In League of Legends, the new Patch 11.15 is coming: The update brings a nerf for the LoL champion Aurelion Sol. The blue dragon is actually played very little, but now it turns out: The best of the best win too often with the unpopular champ.
What’s the deal with Aurelion Sol? According to statistics, the blue dragon, Aurelion Sol, is actually barely played in League of Legends (via leaguegraphs).
In the mid lane, the champion has a 1% popularity, placing him at 41st. The most popular champs like Sylas (12.9%), Zed (10.9%), or Yasuo (10.7%) are played about ten times more often than the dragon: He has a rather unusual skill set for a mage and has to get close to enemies to hit them with a damage field that surrounds him.
Although he is played so rarely and is rather unpopular, a nerf for Aurelion Sol is now on the way, which is supposed to come in Patch 11.5. The exact details of the nerf are still unknown.
For the 0.1% of the best, Aurelion Sol has the highest win rate
This is what Riot Games says: They say: Aurelion Sol has the highest win rate of all champions in “Elite Match-Making Ranking.” In the last two weeks, players with Aurelion have won 57.3% and 57.4% of their matches.
The win rate was checked at Riot Games, and it is indeed an outlier: It’s not just because a few players specializing in “One Trick Ponies” have taken Aurelion Sol.
This is how it is debated:
- A LoL fan says it’s strange to nerf the dragon, although he is played so rarely. Apparently, the sentiment against Aurelion Sol is so negative that hardly anyone plays him.
- Another user even says: The win rate would be a stupid metric to exploit for nerfs. The champion is “absolutely not viable”, Riot Games does not understand its own balance.
- A third user says: Aurelion Sol is absolutely not usable as a “main character”.
What’s the deal with Aurelion Sol that makes him so strange? The dragon Aurelion Sol has in LoL a weird skill set: Stars surround him, dealing damage to anyone they hit. This “damage field” can then be extended.
But somehow it seems to be a strangely static “mage must get close to enemies” playstyle, where players still have to consider the rotation of the stars, which many find unattractive, although the dragon is apparently extremely strong statically.
Most LoL players prefer a mobile or dynamic mage who can stun enemies and send them to their demise in milliseconds with skill shots or combos.
The last patches in LoL have also been controversially discussed:
Twitch streamer finds new LoL patch disastrous – ‘More useless than ever’
