New League of Legends Champion Aphelios Unveiled
Senna released earlier this month, and we already have a first look at the newest League of Legends champion Aphelios, the Weapon of the Faithful! The news itself is surprising. You are forgiven if you missed it amongst the whole off-season chaos and pre-season patch changes. There’s still not a lot to digest and go over, but we can still theorize based on what we know.
All About League of Legends Champion Aphelios
First of all, Aphelios is a Marksman from Targon. That, in and of itself, is relatively exciting. Seven champions hail from Mount Targon: Leona, Diana, Soraka, Pantheon, Zoe, Aurelion Sol and — perhaps the most famous Targonian — Taric.
Riot has absolute creative freedom with their latest League of Legends champion Aphelios because he comes from a region that isn’t fully fleshed out or explored. Seven champions, compared to the total number of 147, is relatively negligible, if not bafflingly small. Riot can make Aphelios into anything they want narrative-wise, which is exciting for a champion design.
Bradford “CertainlyT” Wenban co-designed the majority of his kit. After this revelation, you’re either elated or are squirming in disgust. CertainlyT is the mind behind many of the League’s biggest and most divisive (i.e. hated) “offenders.”
He designed Zoe, Kalista, Yasuo, Zed, Thresh, Zyra (to name a few). He also reworked Akali (the rework everyone despises). His resume is spectacular but also frightening. He sometimes goes overboard and design fascinating, albeit inherently overpowered champions.
His champions are also hotly contested, banned, picked, reworked and tinkered with monthly. Riot struggles to balance anything CertainlyT designed. Hopefully, Aphelios won’t be another champion bringing too much to the table.
If you’re a fan of the written word, look at Aphelios’ backstory. Based on his lore, he is mute and accompanied by his twin sister Alune. Together, “bound by pain and sacrifice.” It’s quite a fascinating backstory. We shouldn’t read too much into it as it isn’t indicative of Aphelios’ abilities or overall role in the game.
“Only now did they understand their destiny. Aphelios hollows himself out with pain but becomes a conduit for the moon’s power. Alune lives alone, isolated in her fortress, but guides her brother and can see through his eyes.”
By the looks of it, Riot is preparing a fascinating character. He (according to Lead Champion Product Ryan “Reav3” Mireles) requires “almost fanatical faith” to master and brings mechanical prowess and a ton of outplay potential. What that looks like is anyone’s guess, but it’s hard not to be little bit excited.
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