How the season 13 Aurelion Sol rework got him hotfix nerfed

After being stuck in purgatory for a few years, the Star Forger is back in his rightful place. At the top of our tier lists. Among the stars. That’s where Riot’s newest rework finds itself a few days after being released on live servers.  It’s still early, but this Aurelion Sol rework has completely changed how the champion functions.

It really does feel like history is repeating itself. If you weren’t playing League of Legends back in season 6, don’t worry. Every game in season 13 feels like it was played in 2016. Except for those games that have new champions like K’Sante in them. The meta is fairly similar. Bruisers and tanks have the ability to get out to an early lead. Mostly from the jungle and top lane role. But if they don’t convert their lead, the bot lanes take over. The mid lane still has a large impact on the map. But it’s not just assassins roaming everywhere and killing everything. Mages are reaping the benefits of the preseason item rework. But more and more minor reworks are happening, and it’s great for the state of the game.

Aurelion Sol history in League of Legends

In the League of Legends community, Aurelion Sol has become a meme of its own. One of the few champions joining Ivern in the sub 1% play rate club. But why was that the case? If you saw Aurelion Sol’s character model or heard his voice lines, you would think that is the coolest champion in the game. The champion was a major hit upon release in 2016. So much so, that professional players started noticing. Soon enough, there was a mid lane Aurelion Sol ganking bot lane at level two. Riot Games didn’t like that, nor the playstyle it represented. 

So they started chipping away at his power budget and kit. Lowering the numbers, removing interactions and mechanics. Until we got the pre-rework version of Aurelion Sol we used to know. A champion with a high skill floor and skill ceiling. New players were bad at the champion, while old players didn’t want to play this watered down version. As his pick rate and popularity plummeted, the one tricks were the only ones to remain faithful. And Riot Games made that even harder for them. The few players that remained dedicated to playing Aurelion Sol found great success. Inflating his win rate, especially in higher ranks where the sample size is smaller. But that resulted in even more nerfs, until there was nothing left of the original cool design.

Season 13 Aurelion Sol rework

So now it was time to make amends. This rework changed everything we knew about the champion. His signature stars are now gone. And all of his abilities have also been changed. The character model and skins have also been upgraded. But the main struggle here is making the reworked champion viable in season 13, without changing his identity. It wouldn’t suit Aurelion Sol to have a wind wall or shroud. 

And to achieve this, Riot have relied on evolutions and reset mechanics. The Ahri update was the turning point, and the Syndra rework embodied this design tactic. 

Similarly to her passive orbs, Aurelion Sol’s new passive collects Stardust. His passive ability is now called Cosmic Creator, and it gives him these Stardust particles every time he damages an enemy. The amount of Stardust collected by each ability may vary by target, but after reaching certain thresholds, it evolves and improves each of his abilities. 

Aurelion Sol Q ability explained

His new Q ability is called Breath of Light. It has a three second cooldown and no cast time. But that’s because it is a channeled ability. This channel lasts 3,5 seconds, during which Aurelion Sol exhales a beam of starfire at the first target hit, revealing them and dealing magic damage every 0,125 seconds. For each second of continuous damage the beam does, it will create a burst of damage and will grant 1 Stardust if the target is an enemy champion.

At max rank, this channel can last as long as Aurelion Sol has the mana to afford it, which ties into our recommended build and guide. When the Q ability is empowered by the passive after collecting enough Stardust stacks, the aforementioned bursts of damage will be empowered and do bonus damage equal to a percentage of the target’s maximum health. For instance, 100 Stardust stacks will make Aurelion Sol’s Q ability burst for 3% of his target’s maximum health every second! Makes sense why he can burn through Baron Nashor. 

Aurelion Sol W ability explained

Astral Flight is the name of his new W ability. Older Aurelion Sol players will still get the excitement of combining their abilities as they traverse the terrain. But now, using the new W ability should be easier for newer players. When using it, Aurelion Sol resets the cooldown of his Q ability, which he can cast during his W ability. He can also cast his other abilities while using his W ability. But only as long as he doesn’t get crowd controlled.

Securing a takedown within 3 seconds of damaging them, reduces the cooldown on Astral Flight by 90% of the total cooldown. The base range of this ability is 1200 units. But his passive now enhances it to gain an additional 7,5 units per Stardust collected. With 100 Stardust stacks, it should take you on a 2000 unit journey. And even more in team fighters where takedowns will be abundant.

Aurelion Sol E ability explained

Singularity is the name of Aurelion Sol’s new E ability. The Star Forger opens up a black hole that sucks everything within its radius and deals damage. Anything that isn’t an epic monster inside of it, gets executed below 5% health. The radius of the ability and the execution threshold only get larger with more passive Stardust stacks collected. After the five seconds this ability lasts, Aurelion Sol is rewarded with 1 Stardust for each second an enemy champion has been inside of it. If the enemies die inside of it, the rewards are even more fruitful. Aurelion Sol gets 5 Stardust stacks for every champion or epic monster that dies inside the radius. Large minions and monsters grant him 3 Stardust stacks, while the little ones give him only 1. 

Aurelion Sol Ultimate ability explained

The real masterpiece in this Aurelion Sol rework is his ultimate ability. It’s now called Falling Star, and it fits the description to a fault. After a 1,25 second cast timer, Aurelion Sol calls down a star to hit the targeted location. It  deals magic damage and stuns all enemies for 1,25 seconds. This ability gives 5 Stardust stacks for each enemy champion hit. Every 75 Stardust collected, this ultimate ability evolves and changes form. The affected radius of both abilities gets increased equal to 15% of the Stardust stack collected.

The empowered version of the ultimate ability is called The Skies Descend. With it, Aurelion Sol calls upon a massive star to hit the targeted location. After a 2 second cast period, the star lands, dealing 25% increased damage when compared to the normal ultimate ability, and releasing a massive shockwave that grows in radius and knocks enemies for 1,25 seconds. Talk about matching the character with the gameplay. The shockwave spreads for 3 seconds, slowing enemies and revealing them, while doing bonus damage. 

Aurelion Sol and Annie hotfix nerfs

Aurelion Sol and Annie could barely last a few days on the new patch. The changes patch 13,3 in League of Legends brought, pushed these two characters to the top of the nerf list. They were overperforming to the point where Riot had to hotfix them.

For the first 24 hours, Annie was hovering around the 60% win rate mark. Before everyone knew what kind of a menace she was, the dedicated mains benefited the most. That’s why Riot immediately reacted, lowering her armor per level. She will now gain 4,7 instead of the previous 5.2 armor every time she levels up. The fixed mana cost on her E ability is also gone. It now scales from 60 to 80 mana per level. This should keep Annie out of the support role, and make stacking her passive a lot less forgiving. The returned damage the shield did is also lowered by 15%, going from 55 to 40. 

Aurelion Sol disabled and hotfixed

The numbers might not show it, but the reworked Aurelion Sol is really good. Players must be struggling to wrap their heads around his new kit. That’s why we have a complete guide that will make you a better Aurelion Sol player. In the meantime, Riot Games are focusing on fixing the mess.

Aurelion Sol was disabled due to a game-breaking bug allowing him to use his ultimate ability while on cooldown. As cool as it looks, this ruins ‌ gameplay integrity. But this wasn’t the only way Riot had decided to step in. 

The hotfix nerf to Aurelion Sol brought a bevy of changes to the Star Forger. He will now gain 100 instead of the previous 106 health, every time he levels up. The burst damage on his Q ability is getting reduced by 10%, while his empowered ultimate ability shock blast will now slow for 50%. His E ability called Singularity underwent the biggest nerf. Not only is it losing 15% of its damage, but the stacks it gives are also gone. The ability power ratio is lowered from 40% to 25%, while epic and large jungle monsters will now give 5 and 3 stacks respectively. 

This is a major blow to jungle Aurelion Sol, which was never in Riot’s plans. And while it was a fun concept, getting 40 passive stacks on the first clear was not intended. This enabled his hyper-scaling playstyle to go unpunished.