Note: I have been writing this guide since December and since then, so many patches has passed that I will be publishing this guide before its full completion. I think it will be too long before I can say it's 'complete' to wait until then. I will update this guide regularly, while also implementing new content.
To-do list:
Champion Trivia: Swap-combo, Weapon Macro
Early/Mid/Late Game Info
Laning Match-ups
Non-laning Match-ups
Assassin Counterplay
Support Synergies
Itemization
Situational Runes
Video Examples (for basically everything)


IGN: Laserholic (North America)
Peak Rank: Master
Aphelios Games: 500+ (Total over multiple accounts)

This isn't exactly a 'guide' let alone a 'beginner guide' for new Aphelios players.
There are tons of guides out there for basics and standard combos/builds etc.

This is more of a database and collection of advanced tips for Aphelios players to up their game, expand their awareness of other builds/playstyles, and see what's the best setups that work in higher elos. Also some trivial know-abouts regarding the champion and items, perhaps also match-up knowledge and other gameplay related topics.
(I won't guarentee all of those things will be in here as this guide will be ridiculously long- already is- and constantly changing based on patch notes, my improvements as a player, my changing opinions based on observation of other players, and so on)

This whole thing is also written by me personally (not a guide ghost-writer),
which means; by an actual Aphelios main that plays Aphelios a lot.
Many of the other guides for Aphelios on this site are basic guides for entry/beginners by named players that don't play the champion much (which is fine if it's a basic guide).

Patch 11.2
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Champion Rating

This section will be my personal assessment of Aphelios in a few aspects such as;

SoloQueue Viability- How well the champion preforms in SoloQueue environments which includes things like Low Cooperation, Lack of Teamcomp Synergy, etc. This also regards to SOLO Queue not Duo.
Champion Difficulty - Mechanical and Macro difficulty to play the champion comparatively to other champions.
Learning Curve - The difficulty to improve on the champion (primarily early on).
Champion Skillcap - The potential of the champion if hypothetically, one was able to play to the best capability. This also indicates how powerful a champion can become when learned to a high level.



SoloQueue Viability: Malphite[ ] - Very Viable[ ] - Viable[ ] - Not Recommended[X] - Tahm Kench Support[ ]

Champion Difficulty: Malphite[ ] - Easy[ ] - Medium[ ] - Hard[X] - You have to be Faker[ ]

Learning Curve: Malphite[ ] - Easy[ ] - Medium[ ] - Hard[ ] - Kingda Ka[X]

Champion Skillcap: Malphite[ ] - Low[ ] - Medium[ ] - High[ ] - PhD[X]

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Pros, Situationals, and Cons

Pros
- Champion Complexity is usually beneficial for the player (You know what you're doing... but enemies don't).
- While difficult, reaching the high skill ceiling will reward you.
- Very fun for players who love to constantly think.
- Hypercarry with Utility; LateGame/Scaling/ADC metas will be dominated by Aphelios.

Situational
- Having a Duo Partner unlocks the best of Aphelios' potential.
- Teammates and Enemies alike may not know what you're doing.
- Aphelios is unstoppable in some compositions, however in other comps, useless.

Cons
- Susceptible early laning phase.
- Some assassins makes the game unplayable (Blue Kayn especially).
- You will lose a lot of games learning the champion.
- Some people (like myself) will have mental strain just playing him (usually early on while inexperienced).
- The great qualities he shows in pro-play usually stays there. Pro-play is a snapchat filter for Aphelios' true viability.
- Highly team-reliant, if you fall behind and your teammates are tilting, the game is likely doomed.

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Popular & Best Builds

Common builds by many high elo players (including professionals) with many Aphelios games.

Currently the Best Builds:

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Kraken Builds:

Currently the best Mythic overall to buy. All iterations are very good. Kraken interacts very well with Aphelios' ability-attacks.



Standard and most comprehensive build. This is the most useful build across all levels of play. Runaan's Hurricane and Infinity Edge both are long-known staple items on Aphelios.


Better Single-Target DPS/Dueling. This build was mainly built because it was 900g cheaper than Runaans when it was 3400G; reaching 3-core spike faster. However it is still good if you really need to focus one target.

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Muramana Builds (Always Includes Kraken):
These are uncommon and as far as I know, are mainly built by few NA Aphelios players.
Note: Probably a dead build after Patch 11.1's Muramana nerfs to cost and proc damage.

Muramana will be explained in the Item section. It deals high damage with Severum.

Likely better of the Muramana builds as PD prioritizes Single-Target DPS/Dueling.

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Galeforce Builds:

Second to Kraken, it is bought very often as it compensates the weakness of immobility, and brings new ways to utilize Aphelios' abilities (primarily by extending Gravitum's catch range).



Galeforce version of the Standard Build. Exchanging some damage for an amazing item active.


Further increasing the threat of Gravitum's extended catch range. It is most powerful with ally assassins such as Talon & Khazix (Assassins that could make full use of a caught-out enemy being briefly pinned down).

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Shieldbow Builds:

Uncommon and honestly not that good but, still built by a few players.



Shieldbow version of the standard build.


Shieldbow + Bloodthirster + Overheal + Revitalize + Boneplating. Try killing me now, Zed.


Building to survive and apply utility so that the stranded marksman can do something useful. This is the build of a worn soul.

Personal Favorite Builds

My Personal favorite builds and most commonly built in my Ranked games.

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My Favorite Build:

Example Full Builds:







Requires some Combo knowledge to play its best.
One-shot combo with Blue Ult - Galeforce - Auto - Blue Q - Offhand Auto - Offhand Q.
One-shot combo with Green Ult - Auto R-mark - Purple Q - Galeforce - Auto - Green Q - Auto Q-mark.
Extends catch range with Galeforce + Gravitum.
Chakram stacks can activate Collector if they fall into the execute threshold (which is the only thing chakrams are actually able to 'proc' at all).
Surprise factor as many players don't expect Aphelios to be a 1-combo-kill type of champion.

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Alternative Builds:

Alternative build that I haven't tried too much, I don't think it's as strong as as a 2 item spike. It is technically better against tankier champions but other tank-buster items are favorable.


If Essence Reaver doesn't look like the play, and teamfights are coming closer than usual, you can easily slide into a standard Galeforce build.

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Other Builds I Use Often:

These are my go-to builds when is not the play. This should be predetermined before going into game to match runes accordingly as well.



Standard build that doesn't need another explanation.


OR

note: not recommended for Diamond+ gameplay.
Shieldbow + Bloodthirster is an insanely tanky combination of items when your win-condition is to just survive the enemies' assassination attempts. If you die in one combo to Zed, you are useless. If you buy these "weak DPS items," and survive Zed's all-in, you will get to deal some damage. Some is better than None.

Personally I believe building JUST shieldbow itself is not enough to survive most burst in the game. Albeit a lot of proc-damage items got nerfed (reducing 1-shot shinanigans), I still think it's only viable to build Shieldbow if you combine it with Bloodthirster, Severum's Overheal, the Overheal Rune, and Complimentary Runes such as Shield Bash and Revitalize. You can essentially double your health pool with this combination.

As of Patch 11.1's Runaan's Price Reduction, I have prefered Runaans 3rd over IE, which sounds crazy to skip IE on 3rd Spike, but it helps with healing substantially.
Again, only if 'not dying' is the win-con for your team.

Example Builds You Should NOT Do

There's a situation for everything, sure... But these builds have led to losses due to the conflicts directly to the Identity of Marskmen.
When building items, or even before you've built a single one, you want to plan out what item combination you are looking for in that particular game.
They need to work with your team, work against the enemy composition, and synergize with other items.

BAD BUILDS

If this is your build, you are not even an ADC. You are a bruiser with no utility or tankiness. Might as well pick a different champion or role.


Not buying Infinity Edge 3rd and over-stacking attack speed, this build would work better at least with Kraken, not Galeforce. While the build looks fun, you will not deal much damage with your autos.


Rapid Firecannon is generally an item to avoid on Aphelios. At the most advanced levels of play, there may be an extremely niche use for it, and even then, works better with Galeforce.

Champion Trivia

I'll go over a few things about Aphelios' basic combos but, will primarily focus on more advanced concepts that aren't as well known as the basics.

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Here are some things I'll be explaining:

Short descriptions of Weapon synergies,
Descriptions of Weapon synergy trivia (bugs, etc.),
2 Gun, 3 Gun, and 4 Gun combos,
Swap-Combo (Deplete Ammo + Cast Ultimate),
and lastly, Weapon Macro.

Item Trivia

This chapter explains how Items work with Aphelios and his abilities.
There will be less of a focus on the item's viability on Aphelios.

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Crit Items

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Kraken:
Works well with every weapon.
Runaan's does not multiply Kraken stacks.
Red Q, Blue Q, and Every Ultimate on multiple targets will stack Kraken correctly.
If at 0 kraken stacks, and your Ult hits 3 targets, the 3rd target in distance order will take kraken's bonus true damage.
Since Patch 11.2; Kraken's proc damage is now reduced by Red Q's on-hit reduction.


Aphelios' bread and butter Calibrum combo; Green Q, Green R, Auto(Q mark) Auto(R mark) will proc Kraken once.
Auto Q-mark is 1, Auto from landing R is 2, Auto R-mark is 3.


Blue Q will proc kraken depending in order of distance to Aphelios, not in order of who was hit by the Q first.


Red Q will attack more (in the same amount of time) based on your level and attack speed, so later in the game you can proc kraken/muramana/etc an insane amount of times.


Does not work off additional chakrams (they are just visual representations of bonus damage, not seperate projectiles/entities).
Does not work on Sentry Turret autos (it's ability damage, not attacks) unless you are hitting the Calibrum Marks.

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Galeforce:
Honestly just too good of an item. The dash is insanely far and fast. People need to treat this item as a secondary Flash. It's TOO good honestly, a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶v̶e̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶9̶0̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶o̶l̶d̶o̶w̶n̶.̶ Patch 11.2 actually reverted the CD back to 90sec. The execute damage is also insanely high and changes kill thresholds for everyone who uses it. Personally I find all the dashing items (Stride/Prowlers/Protobelt/Galeforce) to all be overpowered and 'anti-skill' because champions who utilize these items simply do it to cover their weaknesses, which is supposed to be what balances their kits(looking at you, reksai).
For Aphelios there are fun gameplay factors that make it strong, but also imbalances his design of being an extremely vulnerable, immobile, scaling adc.

Galeforce's primary usage is the reduction of Aphelios' immobility weakness and the extention of Gravitum's catch range.
You can use Gale very quickly with every ability including in the middle of Red Q.
Gale-Ult does not extend the range, as Ult is based off pre-cast position, not post-cast.
You can use Gale while loading a new weapon to reduce your DPS downtime.

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Runaan's Hurricane:
Probably the most popular item on Aphelios for good reason. As his weapons each have special passives, it is only natural to synergize that with Runaan's to multiply the effects.


Calibrum has increased range, hence no real special synergy with Runaans. However Attacking Calibrum Marks will utilize Runaans in a certain way; Attacking enemies at a very long distance via Marks, will attack multiple enemies in a fairly large vicinity with the off-hand weapon. This allows for great multi-root chances with Green+Purple.


Runaans will allow multiple targets to be slowed and marked by gravitum. You can Auto + Q to snare multiple enemies.


The 200 Years specialty weapon. Infernum's splash damage that's layered on top of eachother will deal full damage. Attacking 3 enemies in a close line will deal massive damage to the farthest target, stacking 3 Infernum attacks onto them.


Severum's multi-hit with Runaans will all become non-projectiles. This means instead of shooting out Runaan's Bolts, there will be 3 Severum attacks.


Unlike the other weapons, Crescendum will not multiply its projectile. Because Crescendum is a single Boomerang-like weapon, only the primary target will be affected by the Boomerang projectile and Chakrams. Runaan's Bolts will attack nearby targets normally but have no bonus effects of any kind.

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Essence Reaver:
I think it's really good for the most part, but sometimes I'm not too sure.
High skill-cap item on aphelios. It requires a lot of thought and patience to maximize sheen-proc damage in combos.
This item really changes Aphelios' gameplay, there's a big importance in spell usage since CDR is not something aphelios ever buys, so it's not well known how to utilize it best. Aphelios has 2 types of situations regarding mana;
1. He never runs out and just auto attacks a lot since he has enough room to do so.
2. He runs out of mana very quickly as ability usage is easier than autoing.
Essence Reaver is in a way constantly reducing his ability mana costs by refunding on attacks (Many of his abilities will auto attack after casting, hence proccing sheen and refunding mana on its own).


Green Q + Auto is extremely strong poke with this item.
There are many ways to maximize the Proc damage with Calibrum;
Here's one example: Green R (procs sheen itself) + Green Q - Auto R-Mark - Wait Sheen CD - Auto Q-Mark + Swap + White/Purple Q before the auto attack projectile lands. (Autoing Q-Mark will proc sheen this way).

Because you can Snare before the Auto actually landed, you can Auto + Q which will allow your first auto attack to proc sheen so long as you pressed Q before the attack projectile landed.
If you applied Gravitum with another weapon's ability (implying you used your sheen proc) you can wait your sheen cooldown before snaring to get another sheen proc(preferably by Auto+Q as mentioned right above).


Blue Q will proc sheen itself, and if hitting multiple targets, the closest target will receive the sheen damage.


Severum reduces on-hit damage by 75% when using Q, however sheen damage will not be reduced. your first attack in Red Q will proc sheen perfectly fine.


This item isnt too good with Crescendum, although bush-stacking turrets is pretty interesting with the CDR.
Realistically the only real benefit is the more frequent Red Q to stack chakrams with Red/White, and more frequent turret placements with White/Green.
Chakrams amplifies your auto attacks but they do not amplify sheen's damage.

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Phantom Dancer:
Good damage item, although I only buy it for the movement speed, not really for the attack speed. It's essentially the ADC version of old Phage, now Hearthbound Axe. 14% movement speed is insanely good when you need it.

Unfortunately, None of the abilities that auto attacks enemies will provide stacks.
Calibrum marks will not give PD stacks.
Infernum Q's single/multi target auto attack will not give stacks.
Severum Q's multi attack will not give stacks.
Crescendum's turrets (with Calibrum marks) will not give stacks.
Any weapon's Ult will not give stacks.

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Navori Quickblades:
Unfortunately useless on Aphelios. I love CDR as it opens a completely new playstyle, however none of the weapons or their abilities work with Navori's passive.
As none of the weapon's ability-attacks stack Phantom Dancer, they also do not lower your CDs when landing auto attacks through ability usage.
Also, when using normal auto attacks that do reduce cooldowns, it only lowers your main-hand weapon's CD, and not for the off-hand.
You are essentially lowering the CD of 1 single ability, unlike other champions who can reduce 3.

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Muramana:
My favorite item on Aphelios. Sadly I do not buy it anymore.
There is a number of things to go through regarding this item.
Firstly, the way it works has completely changed throughout the Preseason 11 Item changes (Patch 10.23), and the Patch 10.25 Muramana Proc changes.
(Patch 11.1 has reverted proc conditions back to 'all damage types')

Tear used to Stack with only Abilties and Gravitum Autos, I believe it's because the slow is applied as an ability, hence giving a Tear stack (Of course when manamune is built, all weapons will stack obviously).
After Preseason 11 Item changes, ALL WEAPONS except Crescendum gives TEAR stacks. It's likely a bug. It was extremely easy to stack, does not require you to complete Manamune to reliably stack, so you can first item Tear, build Kraken, then complete Muramana when stacking Tear is completed around 18 minutes.
Kraken Muramana is one of the most powerful 2-Item spike for Aphelios.
Muramana does not have its on-hit damage reduced by Red Q.
This means with one Red Q, you can deal more item damage than champion damage.


However it doesn't end there. Here's a rundown of How Muramana applies:


Calibrum's Q and Attacks onto marks will all apply Muramana's bonus damage.
Calibrum's Multi-mark consumtion bonus damage will not proc Muramana at all, let alone multiple times.
Calibrum's autos with Runaans is bugged along with Gravitum and Infernum, the bolts will not always deal Muramana's damage based on their distance from the primary target and distance from Aphelios.


Patch 11.1 reverted proc-conditions back to ALL damage types, Gravitum's Q now deals Muramana damage.
Gravitum's Auto attacks are extremely bugged with Runaans and Muramana combined.
I can't exactly say how this works but, unlike Calibrum, Infernum, and Severum, Runaan bolts will never deal Muramana damage to collateral targets farther than the primary target.
In rare cases (depends on positions but around once per 200 autos) Muramana will proc on both bolts but NOT proc on the PRIMARY target for some reason.


Blue Q's initial wave attack will only proc Muramana once onto the first target hit by the wave, then the follow-up auto attack will proc Muramana on EVERY champion hit.
Infernum's Auto attack splash damage will not proc Muramana.
Infernum's Auto attack with Runaans is also bugged, where in some positional cases, the bolts will not deal Muramana's proc damage. Less buggy than Gravitum, however still bugged.


Severum works extremely well with Muramana as mentioned before.
Severum's autos with Runaans works perfectly fine across all positions and distance.
Again, Severum's Q on-hit damage reduction is not applied to Muramana's proc damage, hence, very very big damages.


Crescendum is VERY interesting regarding Muramana. Firstly, it is the only weapon that doesn't stack Tear (it does stack manamune ).
Crescendum also does not proc Muramana's on-hit damage like other weapons;
1. With Runaans , the Runaan's Bolts do not proc Muramana, mainly because Crescendum is a single projectile that does not duplicate from the Bolts. Because there is only one Crescendum projectile, the primary target you attack will proc Muramana damage.
HOWEVER, Muramana can proc onto at-most 1 extra champion if the Runaan's bolt damage that champion at the same time the Crescendum Boomerang flies over it while going towards the primary target.

Crescendum's Sentry Turrets do not proc Muramana after Preseason 11 Item changes. However, there is a bug with the Infernum Turret, dealing Muramana proc damage on the first hit, then either never procs it again, or procs it one more time randomly before timing out.


Aphelios' Ultimate Deals AOE damage, then Auto attacks every champion hit by the AOE.
The AOE will only proc Muramana once onto the closest enemy, then every champion hit will take Muramana proc damage from the follow-up Auto Attack.
However, with the Infernum Ultimate, Muramana will not proc on ANY of the follow-up auto attack. The AOE will still proc onto one champion.
As mentioned before, Infernum's splash damage does not proc Muramana from neither basic attacks or the ultimate's follow-up aoe attack.

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Guinsoo's Rageblade:
Well there isn't much to say about this item as it has no applicable synergies with Aphelios aside the negative impact to his crit scaling as the item removes Crit completely.
Guinsoo's phantom hit can only be applied to auto attacks made by Aphelios directly, and not from abilities.


Infernum's splash is not duplicated on Guinsoo's phantom hit.


Severum Q does not apply Guinsoo's phantom hit.


Chakrams do not double attack on Guinsoo's phantom hit.


Multiple auto attacks from Ult does not proc Guinsoo's phantom hit on anyone.

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Off-Meta Items

(Note that these are very trivial. Insightful for casual players or 4-Funners.)

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Titanic Hydra:
Actually hilarious item, Titanic has one issue; when attacking multiple enemies with either Runaans or Ult , it will not always apply multiple times.


Attacking Calibrum Marks will apply it normally.


With Infernum auto attacks at Level ll+, collateral targets behind the primary will actually take MORE flat damage than the primary target.
Example: If you have Titanic completed, hitting minions in front of the enemy Champion will deal more damage than attacking the Champion directly.


Titanic Hydra's on-hit and cleave damage is reduced strangely on Red Q. Despite a few tests I can't really tell why the numbers are not consistent, they change often and I don't know why.
With Runaans , Severum can never apply multiple cleaves (Explained below).


Titanic Hydra Applies strangely with Runaans:
Basically, it will only apply multiple times if the projectiles of the auto attack land at seperate timeframes.
This means Severum's attacks will never apply multiple Titanic cleaves with the Runaan Bolts. Severum's attacks are non-projectiles that deal damage at the same time no matter the distance.

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Ravenous Hydra:
Very fun item that many other Aphelios players have tried.
Unlike Titanic Hydra, Ravenous will always apply the AOE regardless of when the projectiles land, meaning Severum + Runaans will cleave multiple times.
It's not as good as some would think, because the AOE damage is only applied once per attack/ability. It does much less damage in real games than on paper.

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Black Cleaver:
Another hilarious item.
It's very straight forward although the best part is:


Infernum's splash damage stacks cleaver's armor reduction.
This includes splash from auto attacks and from the Ult.
Infernum stacks Cleaver twice per attack with to both primary and collateral targets.
Infernum's splash damage does not apply Cleaver's on-hit damage to shredded targets.
With Runaans , Titanic and Cleaver , Infernum attacks could fully shred multiple enemies in 2 auto attacks.


Red Q stacks Cleaver insanely fast.
Red Q also deals full proc damage each hit when attacking fully shredded enemies.


Sentry turrets stacks Cleaver normally.
The AOE damage from Infernum turret also stacks Cleaver normally.
Sentry turrets seem to proc Cleaver's on-hit damage, fully for the first hit, then reduced amounts afterwards (probably a bug? I'm not sure).

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Blade of the Ruined King:
The on-hit damage is never better than crit items sadly.
Because you have to attack the same champion 3 times, there are no good ways to utilize its passive aside attacking normally.
None of the ability-based auto attacks count as stacks to activate the 3-hit speed up passive.


Red Q does not activate the 3-hit speed up passive.

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Wit's End:
Applies normally to every ability-based auto attack in Aphelios' kit.
Red Q applies the on-hit damage at the proper reduced amount (25% on-hit damage).
Overall not a good item but if you're desperate for Magic Resist then by all means.

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