Hey there! I'm Cookie, the former ADC for the academy teams of Vitality and SK Gaming. I've played competitively for 2 years but now am committed to streaming and releasing educational content to help others reach their goals.

I have been Challenger on the EUW server since Season 6, playing with and against every European Pro, such as Rekkles, Perkz, Caps, Jankos and many others. I am accustomed to playing at the highest level.

I peaked rank 10 in S10 and maintain Challenger to this day. Currently, I focus on public coaching and educational content, such as these guides to help a broader audience.

I hope that you enjoy my Aphelios Guide.

Huge thanks to bowkuto#4866 and valdezae#6654 for formatting and designing the guide!

Aphelios is a high skill ceiling champion that relies on intensive champion knowledge to execute proper combos to bring down enemies but due to his lack of mobility it is easy to get caught and bursted to death.

However, if you manage to master him you'll be able to assassinate players without them even knowing what happened. It's an extremely nice feeling to master something that is considered hard to do so I'm making this guide in order to help you understand everything about Aphelios and master him!

Something that you should definitely learn is every ADC's base Range as it allows you to avoid getting hit for free from the enemy as well as hitting the enemy for free by using Basic attack spacing or commonly known as Auto-Attack spacing

This is Aphelios's most basic 3 gun combo, you will usually only be able to use this once a game because of how you should manage your gun rotation.

For the setup you need to have 10 or less ammo left on Infernum, the Flamethrower and you need Crescendum, the Chakram as your off hand weapon. You want to Infernum, the Flamethrower Q as many targets as possible since you will get one chakram per unit hit (this counts on MINIONS too!), then all-in with Severum, the Scythe Pistol Q to get even more chakrams, switch your gun to Crescendum, the Chakram and use your Moonlight Vigil to spawn at least another 6 chakrams. This combo allows you to get max or really close to max chakrams possible, which is 20; this is really strong specially in laning phase since Aphelios's DPS goes through the roof, just remember to be as close as possible to whoever you're hitting.

This is probably the most common Aphelios combo. All you need to do is Throw Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle's Q and instantly use your ultimate Moonlight Vigil, input your Auto Attack as soon as you throw the ultimate so that you proc your Q mark and then your utlimate mark right after. This is pretty good burst dmg and you can blow up any low HP squishy.

This used to be more useful when Runaan's Hurricane was core on Aphelios since you could apply Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon up to 3 targets but it's still useful to know since you can set up a pick on a squishy or get a lot of damage early in to a teamfight.
For the setup you need 10 or less ammo on Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle, Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon as your of hand weapon and Infernum, the Flamethrower coming up next. You throw your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle Q, Auto Attack on your mark to apply Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon then use that same weapon's Q to root your target, quickly switch to Infernum, the Flamethrower and use your ultimate Moonlight Vigil.

This is the hardest combo to get off since you need to be really close to your targets but it's guaranteed to pretty much blow up a whole team: flashing in can guarantee this combo a lot of times, just make sure you don't get killed in the process.
For the setup all you need is Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon and Infernum, the Flamethrower together. Use your Infernum, the Flamethrower Q, switch to Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon to root all the targets you just hit so you root everyone who was inside your Infernum, the Flamethrower Q, then switch back to Infernum, the Flamethrower and use your ultimate Moonlight Vigil.

You need to have 10 or less ammo left on your Crescendum, the Chakram, Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle as your off hand weapon and Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon coming up next. Drop the turret and spend your ammo, auto attack the enemy with the turret (any weapon can be your main hand weapon) then root them with Binding Eclipse when they are inside the turret's range so that you can hit them from up to 1300 range away. Since they'll be rooted you can combine this with the Double AA Combo since it will guarantee both Q and R land.

Teamfighting as Aphelios is the most important part of this champion that you have to master. The fact that you have to play fights differently depending on your guns, making this section really important.

First, Aphelios has a really hard time fighting champions with a higher range than himself. In a perfect world, Aphelios wants to kite enemies, as his short range damage is unmatched.


Guns; Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon/ Infernum, the Flamethrower

These can be the best or worst guns when starting a fight. If your team lacks reliable engage, then using R Moonlight Vigil with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon will slow the enemies for 99% granting you the ability to root all enemies hit with Q Binding Eclipse. Be careful when using your R Moonlight Vigil, as you cannot extend its range by using R Moonlight Vigil + Flash during the cast time. With this in mind, it is difficult to surprise the enemy team with your R Moonlight Vigil, unless you are out of vision when you cast it. Using R Moonlight Vigil with Infernum, the Flamethrower is not recommended unless you can chunk one or two essential carries in the enemy team.

When the fight has commenced, try to primarly use your Infernum, the Flamethrower as it can hit backline enemies and chunk them. Use Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon only if you want to kite or chase an enemy. Additionally, focus on using your Q with both guns when possible, for the extra damage and root.


Guns; Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon/ Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle

This is the recommended weapon setup for a long range engage. These weapons give you the ability to engage on the enemy team from afar with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle Q Moonshot and R Moonlight Vigil. You can use your R Moonlight Vigil with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle to apply the mark on multiple enemies and then AA them + Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon Q Binding Eclipse for root. If you are the only that can engage against a long range enemy team, then keep these weapons for important fights and try to use your R Moonlight Vigil when the enemy groups around choke points. After the fight has begun, use your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle as your main weapon as the bonus range will keep you at a safe range. As before, use Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon if you need to kite or chase an opponent.


Guns; Severum, the Scythe Pistol/ Crescendum, the Chakram

This weapon combination is the best against dive comps that want to get on top of you in order to kill you. The Severum, the Scythe Pistol Q Onslaught has two amazing upsides in this situation as it will give you up to 6 or more Chackrams and will also give you bonus Movement Speed during its channel which will help you in kiting your opponents. After Infernum, the Flamethrower R Moonlight Vigil was nerfed, Crescendum, the Chakram became the dominant “200 years” weapon on Aphelios as its DPS can skyrocket if you manage to stack Chackrams by using your Q and R Moonlight Vigil effectively.

Once the fight commences, focus on getting close to one enemy at a time so that you can be relatively safe while dealing tons of single target damage with your Chakrams. If you feel your HP is too low, change to Severum, the Scythe Pistol and use some autos and your Q Onslaught to get your HP back. Try to get your R Moonlight Vigil with Crescendum, the Chakram on as many enemies as possible is vital to getting your Chackram stacks as the R Moonlight Vigil hit will you give 5 + 1 per enemy champion hit for a maximum of 10. Play around your stacks and your team, dance around the fight and abuse overextending enemies in order to win the fight.


Guns; Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle/ Crescendum, the Chakram

This combo is the strongest against divers and in general in my opinion. The idea is to place your turret down in the area where the enemy will choose to engage. The turret AAs will proc your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle passive which will stack Chackrams. This is the most versatile weapon combination that Aphelios has as you can get stacks from enemy diving on you but you can also create zones of control with your turrets which will limit the enemy teams retreat or engage paths, essentially forcing a teamfight on your terms. If a fight breaks out far from you, you can use Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle R Moonlight Vigil in order to stack as many Chakrams as possible, then use Galeforce to get in range for Crescendum, the Chakram AAs.

This is one of the hardest weapon combination to master as you require great game knowledge and foresight to determine how to use your turrets in order to dictate the fight

Fighting depending on your guns is paramount on Aphelios. This is a strength but also a weakness as you need to understand how the future fights will play out in order to have the perfect guns ready. Aphelios is reliant on Crescendum, the Chakram for great single target damage so make sure to play around your team when you have that weapon equipped. Be careful as your power in teamfights will be known by your opponents and they will have their targets set on you. Make sure to time important cooldowns such as enemy key CC abilities and Flashes that will allow them to kill you. Always make a mental note of the things that you need to be aware of in any team fight and you will quickly see how you can stay alive for the entire fight and dish out a lot of damage.

The early game is a complex part of the game for Aphelios and that is again because of his weapon system. His higher range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle and sustain with Severum, the Scythe Pistol allows him to get a Long Sword in many matchups in order to rush his way to Noonquiver or Vampiric Scepter depending on his first mythic. This means that, as Aphelios, you should look to play the waves in a way that allows you to crush the wave when you hit 950 gold in order to back and get Noonquiver which is a strong early game item.

As a small tip, I advise you to buy as much AD items in the early game as Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle and Infernum, the Flamethrower will allow for great poke in the early game that most players will not expect. This means going for a full pickaxe if you do not have money for a Noonquiver and then buying two Long Sword instead of one and boots for added poke (This depends on the matchup and how fast you need to get back to catch the wave).

When the first wave comes you can look to set up the wave if you do not have to leash for your jungler. You have 3 options that are good for Aphelios:

• If you have a long range or hook chanpion such as Karma/ Nautilus, you can look to stay in the bush closest to the enemy tower and wait for the enemy to come to the wave. You should coordinate with your support in order to chunk one of the enemy laner, usually the ADC is a better choice to focus as it will allow you to zone them in the early game if they are low on HP. Remember to use Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle for the added range in this situation.
  
  
• The second option is to pull the first minion of the wave in order to make a freeze in the middle of the lane and then zone the enemies from the wave. This is easier to pull off if you have a support that can match your range, around 650 with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle, such as Karma, Lulu, Zyra, Thresh.
  
  
• The last version is to hit the melee creeps once or twice in order to set up a slow push that you will want to crash into the tower on the 3rd wave. This gives you a lot of options. If you see the jungler top side you can either poke the enemy under tower with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle, go for vision in the enemy jungle such as krugs or red buff or even cheater if you want to get a Cull but waiting for a Noonquiver might be better. If you don't know where the enemy jungler is or you think he is pathing bot, you can look to help your jungler fight for the scuttlecrab, get vision closer to the lane like the pixer or tribush or even get the scuttle for yourself if your jungler is pathing topside. If you feel threatened by a gank and you think you are not able to walk into the river, then cheater recalling is your best friend.

Now let's talk about how the different weapons should be used in the early game and how you can abuse their power in the laning phase.

Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle: Use this weapon whenever you need to cs caster minions and you are under threat of enemy poke or in order to harass the enemy ADC when he goes for a last hit. With this weapon you effectively have the range of Caitlyn and we all know how she needs to be a lane bully in the early game. Try to not use your Q Moonshot unless for these three reasons: 1. you can poke the enemy ADC and get lane prio through this 2. you can proc your Press the Attack with the auto from Q 3. you need to change to Infernum, the Flamethrower in order to shove the wave and back for an important item.

Severum, the Scythe Pistol: This is the weapon you want to use in order to cs and lifesteal back to full after a trade. When the enemy overextends, you can use your Q Onslaught to trade on them and proc your Press the Attack really fast. This is your go to cs-ing weapon in the early game but should also be the first one you get rid off so it will come with Crescendum, the Chakram after a full weapon rotation.

Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon: This weapon is really threatening in the early game as it is a guaranteed slow and engage, aka a guaranteed gank setup. The fact that you will most likely have it with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle and Infernum, the Flamethrower makes it even scarier as it means you have either a long range snare on an AoE one. Use this weapon in lane to cs minions when the enemy is far from the wave and you cannot poke them with your other weapons. Keep your ammo with this weapon at a pretty similar level to Infernum, the Flamethrower, maybe a bit lower as you will need to get rid of this gun first. Be sure to communicate with your jungler and support in order to set u gankes when this weapon is in your hands.

Infernum, the Flamethrower: Infernum, the Flamethrower is really useful in the early game as it can be used with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon in order to AoE snare or clear the wave with both Q’s ( Infernum, the Flamethrower and Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon). It’s best use though is the auto attack which leaves fire in a cone behind the enemy hit, meaning you can AA caster minions in order to poke the enemy laners behind them. Use this weapon for these types of 100-0 trade (you get a free trade, enemy can’t retaliate) and in order to push the wave quickly when you need a reset.

Crescendum, the Chakram: As the gun combo section presents, getting Crescendum can be a surprise for your opponents because you can Q Duskwave Infernum, the Flamethrower the wave into Q Onslaught Severum, the Scythe Pistol in order to get a massive number of Chackrams and the movement speed needed to close the gap to your opponent. This weapon is really strong at any stage of the game if you get close to the enemy and in the early game it should be used in the same manner. If you are unable to get a good fight with Chackrams stacked, remember that the weapon has a really fast animation wind-up so you can use it for surprise damage in lane and then backing off fast while the weapon lingers back to you. When you have Crescendum, the Chakram and Severum, the Scythe Pistol/ Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle you should look to fight over an objective, be it Herald, Dragon or a Tower.

In the mid game you should look to soak as much gold as you can. Depending on how the laning phase goes, you can look for plays with your teammates in the enemy jungle. Try to stay in a lane where you will CS alone, usually the mid lane as the shorter lane will give you more security from ganks. After you push the wave, go and take vision with your teammates. Vision will get you kills that will in turn become objectives that will push the game in your favor. The reason is that ADCs at low and mid level of play tend to forget that you need to CS in the mid and late game as well in order to keep your gold Income. Aphelios scales really well with each and every item so for him any item advantage will dictate how he can play the teamfights. Try to keep Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon up in this part of the game in order to engage unsuspecting enemies with your R Moonlight Vigil. Most games are won in this part of the game so try to play this mini game where you are with your team when they need you while keeping your income of gold and experience

The Late game section builds on the Mid Game and Teamfight section. The reason is that you still need to remember to farm and get your items in order to round up your build while also staying safe of enemy engagements and looking for good teamfight opportunities with your teammates. In the late game the map is more open as the majority of turrets have been taken down. That means that your net of safety is smaller and you now are dependent on your teammates to move around the map. Make sure to follow them for necessary fights over objectives but silently remind them that you might need that extra 150 gold for an item if an objective does not spawn in the next minute or so.

Many ADCs tend to either be there for every fight while being underleveled or they are never there for fights over the main objectives of the game such as Baron or Drakes. Try to keep this thought in mind when you make your decisions in the late game and always try to keep Control Wards on you until you buy your last item. Don’t forget to buy an elixir or Stopwatch for important fights as they can make the difference in a lot of scenarios.

Also make sure to time enemy cooldowns that are important to your positioning. Great ADCs around the world know what the enemy can and cannot do and will play accordingly. Patience is what separates good hunters from dead ones as the Camille quote says and this should be your thought in the late game as well.

As an ending tip to this section, use your Crescendum, the Chakram Q Sentry in order to create zones of control in the late game team fights. They can stay idle for some time so putting them in key bushes such as the pixel bush will be of great benefit in the late game.

When paired with a heavy cc-team, Cleanse can be beneficial in preventing cc-lock from Ashe R Enchanted Crystal Arrow.

In lane, Ashe will look to abuse her auto-range (600) in combination with her W Volley (18s CD, lvl.1) to harass and trade. Her passive Frost Shot will slow you down, opening you up for a cc-lock and harass by enemy support. Additionally, Approach Velocity allows her to run you down if caught out.

Ashe’s main goal in lane will be to constantly harass with autos and W Volley to keep you at low hp for denying minions and experience.

Standing behind minions to avoid W Volley harass, and trading with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle from max auto range will be a key trading pattern. Keep track of Ashe's Hail of Blades/ Lethal Tempo cooldowns, as these open up opportunities for trading/all-in with your support. It’s really hard to escape from Ashe once you commit so make sure that you win the 2v2 if you decide to fight.

Your goal as Aphelios should be to farm and avoid deaths at all costs. You will outscale her and deal more damage at 2 items if even.

Caitlyn has the highest base Auto range (650) in the game which means she can harass you when last hitting minions. She will want to keep you under tower by using her Q Piltover Peacemaker on both you and the wave, once you’re under tower she has an easier time harassing you and zoning you off CS putting traps with her W Yordle Snap Trap around the tower.

You want to play around your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle in lane a lot in order to trade with her. With Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle range you have the same range as her making the matchup a bit more “even” since you can reciprocate DMG with just autos. Use your Q’s Moonshot in order to trade against her and avoid getting hit by her passive Headshot and Q Piltover Peacemaker.

You can look to punish Caitlyn if she misses Q [piltover peacemaker]] or right after she uses her passive’s Headshot since it takes 6 stacks to proc again. If she doesn’t have E 90 Caliber Net she’s also completely immobile and vulnerable.

With Aphelios you want to stay as healthy as possible until you can all-in her since you will out-dps her with most gun combos. If anything just don’t give her a lead and you will also outscale.

Draven’s only dmg comes from his Q axes, he will try to keep 2 of them up at all times. With Hail of Blades he wants to triple axe you and with Conqueror he will take slower fights. He’s looking to kill you or your support during lane to cash in his passive League of Draven and snowball. You will have to trade differently depending on your current guns due to Draven’s insane auto dmg with Q, which makes him win trades against almost every ADC.

You want to abuse your range advantage and Draven’s weak lvl 1 to poke him as much as possible, once reach lvl 2+ and he gets W Blood Rush you have to focus better since he can use the MS to close in the 100 range gap. With Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon you shouldn’t be as afraid to harass since the slow will help you space him enough to not get traded on, the root can be used to make him lose an axe as well. Both chakram synergies out-DPS him pretty much at all stages of the game so you should try and fight him with those.

You can force trades if you ever see that Draven has no spinning axes since you will deal more DMG than him no matter what. So long you don’t die and play around ganks/support you will outscale and be more useful than him, but if you can you should kill him so he never cashes in his passive League of Draven.

Ezreal’s only DMG on lane comes from Q Mystic Shot and auto attacks, his W Essence Flux can be used to trade and E Arcane Shift very rarely will be used for damage. He’s just looking to scale and stack his tear but his laning isn’t amazing, he also lacks wave clear.
You want to play the lane inside your minion wave to avoid getting hit by his Q Mystic Shot and you want to harass on last hits, especially with calibrum. His E Arcane Shift has a 28s CD so if he ever uses it to trade or reposition try your best to engage on him, you will pretty much always out-DPS him so long you block or dodge his Q’s.

Stand in the CS level 1 to avoid Ezreal Q’s while AA him whenever he enters range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle, be careful of leaving your wave / going into enemies wave as Aphelios is really weak in all-ins Level 1.

All of Jhin’s damage in lane comes from 4th shot and Q Dancing Grenade, especially if he can kill minions with it to increase its damage. He will look to force a trade on every 4th shot since it will out-trade almost every ADC. Jhin has weak all-ins so he’s looking to trade as much as possible to burst you down once you reach lethal.

To trade against Jhin, do it after he Q’s the wave and/or doesn’t have 4th shot; you’re guaranteed to win the trade if he’s reloading. Opposite to him, Aphelios has really good all-ins with almost every gun synergy so you should look to always have an HP advantage and all-in him as soon as you can.

Both of you scale really well, Aphelios will have more consistent DPS whilst Jhin will have pretty good burst; overall you will be more useful late game so don’t be afraid to just go even in lane.

Try not to stay close to minions as his Q Dancing Grenade can bounce to you & be careful of Jhin whenever he has his 4th shot ready as you don’t want to get hit for free, wait for him to use it.

Be mindful that Jhin can W Deadly Flourish you if you take any damage from any enemy champion which will root you in place and can easily catch you off guard, but It’s relatively slow so you should be able to sidestep it by going either left or right.

Jhin’s extremely weak to 100-0% HP all ins though so once you have blue-purple around level 3 it should be easy to kill him in 2v2s, especially when he has 2 bullets left in his ammo.

Jinx’s only real source of DMG is her auto attacks, as her W Zap! is extremely slow and It’s extremely easy to sidestep unless you’re CC’d or next to a wall, so keep that in mind.

Try to get a lot of poke into her on the early levels using Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle. So long she doesn’t get a passive proc you will out-dps her with Infernum, the Flamethrower or either Crescendum, the Chakram combo, so play around those 2 guns.

You outscale Jinx on the later stages (even though you will struggle to fight her alone due to the range difference) so if you can’t find good kill opportunities due to support matchup it’s okay to just farm up and play around the jungler.

Be careful about standing close to minions as her Rockets has splash damage and they deal a lot of damage if you get multiple times, so I suggest standing a bit away from the minions and then trying to get Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle hits in whenever she’s trying to last hits minions

Be extremely careful of getting CC’d by the enemy support as Jinx can follow up with her E Flame Chompers! and then you’ll be CC’d until death, most likely or you can also bring Cleanse to counter that.

Don’t stand close to walls as it makes it a lot easier for Jinx to land her W Zap! / R Super Mega Death Rocket! on you.

Her damage in lane comes from Q Icathian Rain, passive Second Skin and auto attacks. She will pretty much win all-ins against you because of her passive Second Skin. With an engage support she can blow you up since it guarantees her W Void Seeker to hit meaning she can insta proc her passive and maybe even land an isolated Q Icathian Rain.

You want to stand inside your minion wave, or near at least 1 minion, so that her Q Icathian Rain isn’t isolated. Kai'Sa's trading pattern is Auto attack + Q Icathian Rain, she will try to land at least 3 autos if she has Hail of Blades up, so don’t try to do extended trades if it is. Since W Void Seeker is very slow and has an even slower wind up animation she won’t be using it to poke you, rather she will save it for a teammate’s CC in order to guarantee it hits or to proc her passive Second Skin after landing 3-4 autos in you.

If she uses Q Icathian Rain, or both Q Icathian Rain and W Void Seeker, to farm, try to force a trade since she won’t really be able to damage you unless she procs her full passive.

If she doesn’t have an engage support you will have a very easy lane were she won’t have any kill threat on you but you can have on her if played correctly. If she does have an engage support just don’t get caught and you’ll easily outscale.

Stand in the minions as much as possible as Kai'Sa won’t be able to land as many Q Icathian Rain missiles and makes it impossible for her to land her W Void Seeker, in which case she doesn’t really have any dmg.

Essentially, Kai'Sa relies on you being outside of minions and you being CC’d to truly oneshot you, so unless you’re in that situation you’ll typically be fine as you have more range and also more DPS with red/white.

Kalista’s dmg comes from landing multiple spears for a big dmg E Rend and her Q Pierce; her autos deal very little damage. She’s looking to get a lead early and snowball into the late game in order to have some value. She relies on an engage support during lane, otherwise she’s a really weak champ.

She’s going to try and Q Pierce low health minions if you’re standing behind them, as it will kill the minion, transfer the Rend stacks to you and apply the Q Pierce damage as well. Once you are aware of this just position similar to how you would against Miss Fortune. You need to abuse her early as much as possible with calibrum, since she’s a low range ADC, this will allow you to survive the lane since she won’t have enough HP to all-in. Whenever you don’t have calibrum play around your Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon+ Infernum, the Flamethrowersynergy (for high dmg + CC) and Severum, the Scythe Pistol+ Crescendum, the Chakram (for high DPS), try to maintain these synergies and play passively when you don’t have them.

If she misses Q Pierce on you or wastes E Rend you may be able to force a trade on her; BE CAREFUL, her E Rend cooldown resets if it kills any target, so she’s likely to use it to last hit minions.

Focus on not giving her a lead in lane, don’t die and scale up. You will be much stronger once you start getting items.

Pretty much all his DMG are his autos whenever he has W Bio-Arcane Barrage active; Q Caustic Spittle can deal some damage due to the resistances shred as well. If he can hit you for free with W Bio-Arcane Barrage he’s pretty much always going to win the trade or the all-in, specially if he lands Q Caustic Spittle and E Void Ooze on you.

You want to never trade against him unless his W Bio-Arcane Barrage is on CD. Whenever he uses it (he starts glowing when it’s active) just back up, walk back up after and play aggressive. You still have to be mindful of the Q Caustic Spittle, don’t trade if it hits you.

This champ is pretty weak if he’s not paired with Lulu since he’ll be pretty squishy and won’t deal as much dmg without Lulu pixy + attack speed steroid.

Lucian is looking to mainly do 3 things: poke you while last hitting with Q Piercing Light, force trades with his passive Lightslinger and auto resets and all-in you to blow you up. Since he doesn’t scale that well, specially compared to Aphelios, he’s looking to get a lead in lane and snowball into the later stages so in the worst case scenario just don’t die vs him.

Lucian is looking to poke you a lot with his Q Piercing Light by hitting you with the tip by casting it on a minion. Try to bait this ability and side step it, if he uses it and misses a lot of his damage is gone, so just wait for him to use his passive on minions and then force a trade on him.

Most common mistakes a Lucian can do is E Relentless Pursuit forward and not hit his double auto attack on you and wasting his E Relentless Pursuit. You should look to poke him as much as possible with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle since you will have a 150 range advantage so that it becomes really hard for him to all-in you during the lane. If he misses his Q Piercing Light just force a short trade since that cooldown isn’t that long, try to not get hit by both of his passive procs from W Ardent Blaze and E Relentless Pursuit. If he misses Q Piercing Light and E’s forward you most likely can all-in and just kill him or blow a summoner for free.

Since you outscale him, if you ever feel too pressured by Lucian + whatever support he has you can just chill and farm.

Pretty much all she wants to do is poke you with Q Double Up by bouncing it with minions and bully you all laning phase. Her all-ins are decent but pretty much half her damage is her Q Double Up.
She has okay scaling, Aphelios definitely outscales, so she wants to get some sort of lead to be useful in the later stages; this is especially true if she’s building lethality since she will deal no damage if she falls behind.

There’s only two ways she can trade, hitting you with a Q Double Up bounce or proc-ing Press the Attack with AA+Q+AA. Since all of her laning damage relies on Q Double Up, play as aggressive as you can when it’s down.

Play besides the minions and make sure there’s never a minion between you and her ESPECIALLY if it’s low HP since it will make her Q Double Up crit.
Whenever you have Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle poke her as much as possible since you will have a 100 range advantage meaning free trades. Depending on support matchup you should be able to force a trade or an all-in after she misses Q Double Up. If she wastes E Make it Rain you can probably play aggressive as well since she will be missing both the utility and the self peel that it provides.

Samira’s extremely weak Level 1, she’s essentially only relying on doing small pokes with Q Flair so your best bet is to stand in the wave, slowpush the wave and then hit the Samira / Support with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle as soon as they get into your range.

However, once Samira’s level 2-3 she can easily all-in you BUT she needs her support to engage first so as longest you avoid whatever gap-closer/CC they have, you should be okay.

Exhaust is very recommended into Samira so that she can't oneshot you, specially after 6.

Samira has insane all-in damage since pretty much every ability is an auto cancel, she can insta proc conqueror and has increased damage at melee range. You need to be VERY aware that if you auto her with your Chakrams and she uses her W Blade Whirl you chakrams will dissappear. However, her trading potential is quite low since everything but Q Flair is an all-in ability.

Samira has quite mediocre scaling outside her teamfighting abilities but it’s really hard for her to deal damage without items. Because of this snowballing since lane is kind of her win-con and playing off his team’s engage.

You want to poke her as much as possible at levels 1 and 2 since she has no way of jumping on you even with an engage support. After level 3 you have to be really careful of her and whatever support she has since she can just jump on you with E Wild Rush.

Her trading pattern is AA+Q Flair so make sure to play inside your minion wave so she can’t Q Flair you. You need to be very careful when you get hit since she can get early passive and conqueror stacks and just jump on you after 1 or 2 trading patterns.

Easily the hardest matchup for Aphelios, she has long range which is the biggest counter to Aphelios as well as CC & AP Burst, which is also his weakness.

Her biggest weakness is the fact that she’s a mage which means that her autos deals close to 0 damage but obviously if you get hit by her combo then she can oneshot you easily, I recommend trying to bait the Q Dark Sphere as much as possible in early game and staying away from low minions as she’ll try to Q Dark Sphere them.

There’s a 4 second cooldown on her Q Dark Sphere which means that there’s a 4 second window where you can walk up and try to auto her with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle, and when you don’t have Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle after level 3 then It’s all about trying to bait the Syndra E Force of Will and then trying to all in together with your support when It’s down as she wont be able to disengage without it.

So the way Senna works is that she loves trading because her passive Absolution will give her a soul if she hits a champ with 2 attacks or abilities. This has a 6 second cooldown so she will AA+Q Piercing Darkness you off the Q cooldown to get as many stacks as possible.

Senna only wants to stack as many souls as she can and get items, the moment no one can reach her in time to kill her before she kills them she pretty much wins.

Your goal is to trade as little as possible so you don’t let her stack for free, which means only hit her when she can’t hit you back or just don’t trade and try to just kill her in 100 to 0 all-ins since she’s super weak in the laning phase.

All of her damage in lane comes from her Q Boomerang Blade which is kinda slow so you should be able to sidestep it easily.

At lvl 1 just dodge her Q Boomerang Blade and then walk up with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle to auto her as much as possible, you will have a 150 range advantage so she should never be able to hit you back. After level 2 you can keep doing the same thing, except now you have abilities so you can deal more damage to her after you dodge her Q Boomerang Blade and back off when it’s coming back off cooldown.

Best things she can spellshield from you is the Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon root, Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle Q and your ultimate Moonlight Vigil, try to hold these until after she uses her spellshield and don’t rely on their damage for a kill if she has it available.

I recommend walking into the lane and hit the CS 1-2 times so that it slowpushes towards the enemy and once it does that you should solely focus on attacking the Tristana as much as possible with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle.

Tristana’s weak level 1 as long as she isn’t able to use E Explosive Charge on you, but since you outrange her by 125 range when using Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle she should never be able to do it unless you misposition.

I recommend taking Exhaust vs Tristana so that her E Explosive Charge deals very little damage and you can turn on her whenever she tries to all-in you.

If she ever hits the E Explosive Charge on you just back off so that she can’t stack it up meaning it will deal very little damage. Whenever she uses E Explosive Charge on the tower, wave, support or on you and didn’t fully blow it up you should play as aggressive as possible since she will have no damage. She relies completely on bursting someone down with the bomb.

Twitch has an extremely low range but he kind of makes up for that with his W Venom Cask as it slows for 30% which can enable him to get more autos onto you, I’d try to trade & fight whenever he doesn’t have his W Venom Cask and most Twitches tend to throw it out quite a bit so it shouldn’t be hard to find a window.

Be careful if he's building AP since he has total control over the wave and can pretty much kill you at any time. You need to play really cautiously from 1st-2nd recall all up until 2nd item Wit's End. Twitch will just be able to damage you without you having any way of responding so DON'T EVER try to trade vs AP Twitch.

You will win against Twitch in all-ins 1v1 as longest you have good guns like Severum, the Scythe Pistol- Crescendum, the Chakram, Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle- Crescendum, the Chakram but if you don’t have these or you’re way ahead be extremely careful of walking up alone as he could be lurking around in stealth waiting to strike.

Control wards are your friends as well, I recommend placing control wards in the bush in the lane and then in mid-late game you can just place it wherever you’re skirmishing / fighting to make it harder for Twitch to assassinate your team.

You should always take Cleanse over Heal in this matchup as Aphelios.
Level 1 bait his E Hail of Arrows and then walk out, dodge it if possible, once the area disappears auto him with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle as much as possible. He doesn’t have W Blighted Quiver until level 3 so you don’t have to worry about his passive stack damage until then, just auto with calibrum to out trade using range advantage when he doesn’t have E Hail of Arrows, otherwise you will be slowed and grievously wounded meaning you will lose trades.

After level 3 don’t walk up to auto him since he can just triple auto you with Hail of Blades and instantly proc his passive Living Vengeance with E Hail of Arrows or Q Piercing Arrow tap and he will win pretty much every fight. Focus on keeping your distance so you can dodge the Q Piercing Arrow. If he misses the Q Piercing Arrow work with your support to get a good trade or even all-in; you need to stay as healthy as possible if you ever want to kill him.

After 6 be super careful since he can just use his ultimate Chain of Corruption on you and Aphelios has no way of dodging it other than Flash or using Cleanse once it hits you. If he misses ult you should obviously look to fight since that’s how he guarantees his W+Q to hit. Just avoid his Q Piercing Arrow and fight him when the ult is down.

Vayne is really weak pre-6, just auto her as much as possible with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle since you have a 100 range advantage. Once she has W Silver Bolts, which is usually level 2 but sometimes level 3, she has a really strong trade when autoing you 3 times, look to take short trades where she can only hit you 2 times or all-in her with your support if she’s low enough.

After 6 she can quite easily run you down with invis since all your champ can do is auto attack so never try to 1v1 her if you don’t have a Crescendum, the Chakram combo and she’s not ahead; never overextend in a lane if you’re alone.

Never stand near walls vs Vayne since she can probably kill you at any point in the game if she lands a stun.

Xayah is usually very weak Level 1, she can only try to poke a bit with her Q Double Daggers through minions. After level 2 she will try to Q+AA+E you for poke and/or to root you so her support or jungler can follow up, so you have to pay attention to her feathers so that she cant hit you with 3+ feathers.

You want to poke her as much as possible at levels 1 and 2 since you outrange her by 125 range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle and she can’t really fight back. After level 3 you have to be more careful of her since she gets all-in potential when she gets her W Deadly Plumage if she got an engage support. If she doesn't have an engage support she doesn't have that much kill threat because there’s nobody to follow up on her root or to hold you down for her E Bladecaller.

If Xayah uses her W Deadly Plumage to push the wave or hit your support, she loses a lot of her dmg potential and you can try to go for trades with her.

Another very hard matchup for Aphelios as Ziggs has a lot of damage, slows & long range which makes it very difficult to get on top of him especially as he can W Satchel Charge away.

Basically what you want to do is NOT stay in minions because the easiest way for him to poke you is by Q’ing the minions and then the splash damage will hit you as it’s very big, so stay on the side of the wave instead.

You should be able to possibly get some free autos on him with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle following the steps above and once you get Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon it should be possible to walk up to him, mark him & snare into a potential all-in as Ziggs is weak in all-ins especially if he just used his abilities on the wave or for poking.

Tracking cooldowns is your friend here, check out the wiki and practise his cooldowns.

PLAYING WITH

Be very careful playing aggressively at level 1 as Alistar is very weak unless the enemies walk into melee range to get Q’d by Alistar. I recommend trying to get in as many hits on the enemies as possible with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle while still keeping your distance and not trying to trade 1v2. It’s not uncommon to get pushed in and let the enemies reach level 2 first in this matchup.

Your goal is to get as much CS as possible while remaining full HP until Alistar’s Level 2 - 3 whereas he’s strong and you can 2v2 easily especially when you rotate into your Blue & Purple combo around Level 3.

Play around your Crescendum, the Chakram and Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon combos since those allow you to follow up by either getting close enough to them with Severum, the Scythe Pistol MS or Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon CC, or they give you enough range for you to kill them in Alistar CC.

You should be looking to make slow pushes to run the enemy down in lane or dive as soon as the wave crashes since setting up dives with Alistar is really easy, especially after 6 when he can tank tower forever with ult Unbreakable Will.


PLAYING AGAINST

Abuse Alistar’s lack of Level 1 strength by slow pushing as slow as possible, stack waves while zoning & attacking the enemies as much as possible but be extremely careful about walking into Alistar’s Q Pulverize range or into the enemy minion wave as he’s able to Flash Q Pulverize to close out the distance.

Be extremely careful of Alistar when he’s level 3 as he’s one of, if not the strongest support at Level 3.

Just like playing with him, the enemy will most likely look to run you down in lane or dive you, so your goal when playing against him is to stay as healthy as possible and thin out the wave. Depending on the matchup they might not have enough damage during a dive so Alistar will shove in waves with the ADC and then roam.

PLAYING WITH

It’s important to play around the minion waves with a Bard as he can easily stun the enemies if you’re fighting inside one, Bard also has healing with his W Caretaker's Shrine which allows you to trade a lot with the enemy especially if their support doesn’t have any healing.

If Bard misses Q Cosmic Binding then be extremely careful for around 10 seconds as that’s his only offensive tool in 2v2 fights, however if he does land it then make sure to get some damage off, either in a small trade or an all in if you think you’ll win.


PLAYING AGAINST

Try to bait the Bard Q Cosmic Binding as soon as possible, try to sidestep and then for 10 seconds walk up and trade with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle until It’s back up. Keep in mind that Bard offers healing to the enemy ADC with his W so be careful not to trade evenly unless your support heals more.

Generally, It’s pretty easy to play against Bard as long you don’t walk up too far whenever he has Q Cosmic Binding available and make sure not to stay behind minions / walls which enables you to get stunned if you get hit by his Q Cosmic Binding.

PLAYING WITH

You should be careful of walking up too far Level 1 if your Blitzcrank is not in a position to hook the enemy, but generally Blitzcrank is quite weak until at least level 2 so it’s completely okay to let the enemy become level 2 first BUT don’t be too far up as it’s impossible to win fights if you’re Level 1 and the enemy 2.

Generally, try to hold the wave slightly outside your turret as much as possible as that forces the enemy botlane to walk up deep which increases your chances of Blitzcrank landing a successful hook. It’s very important that you DONT let the enemy wave become too big whilst doing this though, they should never have more than 3-4+ CS more than your wave.

DON’T expect too much, If Blitzcrank lands a hook that’s great, but if you have too high expectations then It’s easy to be let down potentially causing tilt. This is general advice.

I refer to this wave management technique as the snowballing lane technique

PLAYING AGAINST

This champion completely relies on hitting his Q Rocket Grab on you in order to be useful, and as longest you stand behind minions It’s impossible for him to do so. It’s extremely important to stand behind minions as much as possible and in order to do that I recommend SLOW pushing a lot in order to stack up those minions to give you more meatshields.

If you’re crossing into Blitzcrank’s side of the lane and you have no idea where the enemy jungler is make sure to ward, otherwise you can easily get ganked as Blitzcrank has great gank setup once he’s Level 2 especially.

PLAYING WITH

Brand’s not very strong level 1 as he doesn’t have access to his strong combo but he still has okay-ish poke with his W Pillar of Flame, make sure not to walk TOO deeply too and instead focus on short trades together with Brand W Pillar of Flame.

However, whenever Brand’s Level 2 & 3 then be ready to follow up whenever he walks up to trade, if Brand actually hits his abilities (especially Q) then commit into a potential all in BUT if he misses most if not all of his abilities then be ready to retreat and worst case let Brand die if you dont see yourself winning the fight.


PLAYING AGAINST

Try to bait Brand to W Pillar of Flame you as soon as possible and do your best to sidestep it, and then walk up aggro and trade for 8 seconds until its back up. Now, be careful of Brand after he’s Level 2 as he will try to do his W Pillar of Flame into Q Sear combo on you, and if you get hit by this there’s a decent chance you might die if you’re in a bad position to begin with.

As Brand’s a mage, he’s completely useless without his abilities so if you notice that he either used all of his abilities on your support, is out of mana or simply have them on cooldown, consider to all-in.

Be very careful of sticking together with your teammates whenever Brand’s Level 6 since his ultimate will bounce between targets and deal A LOT of damage if you don’t split apart quickly.

PLAYING WITH

So basically the entire purpose of Braum is to protect you from whatever wants to jump onto you, so he’s really good into everything that isn’t ranged basically haha. You’re both extremely strong at any time you have Severum, the Scythe Pistol available as your Severum, the Scythe Pistol Q Onslaught insta procs the Braum passive if Braum manages to land his Q Winter's Bite or auto a specific target.

If your Braum misses his Q Winter's Bite in early levels then be extra careful as he’s kinda useless without it but if it hits then you can try to walk up and get some autos on the target as they get slowed


PLAYING AGAINST

You shouldn’t have any issues playing vs Braum as long you stay behind minions / support so that he’s not able to land Q Winter's Bite on you, however be careful of standing too close to the enemy minions as he’s able to jump to them into engage which can surprise you.

Braum’s the weakest whenever his E is on cooldown as that’s his main defensive tool and it has a HUGE cooldown of 16 seconds so fight whenever It’s down but be cautious of his Q Winter's Bite still.

PLAYING WITH

Galio relies on combo’ing his abilities in order to lock down & oneshot the target, so don’t expect too much from him level 1 UNLESS he manages to land his W Shield of Durand / E Justice Punch in which case you can walk up and get some free autos on whatever target he locks down.

If he starts with Q Winds of War then he’s kinda useless level 1 except for some poke damage, but when he’s level 3 then he has access to his entire kit and then all you have to do is be ready to follow up on his engages and you will most likely be able to oneshot whoever he locks down especially if you have guns such as Blue Purple or Red White or any high dps combo.

PLAYING AGAINST

Be careful of walking too close to the bushes as Galio LOVES to sit in them patiently waiting for you to walk close enough for him to E Justice Punch, but as long as you don’t walk up too deep and you stay with your support in your wave you should be okay, and remember that Galio’s completely useless whenever he has used his E Justice Punch and W Shield of Durand so fight back after that. His entire job is basically jumping on one person and one shotting him.

PLAYING WITH

Janna has quite a bit of poke damage and range with her W Zephyr level 1 so I suggest slowpushing the wave and attacking the enemy together especially if you have a significant range advantage over them, It’s quite hard to all-in the opponents with Janna and instead you should focus on doing short trades and chip away their HP little by little BUT if Janna manages to land a Q Howling Gale on the enemy that could result in a hefty chunk of HP or even all-in if scenarios are right.

PLAYING AGAINST

Janna will try to walk up and W Zephyr you as much as she can Level 1 but luckily for you, Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle has more range than her W Zephyr so It’s possible for you to AA her twice and deal more damage to her than she will to you and you can keep doing that all the time pretty much but obviously you also have to be cautious of the enemy ADC trading with you aswell especially since she slows you with W Zephyr.

It’s extremely important that you’re wary of her Q Howling Gale at ALL times, she will try to charge the Q’s in fog of war, inside the bushes and so on but as longest you’re always keeping them in mind It’s simple to sidestep them as they are slow.

PLAYING WITH

You’re both extremely high ranged and your Level 1 is extremely strong so I suggest you to enter the lane & trade as much as possible together with Karma and make sure not to push too hard and instead focus on zoning, slowpushing and trade with your insane amount of range.

PLAYING AGAINST

So Karma’s by far the enchanter with the most damage in laning phase and ALOT of people struggle to play against her, but as longest you stay horizontally away from her and there’s a minion wave between you she won’t be able to land her Q’s on you.

Be careful of entering into lane as a lot of Karmas like to R Mantra + Q Inner Flame you whenever you walk up to the minion wave and It’s kinda hard to counter that if you are forced to leash your jungler but worst case you take some damage, the WORST thing that you can do hands-down against Karma is walking up aggro into the enemy botlane without any minion protection and she has R Mantra + Q Inner Flame available as you’ll get extremely slowed & damage if you get hit easily leading into you dying

I always try to bait Karma R Mantra + Q Inner Flame as fast as I can when I enter lane and then I walk up and trade whenever Karma Q is on cooldown for 7 seconds but I NEVER walk up if she has R Mantra + Q Inner Flame up.

PLAYING WITH

Leona’s quite weak Level 1 as she doesn’t have access to her E Zenith Blade into Q Shield of Daybreak combo so don’t walk up too aggressively and It’s quite common to let the enemies get level 2 first and just go back to turret and wait for the wave to come into you, but if you’re able to get level 2 first then that’s really good and make sure to PING the enemies a few seconds BEFORE you’re level 2 so that your Leona’s more prepared to engage and this goes for in general too, pings are op!

PLAYING AGAINST

Slowpush the first wave and hit the enemies as soon as they walk up in range but be cautious not to walk into the enemy wave as Leona can start E Zenith Blade and still engage on you even though It’s not that strong, I suggest bringing Cleanse in this matchup as Leona’s CC with Q Shield of Daybreak and R Solar Flare is extremely deadly especially since you have no mobility.

PLAYING WITH

Try to find out whether your Lulu starts with Q Glitterlance or E Whimsy simply by asking her and if she starts with E Whimsy then walk up and trade with it and whenever It’s on cooldown for 10 seconds then be a bit more cautious about trading but you have a lot of range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle so you should be fine, try to push the wave enough to the point where your minions will push automatically and then focus on hitting the enemies instead of pushing since you zoning them away from the wave means you get level 2 first anyways

PLAYING AGAINST

Walk up and try to bait the Lulu shield away and when it’s gone then you can freely trade with Calibrum, the Sniper Riflefor 8 seconds or so until the shield is back up, rinse and repeat this process. I don’t recommend trading 1v1 into Lulu if you’re in range of her abilities but since you have a lot more range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle this shouldn’t happen.

Lulu has a lot of shields and protection so make sure that the enemies dont get an unexpected shield / ulti from Lulu if you do decide to all-in as you can easily get baited by that and then maybe die.

PLAYING WITH

Let her poke with E Lucent Singularity and walk up whenever she roots someone. With Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon you can root them and layer CC with her Q Prismatic Barrier. Never walk up if her Q Prismatic Barrier is down since you can get jumped on for free. If you’re going to trade do it when Lux has her shield available so you can mitigate damage.

PLAYING AGAINST

Play inside your minion wave so she can’t land Q Light Binding on you, it can only hit 2 targets. Try to stand out of range of her E Lucent Singularity to not get hit by it and walk up once it’s on cooldown.

Mainly you just wait for her to use Q Light Binding if you want to all in and E/W if you want to trade. Hitting her with your spells should be easy since she’s an immobile mage. Stay as healthy as possible and all-in as soon as you can since she is pretty bad in all-ins if she can’t land her spells.

PLAYING WITH

Maokai is quite useless Level 1 so don’t expect much help, basically think of the lane as 1v2 unless the enemies walk into his saplings hehe but you should be fine and in the worst case you can just fall back to turret and let the enemy get level 2 first but be very careful not to be too far up if they do since they can potentially collapse on you.

PLAYING AGAINST

Maokai will most likely start his E Sapling Toss in which case all you have to do is stay away from the bushes as he will usually stack a bunch of them in the bush waiting for you to walk into it, be extremely careful walking into the tri bush if you’re leashing red buff on blue side.

But I mean as long as you don’t walk into the bushes then Maokai is quite useless until level 3, be cautious of walking into Maokai’s W Twisted Advance range as he’s able to jump on top of you which can easily lead into you getting all-inned or ganked upon.

PLAYING WITH

Currently I consider Morgana a pretty terrible champion as she doesn’t do much if she doesn’t land Q’s so don’t expect too much of her. Simply play your own game & worst case scenario don’t die and just farm up if she doesn’t land any bindings.

However, when you’re around level 3 and obtain the Infernum, the Flamethrower - Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon combo you can inflict the Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon mark on the enemy, and then wait for Morgana to be in range / angle before using Q Dark Binding and this pretty much sets up the Morgana Q Dark Binding for free which can easily lead into a kill.


PLAYING AGAINST

Morgana’s only offensive ability pre-6 is her Q Dark Binding, which is a very slow projectile and also gets blocked by minions so make sure to stand behind minions as much as possible, basically NEVER walk up outside of minions unless she just Q’d and it’s on cooldown.

Cleanse can be good into her if the enemy ADC can burst you down in her bind since Morgana can chain CC you with R Soul Shackles and guarantee it with Flash.

Be very careful of the small openings that happen while standing inside the minions wave though as all it takes is 1 Q Dark Binding in order for you to get extremely chunked, otherwise though it’s an easy matchup as you can pretty much always all-in after level 3 as long as you avoid the Q.

PLAYING WITH

You can trade a lot against the enemy as long as you don’t walk past the enemies melee minions and get engaged upon while tanking minions, but as long as you don't do that just trade a lot with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle since Nami will heal you + damage the enemy at the same time with her W Ebb and Flow.

Even trades are always worth UNLESS the enemy botlane also has a healing support in which case you have to be a bit more cautious about it, otherwise the lane is kind of the same as most Aphelios lanes where you just wanna get as many free Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle hits in as possible and then once you get Infernum, the Flamethrower - Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon you can potentially look for an all-in with the Gravitum mark into Q Binding Eclipse into Nami Q Aqua Prison setup

PLAYING AGAINST

You have to utilize your max range Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle ALOT in this lane as if you ever walk up into the enemy ADC’s range and do even trades it’s not good unless either your support heals more than Nami or your support’s also there to help you out.

Nami’s key disengage & kill pressure ability is her Q Aqua Prison and it’s quite simple to avoid it but be careful so that you don’t mindlessly walk up and get hit by it as you will pretty much always lose the trade if you do, but if she uses it and it’s on cooldown then you can go pretty wild especially if your support’s with you.

PLAYING WITH

Play close to him since level one to follow up if he hits a hook. You probably don’t have enough damage to kill whoever he hits with just your autos so don’t over commit, just take the free trade. From level two onwards you can probably burst down anyone Nautilus hooks. Play around your Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon slow/root to set up Nautilus’ hook and get a free kill. After level 6 you should be able to engage on anyone for free with his ult Depth Charge by either bursting them down with a high DPS gun or layering CC with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon (this means don’t use your root until all of Naut’s CC is over so they are CC’d for as long as possible).

PLAYING AGAINST

It’s actually very simple to play against Nautilus as his only ability that really ****s you up is his Q Dredge Line but as long as you stand either behind minions or your support he cannot hit that, and if his Q’s on cooldown he’s pretty much useless for 12 seconds until it’s back up so you can trade in that duration.

So there’s only 1 ability to really avoid, but be careful if the enemy has any CC such as Jhin W as that can easily setup the Nautilus Q Dredge Line and if you get hit by the hook you’re pretty much doomed, Nautilus is also very scary when he’s level 6 as his Ultimate’s a knockup that isn’t Cleanseable so there isn’t much counterplay except simply running away to a safe position like the turret or behind teammates.

b]PLAYING WITH[/b]

Pantheon’s basically not a champion unless he’s in range for his W Shield Vault so it’s very important to not go too deep unless Pantheon’s around to help you out, since he offers nothing if he’s not in melee range.

It’s extremely simple to oneshot the enemies around level 3 when you have Infernum, the Flamethrower + Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon as you can just Infernum Q into Gravitum Q, snaring the enemies and allowing Pantheon to easily jump on the target effectively oneshotting them in most cases.

Basically, just don’t go too deep if Pantheon’s not there to help you and you’ll be fine.

PLAYING AGAINST

I suggest bringing Cleanse against Pantheon as his entire thing is basically jumping on you with his W Shield Vault, stunning you and then proceeding to unload his entire combo on you, which Cleanse prevents.

Otherwise, It’s quite simple to play against Pantheon as he has a very one-dimensional kit and he can’t do much else except jumping on you. I suggest slowpushing waves as slow as possible, stack those waves and play within them as he cant jump on you if there’s a lot of minions.

You can also pretty much trade as much as possible against him as long as he’s not in range for his W Shield Vault but be cautious of the enemy jungler so make sure to have vision before going too deep, also when you’re fighting against Pantheon try to kite around him as he becomes invulnerable in one direction for around 2 seconds with his E Aegis Assault.

PLAYING WITH

So, this lane’s basically like this, if Pyke lands his Q Bone Skewer on a target then you can trade a bit level 1-2 but cant go too deep in general. However, when you’re around level 3 with Infernum, the Flamethrower + Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon it should be easy to kill the enemies as soon as Pyke hooks someone or you can also set up his hooks by using Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon, but if your Pyke ever misses Q Bone Skewer then be defensive for around 10 seconds till it’s back up again.

PLAYING AGAINST

Stay in waves, that’s all you have to do. Pyke solely relies on hitting his hook in order to make plays in most cases so as long as you stay behind / around minions you’ll be fine. Additionally, be careful of the bushes as Pyke loves to be inside them since it allows him to hit his hooks easier, I recommend warding the bush that he’s constantly inside if possible.

Slowpushing is your friend in this lane, slowpush and stack waves as much as possible since Pyke cant do anything if you’re surrounded by them and the worst thing you can do is push & push all the time because then the enemies could potentially freeze and you’re in an awkward spot.

PLAYING WITH

If Rakan levels Q Gleaming Quill at level 3 you two will have a pretty good spike at level two so try to get a good trade on the enemy botlane by using Severum, the Scythe Pistol Q to follow up on his W Grand Entrance if it hits someone and then back off as he E’s to you. With Rakan's lockdown you can easily follow up and burst them down with pretty much every gun combo or set him up with a Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon root. You are especially strong whenever you have Severum, the Scythe Pistol and Crescendum, the Chakram.

PLAYING AGAINST

He usually levels W Grand Entrance level 1 so just be mindful of it and don’t get hit. Whenever his W Grand Entrance is on cooldown you shouldn’t be afraid to walk up to auto attack since it’s a relatively long cooldown. After 6 keep your distance since he will constantly look to Flash on you with W Grand Entrance or with ult instantly hitting you with all of his CC.

PLAYING WITH

If she goes in lvl 1 with W Ferromancy - Crash Down / Mount Up just get as many autos as possible, if they get really low by letting you auto them while they auto Rell you may be able to kill them but you should only look for trades. She might try to all-in level 2 with W Ferromancy - Crash Down / Mount Up and E Attract and Repel so be ready since you also get your gun abilities at level 2. After level 6 Rell has so much CC you can win any all-in so long as she lands everything on the ADC and you are healthy enough.

PLAYING AGAINST

Be super careful of her since lvl 1 since you don’t have any mobility, space away from her W Ferromancy - Crash Down / Mount Up and fight whenever it’s on cooldown, it’s a flat 11 second CD. Be super careful when she mounts up with her second cast of W Ferromancy - Crash Down / Mount Up since she will get a lot of mobility and knock you up with her auto attack. Spacing is really important against Rell, so long you do it correctly you should never die.

PLAYING WITH

She’s going to try and trade as much as possible so try to trade at the same time as her or put yourself between her and her target so the Q Piercing Darkness heals you as it damages the enemy. You can help her hit her W Last Embrace with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon, if they are low enough from the trades you can probably kill them.

PLAYING AGAINST

She wants to trade on you as much as possible so play around your support so you both trade on her when she walks up. Be careful to never get hit for free since she can heal and stack a soul when she AA+Q’s.

PLAYING WITH

She’s quite weak before level 3 and she will probably just poke a little bit with Q High Note or E Beat Drop, you should play passively until then. You can make her E Beat Drop stun instantly if you slow them with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon so try to be more aggressive whenever you have it. One E Beat Drop will root instantly and a second E Beat Drop will stun them. Only trade when Seraphine has her shield up so that you take less damage than your opponent.

PLAYING AGAINST

Before level 3 you can dodge her abilities and then walk up to auto her or the ADC as much as possible since Seraphine will deal no damage nor be able to block the damage. After level 3 try to bait the shield or wait until she uses it to trade. Her E Beat Drop is relatively slow so you should not have any problems side stepping it; make sure to not stand next to walls so it’s harder for her to hit it.

PLAYING WITH

You have to be prepared to follow Sett’s engages at all times especially as they can be quite sudden at times since he wants to flash in a lot, but basically your job is to follow him and attack the target as fast as possible. Aphelios & Sett doesn’t really have that much Synergy level 1 as Sett wants to fight and all in but Aphelios wants to keep his distance and do short trades, but once you get Infernum, the Flamethrower & Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon at around level 3 you can easily all in together with Sett.

PLAYING AGAINST

So, It’s kinda annoying to play against Sett as Aphelios since he wants to try to engage as much as possible, Sett will almost always try to Flash in either level 1 or 2 to try to get your Flash / kill you and then later on sit in the bushes and hexflash on you as much as possible.

Be very careful about walking up too deep level 1, dont go beyond your melee minions as Sett can Flash on you and then it’ll be hard to deal with him since Aphelios is really weak to all ins level 1.

Try to stay away / ward the bushes and play with your support as much as possible, but once you get Infernum, the Flamethrower & Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon it should be pretty easy to kite the Sett and then when you have gun synergies such as Green Whtie and Red White you can easily kill him if he walks into you

PLAYING WITH

Don’t expect much from Shaco, he isn’t really that useful unless the enemies walk into his boxes or he’s able to Q Deceive into the enemy ADC or something but otherwise you can think of it as a 1v2 when it comes to trading so don’t overextend too deep.

You can set up a potential all-in around level 3 with your Infernum, the Flamethrower - Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon Q and make sure to fight in your waves & the boxes if they’re around as they can be very useful


PLAYING AGAINST

Shaco’s quite useless if you purchase the Sweeper trinket level 1 so I definitely recommend doing that, basically as you’re entering into the lane use it and then get rid of all of the boxes which pretty much renders him useless.

Basically be wary of the bushes at all times and be careful not to overrextend too deep into their side of the lane as there could be a bunch of boxes lurking there, so make sure to sweep if you’re uncertain.

Otherwise, It’s extremely simple to play against Shaco as Aphelios as you beat him at pretty much every level.

PLAYING WITH

Try to trade if she uses her Q Hymn of Valor by autoing and play passively until level 6 where you could all-in if she lands a stun and you have enough of an HP advantage. Overall you should focus on farming and scaling alongside her.

PLAYING AGAINST

Stay out of her Q Hymn of Valor range and then auto her when it’s on cooldown since she has no way of dealing damage. If you ever catch her with your support you can probably blow her up since she’s super squishy and her heal is pretty small.

PLAYING WITH

Play parallel to her so that when she walks up to Q Starcall you can auto attack if it hits, they will be slowed so it’s hard for them to trade back. If they have no heals or shields don’t be afraid to trade aggressively since Soraka can heal you back up. You two will be very weak to hard engage so play cautiously if the enemy team has any.

PLAYING AGAINST

Focus on spacing her so you can dodge her Q Starcall, so long you do this and trade against her, or even the adc, she will become really low so you can set up a kill. Play around whatever engage you have in your team since she’s really weak to it.

PLAYING WITH

Basically, you have to be prepared to trade & engage for whenever Swain lands his E Nevermove but if he misses his E Nevermove then back off for 10 seconds until it’s back up as Swain’s practically useless without it, it’s quite hard to all-in before you’re level 3 with Infernum, the Flamethrower - Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon as you lack the damage but after that it should be easy.

Aphelios' Infernum, the Flamethrower Q has a very long range so you can unexpectedly do that, and then mark the enemies with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon and then proc it with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon Q whenever Swain’s in range to E Nevermove them.

PLAYING AGAINST

There’s one ability that you have to be wary of, Swain’s E Nevermove. It’s not really a problem for Aphelios at level 1-2 as you have a lot of range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle but once you lose Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle it can be a problem, most Swains will try to E Nevermove you whenever you’re about to lasthit a minion so be wary of that.

You should try to bait the Swain E Nevermove as much as possible, and then walk up and trade when it’s on cooldown for 10 seconds as he’s pretty much useless without it, but I would never walk up deep if he has it available

PLAYING WITH

Taric doesn’t really have that much synergy with Aphelios level 1 as Taric wants to fight in melee and Aphelios wants to fight long range but once you get melee guns such as Blue Purple & Red white it shouldn’t be hard to all-in the enemy especially if Taric lands his E Dazzle.

Keep in mind that you can change the direction of Taric’s E Dazzle with character movement & Flash to unexpectedly stun the enemy without them being able to react to it but it’s not really needed to win this lane

Taric also offers healing with his Q Starlight's Touch so if the enemy support doesn’t have any healing even trades are very good for you so walk up and trade a lot


PLAYING AGAINST

You should be fine against Taric as long as you don’t get hit by his E Dazzle but as you have a lot of range level 1-2 and then you have slows & snares it should be hard for him to walk up to you and land it, be cautious about the Taric E Dazzle into Flash though as that can unexpectedly stun you into a collapse

Be wary of the fact that Taric has healing so if you have no healing from your support then even trades are really bad to do and also whenever Taric is level 6 it’s better to try to bait the ulti and then DISENGAGE until it’s gone, or if you’re confident that you can kill the enemies before it procs then go for it as it takes 2.5 seconds for it to get into effect after cast.

PLAYING WITH

Thresh’s definitely the best support for Aphelios as he offers everything that you need, try to stay max range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle and attack the enemy as much as possible and if Thresh lands Hook / Flay then you can walk up with Severum, the Scythe Pistol potentially and get some extra autos in there

Generally though there’s not much to do until Thresh’s at least level 2 unlocking his ability to Hook - Flay, and the real powerspike is around level 3 when you get Infernum, the Flamethrower & Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon as they work REALLY well with Thresh.

You want to get the Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon mark on the enemy, and then whenever Thresh’s in range / has the angle to land hook activate the mark with Q and then you basically get a free hook into a very easy all in.


PLAYING AGAINST

It’s important to know which ability Thresh started, and in order to do so press on him and in the top-left corner you’ll see his champion’s HUD and if you see the Flay Icon in there that means he started Flay, if not he started hook.

If he started Flay simply don’t walk into the flay range (537) so if you’re always at max range when AA’ing he can’t hit you, and if he started with hook then simply stand behind the minions in order to avoid that. Thresh’s pretty weak until he gets his Q-E combo level 2 though so don’t be scared to trade a lot with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle level 1.

PLAYING WITH

You’ll want to poke the enemies a lot together with Vel'Koz with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle but be very cautious about moving too forward as Vel'Koz has no peeling for you in case the enemies both jump on you so don't walk up into the enemy wave.

Basically this entire laning phase is just taking short trades and then potentially all-in at around level 3 when you have Infernum, the Flamethrower + Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon whereas you can mark the enemies and then proc it, snaring them whenever Vel'Koz is in range to throw his abilities (specifically his E Tectonic Disruption)

PLAYING AGAINST

Try to walk up and bait the Vel'Koz to throw out his Q Plasma Fission ASAP, sidestep it preferably and then you can trade with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle for around 6 seconds until it’s back up again

Generally, this lane’s quite easy as long as you stay behind minions to prevent Vel'Koz’s Q and it’s very important to NEVER get hit by his E Tectonic Disruption as you’ll be knocked up and CC’d which can really hurt you, potentially killing you pretty easily if the enemy ADC is there to attack you.

PLAYING WITH

Play around his W Eye of Destruction slow and his E Shocking Orb stun to get favorable trades since they will most likely not be able to hit you back. If they don’t have hard engage try to keep the enemy under tower to harass them for farm and get cs leads or maybe even kill them by withering them down. Play passive until level 3 since you can just get engaged on; just let him poke with Q Arcanopulse and stay as healthy as possible. If you root someone with Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon you two should layer your CC to blow someone up during it.

PLAYING AGAINST

Try to stand in max auto range of Xerath while sidestepping so that you can auto him as soon as he misses Q Arcanopulse (or even if he hits it so you can trade some HP, but focus on dodging it). Keep minions between you and him whenever his E Shocking Orb is up so you can’t get stunned. Stay out of W Eye of Destruction range whenever it’s up since he can guarantee all his abilities hit you if you’re slowed. You want to stay as healthy as possible so you can all-in as soon as he misses his E Shocking Orb and W Eye of Destruction.

PLAYING WITH

So a lot of people dislike to play with Yuumi as she doesn’t really offer much engage, peeling nor damage in early game and basically the way you wanna play with her is that you just want to do short trades as much as possible as she can always heal you up if you do take some trading damage.

Be extremely cautious of getting engaged upon by the enemies support at all times and try to analyze his abilities and how to avoid them in order to quite easily be able to not die allowing you to scale.

Scaling, that’s pretty much what Yuumi does as she becomes a beast once you get into mid-late game and thus It’s not necessary to win laning phase and instead simply not dying and getting as much CS & XP as possible is good enough

PLAYING AGAINST

Stay in the wave level 1 so that Yuumi’s not able to land her Q Prowling Projectile on you as it deals quite a bit of damage, and it also slows you which makes it easy for the enemy ADC to get in range to damage you.

Utilize your extra range with Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle to hit the enemy ADC as much as possible while staying behind minions and then once you have Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon it’s quite easy to kill the enemy botlane together with your support as Yuumi’s really weak in early game. You can also QUICKLY Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon Q the Yuumi if she’s outside of her ADC, rooting her in place and not allowing her to enter another champion for a few seconds which is usually enough to all-in her.

However, be careful about taking even trades unless your support can also heal you as Yuumi can heal her ADC quite a bit, even trades meaning that you deal and take around the same amount of damage.

PLAYING WITH

Be careful as Zilean doesn’t do much except dealing some poke damage with his Q Time Bomb so DONT walk up too deep, simply stay max range with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle and try to get some hits in but be careful so that you don’t walk up past their melee minions and / or getting engaged upon by the enemy support

However, when Zilean is level 2 he’s a bit stronger as he’s able to stun the enemy by landing Q into Q which is a small window for you to walk up and trade a bit but it’s going to be hard to all-in unless the enemy is overextended or already low HP prior to the engage.

Generally, Zilean’s a scaling champion, his early game isn’t all that great but he becomes a nice support in mid-game with all the movement speed, zoning with his Q Time Bomb as well as the amazing revive with his R Chronoshift. I wouldn’t say that you should trust Zilean 100% to R you though, keke.

PLAYING AGAINST

Try to walk up level 1 & bait the Zilean Q Time Bomb as soon as possible, and then try to sidestep into hitting the enemy with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle for a solid 8 seconds before it’s back up again.

That’s pretty much all you can do with your Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle & Severum, the Scythe Pistol, keep doing that but once you have Infernum, the Flamethrower & Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon it’s quite easy to all-in together with your support as Zilean’s pretty much useless if he doesn’t hit his Q’s on you and he’s also squishy.

You pretty much only need to avoid 1 of the Zilean Q’s as he’s not able to stun you unless he lands both of them, so it’s very common to sidestep Zilean Q and then all-in right after.

PLAYING WITH

Try to play around Zyra’s plants as they deal a lot of damage if left unattended, if Zyra lands her E Grasping Roots on the enemies then you can walk up and trade / fight but if she misses it then back off and play defensive for 12 seconds until it’s back up.

Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon’s your friend when you play with Zyra as she doesn’t really lack damage but she lacks a way to land her abilities and you help her out with that, try to mark the enemies around level 3 and then proc it whenever Zyra’s in range to land her E Grasping Roots into Q Deadly Spines combo for a high chance to either get a really good trade or kill the enemy.

PLAYING AGAINST

Basically the way Zyra works is that she wants to try to make as many plants as possible so all you have to do is NOT go into a bunch of seeds on the ground, and try to stay in the wave / next to support because then the plants wont aggro only on you.

Zyra’s main fighting ability is her E Grasping Roots which roots & deals damage so as longest she’s not able to land that on you, fighting her shouldn’t be hard as she doesn’t have that much damage until level 6 really especially because she’s a weak champ currently.

If you’re playing against a lot of CC besides Zyra I recommend going Cleanse as that’ll make it A LOT harder for their botlane to kill you since you can just cleanse the CC, because Zyra’s main way of killing you is CCing you with her E Grasping Roots into R Stranglethorns.