What makes an APC truly stand out in League of Legends? With countless champions to choose from, finding the best Ability Power Carries (APCs) can feel overwhelming. These champions dominate team fights and carry games with their high burst damage and scaling potential, making them a critical part of any balanced team composition.
The best APCs in LoL combine consistent damage output, strong crowd control, and game-changing ultimates that turn battles in your favor. Champions like Syndra, Viktor, and Kai’Sa excel due to their versatility and ability to adapt to various matchups.
1. Swain
Swain dominates as an APC with his unique mix of durability, crowd control, and sustained damage. His passive ability, Ravenous Flock, allows him to deal consistent poke while healing himself during trades, making laning phase challenging for enemies. The pull effect also punishes mispositioned opponents effectively.
His signature move, Demonic Ascension (R), shines in team fights by granting increased health regeneration and dealing substantial area-of-effect magic damage over time. This ultimate transforms him into a tanky frontliner who thrives in extended battles.
With abilities like Nevermove (W) and Vision of Empire (E), he controls zones efficiently and ensures targets cannot escape easily. These tools make him ideal for players aiming to disrupt enemy setups or capitalize on bad positioning.
Although he’s more mana-hungry early game compared to other picks like Syndra or Viktor, building items such as Rod of Ages helps mitigate that drawback while boosting survivability and AP scaling late-game.
2. Seraphine
Seraphine has earned her spot as one of the most versatile AP carries in League of Legends, evolving from a support-focused champion to a dominant bot lane mage. Packed with AoE magic damage and crowd control, she thrives in extended team fights while offering utility that few champions can match.
She starts games relatively slow but scales extremely well into the late game. By level 5, Seraphine’s E and double-cast Q allow her to clear entire minion waves instantly, creating opportunities for roaming or safely positioning under turret. Her W provides healing and shielding for herself and allies, making it an essential tool against enemy ganks during early skirmishes.
Her ultimate at level 6 is a powerful ability capable of charming multiple enemies in its path, which often turns the tide during tight team fights or clutch plays. Players can opt for either a supportive build focused on ally sustain or a mage-centric setup emphasizing raw damage output—both viable options depending on team composition needs.
3. Veigar
Veigar stands out as one of the most iconic APCs in League of Legends due to his infinite scaling potential. His passive, Phenomenal Evil, allows him to continuously gain Ability Power (AP) whenever he lands abilities on champions or secures champion takedowns. This mechanic ensures that his damage grows throughout the game with no cap.
His signature ability, Baleful Strike (Q), plays a key role in farming both minions and AP stacks efficiently. By last-hitting enemies with this skill shot, players can rapidly build their power during the laning phase while harassing opponents from a safe distance.
The impact of Dark Matter (W) becomes formidable as games progress. Veigar summons an area-of-effect strike dealing heavy magic damage; its cooldown reduces significantly after collecting every 50 passive stacks, making it spammable during late-game fights.
4. Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia stands out as one of the best AP carries due to her unmatched late-game scaling and utility-focused kit. Her unique style involves constant damage output and mobility, making her both a threat in team fights and skirmishes.
Her abilities, such as Noxious Blast for consistent poke, Miasma for area denial, and Petrifying Gaze for game-changing crowd control, provide excellent synergy. Additionally, her passive removes the need to buy boots by granting auto-scaling movement speed—keeping flawless positioning within reach if mastered effectively.
While she excels at exploiting enemy mistakes in early trades, Cassiopeia truly shines during prolonged 5v5 confrontations where her sustained magic damage heavily tilts battles in favor of skilled players who can kite efficiently. By spamming Twin Fang (E) seamlessly while repositioning like an ADC mechanic-wise, she’s comfortable being a team’s primary carry when properly farmed.
However, success with Cassiopeia depends on surviving weaker early phases without feeding—a disciplined focus on resources ensures maximum late-game dominance.
5. Karthus
Karthus stands out as an APC champion with a unique kit that thrives on dealing devastating magic damage even after death. His passive, Death Defied, allows him to cast spells for several seconds in a spirit form when killed, making his presence impactful during team fights regardless of whether he survives.
His Q ability, Lay Waste, delivers burst damage and excels at zoning enemies or securing last hits. It deals double damage if it strikes only one target, which is perfect for efficiently harassing opponents in the bot lane. Meanwhile, his W ability, Wall of Pain, summons a spectral barrier that slows movement speed while shredding magic resistance—a lethal setup tool for eliminating squishier targets.
However, what truly makes Karthus notorious is his global ultimate—Requiem (R). At level six, this skill inflicts heavy magic damage across the entire map to all enemy champions simultaneously. This ability punishes low-health recalls or turns fights in other lanes into instant victories without requiring Karthus’s physical presence nearby.
Though early-game weaknesses make him reliant on support protection like Amumu or Zilean to farm safely under pressure, mastering positioning lets Karthus flourish late game as one of League’s most destructive APCs.
6. Syndra
Syndra stands as one of the strongest Ability Power Carries (APCs) in League of Legends, renowned for her overwhelming burst damage and crowd control potential. Her passive ability, which collects Splinters of Wrath, grants massive scaling power by increasing her ability power by 15% upon reaching 120 splinters while restoring mana along the way.
Her Q: Dark Sphere is a remarkable tool for zoning enemies and dealing consistent magic damage from range. Upon collecting 40 Splinters of Wrath, this ability upgrades to allow two charges, doubling its impact during trades or team fights.
With W: Force of Will, she can grab neutral objects or spheres to inflict significant AoE damage while applying slows—upgraded at 60 splinters to deal additional true damage, making it lethal against squishy foes.
Her combo-shaping E: Scatter the Weak offers both offensive and defensive utility by stunning multiple opponents when timed correctly—a critical asset in skirmishes that improves further with an enhanced cone width and slow effect unlocked at 80 splinters.
Syndra’s ultimate, R: Unleashed Power, amplifies her execute capabilities through point-and-click devastation capable of deleting high-priority targets instantly after level six engagements—an almost guaranteed win condition in bot lane duels.
Her late-game prowess makes her indispensable; once properly scaled, she dominates team fights with massive area-of-effect control plus unparalleled single-target elimination skills, furthering any team’s chances toward victory.
7. Ziggs
Ziggs is a mage APC renowned for his explosive area damage and ability to control fights with precision. His kit features abilities like Bouncing Bomb, Satchel Charge, Hexplosive Minefield, and Mega Inferno Bomb—all capable of dealing heavy magic damage while applying strong zone pressure. His passive, Short Fuse, lets him periodically deal bonus magic damage on attacks or abilities.
Known as the “Demolitions Expert,” Ziggs thrives in pushing lanes quickly and demolishing enemy structures with ease. Whether it’s during extended sieges or quick rotations around the map, he excels at outpacing opponents by constantly pressuring objectives.
