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Aphelios Build Guide by Guest

Aphelios: How to Fight As or Against Mr. 200 Years

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Aphelios Build Guide By Guest Updated on

Guide Discussion More Aphelios Guides

Runes:

Precision

Conqueror

Overheal

Legend: Bloodline

Coup de Grace

Sorcery

Nimbus Cloak

Gathering Storm

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2

Standard

Flash

Heal

Items

Standard Build

Situation Items

Ability Order

Passive

Calibrum

Severum

Gravitum

Infernum

Crescendum

Attack Damage

Attack Speed

Lethality

More Aphelios Counters

Champion Build Guide

200 Years of Game Design

I'm Shaadow21, a Mid Lane main and avid Aphelios player. While Bottom is my secondary role, I almost always play Aphelios there and have since his launch. Aphelios has been a very strong champion since release, and learning to fight against him is a must for anyone as long as he's in the meta. My goal for this guide isn't for you to instantly become an Aphelios main, its just to educate you on what he does and what to expect when you have an enemy Aphelios. I can't tell you how many of my friends still don't know what this champion does, and when Aphelios kills you from a screen away or seemingly lives forever, I want you to know why.

Alune's Gifts

Unlike most other champion, Aphelios doesn't have the standard four abilities and one passive. Instead, Aphelios cycles through five different guns, each with their own properties and effects.

Instead of leveling abilities, Aphelios gains an option of three stats - AD, Attack Speed, or Armor Penetration. Aphelios's ability are automatically leveled up:
At Level 1, Aphelios has access to two weapons and can swap between them.
At Level 2, Aphelios gains access to his Q - each weapon has a different Q ability.
At Level 6, Aphelios gains access to his Ultimate, .

To understand what APhelios does, the most important thing is to know what his 5 weapons do.

[Calibrum]

AKA Green Gun AKA Sniper Rifle. Aphelios starts with this weapon. Calibrum has the most range of any gun, and therefore is good for poking and farming in lane and teamfighting. Calibrum's Q, shoots a long range projectile that marks the first enemy hit, allowing for a longe-range auto attack that applies secondary effects (will explain later).

[Severum]

AKA Red Gun AKA Scythe Pistol. Aphelios starts with this weapon. Short range weapon with built in life-steal and gives a shield when at max health, similar to . Severum's Q, gives Aphelios movement speed and unleashes an onslaught of attacks from both of his current weapons, applying secondary effects. Great for sustaining and trading in lane, or taking objectives with Onslaught, but has very short range. Situational in teamfights.

[Gravitum]

AKA Purple Gun AKA Gravity Cannon. Third gun in rotation. When you auto a target with Gravitum, they are slowed by 30% for 3.5 seconds. While a target is slowed, you can use Gravitum's Q, , which roots every target Gravitum has slowed. While it lacks the firepower that some of his other wespons bring, Gravitum provides a decent amount of utility and CC that helps in a lot of scenarios. While not his best gun for teamfights, can be useful in skirmishes or to pick off out of position targets.

[Infernum]

AKA Blue Gun AKA Flamethrower. Fourth gun in the rotation. When you autoattack with Infernum, four other firebolts will spray from behind the target, dealing slightly less damage. Critical hits double the amount of firebolts. This weapon is amazing for clearing waves, especially with . Infernum's Q, sprays fire in a cone, then applies secondary effects. Infernum is a great weapon for teamfighting, skirmishing, pushing waves, and poking your opponent in lane if they stand in the wave.

[Crescendum]

AKA White Gun AKA Chakram. Final gun in the rotation. Crescendum is easily Aphelios's most bullsh*t gun. Normal autoattacks do nothing special, and its range isn't great, but Crescendum can be Aphelios's highest DPS weapon. Crescendum's Q, , which creates a turret with Aphelios's secondary weapon which will attack the closest target, applying secondary effects. While this can be nasty in some scenarios, the real reason you should be afraid of this gun is its secondary effect. Whenever another weapon or ability applies secondary effects, Aphelios shoots out mini chakrams that damage the target and return to Aphelios. Whenever you autoattack with Crescendum, every chakram circling you attacks the target, dealing bonus damage based on the amount of chakrams. You can have up to 20 chakrams at one time, and their duration resets if you auto-attack. When using Crescendum, your attack speed is only limited by the time it takes for chakrams to go and come back - this means the closer you are to your target, the faster you can attack. You can take objectives crazy fast if you stand right next to them and auto with chakrams. This weapon can kind of do it all based on your secondary weapon, but is strongest for single-target damage, taking objectives, and overall doing dumb things. Check of this clip from the LEC of Schalke 04's Innaxe 1v4ing thanks to crazy Crescendum damage and Death's Dance!

Another reason Aphelios is so complicated is because you have to know what every weapon does, what their corresponding ability is, and what their secondary effects are. Secondary effects, as the name suggests, are activated when the weapon is in your secondary slot, or off-hand. Here they all are:
Calibrum: Marks Target
Severum: Lifesteal
Gravitum: Slows
Infernum: Sprays Firebolts
Crescendum: Creates Chakrams

For example, say you use with Infernum in your off-hand: every attack the turret makes will apply Infernum's secondary effect and spray firebolts. Or if you use with Gravitum off-hand, the marked auto will slow the target. This is why gun combinations are so important, as Aphelios can do wildly different things based on what loadout he has.

Now that you know what each gun does, explaining Aphelios's Ultimate is easy now. applies different effects based on what weapon is in his primary slot.
Calibrum: Marks targets hit. This is usually a great choice for your ultimate, as you can attack the entire enemy team from a long range, and also apply secondary effects.
Severum: Heals Aphelios. Probably the worst ultimate - useful if you're locked out of the fight and want to safely heal up, but not your first choice.
Gravitum: Slows targets hit by 99%. This can set up for huge roots with , and is situationally good. If your team has no hard engage, this can be a safe, long range initiator, or used to chase down enemies and clean up fights.
Infernum: Sprays firebolts in a circle around each target hit. Thank God this got nerfed. When Aphelios was released, the ratio on this was crazy, and set up for clips like this. This is your go-to Ultimate option, as it does a solid chunk of damage to a cluster of the enemy team, and can swing fights with pure burst damage.
Crescendum: Sends out three extra chakrams to the first enemy hit, and one to each additional enemy. Great for setting up to mow down the enemy team with chakrams. Not the greatest for burst damage, but increases your potential DPS down the line.

Mixing & Matching & Maybe Running

Aphelios has a few key loadouts that you want to either A. Use as Aphelios or B. Run away if you see them. If you only want the minimum, at least know the first two as they are the most important.

+
Really good overall set of guns. Calibrum provides range and safety in teamfights, and can be used to easily build up chakrams. also marks targets hit, allowing for more long range damage, and even more chakrams. Very very strong option for teamfighting.

+
Using will rapidly build up chakrams, which then can be used for crazy single target damage. This is the best loadout for single target damage, taking objectives (towers will melt to these two guns), and sustaining through lifesteal. I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT FIGHT APHELIOS 1v1 IF HE HAS THESE GUNS. Unless you have insane burst damage (Death's Dance helps mitigate this), he will out-sustain you and out-damage you.

+
By the time you first cycle around to these guns, there might be a skirmish going on for the Skuttle Crab. These two guns are amazing for skirmishes like those. Using followed by creates an AoE root, perfect for smaller fights. Not the scariest combo, but very versatile and strong early. Also good for clearing waves with the same combo.

+
Using with Infernum secondary provides a decent amount of waveclear if you don't yet have Runaan's. However, this combination struggles with fighting 1v1, but can be decent in 2v2 or 3v3 scenarios. You also get a lot of burst-sustain from .

+
Using on a minion wave will quickly make a bunch of chakrams, and is strong for fights in lane.

+
Long range CC. Good for chasing people down, setting up for ganks, and kiting.

While these are just 6 of his potential 10, you don't need to remember them all. As long as you remember which guns do what, you'll be able to expect what Aphelios can do, and maybe not die to 200 years of game design.

Cycling Weapons

Part of playing Aphelios is managing which guns you have, and knowing which guns you need. You have to think ahead: what will be happening in a minute's time? Is dragon coming up? Are you going to sidelane? Do you expect a teamfight? You have to plan ahead of time and think about which guns you will need in the future. When playing Aphelios, this is one of the most important skills to master.

Whenever you need to cycle guns, the fastest way is to use your abilities. Coming back from base and don't need Severum's sustain? Use to get back to lane faster. Don't want Infernum? Just throw out a . Aphelios can easily get mana screwed early, and you used to build first, but if you manage you mana correctly, take conservative trades in lane, and don't spam abilities off cooldown, you'll be fine.

Items and Runes

I'll be the first to say it: I took these runes and items from someone much better at Aphelios than me. If you're wondering why you build each item, find another guide that goes into more detail on itemization. This guide is more to inform you about what this mess of a champion actually does. The rune page listed is standard for scaling, safety, and mid-to-late-game power spikes.

In terms of itemization, whatever you do, is a must. You get 3x the value out of every autoattack and every point of ammo, and it gives you much more bang for your buck.

Weapon of the Faithful

To quote Sun Tzu, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

Hopefully this guide, you'll know more about Aphelios and know how to play against him (just run at him if he has weak guns, he has no mobility). He's a really fun champion if you know what you're doing, and hopefully this convinces you to try him out, or at the very least help you overcome 200 years of collective game design experience.