A cosmic dragon is wreaking havoc in League of Legends once more just in time for celebrations of the Year of the Dragon to ensue.
In just the first few hours of Patch 14.3 being available on live servers, Aurelion Sol jumped to a 57-percent win rate—the highest of all champions in League currently—thanks to a handful of buffs that aimed to compensate for him losing some valuable items with the new season. This has also led to a drastic increase in the Star Forger’s ban and pick rates, likely to fluctuate around their current percentages as more players experiment with the changes over the next several days.
The buffs to Aurelion Sol targeted his Q, acting as his main source of consistent damage, as well as his W, which gives him mobility that surpasses many other mid-lane champions. His Q’s mana cost was lowered significantly at all ranks, allowing players to charge the ability longer without having to worry too heavily about their mana reserves, while also giving him more stacks of Stardust when fully unleashing a burst of his Q on an enemy champion. Meanwhile, Aurelion Sol’s W can now be used more frequently with a lower mana cost and cooldown, while also granting a larger damage boost to his Q when used in tandem.
Yet it seems Riot Games is pushing players to opt for stacking Stardust through the use of Aurelion Sol’s Q rather than passively stalling large waves of minions with his E. A compensatory nerf to his E has reduced the amount of Stardust the ability grants when defeating nearly any type of enemy, though the ability itself did not have any of its damage, slow, or execute numbers altered.
As of now, the champion’s build path and rune choices remain similar to what they were, though players are likely to experiment with how these changes interact with the new options made available in season 2024.
Historically, Aurelion Sol’s intricacies have often pushed mid-lane players away from the champion, ultimately resulting in a complete rework that turned him into one of the highest-scaling champions in the game. Though his revolution of stars now longer circles his body, Aurelion Sol gained new power in the form of a stacking passive and near-global damaging ultimate which has created more consistent win, pick, and ban rates for a little more than a season.
While Patch 14.3 only just released to live servers, it’s expected Aurelion Sol remains powerful for the remainder of the patch’s duration should he not be subject to any hotfix nerfs—though his percentages should stabilize within the next several days. Riot also revealed yesterday that Aurelion Sol will be headlining this year’s batch of Porcelain skins to celebrate the Lunar New Year, complete with the champion’s first Legendary skin.
