Aurelion Sol

So... I watched Brofresco play as Aurelion Sol and he seems like a decent cchampion with some heavy poke and potential for some good support role play. Noticed he was doing alot of damage with the ice claw item... ( forgot the name sorry) does this item always add extra damage to his attack due to the fact that his passive does seem to act like an active spell? or am I just seeing things? It probably is the latter...