Ziggs vs Aphelios Counter Pick

Running a mage in the bottom lane forces the opponent to change what they buy. Ziggs hits with magic damage, Aphelios with physical, and the armour a marksman builds up by default (26 at level one, 97.4 at eighteen) does little against Bouncing Bomb or the empowered attack that Short Fuse keeps refilling. Over 1,165 games on patch 16.13.1, that gap produces a 57.5% win rate.

Complexity is the other factor. The Hitman and the Seer gives Aphelios five Lunari weapons that he cycles through, with Phase trading the main and off hand, and the Weapon Queue System determining which weapon comes up next. His rating of 10 against 4 reflects how much practice that kit demands, and a queue that goes wrong mid-fight can’t be fixed in time.

Neither champion has a dash, both attack from 550 range, both move at 325, and both use mana, so the matchup comes down to positioning. Aphelios takes it when he can keep attacking with a full weapon set and Moonlight Vigil lands his main-hand effect from range. Ziggs takes it by stopping that from happening: he lays Hexplosive Minefield across the approach and saves Satchel Charge to get himself out of the one all-in that would decide the lane. At level 18 his health sits at 2,408 against 2,334 in his favour, his base attack damage is level at 55, and Aphelios’s 30 magic resistance is the only defensive stat that really affects the result.