Aphrodite complete support guide (season 3) and damage build.

I often play as a support and aphrodite is my main character, im X with her and she is my soulmate.
She is a hard god to master due to the fact she isnt as tanky as a guardian, but she is usually more powerfull.

So in this guide ill talk about the builds, extra items, skills, coutering another supports and gameplay.

hope you enjoy it!

Give me feedback!!

PROS:

High sustain
High Healing
High movement speed
Very Bruiser
Very sexy

CONS:

Squish for a support
Reliant on a partner
Needs to be full (or at least 35%) cooldown reduction
Countered by

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT APHRO IS A MAGE BUT SHE IS ALSO A SUPPORT.

I've seen a lot of people that build her full power, like a mid, DONT DO THAT!! she needs to sustain damage!!!

We have to understand that if we are playing a support role we need to build power (cause our heals depend on that = more power more healing) but we cant be one hit kill as well (cause we need to be there for our teammates), so we need some protections, we need to be half mage/half guardian.

The second thing is on season 3 we cant be full cooldown reduction on the second item, this is bad for us. I tried not to build full cooldown reduction, but it did not work, we need to spam heals all the time and we need as much as possible so the first three items are ALLWAYS cooldow reduction.
* by the way she works fine with 35% cooldown reduction.

1 item: always, always , we really need cooldown reduction for the first item, amd some magical power as well, so always pic this one.

2 item and 3 item: Always cooldown reduction, we need to spam heals to keep our teammates fighting and we need to be able to use our ult as soon as needed so, as i said, cooldown is very important.


Gives us cooldown reduction, not a lot, but enough.
60 mag and phys protections wich represents a nice early game, cause we can take more damage, remember we cant be one hit kill!
Passive is amazing! remember we are squish? well, with this passive if you get ganked or in the midle of team fights you will stun everyone nearby and will have time to heal, and (or) escape.
This often saves us from using our ult in the wrong time or when we dont have it.
This is not going to save us from ranged characters like hunters and mages, but often saves us from ganks cause most of the junglers are corporal.

Gives us more colldown reduction (we can be 35% which is enough).
Decent protections, so we can be more tanky.
CC (crowd control reduction) this is nice when we dont have .
Passive is amazing, we are allways gonna be hit by hard control, specially late game, and 15% damage mitigation helps A LOT, this way we can take damage and survive.

*It doesnt make that much diference the order you pic this first ones

You can switch 2 or 3 (or both) for:


if you want more physical protections, mana to increase sustain and full cooldown reduction.
This use to be my main cooldown item back on season 2

we dont really need life steal, but since is DOT (damage over time) its very effective on aphro and it also gives us cooldown reduction.
Pic this if you want more power than protections and have a magical carrier life or

pick this if you want more life and sustain as long as you get kills or assists the passive is going to keep you in the lane.



4 item: Remember aphro is a bruiser? well for the third item i like some kind of utility, something to help our teammates to get the kills or survive.

my main item. Since gave us decent protections, this is gonna give us life and mana, which increases sustain and tanky possibilities.
Remember Aphro was suppose to be squishy? well... not that much.
This gives us good macical power increasing heals and damage.
But the reason why i like this is the passive: if you stun the enemy with this will make sure the target doesnt run away. Remember that is DOT, lasts for three seconds, so its a very nice slow.
Or if you slow down the target first it makes easier to hit with stun.
With this our teammates will get the kills much easier: stun/slow slow/stun = death.



5 item: I like the 4 item to be utility as well since we already have protections, life and mana.

Amazing item for aphro, increases our power (more heals and damage).
Increases our movement making easier to escape and works fine with movement passive.
And the main reason i like this is for the increased healing and health regeneration which makes us really bruiser.


You can switch 4 or 5 (or both) for this situational items:

Situational. Aphro doesnt need life steal but using it increases her self healing a lot!
if you Cast with life steal you will get healing for three seconds and life stealing for three seconds: one cast= full health.
Pick this if the enemy is healing a lot, if the enemy heals are trobouling you some healing gods are quiron and many others including another .

magi's blessing Situational. Doesnt give us that much health or protections.
Pic this if the enemy has a lot of CC (crowd control: Stuns and slows) with this should make you ivulnerable to CC, but most times is enough.

Situational. If you still fell you are squish pick this to make your healing more effective on yourself.

Situational. If you fell you need more power and are running out of mana too fast pic this. Works fine with loving embrance. remember you cant steal minion kills from the carrier.

Warlock's sash Situational If you need life and power pic this but remember you cant steal minion kills from the carrier.

If the enemie's support is too tanky like a good pic this to help the carrier deal some damage.

6 item: i like to close the build with power to increase healing and damage late game.

There is no other item that is going to give as much power as this one and it also gives mp5 to increase the sustain i love this.

You can switch for:

or Warlock's sash both gives us power in the way i said before.

gives us power, mana and life really nice item but works much better on or and others, since i dont build too much life on Aphro its not that effective.

Currently i've been using build 2 as my main build, cause it gives me more power and enough sustain, lets go for the explanation.

1 item: as i said allways, allways .

2 item: as i said this build focus on more power. This item is gonna give us good power, great cooldown reduction (alloying us to get full 40%) and mp5 increasing our sustain.


3item: we aint gonna build and we have to pic one. I chose cause it protects me from both ranged and melee characters hard control=damage reduction only protects me from melee, but you can pic it if you want...

*as you can see first three items allways cooldown reduction.

4 item: lotus crown Remember Aphro has to be somewhere betwen power and tank? This gives us power and physical protections (damage, heal and resistence) and an amazing passive every time we heal we and our soul mate are going to receive magical and physical protections its half of and passives.
I just love this.

[/u]5 item:[/u] once again protections (magical) and power. I love the passive, enemies are gonna have less resistence against magical damage from your skills, mage's skills and also from some items like .
This is also very good when you have a magical carrier like or .


you can switch 4 and 5 items for:

and if you wanna be more tanky and protect nearby teammates but you'll have less power.

Switch for if you wanna be even more tanky, but you wont protect nearby allies and will lose power.

Switch lotus crown for if the enemie carrier is build over too much critical damage, like arthemis, but you wont receive or give protections to your soulmate.

Switch for if the enemies have annoying healers like , and others.

This build focus on getting your cooldowns reduced.

1 item: as i said and i will keep saying allways, allways .

2 item: for cooldown reduction, mana and large phys protections.

3 item: to get full cooldown reduction, a very nice mp5 increasing our sustain and large mag protections.

But the main reason is this items' passive, every time you get hit by mag abilities you will reduce your cooldowns.
Even if this occurs once every 30 seconds its very effective, since the enemie's support normally has mag damage, you will get your ult faster and heal more times.

4 item:lotus crown for even more protections every time we cast our healing, for the mp5 increasing our sustain and for the power.

4 item: to make ours and other mag characters' abilities deal more damage and for more power.

5 item: cause no other item is going to give you as much power as this one.

OBS:
dont pic this build if the enemie's support isnt a mage damage character.
dont pic this build if the mage enemie characters arent casters like and even with his 1, cause passive wont work if you get hit by basic attacks.

Both builds are very effective the way i put them, try using them as i showed and if you dont like change the items for the ones i listed and if you still dont like come up with your build and show me!! (i want feedback).

The thing is build 1 or 2?

The main diference is:
on build 1 you have less power but you have standard protections 40 + 60 + 15%=100 + 15% damage reduction when hit by hard control
on build 2 you have more power and your protections are increased in the fights 40 + 30(phys) and 50 (mag) + 15% damage reduction + 20= 90 (phys) 110 (mag) and 15% damage reduction.

* im not counting standard aphro's protections, just the items' (in fact physical protections will be higher than magical)

Its allmost the same number for both builds the diference is on build one you will allways have the same number no matter what, on build 2 you'll have to keep healing to increase your protections, but youll have more power, if healing is on cooldown you'll be weaker.

Its your choice in my opinion build 2 demands more experience in gameplay so if you are new to aphro start with build 1.

BUILD 4
I came up with build 4 a while after they changed passive so ill talk about it here.

This is the most protective build, but is the less powerfull one, you wont have damage.
Sometimes 2 seconds of cooldown reduction makes a big diference, specialy with your when you get caught in a team fight.


Anyway, my personal choice is build 2, cause i think its the most effective for my gameplay style, which is agressive.

I DONT RECOMEND THIS BUILD this goes against being a support, but if you want a mid character at the dual lane...
Youll get more kills, but youll die A LOT!!! its your own risk

as allways, for the cooldown reduction.

for more cooldown reduction and sustain.

for damage, and this works fine with aphros' sharing mana passive.

this works better with the tickles from . it will reduce tank's protections and carriers and mages wont have any protections at all.

Works with , more mana=more power, and the passive is amazing cause its 15% of their max health, plus your damage. It will deal a great damage, specially if the enemie is not full health.

for the final power.

This is the damage build dont use it as a support!!!!

This build doesnt go full cooldown reduction cause the objective is to deal damage and there is no other decent cooldown reduction that matches a damage build... (in my opinion).

Actually, in my mid characters ive been using only the boots for cooldown reduction...

Ill talk about some nice relics we can use.

meditation This is good early game, and thats all...
Aphro and most of the gods are mana hungry early game and this helps a lot, you can stay in the lane for decades.
Mid and late game it sucks cause it doesnt give you that much health and you will have a great mp5.
if you are looking for a way to stay in the lane longer early game pic this.

purification when the enemy team has a lot of CC wont be enough.
* allways Pic this when you face or

sanctuary pic this when the enemie team has a lot of ults that deals damage after an especific time.
For example ymir blows after 03 seconds, sobek emerges after 4 seconds and...
if you are facing a lot of those gods this is going to help.

teleport This is very nice to have!! you can move to diferent lanes to help those low health allies, quickly get back to your lane when needed, move to wards and gank...
Pic this if you are winning, if you lose your towers this isnt helpfull... if your team is not warding this isnt that much helpfull either

One of your tasks as a support is to ward, this helps a lot and also saves some money (you wont be buying wards).
Remember allways that wards arent enough against , or and others,
pay atention to the map at all times.

sprint My favorite as a first relic why? well, youll find out that + sprint = escaping.

curse this is usefull as a second relic if your team is winning the team fights, cause it helps you chase.
If you are losing this wont be that much helpfull cause you need to get close to use it.

loving embrace great passive, you can share mana with your soulmate increasing his sustain and are going to thank you...


This is Aphro!!!!! heals and deals damage over time max this first!!!
Is also very good for cleanning minion waves, Aphro can easily take waves by herself so wacth not to steal minion kills from the carrier.

a) This skill sometimes steals the kill from teammates (cause its DOT)... it happens...


b) if you need heals cast this even if there are no enemies in front of you!


As a support i max this second for the movement and damage for my carrier.

a) its gonna share heals to your soulmate.

b) its gonna increase your and your soulmate's movement speed (easy to escape)

c)its going to stun other goods (good to kill or stop someone who is atacking you or your soulmate)

d) its going to increase your soulmate's damage!! this is GREAT!! its not physical power or magical power, its damage imagine a carrier's crit with 40% extra damage from plus 20% extra damage from sounds good enough?

e) if you hit an ally god has reduced cooldown. As Aphro doesnt have area heals like you have to change soulmates in order to keep the team healed.
Watch so you dont miss it!!! if you do, its gonna be normal cooldown which even reduced can mean death sometimes...

f) sometimes in a team fight you wanna hit an enemie god but a teammate gets in the way is gonna give the bound and wont stun...

g) if you have the bound already and there is no ally good in the way is gonna pass throw your soulmate (if he is in front of you) and stun an enemie god, this is usefull as a counteratack.

h) if the target is imune to control use it anyway to get increased damage for your soulmate.


Max this third. levelling this is just going to increase the damage and we dont need it, we are supports!!! we are like the CIA everybody knows our failures (when we die) but nobody knows when we succed (your teammate got that kill thanks to you).

a)Carefull with this... might steal a kill from your soulmate and sometimes when your team is chasing someone it migh help the running enemie cause it pushes him 25 units away

b) get ahead of the enemie you are chasing and it will push him back.

c) this is ufefull to save your soulmate from melee characters and ganks cause it pushes the enemie away and gives a slow (hard to chase or catch you and your soulmate).

d) if your soulmate and the enemie are low health fighting use it to steal the kill if you are not sure your soulmate will survive.

e) Do you know this is almost as powerfull as ? max this last and get kills late game after you build !


STRONGEST DEFENSIVE ULTIMATE IN THE GAME

a) this is a mix of: purification sanctuary plus you and your soulmate can still atack during the casting, INSANE.

b) this is the power to counter ganks and allmost every other ults in the game like , , [ and many many others...

c) this is very, very hard to master because you need perfect timing you must know the exact moment to use it!!! youll learn that by playing aprho to get experienced and playing other gods.
When you play other gods you know how they think, you know when they're going to ult and what they're going to do.
Master the timing and you be able to deny and counter many ultimates and ganks!!!

d) the weakness of this is DOT or ults that are not one damage shot, cause it lasts for at maximum (lvl 20) 2 seconds... if the enemie's ult lasts for longer or (and) hit you more than once you are in trouble.
Thats why can counter Aphro cause his lasts longer than aphro's ult (4 seconds) and it still pushes Aphro towards him.
Any ult that lasts for longer than aphro's will be usefull if the enemie manages to keep her stuck. Here are some: , , , and others.
But the only ult hard to counter is Hades' because is pushes you to him, if you get caught by the other DOT ults you can still get away, just leave and field and dodge and

aphro's combo if you are going for the kill she has 2 combos:

1= + +

2= + +

*remeber if you use + you'll have 4 ticks of healing (depending on your lvl.)

if you are going for the dual lane you have to know how to counter enemie's supports.
*im gonna be talking about tipical supports (the guardians) and hades, if you wanna know about non tipical supports like hella, , and others give me feedback.

EASY. he is going to stand in front of the minions using use to counter the damage from that.
If he tuns into a ball you have 3 seconds to stun with and force him to get back.
His ult can be denied if you use at the right time, if you dont use to get the missing health back.

EASY. he is going to use and all the time use to counter the DOT damage and stun with as much as you can to prevent him from hitting with .
His ult is the easiest to counter... count 1, 2 and ult you and your soulmate will be released.
Have purification cause your ult can be on cooldown!!

EASY. His combo is and .
Zig zag to avoid that, if you or your soulmate get caught use to push him away.
Thats basically this... he is aways keep pushing someone to him
His ult whath of terra isnt a problem ult at the right time and you will deny it.

EASY. Use and back off to counter and .
Use to counter the DOT from
Ult and you and your soulmate will be released from
Buy purification cause your ult can be on cooldown.

MEDIUM. watch out! he can come from nowhere with .
His combo is and you have 2 seconds to stun him when he uses or he is going to stun you.
If you get hit by wait for three seconds to heal unless you or your soulmate really need.
can be denied if you ult at the right time, if you dont your ult is going to remove the drunkness effect.

MEDIUM. Watch out! if you or your soulmate get caught by it will (most of the times) break the bound from . To counter this stay behind minions and if you cant zig zag.
Other problem about sobek is because it slows down make easier to chase to counter this you have to know that damage comes when sobek emerges and thats gonna happen after 4 seconds the right moment to ult is based on your level if you are 5 its after 3.2 seconds if you are 20 its after 2 seconds.
Knowing the duration of your ult will give you the right time to use it and deny the damage.
also sobek is gonna emerge early if you or your soulmate is about to escape... ult at that time.
Its not hard to counter sobek's ult, its all about timing!!!

MEDIUM. She is gonna use to reach to call the target for herself and for damage. Watch out for that!!!
There is one way to counter her: stun with right before she uses . She will allways get real close to use (cause it has a small reach) and thats your moment to stun stopping her combo.
if you are able to prevent with youll be countering her most annoying skill.
Her ult does the damage only when she arrives (after 4.2 seconds) it has a smaall reach stay far away and youll be safe...
if you cant, use timing know how long your ult lasts and use it to deny the damage, on lvl 20 its after 2.2 seconds.

MEDIUM. He is gonna use and for stuns, for damage and to prevent escaping.
Use when he gets close to prevent his stuns and interrupt .
Use to push him away and prevent stuns.
is a pain in the *** cause you cant ult to get away from it...
he is allways goin to use and so ult to deny the damage and use to interrupt .
use sprint to get away quickly.

MEDIUM. zig zan and use to prevent dont get caught cause it can break the bound from and it has silence which prevents you from using heals!!
he is gonna use to hold you still and hit with in those moments you can only use as a defense.
If your soulmate gets caught, come from behind and use its gonna pass throw your soulmate and hit Khepri.
Use to counter the DOT damage from rising down.
There are 2 ways to counter his ult use or (and) with to prevent the enemie from escaping, wait for the effect to pass and kill or kill the target twice (if you think you can).
* if you use with the target might die, watch for that!

ANNOYING MEDIUM. So much CC...
his combo is , and .
As allways use to counter .
Dont get too close to your soulmate to make sure you both dont get caught by .
Counter his ult with timing real damage comes on landing (after 2.25 seconds) count 1, 2 and ult early game and count 1 and ult late game (easiest way).

HARD. His full combo is icewall, , and .
Most of the times he is going to keep using and .
He is hard because if you get hit by and you will die, most of the times.
Ymir is allways gonna get real close to use thats the time to use if he gets close stun him, allawys. Countering Ymir depends on that if you prevent youll break his combo.
icewall is a pain in the a** cause you cant ult throw it so if you are running away, run diagonally this way youll be able to dodge the wall.
Countering Ymir's ult is, once again, timing he is going to blow after 3 seconds know the duration of your ult and deny the damage.
He is gonna blow early if you or your soulmate are about to escape, ult at that time either.

HARD. he is no longer a guardian and i havent been seeing him at the dual lane o/. Anyway, just in case...
he is a ******* son of ***** he can blink to you using , prevent you from ult, use heals or stuns with and kill you with his that allways lasts longer than (specially early game) and still drags you towards him, preventing you from escaping.
Now is that hard or not?
First of all build sanctuary thats gonna help you survive his ult but you cant rely on that.
Never get too close to your soulmate, make sure that only one of you get caught by his ult.
Stand behind your soulmate and use him as a bait!! if you are away from his reach he is gonna use to get to your soulmate, at that time, from behind, use its gonna pass trhow your carrier and hit Hades, dont stand whithin his range.
Hades disadvantage is that he doesnt build too many protections, when he was a guardian he was the less tanky, now that he is a mage most people will build him fullpower. His ult will be strong, but he is gonna stand still like a pig going to the slaughterhouse, in those moments trust your soulmate!
If you get caught by his ult cast on him to counter the DOT and deal damage, use to receive some ticks and prevent some damage, use to increase your soulmate's damage and to deal damage when you get close and trust your soulmate's damage.
The way is killing him before he kills you!! and you need a good partner for that...

If you want non tipical supports give me feedback.

At the dual lane
Your first mission is ward!! you need vision to prevent ganks.

Your second mission is keep your carrier healed. Enemies are going to deal damage and use mana but you and your soulmate will alays be healed.

Use to help clear the minion waves.

Rotate. Dont stand in front of your carrier as an usual guardian. Come foward use at the minions, start a fight with , get back... come foward again... keep moving...
Be sneaky, enemies are going to see your carrier ahead and are going to push, in those momments you show up with and start a counter atack.
Aphro is very good on counterattacks!!!

Ganks

If you get ganked the time to ult is usually at the beggining cause junglers will allways come up with somekind of slow like curse or
Dont wait untill you or your soulmate are about to die ult as soon as the gank begins and star a counterattack or run!!

late game
Dont get in the middle of team fights!!! you dont have enough protections or life to take damage from a team!.
If your solo is a warrior use on him to increase his tanking.
Switch partners to keep your team full healed.
Start a fight with .
Dont die!

Aphro is as good, or even better, than any guardian good.

As a support build protections!

As a mage build power!

Give me feedback!

I can add a chapter about countering carriers and something else if you want...