Aurelion Sol returns to the Rift after a Comprehensive Gameplay Update that will make League of Legends players tremble at the presence of the Star Forger. The cosmic dragon will have a new kit of abilities in patch 13.3 this February, but will maintain the same visuals and splash art that players are accustomed to.
After wishing upon a star, League players will finally see how Aurelion Sol’s stars will look very different in just a few patches, starting with his passive. Bid farewell to the three stars orbiting around the Star Forger, making him “Center of the Universe,” as his previous ability was called, and welcome the “Cosmic Creator.” Aurelion Sol’s passive now grants all his abilities Stardust, which will permanently improve his abilities by giving them various bonuses.
“Star Surge,” Aurelion Sol’s previous Q ability, has also been changed. Instead of creating an expanding galaxy that stuns and deals damage, Aurelion Sol’s new Q ability “Breath of Light” makes the champion unleash a breathing flame dealing damage to first enemy hit and splashing reduced damage on nearby enemies. Breath of Light also deals additional burst damage to an enemy each time they take one cumulative second of the channeled ability. Bursting against champions will grant Stardust which will increase the burst damage. As the game progresses, “Breath of Light” will deal increased damage and its range will also increase with Aurelion Sol’s level.
With his three rotating stars disappearing, Aurelion Sol’s former “Celestial Expansion” ability also became a thing of the past. But his new W ability “Astral Flight” will sound familiar to League players who have encountered the cosmic dragon before his CGU. Similar to the previous E ability “Comet of Legend,” Aurelion Sol’s new W allows him to fly over terrain on the Rift and towards a targeted location. But as Aurelion Sol will be visible to nearby enemies while flying, he can also cast his other abilities mid-air.
During his journey in the air, his Breath of Light Q ability deals increased damage, has no cooldown, and has no maximum channel duration, making it a powerful ability to catch runaway enemy champions and take them down. Whenever an enemy champion that Aurelion Sol has recently damaged dies, Astral Flight’s remaining cooldown is reduced. The bonus that Stardust grants to Aurelion Sol’s E increases the ability max range, giving the Star Forger more room to fly.
Aurelion Sol’s next ability is “Singularity.” When activating his E, the Star Forger will summon a black hole that will damage and slowly pull enemies towards the center of the ability for a few seconds. The center of the black hole executes all enemies below a percentage of their maximum health, thus granting Aurelion Sol Stardust based on the type of enemy that got executed. That Stardust will increase the Singularity size, the execute threshold, and the dimension of the center zone of the black hole.
The Star Forger truly brings “quite the deadly spectacle” on the Rift with his new ultimate ability. Aurelion Sol crashes a star onto earth with “Falling Star,” dealing magic damage and stunning all enemies hit. For each enemy hit, Aurelion Sol gathers Stardust that will increase his ultimate ability size—but that’s not all. Once the Star Forger has collected 75 particles of Stardust, his ultimate ability transforms into something that will make all mount Targon tremble.
Seeking shelter won’t matter when Aurelion Sol uses “The Skies Descend.” The Star Forger calls upon a massive star to descend on the Rift, significantly increasing the impact zone and the damage dealt to his enemies from the normal Falling Star. As if the starry vault was to crumble, this transformed ability deals damage beyond its area of primary impact by creating a shockwave that damages and slows all champions that are caught in it. Collecting Stardust after evolving Falling Star into The Skies Descend further increases the size of the impact zone.
It’s just a matter of time before players will be starstruck with the Star Forger’s new abilities which will land on League’s client with patch 13.3. The re-forged cosmic dragon is on his way to the Rift, and for his enemies it’s “already beyond too late to seek cover”.
