TFT Set 18 Aphelios Guide: Best Comps, Openers, Items, and Augments

Aphelios is the premier marksman of Set 18. There are many meta comps that revolve around Aphelios, and he has several conditions that enable him. This guide will mainly cover the level 8 Aphelios Nidalee board, but we will also discuss what makes him work in other comps.

Aphelios' traits are Lunar and Rapidfire, both of which give him attack speed. His damage comes from both his auto attacks and his ability. When Aphelios casts his ability, Moonlight's Onslaught, he swipes for 2 seconds and then fires an AoE blast around his target that splits the damage among all the targets hit. The number of swipes increases with his attack speed, which makes attack speed a great stat for him.

A large portion of Aphelios' damage comes from his ability, so anything that enables his ability to crit is good, such as Infinity Edge and Jeweled Lotus. Since he has no built-in AD from his traits or ability, Aphelios' best builds are often a mix of attack speed, AD, and ability crit.

[Moonlit Hunt Comp Guide]

This is the standard unconditional level 8 Aphelios board. It's strong for several reasons:

1. Nidalee is a strong melee duo carry that ignores armor, so she can help Aphelios quickly kill enemy tanks.
2. It plays 2 Inferno and Kog'Maw for Caustic, so you don't have to build Sunder or Wound items. Instead, you can greed for better items on Aphelios and Nidalee.
3. You play both of the 4-cost CC tanks.

This comp consists of one 1-cost, three 3-costs, and four 4-costs, so it's very expensive. Sentinel is also one of the most contested units in the game, so you need a lot of gold to hit the full board. As with most comps, you'll need to play from strong win streak openers or lose streak Coven openers, which we'll cover later.

How much do you roll on 8?

On Stage 4, this board is usually stable on one 2-star 4-cost tank and one 2-star 4-cost carry. However, you should never go 9 until you 2-star both your carries and at least one tank. This comp does not win out in most lobbies, and its cap on 9 is not that high. Therefore, you should spend the majority of the game on level 8 and roll for strong combat Wisps every round.

Some of the best items and artifacts for Aphelios, Nidalee, and Sentinel are shown above.

As previously mentioned, Aphelios wants a mix of attack speed, AD, and ability crit, so a build like Guinsoo's Rageblade, Kraken's Fury, and Infinity Edge is ideal.

Nidalee usually wants two defensive items and one offensive item, so a build like Sterak's Gage, Bloodthirster or Edge of Night, and Deathblade works well. Note that if you have Silvermere Dawn on Nidalee, then Blue Buff is mandatory.

Sentinel wants to cast as often as possible, so any mana tank items are good.

Ravager Opener

One of the best openers for Aphelios is Ravager, since most of the Ravager units can use a mix of the items for Aphelios and Nidalee. This will usually be something like Akali, Camille, and ideally Shen with another Defender. 2 Inferno is a great trait because it provides extra damage for AD Akali, and Wound helps against any units that heal, such as Kobuko, Rek'Sai, or any opposing melee carries.

Rapidfire Opener

After receiving some buffs, this Defender Rapidfire board should be pretty easy to play into Aphelios. Xayah and Varus can both hold Guinsoo's Rageblade with AD items, and Varus can even hold any casting items such as Spear of Shojin for Nidalee later (or you can fish for the Salvager Wisp to break it apart). On level 5, you can either add an Elderwood unit or an Akali for 3 Inferno to potentially highroll some units.

Coven Opener

Since you can't win streak every game, another opener to look out for is Coven. With Coven, you can lose streak and cash out extra gold or items for your level 8 board. On Stage 2, you should ideally try to go for a 5-loss streak with Coven, but you still need to hold some pairs for potential upgrades so you can kill units on Stage 3.

Here are some of the best Augments for Aphelios and Nidalee for each tier:

For Primal, you'll pick Tiger most of the time, which gives attack speed to Nidalee for more frequent casts. This buff also gives some attack speed to the rest of the board, and it's great for Aphelios. The only exception to this is when Nidalee has Silvermere Dawn, since she can't make use of the attack speed herself. In that case, you can pick Turtle for more boardwide tankiness.

Default Positioning

This is a good default positioning for this comp. With this positioning, your main tank will take most of the damage. Amumu and Kog'Maw are on the same side as Aphelios and Nidalee to provide Sunder and Wound on the right units. When Nidalee walks up, Amumu will usually draw aggro from opposing melee carries first, so Nidalee will stay safe until he dies. By the time the enemy melee kills Amumu, Nidalee will have reset and jumped away, staying alive.

Positioning vs Ahri

One common matchup to position against is Ahri. If you know you're fighting an Ahri player, it's important not to greed Lunar value. You should frontline the majority of your units and spread them out as much as possible. This way, your units will have a chance to walk onto the enemy's board, which helps them avoid all the AoE damage. It is completely fine (and often even ideal) for Nidalee to start on the enemy main tank so she can help Aphelios take it down and start resetting on the enemy backline.

Aphelios and Nidalee don't usually cap very high, but if you make it to level 9, you do have some options. After you itemize Aphelios, Nidalee, and your main tank, you can either build a second set of tank items or start building AP items on Kog'Maw. On level 9, if you don't have an extra set of damage items, you can just play a Taric or Alune. However, if you have extra mana or damage items, you can itemize Alune, Ivern, or any good Lux. With Bronze For Life, you can often just level for a Brambleback.

If Nidalee is heavily contested, you'll sometimes have to play Brambleback as your secondary carry. You can just swap out Vi and Nidalee for Scuttlecrab and Brambleback. You'll usually want to Alpha Mark the Scuttlecrab in this setup. Note that Brambleback wants slightly different items, such as Quicksilver, which Nidalee doesn't use.

7 Elderwood Aphelios

[Wrath of the Woods Comp Guide]

This is the default 7 Elderwood Aphelios board. Your main tank is Lillia, and your duo carry is Ezreal. You'll want to build both Sunder and Wound items in this comp, and either Aphelios or Ezreal can hold Last Whisper and Red Buff. On level 9, you can play either Alune, Taric, or ideally Elderwood Lux for 9 Elderwood. Note that if you have U.R.F, the Elderwood Emblem can be used as an Aphelios item since it provides a lot of attack speed.

Rapidfire Aphelios

[Trigger Happy Comp Guide]

If you have Rapidfire Emblem, you can play 5 Rapidfire Brambleback. On level 8, play 5 Rapidfire with Diana, Sentinel, and 1 more unit. If you hit 2-star Amumu, you can play him. Otherwise, you can play a 2-star Hecarim and just level for a Taric on 9. Brambleback really needs at least one defensive item, such as Edge of Night, Quicksilver, or Sterak's Gage. Aphelios wants AD and crit but can also hold Last Whisper or Red Buff. With 5 Rapidfire, you do NOT want to build Guinsoo's Rageblade on Aphelios, since he already gets so much attack speed from his trait.

4 Vanguard Aphelios with Brambleback

[Apheliguards Comp Guide]

This 4 Vanguard board was the default Aphelios board on level 8 before Aphelios Nidalee became popular. This variation is currently weaker than the alternatives, but you can still play it if you end up naturalling too many AP items. On level 8, you can itemize Morgana or Zyra, whoever you 2-star first.

Lunar Emblem Eclipse Aphelios

[The Eclipse Comp Guide]

If you have a Lunar Emblem, you can try playing this Eclipse board on level 8. You can either play Shen and Amumu or Rakan and Lillia, whichever you hit. The main issue with this board is that you don't have a strong, reliable duo carry on level 8. On level 9, you can duo carry Alune, Ivern, or Lux. You want to position on the opponent's weak side so that you can kill all their frontliners before your Eclipse procs.

Afaelios

If you can't reroll for 3-star 3-costs with the Fae Emblem, you can play this board on level 8. Fae Emblem is great on Brambleback because it provides him with damage and healing. You still want another defensive item on Brambleback, such as Edge of Night or Quicksilver. You want to roll deep on 8 and upgrade as many units as possible because you will eventually farm the gold back with 4 Fae to enable you to go 9.

For more of the strongest comps on the current patch, check out our TFT team comps page.