In League of Legends, there are always champions that are played significantly better by professionals than by regular players. This is also true for the relatively new champion Aurora. However, she seems to be going a bit overboard, as she is being massively changed.
What is it about? Aurora is a relatively new champion who was released on July 17, 2024. Even before her release, professional players feared the potential of the champion. Back then, there was already a fear that her mobility and the many options in the hands of experienced players would become a problem.
She started quite successfully in the normal range, but that has changed. If you look at the statistics on U.GG, she isn’t doing very well at all. On the mid lane, based on all ranks, she has a win rate of only 48.3%.
However, if you watched the Worlds 2024 as a spectator, you noticed that Aurora was banned quite often. In the main event, she was the most banned champion with a total of 65 bans. Regardless of who played, the professionals were afraid of her.
This does not seem to please Riot very much. In the next patch, Aurora will be massively changed.
The big topic in LoL right now is Arcane:
Lead designer of Riot says: Aurora has 2 problems
What is the problem with Aurora? The upcoming changes to Aurora were commented on by lead champion designer Squad5 on x.com. He explains that Aurora currently has 2 problems. One is that Aurora is too difficult. Learning Aurora should be of medium difficulty, but currently, she is only suitable for high-skill players. This lowers her win rate.
The second problem is the professional scene. Even if her current state is weak, she still has a high priority in esports. The upcoming changes are intended to solve both problems.
What will be changed? The changes are almost like a mini-rework, as every ability will be adjusted:
- Passive
- The spirits you collect will no longer give you movement speed
- Q Ability
- The Q ability will now reactivate automatically when the duration is over
- The cooldown will be increased
- The range will be increased
- The base damage will be increased
- W Ability
- The cooldown will no longer reset on a kill or assist
- Activating the W ability will now also grant movement speed
- The cooldown will be reduced
- E Ability
- The range will be increased
- Ultimate (R Ability)
- You will no longer gain movement speed, only the movement speed from W
- Enemies will no longer be held but slowed when they leave the area
- The duration of the ultimate will be increased
The changes are intended to make it easier for less skilled players to utilize the ideas behind their abilities. Especially positioning with Aurora will be simplified due to the improved range.
However, the change to the ultimate will likely make Aurora weaker at high ranks than she is now, as one can walk out of it. Previously, one was trapped in the area for the duration of the ultimate.
When will the changes come? The changes will come with patch 14.23. The patch is expected to be released on November 20, 2024.
However, how the changes will affect Aurora will only be seen a few weeks later. In the professional scene, her relevance will not be seen until next year. Another champion is supposed to help beginners learn the game, but that doesn’t seem to be working: Player says, despite hundreds of hours, she is still terrible in LoL – And one champ is to blame
