Aurelion Sol Season 13 Rework - Everything You Need To Know!

League of Legends is a game comprising over 150 champions that hold their distinct nature and abilities for players to enjoy. Now naturally, some of these champions are more popular than others, and some are nowhere to be seen. That was the case for Aurelion Sol till now.

Simply put, his pick rate was down the drain, and even after a plethora of buffs, the story didn’t seem to change at all. So what could Riot Games do for him? Introducing a CGU rework was the way to go!

So, with all these new changes, will the celestial dragon descend to dominate the rift? Or will he once more pass away in the grand flow of time and trends? Read below to find out what’s coming in its season 13 rework!

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When Is Aurelion Sol CGU Update Coming?

According to an official tweet from the League of Legends account, it seems like Aurelion Sol will be hitting the rift on Patch 13.3.

Why Did Aurelion Sol Need an Update?

Before getting to the main point, let’s talk about the issues that prompted Riot Games to make a timely decision. As some of our lore-eccentric brothers might tell you, Aurelion Sol is a grand being that’s otherwise completely different from his mundane gameplay in LoL.

The mighty dragon has insanely good lore combined with starry visuals, but when it comes to gameplay, do you just get to play with a bunch of balls?

Now that doesn’t sound very mighty dragon-like. Therefore, in the April 2023 Roadmap, Riot Reav3 unveiled that Aurelion Sol will be getting a VGU update by the end of the 2023 year.

Now, this does not mean his visuals and lore will be stolen from him, but rather, that he will be getting what’s called a Comprehensive Gameplay Update.

Aurelion Sol VGU Changes

Now that the reasoning is out of the way along with the passing of the 2023 year, it’s finally time to take a look at the changes Riot Games promised us!

So on that note, here’s a comprehensive look at the Astral Dragon’s new abilities!

Passive – Cosmic Creator

Aurelion Sol is now able to break down enemies into stacks of Stardust with the help of his damaging abilities. These stardust stacks provide a permanent boost to his abilities, allowing them to become stronger over time.

Q – Breath of Light

Aurelion Sol channels his breath for a specified duration while dealing significant damage to the enemy hit. This ability also deals reduced splash damage to nearby enemies. The longer he channels his breath directly at an enemy, the more bonus damage it will deal.

This damage is further improved by the amount of Stardust that he has collected. Breath of Light is a powerful ability that can quickly take out enemies in a single hit.

W – Astral Flight

Aurelion Sol flies over terrain in a targeted direction. This ability grants him a great deal of mobility and allows him to escape from dangerous situations or chase down enemies. While in this state, he can cast other abilities without any cooldowns or maximum channel duration.

During Astral Flight, Breath of Light no longer has a cooldown or maximum channel duration and deals increased damage while flying. The remaining cooldown of Astral Flight is also reduced whenever an enemy champion dies after being recently damaged by Aurelion Sol.

E – Singularity

Aurelion Sol summons a black hole with this ability, damaging enemies and slowly pulling them toward its center. This ability is particularly useful for catching enemies off guard and pulling them toward the central point of the cast.

Every time an enemy dies within the black hole, the ability grants Stardust. For each second an enemy champion is caught inside it, the following phenomena occur:

The center of the black hole has the power to execute enemies who are below a certain percentage of their maximum health, making it a deadly ability for taking out low-health enemies.

The size of this black hole and the execution threshold can be increased by collecting Stardust – as described previously in Aurelion Sol’s new passive.

Also read: Top 7 Best Roaming Mid-Laners in League of Legends

R – Falling Star

Aurelion Sol crashes a star into the earth with this ability, dealing magic damage and stunning enemies. This impact is particularly devastating since it’s his ability. Plus, it also grants Stardust for each enemy champion it hits.

Gathering enough Stardust transforms Aurelion Sol’s next Falling Star into The Skies Descend. This ability is a great way to take out multiple enemies at once and end a bad teamfight into a victorious one.

The Skies Descend:

This ability drags a giant star down from the heavens with an increased impact zone and increased damage, knocking up enemies rather than stunning them.

A shockwave then spreads from the edge of the impact zone, which damages and slows the enemies it hits. This ability is even more powerful than the regular Falling Star and can be used to wipe out a team of enemies in a single hit.

The impact area of both Falling Star and The Skies Descend can be increased by collecting Stardust.

Aurelion Sol – Build Changes

As you might’ve guessed by the abilities, the mentioned changes shift Aurelion Sol’s tanky mage gameplay to more of a glass canon while still retaining his general theme.

Since Aurelion Sol is more of a stacking champion now, you’d be encouraged to use as much of your abilities as possible – which could prompt an early tear. However, that’s entirely dependent on the mana costs of his abilities.

Aside from that, we’ve seen a significant increase in his range, which means, building tanky won’t be that necessary anymore. Based on that, we can expect players to build Luden’s Tempest or Night Harvester as the mythic, or they can opt for a partial item like Rod of Ages.

It’s fair to assume that defensive items will be seeing a reduction in their pick rates since it’s not really needed unless his lane matchup is a bad one. Speaking of which, we might also be seeing a drastic change in Aurelion Sol’s counter picks, considering he’s not as easy to harass as before.

In essence though, players will still build flat AP items on Aurelion Sol, and while the situational picks might have changed, the basic build remains the same aside from the things we’ve already mentioned about!

Aurelion Sol LoL – Gameplay Changes

With these new abilities, Aurelion Sol is set to soar to new heights in the game! His dragon breath will burn through enemies with Breath of Light, while Astral Flight will give him the freedom to fly over terrain and outmaneuver his opponents.

Consequently, Singularity will suck in enemies and grant him power with each kill, and Falling Star and The Skies Descend will bring the stars crashing down on his enemies.

However, that does not mean the Astral enigma will just sit by in the lane. Aside from his new teamfighting tools, Aurelion Sol has retained most of his mobility, and while his old E has found a new button, the auto-targeted Q makes it much easier to hit targets.

While he lost a lot in terms of wave clear, he’s been given more than enough to dominate the first few patches after his release. Therefore, we wouldn’t necessarily worry about him feeling mundane or weak for a good part of this year!

General Tips For Aurelion Sol Rework

Here are some general tips / summarized rundowns to keep in mind while playing the new Aurelion Sol:

Use Breath of Light to deal significant damage to enemies in a single hit. Consider this your primary damage source.
Take advantage of Astral Flight’s mobility to escape from dangerous situations or chase down enemies. Same as with his old E.
Use Singularity to pull enemies into a single point to unleash your combo.
Use Falling Star and The Skies Descend to conclude team fights while dealing massive damage to enemies.
Collect Stardust to increase the power of your abilities and make them even more formidable.
Use Astral Flight to reposition yourself in a team fight and to avoid getting jumped on.
You can also use astral Flight offensively to catch up to a retreating enemy. Don’t get baited though!
Use Singularity to zone off enemies and control the battlefield
Try to save Falling Star for the most opportune moment, when enemies are grouped together
Use Breath of Light to farm minions and poke enemies whenever needed. Your autos won’t be doing much.

Lastly, don’t forget to practice using your abilities in different situations to master them and improve your gameplay.

Also read: League of Legends Duo Queue Rules

Is Aurelion Sol Good Now?

That quite literally depends on his in-patch specs. Riot might decide to give his Q enough damage to one-shot carries, or they might take away from him so much that even his ultimate can’t kill a minion wave.

Only time will tell whether this will be a worthwhile update or not. Considering this is the first time we’ve ever seen a CGU update in League of Legends, Riot is quite literally walking in unexplored lands – much like every other time (take Arcane for example).

Having said that, almost all of the post-rework Aurelion Sol’s kit is entirely new. It replicates the champion’s story quite well, and it doesn’t seem unnecessarily simple or weak, so as long as you can maintain a decent amount of stardust stacking, everything else should slide right in!

Conclusion

All in all, Aurelion Sol’s rework in League of Legends is set to give him an overall boost in power, making him a formidable opponent in the game. His mobility and damage output will be increased, and he will have new ways of controlling the battlefield.

You can expect to see a more versatile and powerful version of this champion that’s capable of adapting to different situations and excelling in an entirely unique playstyle. With his new abilities and mechanics, this dragon mage is sure to make an impact in the Rift.