As the Prince of Ixia, Apollo wields his family’s ancestral blade, the Pride of Ixia, a sleek fencing rapier that can send cuts through the air flying toward his enemies, dealing full damage with no fall-off up to 25 meters away.
His first ability is Disengaging Sigil. Apollo draws a sigil in the air before leaping backwards. After a slight delay the sigil explodes, dealing damage to and slowing enemies caught in the blast.
Fully upgrading this ability resets his dash limit, and it can be activated mid-air, allowing him to pull off some extreme escapes.
Apollo’s next ability is Riposte, which will deflect the next incoming attack, whether that’s from a Trooper, Guardian, Walker, or enemy hero. When Apollo blocks an attack, he dashes forward to counter, stunning the first enemy he hits and lowering their bullet resistance.
Riposte is an incredible defensive ability, capable of deflecting most enemy abilities in the game. Some examples include ults from Doorman, Mo and Krill, and Gray Talon. Riposte demands precise timing, as it can be baited out and triggered early by most sources of damage.
Apollo can use the stun to interrupt channeled abilities, like ults from Bepop, Seven, and Haze. However, while the Riposte dash can change direction, it doesn’t affect elevation, and Apollo will actively descend during the dash, making it harder to hit airborne targets like Seven.
Apollo’s third ability is Flawless Advance, which has an incredibly unique movement mechanic to it. Casting while standing still will cause Apollo to begin charging up an attack and then lunge forward dealing damage to all enemies caught in the strike. This ability can be repeated three times to deal a significant amount of damage.
The movement mechanic is triggered by moving in a direction while casting the ability, causing Apollo to dash a short distance in that direction before lunging forward. This can be repeated all three times, letting Apollo weave around enemies with ease and making him tougher to hit. It also makes chasing opponents simple, as walking forward and casting will dash forward before the lunge.
Tapping the ability triggers its minimum base damage, but holding the button charges the attack, increasing its damage the longer it’s held. Letting go during the “perfect window” when it flashes green deals the most damage, and once the ability is fully upgraded, landing those “perfect hits” on enemy heroes will also heal Apollo.
Apollo’s ultimate is “Itani Lo Sahn”. Upon activating the ability, Apollo will begin charging up a wide longe-range slash. Holding the ability button will allow him to stay in the charge up stage it as long the button is held, though he is immobilized while doing so. Releasing the charge will cause Apollo to slash forward, applying a curse debuff to and slowing down time for any enemies struck. After a short delay, they take a devastating amount of spirit damage, which when fully upgraded is doubled for enemies below half health.
This ability can be used in the air as well, so Apollo can combine that with his Disengaging Sigil as well as some air moves to launch his ultimate from the sky, making him much harder to predict.
