Aurelion Sol hasn't been great since his release. He's got great lore, great visuals, but none of it lives up to his awful gameplay. So, Riot is introducing a new type of champion rework — the CGU.
In the April 2022 Champion Roadmap, Reav3 revealed that the mystery VGU is none other than Aurelion Sol, only he isn't getting a visual and gameplay update, but something completely different and new, called a Comprehensive Gameplay Update.
What does that even mean, and why was Aurelion Sol chosen for this update? Let's check out everything we know about the champion rework and what has been leaked before already. Finally, ASol is getting some much-needed love from Riot.
Aurelion Sol: What Is A CGU?
First, we have to check out what a CGU even is. Aurelion Sol has some of the coolest visuals in the game and according to Reav3 in the April 2022 Champion Roadmap, he explains that ASol is in the top ten most liked visuals in League of Legends, which just goes to show that his lack of playtime for most players isn't his visuals, nor is it his lore, but his gameplay.
A Comprehensive Gameplay Update will basically wipe out his entire existing kit without changing his visuals, nor his lore. These types of updates will be done for champions who either have gameplay issues which cannot be fixed by simply changing some abilities around, or for champions whose gameplay doesn't live up to their fantasy.
Aurelion Sol will be the first champion to receive a CGU and if the changes land, then players can expect these types of updates for some other champions as well in the future.
Why Aurelion Sol For the CGU?
As already mentioned, Aurelion Sol is a champion that from his lore and fantasy, is very popular, but his gameplay just doesn't live up to it at all. Even his visuals are liked by the community — other than the fact that you can see his stars even when in a bush.
That's why Riot is trying out something completely new with this champion. His narrative and his visuals won't be changed, but the champions team will be taking his kit, throwing it in the garbage and starting from scratch to create the space dragon fantasy we all wish for. In a previous post on Reddit, Reav3 explained that the 'secret VGU' will be unlike anything Riot has done before.
When the champions team looked at Aurelion Sol, they realized a few small changes, like they have been doing to champions like Ahri, Taliyah or Olaf would help out Aurelion Sol, which is why they've decided to create this new type of kit rework.
We didn’t think patching up his kit with small changes would deliver on his promised thematic fantasy, so we decided to try a new type of champion update: a Comprehensive Gameplay Update or CGU.
What Will Be Changed On Aurelion Sol’s Kit?
Aurelion Sol's CGU is inching ever closer. His abilities have been revealed by SkinSpotlights in the PBE data so now we can definitely see what Riot has decided to change on Aurelion Sol and how they've decided to make him a much improved mage in the mid lane.
Riot have given Aurelion Sol insane scaling in his kit with his passive giving him stacks which improve and upgrade his abilities. Sounds kind of like a mix of Syndra and Veigar, which will make this champion much more fun, as well as dangerous.
Aurelion Sol CGU: Reworked Abilities
Let's go over the reworked abilities and what they do now in comparison to the previous iteration.
| Ability | Pre-CGU | Post-CGU |
| Passive - Center of the Universe // Cosmic Creator | Stars orbit Aurelion Sol, dealing magic damage when they hit an enemy. | Aurelion Sol's damaging abilities break down enemies into stacks of Stardust, whcih premanently imrpves each of his abilities. |
| Q - Star Surge // Breath of Light | Aurelion Sol creates an expanding disk, which explodes to stun and damage enemies when it moves too far away from him. | Aurelion Sol channels his dragon breath for a few seconds, damaging the first enemy hit and splashing reduced damage onto nearby enemies. Each second the breath si channeled directly at an enemy will deal bonus damage, which is improved by the amount of Stardust that has been collected. This ability collects Stardust if the target is a champion. |
| W - Celestial Expansion // Astral Flight | Aurelion Sol pushes his stars farther out, increasing their damage and speed. | Aurelion Sol flies over terrain in a targeted direction. While in this state, he can cast other abilities. Breath of Light no longer has a cooldown or maximum channel duration and deals increased damage while flying.
Astral Flight's remaining cooldown is reduced whenever an enemy champion dies after being recently damaged by Aurelion Sol. Stardust increases AStral Flight's max range. |
| E - Comet of Legend // Singularity | Aurelion Sol takes off flying for a long distance. | Aurelion Sol summons a black hole, damaging enemies and slowly pulling them toward its center. This ability grants Stardust each time an enemy dies within the black hole and for each second an enemy champion is caught inside it.
The center of the balck hole executes enemies who are below a certain percentage of their max health. Starust increases Singularity's size as well as the execution threshold. |
| R - Voice of Light // Falling Star | Aurelion Sol projects a blast of pure starfire, damaging and slowing all enemies caught in it and knocking nearby enemies back to a safer distance. | Falling Star: Aurelion Sol crashes a star into the earth. This impact deals magic damage and stuns enemies while also granting Stardust for each enemy champion it hits. Gathering enough Stardust transforms Aurelion Sol's next Falling Star into The Skies Descend. The Skies Descend: Aurelion Sol drags a giant star down from the heavens with an increased impact zone and increased damage, knocking up enemies rather than stunning them. A shockwave then spread from the edge of the impact zone, which damages and slows the enemies it hits. Stardust increase the impact area of both Falling Star and The Skies Descend. |
Now first of all, there will be a lot more text to read, but overall this is a very good change for the champion. He can gain stacks with his E from minions as well according to Reav3 on Reddit and the champion actually feels like a giant space dragon and star forger.
The Aurelion Sols community on Reddit have praised these changes. Will Aurelion Sol now be OP? Probably... he's got an execute in his E, has stacking abilities and that ultimate seems scary to go up against.
Aurelion Sol CGU Release Date
While fans had been promised that they would be getting the Aurelion Sol CGU update by the end of 2022, it has since been revealed that there will be a delay and the champion rework will only come out early 2023.
The files for the CGU are on the PBE and according to SkinSpotlights on Twitter, the hub for Aurelion Sol should be released on February 7, 2023. This means that the ASol CGU will be released in LoL Patch 13.3.