About the Aphelios nerfs incoming:

I've played quite a few games with Aphelios now, I've done very well in all the games we didn't get curbstomped. I chalk that up largely to people just outright refusing to learn the champion because "Nyehhhh I have a 5 second attention span".

Not that I disagree with the Infernum nerfs because frankly, it's his best weapon for damage by a longshot, but that said, Riot, you're going about it the wrong way.

Calibrum presents itself as the single-target burst damage weapon. Infernum presents itself as the AOE weapon.

In practice, this is not the case.

In all the games I've played Aphelios, I think I've used the Calibrum ult like, once. Because it kinda sucks, at least compared to its other damage counterpart, Infernum.

Why on earth would I ever choose to do less damage in a best case scenario to a single target when I could instead do Infernum and do massive truckloads more damage to all the targets? It makes absolutely no sense.

There's Infernum nerfs coming, which is fine and justified in my opinion, but there's also a nerf to Calibrum marks. ...Why? I'll be honest, beyond the first levels, I burn through Calibrum's ammo as fast as possible because it's just outright nowhere near as good in its current state as his other weapons, and that's coming from someone who's a dirty camping sniper in every FPS. I really like sniper rifles, and Calibrum just outright does not feel like a sniper should.

What needs to happen to fix these issues from my experience so far:

BUFFS:

Calibrum

• Calibrum marks don't really need the incoming nerf, at least when compared to the damage output of Infernum. Could be wrong, but I gotta be honest I have yet to see a scenario in which a Calibrum ult is outdone by an Infernum or Crescendum or Gravitum ult in terms of usefulness. I personally would like it if Calibrum, or its marks, had an innate increase to crit damage, as befitting a sniper rifle. Personally, I don't think it'd be unjustified to lower Calibrum's attack speed a bit in exchange. Even if the DPS remained the same on average, I strongly believe it'd make the sniper rifle feel a lot more like it should.
• Calibrum Q really only gets used to set up a Gravitum Q, or get that last hit in on someone just outside your attack range, because it doesn't feel like it hurts very much even when you're full build. The Q can't be used to harass in lane really either, because as far as I can tell it's seemingly always better to have 10 shots with the increased range than it is to poke someone with the Calibrum Q.
• Calibrum Q missle speed needs to be a tad faster. Not by much but it definitely doesn't feel like a sniper shot.
• Calibrum Ult needs to be actually scary, instead of feeling like a wasted ult in almost all scenarios. Personally I believe there should be some degree of low AD scaling added to the Calibrum ult mark bonus damage, maybe like 10-15%.

Severum

• To be honest, Severum ult also has that "too situational" problem too because if you're actually positioning like you should and using the right runes with the right build, 400 Hp is pretty damn "meh" when compared to a 90% slow or mass AOE damage or a huge spike in 1v1 DPS. Some suggestions for that would be temorarily boosting his lifesteal, giving him a larger shield rather than a 400hp heal, or perhaps even a move speed boost. The only real case where it seems beneficial to heal 400 HP instead of the other ults is like, surviving a burst, but again, positioning solves that already and he usually takes Heal or Barrier like most Marksman, so it feels redundant and unimpactful most of the time when compared to the other ults.
• Not a "need" but as was stated by more than a few people while Aphelios was on the PBE, Severum Q only applying on-hits at 25% effectiveness really, really feels like garbage and feels like it forces you away from an on-hit build. I know I for one pretty much do the exact same build on him every game because it seems like it's clearly the best option for doing damage. Might be worth considering.

NERFS:

Infernum

• Inferfum does 110% damage to the primary target for some reason I cannot fathom. If any weapon should do this, it should be, y'know, the sniper rifle. As mentioned above, possibly even in exchange for reduced attack speed because it's a sniper rifle. Infernum should be doing 90% damage to the primary target and more damage to targets behind them, because it's supposed to be an AOE weapon, not the go-to 1v1 weapon when you don't have Crescendum and don't need Severum's heal. Added bonus of this change is that it establishes Infernum + Gravitum as the best time to engage upon Aphelios in a 1v1, because it'd then it would be his AOE combo but the worst combo for a 1v1.
• Infernum ult should either do less damage or have less explosion radius. I personally think the former makes more sense, because the idea should be that it does significant damage if you hit everyone with it, but if you're only hitting 1 or 2 people it's substantially less damage than a Calibrum ult. I would argue that in every single case, Infernum should never be doing more damage to any single enemy, even if you hit all 5 with it, than a Calibrum ult does. If I am in fact wrong and this is the case currently, it absolutely 100% does not feel or look like it is the case, which defeats the point.

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I am aware that there are probably some of you who are gonna "REEEEE" at the idea of buffing any part of the champion, but all I can say to that is I have literally yet to see a single person who complained about Aphelios since his release that actually bothered to learn what his kit does or which combos to engage on. I have, on the other hand, beaten almost every Aphelios I've come across, because I actually bothered to learn the new champion. People have been complaining about every new champion they refuse to learn being OP since like, the days of Garen. Of course if you decide to be bullheaded and not have a clue what a new champion does they're going to shit on you. That's how the game works, that's how it has always worked, and that's probably how it always will work.

Infernum is too strong and it doesn't feel good for either the Aphelios or their opponents. The incoming nerfs have the right idea but need to include dropping that 110% damage to 90% like the AOE weapon it's supposed to be. If it needs to have higher damage like that for some reason, make it work like Crescendum and have it scale up from like 80% to 110% the closer the enemy is. It is a flamethrower after all. Calibrum past the first time you have it feels like the least useful weapon, at least regarding its abilities (unless stacking pure AD makes it better but that seems unlikely). At the very least the Calibrum ult needs a look because it seems like it's supposed to be for picking someone off in a teamfight but it's almost never worth using over any of the other ults except Severum's.

Making Calibrum feel better and making Infernum not just hands-down the best weapon every single team-fight would not only make the champion healthier and more interesting, but actually introduce some of that choice and "big brain decision making" Riot insisted the champion would have into an actual reality, because currently after a few games it's really not that difficult to know what to use because the optimal combinations and optimal weapons are so obvious.