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.
What it is for: 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 stun 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, stunning them and cutting their melee resistance.
What it is for: The hero's signature. It converts an opponent's committed damage into a free stun 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 stun plus the melee-resist reduction (-30% at Tier 2).
- Crowd control
- Stun on the counter-dash target; 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 a stun 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, and can interrupt channelled ultimates — Bebop's Hyper Beam, Seven's ultimate and Haze's ultimate are named examples
- It does not trigger against trooper or neutral 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 09-16-2026 patch included general parry changes; 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%
- T3: +1.6s stun duration
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.
What it is for: 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
- Hard CC during the lunge sequence cuts the remaining charges off
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
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.
What it is for: 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 increases the bonus against half-health enemies by 50%. Tracklock reports the damage is doubled against enemies below half health at maximum rank.
- 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 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
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%