The days of guessing which weapons Aphelios has lined up might be over soon. Riot Games is implementing more changes to the marksman with Patch 10.4 that will add clarity when playing against the Weapon of the Faithful, the League of Legends developer announced today.
Once the patch goes live later in the month, Aphelios’ health bar will feature an indicator showing the marksman’s offhand gun. Likewise, Riot is lowering the range on his ultimate and increasing the contrast between colors so players can quickly differentiate between the champion’s ultimate effects. Other changes include making his turret visuals change with its threat level and implementing additional nerfs.
Since his release in December, Aphelios has appeared on every subsequent list of patch notes. In the most recent Patch 10.3, which released earlier this week, Riot capped the attack range on Aphelios’ Calibrum from an unlimited range to 1,800 units. Despite the League developer slowly whittling away at the champion’s strength, he’s remained a prominent pick in solo queue and on the professional stage.
For many League fans, Aphelios’ recent appearances on the LCS and LEC stages are what drove home frustrations over the champion’s extensive kit. There’s no clear indicator for when the Weapon of the Faithful is switching between weapons. And because Aphelios’ attacks tie into which weapons he has lined up, the lack of an indicator prevents players from knowing which abilities are coming next, making it more difficult to play around an enemy Aphelios.
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This can be frustrating for those playing against an Aphelios and for those watching the matches as spectators. Even LCK color caster Nick “LS” De Cesare admitted he had “no fucking idea” what Aphelios does despite having played against the champion numerous times. Other casters have had to rely on colors to differentiate between weapons, but even that strategy fell through in the chaos of a teamfight.
The new indicator will go live with Patch 10.4, which is scheduled to release Thursday, Feb. 20. Aphelios’ changes will arrive on the Public Beta Environment prior to hitting the live servers.
