Champion Guide

Aphelios Guide

By LoLSuggest

ADC

Aphelios is less an auto-attacker than a combo-based caster: learn the five weapons, their off-hand interactions and the weapon cycle, then use your abilities well while scaling your stats into a late-game hypercarry.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Aphelios build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Press the Attack with Absorb Life, Legend: Bloodline and Cut Down, plus Absolute Focus and Gathering Storm, is the main page (Conqueror is the alternative). Start Doran's Blade and a potion. Our best core is Hexoptics C44 into Infinity Edge with Gluttonous Greaves, with Stormrazor (mobility), The Collector (burst) or Yun Tal Wildarrows (DPS) as other cores. Lord Dominik's Regards handles tanks, Bloodthirster adds sustain, and Guardian Angel, Immortal Shieldbow or Mercurial Scimitar add survivability.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Strengths

Hyperscaling: levelling AD, attack speed and lethality turns him into a late-game monster.
Gravitum's root is on-demand lockdown from level 2, great for setting up ganks and support skillshots.
Five weapons give answers for poke, waveclear, burst and DPS; Infernum is excellent in lane.

Weaknesses

No mobility and only 550 base range, so dives and engages are dangerous.
Long-range poke such as Ziggs or Varus and divers like Nilah or Twitch make for tough lanes.
The weapon system has enormous depth and takes many games to master.

Laning Phase

Infernum is your best laning weapon: unmatched wave control, poke through the minion wave and Duskwave trades that minions don't block. Use Gravitum's Binding Eclipse to set up your support's skillshots or a level 2–3 gank. Severum's healing is best used on waves and camps between fights, while its Q and R keep you safe. Pick summoners for the lane: Cleanse against Ashe, Exhaust against Draven or Samira.

Mid & Late Game

In fights think like a combo caster: line up your weapon pairs, land abilities and weave autos between them. Pair Crescendum with Onslaught or Duskwave to stack chakrams for huge close-range damage, and pair Calibrum or Infernum with Gravitum to turn roots into burst. Engage supports who lock down threats make life far easier, since Aphelios can't escape dives on his own.

Key Tips

Calibrum raises your range to 650 and marks targets for an 1800-range follow-up shot.
Crescendum hits hardest up close: the nearer you stand, the faster the blade returns.
Severum healing done at full health is converted into a shield.
Moonlight Vigil doesn't consume ammo.

Matchups