The God of the Rift – A Guide to Aurelion Sol
Aurelion Sol is among the best mages in the game. This shows you how to take advantage of that.
Aurelion Sol is a Mid Lane control mage with immense power throughout the game if utilized correctly. He is a Champion that relies heavily on his positioning in fights and has some of the best roaming potential out of all the Champions in League of Legends. Due to the roaming potential in his kit, Aurelion Sol can snowball himself, while also assisting the Jungler and other lanes in getting ahead. In the early game, Aurelion Sol can shove the opposing laner under tower on the first few waves in an attempt to get them to miss some of their creeps. This works well against other mages but is not always the best thing depending on the match-up. Usually against an assassin or fighter, you will want to match the enemy’s wave pushing so that you do not get shoved under tower, while also not taking too much damage. But before we can really get into how to play the Champion, let us first take a look at what Runes and Summoner Spells are best on Aurelion Sol.
Looking at the Primary Tree of the Rune Page, you will look to take the Sorcery Path and select Phase Rush as your Keystone. Phase Rush synergizes really well with Aurelion Sol as you will often proc the Keystone with your in lane harass as well as in team fights. Aurelion Sol is weak to slows and stuns, and although Phase Rush will not help against the stuns as much, you will gain 75% resistance to slows, as well as it granting 25%-40% movement speed based on level each time you proc Phase Rush. Whether it is being able to get away from tough spots or sticking to the enemy as they try to get away, Phase Rush will help immensely.
Moving down the Sorcery Tree, we have the options of Nullifying Orb, Manaflow Band, or Nimbus Cloak. All of these are decent and could be used well by Aurelion Sol. Depending on the enemy team, Nullifying Orb is very strong as it helps out in the early game against AP Champion matchups, but let’s say the enemy team and your opposing laner are all or mostly AD. Manaflow Band is probably the option you will want to opt for. Aurelion Sol is a very mana-hungry Champion, especially in the early game. With Manaflow Band you can help compensate for this, and you will be able to stack it to 250 mana pretty quickly, benefitting from to 1% regeneration of your missing mana pool that comes with this rune.
Next on the list you will want to take Celerity. The other options do not work as well with Aurelion Sol as his Cooldowns are not so high that you would want Transcendence and Absolute Focus is just not as strong as Celerity is on this Champion. Aurelion Sol’s Comet of Legend ability passively grants him movement speed which synergizes greatly with Celerity, thus it is the best option of the three.
Finally, in the Sorcery Tree you will want to take Waterwalking. As previously stated, Aurelion Sol is a powerful roaming Champion and Waterwalking makes him even stronger. Aurelion Sol will gain movement speed in the river as well as some bonus AP, both from Waterwalking and Celerity as Waterwalking passively grants you adaptive damage, while gaining movement speed, and Celerity will grant you more adaptive damage based on the movement speed provided by Waterwalking. Now let’s look at the Secondary Tree of the Rune Page.
For the Secondary Tree you will want to use the Inspiration Tree and look to take the Time Warp Tonic as well as the Minion Dematerializer. The Time Warp Tonic will assist you in early game sustain, as your first buy will always be Corrupting Potion. The Time Warp Tonic will make the effect of the Corrupting Potion last 20% longer while also granting you 5% movement speed while under the potion’s effect. You will want Minion Dematerializer as well to help you push waves even harder. Using the Dematerializers on Siege Minions is best, as not only do you rid the wave of a powerful minion, but you also gain permanent increased damage against the minions you dematerialize for the duration of the game. This boosts your wave clear and pushing potential throughout the game helping you snowball harder. The only other possible option in the Inspiration Tree could be the Magical Footwear, but it really is not needed and is not as beneficial to the Champion as the other two Runes.
As for Summoner Spells, you will want to take Flash, because, well… Flash. And for the other Summoner Spell there are a few options. You could look to take Ignite, which is not bad as it provides you with early kill pressure. You could look to take Ghost as it synergizes really well with the Champion and it will also provide bonus AP when activated as a result of the Runes you selected. Teleport is not really needed as your Comet of Legend ability allows for easy roaming over large ranges, reducing the need for Teleport on the Champion. Barrier and Heal are okay, but not as strong on Aurelion Sol as Ghost or Ignite. Exhaust is actually quite strong on Aurelion Sol, as it deters some people from all-inning you early on as you can Exhaust them and turn the tables on someone jumping you pretty quickly. Usually the choice will fall between Exhaust, Ghost, and Ignite. All three are strong options, but I believe Exhaust to be the best of three more often than not, as it is strong both offensively and defensively. Now let’s take a look at the abilities of Aurelion Sol
Aurelion Sol’s passive is Center of the Universe. This passive gives the Champion three stars that orbit around him dealing magic damage to anything hit by them. This damage increases with level as well as scaling with AP. A little note with this is that, while recalling, you can still deal damage with your passive without canceling your recall, so you can technically farm a couple minions while recalling, so long as they do not aggro you in the process. This is not really all that practical and is more of a fun fact about the Champion.
Aurelion Sol’s Q ability is Starsurge. Starsurge creates a small star thrown in a target direction. This star will grow then explode once it reaches the outer limit or after activating the ability a second time, dealing magic damage and stunning the enemy or enemies hit for a short duration. The time an enemy is stunned will be increased as you put points into this ability, from 1.1 seconds at rank one to 1.5 seconds at rank five. This skillshot will also grow infinitely, so long as you move with it keeping it within your outer limit. Starsurge also grants 10% increased movement speed to Aurelion Sol on the initial cast of this ability.
Aurelion Sol’s W ability is Celestial Expansion. Celestial Expansion is a toggled ability that pushes the passive stars that orbit him to his outer limit. This increases the damage done by these stars and is going to end up being your main source of damage as Aurelion Sol.
Comet of Legend is Aurelion Sol's E ability. This ability is the reason why Aurelion Sol is such a powerful roaming Champion. Passively, Aurelion Sol gains movement speed while traveling in one direction, and activating the ability allows the Champion to fly in a target direction ignoring all obstacles for a range of 3000 units at rank one, up to 7000 units at rank five. To put this range into perspective, Twisted Fate's Ultimate ability, Destiny, has a range of 5500 units. This ability is only activatable outside of combat and will be cancelled by taking damage from enemy Champions or Turrets.
Aurelion Sol’s Ultimate ability is Voice of Light. Aurelion Sol blasts "pure starfire" in a target direction dealing magic damage and slowing enemy Champions. If enemies are within Aurelion Sol’s outer limit when hit by this ability, it will also knock them back to the edge of his outer limit. It is also important to also note that this ability is considered a laser and as such, it cannot be blocked by Yasuo’s Wind Wall or Braum’s Unbreakable ability. When putting points into each of Aurelion Sol's abilities you will want to max your Celestial Expansion first as it is your main source of damage. You will then want to max your Comet of Legend second as this will provide you with the most roaming potential. If you are behind in lane and do not see many future opportunities to roam, then maxing Starsurge second can be beneficial, but for the most part you will be maxing Starsurge third. And of course, put a point into Voice of Light at levels six, eleven, and sixteen. Now that we know the abilities of Aurelion Sol, let’s see how to build and play him throughout the game.
In the early game you will want to start out with a Corrupting Potion. As stated earlier this will help you sustain in lane, as you will want to hard shove the first three waves with your Celestial Expansion. After this, you will want to look to get a Dark Seal on your first back. This further enhances the Corrupting Potion along with the Time Warp Tonic Rune. When getting back to lane, it is important to keep up the pressure, shoving your opponent under tower as often as you can, as your main priority is looking for a roaming opportunity to help your teammates. When you do roam keep in mind that you will deal the most damage with your Celestial Expansion, so keeping enemies at your outer limit is key. After you get your Ultimate ability then you can knock back enemies that get too close, but before you have this, having Exhaust can be very helpful in keeping enemies from getting within your outer limit, allowing you to get a large amount of damage on the enemies. Exhaust is also very useful later in the game as you can stop the enemy ADC right when they go in to a fight. But before we get into how to properly fight with Aurelion Sol, it is important to know how to properly build throughout the game.
Like previously stated your first back is when you want to buy a Dark Seal to help you sustain and give you a bit of a damage boost against the enemy laner. After this though you want to rush a Rod of Ages, as the earlier you can get this the better so that you can benefit the most from the fully stacked item. After this you will want to grab a Rylai’s Crystal Scepter as you will be able to constantly slow the enemies hit by the stars rotating around you from your Celestial Expansion or your Passive, Center of the Universe. After these core two items have been built, you will want to build according to the enemy team composition.
If the enemy team has a lot of healing, then it is helpful to get a Morellonomicon as this will stunt the enemy team’s healing. If there is not a lot of healing then it is better to build toward a Liandry’s Torment, as you will get more out of the Percent Max Health Damage from this item than the Grievous Wounds and Magic Penetration provided by the Morellonomicon. You will also get the most out of Liandry’s Torment in conjunction with the Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. If the enemy team has a lot of AD heavy Champions, then a Zhonya’s Hourglass would also be very good to build. This will usually be the fourth item that you want to build as well, unless the enemy team is building a lot of Magic Resist. If this is the case, then look to build a Void Staff to negate 40% the Magic Resist that they are building. For the fifth item you build, you can look to sell your Dark Seal and try to get a Hextech GLP-800, a Rabadon’s Deathcap, or maybe a Morellonomicon if you had not built it yet so that you may benefit from the extra Magic Penetration. Usually the game will end before you can achieve full build, but these are all strong last items to grab if the game does last to this point. As for Boots, it is really up to you. Often it is best to grab the Sorcerers Shoes, but Boots of Swiftness, Mercury’s Treads, or Ninja Tabi are also not bad choices depending on the enemy team. Now let’s look at how to play in teamfights as Aurelion Sol.
Aurelion Sol is truly a powerful control mage, but to get the most out of this, positioning in fights is everything. As Aurelion Sol you do not want to go straight in to a teamfight and try to fight in the middle, rather you want to do everything you can to keep the enemy team at your outer limit. This is where you will get the most out of your Celestial Expansion. You can essentially sit on your ADC and peel for them while pretty much peeling for yourself as well. When someone gets in too close, use your Voice of Light combined with your Starsurge to knock back the enemies and stun them at your outer limit while they are taking a ton of damage from your orbiting stars. Ideally, your ADC will also be laying into the enemy team with auto attacks, melting the enemy team in a fight.
Keeping your Celestial Expansion up will also zone enemies into a better position that your team can take advantage of allowing you to gain an edge over the enemy team before the fight even starts. Controlling the enemy and where they will be in a fight is something that Aurelion Sol can excel at and is one of the things that makes him so strong. This combined with the large amount of damage that you will be dealing after you get your first two core items will no doubt help you achieve victory in your games. So, try out this Champion in some of your games and experience the true power that the God of the Rift has to offer!
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