Riot Games Loves Reworks
Over the years we have seen a lot of reworks for League of legends champions. The many Ryze reworks and the famous Mordekaiser, Fiddlesticks and Le Blanc reworks to name just a few.
The latest rework Riot has released is the now infamous Aurelion Sol rework which has been met with a lot of hate, and for good reason.
Aurelion Sol From Bad to Broken
Upon his release Aurelion Sol was mid tier at best. Having had a couple of times in his 6 years on summoners rift in which he was semi-powerful if not in pro play, then certainly in SoloQ.
What made Aurelion Sol unique was his passive that caused three stars to float around him which caused damage to enemy champions, minions and neutral objectives (Baron, Herald, Dragon and jungle camps).
This came with some draw backs. The stars were slow to rotate meaning you had to time your movement perfectly to allow you to hit enemies especially if they were moving or you’re into a high mobility matchup.
Thus leaving a big hole in Aurelion Sol players gameplay, making them more predictable and easier to play against. This also means that he was easier to counter pick and get a good matchup for your midlaner.
Another interesting difference between Aurelion Sol and other champions was that his stars were visible even when he was hiding in brushes, so unlike every other champion, you are visible even when you are in cover.
Riot decided Aurelion Sol needed a change, and this prospect was welcomed by the community as a whole because lets face it, Aurelion Sol was not a powerful champion. He was just plain bad.
Upon the release of his rework, Aurelion Sol went from bad to broken. Following on from the reworks of old, some of which I have mentioned above, Riot dialled the power meter up from 10% to 110%.
The reworked Aurelion Sol now has no stars, has infinite scaling with his passive that also gives him percentage health damage and he has the ability to fly and damage enemies at the same time.
From Rags To Riches
These changes have almost literally put Aurelion Sol back on the map. Pro teams picking him up frequently in their competitive games, for better or worse, he has surprisingly had mixed results.
A lacklustre start to his return to pro play he saw himself pick up a few losses in a row before he finally started to find his footing, earning himself a spot in most competitive pick/ban phases.
But what makes this the worst rework Riot has done in League of Legends history? In my opinion it stems from several factors; Community response, Place in champion tier lists, counter ability and abilities/scaling vs other champions.
The community response to Aurelion Sol’s rework has been clear, usually using words like “busted”, “broken”, “unbalanced” and the classic “Rito pls”. With insane late game scaling because of his passive which also allows him to deal extra percentage health damage that infinitely scales, the ability to fly at high speed all0wing him to chase down opponents while dealing damage, and a next to no cooldown on his key abilities, makes him one of the most power champions on summoners rift.
How does this compare to other champions in League? As with most scaling champions, Aurelion Sol’s weakness, if you can still call it one, is his early game. That is not to say his early game is bad, just not ideal and you need to mainly focus on csing (farming) for the first couple of levels due to lacking damage. However this weakness is offset by the fact he has good range and poke ability.
Worst Rework Ever
What separates the Aurelion Sol rework from the every other rework we’ve seen in the past? In my opinion one of the reasons this is such a bad rework and if not outright the worst rework of all time then at least in the running, is because he is now so overloaded compared to how he once was. There is no going back to the Aurelion Sol of old like Riot did with Le Blanc. Aurelion Sol was too bad to being with, so we are stuck with this new and “improved” Aurelion Sol. This coupled with the fact that it will be so difficult to balance in a similar way we saw Akali was when she had her rework (Shroud making her immune to tower shots? what was Riot thinking?), I feel Aurelion Sol will be even harder to strike the balance with between insanely broken (in a he’s too good way) and just straight up bad.
TLDR: Aurelion Sol, percentage health damage, high mobility, infinite scaling, broken champion with no way back.
