LoL Season 14 Best Mage Builds and Items

League of Legends Season 14 brings a ton of changes to the gameplay as new items, map terrain changes, and neutral objective changes are some of the most important updates to Summoner's Rift in a long while. Patch 14.1 brings the new items to LoL as all roles have received some very interesting choices in terms of build paths.

With these changes, the meta will drastically shift as players begin testing new builds, strategies, and tactics to gain the upper hand and win more matches by making use of the chaos that will ensue in the first couple of weeks of the season.

Having said that, we will provide you with some helpful tips and advice on how you can build your AP champions and make sure you are ahead of the curve so you can easily win your Ranked games and climb up the solo queue ladder.

LoL Season 14 Best Mage Items and Builds

We will be going over the new and updated items that have been designed for mages and most AP carries so you can get a better understanding of where certain items shine and which items you should avoid rushing.

First Items

Although there are some exceptions (manaless champions like Katarina and Mordekaiser), you will want to rush any of the following items depending on the champion you have picked:

Luden's Companion

Luden's Echo is very similar, however, this item excels in bursting down enemy champions as the passive allows you to focus your damage on enemies, especially if they are isolated. The stats it gives are incredible, especially if most of your damage comes from using your basic abilities.

Malignance

This item is great for champions that rely on their ultimate to dish out damage as it not only grants great stats, but it comes with a built-in ultimate ability haste and passive that further improves your damage capabilities when using your ult.

Rod of Ages

A very reliable option for champions like Anivia or Swain, as the item remains almost the same with some minor tweaks.

Archangel's Staff

This item is reserved for more mana-hungry champions who prefer to keep their distance.

Boots

Most of the time, all AP champions will be using either one of these three options:

Sorcerer's Shoes

Increased damage

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

For summoner spell or ability haste-reliant champions

Mercury's Treads

When an enemy counters us with a different mage

Situational Items

Generally speaking, if you are not going for another item from the first four that we have listed above, you will want to build these items instead:

Stormsurge

This item is a much better version of Luden's Echo as the stats it gives, especially the movement speed coupled with the passive AoE damage can result in some insane damage to squishy champions.

Haunting Guise

This is a substitute for champions that have damage-over-time abilities and do not directly benefit from Stormsurge as much. You can opt to upgrade this item to Liandry's Torment or you can go for your next item.

Shadowflame

This item has only offensive stats, making it a very strong contender for burst champions as the passive allows for your abilities to critically strike low-health opponents.

Cosmic Drive

Although this item can help out champions that need ability haste, it will possibly be left in the dark as there are much better options.

Defensive Items

Banshee's Veil

A great defensive item for mages that helps out against oppressive AP champions.

Zhonya's Hourglass

With the removal of Stopwatch, the build path for this item has become quite awkward, making it difficult to obtain the overpowered active.

Offensive Items

Void Staff

A lot of ability power and magic penetration that can easily counter tank items.

Cryptbloom

This an equivalent of a Fiora ultimate on AP champions as you should build this when playing against squishier champions.

Final Item

Rabadon's Deathcap

This will be your capstone item that will further boost your ability power come late game, however, you will need to finish this last or second-to-last.

Summary

And that covers all of the items that you will be looking to build when playing AP carries in League of Legends. Although there might be some need to optimize build paths when taking into account the champion you are playing, and what enemy composition you are playing into.

This guide should serve as a general idea of what you can expect in terms of power level and utility from items as you navigate the new season. You can check out our in-depth video for more information, here: