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Aurelion Sol was probably the most hyped champion, yet he is now one of the most forgotten champions

YumaS2Astral··8 votes·1,886 views

As Ao Shin, the hype was enormous. Everytime that a new champion was released, people expected it to be Ao Shin. The fact that Riot said very little about him in years just made people get more anxious about Ao Shin. Three years have passed, and Riot finally announced that Ao Shin would not be released, but that another dragon champion would be released on his place: Aurelion Sol. This just made people get even more anxious about his release. Then, it happened.

However, nowadays... it doesn't even seem like Ao Shin was the most hyped champion in the game. He has Yorick-tier in the list of the most forgotten champions in the game. According to champion.gg, he only has a 0,84% playrate. I haven't seen an Aurelion Sol being played in weeks, other than by myself. It seems like he has been completely forgotten despite the fact that people were really eager about his release.

I am not saying that Aurelion Sol is weak. He even has a 51% winrate. He is a monster if you manage to completely master him; he even has a 66% winrate when fully mastered!

However I am really curious, to why people forgot him.

23 Comments

Yaskamasandwich5 votes

I don't like the guy just due to dealing damage while doing nothing. That is incredibly boring.

Support Bοt3 votes

He is not weak. He is just OP and UP in one time. Its most weird experience while playing him.

Marshbouy1 votes

he is easily countered. go against anyone meelee with a strong gap closer, rip you.

PooWho1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Nidalee Tank,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=5OPxsgR4,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2016-07-08T11:38:17.087+0000)

He is not weak. He is just OP and UP in one time. Its most weird experience while playing him.

He's not op at all. Sure, he does some crazy damage late game with his w+passive and his long and super huge aoe stun that can reach across the whole lane. Oh shit he is pretty op late game.

OurLestrade3 votes

Honestly? There hasn't been a single champion that's grabbed me this year. Taric's rework was the one thing I was hyped for and I ended up quite disappointed with it, and Taliyah's one of my least favourite champions in all aspects (Character, design, gameplay) for quite some time :O

Mad King Hades2 votes

I would like to play Yorick. I am now saving for him.

As for Aurelion, I played him one time and I find his kit as disappointing as Taliyah's. It isn't in my nature what Aurelion has.

Marshbouy2 votes

because getting shit on by every meta laner is incredibly annoying. I stopped playing him after a terrible game where a 0/4 tryndamere latched on to me and solo killed me when my ult was down. He is incredibly frustrating to play.

DrCyanide2 votes

Dragon Lovers are fickle people.

TyrekGoldenspear2 votes

He's got a high skill requirement and has a passive way of dealing much of his damage, so I guess some people find him boring to play.

I personally see it as: I am so freaking powerful I can chunk you down without lifting a finger.

Nekusen2 votes

AurelionSol is not weak he isn't OP he is just soooooo boring to use.

I was specially hyped because im into astronomy.

Sire Hippington2 votes

people don't like feeling vulnerable, and aurelion is one of the most vulnerable champs in the game. Controllmages aswell as roaming focused midlaners(that roam to set up plays for others rather than solo-kill or cleanup like assasins) usually aren't as popular aswell. Positioning based dp- machines that seem that deal damage mostly by standing in the right place are also rather unpopular(kog and karthus for example) And frankly, the Q delay and the W nerfs just make him feel clunky. Clunkiness imo is a bad way of balanceing champs, as it usually makes them less fun to play which certainly impacts the playrate.

I think with the W nerf rewerted and Q beeing able to insta proc like anivias Q(maybe with a lower stunduration or even a slow rather than stun till it reaches the current min distance) and therefor less raw damage and rylais treating W as a dot rather than aoe spell, he would be atleast a bit more popular at the same powerlevel.

GULAG 4 U2 votes

Khazix on your face? You're finished

Rengar? Same thing

Heck even shittrox jumping to your face and you're dead

Beldair1 votes

Probably because of that clear weakness of his...

I personally do fairly well as him, when my team helps and I position correctly.

Chronic Diablo1 votes

I like Taliyah a lot more. Sol and Tali seem similar in the way they are zoning roaming mid laners. I find without ult Sol has no way to peel for himself though. Tali at least has her combo every 15 seconds. His lore is bad ass though, good food for the imagination.

AetherKingdom1 votes

no one played him except for freelo

100T iLL1 votes

hes not forgotten his Q is just trash so its not worth playing him

Jeddy0171 votes

Hmmm, you're right. I have not seen Aurelion Sol in forever.

I guess Sol has a very niche play style & the whole rotating stars mechanic make him a little harder to perform well on. Very few players play him & even fewer take the time to improve with. A number of the players probably stop playing him after a couple of bad games.

I also believe Sol hasn't been picked often in the Pro scene. The only esports match I've seen him in was the 1st game of MSI (which was a lose I think), after which he was never picked as far as I can tell. So there's no high level player showing off the power of Sol to the community & convincing players to try him. Maybe a streamer play him occasionally or maybe he was picked in another competitive region, I don't know.

ZT Xperimentor1 votes

He was kind of like velkoz, clear strengths & weaknesses; but riot preemptively nerfed him before people got used to him, making several loose interest. That and burst damage is still making/breaking teamfights, usually leaving sustain damage champions too little time to make an impact.

Abyssphere2 votes

His win rate has never really dropped outside of when he's been nerfed, so I don't think it was a case of people needing to get used to facing him. His win rate actually has tended to slowly rise over time, indicating that people learning to use him well is more important than people learning to counter him.

In competitive play sustained damage mid laners are dominating, also. This meta is not unfriendly to him.

ZT Xperimentor1 votes

I'm not talking about his winrate, I'm talking play rate. You'd be surprised how many people refrain from playing a champion when it gets nerfed. That's why we still see yasou & marksmen everywhere huh? All those sluggish critical hits?

Oleandervine1 votes

Sol folds faster than a wet tissue after a night with a bottle of lotion and the Internet. His weakness is utterly crippling to him and it's so easily exploitable that he's worthless once someone gets on him. His ult is the only way to save himself and his playstyle is so passive that you may as well be a less powerful version of Tibbers. It really sucks though, because I love the Carl Sagan meets RuPaul personality he has.

ProfDrDeath1 votes

You basically said it yourself:

I am not saying that Aurelion Sol is weak. He even has a 51% winrate. He is a monster if you manage to completely master him; he even has a 66% winrate when fully mastered!

He is a monster IF MASTERED. However, he is not easy to learn/master, despite his deceptively simple mechanics. Compare him to Ryze or old Froggen Anivia back in S2/3 (which was equally hard to master, if not more so).

Add to that the fact that Sol is not the cheapest champion to pick up, and you have the reason he is played less.

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