Hello fellow ADCs!

The great Vapora Dark has written an amazing guide for Aphelios. This is even the reason I started playing the champion and started to feel him after 2 games in Practice Tool. Vapora Dark also has lots of youtube footage, if you want to see positioning, spacing, damage trading etc. I really do not have to add much here, but I want to share 4 of my own discoveries:

1. The difficulty Level 3/3 in the client is wrong. Aphelios is a 2/3 just like Jinx. I find it way harder to hit the Xayah Ultimate or to hit every Q with Ezreal and Sivir. Why is Ezreal not a 3/3? Low armor, expensive Trinity, no crit build and you must hit everything for a 47-50% winrate. Meanwhile, Aphelios just chills, then destroys everything. Just like Kai'Sa or Jinx. If you like those two, please try out Aphelios! :)

2. Buy Plated Steelcaps. Yun Tal (and in some cases the rune Legend Alacrity) will give you enough Attack Speed. But with the help of Plated Steelcaps you can kill a Viego or Master Yi and also casually destroy the enemy ADC who build Berserker's. That 25 Armor and 10% Damage reduction is insane. Keep in mind, that the Riot Balancing team reduces the armor of ADCs Level 1 all the time. This creates such a huge advantage for you. Especially in low elo, where everybody is arrogant and greedy and think they can one shot the ADC casually on the fly. Those Junglers will be angry, when you predict their gank and just kill them 1 v 1.

3. Use items according to situation. If there is a Lux, Hwei, Mel just build Maw of Malmortius and then Berserker's for the missing Attack Speed, since you do not have Yun Tal in this kind of scenario. Also, try Thornmail vs Viego, Master Yi, Naafiri etc. They will jump on you and then find out ... Thornmail+Severum+Crescendum is such a powerful combo. You can even hide in bush and jump on a target to catch somebody.

4. Gravitum (purple weapon)is not useless. You can root an enemy champion on the run. Then your Assassin team mate can dash upon target or the midlaner can get the extra seconds for the AOE damage. Mel, Hwei, Veigar, Amumu will always use that opportunity. In case of doubt, use Gravitum vs Turrets or vs Dragons. Yes, you want to have Infernum for the Ultimate, Calibrum for poke and Crescendum/ Severum for the Aphelios highlight plays, but Gravitum is sleeper op in some situations. Imagine, an ADC who can stun somebody and then go all in with Crescendum. With the addition of Steelcaps and the Yun Tal, IE, LDR combo, this is a nightmare for the enemy ADC.

Tips For Laning Phase:

- poke the enemy bot lane with Calibrum
- try to last hit minions that are near your own turret with Severum
- you do not want to have Severum/ Gravitum at the same time
- sword and double daggers can help with farming
- remember to adapt the boots: Berserker's is standard, Swiftness when there is a Pyke or Mel or Blitzcrank and you want to get out of their range
- with the high attack speed and movement speed of Phantom Dancer you could also go Plated Steelcaps
- positioning is everything on Aphelios, with Calibrum you can poke like Caitlyn
- once enemy hp is low enough and your support makes an engage, use a fast Severum or Crescendum combo on the enemy and then use the Calibrum Q for a longe range execute
- you can also try and use Gravitum to stun an enemy if your Jungler is in bot lane to gank before first or second dragon

Tips for mid game

- just hold the mid lane, as long as there are turrets in mid and Aphelios is allowed to farm for items, the enemy will have a super hard time to finish the game, even with a Baron
- never walk alone, Aphelios is super slow, even with Phantom Dancer movement speed or extra defense from Shieldbow, he has a hard time to get away from no brain jumpers and stompers like Volibear, Trundle etc
- as long as you make sure that there are team mates near you, there is always an opportunity to poke enemy champions safely
- make sure you have Infernum or Crescendum up for dragon fights, in combination with the Ultimate, PTA rune and The Collector, Aphelios is a rare case ADC that can just wipe the enemy team in certain spots, in most games you get at least 2 dragon fights and 1 baron nashor fight, minimum, to practice this strategy; just like a corner kick in soccer, everybody knows whats coming, but the damage still hits like a truck
- like Zeri and Yunara, Aphelios is mostly about team fights, but do not forget to push waves or deal damage on a turret if you get the chance
- Level 12 onwards Aphelios can do enemy Jungle camps

Tips for late game:

- use your pings for Baron or Dragon when enemy Jungler is down or 2 or more enemy champions are down, sometimes your Jungler will be to busy to do the pings or your support is a mage and not a real supporter and therefore has 0 macro knowledge; playing late game adc with the observant eyes of a second Jungle brain, can make a huge difference - even though you may have a bad K/D/A and poor damage numbers; a win is a win
- read the enemy draft like an open book; if they have something like Nocturne or Lux that wants to instant kill you, make sure you have GA or enough magic resist or armor to survive; for example against an enemy Galio Kaenic Rookern or Jak'Sho instead of Infinity Edge can be game winning, yes you do less damage, but you are still alive to deal damage at all and walk down midlane with your team
- use your blue trinkets for long range vision, to prevent enemy champions from jumping in your face; like Malzahar hiding in a brush and doing the high skill expression: press R, win game
- slow push waves; then the enemy has to come to you, most people lack patience and they get angry when you play a slow and clean game, then you can punish their mistakes
- if you play against a team that is also super calm and plays safe, never walk in zero vision areas and never flash forward even if a single enemy has low hp; might be super boring and anti fun from a full item Aphelios pov, but remember your job, play safe, stay in backline, wait for jungler or support doing the engage or enemy mistake - then you can go all in
- make sure that you always have a trump card ready in your sleeves. You want to switch to Crescendum/ Infernum whenever a Dragon fight or Baron fight starts. This way you can use your Ultimate and then get the triple kill to win the game. As Aphelios this is your main winning condition: shredder and delete everything with Crescendum when they least expect it. So be ready at all times, check the timers, predict the pathing of all 9 champions, predict the future. Once the moon shines - attack with cold precision.
- in ultra latea game never ever have an ego as ADC, sometimes other people in your team make game winning plays and all you have to do is clean up and take down dragons/ barons/ turrets/ inhibs; even if you went vs 2 mages bot and finish the game with 0/3 an no fun at all, play for the team
- if somebody else in your team is super strong and almost solo winning (like Toplaner or Jungler being 3 levels ahead) watch closely what they are doing and then do soemthing different on the map to create a second point of pressure
- if you are in the rare situation that you have like 15+ kills and are the strongest champion: use an item like Immortal Shieldbow or Death's Dance and walk up like a psycho with your toplaner and stare at the tier 3 turret menacingly; in the meantime your Jungler will do dragon or herald or whatever else on the map