TL;DR - Aphelios for Dummies
Patch 9.24 rolled onto the live servers on December 11, and brought with it League of Legends’ newest marksman Aphelios. The big-brained bot laner brings five different weapons and a ton of unique ability combinations with him in his arsenal, so picking him will up be a daunting but rewarding task for many.
For those of you who want to reap the benefits of his strength, but haven’t gotten around to reading the thesis paper that is his reveal page, here’s a foolproof breakdown that doesn’t require a PhD to understand.
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The Hitman and the Seer
To truly understand Aphelios, you’ll need to know what makes him so different from other champions. His playstyle is centred around managing ammo (called Moonlight) that’s consumed by attacking/using spells and balancing between a main-hand weapon and an off-hand. Each weapon comes with a unique passive and Q ability.
Aphelios only has three abilities available for use: Q, W, and R. His Q is his main attacking ability, his W swaps between main and off-hand weapons, and his R is an AoE move that applies an amplified version of the passive of whichever main weapon he’s using at the time.
Calibrum - A long-ranged sniper rifle. Aphelios always starts the game with this as his mainhand weapon.
Severum - A short-ranged scythe pistol that applies on-hit healing with overhealing capabilities. Aphelios always starts the game with this as his off-hand weapon.
Gravitum - A cannon that applies CC effects.
Infernum - An AoE flamethrower thats range is increased with crits.
Crescendum - A quick-hitting, boomerang-like weapon that must return to Aphelios before you can attack with it again. Active ability spawns a turret.
Calibrum, the Sniper
Q - Moonshot: Shoot enemies with a single-target skill shot that applies a mark. Marked enemies can be auto attacked from any range with whichever other weapon he’s wielding at the time (first or second-hand) to apply bonus damage.
Calibrum is Aphelios’ long-ranged weapon that’s especially handy for bullying in lane and safely DPSing in teamfights.
Severum, the Scythe Pistol
Q - Onslaught: Aphelios gains 20% bonus movement speed and automatically attacks up to six times while alternating between his main and offhand weapons.
Severum’s basic attack are melee ranged and have life-stealing capabilities. Each attack heals and can overheal when Aphelios is full health, granting a shield.
Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon
Q - Binding Eclipse: Applies a one second root to all enemies affected by Gravitum’s slow and deals magic damage.
Basic attacks with Gravitum apply a 30% 3.5 second slow to enemies, making it great for kiting and initiating fights.
Infernum, the Flamethrower
Q - Duskwave: Shoots a cone-shaped energy wave (which grows can apply crits, making the cone larger) that deals physical damage to all enemies in its path and applies a lock-on mark. Shortly after activating, automatically fires multiple basic attacks from whichever off-hand weapon is equipped at the time to each locked-on enemy. There’s no range limit to this.
Basic attacks with Infernum deal 110% AD to targets, shooting a cone of four fireballs behind them. This effect deals reduced damage to minions.
Crescendum, the Chakram
Q - Sentry: Throws down a turret that lasts 20 seconds, or four seconds after it starts attacking nearby enemies. Has three health and can be destroyed with auto-attacks.
Basic attacks throw the blade at an enemy and he can’t attack until it returns to him. If Aphelios uses an ability that uses Crescendum in his off-hand, he throws a Chakram that can stack up to 20 times. Basic attacks deal extra damage depending on how many Chakrams are stacked.
R - Moonlight Vigil
Aphelios’ ultimate shoots an AoE light that stops upon hitting and revealing an enemy and locks onto each enemy hit. Shortly after, it applies an enhanced version of the basic attacks from whichever main weapon Aphelios is wielding.
Calibrum - Inflicts enemies with empowered mark that deals bonus physical damus per mark.
Severum - Aphelios is healed for a large amount upon hitting at least one enemy.
Gravitum - Applies a 99% slow to afflicted enemies.
Infernum - Initial blast deals AoE damage with smaller residual blasts dealing overlapping damage to enemies.
Crescendum - Aphelios gains three additional chakrams from hitting the first enemy, capping at four, in addition to chakrams gained from other enemies hit.
Images via Riot Games
