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Apollo

AssassinSkirmisher Hybrid Damage Mid Game Medium Difficulty

Patch 10-30-2026, 241,314 matches. Updated daily.

Playing Apollo? Build Combos Plan against a full team

How to counter and play Apollo

Items to buy

  • vs air mobility Cold Front Cold Front 1,600 souls Tier 2TechInstantCast +25s Cooldown +4s Duration +0.6s Spread Duration: +48% Move Speed +6% Spirit Resist Slowing Bullets Slowing Bullets 1,600 souls Tier 2WeaponPassive +24% Move Speed -20% Dash Distance +3.5s Slow Duration Slowing Hex Slowing Hex 1,600 souls Tier 2TechPress +29s Cooldown +3.5s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +16% Move Speed -26% Dash Distance
  • vs backline assassination Guardian Ward Guardian Ward 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPress +60s Cooldown +0.2s Cast Delay +1.5 Out of Combat Regen +6s Buff Duration +8% Ability Range +8% Radius Builds from Grit Slowing HexDisarming Hex Disarming Hex 3,200 souls Tier 3TechPress +16s Cooldown +4.25s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +75 Bonus Health -13% Bullet Resist Builds from Rusted Barrel
  • vs gap closers and escapes High-Velocity Rounds High-Velocity Rounds 800 souls Tier 1WeaponPassive +45% Bullet Velocity +8% Weapon Damage Mystic Expansion Mystic Expansion 800 souls Tier 1TechPassive +20% Ability Range +20% Radius Cold Front
  • Never fire into a stationary Apollo who is facing you — that is the Riposte Riposte 22s Cooldown Apollo readies a deflection. Crowd Control A 1.5s immobilize and parry disable on the counter-dash target, not a stun… Damage No direct damage listed; Mobility A targeted dash to an enemy hero after a successful deflection — a… 1 -8s cooldown (from a 22s base) 2 melee resist reduction increased to -30%, and +0.7s immobilize and parry disable 5 +1.6s immobilize and parry disable window. Feint a readable threat, let the parry expire, then commit the real damage into the 14-22s recovery
  • Attack from two angles at once; Riposte answers one incoming attack, and crossfire defeats it by definition
  • Engage him from the air where you can — tracklock notes the Riposte counter-dash loses reliability against airborne targets because Apollo descends during it
  • Stop shooting bullets during Flawless Advance Flawless Advance 8s Duration26s Cooldown Apollo performs a run of lunges in whatever direction he chooses, driving piercing stabs out in front of him. Damage 25 base hold damage, 40 at maximum hold, 65 on a perfect release… Mobility Directional lunges usable in any direction; Defensive Tier 2 grants 60% bullet resistance during the lunges, which makes it a… 1 hero hits restore 35 health (1.3 spirit scaling) 2 -12s cooldown (from a 26s base) and 60% bullet resistance during the lunges 5 +65 damage with improved spirit scaling, plus increased lunge speed and distance once he has T2 — the 60% bullet resistance makes it a wasted magazine; use Spirit Damage or simply strafe out of the linear lunges
  • Break line of sight while he charges Itani Lo Sahn Itani Lo Sahn 145s Cooldown Apollo winds up a wide, long-reaching slash. Crowd Control Stasis-style lockdown — the target cannot take action and is stuck in slow… Damage 200 delayed damage base (deadlock.one); Mobility Tier 1 adds +8m dash range to the slash; 1 +8m dash range 2 -35s cooldown (from a 145s base) 5 adds maximum-health damage and increases the bonus against half-health enemies by 50% ; the wind-up immobilises him and any pillar or corner denies the slash entirely
  • Stay above half health when his ultimate is up — the execute bonus keys off low-health targets, and topping up before a contest removes most of its damage
  • Do not burn burst or a single-target ultimate while he is invulnerable (during the Riposte deflect or the ultimate's slow-motion); wait the window out
  • Riposte turns your committed damage against you: it deflects, makes him briefly invulnerable, then dashes him onto you with an immobilize, a parry lock and a -30% melee resist debuff
  • Itani Lo Sahn freezes you in slow motion with healing disabled, then detonates for 200+ delayed damage — and the bonus is amplified against targets under half health, so a chipped hero is dead outright
  • Flawless Advance perfect-timing hits do roughly 65 base compared to 25 on a lazy release, so a good Apollo's damage in a duel is far higher than his DPS number suggests
  • Disengaging Sigil Disengaging Sigil 12s Cooldown Apollo inscribes a glowing sigil in the air ahead of him and springs backwards as it bursts, damaging and slowing anyone standing in it. Crowd Control Movement slow on enemies caught in the blast. Damage 85 base damage (deadlock.one). Mobility A backwards leap; at Tier 2 it also restores 1 stamina and resets his air… 1 +25% fire rate and +25% bullet velocity for 8s 2 restores 1 stamina and resets air jump / dash limit on hitting player targets 5 can be recast within 4 seconds resets his dashes and air jumps at T2, so a fight you thought you had cornered him in usually ends with him leaving and you slowed
  • For 1.5s after the counter-dash you can neither move nor parry, so his melee follow-up lands unanswered; you can still shoot and cast
  • Riposte first, always — it is the hero. Show a readable threat, hold the real damage half a second, and punish the recovery. With Riposte down he is a low-durability duellist with a 49 DPS gun
  • Disengaging Sigil second — it is his exit and his dash reset. Force it early in a skirmish and his next approach has no way out; the base cooldown is 12s so you have a real but short window
  • Flawless Advance third — baiting the lunges denies both his damage and the T1 heal, and the 60% Bullet Resist window closes
  • Itani Lo Sahn is not baited so much as denied: hold a pillar and stay above half health so the charge is never worth releasing
  • The 14-22s after a wasted Riposte — no parry, no counter-dash, and a fragile hero with low weapon DPS
  • During the Itani Lo Sahn charge: he is immobilised while holding it, so a flank or a long-range burst catches him standing still
  • Immediately after Disengaging Sigil is spent (12s base cooldown) — his next engage has no exit and no dash reset
  • In extended fights after his cooldowns are through; dramalock notes he specifically 'falters in extended fights after cooldown usage'
  • Any time he is caught in layered CC he cannot parry — his durability is low and he has no sustain beyond the 35 health per Flawless Advance hero hit
  • Never open on an Apollo who is standing still with Riposte ready. Bait the parry with a light melee or a few cheap shots, then commit once it is gone. (Counterlock, WiseGuyGaming)
  • Once Riposte is spent he is far more vulnerable, so go in during the 22 seconds before it returns, or 14s at Tier 1. (WiseGuyGaming, DramaLock)

Plan a game against Apollo and the rest of their team →

Good at

  • Strong in duels, and Riposte punishes heroes who dive him
  • Very high mobility with real disengage — Disengaging Sigil, Flawless Advance lunges and the Riposte dash
  • Itani Lo Sahn is an anti-heal single-target execute that beats sustain carries and healer comps
  • Multiple invulnerability windows (Riposte deflect, ultimate slow-motion) make committed burst against him unreliable
  • No weapon falloff to 25m gives him consistent damage at the ranges he wants to fight

Weak to

  • Very little teamfight contribution — his ultimate is single-target and his damage is duel-shaped
  • Low durability; a Stun chain he cannot parry kills him quickly
  • Riposte is a read that can be baited, and a wrongly-spent parry leaves him exposed for 14-22s
  • Slow farming and poor wave clear
  • He is weak in crossfire — layered damage from several directions defeats the single-answer parry

In lane, good at

  • The no-falloff-to-25m weapon means he wins medium-range trades against heroes whose damage is already degrading at that distance
  • Disengaging Sigil lets him take an aggressive trade and immediately deny the counter-trade, which is very hard to punish
  • Riposte punishes a laner who mechanically pre-fires at him, turning their aggression into an immobilize they cannot parry out of

In lane, weak to

  • Only ~49 weapon DPS with 2.63 shots per second — he cannot burst a healthy laner down through raw gunfire
  • Poor wave clear; he farms slowly compared to Calico or Drifter
  • Fragile, so a lane that collapses on him with real CC removes him from the map
  • Riposte is a read, not a reflex — a disciplined opponent who never attacks into the parry gets a free 22s window
  • Flawless Advance T2 (roughly 4-6k souls) — -12s cooldown plus 60% bullet resistance during the lunges makes his primary damage tool repeatable and safe to use into gunfire
  • Itani Lo Sahn unlock — Gives him an anti-heal execute he otherwise completely lacks
  • Riposte T3 — +1.6s immobilize turns a successful parry from a trade-winner into a kill sentence
  • Disengaging Sigil T2/T3 — Dash and air-jump resets plus a 4-second recast make him very difficult to corner

Burst Spreadshot Rapier-Pistol ("Pride of Ixia")

Medium RangeProjectile

48.7 DPS

Falloff Range 25m 25m

A slow, heavy spreadshot at 18.50 per bullet and only 2.63 shots per second (~49 DPS), with a 15-round clip and a 2.50s reload. Bullet speed is a sluggish 127 m/s, but tracklock reports it deals full damage with no falloff out to 25m, which makes it unusually consistent inside duelling range and rewards patient, deliberate shots over spray.

  • 18.50 Bullet Damage
  • 1 Pellets per Shot
  • 2.63 Bullets per sec
  • 15 Ammo
  • 2.50s Reload Time
  • 127m/s Bullet Velocity
  • 63Light Melee
  • 116Heavy Melee
Vitality and movement
  • 770 Health
  • 1 Health Regen
  • 7.20m/s Move Speed
  • 1.60m/s Sprint Speed
  • 3 Stamina
  • 4.50s Stamina Cooldown

Base values on patch data. Items and boons change all of these.

The heroes Apollo wins most with, against what their two win rates would predict.

  • Graves Graves ControllerSummonerClose rangeHybrid damage Map pressure while away from the fight via Borrowed Decree Ghouls marching at objectives Durability low (1/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing low (1/3) 57.2% together +4.2% above expected
  • Kelvin Kelvin SupportControllerMid rangeHybrid damage Frozen Shelter is a hard physical barrier that stops ranged damage and ultimates outright Durability high (2/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing very high (3/3) 55.2% together +3.2% above expected
  • Paige Paige SupportControllerMid rangeSpirit damage Peel — Plot Armor is a save and a damage buff on one button. Durability low (1/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing high (2/3) 55.6% together +2.9% above expected
  • Seven Seven MageControllerMid rangeSpirit damage Wave and jungle clear through Lightning Ball and Power Surge, which helps him reach item breakpoints sooner Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing none (0/3) 54.7% together +2.6% above expected
  • Lady Geist Lady Geist BruiserSkirmisherClose rangeHybrid damage Personal sustain between 100% Life Drain conversion and lifesteal itemisation Durability high (2/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility low (1/3) Healing very high (3/3) 52.7% together +2.0% above expected
  • Rat King Rat King BruiserSupportClose rangeBullet damage Makes his whole team's guns better: stacking bullet-resist shred from Rat Swarm Durability high (2/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility low (1/3) Healing low (1/3) 53.2% together +1.9% above expected

Every Apollo duo →

Every Apollo matchup

Apollo wins 48.7% of games overall. Who counters Apollo and who Apollo counters: all 43 opponents, from Apollo's hardest to easiest, with how far each sits from that average. Apollo struggles Apollo does well

Graves and Paige are strong against almost every hero this patch, so they sit near the top here too. The counters that are about Apollo in particular: Warden (Apollo wins 46.8%), Lady Geist (Apollo wins 45.3%) and Baba (Apollo wins 42.8%).

Only matches whose average rank was Oracle and above, where Apollo wins 51.6% overall.

Abilities

Pick an ability to see what it does and how to play around it.

Disengaging Sigil

Ability 1 · Forward AoE Detonation with a Backwards Leap

Apollo inscribes a glowing sigil in the air ahead of him and springs backwards as it bursts, damaging and slowing anyone standing in it.

Purpose: His spacing tool. It creates distance and slows the pursuit in the same motion, which is what lets him take a trade and then refuse the follow-up.

Damage
85 base damage (deadlock.one).
Crowd control
Movement slow on enemies caught in the blast.
Mobility
A backwards leap; at Tier 2 it also restores 1 stamina and resets his air jump and dash limit, and tracklock notes it functions mid-air for aerial resets.
Defensive
The core of his survivability — leap out, slow the chase, reset dashes.

How to play against it

  • The leap goes backwards along a predictable vector — cut the retreat line rather than chasing directly behind him
  • The sigil has a visible draw animation before it detonates; step out of the sphere and he gets neither the damage nor the slow
  • Once the sigil is spent (12s base cooldown), his next approach has no exit and that is when to commit

Interactions

  • Tier 2's dash and air-jump reset is what enables his advanced aerial repositioning; used mid-air it effectively doubles his vertical options
  • Tier 3 allows a recast within 4 seconds, meaning two disengages back to back
  • The Tier 1 fire-rate buff means a good Apollo casts this aggressively before a trade, not only defensively after one
Upgrade tiers
  • T1: +25% fire rate and +25% bullet velocity for 8s
  • T2: restores 1 stamina and resets air jump / dash limit on hitting player targets
  • T3: can be recast within 4 seconds

Riposte

Ability 2 · Timed Parry into a Targeted Counter-Dash Immobilize

Apollo readies a deflection. If an attack lands on him during that window he turns invulnerable for a moment, then picks an enemy hero and dashes to them, immobilizing them, stopping them from parrying and cutting their melee resistance.

Purpose: The hero's signature. It converts an opponent's committed damage into a free immobilize and a free dash onto them, which makes him extremely dangerous to anyone who attacks on reflex.

Damage
No direct damage listed; the value is the immobilize and parry lock plus the melee-resist reduction (-30% at Tier 2).
Crowd control
A 1.5s immobilize and parry disable on the counter-dash target, not a Stun, so they can still shoot and cast. Tier 2 adds +0.7s and Tier 3 extends it by roughly +1.6s, which is a very long single-target lockdown.
Mobility
A targeted dash to an enemy hero after a successful deflection — a gap-closer that only exists if he read you correctly.
Defensive
Brief invulnerability on a successful deflection; the parry window itself is his best answer to a committed burst.

How to play against it

  • Do not throw your damage into an Apollo who is standing still and facing you — that pose is the parry, and feeding it hands him an immobilize and a free dash
  • Bait it with a readable but harmless action, let the window lapse, then commit the real burst into the recovery
  • Attack from multiple angles at once; a single perfectly-timed deflection cannot answer crossfire from two directions
  • Engage him from the air where possible — the counter-dash forces him to descend and loses reliability against airborne targets

Interactions

  • Per tracklock it deflects attacks from troopers, guardians, walkers and heroes
  • The counter-dash now keeps up with a target who moves, rounds a corner or is displaced, and no longer misses when he is right on top of them
  • It does not trigger against trooper or Haunt Haunts Neutral camps Lanes and Districts across the map Haunts replace the old neutral camps. They are not a reskin: each type behaves differently, and the health bar now shows a camp's soul value and how hard it is, so you can decide whether a camp is worth your time before you start shooting. Three eye colours mark the tier — teal for tier I, yellow for tier II, red for tier III. Souls 4168181 souls tier I / II / III a creep +0.44 / +0.73 / +1.95 a minute damage for the counter-dash purposes per deadlock.one's wording, so trooper chip cannot be used to fish it
  • It struggles against airborne targets because Apollo descends during the counter-dash — attacking him from the air is a genuine positional answer
  • The exact interaction with the game-wide parry system should be re-verified against the official notes
Upgrade tiers
  • T1: -8s cooldown (from a 22s base)
  • T2: melee resist reduction increased to -30%, and +0.7s immobilize and parry disable
  • T3: +1.6s immobilize and parry disable

Flawless Advance

Ability 3 · Multi-Charge Directional Lunge with Timed Piercing Thrusts

Apollo performs a run of lunges in whatever direction he chooses, driving piercing stabs out in front of him. Holding the key charges the strike; releasing at the right instant deals substantially more damage.

Purpose: His main damage tool and his in-fight movement at the same time. The timing mechanic means a skilled Apollo does roughly two and a half times the damage of a careless one with the same ability.

Damage
25 base hold damage, 40 at maximum hold, 65 on a perfect release (deadlock.one); Tier 3 adds +65 damage. Tracklock notes the charge bar flashes green at the perfect window.
Mobility
Directional lunges usable in any direction; three uses per activation per tracklock, with increased speed and distance at Tier 3.
Defensive
Tier 2 grants 60% bullet resistance during the lunges, which makes it a damage-mitigating movement tool as well.

How to play against it

  • The lunges are linear and telegraphed — strafing perpendicular denies the piercing stab entirely
  • Do not shoot bullets into him during the lunges once he has Tier 2; the 60% bullet resistance makes it a wasted magazine. Use Spirit Damage or wait
  • Deny the hero hit and he loses the Tier 1 heal, which is most of his in-combat sustain
  • Stunning or sleeping him mid-sequence no longer ends it: that stab is refunded and he keeps the remaining recasts, so save Hard CC for keeping him in place rather than for ending the lunges

Interactions

  • Standing still charges a lunge in place; moving triggers a directional dash before the lunge, so the ability behaves differently depending on his input
  • Tier 2's 60% bullet resistance means shooting him during the lunges is a bad trade — Spirit Damage is the better response
  • The perfect-release window is a visible green flash; watching for it tells you when the big damage is coming
  • A Stun or sleep during the ability refunds that stab and keeps the remaining recasts instead of putting it on cooldown
Upgrade tiers
  • T1: hero hits restore 35 health (1.3 spirit scaling)
  • T2: -12s cooldown (from a 26s base) and 60% bullet resistance during the lunges
  • T3: +65 damage with improved spirit scaling, plus increased lunge speed and distance

Itani Lo Sahn

Ultimate · Chargeable Long-Range Slash Applying Stasis and a Delayed Detonation

Apollo winds up a wide, long-reaching slash. Anyone it strikes is locked into slow motion, unable to act and unable to heal; when the effect runs out they take heavy delayed damage.

Purpose: His execute and his pick tool. It removes a target from a fight for the stasis duration and then kills them at the end of it, and the no-heal clause means their support cannot save them.

Damage
200 delayed damage base (deadlock.one); Tier 3 adds maximum-health damage and raises the bonus against enemies below half health from +60% to +120% (game data, 5 November 2026).
Crowd control
Stasis-style lockdown — the target cannot take action and is stuck in slow motion — plus a healing prevention effect for the duration.
Mobility
Tier 1 adds +8m dash range to the slash; tracklock notes it functions mid-air.
Defensive
Apollo is invulnerable during the slow-motion effect, so the ultimate doubles as a survival window.

How to play against it

  • The charge is a visible, immobilising wind-up — break line of sight behind a pillar during the charge and the slash cannot reach you
  • Do not spend your own burst or single-target ultimate while he is in the slow-motion effect; he is invulnerable and it is thrown away
  • Stay above half health when he has ultimate up — the bonus scales specifically against low-health targets and is where the execute damage comes from
  • Healing will not save a struck ally; a cleanse or CC-immunity effect used before the stasis expires is the only real rescue
  • Spread wide when he holds the charge — it is a single-target execute, so denying him a clean line on the priority target wastes 145 seconds

Interactions

  • The charge can be held indefinitely, but Apollo is immobilised while holding it — a held ultimate is a stationary Apollo
  • The no-heal clause means allied healing, Dynamo's Rejuvenating Aurora Rejuvenating Aurora 48s Cooldown Dynamo channels a restorative field that heals himself and every nearby ally over several seconds. Mobility Tier 1 grants +4m move speed during the channel; Defensive Heals 30 health per second base across the area; 1 +4m move speed during the channel 2 -20s cooldown and +1s channel duration 5 removes the channel requirement and heals an additional 2.5% of max health per second included, cannot rescue the target
  • Because Apollo is invulnerable during the slow-motion, blowing your own burst on him during the effect is wasted
  • 145s base cooldown, dropping 35s at Tier 2
  • Sleep no longer interrupts it; stuns still do
Upgrade tiers
  • T1: +8m dash range
  • T2: -35s cooldown (from a 145s base)
  • T3: adds maximum-health damage and increases the bonus against half-health enemies by 50%
Patch history for these abilities (1)
  • Riposte The 09-16-2026 patch included general parry changes.

Values were last changed in patch 10-30-2026.

Apollo's win rate by game length

Game length changes little for Apollo compared with other heroes: #26 of 44 in games under 25 minutes, #23 of 44 from 25 to 40, #28 of 44 past 40.

45% 50% 55% 0.6% of all games end at 10–15 minutes 1.2% of all games end at 15–20 minutes 3.4% of all games end at 20–25 minutes 11.0% of all games end at 25–30 minutes 23.2% of all games end at 30–35 minutes 26.4% of all games end at 35–40 minutes 17.9% of all games end at 40–45 minutes 9.4% of all games end at 45–50 minutes 4.3% of all games end at 50–55 minutes 1.7% of all games end at 55–60 minutes 0.8% of all games end at 60+ minutes 10–15 min: 51.7% over 1,463 games 51.7% 15–20 min: 48.2% over 3,255 games 48.2% 20–25 min: 48.7% over 9,266 games 48.7% 25–30 min: 49.4% over 27,744 games 49.4% 30–35 min: 48.8% over 56,153 games 48.8% 35–40 min: 48.4% over 63,470 games 48.4% 40–45 min: 48.2% over 42,439 games 48.2% 45–50 min: 48.5% over 22,282 games 48.5% 50–55 min: 49.4% over 10,429 games 49.4% 55–60 min: 49.0% over 3,988 games 49.0% 60+ min: 49.7% over 1,949 games 49.7% 10–1515–2020–2525–3030–3535–4040–4545–5050–5555–6060+
above 50% below 50% under 1,000 games how many games end then
See the numbers
MinutesWinsvs usualGames
10–15 51.7% +3.0% 1,463
15–20 48.2% −0.5% 3,255
20–25 48.7% 0.0% 9,266
25–30 49.4% +0.7% 27,744
30–35 48.8% +0.1% 56,153
35–40 48.4% −0.3% 63,470
40–45 48.2% −0.5% 42,439
45–50 48.5% −0.2% 22,282
50–55 49.4% +0.7% 10,429
55–60 49.0% +0.3% 3,988
60+ 49.7% +1.0% 1,949

"vs usual" is against Apollo's 48.7% over all these games. Faded rows have under 1,000 games, where a few percent either way is noise; under 300, no win rate is shown.

Each point is how often Apollo won games that ended at that length, not the chance of winning at that minute. Short games are usually one-sided, so the left side is about closing out a lead and the right side about long, close games. Games under 10 minutes are left out. Every hero by game length →

Sources and confidence for this record

Record confidence: Strong evidence. Compiled for patch 10-30-2026, researched 2026-10-30.

Difficulty rating: Deadlock Labs hero difficulty guide (deadlocklabs.gg/heroes/difficulty/) lists Apollo as Medium; Lockbuilds' difficulty tier list places him at Hard. Given how much of his kit depends on correctly timing Riposte and Flawless Advance's perfect window, the higher rating is defensible.