and get ahead of Morde if you want to win mid. Also, make sure at least 3 minions are closer to Morde than you. If you can actually force him to retreat without losing a lot health you're in good shape since you'll be able to get close enough for cs. Killing or keeping Morde forced out of lane in the first 5 mins of combat is incredibly important. If you can't do one of those two, your job will become very difficult after he goes back to buy.

Again, I will be adding and modifying these suggestions as I go along.

I hope you found this build helpful. I have found this to be an effective AP Tf build myself and I believe you will as well. If you have any suggestions or questions just leave me a message. If you have an exceptionally good game using my build feel free to post a pic of the final score and maybe a bit of play by play. : p

If you like this build plz give it a thumbs up. If you don't like this build, please leave me some feedback and tell me why you down voted.