If you’ve ever wanted to smash your enemies with concentrated energy of a star, you’ll soon have your chance in League of Legends.
Today Riot revealed the game’s new champion, Aurelion Sol, the Star Forger, and he’s set to reign celestial terror across the Summoner’s Rift in a few short weeks. You can check out the new champion, including videos showcasing his abilities, at Riot’s champion reveal page.
A celestial dragon with an ephemeral body built from constellations, Aurelion Sol is a mid-range mage character with the ability to deal massive area damage thanks to his kit of star-themed abilities and devastating passive ability.
That passive, Center of the Universe, gives him three orbiting stars that constantly crush all enemies who move close enough to touch them. He can manipulate those stars using his W, Celestial Expansion, which increases the radius of his orbiting weapons at a steady cost of mana, allowing him to damage foes and zone out the enemy team.
That also creates an interesting interaction with his Q, Starsurge. The space dragon launches a newborn star, growing in size as it stays within the radius of his orbiting trio. It detonates once it’s outside of Sol’s demesne or when reactivated, stunning and damaging all enemies.
The Q becomes even more interesting when comboed with his E ability, Comet of Legend. Aurelion Sol passively charges move speed when traveling in a straight line, storing it in Escape Velocity stacks every time he turns. If he maxes those stacks, which are lost by taking damage, he can activate Comet of Legend to absorb his orbiting stars and fly into the sky, zooming over map terrain in a straight line until he decides to land or take damage.
The key with Comet of Legend is that he keeps up with his Starsurge, meaning you can hit Q before taking flight and grow your new star into supernova in the enemy lane with Aurelion Sol’s arrival.
In some ways, his ultimate, Voice of Light, is his most boring ability. Like every dragon, Aurelion Sol’s breath packs a powerful punch, launching a beam of starfire in front of him that damage and slows all enemies. Those within his ring of stars are knocked back, giving him a tool to avoid pesky enemy assassins.
The Star Forger should be an interesting addition to the League meta, a mage mid laner who will likely focus on tank and mana items like Rod of Ages, with both the ability to roam from the mid lane with powerful ganks, thanks to his ability to traverse the map and stun on impact, and to be a force in team fights, zoning the enemy team with his constant area of effect damage, or landing key stuns to turn a team fight in their favor.
Aurelion Sol will be the 130th champion in League of Legends, and while Riot Games may have slowed down the rate at which it produces new characters, it’s certainly managed to keep producing creative new additions to one of the most popular games on the planet.
