Everything We Know About Runeterra's Next Champion Releasing in February, Aphelios

Published 5 years, 2 months ago by (Updated 5 years, 2 months ago)

Legends of Runeterra has revealed a new Targon Champion card during the Season 2021 Opening Day: Aphelios, the Weapon of the Faithful!

Aphelios Card Image
 Aphelios Card Image

Aphelios' arrival hallmarks the start of a new method for releasing card: Champion Expansions, small expansions dedicated around a single champion. 

Quote From Riot
His arrival is the first of our Champion Expansions - themed card releases centered around specific Champions. You can expect to see a few more Champion Expansions throughout the year, but for now, let’s take an initial look at Aphelios and his many weapons.

Moon Weapons and Phasing

Aphelios' gameplay revolves around Moon Weapons, special non-collectible 2 mana spells. He will passively generate Moon Weapons in hand whenever you play 2 cards in a round, similar to how Riven generates Blade Fragments when you Rally. However whereas Riven's Blade Fragments are random, players will be able to control which Moon Weapons Aphelios generates via a new mechanic, Phase.

Calibrum Card Image Severum Card Image Gravitum Card Image

Infernum Card Image Crescendum Card Image

Every Moon Weapon has Phase, so playing one will effectively allow you to pick from 2 choices which Moon Weapon Aphelios will create next. Think like the Invoke from Starshaping, except you need to wait until Aphelios' passive ability triggers to receive the card you selected.

Clever use of Phase will allow you to cycle through the Moon Weapons you want to use.

Gifts from Beyond, a new 2 mana Burst spell, also allows you to immediately generate any Moon Weapon of your choice. 

Gifts From Beyond Card Image

Are you excited for Aphelios? Let us know in the comments below!

Season 2021 Coverage

Check out all our coverage of Legends of Runeterra's Season 2021 announcements!

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Legends of Runeterra Targon Season 2021 Opening Day
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Comments

  • My hunch is that just like how he is in LoL, Aphelios may seem confusing at first, but players will be able to get used to his weapons and use him with skill.

    Reminds me of a hilarious LoL story I have: one time I played a One For All match and everyone voted for a different champion each. One guy voted for Aphelios and he was picked at random so we were all stuck with him. Since Aphelios has a completely different UI, we all struggled to play him and the enemy team (5 Veigars) beat us easily. Hopefully the same doesn't happen when he gets into LoR!

  • Aphelios is the new Twisted Fate, It is a card that you will play exclusively for the cards that it can create. It is very versatile and can fit in many decks, such as TF


  • You know I have a feeling Aphelios won't be played not because it's weak, but because it's too dang confusing.

    • Yup, i agree with you and therefore here catch a snowball!

  • He is so versatile, i'm pretty sure he'll find a spot at least in 1 deck, but it won't surprise me at all to see him in multiple decks like Zoe

    Also this guide is really helpfull, it was needed as the champion is a bit complicated

  • The double Stun of Gravitum sounds pretty powerful.

  • Yeah, this one sounds complex. Which is not necessarily bad, but I don't see myself playing this one a lot.

  • I like his concept, as for his viability I can't tell for sure before playing him but he look like a worse version of Riven.

    • There are actually a lot of differences between him and Riven that I think might make him better:

      1. You get 1 Moon Weapon every round, instead of every other round.

      2. You have control over which moon Weapons to get

      3. The Moon Weapons are more powerful than collectible 2 Mana spells, whereas Fragments are weaker than 1 Mana Spells

      4. Moon Weapons give you stuns, removal, healing, Nexus damage, and board presence, whereas the Fragments can only give you better attacks and are counterable by removal.

      5. At least 1 Moon Weapon is good on literally any boardstate, whereas Fragments are only good if you have specific units

      6. Aphelios decks are in Targon, which has more support for Token generating than Noxus and more Tools to protect units.

      7. Aphelios is actually more similar to Zoe than Riven because he generates 2 Mana spells and demands an answer before he gets too much value and levels up. 

      Sorry of this sounded dismissive or critical, I just wanted to write out what I’ve been thinking about Aphelios because I’ve slowly been realizing that he’s better than he might seem. Of course, if there’s no deck to fit him, then he’ll be bad even if he is hypothetically powerful in a vacuum. 

      • Good points, but it is worth noting that Riven has a lot of support to help her get the 3 cards she needs to level up. It looks like Aphelios will need to generate most or all of his cards himself. So you'll hav to keep L1 Aphelios alive for a few turns.

        (FWIW, I think Riven and Aphelios are both really fun champions, even if we still have to find the best decks for Riven.)

  • Just as needlessly-complicated as the real thing! lol