Aurelion Sol's Future... ~~Please Read~~
My name is TheMojoKiller & I would like to talk about my favorite champion when it comes to everything (story, design, game-play, etc.), and that champion is Aurelion Sol. He's a sassy (sassy is an understatement) cosmic dragon who's a literal god who can make stars. He has the best voice-line in the game, (Seriously, what's better than a star god saying "Boop" when he's hitting anything).
And because of all that and a lot more, I've main since a little after release. Being one of the few champions to have good consistent damage and being a battle mage himself, his kit favors preferred play-style a lot! Even though he didn't peak a lot of people's interests when it's compared to other champs (Yasuo, Jhin, etc.), the people that play him love the champion and are dedicated to him.
While I could go on about Aurelion Sol, there's just one thing I want to mention before I talk about how the PBE changes feel. When it comes to Aurelion Sol, with enough practice, playing him can get you far. And my point is that even if you have an Aurelion Sol on your team or enemy team, there isn't going to be that stench where Aurelion Sol "has no counter-play" or "Aurelion Sol's broken." The favor of his battles depends on how well you play, and then you get rewarded from that. It feels good to be able to call him a healthy champion.
Aurelion Sol on the PBE... Aurelion Sol has received a mini rework on the PBE a couple days ago. If you are interested in the details and numbers, visit this link to get more info: https://twitter.com/RiotAzuBK https://imgur.com/C9A6NdZ (Here's a clip of how the mini-rework looks like provided by RiotKingCobra)
This itself may be a "mini"-rework, but it just changes the champion's playstyle and kit entirely. His combos, build, runes, and strengths and weakness are different now. Here is what you can expect out of Aurelion Sol now...
-Due to not being able to hold W up for more than three seconds, but having a faster rotation of speed as an adjustment, he's build more of a burst-mage.
-Your roaming is hit hard. You can only get good roams off whenever your e is off cool-down (which is every 1 min, 20), as you lost your e passive movement speed. This also nerfs gap-closing when it comes to long chases. So it's best to engage with Q+E or find a way to catch them off-guard. (Consistently activating your W over and over helps for chasing or running away, since it procs your w movement speed.
-Instead of zoning with W and landing the stun (Q), you have to engage with your q to get your damage off. Your weak match-ups aren't as oppressive, as crowd control does not cancel your stars, and positioning when landing the combo isn't strained. When laning, you either choose to wave-clear when you activate your w, or go for the poke, as you can only use your w so often early game.
-Instead of going phase rush + inspiration tree, going electrocute + precision/sorcery/inspiration is more optimal (whatever helps you burst more). Getting the Hextech-GLP item and getting squishy ability power items with cdr is required to bring out your kit to enhance burst.
-Aurelion Sol is more of a laner than a roamer, and his combos are usually Q+W for trades or Q+R+W for burst.
-Early/Mid game strong if average or ahead; Late game weak
Thoughts on Aurelion Sol PBE Changes _Positives: _ Introducing a feature like gaining a decaying movement speed on W when retracted is interesting. The Q buff feels very impactful and really gives more confidence when deciding if you can land the stun, and how big you need it.
Negatives: -Most of these changes not only take away his identity, but also his healthy play-style of being a battle-mage. This just makes him too similar to champions like Lux, Ahri, or Zoe to where you just need to land one ability to set-up your burst. Compared to his live-current state, it's a lot boring. If I wanted to do that, I could play Lux instead to do that job. Having the ability to help your teammates was satisfying. If you managed your wave-clear and managed to find an opening to roam, you were heavily rewarded for that, as it also fits in with a space dragon champion. One other thing is that you don't have that good damage when it comes to dealing with tanks & non-tanks (keep in mind you were only rewarded that damage if your position was on point). Now it turns into most-likely having to snowball to have that pressure, and that alone also takes away to how unique Aurelion Sol is.
Suggestions:
- Make the fifth rank of leveling W change the ability to a toggle (which could call for a consideration of the speed of the stars). -Have the (E) still give the passive movement speed still, but only if it's off cool-down. -Consider tuning/adjusting Aurelion Sol's main damage to have an opportunity to buff his ult. His ult feels meh. (extra effect?, damage?) -Keep most of the buffs to (Q) (or adjust it to a slightly lower version from the PBE version) -Or if there is no compromise, please don't release it how it is now.
I love this champion a lot, and I can also say the same for the Aurelion Sol Community. We are also very grateful to have our time to speak out about our champion. So Riot, communicate with us more so we can end up with Aurelion Sol not losing his identity has a healthy battle-mage, able to roam and put great damage out if positioned correctly. Thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxt-k9VCpBs **Edit: W comparison, courtesy of @Mjolnirunleashed **
Feel free to leave some feedback down below, all helps!
, no tanks 
, no artilleries 
, no sustain DPS classes 
, everyone is either changed to Burst class or it doesn't survive (or so riot thinks). Sad days
