In League of Legends changes are coming for the ADC Aphelios. The ADC is in Riot Games’ sights: fundamental changes are set to be made. The carry can be played at a safe distance in LoL, which is a problem for Riot. The changes are expected for patch 14.5 or 14.6, on July 31 or August 14. The fans of Aphelios are negotiating with Riot Games.
Here’s what Riot Games says about Aphelios: The man in charge of balancing at Riot Games, David “Riot Phreak” Turrey, says in a YouTube video:
We are actually not big fans of the fact that Aphelios is currently more of a caster. His primary build is max E and rush Collector … We would really prefer if he were more of an auto-attacker and less of a burst mage with 5000 range.
That sounds like big changes are coming for the botlane champ.
Is that really 5000? 5000 range
is an exaggeration – the normal range for ranged champions is 550. Even heroes who can attack from extraordinarily far away, like Twitch, only reach 850.
However, Aphelios can, under certain conditions, reach a range of 1800 with his sniper rifle; at Locked-In
he has no range limitation at all. From Riot’s perspective, this is probably a real problem. In patch 10.3, one of Aphelios’s abilities, Calibrum
, was already reduced from no range limitation
to 1800.
Aphelios could change radically in a month
When are the changes expected? The Riot guy explains that the changes may come in 14.15 on July 31 or with patch 14.16 on August 14.
What changes can be expected? They want to transform Aphelios more into a “traditional auto-attack botlaner,” it is said. At the moment he exploits “Gun Combos,” which apparently Riot Games does not find so great.
Fans of Aphelios want to address his special position
This is how it is discussed: Aphelios players are immediately negotiating with the LoL guy in the direction: If you’re already changing Aphelios, then you simply have to give him a better build and just “slightly strengthen” the alternatives, then people would already switch to the new build.
They ask Riot Phreak to allow Aphelios the option to be played as a caster. And simply reward it more strongly when played riskily, getting closer to opponents.
Others also say: Please leave Aphelios in his special position and not turn him into a typical carry. They love Aphelios just the way he is currently played.
Aphelios has always broken the rules
Here’s the background: Normally, ADCs are so-called “glass-cannons”; they deal extremely high damage but can hardly take any damage themselves. They have a high risk of dying, but when they work, they provide a high return.
However, Aphelios has the ability to deal a lot of damage from a safe distance – players like that, but it seems to be a thorn in Riot Games’ side that an ADC operates from such a safe distance.
It is somewhat ironic that they now want to limit Aphelios’s range. His name already hints at his exceptional status: Aphelios is Greek for farthest from the sun
.
Riot Games has had similar balance problems in the past with brawlers: When certain melee characters could take a lot of damage while also dealing a lot of damage, it disrupted the balance of LoL. However, the current biggest balancing problem in LoL seems to involve a completely different champ: LoL: One champion annoys players, dominates 4 out of 5 positions, and is super easy to play
