The Complicated History of League’s 200 Years Champion | League of Legends

[@DefinitelyNotReal627]

ADC main here: Aphelios is...fine. He's simple enough to play at least passably in the same way that every ADC is playable on the same base set of mechanics. His problem is he asks waaaay too much of players for not enough value. A legitimately well played Aphelios who manages his guns, cooldowns and ults correctly is strong. Other champions for less than half the work get to be broken.

[@C4lmaria]

Also sometimes it's just out of your power what weapons are going to be ideal in the foreseeable future. For instance, if the enemy team has alistar and xerath, tou don't know if you are going to make more use of green+purple (for if the alistar tries to engage for a big tf) or red+blue (for if they end up playing neutral game around xerath's poke). Kinda like a mega gnar bar, but more tricky for both sides to manage in both soloq and coordinated play.

[@garou9914]

That actually was always my argument. The average adc can out preform you with half the effort. Although he was very fun, the only adc I've actually constantly played.

[@choika5027]

to be honnest i think he is a boring champ in fact i don't play him a lot and i play against him sometimes and he is not fun to play with or against it feel like tristana you know what i mean just too straight forward , tristana is original as an adc like aphelios but in fight it feel boring its like "oh i carry this fight yes but i did nothings just good positionning like evry adc should do" but no outplay no feeling of power idk maybe i'm wrong ...

[@C4lmaria]

@@choika5027 the satisfaction value of feeling that you won a fight on your weapon choice is great tho. Overall if you're a main right-clicker (and i think only if you're a main right-clicker) he brings some tweaks to the formula that might entertain

[@nemanja98rs]

So basically he is post mountain of nerfs AD version of Azir?

[@lodrad1937]

bro when aphelios was released I was literally reading his abilities from the wiki and taking notes. I was not taking notes in my online classes but i was taking note on what this champ does.

[@mohsentajdeh7891]

omg same here. I thought I'm a weirdo for doing That.😂😂

[@mattyb468]

I am still managing to study him properly and to find some new weapon combos to play him, and I was amazed to know that there are different ways to play him, and not thw only one pro players usually do

[@shacolin6546]

Any chance to get a video on neutral abilities? Abilities that has the same effect on both allies or enemies such as Kindred's R, Anivia's W as well as Bard's E and R and how, as of recent, whenever Riot ships a neutral ability, it is no longer truly neutral and comes with an advantage for the caster such as Mordekaiser's R.

[@gandalfpotter2149]

Honestly I don’t believe any ability is truly neutral as the caster has the choice of how to use it to their advantage

[@konstandinoskanatis5691]

this sounds like a really cool idea for a video

[@shacolin6546]

@@gandalfpotter2149 that's the point though. An ability that, in a vaccum, is neutral and relies on the user to swing it into a favorable outcome. If you miss a Zoe Q, you're weaker because your ability goes on cooldown, but it is not a direct detriment as a Bard ult can be.

[@jeremymory9154]

@@shacolin6546 i think he calls that type of abilities "infinite value abilities"

[@florinf2050]

@@shacolin6546 I get your ideea but then all dashes in the game that doesent do damage including flash would be a neutral ability because its up to you if you dash to get a kill or escape or into a blitz hook

[@daltongibson1033]

Aphelios did actually have something removed- He used to be able to consume his Calibrum mark at global range, but now it has a range limit. A very long range limit... but a limit.

[@tatzecom]

I wouldnt say very long range limit, its around a screen away at which youre no longer able to procc it.

[@MOONGREEDY]

He could also refresh spectral chakram stacks on epic monsters indefinitely until they also removed that.

[@simonenoli4418]

@@MOONGREEDY that wasnt meant to happen tho. Do bugs count

[@MOONGREEDY]

@@simonenoli4418 Was that ever documented as a bug?

[@apolloxyt9858]

@@simonenoli4418 it's not a bug . It was initially in his kit Even now the icon near your hud when you stack spectral chakrams says that hitting epic monsters refreshes the CD but that's clearly not the case anymore . Guess riot forgot to change that tooltip

[@Hyurno]

He's not hard to 'play'. He functions like almost any other ADC. He's just hard to understand and know what to do. He's the anti-auto-pilot gameplay champion. With Aphelios, you need to plan what your rotation is going to look like (much like what items you're going to build, but on the fly) and be constantly thinking "I need to waste this weapon first". And also know what combination is good for what situation. He's a lot like Gnar in that regard. I think that's a pretty cool thing. When I play him, I'm always thinking: "I can't fight now, I have bad dueling weapons" "I can do an objective, I have good dps weapons" "I can set up a gank, I have good utility weapons" "I can't teamfight now, I have bad weapons for that" "I need to waste this weapon asap or else I can't fight this" "In a few seconds I can all in him with my next weapons" Literally like Gnar thinking "gonna transform, need to fight" or "fury running low, can't fight". Aphelios is cool if you like thinking and planning while playing. I enjoy it. OH and if by accident you mess up your rotation, you need to know how to fix it. "I need to hold this weapon so that I can fix my rotation". Good luck doing that if you're playing on auto-pilot.

[@toastedcowgiraffegummybrea2133]

aphelios is great for people who like complex characters who have a high skill ceiling but once you master them you become a god and since i lost my account i quit league but if i come back im prob gonna play a ton of him

[@bohomazdesign725]

@@toastedcowgiraffegummybrea2133 Aphelios does not have a high skill ceiling. He does not have any mechanics like for example Caitlyn (headshot chain), Tristana (instant W reset) or on-hit Varus has. What makes him difficult is the fact that he has a knowledge wall. Thats why he performs so poorly in low elo and is borderline broken in high elo. Players actually put the time in to read thru and memoriez what each gun does.

[@toastedcowgiraffegummybrea2133]

@@bohomazdesign725 i didnt mean high skill ceiling for aphelios but more like hes good for people who like difficult characters srry abt my comment being worded weird

[@Rncko]

You sir just sum up my experience with Gnar and Aphelios ...PERFECTLY.

[@krlosvilchis1186]

Here a Gnar/Phel main and yes you perfectly nailed my process of thinking with these two.

[@Shadow_SA2]

4:10 Except he did, they took out the infinite range on Calibrum's mark and limited the number of mini chackrams you could stack.

[@gatorguard5931]

Thank you, yes. Exactly this.

[@TheTrueEnderLord]

Except he was always capped as 20 chakram on live servers. And while calibrum is not infinite any longer, in reality they simply lowered the range significantly. Had they removed the range increase entirely I think the point would be more valid

[@Kakouroche]

@@TheTrueEnderLord the point is still valid regardless of how much they reduced the auto range by. If ashe’s ult was no longer grab but still long range, she would still have her “global” R range removed. But remember too they also changed/removed how his stat passive works. If used to give you percent armor pen but got changed to lethality. That’s another change to his kit since lethality and percent armor pen are literally different stats and items in the game. I think the reason why you and other might not see this as “removing things from his kit” is because his play style largely didn’t change but if akali never tower dove people with her old W, her playstyle after they changed it would remain the same but that doesn’t change the fact that her kit changed.

[@hootle3745]

This

[@darkghoost7532]

@@Kakouroche yea percent armor pen scales so much better than lethality...

[@ahmad-rw6lv]

He recieved 56 nerfs while getting 2 buffs for ultimate 1 for his AD in Q and 2 buffs to lethality on E with some hp buff when they gave all adcs that buff during 10.11 patch

[@jeanmahmoudventilateur3480]

idk if that was mentioned or if it was considered as a "bugfix" but the turret when placing won't shoot during the placing animation (which instantly gave calibrum's mark, you can check on older clips) but it still activates it without the turret shooting which is a nerf technically

[@WhenYouGoMadd]

It's crazy how much Riot target nerfs Aphelios. Someone at Riot must just hate him. Crazy how Aphelios keeps getting nerfed, while all the hot girl Champions get to remain broken.

[@ahmad-rw6lv]

@@WhenYouGoMadd hahaha. It's a year later but riot will keep aphelios at 46% WR because he is difficult while ezreal who is the hardest ADC in the game will be left at 49.8%. Ofc it is related to champion difficulty not how many skins they have...

[@euseuseus]

Even though there are other adcs that demand less from the player, to get even better results than aphelios, i just can’t find myself playing a different adc. The amount of creative freedom his kit gives me is unmatched. Maining aphelios currently on soloq is probably not the smartest thing to do, but aphelios is a truly unique character that has given me some of my best moments on the game.

[@bird5306]

The one thing I think you should add about release aphelios, is that you couldn't see his off hand weapon by his health bar so there was even less visual clarity

[@AceWolf456]

10:06 "This is Aphelios 2, now with 50% less 200 years of game design experience." That made me laugh way harder than it should have.

[@distraction2803]

My most-played champion-now this does put a smile on my face. He's one of the few champions where when I do well, I feel like I deserve to. Few things in this world are more satisfying than getting off the perfect double-swap combo while keeping your rotations infact.

[@aznskills90214]

Did those recent nerfs hurt much?

[@Legilboi]

Based

[@distraction2803]

@@aznskills90214 I don't notice them much at all. I guess early trades becoming a little more punishing and all-ins a little more threatening. Cut Down and LDR become more valuable so your damage actually goes up a bit. Most situations you'd die anyway even with the extra health, so I don't mind.

[@Local_commentor]

Wait i know u your that other guy who I seen in other league videos all the time

[@dravendraven1471]

What happened to Brother Aphelios? Easy. He got jumped by an AP Rengar otp, and acquired PTSD.

[@DeyonOttervenBur]

Sad, but true

[@wesker8814]

I love Aphelios, even when he's strong, he isnt as toxic as Yone or Akali

[@duckymomo7935]

Aphelios takes skill so someone using him well deserves to win and at the same time Aphelios has plenty of counterplay

[@brianlamptey4823]

@@quacker5921 most of his counterplay involves just walking at him lmao

[@PhelBot]

when aphelios is strong (this is assuming the champion is played flawlessly) you're literally a statcheck, long range, burst + dps, lifestealing, aoe killing machine. (I'm a 600k mastery Aphelios one trick)

[@onsetaugust]

@@brianlamptey4823 as a 700k mastery Topheleos OTP, i can say u are completely wrong

[@kohlmagness6746]

@@brianlamptey4823 Aphelios plays best into characters that HAVE to walk into him. He's worse against ranged comps.

[@Yvädastra]

I don't even get mad when I am against an Aphelios, even when he's good. Instead, I just groan because I have to remember everything he does. ...or I just play Voli jungle. 🐻‍❄🤙🏻

[@chidzhustle3570]

I adore Aphelios. Beautiful edgy design, incredibly fun to play, and his lack of popularity makes me feel special everytime I lock him in

[@ioannishussein8038]

This is the one I have been waiting for so long. Aphelios is my absolute favourite champion. Even if Aphelios got nerfed too much, as long as you understand his skillsets, you’ll still do well.

[@hqhuy931]

I would say he's pretty balanced. Seeing him in pro is quite tame, compared to the likes of Crown Ezreal and Jinx. Aphelios needs team coordination and mechanics to play, but for Riot to punish playing him physically... wow. That's just cruel

[@sergioq94]

I would rather play bruiser kogmaw for an immobile champ

[@ashemoney3173]

Hes so fun to play!

[@tatzecom]

@@hqhuy931 hes not very balanced. hes horrendously underperforming for the amount of skill that you pour into him and for the role hes supposed to play in a team. His damage against even slightly tanky targets is just... well it doesnt exist. Fullbuild Aphelios with LDR of course against a fullbuild Wukong? 200 damage. Thats it. Thats how much damage you deal. 200. As a fullbuild glasscannon damage dealer. 200. Oh no Wukong wasnt full armor, he had two armor items, thats it. Now he can basically neglect me because im just an ADC. Basically, if youre a hardstuck Aphelios main/OTP and you wouldve put the same time and energy that you put into Aphelios into any other champion, you wouldnt be hardstuck.

[@hqhuy931]

@@tatzecom thing is Aphelios is the kind of champion you would play for the novelty of it, not for the rank because about 90% of Aphelios players can't play at pro level anyways. A full tank team is relatively fine for aphelios, but a full fighter team is a pain in the ass, which is the reason why riot is over nerfing him. He literally have no health, no base AD, no skirmishing ability with other adcs such as lucian, mf, caitlyn, tristana - this is absolutely awful. I kinda accepted that I won't be dealing damage to tanks anyways so...

[@Chrono_topher]

I think what happened to him is basically what happened to Azir. Incredibly complex for their combos and the high learning curve, but the mastery of the two champs are worth it. But of course, just like with Azir; Riot found a way to f*ck them both up with 2 million nerfs. Mind you that hes still okay rigjt now, but no where near as strong as when he was released.

[@lal6005]

i just wish azir was a ok champ...

[@ohlookitisacat7404]

"Strong" is underplaying Aphelios rating on power level during his release.

[@vitortakara7090]

riot doesn't say fuck for both aphelios and azir for no reason though, both are balance nightmares that offer insane dps when they are not on that overnefed state, aphelios is a ranged champ that counters melee, has strong poke, free aoe on auto atacks, free sustain and one of the most terrifiyng tf ultimates in the game while azir has too much range and dps, although they are overly nerfed on solo queue they are aways on the edge of having 100% pick ban on pro play, same thing with kalista the ultimate counter to 99% of melee champions, they are never allowed to be good bcz the avarage player sucks and their mechanics are hard to master, while if they had an avarage win rate they would all destroy pro play without a doubt

[@zyancryy9791]

As an Aphelios main, I’m glad to see him today, he seem much better now. There some game where I remember where I barely dish out any damage, and that he just completely useless, that why I stop playing him for a long while and pickup someone new. (Love him but he just isn’t it, glad he in a better place)

[@Amaling]

@@vitortakara7090 they're never allowed to be good for people who are A: not godlike at the game and B: don't commit a lot of time on the characters. With enough time people can avoid B, they can have good mechanics with those champs even if fundamentals and macro are shit with enough experience and muscle memory and just have a 50% winrate in their elo with said "over-nerfed" champions Not every champion is designed to be chump-friendly, in the same way that there are chump-friendly champs who don't see pro play like Annie. I don't get why people are upset with this? If you wanna do well with the cool champs pros use, git gud

[@callmeandoru2627]

The fact that Aphelios manage to only have three buttons on such an overloaded kit, means Chogath’s entire kit can be cramped into one button

[@IYPITWL]

Lol I'm imagining Chogath alley ooping enemies into his mouth

[@BioTheHuman]

I mean, imagine a new champ realese where these is this dude that with his Q makes you airborne, silence you and he gets empowred attacks. (Q+w+e of Cho) Would it be so strange?

[@usarhabilidade2697]

@@BioTheHuman well...if he has 2 dashes (the bare minimum for a new champion) than yes

[@Viridian084]

I've been an Aphelios main since day 1 of League. I am a massive nut for Magic Arsenals, a niche which no other game except League has ever properly executed on. Aphelios has been good since the day I started (season 10 around patch 6, 8, or 12) and has remained around the same power level. However, I believe there's on factor people really don't respect about his story, that being his numbers namely his MR (which used to be the lowest in the game) make the experience of learning him unnecessarily polarizing. There are numerous edges and things that make no sense in his kit that add to people not wanting to play him extensively. I remember when he got his changes in s11 I had 2 friends try him, hype him up, and subsequently drop him. Small things like his passive stats makes people think (or ask), his weapon rotation confuses and frustrated people, and important mastery mechanics like knowing how to use his Chakrams effectively complicate him further. I love this champ, frankly I'm not an ADC main, I'm an Aphelios main; I vastly prefer any other role over bot, but he is only viable in that role most of the time due to those weird hangups (like his MR). I'm actually really happy that the stigma of his power is fading since for a really long time any clip I got or shared was met with "200 years hehe xd". I appreciate the fact that videos like this are actually talking about him properly, and hope for more content in this style.

[@yurilopes420]

5:00 not only that, on those shapeshifting champions, but ALL of the multiple form, 6 ability champions have one thing in common: they have one main form. meaning the other forms are always just addons to the main form, they help round and complete the champion out aphelios is completely different in that each weapon works as its own champion, when combined with the second hand weapon. like, he's so different than nidalee and elise, cause like, at the end of the day, they're human characters. a long range ability, a heal or stun, some more dmg/utility, then they swap and go all in in monster form and back out in human form. their main way of playing, the bread and butter is always human form, same with jayce cannon form aphelios is truly the most unique champion

[@sKryly1]

7:31 I've never in my life seen so much skill in one nida player

[@gandalfpotter2149]

Honestly Aphelios is my favorite champion, I actually enjoy how complex he is because I feel like a beast when I pull off a good combo with him

[@samseloo4962]

I'm addicted to this character. You give up consistent power to pull off the greatest clips and escapes if you are good enough

[@greatgatorgaming6024]

I think the fact that aphelios is restricted to 2 guns at a time is what keeps him from being an overloaded nightmare like the other 200 years champs. Aphelios may have like 20+ different abilities but he only has access to 2 passives, abilities, and ults at a time. And really its only 1 ult (you gotta choose cant have both) and the only way to have access to both passives is with good use of crescendum and gravitum.

[@porgipandacorgi7849]

I believe the other thing that made him so overpowered before all those nerfs was how well he synergized with the old death's dance. Aphelios could outheal the damage of 2 carries once he got death's dance. And death's dance also made it almost impossible to oneshot him.

[@Weerknuffelbeer]

That's also about my take on Aphelios' story. I never felt he was overloaded despite being able to combine his weapons in so many ways by the simple virtue of him having no dashes. Besides having some lifesteal on Severum he's as vulnerable to divers and assassins as any other hypercarry. Of course he was stupidly overtuned on release but as you mentioned, he never needed to lose any of his gameplay mechanics in order to get to a more or less healthy state.

[@JohnYannoulas]

Although Aphelios is partly CertainlyT's child, I think it's a misconception that he is a 200 years champion. Even though looking at some 200 IQ Aphelios play might look intimidating, he is in his core a traditional marksman through and through. He isn't a 200 years champ in that he doesn't have a tool handy for every occasion in contrast to stuff like Viego, Yone, Akali, Irelia etc. Aphelios has a lot of tools but can only utilize a couple of them between long intervals. Yes he has a root and slow, a 1500 range skillshot and 650 range AAs, extra lifesteal, AoE attacks, Super Melee Mode and Turrets, BUT, he can't lifesteal while doing AoE damage from 650 units while using chakrams, turrets, slowing you and rooting you in the process. His kit was relatively well gatekept in terms of features because you need to cycle through them properly, however the devs went too far with the output of each of these features. There was a time when having flamethrower meant you use blue ulti, No question, no thinking, just press R and you can probably one/two shot 3 or more grouped enemies. His numbers were just too high and that made it look like the champion had an insane kit, when in reality he was a walking statstick with simplistic strengths and weaknesses to each stance.

[@alex2005z]

Something to add is that he doesnt have anything that an adc shouldnt have. He has lots of ways of doing damage, but he cant face tank an entire team by pressing w. He has to actually postion, and is as squishy, if not more, than other adcs with his lower range (because without calibrum he has a preety low range, and calibrum isnt the weapon you want in a teamfight)

[@loveawayfromreality6453]

Damn facts

[@Tynine]

Aphelios is my go to ADC and I absolutely love him, his kit is just so much fun. For me personally he is one of the best ever designed champions. But please Riot stop nerfing him bc of pro play presence :')

[@rampardge]

FINALLY SOMEONE WHO AGREES THAT HE WAS OVERTUNED NOT OVERLOADED THANK YOU VARS

[@22kurthnaga]

Love the random fire emblem music

[@WhenYouGoMadd]

I don't know why they nerfed Aphelios at the start of 2024. They completely gutted the Attack Damage he gets from Leveling his Q. So now he only gets a total of 27 AD from maxing out his Q. He was already at a 47% winrate. Why is Rioting still nerfing him!?! Meanwhile, Marksmen like Miss Fortune get to do an insane amount of damage while keeping their overtuned kit.

[@samuel-nq6he]

Who complains about mf

[@BLKCLVR]

I think the big problem with Aphelios is that he can handle any situation he wants to, provided his guns are managed well. If they are, his versatility is the highest out of probably any champ in the game. Even with less than optimal guns you still have a minimum of two approaches to literally any situation you encounter. That carries a lot of power that most champs don't get access to, and most players can't utilize to the fullest extent.

[@JimJPoggers]

I love aphelios i picked him up at the end of season 11 and hit diamond for the first time. I love how his weapon management works it's one of the most enjoyable things about him. All hail remmacs

[@P.H691]

As someone who has over 700k on aph, I do like his current build, but I remember the old aphelios build (before mythic). IE, hurricane, phantom, death dance, and mortal. Those days were fun and while the new items are great, I’ll never forget the old days.

[@markopusic8258]

Old death's dance has to be one of the most toxic items ever created on any champion with high damage capability. It's not really Aphelios' fault as Samira, the windtard brothers and most bruisers did abuse it, but it just felt as terrible on him because such a dps machine had no right to have pseudo-tank durability

[@Bob-tq9ny]

Aphelios is the most fun I've had playing league, i wish he can just get buffed a bit more tho cuz wow his winrate is abysmal

[@Bandit74100]

What i wish for is riot to create a separate version of the game made specifically for pros/LCS/Worlds where they inact their balance changes catered more to the pro scene, while on the regular regions the game gets changed how most of the general community wants it to change

[@ioannishussein8038]

Thanks for making all the details about what happened to Aphelios.

[@GreetedSaucer93]

Have you considered doing a video regarding knock ups/airborn vs other CCs. I find it interesting how knock ups are the only form of CC other than supression that is not affected by tenacity.

[@jiaj-]

This is my first time when Vars is giving an example, I can't understand a single word. Well done Aphelios.

[@GattlingCombo]

In the beginning I never witnessed the OP 1v9 Aphelios, so I didn't think he was this unstoppable beast. I've had friends who used him and I thought he was one of the funnest adcs to support as a Braum main. So many doodads to stack my passive on :D. Also, remember when riot said they wanted Aphelios to be the Yasuo of adcs? LOLOLOL. I also don't think winrate is the best indication of how good a player is. Not anymore at least.

[@Martin-yh7vi]

The Yasuo of Adcs is probably Samira.

[@lunartoby]

I still feel like calibrum ult should have the old range it had and keeping the rest as the current range. This one is more of a for fun idea for aphelios that makes it a little more complicated. This is for only his gravitum. The idea is gravitum now has stacks and at 1-2 stacks its a 0.75 root, 3-4 stacks would be a 1-1.25 root, then 5 stacks would give it a 1.25 stun. the numbers can change but I thought it would be a cool thing to have in his gravitum kit. it would make it alot more complex which isn't needed and doesn't need to be added but just a cool concept of an idea.

[@itspikachutime5624]

I feel like that would be kinda pointless though cus if they’re in ult range to begin with theyre in range for calibrum mark to be procced. The only reason the global range was ever a real issue I feel was because of the combo with white gun.

[@lunartoby]

@@itspikachutime5624 no no I don't mean old calibrum mark range. I mean the old aphelios ult range before it lost I think 100 units of range. I'm saying that calibrum ult should have a longer ult range than the other 4 by reverting calibrum ult to be the old aphelios ult range. The calibrum mark aa can stay as is, other than a few bugs with it it's perfect as is.

[@itspikachutime5624]

@@lunartoby oooh ok i getcha now

[@salt_activity]

I live in constant fear that Riot's gonna rework him and change his kit and I'm gonna have to learn what he does all over again

[@aaabbbccc1939]

You used to not be able to see his guns and he would get auto attack resets off blue marks. The latter allowed him to basically infinitely repeat marks with his turrets because every auto from them applied a stack (it had a larger range too). In lane, that mechanic basically gave him more range than caitlyn and was basically a combo that you had to accept was going to take half your hp.

[@aaabbbccc1939]

it was also global too lol

[@ninjaz4146]

Thumbnail: what happened to aphelios? Me who one trick him: a lot happened, what exactly do wanna know?

[@moopey1837]

Great video as always, but as a music nerd and an Aphelios nerd, I had to point out that Crescendum is pronounced like the music term "crescendo" (like creSHEndo, emphasis on the "e"), since it takes its name from that term. Well it also takes it from "crescent" because Moon I guess, but Rioters have been pronouncing it how I explained. I just really like weird words and this one in particular...

[@VarsVerum]

Ohhh CreSCENDum instead of CREScendum.

[@moopey1837]

@@VarsVerum Yes and the "sc" is pronounced like "sh".

[@yoanLoH]

Nice video, I was starting to wonder if I'm the only one who thought of aphelios that way. Seeing those old clips from launch aphelios... I can't help it but think riot does insufficient internal testing for characters. They rely too much on PBE, how come no one noticed they gave an ability quadratic scaling and no one thought to try it against a bunch of target dummies before the character was even announced.

[@bingdiggus8579]

You could say his development has set him back 100 years

[@ahmad-rw6lv]

aphelios calibrum (green gun) mark had global range but it was reduced shortly after (so it's the only thing that was removed from his kit) also i want to add that his passive that grants him AD/AS/lethality are his base stats but the player decides how he distributes them (aside from lethality of course) to make it more clear, he has very low AS per lvl and low AD per lvl so that he can compensate with his passive and get a little more stats when he maxes them (it's more like you squeeze the stats into one category and make the other starve) and finally his base numbers are low compared to other champions but the problem was with him doing a lot of basic attacks and these basic attacks can crit and lifesteal which riot didn't prepare for (for example insta proc PTA or stacking half the conqueror stacks with red Q) things like that made him deal so much damage without having high numbers in his abilities

[@lebusch2901]

I think Aphelios is way better designed than most people think. Yeah he has 5 different weapons but he can´t use all of them at the same time making it a bit wierd but okay. And msot importantly on a basic level he is immobile, squishy and has a lot of damage (kinda what you expect from an adc)

[@yone8715]

Say that to a fast hand aphelios

[@yone8715]

He is far worse. Yone is better

[@camyron]

"what he can do is limited by the two guns he's currently using". This is why most Aphelios guides point out that he's at his strongest with

[@stic1932]

Your videos always make me want to play FE Radiant Dawn again

[@PyroAquaVentusDragon]

the pain i felt when vars begins counting aphelios abilities and the number kept growing. As always solid script writing and narration.

[@GameStandard]

I feel like this was league attempt at "an invoker like champion." and if that's the case I'm fairly happy. I also feel a lot of his problems came from the fact his numbers ment he could do what so many other champs can do but better. He could have Caitlyn's range but he didn't have her low attack speed so he was a better bully, he he had Ashe's slow and cc or Jinx's AoE. But with all the numbers being brought back he Doesn't really do those things better and doesn't have, for example, the agency in lane Cait has or Jinx's ability to bulldoze a team fight of one kill or Ashe's... well Ashe is just garbage. I just think its nice he's starting to feel more of the jack of all trades he's supposed to be and not just stealing identities from other champs now

[@hootle3745]

They took away Aphelios' infinite attack range on Calibrum Q/R/Turret- That's certainly something at least

[@shacolin6546]

Even though he can't do it all at once, I find it difficult to swallow a champion that can play like Ashe, Jinx or Caitlyn while having a built-in bloodthirster while having the ability to go on melee against divers and come out on top. He can go from water to wine, then from wine to beer, then from beer to milk making him so versatile it is hard to justify playing other marksmen over him unless he is extremmely weak.

[@vietsmiley]

He’s extremely weak after having too many nerfs. He’s practically even more glass with big cannon, more so than other marksman. His lifesteal is only adherent for his ult and for late game;it is otherwise not noticeable. Jinx is in simple terms just an easier version of Aphelios. Aphelios is quite special in the fact that he has the tools to deal with situations that the enemy must understand. Don’t duel him if you see crescendum. He may be versatile but he can only hold guns for some time, without the correct ones he’s worse than a generic adc.

[@aneonfoxtribute]

Aphelios is like the pinnacle of "This is not nearly as complicated as you make it out to be". Like when he came out I understood how he played very quickly because unlike a lot of the fanbase, I don't buy into the "200 years" nonsense, and I saw how simple he was. I honestly find every new champion simple, I think the whole "every champion is overcomplicated" complaints to be nonsense. It's not hard to figure out what they do even if they have a lot of aspects to them.

[@tainadeoliveira]

I feel aphelios is really rewarding to play once you master him, he can do a lot and turn many fights around, actually 1v9 late game champion. I don't like picking him into assassins but I feel he is really good into the champions I hate, like Draven, Lucian, Vayne and Jinx

[@Bandit74100]

all these champions counter him very easily unless you have a godtier support player.

[@bernardmileslopez4792]

My nerd brain and gamer one felt satisfaction at these kinds of analytical yet balance seeking discussion about any particular topic (in this case, gaming and things encompassing it that produced highlights), please make more videos!!!!! ❣️

[@theduskmonarch6207]

I have to say that in my opinion Aphelios is one of the most well designed champions in the game. There is complexity to his kit for sure, but it is what you pointed out in the video: mostly inflated numbers and some oversights like calibrums infinite range and the infernum ult interactions. The beauty of Aphelios kit lies simply in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his individual weapons. Each weapon is powerful but not overpowered and enables a certain playstyle. Calibrum gives you range for quick trades, Gravitum gives you cc for a potential all in, Infernum gives you a boost to dmg and additional aoe, severum gives you sustain and movement speed and crescendum gives you close quarters dmg capacity. If you get what makes the individual weapons strong and play around that, he is relatively easy to counter. If you allow him to control the space and get ahead, then you are in for a treat and a slaughter like with any good hyperscaling adc. It is a kit that grants benefits for playing smart and that can be countered by playing smart. It enhances skill expression on the highest level, but also supports a plethora of playstyles. You can play him aggressively and with an engage supporter to dominate the laning phase. You can play him passively and scale up with an enchanter or a poke supporter. You can play him as a lane bully given the right settings. He shares this tendency with Thresh, who in my opinion also falls into the highest tier of design. He too can express a lot of playstyles and is useable and suitable for most situations. This versatility makes him better designed and healthier for the game than lets say a Soraka, who just heals for infinity and has barely any way to be punished if you cant counterpick her. Most broken champs have one mechanic that just breaks the game and that all the nerfs and balance changes need to revolve around. Gwens protection field, Nilahs experience boost, Yones no consequences E. All these abilities either leave no room for counterplay or are built around exploiting game mechanics. If a champ is only recognized by literally one ability then we find poor design in my opinion.

[@Niki2620]

I remember the summer a couple of years ago when I decided to pick him up. I put some time into him in order to master him just to see him get nerfed 10 patches back to back until he was unplayable and I felt like my time has went to the void.

[@vo1ce147]

From what aphelios do to what happened to aphelios.

[@gemini5943]

5:14 my musician heart. It burns :cc

[@vector3366]

It hard not see how good that thresh is

[@SeniorRed]

Dude I always recognize your BGMs, you took this one from Radiant Dawn :D

[@fidelregueiro2803]

Wow reading coments Im really surprised people kind of like his kit. I've always seen him as another extremely overloaded and the best of his role when numbers are just ok. I played him for a while and felt like when you are wining early game is legit over. He can engage, can drain tank, can 1 v 1, zone and do massive AOE. And is not that situational because you can hold weapons REALLY LONG and can play around the rotation to always have a perfect weapon for any situation. For me he is in Viego and Yone levels of bullshit, but because he is an adc, and doesn´t have a dash, people is more forgiving. I hate it.

[@douwemusic]

The only appropriate response here is "git gud"

[@kwan3846]

For me Aphelios has the same issue with Kalista: he is much more vulnerable in soloQ environment than any ADCs/champions in the game. The same way few people know how to play around Kalista’s amazing laning phase, objective control and teamfight initiation, few know how to work with Aphelios’ guns. Like, skirmishing when he has blue - purple guns, force 5v5 when he has fucking green - purple, or won’t go pressure bot for platings when he has red - white. Shit like these happens even at the highest ranks. Also, most of the time standard immobile, squishy, late game ADCs like Aphelios are gonna be food for assassins.

[@hiteshadari4790]

I started the game as an aphelios main. I saw that 200 yrs video by score eSports and learnt that his hud is different to everyone in the game and he just looked damn cool...to say the least he is still my fav ADC But yeah I stopped playing ADC... cuz ADC 2022 XD

[@lackinggnat]

200 years brought him into this world and 200 years can take him out.

[@David-qg3vr]

If you play aphelios and know to keep one few ammo before fights, you technically have access to 4 different sets of abilities in that one fight

[@moonsy1773]

i think it would be better if Aphelios' visual model changes color when he switches his weapon that way I can know for sure what weapon he is using. Though he has the symbol indicator on top of his healthbar, most of the time I dont know what symbol it is or what weapon it is indicating

[@Betroid]

The infernum one shot thing is basically gangplank that’s wat happens when something crits and does splash damage

[@okidoxb4846]

difference w/ Aphel is that while he has a lot of stuff...they all are more or less connected to the same output. they pretty much all have to do with his AA, or skill shots. The other stuff just adds some bonuses onto those two things. His issue was pretty much just dmg bc thats the big and pretty much only thing he can do. He feels confusing and overloaded...but all he really does is right click in different flavors. The different flavors aren't that hard to balance on their own but if they are ALL strong then he's an issue. Giving him 5 different ults is where i'd draw the line tho especially since it procs a BUFFED passive effect instead of just giving a free AA on every target... Hey at least Calibrum doesn't make the next AA global anymore

[@ragamangos7768]

aphelios actualy had a global aa range with the turrets, wich was removed

[@allentayoto7387]

I'm not an ADC player myself, the only ADCs I play are Jhin (my main ADC) and Aphelios. That being said, I rarely get a negative KDA on Aphelios. I guess part of the reason is because I mained Jhin? With Jhin you need to carefully position yourself and that's one thing you want to do with Aphelios more than any other ADC.

[@Relhio]

I always hated the meme where people said they still don't understand his abilities. From the start I was amazed how straight forward and how well the whole kit would flow. Even someone as "complicated" as Invoker has a pretty simple playstyle if you just sit and read through it.

[@Pandaxtor]

Invoker has the benefit of being very honest about his abilities so the burden of knowing him falls on the invoker player rather than those who don't. That is a overloaded character done right.

[@niedude]

You cannot be serious. Aphelios is NOT straight forward. Not now, not then. He's probably the hardest adc to mechanically master, by a lot

[@timstockmann4699]

4:10 Aphelios was able to shoot over the whole map with white q but that was taken away

[@rogue1996]

Hey Vars can you do a Fiora's rework video in the future. Like talking about how she got reworked what insipiration of the design. Also the main part is why she has no champ teasers, events, spotlights, gameplay preview, new voice lines like GP's rework before her and after her rework every champion that got full VGU reworked until the latest one received everything. The champs that got a full VGU in order starting form gangplank are: Gangplank 2015 Fiora 2015 Poppy 2015 Shen 2016 Taric 2016 Ryze 2016 Yorick 2016 Warwick 2017 Galio 2017 Urgot 2017 Evelynn 2017 Swain 2018 Irelia 2018 Aatrox 2018 Akali 2018 Nunu & Willump 2018 Kayle & Morgana 2019 Morde 2019 Panth 2018 Fiddle 2020 Voli 2020 Mundo 2021 In this list of champions that recieved full VGU only Fiora has no Champ Spotlight, Champ tease trailer, New voicelines, New recall animation, new emotes ctrl 1/2/3, mini events. Yup that's Fiora i'm just really curious or somewhat jealous/delusional like it's haunting me just thinking about it even though it's already 7 yrs. add to that still having no legendary regardless of how popular she is, while Yone got his legendary in less than a year of release. Almost all of Top lane champs has a legendary or 2 already, so how about Fiora? Thanks love your videos!!!

[@znowubakus8260]

The part when you say they didnt remove any gameplay from him ( 4:16 ) is not real Infinite range calibrum passive is prime example but i remember a few more.

[@sliightdriizzle6011]

He’s so fucking cool though. I started playing right before Viego came out so I never experienced crazy Aphelios. I just want him to be useful again

[@Fazuchi24]

Udyr has had more than 2 forms well before 200 years did, but everyone forgets about the Dyr.

[@C4lmaria]

10:08 So 100 years of collective game design experience?

[@hqhuy931]

As many people already pointed out, Aphelios is a complex champion, a rewarding champion who would be the proof of team coordination and ADC skill. That is why (in my opinion at least) the two top ADCs of Lpl and Lck, Viper and Guma are both god at Aphelios. However Riot is slaughtering Aphelios, a perfectly fine and fun champion to have in the bot lane meta for the more "healthy" ones. He is literally unplayable for every one else who picks him up, because of his absurd base stats (from the nerfs) and the fact that he has no mobility whatsoever.

[@Deathaxel1998]

I have no idea how he works and I'm the absolute worst adc you'll ever see...I wanna main him !

[@cansan9403]

Hey Vars, I have a cool video idea Tank busters like vayne Kog or Fiora, how efficient they are How they affect the tank role Situations they are bad in etc. Would love to see a video about that

[@reset6292]

I am fairly sure I have a 20% winrate on Aphelios (cant remember since I already uninstalled the game) but I dont care bcs the champion is SO FUN and SO COOL and I will stick with him forever

[@Arob4343]

I feel like Aphelios is like a ranged, complicated Udyr

[@morwell2240]

I think that what makes Aphelios much more stable as the likes of Yone or Gwen or Samira is that almost all of his spells passives and ults are thought as offensive tools, while his defensive tools are extremely limited. Severum sucks a lot early and is one of the few champions where i feel like antiheal counters his kit, even when he Qs + R with severum. And Gravitum has a nice slow and a good root but they're not strong enough to counter other forms of mobility than just simply run. Yone's E allows him to make so much plays with very little consequences because of the bajillion cleanses it provides and the fact that he can place his body in a safe position first. Gwen's W is just one of the best defensive tools in the game so let's skip that. Samira's E allowed her to be very safe as well, as most engages would be denied and her dives were much safer. Rapid Fire, Frozen Mallet, Titanic Hydra are all considered as offensive items and while BT is more defensive i'm not sure it's enough to rival the likes of overloaded defensive tools. So yeah, Aphelios is a glass cannon with different deadly ammos. But ammos are still just ammos and glass breaks easily :) And yeah, his ult cannon and infinite Calibrum were just straight up OP. But it got removed, gj on riot on that one

[@evantheatheist]

I still think Aphelios should be able to swap his guns on demand. Like having an E that rotates what his off-hand weapon is. He's marketed as an arsenal champion but he's more like a slot machine.

[@yamgomes3894]

"the wave has a different color based on the main hand weapon" [laughs in color blind]

[@abrarnoorani8385]

The fact that you have managed to make playing aphelios seem like a decent idea to me even though I hate marksmen and I hate aphelios is impressive. I'd tip my hat to you but I need all the hands I have to hold all of aphelios's weapons.

[@garretwoeller7669]

I still hold firm that Viego is the least overloaded of the most recent champs like he is simple to understand he is just almost stat stick ish.

[@exec_rigveda8299]

Midlane pressure? The reason fiddle was nerfed was the toplane tank build, lol.

[@luism2125]

Been waiting for this for a long time, its basically why noone plays but for a newer champ. His problem is just that most people don't want to play him because he's so confusing at first. But for pro play he is kept super weak in solo queue so even if you learn him and aren't master+ he's still bad.

[@Lainbo]

Thanks for that retrospective on Moonboy, he was my favorite ADC before Samira and Akshan released, and he's the reason why i got more into League than i would ever have if he wasn't there, he's so gratifying when you do anything of value on him that it keeps me hooked to play him more and more :D

[@khonsenwright4986]

10:32 this part kind of makes me hope the same thing will happen to genshin and artifact system :)

[@douwemusic]

They did strip something important off of him: his E armor pen

[@thefuturefighter8215]

honestly he is the most fun adc for me to play with i like switching guns even if one is not ideal for the current situation you can make it work i know more marksman require less and i mean like much less effort to get the same if not better results but his gimmick to me at least make it worth the effort i put on him

[@glitchparallax4215]

4:18 Holy Shit That Penta.

[@Tokumastu1]

This champ is a prime example of unique doesn't translate to healthy for the game. To be honest I'm glad he's become a niche champ, better for many players if he shows up as rarely as possible.

[@Bouchico]

Aphelios is super strong in pro play in the hands of top tier adc s that can manage to play despite his low range. Then his spells make him really strong

[@suppipe3167]

the man did it