Hi! I am Evo, I have a bit of experience with Aphelios and am here to show you how he works.Some say this Champ is hard to play, trust me, play with him for five matches, then you will be up to grips with him!

Thanks to Wicked Cherry for the picture:)

WARNING! IF YOU HAVE NEVER PLAYED AS AN ADC, DO NOT PLAY THIS CHAMPION!

Aphelios is very different to all of the other champions in this game, since his skill points are entirely put towards extra stats, like attack damage and speed. He has five weapons, each of them to be used in certain situations. Just remember, he is very hard to master, and you need to play him a lot to fully understand his play style and match-ups. I am just here to show you what to expect.

Before I go into depth with the actual game, lets start with his
-Weapons-
Quick note, press W to switch them, and they have limited ammo. Once
used up, it will switch weapons. in this exact order:

1. -Calibrum-The Calibrum rifle is the first weapon that you will be given when you start. It is Aphelios' sniper rifle and is really good for early game. It has a long range and is good for keeping an enemy away from your minions, and is good for attacking from a distance. Each weapon has it's own Q, and Calibrum's allows you to fire a long range shot at the nearest target. It then holds on to the target, so when you auto your enemy, it will fire an extra shot from your off-hand weapon. It is a good early game weapon, and i good when peared up with the Severum.

2. *Severum*The Severum Scythe Pistol is aphelios' first off-hand weapon, and is very good if you are trying to play aggressively or your enemy is playing aggressive. It's unique ability is that it can heal you when you hit an enemy minion, a jungle monster or enemy champion. I quite like to use it when my enemy is not in lane, because i can save my Calibrum for when they return, or when I have just got ganked, but want to farm another way. It's Q allows you to rapidly hit an enemy or minion, switching between your off-hand and main hand every hit.

3. +Gravitum+The Gravitum Cannon is pretty good for setting up a gank, since it sets up your jungler to jump on the enemy. It's unique ability is that it can slow down whatever you hit, allowing you to get a few good hits in. It's Q is great, since it roots the enemy and also does damage. I would save your Q for when your jungler comes, since it could help you get rid of your enemies, making sure you get a turret plate or get the turret itself.

4. ~Infernum~The Infernum AoE is his wave clearing weapon. It's unique ability is when you hit an enemy minion or champion, it also shoots a wave of fire behind it, making it good for taking out waves quickly. It can also allow you to poke out enemies easily if they are hiding behind a minion. It would actually be a good combo if your support was a blitzcrank, since your opponent would be trying to avoid his rocket grab (by hiding behind a minion) you could use your Infernum to poke them out. It's Q shoots a huge wave of fire in front of you, then adds and extra attack from your off hand. It can be used to kill multiple minions at the same time, helping you CC.

5. ^Chakram^The Chakram Boomerang is one a very strange one. It works just like a boomerang, once Aphelios hits and enemy, he is disarmed until the boomerang comes back. It's Q is a sentry turret, and whatever your off hand weapon is, the turret will mimic the abilities off it when it attacks enemies. It will attack anything within its vicinity and only lasts a few seconds depending on how much it attacks. Also, your Chakram ammo is used up when your turret fires. Here's the my-brain-hurts part, if your off hand weapon has an ability that requires both weapons (Chakram being your main weapon), the boomerangs used in the attack will float around Aphelios once you equip Chakram again, and they will be used as extra boomerangs when you fight. Unfortunately, they will only stay for a short amount of time. Just imagine runaan's Hurricane and the little boomerangs combined. You will be pretty strong. A good thing to know is, when you are close to the enemy with Chakram, the weapon fires faster the closer you get, so in a 1v1 situation, stay close to your enemy to maximise damage.

Now we have covered the Weapons,
Lets move onto the runes.

Standard Runes

Precision=

I chose Precision because of Conqueror.

Conqueror=

It is basically extra health regen, which is good since you have Severum as well. It
also gives you bonus Attack Damage and speed.

Overheal=

Yippee! More Health and all the rest of it. It grants a 10% shield for your total health.

Alacrity=

I chose it only because of it's extra attack speed.

Cut Down=

Good for taking out tank jungler or top laners in teamfights.

Inspiration

Magical footwear=

You don't have to waste gold on getting boots of Speed.

Biscuit Delivery=

Free health potions.

AS= attack speed
AF= adaptive force (Extra Damage and speed)
Armour= Six Armour.



Time to move onto Spells!

A basic rundown of the key spells you will want to go on Aphelios.


-Flash-
Flash is essential for any ADC since it allows you to run away from ganks, or if your low on health and the enemy laner has a speed buff. It can also allow you to chase after an enemy as well. But keep in mind, your opposing laner would probably have flash as well, so make sure he/she uses it first.


+Heal+
Like I have said before, Heal if essential if you want to stay alive in your lane, and since most ADC's are about getting the poke in, heal is a great way to survive. It's speed up is very useful when you are low AND can see a gank coming. It is a good alternative for flash if you don't want to use it or if it is on cooldown.

-Infinity Edge-
Infinity edge is the most important item on Aphelios and should be bought no matter what. It provides the most Attack Damage (AD) in the game, which is eighty, and 25% critical strike chance. Its passive basically gives bonus critical strike damage, which means that when you end up getting a critical hit, it will do more damage.

-Essence Reaver-
Essence reaver is probably the second best item (when it comes to crit) in the game. It gives 70 AD, which is quite a lot, and then the usual 25% critical strike chance. It's passive actually refunds mana for the amount of times you auto attack, and gives a little cooldown reduction.

-Phantom Dancer-
Phantom dancer is a very good option for squishy adc's because of its passive shield, which blocks quite a significant amount of damage. It also provides some attack speed and critical strike chance, making it a good option to go for with aphelios, since your last two items were attack damage items, it is good to have a attack speed item to mix it in with.

-Runaan's Hurricane-
Runaan's is like Phantom Dancer because it has the same base stats but have very different passives. Runaan's fires extra bolts at enemies. This is golden for aphelios, depending on what weapon you have. Just picture this: You are trying to clear a massive wave, and you have your Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon available. All you need to do is wait for your Runaan bolts to come, which will be extra Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon bolts, which will apply the slow affect onto minions, Then you can just Q the whole wave, stunning it and making it easier to wave clear.

-Bloodthirster-
Bloodthirster is a great late game item, since it provide the most lifesteal in the game and the most AD. It is a great finisher item and can come in handy if you are a bit squishier then expected. This weapon is heavily contested with Death's Dance which is also a good pick, and i will go over that in the next chapter.

-Mercurial Scmitar-
This item is good when you are against a heavy AP (Attack power) team composition. It also gives life steal and a good amount of AD. I would usually go for these items instead of Bloodthirster because, although being an essential item, can be swapped out for a better item in that situation.

+Guardian Angel+
This is a very situational item, since it's base stats are not too good. It's passive makes up for it though, basically bringing you back to life with a certain amount of health. I would get it if you are very squishy and die a lot or if you are your team's only hope of winning and you want to stay alive. It does go well with items like Death's Dance because of their tanky stats.

-Death's Dance-
this item is probably one of the most overpowered items in the game. It can basically give a squishy ADC (like you) a decent amount of tankiness. This allows you to have more survivability in lane and better trading power. It also provides life steal, which is a good added bonus. It also gives cooldwon reduction on your abilities and a solid 50 attack damage.

-Mortal Reminder-
This item should only be used if you are against a team with a fed Sylas, Vladimir etc. It's grievous wounds (anti-heal) can be the difference in a teamfight. How many times have you gotten a Sylas down to low health, only to be combo'd with a flash of chains, only to see his health bar go up and yours going down. Mortal Reminder basically tones down the healing champions get. Usually, people go for Executioner's Calling by itself, but upgrading to Mortal Reminder in the late game is not a bad idea, since it gives a decent amount of damage.

Early Game Survival

Aphelios is all about the survival in the early game. If you are going the PTA route, then i suggest taking Doran's Blade against something like Jinx or a Doran's Shield against any other match up. If paired up with a support like Pyke or Thresh, I would stick to CSing and let your support do all the work for you. You don't want to focus on aggression in the early game in all of your match ups, even if it is against someone like Kog'Maw or Jinx. You have a pretty good power spike after you get your Infinity Edge.

*CSing Combos*

Number One:

+
This combo is really good once you get your Infinity Edge, since you will have a good amount of AD (about 180-200 depending on how early you get your first item) and you have a decent amount of crit chance, and so your wave clear will be really goods with your Duskwave. Infernum, the Flamethrower is probably one of the best wave clear weapons for Aphelios because of it's aoe. Gravitum is really good with infernum because Duskwave hits an enemy with the secondary weapon. With Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon, if a Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon hits any enemy, it marks them, which allows you to stun any enemy that is marked with it's Binding Eclipse, which stuns. It also does a small amount of damage, which is good for finishing of the minions that have already taken damage from Duskwave.

Number Two:

+
These two may not feel too effective when you think about it when you think about it, but Onslaught combined with the Sentry can be a easy way to clear a wave. Just place down the sentry, which will auto the minions along with you (remember, this is ONLY effective when you have your first item). Then use Onslaught to quickly rip thorught the wave as your sentry also auto's the wave. this should have at least made the minions health go down a bit. Now you have a few Crescendum, the Chakram stacks and you can quickly auto all of the remaining minions at melle range. This is a little less effective then the first wave clear combo but it still works.

Mid Game Scaling

By the early game, you should at least have two items, going into 3 items. This is pretty huge for Aphelios, because you will have quite a bit of AD with your items (which SHOULD be damage items). You should have about 50% critical strike chance and at least one turret in each lane (depending on how well your team did in laning phase). Mid game is when everyone goes to mid lane and ARAM's until one of the teams's inhibs are down. this is usually when you will start to fight for baron as well. It is the one stage in the game every single fight will eventually be a teamfight. Your sentry turret will be a pretty good way of destroying a team using your combos (we've all seen those montages of aphelios sniping people from a mile away).

-The 200 year combo's-

Number One:

+
In a teamfight, you should try to position your Sentry deep into the lane so when your enemy drives you back into your side of the lane, your turret then starts to attack the opposition. This does absolutely no damage, but the thing is your sentry turret turn into your secondary gun (it has the same autos as your secondary gun). Because your secondary weapon should be Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle, it will mark the enemies it hits, which will allow you to auto attack them from half a lane away. You can then take this opportunity to reposition while your enemies are distracted by your snipes. This may lead them to misposition, allowing your teammates to take advantage of this and picking them off.

Number Two:

+
this is the same weapons but instead it requires a skill shot, so it is harder then the last one. You need to hit your Moonshot in order to mark your enemy, which then allows you to snipe your enemies. this is way less effective since you can only mark one person at a time.

Quick Note

Another quick thing to mention, you can stack your Crescendum, the Chakram by doing these combo's, allowing you to get into melee range and rip through their health. You don't even have to do it at melee range as well, you can snipe them from afar and get multiple auto's off. this will, however, delay the time your extra Crescendum, the Chakram come back to you.

Itemization

VS

Death's Dance:

A very good pick to go on all ADC's because of it's 30 armour and 30 Magic Resistance. Because you are squishy, and in Aphelios' case, immobile, getting good tanky stats and AD and CDR and LIFE STEAL (wow this item though...) will increase your survivability in a teamfight, for example, when you are trying to place a Sentry down near the enemy tower in a teamfight and you are getting poked out, it is good to have as much health as you can when the actual fight happens. It is one of the most broken items in the game at the moment and I would recommend going in any scenario.

Guardian Angel

This item is always picked up by fed champions that don't want to die. it's passive is one of the most reliable in the game, resurrecting you at half health. This can be very useful overall, denying a kill in a teamfight or just surviving a zed ultimate. It does also give 40 armour, which is more then Death's Dance but gives no magic resist and only 40 attack damage. this should not really waver your decision though, since you should be buying it mid to late game depending on how fed you are. It is a really good item because of it's passive and very useful to have in your build.

Overall Outcome

I would say that Death's Dance is the winner in most outcomes, since it's overloaded kit has so much to offer to a squishy, immobile marksman like you. Although Guardian Angel has it's nice passive, it has really bad base stats that don't really give it much edge over Death's Dance. This doesn't mean you should just take Death's Dance every game, always consider the conditions and your value to your team. Maybe if you are not ultra fed and just want to be there to provide damage and survive? Maybe you just don't want to be a 0/10 nuisance? It is, and always will be, up to your preferences at the end of the day.

VS

this is a very weird decision to make, since they both are completely different items. But i wanted this guide to be longer and more interesting so I did it anyway. Mercurial Scimitar is if you are having problems with AP champions and are just getting one shotted by a lux ultimate every twenty seconds because that cooldown is too damn low. Anyway, it gives some life steal, which is always good on a champion like Aphelios, and gives a good amount of AD. It is more of a survivability buff more then anything because of its passive. Mortal Reminder is a grievous wounds item and can combat healing abilities ( Vladimir Q) and help your team get the edge on your opponent when getting a baron nashor or something. It gives a decent amount of AD compared to its dimmered down version, Executioner's Calling.

Overall Outcome

I think Mercurial Scimitar is the winner because of its ability to remove debuffs like slows from you and provides magic resistance and life steal. It has a little more to offer, and like our previous match up, is ultimately more cost worthy as well. Again, it depends on the game as well, a fed Sylas sucks to play against.

Late Game, Big Brain.

Late game is where you have to be smart with what you do. This is around the 30 minute mark, where the death counters are insanely long and elder dragon and baron will be contested, with one team having a dragon soul. This is where you have to be smart with your plays, try to focus way more on getting objectives to end the game. You will want to use your Duskwave and Binding Eclipse to delay your enemies movements so you can win teamfights. You will have probably finished your full build by now and will be really strong. You can win teamfights if you position well and let your q combo's do the rest. Aphelios can win safe range duels against practically anyone except Ezreal and Caitlyn depending on who is the most fed. Don't be too afraid to engage in teamfights. you are, after all, an ADC and will be your team's most valuable player at that point (in terms of back line).