Castillles Random Guide to A-Ok Uang

Ao is a simple passive-aggressive champion whose pushing powers can only be matched by Agni.  To be ble to dominate with Ao, you need to be able to properly use your skills and you must be able to gauge how passive or aggressive your lane opponent/s are.  Although you can keep him in other lanes, it would be better to leave A-Ok alone in lane because of his pushing power. 

Skills :

Graceful Winds

Increases magical power by 5% of maximum mana. 

Explanation

This passive is what allows Ao to build slightly tankier than the rest of the mages without losing too much magic power.  It also allows you to have quite a bit more magic power than other champs when built as a glass cannon. 

Squall

Ao Kuang fires a projectil breath attack that hits the first enemy in its path, doing 35/75/115/155/195 (+60% of your magical power) magical damage and slowing all enemies in the area around the target.

Explanation

This is your bread and butter slow.  It isnt that strong as a nuke but the slow is quite noticeable for the few seconds it lasts.  It  doesnt deal that much damage but the slow allows you to land an autoattck or 2 or just keep up until you can use other skills.

Slither

Ao Kuang channels the wind, allowing him to move 5/8/11/14/17% faster plus and additional 3/4/5/6/7% for each enemy (up to 6) within a 20 ft radius for 4 seconds. A nearby player will give the maximum benefit.

Explanation

This is A-Oks utility/escape ability.  One thing you have to understand though is that it is extremely weak as an escape mechanism.  It doesnt make you immune to slows and if you get maximum benefit from this, you are probably going to die unless those enemies are focusing on someone else.  I tend to ignore this skill because of how ineffective it is for its mana cost.

Tornadoes

Ao Kuang summons a tornado at his ground target location. A smaller tornado branches off onto any enemies that come within the radius, doing10/20/30/40/50 (+15% of your magical power) magical damage every .5 seconds for 3 seconds and is refreshed if enemies stay within the radius.

Explanation

This is A-Ok's signature move.  It is extremely powerful if they get the full duration (6 seconds) and it clears creeps safely.  The AoE of this is big enough to hit both the melee and the ranged creeps if you aim it correctly and can pretty much rip off 80% of the creeps hp at level 1.  Not instakill like Agnis "Path of Flames" but unlike that, they cant just walk in the aoe and get the creeps to kill you.  Golden rule = 1 Tornado = 1 creep wave.

Spirits Tempest

Ao Kuang summons the spirit of on of his fallen allies to breathe down destruction onto his enemies in a path in front of him, doing 400/500/600/700/800 (+120% of your magical power) magical damage and knocking all of the enemies to the side.

Explanation

This is your nuke and it hits extremely hard.  There is a delay on the dragon appearing but that is fine as long as you know how to use the delay to exploit enemy weaknesses.  You can use it as a nuke, as a positional tool, as a get away tool or even to initiate if youre coming from the sides/ back.  If youre getting ganked, toss this and tornadoes and you can usually take one of them down with you. 

Skill Orders :

I max 3 first no questions asked.  Where I differ from other A-Ok's is that I get 3 then I just save my skill points and get 3 and 4 only unless Im going to get a kill, then I spam f1 and toss a breath at him to secure a kill.  If having a high level 2 will prevent my death, I wont hesitate to max it out when I need to with my spare skill points.  but aside from that I max 3 and 4 and get 1 every 4 or 5 levels until 3 is maxed out.

Item Build :

Because of how safe A-Ok is to play, I highly suggest starting out with Doom Orb.  Because of how easilly you can shut down other mid laners, you can usually go Warlocks Sash next instead of boots.

Doom Orb -> Warlocks Sash/Boots (whichever you can afford.) -> max out Sash and Boots -> Rod of Tahuti -> Magical Penetration.  

Whenever I have an extra 500, I get Heavenly Agility, Purification Beads, or Aegis depending on the matchup. For the most part you should have all 3 of them by late game and at least one of them by mid game.

That is the build I always go for.  The last item I pick tends to vary.  If they have Guan/Hel/Vamana or a lot of lifestealers?  I get Divine Ruin.  I also get that when I need some health sustain or if they poke too much (agni matchup mostly)

Early Game :

Level 1-4 very passive.  Dont even bother poking.  Aim the tornado while creeps are running and try to hit all the creeps.  After a bit, youll find the sweet spot where you hit all the creeps inside the tornado while theyre fighting.  Poke the creeps as tornado is ticking on them and just try to dodge their pokes if they try.  If you notice them sticking around and letting the creeps hit them, take squall at level 2 and slow them when they do that to get them down faster but only do it if youre sure.

level 5 aggressive creep killing.  If you followed the skill guide, you should have level 3 tornado and level 1 ult and the enemy should be either getting low on mana or low on hp. At this point, you can quickly dip in tower range and drop a tornado in front of the creeps path.  The ranged creep should die and the melee should be extremely low so you can push even harder at their tower.  Keep an eye on the minimap and if you feel someone has been missing too long, back up.   Your mana should be dipping to 50% at this point but dont go back unless someone attempts to gank.  Just keep up the farm and keep pushing.  If you break their tower, go back and finish off doom orb, get warlocks sash, and boots if you can afford it.  If you cant, get heavenly agility, a couple of mana pots if you have space and go back.   Go back to farming and at about 10 stacks of doom orb, you can start killing the cdr buff.  So youll push -> get cdr buff -> push -> get THEIR cdr buff if they are using someone other than agni or ra.  If its Ra, you can get your cdr buff. If its a good agni, youll probably not be able to get the buffs because of how even you both are.  This stays the same until more and more ganks start happening.

If you can push so much harder than your lane opponent, you can push, run to a side that needs help, then toss a random ult at them.  If it hits, great! your team mates will probably get a kill.  If not, you scared them back giving your team mates some breathing room.  Just make sure to run back as fast as you can.  You can successfully do this against anyone other than agni, Ao or Ra. 

Gank/Seperate Phase :

At one point, youll start seeing people roam a lot more.  At this point you can do 2 things.  Split push or help with team fights.  Understand one thing though.  You are NOT a damage dealer if you dont have your ult.  Your Cooldowns are long as well so you have to make each skill count. 

Tornado : Use this to either block a path and keep enemies out or use it to nuke a CC'd enemy.  Do NOT use this when they are not slowed.  If you must, use it on creeps.  But it would be better to drop this on slowed enemies. 

Squall : Use this to slow enemies and NOT to nuke in the beginning. 

Ultimate : Only use this on CC'd enemies or if youre fighting in the jungle.  You must never fight ao in the jungle because its impossible to dodge in most of the jungle.

If you want to split push, make sure to use squall on the ranged group that your creeps are currently fighting then go forward and use tornadoes on the groups incomming.  This typically casuses the lane to push on its own.  Just do that and go back to other lanes or help your team mates fight but remember to stay in the back unless you are sure there is no one there.  This is also the point where I suggest buying wards and drop it whenever you run through the jungle and drop it on fire giant and gold fury.  

Late Game:

Yay Late Game!  If you have been pushing lanes and keeping up the farm, you can typically get a ton more money and levels than everyone else.  This is the point where you do something slightly different.  You should stay in the jungle while following your team mates as they do team fights.  Its important that you remain unseen and have the jungle warded so no one can sneak to your back lines and gib your squishies.  The usual tactic applies.   Use your 1 on the ranged creeps you pass by, try to save your tornado until they are slowed or use it to block a path.  Use ult when they are CC'd. If you hit 2 people, then the ult was exellent.  Hitting at least 1 is what you should always aim for.  Hitting 4 in the previous team fight and hitting none in the next is worse than hitting 2 in each team fight.  And as always, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TORNADO!  I always see Ao players wasting their tornado and not hitting anyone.  That is not what you want to do.  You want to use it when you know you will hit several people.   Heck, drop it on top of your artemis to protect her from melee if you want.  Dont just drop it randomly forward and hit no one

Matchup Tricks :

VS AGNI:

Agni is considered the best mid for a reason.  He has a level 1 creep clear skill/escape dash, a stun, a poke that doesnt cost mana.   And well..He is a pain.  You MUST shut him down early game.  Doom Orb 5 pots gives you enough sustain to get a great poke on him at level 1.  If he dashes at level 1, dip in the flame and let your ranged creeps poke him.  If he has reinforced boots, he will regen it quickly but youre not fighting his hp in that matchup  Reinforced boots = you fight his mana.  If you are able to push hard at level 1-4, youll be able to keep him shut down until he backs.  If you get the creeps to poke him down, take that time to push harder on his tower.  When he runs out of mana, its either the tower or he wastes his ult on creeps which is a win-win.  Hes not poking you or you get his tower.  When he goes back though his mana will be filled and you better expect him to start poking.  I suggest getting divine ruin instead of boots so you can at least get some sustain for your poor lil health bar (OP NO MANA COST ULT!).  The good thing is that he cant kill you can you can farm near your tower so youre safe as ong as you have pots and dont waste skills.  Agni will tend to push to your tower so call for a gank.  Get purification beads early.

Stay behind your tower and dont eat his no mana cost OPoke

VS He Bo

Just push hard and make him burn mana on the creeps.  Do NOT let him get anywhere near you because he will gib you.  Get Aegis early.  Use it when you hear his scream to block his ult.  Always toss a tornado then back up far so he cant poke you.  If you play well enough, you should be out of hp pot by level 10.  You can push him out and take both CDR buffs.  Do not attempt to kill unless he has no mana or you have a gank

VS Ra

This is easy.  Shut him down early game and you can push him mid game a bit enough for you to take the cdr buff.  You cant poke him and hitting the ult is hard enough.  dont attempt to kill unless you have a gank. Feel free to try to poke him down to get him to burn mana on heals though.

 VS  Zeus

Complete joke.  You can pretty much push -> get cdr buff -> push -> get their cdr -> push -> get blue buff -> push -> get movespeed buff -> push etc.  I had about 260 cs by 20 minutes the last time I faced a zeus mid.  No pushing power allowed me to secure just about all the jungle buffs aside from the ones on the side. Ult him when he ults

VS Anubis

Easy s well..  Push him to tower.  If you want to kill, run towards him and ult. he will tend to face you and toss a stun but your ult knockup will push him out before he ults.  Just hit him with your 1 and drop a tornado and hell be dead. 

VS Hel

Just push her (see?  Pushing = solves all the problems!) Do not and Im serious. DO NOT TRY TO ENGAGE HER IF YOU DONT HAVE A GANK! Unless she has no mana.  She will regen and nuke the living !@#$ out of you.

VS Ao

This matchup depends on who can get teh tornadoes down better.  and who can aim the ult better.  For the most part if you wanna kill just hit with 1->tornado -> ult his escape path. 

Other Tips :

If you want  a gamble, put your tornado to guide them to where you aimyour ult.  That way, if your ult mises, they probable hit the tornado.

2 v 1 Lane : 

2 v 1 lane is a dangerous lane to be in but you can manage.  This is probably the only time I will suggest going boots first.  Run in, put a well aimed tornado, back up.  Thats it.  Push slowly like that but for the most part, you wont be able to push but they wont be able to get the creeps to your tower.  Play extremely defensively by backing after every tornado. 

Final Comments :

Learning how to aim tornadoes is about 80% of what makes a good Ao player good.  So make sure you practice that and play passive-aggressive.  Either all passive or rush right on their face with an ult and burst them down.  Dont bother poking them because your creeps will do that for you.  If you must poke, do it later when you have some of your mana problems solved.  And if you must, use your 1 to poke and save 3 for tornadoes during early game.