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Apollo Arena AOE build

4 2 79,242
6.8
by Bubatrox updated August 28, 2014

Smite God: Apollo

Build Guide Discussion 5 More Guides
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Apollo Build

Typical build

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item Devourer's Gauntlet Devourer's Gauntlet
Build Item Hastened Fatalis Hastened Fatalis
Build Item Golden Bow Golden Bow
Build Item The Executioner The Executioner
Build Item Brawler's Beat Stick Brawler's Beat Stick
Build Item Greater Sprint Greater Sprint
Build Item Greater Purification Greater Purification
Build Item Potion of Power Potion of Power

Alternative with bloodforge/crits

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item Bloodforge Bloodforge
Build Item Hastened Fatalis Hastened Fatalis
Build Item Golden Bow Golden Bow
Build Item Deathbringer Deathbringer
Build Item Malice Malice
Build Item Greater Sprint Greater Sprint
Build Item Greater Purification Greater Purification
Build Item Potion of Power Potion of Power

Apollo's Skill Order

So Beautiful

1 X Y
So Beautiful
1 3 5 7 9

Serenade

2 A B
Serenade
4 8 11 12 14

The Moves

3 B A
The Moves
2 15 16 18 19

Across The Sky

4 Y X
Across The Sky
6 10 13 17 20
So Beautiful
1 3 5 7 9

So Beautiful

1 X
Apollo strums a single cord on his lyre. It's so beautiful it hurts, and all enemies in a long range line take damage.

Ability Type: Line, Damage
Damage: 90 / 150 / 210 / 270 / 330 (+90% of your Physical Power)
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 11s
Serenade
4 8 11 12 14

Serenade

2 A
Apollo uses his amazing voice to mesmerize all nearby enemies and bolster himself with additional Protections. Any damage done breaks the effect.

Ability Type: Circle, Mesmerize
Mesmerize Duration: 1.5 / 1.7 / 1.9 / 2.1 / 2.3s
Protections: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
Buff Lifetime: 5s
Radius: 20
Cost: 75
Cooldown: 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 / 13s
The Moves
2 15 16 18 19

The Moves

3 B
Apollo runs forward and slides on his knees, dealing damage, knocking aside all enemies and adding a stack of Audacity for each enemy hit. At the end of the slide, the movement speed is decreased for enemies and increased for himself and allies.

Ability Type: Dash, Buff, Damage
Damage: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+60% of your Physical Power)
Movement Speed Buff/Debuff: 15 / 17.5 / 20 / 22.5 / 25%
Buff Duration: 3s
Cost: 70
Cooldown: 15s
Across The Sky
6 10 13 17 20

Across The Sky

4 Y
Apollo rides his chariot across the sky, choosing when to land, dealing damage every .15s for .6s as he lands. Enemies hit by the last tick of the landing will also be knocked up.

Ability Type: Circle, Knockup, Damage
Damage Per Tick: 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+25% of your Physical Power)
Range/Radius: 60/20
Cost: 20 + 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 per second
Cooldown: 110s

Welcome & Goal

Apollo is an extremely mobile ADC capable of outmaneuvering almost anything in the game. The way I like to spec my build is to really boost this specific aspect to perfection. Other name for this guide could be The coward's way, as the main goal is to stay far away from any harm.

Keep this in mind when reading this guide - the main goal is to stay mobile and moving.

I play this build in Arena, I don't play other modes much, although the few Sieges were quite ok as well.

Basic Strategy - staying alive

Defense first! Apollo is a typical glass cannon. Not much health, not much defense, high dps. That means:

  • Enemies will focus on you, as they know you're squishy and they know they can eliminate you fast.
  • If there is 2 or more enemies fighting you, you often die.
  • If you are caught off guard (careless, from behind, Loki), you die.
  • If you're CCed, you die.

That list looks pretty grim, but it is good to know what to fear. Your basic strategy is not to get into those situations. Fortunately, Apollo is well prepared to sneak away from harm, using awesome combo of Serenade and The Moves.

Serenade is AOE mesmerize - aka soft-stun. Prevents everyone around you from harming you anymore. Breaks evil combos, like Fenrir's Brutalize and allows you to run from other nasty situations. And did I mention that it boosts your protections for 5s considerably?

The Moves is a dash, which also adds movement speed buff to you and debuff to enemies.

I personally save these two abilities ("Stun" and "Run") for defensive purposes 99% of the time. Are you ganked? Stun & Run. Are enemies closing from sides? Stun & Run. Did someone just teleport behind you? Ymir, Ares, Hades, Tyr? Stun & Run. This helps you, but also your team from being wiped. And remember to stay a bit more to the back, whenever these are on cooldown.

Items

Apollo is a basic attacks based god - main source of damage is basic attack, not his specials. Therefore priorities are:

  • Physical Power
  • Physical Penetration
  • Attack Speed - to some extent
  • CDR - we are not ability reliant, although it does not harm, helps with defense.
  • mana, HP5, MP5 - I play arena - just run to base. In other modes, pick potions.
  • protections, health - remember, glass cannon.

Core items



Warrior Tabi is a no brainer here.
  • Movement speed - goes to our main goal of extreme mobility
  • Penetration and Power - cool, more damage with base attack
  • Attack speed - faster hits mean faster collection of Audacity stacks and faster proc of other items, which again translates to more damage
I tend to finish them before anything else, except 1st Purification Beads when Ares is present.

Hastened Fatalis
  • Movement speed - again, goes to our main goal of extreme mobility
  • Attack speed - faster hits mean faster collection of Audacity stacks and faster proc, which again translates to more damage
  • Attack debuff removal - that's the only real reason for this item - if we want to maintain the goal of extreme mobility, we cannot be slowed during attacks, which is half of the time anyway. This way you can easily hunt down enemies, dodge attacks and kite baddies.

Golden Bow
I rarely see this item in noone's build and I still wonder why. Stats are not too awesome, but not even bad, but the passive is just great.
  • Movement speed - third time, goes to our main goal of extreme mobility
  • Power and some small crit - cool, more damage
  • AOE passive - 50% of your hit dmg done to targets 15ft away. This item changes your single-target hits onto AOE blasts, capable of wiping a minion line in 2 sec, overuse the Areses No Escape for a mass killing and generally enjoy yourself when Audacity turns you in high-speed-fireball-machinegun. Suddenly the Attack Speed stat makes much more sense. And in Arena, everyone is in a teamfight all the time, so the difference is really visible.

Additional items


You have space for 3 more items in the build. I prefer Devourer's Gauntlet, The Executioner and Brawler's Beat Stick. Or Magi's Blessing if you get caught alot.


Devourer's Gauntlet or Bloodforge
Early power & lifesteal, both are great for taking baddies down and keeping you up. I tried to go without them, but I kept running back to heal way too often. And it can turn the tide of some running match with melee character.

The Executioner
Fits nicely into the build - attack speed & power are nice, and the passive gives you a nice amount of penetration against those careless enemy guardians. And since you boost your attack speed all the time, you'll get those penetration stacks FAST.



Brawler's Beat Stick
You do not need anything special at this point, so let's get some more of the basic stuff - power and penetration. Titan's Bane is an option, but do you really fight that many tanks? I like to get the stick to give them reduced healing - a nasty surprise for Hercules, Ra or Hel.

Magi's Blessing gives you 1 charge of CC immunity, which is worth tons of gold. So if you get caught alot, take it. You cannot utilize protections much, but the CC help is priceless.


The last patch has heavily increased the price of Qin's Sais - I utilized them occasionally, but now I rather ignore them and get Potion of Physical Might instead.

Another branch is to go Deathbringer + Malice combo for extreme AOE crit dmg. With Golden Bow's 10% crit the sum for all 3 items is 50%, so the passives of both items proc all the time. But for some reason, I fare poorly with them... bad luck? Or I suck? :-) Feel free to experiment and report back.

Actives


As a still-newbie, I struggle to use them at the right time & place.
Purification Beads are a must - Ares is often around and virtually everyone has some bad CC to throw at you. You do not need to speed up your skills, so save them for trouble.
Greater Sprint are my favourite - adding to your long list of mobility, these nice shoes can carry you in or out of the trouble.
Aegis Pendant I always remember it whenever I'm dead, but it can be really handy against some ults. But on the other hand - noone needs an ult to kill you. :-)

Basic Strategy - offense

So finally, how to kill? Isn't point-and-click enough?
No.
Everyone has his own strategy. I'll try to describe mine, but please evolve your own.

  • I shoot everything that gets close - Tanks, mages, minions - every damage counts. Since we're building with penetration, your hits hurts the tank and someone has to kill him, right? And if your team sees opponents tank on half HP, they'll help in killing him.
  • And I shoot everything that getds close - because most of the time, there is more than 1 target - and this is exactly why do we have Golden Bow - to lay waste to both of them.
  • During the wild shooting - stay mobile and moving. Your items help with that, so use it. Hit and retreat, move to sides, rush when appropriate... just MOVE.
  • If the situation looks like you might get a kill - be careful. Even enemies try to defend their own. I found that my prime cause of death is greed - trying to hunt down the lats HPs of some foe. Rather give your teammate a kill, or even let the bad guy run, then die.
  • This is especially true with your ultimate, Across The Sky. It is an awesome skill... to get you in trouble. If you absolutely must use it to land between enemies, immediately Stun & Run back.
  • Get the feel of how hard you hit - when to advance and when to retreat. And look to minimap often - should you advance at all?
  • If you're really sure, make The Moves to finish someone off. But make sure you're covered or you run back fast, as now you're glass cannon without wheels.
  • Never swim alone.
  • Always look on the bright side fo life. You will have those games, where you'll suck hard. I had my 0-11 games, but take them as lessons - what went bad, what can you change for future?

Teamplay

As in every other map type, team is very important in the Arena. As a hunter, your role is to deliver tons of damage and avoid getting killed.

In the beginning, go for the buffs. I personally stay near the middle and look out for ganks until the very last second, then go fight the buff mobs. If you have no tank, or he is lagging somewhere, start the fight yourself. Damage is irrelevant, but the speed is important. I often tank all 3 camps and then teleport to base, rather to wait for someone else to tank. This allows your team to be first in the center and either catch enemies scattered, or push your minions further, ideally scoring some points early. As for buffs themselves - take any or none, you do not depend on them.

That being said, Apollo can be mana hungry in the beginning, so consider saving your abilities, depending on how often you want to make the base run. At any point during the game, if you get to 50% health or less, run to the base. Better to weaken your team, rather to give enemies 5 points. Tell you team you're doing so, so that they don't expect you somewhere else.

Whenever ultimates come around, stay prepared - Ares, Hades, Ymir - some of them are around (on any side), so look out for the right moment to chip in. Your So Beautiful does fine instant damage to a line, so have it off CD when needed to support your team.

Also, you're speccing to be fast and mobile, so use it for:

  1. Killing off weak enemies - if you have Hastened Fatalis already, it is easy to follow & deal damage. Beware - opponents will try to catch you, so always watch the map/arounds.
  2. Luring - I dance around sides, trying to lure single enemies to gank "the squishy adc" only to stun+run and counter-gank them.
  3. Saving teammates - run+stun can get you many helpful thanks... but also often death, since you burned your escape mechanism near enemies. :-) One of my favourite causes of death - saving a teammate.

Once you assemble the Golden Bow, look for group fights - there you shine with AOE damage. In the meantime, shoot the minions or the enemy tank to force him to retreat to base soon.

Other general hints:
  • Try to look after your tank - he's taking dmg for you, so make sure it counts & hit enemies in return. Don't let him alone, forgotten, deep in enemy area.
  • Look for single enemies - you can out-shoot many (if not all) enemy gods, so going 1-on-1 is benefical for you, especially if you're the one initiating the fight.
  • Study all gods - know what they're capable of, what their skills are and in the fight itself - what are this team's favourite combo. Dying 3x in a row to a Fenrir blinking behind you and Ragnaroking you to death is lame (thats why I do it often :-)).
  • Don't give up - if everything goes to hell, try to learn. Yes, you'll loose, but still you can learn how to scrape some kills against over-fed enemies, which can help you next time.

General Behavior - communication

This is something not specific to this guide, but I feel it should be told anyway:

  1. Don't feed the trolls - if your team starts to quarrel about who has the biggest... sword, do not participate. You may try to calm it down with "Please focus, I need your help", but stay away from taking sides and arguing - you are a god for your (god's) sake, not a politician.
  2. Be nice - VVGH, VVGL, VVGF - use some of them at the beginning. (Hi, Good Luck, Have fun)
  3. And be polite in the game: VVT - Thanks (for saving your ***, for getting the buff,...), VVS - Sorry (for getting killed stupidly, for possible killsteal, ...) -> all of this helps the other cooperate, rather than quarrel
  4. Let them know what you do: VVVR - Ultimate is ready. VVM - out of mana, VVB - be right back -> this is just the basics, so that the team knows when you're in or out.
  5. Cheer them up: VER - Your Rock, VEA - Awesome, VEW - Wohoo -> Helps to build the self-confidence and team spirit, makes wonders in equal matches.

Open questions

  1. Does anyone know if the splash from the Golden Bow also gives the effects that are caused by basic attack? Like The Executioners penetration stacks
    Both splash and the stacks are part of the basic attack, right?

Closing words

Please help me make this build great. I welcome tips, hints, corrections, facts... anything.
I play for fun, not to win, and I like to learn - so teach me. :-)

And English is not my native, so feel free to point out and laugh at wording and typos, so that I can fix them.

Thanks for reading, yours Bubatrox, or ingame Apollo Emeriel

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1
ThePenguinGodOfHugs | December 18, 2015 7:14am
Lovely build, but Jotunn's wrath should replace brawlers beatstick. :3
1
WhiteNinja799 | November 18, 2014 3:00am
Both of you have great points, however i found this build to be just the build ive been looking for although i had to switch out The Brawlers Beat Stick for Jotunn's Wrath
1
Devampi (105) | August 25, 2014 1:03pm
Bubatrox wrote:


Quite contrary - as ADC a single stun is often a single death. That awesome sphere saves me more than often. And in Arena there is a lot of close-range fights to get stunned, whether you want it or not.



yes the problem with this item is especially in arena when you are teamed up upon you will still get cc maybe a split 0.1 sec later.

also I normally don't see the enemy grouped up that much in arena. could be just my matches.
1
Bubatrox (1) | August 25, 2014 12:52pm
Howdy Devampi and thanks for elaborated reply.
First - let's clarify my goal. I do not want to replicate the standart ADC build which you refer to as Single stacking build or Double stacking build. I know these, ran these and based myself off these. If you look for an Apollo guide with it, please refer to any other guide , which got it covered nicely and which I have no intention of copying.

Therefore, I disagree with you saying
Devampi wrote:

It's a bad build. you got 3-4 items right but only 1-2 on the right order.

as there is nothing like "right" way. The build may fit you or not, it may be generally good or bad, but you definitelly cannot judge getting things "right". I personally like it, played endless matches with it and use it still (player lvl 30, Diamond Apollo, ~13+ kills per match - not godlike, but not bad).


Regarding the questionable items:
Devampi wrote:

Devourer's Gauntlet on the right place coul be eralier.

I really try to have as much mobility as possible, therefore starting with boots first and only then the gauntlet. In arena it tends to get stacked quite fast anyway.

Devampi wrote:

Hastened Fatalis in some way on the wrong place and in some on the right. But mostly you see The Executioner here.

I would like it to be even #2, but that lets you fall behind in damage too much. And Devourer's Gauntlet is then really too late. That's why I take Devourer's Gauntlet or Bloodforge before it - to get some dmg and sustain. The Executioner is not bad choice here too, when facing multiple tanks/guardians, I opt for it, but it does not give the sustain I look for at this stage.

Devampi wrote:

Golden Bow you ask why this item is rarely used? well I would tell you why. Rage and Malice that's why. both of these items are better in crit chance (what you need as adc) Malice gives more power and sustained damage after crits and Rage gives you more/faster crits.
the movement speed bonus and the passive of Golden Bow is too weak (5% isn't much and 15 ft is so short enemies need to be clustered together) to make it up for the weak power and crit chance. mostly your 4th item is crit chance so you do more damage so this is why you see a lot of Rages on most hunters. On some hunters Malice works better but Rage and Malice depends on if you have a slower aa or faster aa and partly preference.
The Executioner good item but here it's a bit wrongly placed.


As for low stats - yes. I know. On the other hand, it is not zero and the quick dismissal of the passive is uncalled for. Actually this passive is the whole build built around, so without it please dismiss the rest.
And secondly, in Arena (for which this guide is written for) the enemies are clustered quite often - either trying to overwhelm some teammate, grouping up, retreating, by force (e.g. Hadeses ultimate) or just by hanging around minions.
Especially nice it is when guardians are trying to body-block me from finishing some dying teammate - I do not need to avoid them, I just hit both with the same shots.
Feel free to experiment, but the 15ft is not as small as it sounds.

Devampi wrote:

brawler's beatstick this is a situational if there is no one with healing you can better go Qin's Sais or Titan's Bane to burst down the tanks and warriors in the enemy team.


Agreed, when there is no healer, it looses its purpose, therefore I have the other two items handy. But somehow I have healers on opposing side almost all the time and then it shines.

Devampi wrote:

magi's blessing good situational but not to much used on an adc character.

Quite contrary - as ADC a single stun is often a single death. That awesome sphere saves me more than often. And in Arena there is a lot of close-range fights to get stunned, whether you want it or not.

Devampi wrote:

now that I have your items from your build told out for you. I don't agree on the items you call the core.

Warrior Tabi this is the only core item that's right here

Hastened Fatalis well this is more a situational for adc (mostly build last or third when building a single stacking build) the item that's normally standing here is an Devourer's Gauntlet so you have more sustain.

Golden Bow as explained earlier there are better items for it. the normal item standing here is the Deathbringer this item is like the Rod of Tahuti for mages a core item for hunters. why well the 50% increased crit damages is very painful and the amount of power it gives.


Well, they might not be core of the "default adc build", but they are core of THIS build. :-) I tried to explain above why. If you tried the build and still disagree, then my build does not fit your playstyle. Which is fully ok.


Devampi wrote:

so I will tell you what are the most common builds for hunters. <cut>

As mentioned above, there is plenty of fine guides around here, my intention is not to repeat them.

Devampi wrote:

now continuing on your guide. it lacks depht mostly the gameplay and I miss teamwork section a lot).

I will try to update the gameplay/teamwork sections with more details.

Devampi wrote:

bbcoding is pretty basic.

Sorry, I just shared the info. I have a poor sense for detail, so the sectioning and linking was enough for me. If you have concrete tips, please PM/comment.

Devampi wrote:

for me this is a downvote because you can see that the build is still low lvl (On high lvl you will get wrecked with this).

Sorry to hear you did not like the alternative build. As for my lvl of gameplay, see above. I play recreationally, not pro, I leave the league to my sons. :-)

Devampi wrote:

hope this helped a bit for more questions pm me and for a re-review too. I only don't know your open question because Golden Bow isn't used.

Definitelly! Thanks very much for your time and all the comments. It hepefully helped me to explain myself better. If not, please comment again.
1
Devampi (105) | August 24, 2014 11:19am
well I would mostly discus your build.

It's a bad build. you got 3-4 items right but only 1-2 on the right order.

Warrior Tabi good place depending on how much you want LS you can swap it with devourer's gauntler

Devourer's Gauntlet on the right place coul be eralier.

Hastened Fatalis in some way on the wrong place and in some on the right. But mostly you see The Executioner here.

Golden Bow you ask why this item is rarely used? well I would tell you why. Rage and Malice that's why. both of these items are better in crit chance (what you need as adc) Malice gives more power and sustained damage after crits and Rage gives you more/faster crits.

the movement speed bonus and the passive of Golden Bow is too weak (5% isn't much and 15 ft is so short enemies need to be clustered together) to make it up for the weak power and crit chance. mostly your 4th item is crit chance so you do more damage so this is why you see a lot of Rages on most hunters. On some hunters Malice works better but Rage and Malice depends on if you have a slower aa or faster aa and partly preference.

The Executioner good item but here it's a bit wrongly placed.

brawler's beatstick this is a situational if there is no one with healing you can better go Qin's Sais or Titan's Bane to burst down the tanks and warriors in the enemy team.

magi's blessing good situational but not to much used on an adc character.

now that I have your items from your build told out for you. I don't agree on the items you call the core.

Warrior Tabi this is the only core item that's right here

Hastened Fatalis well this is more a situational for adc (mostly build last or third when building a single stacking build) the item that's normally standing here is an Devourer's Gauntlet so you have more sustain.

Golden Bow as explained earlier there are better items for it. the normal item standing here is the Deathbringer this item is like the Rod of Tahuti for mages a core item for hunters. why well the 50% increased crit damages is very painful and the amount of power it gives.

so I will tell you what are the most common builds for hunters. You have the single or the double stacking build.

the single stacking mostly looks like this:
warrior's tabi- Devourer's Gauntlet- The Executioner- Rage/ Malice- Deathbringer-situational mostly being Qin's Sais or Titan's Bane for more pen. brawler's beatstick for healers. fatalis and some other items are standing here too.

double stacking build:
Heartseeker- Devourer's Gauntlet- Warrior Tabi Rage/ Malice- Deathbringer- The Executioner

the second one is a more powerful but riskier build.

now continuing on your guide. it lacks depht mostly the gameplay and I miss teamwork section a lot).

bbcoding is pretty basic.

for me this is a downvote because you can see that the build is still low lvl (On high lvl you will get wrecked with this).

hope this helped a bit for more questions pm me and for a re-review too. I only don't know your open question because Golden Bow isn't used.
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