The complete season 13 Aurelion Sol guide

Riot Games have done a masterful job with their recent reworks. Understanding this Aurelion Sol guide is a lot easier once you understand the changes outlined in our article covering the rework. The addition of stacking and execute mechanics, make Aurelion Sol feel like a new champion.

Complete Season 13 Aurelion Sol mid lane guide

The old version of Aurelion Sol might have been the least popular champion in the game. But the reworked version is fresh and interesting. If you are one of those who are considering to main the Star Forger, consider these things before queuing up.

Pros of playing reworked  Aurelion Sol in season 13

• Consistent Damage- The new Aurelion Sol can dish out a lot of damage. Apparatenyl, completely reworking the champion wasn’t enough. Riot Games decided to spice it up a bit more. Adding the empowering effects on his passive is a massive change. Slap some percentage or health bonus damage, and you get a real champion for climbing.
• Late game scaling- With all of this in mind, Aurelion Sol only gets stronger the longer the game goes. Previously, this might have been true only for Veigar, Nasus, and Kindred. But now, nearly every champion that has a stacking mechanic is a late game carry.
• Unique gameplay- We already went over the abilities the reworked Aurelion Sol has. They are very innovative and powerful but manage to stay true to his identity. When playing Aurelion Sol, you are a space dragon breathing fire. And you feel like it. The power to combine your abilities, combined with reset and execution mechanics, makes the Star Forger feel like a season 13 champion. 
• Great team fight potential- All of these factors add up to create one of the best mid lane champions. The damage output and scaling prowess make him a force to be reckoned with as the game goes on. Neutral objectives and team fights is where the new version of Aurelion Sol is able to thrive. His mix of crowd control and damage over a large area, makes the game unplayable for the enemy team.

Cons of playing reworked  Aurelion Sol in season 13

• Weak early game- But not everything can be perfect and smooth sailing all the way. To make up for his potential, Riot has made his early game very weak. He has low base damage on his abilities and long cooldowns. Most of his potential is tied to his passive ability, so make sure you properly farm those minions in the early game.
• High mana costs- This represents a challenge on its own, considering his mana costs. The way channeled abilities are balanced is through the mana pool. This can be fixed with a combination of items and runes we will discuss later on. But the most important thing you need to learn is how to farm minions without losing your entire mana bar.
• Weak against mobility and crowd control- This also depends on your matchup, and some of them can be quite unfavorable. Especially if you are a new Aurelion Sol player. This champion is unique, and not the easiest to master.  Getting used to his abilities and matchups will take time. You just need to alter your approach depending on what your opponent throws at you.

Best rune pages for reworked  Aurelion Sol

With that in mind, it’s time to discover what runes Aurelion Sol uses the best in this guide. There are two rune pages currently being used, and they depend mostly on the matchups. 

Most often we see the First Strike rune page. It has a decent 50% win rate, mostly due to the influx of new players trying him out. Once some time has passed, players will become more proficient at playing Aurelion Sol.

The abilities Aurelion Sol has, enable him to dictate the pace of the lane in most cases. Their long range and low damage mean that he can make good use of First Strike. Harassing the enemy, generating some gold to advance your item purchases and getting bonus true damage. 

Magical Footwear is a great rune for Aurelion Sol that starts the game out with just 325 movement speed. This is notoriously low, even for most mid lane mages. The bonus movement speed these boots give is invaluable. You also save 300 gold on this purchase. This should help you get your must-have items on Aurelion Sol faster.

Minion Dematerializer is one of the most important Aurelion Sol runes in this guide. We already mentioned how weak his early game is. He has low damage numbers and high mana costs. This rune helps him farm much easier. This in turn makes stacking his passive a breeze. The rune can increase your damage output by 9% against certain types of minions. This makes it easier for your E ability to execute them, granting you more Stardust stacks.

Cosmic Insight is the preferred option here. But Aurelion Sol can also make good use of Approach Velocity. Each of his abilities slows and this rune should make the game much easier for the player. But on the other hand, Cosmic Insight lowers the cooldown on your summoner spells. And when playing an immobile mage like Aurelion Sol, having your Flash up more often is definitely a benefit. Even if this rune doesn’t help stack your Rod of Ages, it’s a great option for a minor rune. With Gathering Storm and Absolute Focus are your secondary runes, your late game damage should be even higher.

Arcane Comet rune page

On the flip side, the Arcane Comet rune page offers a more immediate impact. Minion Dematerializer and Cosmic Insight remain as your secondary runes, since the value they offer Aurelion Sol is unmeasureable. Arcane Comet offers a much more consistent source of damage, compared to First Strike. You can use it anytime it’s off cooldown and do it very easily. This is recommended for newer Aurelion Sol players that will need all the help they can get from this guide. Manaflow Band should also be of great aid since we already discussed his mana issues. Both of these runes make the laning phase more tolerable and forgiving. 

Aurelion Sol has reset mechanics in his abilities, but they also have long cooldowns. Transcendence also serves as a reset mechanic rune page, increasing your damage output. The recommended Aurelion Sol build we are about to unveil does not contain many cooldown items. So this rune will be of great help in either rune page, depending on what you value more.  

Season 13 Aurelion Sol build and items

The best way to tackle any champion’s issues is by optimizing their build path. Choosing the right items can mean the difference between a win and a loss. And this goes to an even further extent than many players can realize. So this is how you should optimally build Aurelion Sol during your games.

Rod of Ages is the answer to most of The Star Forger’s needs. All of his abilities use quite a bit of mana. Not only does this item provide him with that, but it also works in conjunction with his scaling prowess. We already covered how Rod of Ages and Tear of the Goddess synergize. Despite being a late game hyper carry similar to Kassadin, Aurelion Sol is quite immobile. This makes him vulnerable to champions with mobility and crowd control. 

Rod of Ages gives him enough health to survive bursts early on. And it only gets better from there when it’s fully stacked. At that point the item gives him a movement speed boost, enough mana to never stop channeling his Q ability and more health than a mage should have. It also doesn’t hurt that the mythic passive on Rod of Ages gives cooldown. As we mentioned in the runes section, Aurelion Sol won’t build a lot of cooldown items, so this definitely helps. 

The preferred boot choice for this Aurelion Sol guide should always be Sorcerer shoes. Ionian boots sound nice but don’t make enough impact. Meanwhile, Mercury Threads could be a viable choice in some scenarios. But that should only be in matchups like Lisandra or LeBlanc. 

The ultimate Aurelion Sol build in season 13

The second most important item in the best Aurelion Sol build in season 13 is Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. Not only does this item give more health, but it also works great with his kit. Nearly every Aurelion Sol ability slows or stuns the enemy. And since he doesn’t rely on burst damage, he needs time to work. Using a channeled ability like Aurelion Sol’s Q ability is much easier when your enemies can’t run away. And this is exactly what this item does. For just 2600 gold, Aurelion Sol gains health from this item, cooldown from the mythic passive and a 30% slow on all of his abilities. 

Archangel’s Staff or Seraph’s Embrace is the next item with the most value on Aurelion Sol. The item becomes even stronger when fully stacked, just like Rod of Ages. The two items have a well-known synergy, and the shield passive is now back. This helps in any scenario, but even more so in bad matchups. Outside of that, Seraph’s Embrace gives Aurelion Sol everything he wants. Health, 10 ability haste, and a lot of mana. This mana evens out into even more damage, and since it’s another fairly cheap item, it adds to his mythic passive. 

The last two items should always be situational. Most of the time though, we would recommend Rabadon’s Deathcap and Void Staff. If you played out the early game properly, you will be the main carry later on. Deathcap allows you to nearly double your damage, with a single fairly expensive item. If the enemy team has tanks or other champions itemizing against you by building magic resist, the answer is fairly simple. Void Staff negates 40% of their magic resist, often making it a high-value purchase.

Best skill order for reworked  Aurelion Sol

When he initially came out on live servers, many players got fooled by his E ability. Increasing the execution threshold by maxing the ability did seem tempting. But after the hotfix nerfs that brought lower E damage, it doesn’t make sense now. In a perfect scenario, any Aurelion Sol player would follow this skill order.

Always start your laning phase with your E ability. This should help you farm the early waves a lot more efficiently. On top of this, it can be used as a good way to safely harass the enemy.  Since the nerfs, maxing it doesn’t make sense. The optimal Aurelion Sol skill order for this guide includes three points into his E ability, before fully maxing his Q ability. You might enable the unlimited channel on the Q ability later on, but you benefit from the early damage on E.

As we saw in the recommended build section, this champion needs a lot of mana to function properly. Until he gets his core items from this guide, Aurelion Sol won’t be able to fully utilize his maxed Q ability. After that, you should scale up your E ability, followed by your W ability. Obviously, you should level up your ultimate ability whenever you get the chance. 

Reworked  Aurelion Sol combos

As we mentioned, you can use your E ability to harass during the laning phase. If you have a few levels and enough mana to force a trade, you can use this combo. 

Start by using your E ability to suck in and damage your enemy. Follow this up by channeling your Q ability for more damage. If they start running away, make use of your W ability. It should nearly reset the cooldown of your Q ability. And since you can use it while traveling, it completes your combo before level six. 

Once you hit level six and level up your ultimate ability, your fighting potential increases. Start flying towards them with your W ability, while using your Q ability. Use your ultimate ability to stun them, locking them down inside of your E ability. This should enable a full channel of your Q and E abilities, resulting in many Stardust stacks. For anyone unfortunate to not have enough health or knowledge of these abilities, it could mean death.

Season 13 Aurelion Sol matchups

Since Aurelion Sol has a weak early game, he will always struggle against aggressive champions. Anything that could easily kill this slow and immobile mage could fit here. According to the statistics, Katarina and Akshan are his worst enemies. We already mentioned that champions with crowd control also negate his W ability. So it’s no wonder to see Qiyana, Cassiopeia, Annie, and Tristana among his worst matchups. Not only can they knock him down off the wall, but they can also kill him before he can react. Other mobile champions that give him a lot of trouble are Zed, Yone, and Irelia. Aurelion Sol absolutely doesn’t like getting in extended fights, and these champions can do exactly that. Not only are they equipped to maneuver and dodge most of his damage, but they also have enough sustain to dodge his poke. 

How to play Aurelion Sol in season 13?

Outside of the aforementioned champions, Aurelion Sol can be played into every mid-laner, if you master this guide. Our recommendation is to always start with the scaling starting item. Tear of the Goddess might not help you win early fights, but you will stack it a lot earlier. Going for Doran’s ring is also viable, but you are delaying your power spike and betting on yourself to create a lead.  

Early trades should consist of poking with your E ability. You can also use the aforementioned combo if your enemy misses his engagement.  Your main goal should be stacking up your Stardust passive. To do this you should auto-attack the minion to get them low. Using this tactic and Minion Dematerializer, your E ability should be able to execute them easily. If you manage to hit your enemy with the E and Q abilities while doing this, you should be able to stack your passive quite quickly. 

You can use all of your abilities while using your W ability. And you already know that it nearly resets the cooldown on your Q ability. So make sure to use Q two times in extended fights. The second time should be after using E and ultimate, to guarantee the most damage. This combo can act as chained crowd control, leaving your enemies helpless. Also, you should utilize the walls properly. Not only are you safe there while moving, but you could also access some high-priority targets. All of Aurelion Sol’s abilities are powerful, so make good use of them.