League of Legends’ latest champion is Aphelios, and now that players have had a chance to play against him, the internet’s decision is set: he’s OP. Now that he’s started to hit the tournament circuit, it seems the game’s most competitive players agree, as Aphelios has reached a staggering 223% ban rate in one competition.
The number comes from the Korean Challengers competition (detailed on fow.kr and noted on Reddit). That means that in the usual ban phases, Aphelios has been banned 100% of the time by both red and blue teams – the additional 23% comes from remakes, which don’t count toward the usual game total.
Aphelios’ ban rate in Korea echoes the broader feelings of everyday players. Riot billed the hero as one who’d require intensely intricate and skilled play to be useful – but many have found that this hasn’t undercut his power level. Aphelios is getting nerfed as of League of Legends patch 10.1, but the changes don’t seem to have changed the community’s opinion of the champion by much.
Hopefully Sett will fare a bit better, as he’s also making his debut in patch 10.1.
And we’re already starting to get details on League of Legends patch 10.2, which looks to include a major Wukong rework. The Nexus clearly waits for no one.