Aurelion Sol Rework: Riot KingCobra Reveals Ability Details

According to LoLanalytics, Aurelion Sol has one of the lowest pick rates across most ranks in League of Legends. The Star Forger mage is definitely a niche pick due to his unique mechanics, and rather high mana costs. The rise of the assassin’s meta also hurt his pick rate as it did with other mages. Riot Games has been planning to give Aurelion Sol a comprehensive gameplay update for some time now. It first announced this in the April 2022 Champion Roadmap. The producer on the Aurelion Sol update Rob “KingCobra” Rosa gave more details about the upcoming CGU (comprehensive gameplay update) in an edition of Devs Spill the Beans back in July of this year. The developer plans to make Aurelion Sol a late-game powerhouse with a scaling kit that includes abilities that grow bigger. Ryan "Reav3" Mireles later discussed what the developer had in mind for the Aurelion Sol rework coming up after the release of K'Sante, the Pride of Nazumah in a video talking about preseason 2023.

Aurelion Sol Rework: What we know so far

The Star Forger’s Q (Starsurge) and W (Celestial Expansion) abilities will be changed substantially. His E (Comet of Legend) has some minor adjustments and will possibly be swapped with his W. Aurelion Sol’s Q will now breathe fire for as long as he has mana. His new W now lets him fly over terrain without having to go in a straight line. You will also be able to combine his Q and W and make him a flying, fire-breathing dragon. His E will now deploy a black hole as shown in the 'Devs Spill the Beans' video.

Riot KingCobra's updates on Discord were posted on a Reddit thread recently. According to him, Aurelion Sol’s W which will now let him fly over terrain will be “a bit more PvP (Player versus Player) oriented, and has supporting mechanics that aren't shown/conveyed in the teaser". It would also likely give him a buff after his flight is done. His R is going to be “a totally new ultimate” which will be more Star Forge-themed. Meaning the black hole ability shown in the Devs Spill the Beans will likely not be his ultimate. Riot has apparently also invited Aurelion Sol mains to test out the upcoming champion changes.

In the 2022 April Champion Roadmap, Reav3 stated that they're aiming to ship the Aurelion Sol CGU by the end of the year. However, according to Riot KingCobra, "what you see in the clips are super WIP (work in progress)", so it seems it may be pushed to 2023.