AP Carry

An AP Carry is a champion that does damage with ability power versus attack damage.  It is also a champion that is responsible for 'carrying' the game or doing the most damage in a team fight.  Think of it as the 'star player' in a team game.  The quarterback in football, the striker in hockey or the shooter in soccer.  The goal of the rest of the team members is to make sure to 'support' or make the Carry shine. 

AP Carries do damage with Ability Power, this Ability Power is built-in with the types of spells that they have. 

As you can tell the base damage of this spell is done in Magic Damage (opposed to Attack Damage)  (85/125/165/205/245 (+{CharAbilityPower}) magic damage Disintegrate's mana cost is refunded if it deals a killing blow).

Let's say  that you've accumulated 450 Ability Power during the game.  Some of these increases have to do with the per-level gain you get from advancing from level 6 to say 7.  In addition you can gain additional Ability Power by purchasing items, see the common items below.  In this scenario, if you had maxed out on the Disintegrate spell (meaning that your base spell did 245 damage), then you would do an additional 450 * .7 = 315 Damage. This means total damage of 560.  This is not 'true damage' to the enemy, because they can build resistance to your damage to decrease the real damage taken. 

Now that you understand how Ability Power champions work, the difference between a regular ability power damage spell and an AP Carry is that an AP Carry's job is to literally carry the team and do the most damage on the team in the way of Ability power.  It often does not make sense to have a full team that only does Ability Power Damage, because the enemy team can build resistance and block that damage easily.  If some of the champions on the team are doing Attack Damage and others are doing Ability Power Damage, then the enemy team can't afford to build both defenses, they typically pick one or the other. 

The AP Carry's job is usually done by a very skilled player, someone with quick reaction times and that definitely uses smart cast to use their abilities.  The fraction of a second will determine an amazing player from an average player.  They also need to have very good positioning skills.  If you are playing as the AP Carry and you die before the rest of the team, then the team will lack damage for the rest of the fight.  It is incredibly important that you stay alive.  Being in the wrong position and dying early will impact a team fight much more than lets say a support dying.

Lastly, there is a definition of an AP Hyper Carry.  These are also champions that do ability power, but they are typically more feeble or weak early game and shine better into late game.  Their ratios are built to maximize damage past the 20-25 minute mark.  The current meta, taking an AP Carry is very valuable, especially in competitive play - when the games tend to be a bit more passive. Allowing an AP Hypercarry to farm every minion and not die early game can be a certain loss into late game.  It is important to ban certain hyper-carries or focus on curtailing their early game to ensure your team does not lose late game because of their incredible scaling.

Key Things to Remember

Remember that farming is always important in every role but it is even more important for a carry.  Typically 21 minion kills equals a champion kill.  If you are not farming appropriately, you are going to fall that much farther behind in gold.

Remember that based on the type of AP Carry you have will vary the play style that you want to have during the laning phase, during team fights, prior to the 1:40 minute mark (super early game) and even late game.  Different champions need to be played differently.  When you study an AP Carry - get great at that champion before you move onto the next one.

Blue Buff

It is very important for most AP Carries to get Ancient Blue Golem from the jungle during the course of the game.  The Golem spawns at 1:55, but typically (and this depends on the jungler), the first blue buff will go to the Jungler.  But every time it respawns (typically around 7:15 on the game clock) - should be given to the AP Carry.  The Jungler should ping it for you and tell you to come over and get the buff.  In advanced play or more coordinated team play you will want to try and steal the Ancient Blue Golem from the enemy jungle instead of taking your own.  This way your team gets two blue buffs instead of one.  You can do this by warding the Ancient Blue Golem prior to the 7:15 mark (when it will typically spawn for the enemy team as well, but will vary based on the route of the enemy jungler).  When warded, it will be easier for you to try and steal.

Basic Strategy

Your basic strategy is to stay alive in team fights, maximize your damage output.  Dying early in team fights is the worst thing you can do.

AP Carry Champions

Examples of AP Carries

Examples of AP Hyper Carries

Common Items

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