Riot Games developer Stashu revealed his thought process behind new champion Aphelios during the League of Legends 2019 All-stars event.
The 2019 All-Stars event in Las Vegas saw many of the world’s most popular League of Legends pros and personalities test their skills in entertaining showmatches for the fans.
The event also marked the first time viewers got the witness the 147th champion Aphelios in a live competitive game during the NA vs EU showmatch.
Following the European side’s victory in the highly-anticipated clash, Riot Games designer Stashu joined the analyst desk to break down some of the gameplay and explain what fans can expect from the new character.
Although Aphelios is regarded as a Marksman, Riot has given him a unique kit that allows him to cycle between five different weapons depending on what scenario a player finds themselves in.
Stashu revealed that the reasoning behind giving Aphelios such a complex set of abilities was due to the nature of the marksman role where players would simply need to auto-attack to put out a high amount of DPS.
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“You’re not doing as much thinking and planning like a lot of these strategic characters elsewhere in the game,” he explained, “so we wanted to bring that new dimension in full force to the marksman role.”
The game designer later explained that when the champion was first being developed, they had planned on giving Aphelios up to 25 different weapons before eventually cutting it down to five.
The 147th champion’s arsenal consists of some unusual weapons such as a flamethrower and even a cannon that ADC players will have to learn before his release on December 10.
You can check out our guide for Aphelios’ full set of abilities and his unique kit here.