At a glance#
Role (our classification)
- Diver — Closes distance fast to reach the enemy back line.
Damage
- Weapon-leaning kit
Weapon
- Pride of Ixia
Released
- 12 Feb 2026
A high-mobility fencer Hero who engages isolated targets with precision strikes.
Apollo’s abilities explained#
Apollo has three regular abilities and an ultimate. Ability names and behaviour below were checked on 27 Oct 2026; numbers are left out on purpose because they change with almost every patch — the in-game tooltip shows the current values.
Ability 1
Disengaging Sigil
Draws a sigil sphere in front of him, then leaps backward as it explodes, damaging and slowing enemies caught in it. He also gains a fire rate and bullet speed buff.
Ability 2
Riposte
Prepares to deflect the next attack. On a successful deflection he becomes briefly invulnerable and dashes to a targeted enemy hero, immobilizing them, stopping them from parrying, and reducing their melee resist.
Ability 3
Flawless Advance
Lunges in a chosen direction with piercing stabs. Holding the key lets him time the attack; releasing in the perfect window deals maximum damage.
Ultimate
Itani Lo Sahn
A long-range slash that freezes struck enemies in slow motion, stopping their actions and healing. When the slow expires they take heavy delayed damage, with bonus damage against half-health enemies.
How to play Apollo#
Your engage tool is also your escape. Wait for enemy crowd control to be spent, dive the squishiest target, and make sure your team is close enough to follow you in.
Tips from the current kit
- Holding a movement direction while casting Disengaging Sigil changes the direction of the leap.
- Holding Itani Lo Sahn lets you delay the lunge, so you can choose the moment to strike.
- Riposte can be triggered by any enemy hero in range and by many player-created NPCs.
- Disengaging Sigil restores stamina and resets the air jump/dash limit when it hits a player.
Build framework#
A starting framework, not a tested build
This section explains what kind of items Apollo’s kit rewards, built from how the abilities work. It isn’t a win-rate-tested build. For community builds with current stats, open the in-game Build Browser and filter by hero, then check our items explainer to understand why each item is there.
Weapon lean. The gun does the heavy lifting, so fire rate, ammo, weapon damage and lifesteal usually come first.
| Stage | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Laning | Cheap 800-soul items that help you trade and sustain in lane, plus one that boosts your main damage source. |
| Mid game | Your first 3,200-soul item is usually the biggest single jump in power — buy toward the one that makes your best ability or your gun stronger. |
| Late game | Fill slots with 6,400-soul items, and swap cheap starters for upgrades. Leave room for an answer to what the enemy is doing. |
| Defence | Match the enemy’s damage: shields and resistance against whichever type is hurting you most. |
Items that fit a weapon kit
Defensive options
Items opponents commonly use against Apollo — expect to see them, and plan around them:
Ability points#
Ability unlocks come from levelling up; ability points then buy upgrade tiers. A sensible default for Apollo:
- Unlock the ability that helps you farm or trade in lane first — for most players that’s Disengaging Sigil or the ability you can hit most reliably.
- Unlock all three regular abilities early so you have every tool in the first fights.
- Unlock Itani Lo Sahn as soon as it’s available.
- Put upgrade points into the ability you use most, then into whichever upgrade tier changes how an ability works (tier 3 upgrades often do).
General guidance; upgrade tiers and costs are shown in game.
Playing against Apollo#
- Counterspell can block the damage from Itani Lo Sahn, since struck enemies can still parry.
- Dispelling Itani Lo Sahn's time slow early (for example with Divine Barrier) makes its damage land immediately.
The full breakdown — abilities to play around, counter items with reasons and mistakes to avoid — is in how to counter Apollo.
Recent changes#
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 30 Oct 2026 | Riposte’s counterattack now immobilizes and blocks parrying instead of stunning, for 1.5s (was 0.8s); being stunned or slept during Flawless Advance refunds that stab; Itani Lo Sahn is no longer interrupted by sleep. |
| 12 Aug 2026 | Riposte melee resist reduction increased from -22% to -25%; Itani Lo Sahn no longer cancelled by movement abilities. |
| 28 Jul 2026 | Riposte base stun increased from 0.6s to 0.8s. |
Every update that touches heroes is summarised in patch notes explained and the patch impact tracker.