Aurelion Sol has an interesting standing in League of Legends. He is not really popular among players, yet he has been quite successful with the few who play him. Riot buffed him in patch 14.3, but these buffs were quickly reverted.
Aurelion Sol is an unusual champion in LoL. When he was released in 2016, his core mechanic was stars that orbited around him and dealt damage. Keeping track of these and using them effectively was difficult for many, making the gameplay a bit clunky. He was never a popular champion, but his win rate was often solid, making his balancing quite challenging.
To attract more players, he was reworked in 2023. His stars were removed and almost every one of his abilities changed. However, the large playerbase was still not interested. Looking at his pick rate on U.GG, he is not the least popular midlaner with 2.0%, but the majority still seems uninterested in him.
In patch 14.3, he was buffed. However, shortly after, he was nerfed again because he was apparently too strong. Two Riot developers commented on this.
The latest champion is also a dragon, like Aurelion Sol: LoL: As soon as Riot introduces a new cute champion, some players complain about it
We made him way too strong
In the latest patch 14.3, a lot was adjusted for Aurelion Sol. His Q ability now stacks 3 instead of 1, and the mana costs were reduced. The costs and cooldown of his W ability were also lowered. While the stacking of the W was made weaker, the buff to the Q compensates for this quite well.
Apparently, the buffs were too strong, as a mid-patch update addressing Aurelion Sol was released on the same day as the patch. The Q now only collects 2 stacks per champion burst, the W has a significantly higher cooldown again, and the bonus damage of the Q through the W was significantly weakened.
On x.com, RiotPhroxzon commented, saying:
Our mistake in this case. We clearly overshot the mark, and we are responsible for that (we underestimated how much the W buff would impact).
Riot Phroxzon on x.com
Despite the nerf, RiotPhroxzon believes that Aurelion Sol should be better than before patch 14.3.
RiotPhreak also commented in a YouTube video, stating that they clearly messed up the Aurelion Sol buff and turned him into too strong of an early-game laner. He takes responsibility for this, as he is responsible for the content of the patch.
In his X post, RiotPhroxzon explains that they are observing whether Aurelion Sol players are playing more actively or passively. The original patch was intended to reward proactive Aurelion players on the lane. However, they overshot the mark.
In the current patch, Aurelion Sol has a win rate of 53.97% in the mid lane and a better pick rate of 6.3%. Ivern is also a champion that is not noticed by many players. However, with a strong build, one player was successful: LoL: Twitch streamer discovers strong build for unpopular champion, achieving the highest rank in a short time
