On December 14 2019 07:11 chipmonklord17 wrote: I say this as someone who has only seen his Champion Spotlight and hasn't played with or against him yet, but what's the point of Aphelios? Does he fill an adc 'role' that other champions don't? For example Cait/Trist are siege champs, Vayne/Kog/Twitch are hyper carries, Lucian is an early game skirmisher type, Corki has his hybrid damage, etc.
Nothing about his kit seems to show me why someone would pick Aphelios over anyone else, contrast that to most new champions that at least in my opinion are immediately identifiable as what their niche is. I should mention I mean specifically in pro play, obviously if the champ is fun he'll see play in soloQ
What about bottom carries like Jhin or Varus? I don't know how to describe their niches, but they're both viable competetively
Depending on the meta both are Lethality/Poke champs. I guess my point overall wasn't to describe every adc and put them in a bucket, it was that I don't see Aphelios fitting into any bucket that currently exists, but I also don't see what new bucket he makes. I contrast this to the releases of Pyke and Qiyana. On release Pyke was obviously a "new bucket" and was obviously an AD support. It was very easy to understand from his Kit what he was doing. Qiyana from her kit was obviously not making a "new bucket" and was very clearly in the assassins bucket.
I just don't see why Aphelios exists. What does he do that makes me choose him, from a professional standpoint.
Aphelios' bucket is he change bucket constantly. With the right two weapons he's borderline S-tier (if not S+) in one of the different traditional ADC roles. Gravaton and Flamethrower are the best example. He has periods where he is Ashe, periods where he is Jinx and even periods where he is both.
I expect him to contested in pro simply because he is so versatile.
On December 18 2019 00:03 evilfatsh1t wrote: he should straight up be removed from the game. so cancerous to play against at the moment
You can feed horribly with the champ and then he suddenly turns around and starts blowing up people. And 10 people in the game don't understand his abilities.
You can feed horribly with the champ and then he suddenly turns around and starts blowing up people. And 10 people in the game don't understand his abilities.
On December 14 2019 07:11 chipmonklord17 wrote: I say this as someone who has only seen his Champion Spotlight and hasn't played with or against him yet, but what's the point of Aphelios? Does he fill an adc 'role' that other champions don't? For example Cait/Trist are siege champs, Vayne/Kog/Twitch are hyper carries, Lucian is an early game skirmisher type, Corki has his hybrid damage, etc.
Nothing about his kit seems to show me why someone would pick Aphelios over anyone else, contrast that to most new champions that at least in my opinion are immediately identifiable as what their niche is. I should mention I mean specifically in pro play, obviously if the champ is fun he'll see play in soloQ
What about bottom carries like Jhin or Varus? I don't know how to describe their niches, but they're both viable competetively
Depending on the meta both are Lethality/Poke champs. I guess my point overall wasn't to describe every adc and put them in a bucket, it was that I don't see Aphelios fitting into any bucket that currently exists, but I also don't see what new bucket he makes. I contrast this to the releases of Pyke and Qiyana. On release Pyke was obviously a "new bucket" and was obviously an AD support. It was very easy to understand from his Kit what he was doing. Qiyana from her kit was obviously not making a "new bucket" and was very clearly in the assassins bucket.
I just don't see why Aphelios exists. What does he do that makes me choose him, from a professional standpoint.
Aphelios' bucket is he change bucket constantly. With the right two weapons he's borderline S-tier (if not S+) in one of the different traditional ADC roles. Gravaton and Flamethrower are the best example. He has periods where he is Ashe, periods where he is Jinx and even periods where he is both.
I expect him to contested in pro simply because he is so versatile.
So basically he's a master of all trades, capped by the RNG of actually having the right pair?
Yeah I don't think that's a balanced ability. I don't think any other champ has the opportunity to one shot an entire team with one skill (even ultimate) that aren't even that close together. It needs decreased damage for multi-hits, and more reaction time as well. The instantaneous damage is just a little bit much.
Closest I can think of is like an ultrafed annie or vlad and even then they need to be close to the team, and super fed to do something like that. Not off the screen and press a single button.
You can feed horribly with the champ and then he suddenly turns around and starts blowing up people. And 10 people in the game don't understand his abilities.
yeah exactly this. what the fuck is that even by riots standards this is some bullshit. thing is hes not even that weak early game; good range, good setup, good damage. atm im just perma banning him every game i dont even care if my teammate wants to play him. just a disgusting champion to have in the game regardless
Aphelios seems to miss the mark as a high skill floor champion for me. It just doesn't really seem like he's got any ability options where you look at it and it's a bad choice. If anything he's the opposite.
His kit has some of the worst readability for his opponents. 5 different guns to get accustomed too, 5 walking cycles and attack animations, trying to tell his offhand gun by his back, his numerous marks his guns apply. Hes a visual mess. Not only is it a lot for an opponent to take in, his visual cues are hard to read and have poor contrast all on their own. Yet while he has 25 ways to beat you that are all different, they're all good. Just watch his champion Spotlight, he had 3 identical teamfight set ups with completely different weapon combinations and he just pop's off identically in all three.
Played against him a number of times and even if you could easily read what guns he had and what they did, there is never a moment where you're like "aha! You have these two guns, you have no kit synergy at the moment so you're worthless and I'll punish you!" Seems like the biggest hurdle is trying to figure out if he's able to exploit you or not more than of he's vulnerable; can he one shot my whole team at the moment? Is he harder to catch than Lucian with red buff at the moment? Does he have Ezreal style poke at the moment?
Invoker has such significant difference in his spells like AoE, slows, mana burn, split pusher minions, invisibility, tornado, meteor etc. All these spells have very clear differentiations and usage. One can't just equip any two spells and expect the same damage and general efficacy. Aphelios just feels like he's always good; feels like less a potential Jack of all trades out outsmarting you and more like you're just already on Dexter's table waiting for him to decide whether he wants to do the deed with a scalpel, a grinder, or a hatchet.
The feel could just be a numbers thing, largely, though I do think fundamentally he needs more exaggerated weaknesses / poor combinations. But I really don't like his lack of visual clarity. Kind of unacceptable from a company like Riot at this stage of their game, tbh. His visual cues remind me of old Karthus with more speed and less contrast.
The irony of the clip is that he was 2/8 at some point in the game and had no idea how to use his abilities. Then suddenly Aphelios came online and started blowing everything up, granted this was a viewer game (NoWay is GM/Challenger but basically ignored macro and the game was a fiesta) but the setup of the clip is something you will see even in high MMR. Even 3 people insta dying there would have meant an instant win.
His ult clearly needs a hard nerf, but then it becomes a lackluster ult ability, so I'm expecting heavy reworks for his kit by midseason.
Another option is that Riot will never try to rework Aphelios' kit and will instead balance him like Blitzcrank, Tahm or maybe Corki. I mean that they'll try to keep his strong aspects strong and nerf everything else to be as useful as Ahri's W.
I think they won't want to touch his kit for the same reason they don't want to make new Zyra skins. Too much effort.
A Rioter stated last season that they prefer to release overtuned champions and nerf them, rather than vice cersa, because its easier to balance by removing features rather than adding them. So if his number nerfs next patch aren't enough, he most likely will see parts of his kit removed.
I said this when the spotlight came out, by not giving the player agency on gun selection, the guns will have to all be too generally good, making him either op or trash
You can feed horribly with the champ and then he suddenly turns around and starts blowing up people. And 10 people in the game don't understand his abilities.
On December 14 2019 07:11 chipmonklord17 wrote: I say this as someone who has only seen his Champion Spotlight and hasn't played with or against him yet, but what's the point of Aphelios? Does he fill an adc 'role' that other champions don't? For example Cait/Trist are siege champs, Vayne/Kog/Twitch are hyper carries, Lucian is an early game skirmisher type, Corki has his hybrid damage, etc.
Nothing about his kit seems to show me why someone would pick Aphelios over anyone else, contrast that to most new champions that at least in my opinion are immediately identifiable as what their niche is. I should mention I mean specifically in pro play, obviously if the champ is fun he'll see play in soloQ
What about bottom carries like Jhin or Varus? I don't know how to describe their niches, but they're both viable competetively
Depending on the meta both are Lethality/Poke champs. I guess my point overall wasn't to describe every adc and put them in a bucket, it was that I don't see Aphelios fitting into any bucket that currently exists, but I also don't see what new bucket he makes. I contrast this to the releases of Pyke and Qiyana. On release Pyke was obviously a "new bucket" and was obviously an AD support. It was very easy to understand from his Kit what he was doing. Qiyana from her kit was obviously not making a "new bucket" and was very clearly in the assassins bucket.
I just don't see why Aphelios exists. What does he do that makes me choose him, from a professional standpoint.
Aphelios' bucket is he change bucket constantly. With the right two weapons he's borderline S-tier (if not S+) in one of the different traditional ADC roles. Gravaton and Flamethrower are the best example. He has periods where he is Ashe, periods where he is Jinx and even periods where he is both.
I expect him to contested in pro simply because he is so versatile.
So basically he's a master of all trades, capped by the RNG of actually having the right pair?
Yes. His weapons are all good but the right weapons in the right situation are down right broken.
What I dislike the most about him is how perfect the first rotation of weapons fit for the duration of first back.
That being said, not sure it makes sense on a shield that is only for yourself. Janna / Raka / Nida / Ivern / Sona / Yuumi / Karmia / Ori / Kayle / Thresh / Taric / etc self proc ardent makes sense.
Diana / Kaisa / Viktor / Ekko / Morde / Sylas etc self proc seems un-intended at best.
I like the self proc concept too, it's a cool niche strategy that player's found so I hope Riot doesn't hard impose their balance ideas and reverts it. That said, Conquerer Diana is just too strong with it right now, you rush Ardent into Nashor's Tooth and basically dominate all small skirmishes because you do crazy burst and DPS. Since her late game was nerfed, it seems to be the ideal build.
I know it's only one game but damn Keria looks like a monster support, so confident, accurate and decisive. If this is his usual form watch out LCK Keria is out for blood. :O
Not that much of a surprise but Deft's mechanics are actually insane.
I know it's only one game but damn Keria looks like a monster support, so confident, accurate and decisive. If this is his usual form watch out LCK Keria is out for blood. :O
Not that much of a surprise but Deft's mechanics are actually insane.
EPT
