Why Sol doesn't need a rework, and how you'll crush a ton of player's hearts in doing so...

Mamacrow·7/1/2017, 12:30:14 AM·150 votes·6,074 views

Really hope a Rioter reads this and gets this message over to Luke Rinard. Something I want to get out of the way quickly, which I feel like is a foundation to my reasoning. There is a lot of champions in league at the moment (and I'm hoping that never stops) however, it is OK for some champions to always appeal to few players. Play-rate should almost rarely ever factor into reworking a champion. Game health, Unique Identity, Satisfaction, and Balance however should be the traits to be considered.

  1. First thing off the bat. Aurelion Sol is a very powerful champion. However as many have seen, he has very exploitable weakness. This is something that prevents other players from playing him, as they don't know how to cope with it or want to cope with it. However in my opinion (and many others) this is a great learning curve for players who do want to play Sol and part of this feeling it feels so successful to play him.
  2. Earlier I mentioned Satisfaction is a important reason of whether or not to rework a champion (regardless of whether it's small or large). A common mistake people who don't play Sol is that they say he feels unsatisfying to play. This is wrong. Remember: there is already a lot of champions in league; let those players who feel like that, play those champions. Since this is the case, and play-rate doesn't matter, we must instead seek the opinions of players who DO play Sol. Every single one of those players love the play-style and find it very satisfying. Whenever you see a good Sol play you just watch their screen in awe. His play-style when played well is really something special. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are already so many champions in league, let a few champions appeal to those players who love the play-style and understand it. Taking that away from them, is also taking a part from them as well. If you want a champion that feels more satisfying to play appeal to a great majority of players, just make a new champion (like Kayn for example, so see? No need to rework Sol).
  3. There is a final nail in the coffin on why reworking Sol is a terrible idea. He is one of the few champions I look at and say, "this champion is a perfection of balance". He's just in such a good spot in the moment, which is why I was so shocked when a possible mini-rework was announced. His play-style and roaming potential was so well made, just game-wise he is extremely healthy. While he seems weak to other players (or unsatisfying) he is a monster in the right hands - and no it's like our buddy Azir Azir . Unlike Azir, Sol was crafted so well that he has clear to see weaknesses; which is why I have been saying, and will continue to say, makes him a really healthy champion in our beloved game League of Legends.

Rinard, you have made a amazing champion. Don't think for a second he needs any kind of rework. Making a champion that special is something you should feel good about. It's a champion that will face the test of time I promise you. Don't worry about play-right, just feel great that the champion you made truly shines in the hands of the right players.

Save Sol AurelionSol everyone please. I am begging you all. Up-vote this post, and feel free to add to what I've posted. Riot it's okay to make mistakes, but this is one you have more than enough time to prevent; please do so. Keep Sol in the hearts of his summoners.

tl;dr There is more than enough champions that appeal to a majority of players, and it should be fine for a few champions to appeal to only specific champions. Instead of basing a rework off of the feedback from those players who don't play him, understand he feels great to play for those that do play him. Sol is a very balanced champion, who feels like a powerful champion to play in the right hands, but unlike Azir; still has very clear weaknesses that the player must learn to cope with. Sol is a great champion who doesn't need a rework, and probably will stand the test of time.

EDIT: As summoner Danielpezglobo has pointed out, it seems Riot has already done some tests and have concluded that it might not be the best to change his abilities much after all. They still might do some tweaks but as for a rework nothing is planned at the moment. Which is a huge relief! Here is the link Danielpezglobo posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aurelion_Sol_mains/comments/5smzm7/minirework_no_longer_planned_riot_might_settle/

223 Comments

Profirix7/1/2017, 5:01:50 AM11 votes

Hey, thank you for taking the time to really put your heart out here on the boards and defend one of your favorite champions. It goes a long way when someone writes more than a couple of inflammatory sentences denouncing an upcoming change/nerf/buff.

Everything you said has a lot of merit and I want to impress upon you that I agree almost completely. There are a couple of things with the current iteration of Aurelion Sol that I want to bring to light that is probably one of the core reasons he will more than likely receive a core rework:

  1. Aurelion Sol is the only champion in League of Legends with what I call an 'absolute weakness.' What this means is that there is a condition in which Aurelion is completely powerless to perform without using a summoner spell or burning his ultimate to distance opponents. The concept of maintaining a range of influence is a very novel one that I think can be and has been implemented to great effect, but having to rely on your ultimate to function against certain kinds of opponents (gap-closing assassins) or lose almost every single time is too extreme for League of Legend's schema. If anyone breaches your inner circle of influence, only your ultimate can inflict any meaningful damage and cc to them. With such a long cooldown on a truly underwhelming ability for an ultimate worthy of this star dragon, his kit offers too many avenues to punish the champion and not enough power as compensation. To exemplify this: he relies wholly on a Rylais Crystal Sceptre to function effectively. A champion should never NEED to purchase a particular item to function at a marginal level.

  2. While I agree that a low play rate does not mean a champion needs to be reworked, I get the feeling that Aurelion Sol missed the mark for what Riot (and by extension the community) had envisioned. I spent a lot of time early on during his release learning to play him. I personally think I've gotten pretty good with him and can do reasonably well in most cases, but he has arguably one of the highest skill caps in the game, and by that same token arguably the highest skill floor. Riot has expressed an interest in lowering that skill floor without altering the skill ceiling so that more players can see Aurelion Sol as a viable pick, rather than a daunting time sink.

He is an amazing concept and can be a truly great champion (just watch Huhi play him when he is allowed). There are just too many criteria that must be met for him to excel, many of which are dependent on full team cooperation. Ultimately Riot just wants Aurelion Sol to appeal to a larger audience of players, and I can understand that.

Pierce The Veal7/1/2017, 1:07:12 AM7 votes

As someone who's obsessed with dragons, and was this close to being a Sol player:

Aurelion's sol's playstyle is very... binary. He isn't a strategic champion, nor is he a high skill champion. He's pretty binary. He additionally doesn't really incorporate anything that makes him a dragon. We could have literally taken ekko's model and given him the same skills. Actually we could have taken almost any model and gave them Aurelion's skills.

Additionally, as much of a plea you make to allow Aurelion Sol to be limited to a few players, did anybody care when Akali players wanted that? Or Karma? Or old Sion? Nobody gave a damn when they had their champions gutted and reworked and changed because not many people played them.

PaladinNO7/1/2017, 7:45:08 PM7 votes

Why would Aurelion Sol even get a rework? He got a rework already before he was released.

http://i.imgur.com/Yn361nK.jpg

Jax Stax7/1/2017, 1:02:22 AM6 votes

Dang bro. This guy really has a point! Riot I hope you consider this because this is how I feel about the idea of a rework for sol as well!

Props to you Mamacrowhelps ;)

Sexy Jack Rabbit7/1/2017, 1:40:15 PM5 votes

He's balanced as fuck. Fun to watch. Has Counterplay and weaknesses.

I don't get why he needs to be changed.

Divewing7/1/2017, 2:21:58 AM4 votes

See the issue is that he actually isn't balanced.

Right now Aurelion is a case of you either hard counter him or get dicked on with little in between, and that's simply due to the nature of his kit (particularly the stars).

That won't change without a rework.

Void Kaiju7/1/2017, 4:25:48 AM3 votes

I like Sol but sometimes the matchups feel so rock-paper-scissors that there's not much I can do after a certain point other than hope the enemy laner is braindead. Ahri, Yasuo, Zed, Akali, etc. Earlygame I can juke their skillshots and harass back, maybe even fb them in lane, but by level 6 every single one of them is at an enormous advantage over me to the point it will be difficult to even approach the minions to farm without being all-inned and nearly killed. In each of those cases his ult won't even be enough to save him usually (except yasuo but he's only an issue in very skilled hands). Zed will ult to dodge it or jump to a clone right after, akali just spams r some more, ahri has 3 dashes on her ulti so good luck with your one knockback.

The only shift he needs is to be able to instantly pop his q. Shift some power budget there because I shouldn't feel like my only option is to roam constantly in certain matchups, since that relies so heavily on people to A) be in favorable positions for the roam and B) Not already be feeding.

Most of the issues he has dry up after lane phase since in a teamfight he does crazy damage and his team can hopefully make up for his mediocre self-peel, but I don't like the feeling of knowing I'll lose lane just because the enemy champ has a favorable kit.

TwitchInMyPants7/1/2017, 9:58:46 AM3 votes

As someone who's played a bunch I hope Riot listens more to players like this, but its unlikely. They often run forward with reworks if they believe they need one regardless of the current playerbase. This has good results and bad, but with Aurelion being on the list it has me concerned.

Tobias Brackner7/1/2017, 10:33:03 AM3 votes

Sol is perfect.

The only people who want Sol to change are people who don't actually want to play Sol

NAY Wrecksauce7/1/2017, 5:54:39 PM3 votes

Those are truly amazing reasons why Urgot cant have his rework

Naching7/1/2017, 6:28:25 PM3 votes

If Sol is touched by the famous Riot's mini-reworks he will die as teemo when caught...

No please, Sol is a great balanced champ

jama6557/2/2017, 3:58:35 AM3 votes

why is sol even being brought up for rework? they should worry about older champs first giving Udyr an actual rework should be precident instead of all the patches theyve given himAatrox Volibear could use complete reworks 2

DeathBot6667/1/2017, 6:35:46 PM3 votes

I just wish that he could double tap his Q like Anivia. Just a small buff that would help deal with melee.

Shonjl7/1/2017, 2:30:52 AM3 votes

I like Sol since he is unique, but I do find him annoying to deal with. I lost count of how many times I will totally destroy him in lane, but that does little due to how easy he can clear waves and leave lane. Whats that? I am a 5/0 Ziggs or Malz and Sol is 0/5? Sol will pop the wave faster than me and just roam bot vastly faster than I can ever keep up with and get a double kill or 2 assists.

I get he is a roaming champ, but cmon, if he is behind he shouldn't be able to easily clear waves though. And I thought Ziggs or Yasuo were monsters at popping waves. Sol does it quicker and can just E to another lane and just rekt.

Also as others have said, he is pretty binary, he literally either perma slows you in his stars or you jump in his face and casually kill him since he has nothing he can do to stop you, all he has is his ult which you can then either walk away from him or run into his face again.

I would like his playstyle to be the same but I would like if either his stars had falloff damage or he had to charge his E on how far it goes. It just feels unfair facing him in lane since he can just so casually push wave and roam.

Cavesloth7/1/2017, 2:32:15 AM3 votes

Just curious what brought this up? I didn't see anything about him being up for rework.

aspects17/2/2017, 8:02:31 AM2 votes

wait, their planning a rework for him???????? but hes like the most unique playstyle in the game lol

macromite7/1/2017, 3:45:29 PM2 votes

A sol could really use that rework though.

His lore paints him as a tanky-ish burst mage, yet he is a battle mage.

Dr Poro7/1/2017, 10:41:37 PM2 votes

I don't play Aurelion Sol (I'm pretty bad at him in ARAM) but he does fill a unique niche of a position-oriented mage. He's the mageversion of Singed, and I think that's a cool thing to have a few of, not too many. It's not like he's a problematic champion in any ELO, so I don't see why we need to change this.

Captain Aishi7/2/2017, 12:36:17 AM2 votes

Aurelion is the first champ release I enjoyed since Vel'Koz... I don't want him changed just because 99% of the community finds him boring, I'm part of the 1% that finds him extraordinary, fun and satisfying to play

Plus game health wise I don't think he has any issues that are pressing enough to address compared to 90% of the champion roster...

TotalJerk7/2/2017, 4:28:40 AM2 votes

Who the fuck wants a Sol rework? He is probably bottom 5 on the llist of champions the community wants reworked.

KoKoboto7/1/2017, 12:37:28 AM2 votes

tl;dr