A swirler apparatus for a combustor, including: primary and secondary swirlers disposed axially adjacent to each other along a swirler centerline; the primary swirler including a plurality of primary swirl vanes arrayed around the swirler centerline, each primary swirl vane including opposed sides bounded between opposed forward and aft edges and opposed leading and trailing edges; wherein the forward edge is oriented at a first vane angle with respect to a radial direction; wherein the aft edge is oriented at a second vane angle with respect to the radial direction; wherein the second vane angle is different from the first vane angle; and the secondary swirler including a plurality of secondary swirl vanes arrayed around the swirler centerline.