You may feel like it’s not that far away, but it’s been six years now that Aurelion Sol landed on League of Legends. The dragon promised by Riot Games and expected for years has taken over from the well-known and canceled Ao Shin to become the Star Forger. A character capable of submitting to his will even that which transcends human knowledge. The most powerful being according to Lore and still considered one of Riot Games’ biggest failures when it comes to character creation.
The champion the community has been waiting for for years
Doing a quick look at this dragon’s stats, the truth is that he’s never been a bad champion when it comes to performance. However, he has a flat electrocardiogram in terms of player interest. In each of the lists we’ve compiled to review the less popular champions, he’s grabbed the top spots and celebrated his birthday as lonely as ever. Based on all rankings, he is only chosen in 0.5% of the games. Skarner, who was chosen to receive a rework, is the only less popular and the difference is 0.04%.
The numbers would be paltry for any champion, but even more so for a champion released at a time when League of Legends was governed by more modern design rules and there was no pressure to release a character every two weeks. They are also not acceptable for what was the most anticipated champion in gaming history. Ao Shin may not say anything to players who recently joined the title from Riot Games, but he was a true legend for those of us who started playing in the second or third season, and spent years hearing about him.
Why didn’t Aurelion work?
Riot Games often points out that monstrous champions generate less interest in the community than those with humanoid forms. However, the failure of Aurelion Sol cannot be explained from this design point of view. We all want to embody an intergalactic dragon capable of summoning stars. However, several gameplay issues seem to account for a character’s major flaws which was simply too powerful for its own good and whose mechanics felt a little clunky for many players.
When Aurelion Sol came out, he was able to do too much. Even without having defensive tools (it was his big handicap) he could push his lane with disconcerting ease which allowed him to move instantly on the map and generate a numerical superiority, obliging his vis-à-vis to remain under his tower permanently. Players quickly understood the potential of the champion and this gave rise to a large number of alternative strategies. It was very appealing to players who played as a team (and therefore were organized) and those who put in enough hours to learn all the possibilities.
However, this very situation was the one that drove the first nail in his coffin. Aurelion Sol’s great power soon resulted in a shower of nerfs that made him laugh until Riot Games gave him the final blow by making his W (Celestial Expansion) permanently inactive.. This was all due to excessive mobility taking up all of his power and leading to nerfs to similar champions like Taliyah or Twisted Fate.
This situation resulted in a unique game pattern that players did not like.. The character had no mobility, but was forced to keep his distance to inflict damage that was very difficult to control and significantly lower than that of other mages. Something that drove it to oblivion — even though Riot Games stopped nerfing it a long time ago. Even in the competitive circuit, where he had his good times, he fell into oblivion: he did not appear once in the last season and a half.
With his sixth birthday fast approaching, rumors of a possible rework to alter some of his abilities and make him the champion he should have been are beginning to arrive. However, this looks like one of the toughest projects League of Legends will face if it decides to take it on. Overcoming a failure of this magnitude is no easy task, but we’d like nothing more than some justice for what should have been one of the game’s most thrilling champions.
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