Apollo...we're doing it wrong

So I know there's already a thread about our thoughts on Apollo, but I wanted to start one with this idea.

Apollo is considered a high mobility carry by Smite, and I think most of us players would trust this information and try to use him as if he's a carry. I on the other hand would like to offer a new meta for him.

Apollo's passive Audacity allows him 100% attack speed for 5 attacks after a successful 10 basic attacks. His passive along with his ult seem like great ways to get kills on Gods, but I think the best use for Apollo is objective taking. His biggest con is low defense which is easily fixed with items. I'm not going to write a guide on him just yet but just consider this:

In my opinion, if you build Apollo with Attack Speed/Sustain/Cooldown Redux, I think you'll find him a lot more versatile than the previous times you played as him. Since he has two escape abilities The Moves & Across The Sky; defense is not necessarily needed; although it would be very advantageous for you to build HP5 for him to help negate any damage he takes during laning. MP5 is not as big of a necessity IMO, but to have meditation and mana pots is probably a must.

How to play Apollo IMO:
1) Lane with a good pusher so you will be able to roam as needed.
2) Harass the **** out of the other lanes to cause enemy Gods to play cautiously.
3) Help your teammates with jungle buffs so it lowers the time they are out of lane.
4) Use Across The Sky to quickly jump lanes for either team engagements or taking towers. meditation will be needed after a long trip!
5) Build up your passive and use it on towers if able. (with attack speed and his passive, Apollo can take towers like nobody else)

Please give me some feedback on what you think! Also some of you may have already been doing this, and if so let us know how it went for you!

You're absolutely right, he cannot be played as a carry. I would rather consider him to be more like an assassin. My build for him is centered around this idea (I switched some things around, take a look at it if you wish). Attack speed, physical lifesteal, and cooldown reductions are some of the most important things to build on Apollo as well as the obvious large amounts of AD.

Honestly, the question of HOW to play Apollo is something I'm still looking into. He's not a carry, but he appears to be one. How is one supposed to take that?

The only thing I can think of is to do one thing: Harass EVERYONE.

Yes, EVERY ENEMY THAT EXISTS. Slide into their faces, debuff them, mesmerize them, LAND ON THEIR FACE FROM A CHARIOT. And on top of that, use your insane 100% Attack Speed buff to make PEW PEWS EVERYWHERE. Then run away and do it somewhere else.

That is how I perceive playing Apollo, with running in, causing some trouble, and running away to go do it somewhere else. Obviously, he's great for taking towers with Audacity, so backdooring isn't a problem for him and when I play him I tend to do so often.

Now here's a question: What is better on Apollo, Boots of Celerity or Warrior Tabi? Is more speed preferable or would I want the extra AD and a bit of Crit Chance and Penetration?

IMO, Boots of Celerity with cooldown buff from jungle is more useful than the slight damage/crit/pen you get from Warrior Tabi. Also, the CC from Serenade is clutch and having cooldown redux for that and Across The Sky is super OP.

I don't really see him as an assassin though, as he really only has 1 damage ability on short cooldown. If you compare him to Loki for example, he has extra damage from his 1,3 and 4. Where as Apollo only has his 1 and 4 and the 4 does such low damage.

He may not BE an assassin, but his play style is very similar. Run in, cause some ****, and run away.

Hydra's Lament, in my opinion, is one of the best items for Apollo. +50 AD, 15% CDR, and the passive for that little bit of extra damage cannot be passed up. I don't build him crit chance like I do with most of the other AD's, and this is the perfect alternative.

Witch Stone works so well with The Moves, as it stacks the Attack Speed debuff giving Apollo an advantage.

Since building mana and MP5 seemed to be a big flop, I've been starting with Devourer's Gloves first, and I'll try using BOC second. The Executioner comes third, Qin's Blades is the item I added recently since it goes SO WELL with him, and finally Hydra's Lament and Witch Stone.

Since he's not a carry, he can't be built like a carry and that's something I haven't seen in a lot of guides. They build him as they would Artemis or Thor, which is wrong.

That would be a really good build if going for harass/late game burst. He still doesn't do very much damage and you need to be really accurate with basic attacks to be scary in a 1v1, and not very useful damage wise in a team fight (his debuff/CC is his main contribution in team fights). I really want to try my test build tonight and see how it works. I'll basically be doing everything I can to take objectives faster than the other team to give us the advantage along with harass and CC during team fights. I want Apollo to be so mobile people will be scared in left lane if I leave right lane.

What is your test build? I would be willing to check it out later and tell you how it works.

Harass/late game burst is my idea for the build, because in my opinion that's what he is best at. He is a God made for harassment, so he should be build accordingly. I agree that his damage is low, but he can still do very well depending on who he's laned with or how much skill the player has.

I think he needs a slight damage buff, however. Possibly more Physical Power contribution to his skills, but a change is necessary somewhere, however slight it may be.

Yeah I agree that he could use a damage buff or they should just re-classify him so people don't get the wrong idea. I don't wanna share the test build yet until I try it myself. It always takes a few games to pinpoint flaws in a new build idea before it seems valid. So I want to take the time to do that myself before sharing :)

I see... do keep me informed, however. I've been interested in Apollo since his release, so anything that might make him better is something that I'm always interested in.

So figured I'd update on this post. My build idea pretty much flopped, Apollo is meant to be dealt with mostly damage otherwise he's about useless...BUT I did discover that if you have the blue mana buff and Bracer of Replenishment, you can ride around on your ult for everrrrr lol

Wrong.
The ult has a time limit of 45 seconds, so its impossible, not only that but for a theoretical unlimited ult you would need 250 MP5 which is above the cap I believe.