Looking for Apollo expert

So far the only God I've had any luck with is Apollo. I used one of the crit builds on this site and had a few decent 12/1/20ish games, but one on one most people can smoke me and I'm not really good until i have almost all of my items. Looking for higher damage and possibly becoming more of a threat earlier in the game. Tactics and playstyle tips also appreciated. My in game name is Shizkazam and I'm usually on around 6PM eastern standard time.

Apollo losing 1v1? Seems like you don't land your basic attacks as often as you should man, save your mezmerize and your 3 to get away of any 1v1 if things get sour, are you having trouble on joust 1v1 or just 1v1 people in general on conquest, arena etc...? Builds and strategies vary greatly depending on what mode you are on but reguardless apollo is aways a solid pick. Always aim for attack speed and crit, ofc rage and deathbringer are a must, I also usually grab qin's sais, executioner and heartseeker on him and sometimes bloodforge, but it all varies who you are laning against. Know that your goal is not to be trading blows, but to take towers and melt ppl and run because apollo is so squishy.

Apollo is 100% based around landing auto attacks. If you aren't that good at it, I suggest getting Hastened Fatalis or Frostbound Hammer to alleviate the pressure of landing every hit, and give breathing room, until you are comfortable with landing every attack.

Against ranged, save Anhur (due to his 15% damage reduction), you should win 1v1 all the time. You have a pretty decent damage linear nuke, a dash that does decent damage, allows repositioning (you fare better close-up than they will, since you landing more AA is better than them landing more), that also knocks them up for a short CC, and a mesmerize that lets you COMPLETELY reposition yourself without fault.

If you have the right build, Apollo is simple made, with his passive, to melt through people quick. Take advantage of his natural attack speed bonus with items like Qin's Blades (not sais. Personal preference there).

In general, a decent build would be
Warrior Tabi,
Deathbringer,
Malice
(these three are required, not necessarily in that order or to start with, but EVERY ADC needs these three [also, malice is statistically better than rage. I don't have the thread on hand, but trust me on this]),
A lifesteal item such as Soul Eater if you have a lot of phys on your team, Qin's Blades to combat a tanky enemy team, or Bloodforge that'll stack up quickly otherwise.
The Executioner is a must for any adc, and especially Apollo for his attack speed, armor melt. Finally, the last item is situational, but can be Titan's Bane, Frostbound Hammer, Hastened Fatalis, Golden Bow (actually very good on him), Magi's Blessing, Asi, or Voidblade.

As for tactics, here we go. Early game Apollo's nuke is medium damage, you're entirely based around auto attacks for both waveclear and harass. Try to get a support that combo's nicely with landing many auto attacks. Ymir and Athena are the best two, with a stun and taunt that work very nicely. Sobek and Bacchus have disruption, which actually hurts your accuracy, but still can be decent. Aphrodite and other healing supports are not recommended. Early game, focus on farming, and let your support try to catch an aggressive opponent out with a stun or taunt, and funnel auto attacks into them. You should easily win past that. If you want to dominate lane, get your lifesteal item after boots for sustain. Otherwise, executioner or deathbringer can help with pure DPS for waveclear.

In teamfights, your goal is to stay as far away as possible. Despite how much Apollo rewards aggressive play, it in itself is very aggressive, and can cause very easy death. Your dash saves you from many, many assassins and bruisers compared to AMC or Artemis, and your mesmerize can CC lock a target for a very long time, then give you a protections buff to survive past it. Focus on landing as many auto attacks as possible.

To stop this from being TOO long, I'll end on a final overall-role for Apollo. He's a splitpusher; you benefit from AVOIDING teamfights unless it's in your favor. Note that your BEST lane partner is Athena. You both have global ults. Push your lane as hard as possible for as long as possible. They'll be FORCED to send someone to stop you or lose a tower in the mid to late game. When this happens, you and athena can ult onto your team, creating a 5v4 or 5v3, and your opponents will not be able to get to the other lane quick enough. Golden Bow as that 6th situational helps immensely with this splitpush idea. If you play LoL, you're basically Pantheon in ADC form, while Athena is Shen. Use it to your advantage, and force them to split up.

There's a reason Apollo is ALWAYS chosen or banned in tournements. Anhur is good, but he lacks what Neith and Apollo have globally. Use the global to your advantage - to survive or get to another lane to kill.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me or message me in game - DecimusBrutalis

I play mainly other carries, but I also have some pertinent info:

1. Build's Aren't TOO Important: Seriously, they aren't. They help, but it's usually more a matter of skill.

2. He's a good 1v1 fighter, but other carries can destroy him. Apollo is a high mobility carry, but he trades some damage for it. For example, Anhur, but also Artemis and...wow, that's it. Artemis has higher DPS, and Anhur can murder you to death with his 1.2x multiplier on his crits.

3. Don't use your Mesmerize as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Seriously, don't, especially against other carries. The range on that thing is pretty low (20-30 feet, I think, and basic attacks are 55 feet), and a good carry should be able to avoid being in that range. And if you dash in, you run the risk of hit more or being CC'd to death.

4. If you're gonna splitpush, you might want to consider buying teleport actives, unless you want to wait for your ultimate every time.

5. Pretend your dash has no damage. You're not Tyr Lite, you're a squishy.