Season 3 Aphrodite: Mid Lane Guide

Hello and welcome to my guide for Aphrodite, Goddess of Beauty!
Aphrodite can excel in many areas, but can be quite difficult to play well. This guide will hopefully teach you more about how to play and do well with her.

Loving EmbracePassive - Loving Embrace

Description

Gaining Aphrodite's favor is a blessing in that 30% of all Mana regenerated by Aphrodite is granted to her soul mate.

Analysis

This is widely regarded as one of the worst passives in the game. It does nothing for Aphrodite and was only useful when Aphrodite was played as a support before they moved blue buff and could pick up the blue buff, which would allow both her and her soulmate to benefit from the buff.

Ability 1 - Kiss

Description

Aphrodite blows a kiss to an allied god, making them her soul mate and giving them both increased movement speed. If it hits an ally, it has a reduced 3s cooldown. If the kiss hits an enemy god, they are Stunned and Aphrodite's soul mate gets jealous, increasing their damage.

Analysis

Aphrodite's whole kit revolves around this ability. You always want to be connected to a soul mate, as you will both gain benefits from this ability. This ability also modifies your other ability, sharing them with your soul mate. The bonus movement speed when this ability is fully leveled will make you a lot harder to kill. Try to use this ability to setup your soulmate to use their abilities on your target. This ability is also a form of your self-peel, so try to keep it off cooldown as much as you can.

Ability 2 - Back Off!

Description

Agitated by all the attention, Aphrodite commands enemies to get amay from her, doing damage around her and knocking them back to 25 units from her. If Aphrodite has a soulmate, an explosion originates on them in addition, dealing the same damage and slowing by 25% for 2s. If an enemy would be hit by both blasts, they will only be affected by the one originating from Aphrodite.

Analysis

This ability is your main source of burst damage. It has some helpful utility attached to it. Use it as self-peel if you are being chased, followed by Kiss. If you are connected to a soul mate, use it as damage to follow a leap or dash ability from your soul mate.

Ability 3 - Love Birds

Description

Aphrodite calls forth a flock of beautiful doves that fly forward in the area in front of her. The doves circle around all enemies in the path, damaging enemies every .5s for 3s. Aphrodite and her soul mate also receive healing when cast.

Analysis

Love Birds is the bread and butter of Aphrodite's kit. It is your wave clear, your healing ability, and also a large portion of your damage. Using this ability at the appropriate time is paramount to your success with Aphrodite. Use this ability to heal yourself and your soulmate.

Ultimate - Undying Love

Description

Aphrodite pledges undying love to herself and her soul mate. While this is active, her and her soul mate are invulnerable to all damage from a short duration. All Crowd Control effects are also removed when activated.

Analysis

Aphrodite is such a strong pick after the nerf to Purification, due to this ability. It's use changes throughout the game. Early game, the duration is quite short and should be used as a cleanse. Once you reach late game, you can use it to absorb high-damage ultimate's or get yourself or your soul mate out of a bad situation.

Vampiric Shroud

Vampiric Shroud is the normal starter item for any mage. The sustain it provides is amazing, and the stats are nice as well.

Shoes of Focus

Shoes of Focus are my go to shoes on Aphrodite. The early game CDR they provide really help you to stay safe so that you can reach late game. The mana is also very helpful, and, if combined with Book of Thoth, can also give power.

Warlock's SashWarlock's Sash

This allows you to survive most ganks with the health that this item provides, as well as it will give you a good amount of power once fully stacked. This is good for Aphrodite as she excels at longer team fights and this item can help her stay in them.

Book of Thoth

I would only replace Warlock's Sash with this item if you need the extra power or find yourself running out of Mana a lot. Also consider picking this up if they have a lower damaging Jungler (e.g. Guardian) or if you are against a Hunter in mid, as they will most likely build Qin's Sais and do more damage to you.

Chronos' Pendant

CDR is amazing on Aphrodite, and the bonus MP5 and Power are also nice. You could also consider Breastplate of Valor, but it is not as good for you as you are playing mid and the extra power would be better for you.

Rod of Asclepius

This item is amazing. It provides you with 75 Magical Power, 10% Movement speed, 200 Health and increases your healing by 20%. This item makes you much harder to kill, and also gives a nice buff to your healing.

Rod of Tahuti

Rod of Tahuti is the go to power item for mages. It is good for your damage and healing.

Obsidian Shard

This item is your only form of penetration. It will increase your damage to tanks and structures by a lot, and also comes with a nice amount of power.

SprintSprint

I recommend always getting this relic at Level 1, as the enemy team will almost always build Curse.

SanctuarySanctuary

Sanctuary is a really good defensive relic that will make you much harder to kill. I recommend this over Purification, but it is situational.

Early/Mid Game

You should stay linked to your Jungler almost all the time, as it will make you both faster and allow for you to setup kills with them. You job in the early game is to farm as much as you can to get to late game, so try not to take many risks.

Late Game/Team fights

Try to link to your carries to increase their damage. I recommend connecting to your Jungler as they can get in the middle of the team fight and have a lot of healing and invincibility while doing a lot of damage. Also, try to save teammates that look like they are in trouble, and try to keep your carry healed. You should almost never need to heal or save your support or solo lane, unless they are about to die or they are not a standard pick for the lane. (Warrior for solo, Guardian for Support) Be aware, this only applies to late game team fights, in mid game team fights you can also heal your solo lane as their damage will still be relevant and will not be as tanky as they need to be.

Aphrodite works well with many hyper carry and AA Based Gods, as she can allow them to be in the middle of a team fight and keep them alive.

Kali

Mercury

Bakasura

Fenrir

Nemesis

Amaterasu

Bellona

Hercules

Aphrodite is a good mid lane, and can change the outcome of team fights. She is great at keeping carries alive and denying kills from the other team. If you use her correctly, you can also dish out a lot of damage while keeping your team alive.

I hope this guide helped you, please leave feedback and suggestions below as it is my first guide.