If you are looking to perform your 200 years of gameplay in style with Aphelios, this is the place to help you pick the best fit for him.
Aphelios, ever since its release in 2019, has become one of the most talked about champions in League of Legends. His kit, while being extremely complex by design, offers a very high skill ceiling. So, if the right person plays it, they can singlehandedly change the tide of the game.
Because of this huge potential in his kit, Aphelios has seen a lot of pro-play presence since 2020. Even after countless nerfs and adjustments, his presence has not dwindled. Currently, he may look weak due to the sub 50% win rate in the solo queue. But if you are ever against a one-trick or see the pros play him, only then do you get to see why he is infamously known as ‘200 years’.
Now that’s about his champion gameplay. What about his skins? So far, he has received 1 skin on average every year. Being a modern champion, all of them look quite neat and well-designed. Still, in this article, I will try to rank them based on my impression to help you make the right choice before making the big call.
5. HEARTSTEEL Aphelios
- Release Date: November 8, 2023
- Price: 1350 RP
- Chroma: Yes (9 Different Chromas Available)
Among the 9 chromas, Ruby is available only with chroma bundle purchase. And Rockstar chroma is limited to certain events for Hextech crafting.
Before we dive deeper into the skin, let us look at the skin’s features first.
- New Model
- New Animation
- New VFX (Visual Effects)
- New SFX (Sound Effects)
- New Recall Animation
Despite the Heartsteel skin line being decent, as an Aphelios skin, it doesn’t fare well considering the competition. It’s an okay skin with nice VFX, SFX, and recall animation – comprising of groovy musical rhythm and K-Pop Boyband vibes. But other than that, the in-game model has little to offer to stand out from the rest.
4. EDG Aphelios
- Release Date: May 12, 2022
- Price: 1350 RP
- Chroma: Yes (Only 1 Chroma Available)
Being a legacy skin, its chroma, Elite, is not available anymore. It was distributed by Riot for a limited during limited-time events.
Before we dive deeper into the skin, let us look at the skin’s features first.
- New Model
- New Animation
- New VFX (Visual Effects)
- New SFX (Sound Effects)
- New Recall Animation
EDG Aphelios was released in celebration of EDG’s historic first Worlds win in 2019. The skin is designed with a very sophisticated sense of aesthetics. This is reflected in the artistic patterns on Aphelios’ clothing. The color scheme is very light-toned, but the contrast is there to make it visually pleasing to the eye. However, the bland in-game model may throw off a lot of people. The VFX and recall animation are lackluster, too. So, it kind of fails to live up to its promise, which the splash art succeeded but failed where it mattered the most.
3. Nightbringer Aphelios
- Release Date: December 11, 2019
- Price: 1350 RP
- Chroma: Yes (7 Different Chromas Available)
The ruby chroma can be obtained only with the chroma bundle. The Pariah one can only be Hextech crafted during limited-time events.
Before we dive deeper into the skin, let us look at the skin’s features first.
- New Model
- New Animation
- New VFX (Visual Effects)
- New SFX (Sound Effects)
- New Recall Animation
- New Quotes
Nightbringer Aphelios came out with his release in 2019. Being a new champion, Aphelios comes with clean animations that feel great to play with. The Nightbringer theme goes really well with Aphelios’ gloomy, dark, and depressing vibes. The skin is well-known for its smooth animation and clean sound effects, making kiting with it a very soothing experience.
2. Lunar Beast Aphelios
- Release Date: February 04, 2021
- Price: 1350 RP (Legacy)
- Chroma: Yes (7 Different Chromas Available)
Being Legacy skin, the chromas aren’t purchasable in the store like regular ones. You need to wait for special events for them to be available again.
Before we dive deeper into the skin, let us look at the skin’s features first.
- New Model
- New Animation
- New VFX (Visual Effects)
- New SFX (Sound Effects)
- New Recall Animation
Lunar Beast Aphelios could have easily been the best skin of his if it were not for the number 1 on this list. I love the vibrant, bright, youthful color of the skin, in sharp contrast with Aphelios’ personality. The in-game model has cute recall animation, and his hair and clothes look beautiful. However, there are some issues with his auto-attacks SFX being a bit quiet. Then again, Aphelios himself is.
1. Spirit Blossom Aphelios
- Release Date: October 6, 2022
- Price: 1350 RP
- Chroma: Yes (9 Different Chromas Available)
The Ruby chroma is only available with the chroma bundle purchase. Night Blossom is limited to limited-time events that can occur once in a while. So look out for them.
Before we dive deeper into the skin, let us look at the skin’s features first.
- New Model
- New Animation
- New VFX (Visual Effects)
- New SFX (Sound Effects)
- New Recall Animation
Finally, we are the no.1 spot on the list, Spirit Blossom Aphelios. For an epic skin, it does almost everything perfectly. The auto-attack sounds so clean on almost all of his weapons. The lotus on Gravitum Q looks very pretty while using it. Alune’s spirit during ultimate goes really well with the theme of Spirit Blossom. Severum Gun’s auto-attacks, in particular, are very distinctive. All in all, there is nothing to complain about in this skin, making it the best skin of Aphelios till now.
