With the sneak peek of the upcoming Aurora changes in Patch 14.23, Riot has revealed why they made those changes.
In previous years we have gotten so many new champions in League of Legends. For example, in 2021, we got 4 champions. And then in 2022, we got 5 new champions and again in 2023, we were back to 4. Moreover, earlier this year, Riot confirmed that we will be getting fewer champions as they are more focused on reworks and VGUs than before. Due to that, we only got two new champions before Worlds 2024. They are Smolder and Aurora. However, we did get a new Ambessa very recently.
Aurora when she was released was a very good champion. She wasn’t as broken as many other launch champions, but she was still exceptionally really good in the meta. Due to it, not surprisingly she did get a few nerfs. And then over many patches, she got a lot of changes. This cycle is very typical for a new champion.
One thing became very apparent she had a high-skill floor compared to many champions. Therefore, many players stopped playing her entirely. But still, she still is one of the best mid-laners in the game.
Due to this, Riot made some massive changes to Aurora in the upcoming patch 14.23. Not only that, they also gave out the reasoning for those changes. Here’s everything you need to know about this.
Read more: League of Legends Arcane 2024 Event Pass.
League of Legends Patch 14.23: Aurora Changes
- Passive:
- Sprints no longer grant move speed
- Q:
- Now automatically recasts if the duration runs out without Aurora recasting the spell.
- Cooldown increased from 8-5 to 9-7
- Range increased from 850 to 900
- Base damage increased by 5/5 (cast and recast)
- W:
- No longer resets on takedowns
- Now grants 20-40% MS on cast
- Cooldown reduced from 22-18 to 16-12
- E:
- Range increased from 800-850
- R:
- No longer amplifies MS, now simply grants the W MS while in it
- No longer traps enemies, now slows them on exit
- Duration increased from 1.5-2.5 to 2-4
Designer’s Thoughts
The lead champion designer at Riot Games, Blake, made his reasoning on why they made these changes.
Firstly, there is an overarching problem, and that is Aurora is in the weakest spot that she has ever been in. Yet, she is currently one of the best picks in the higher elo. Riot Games wanted her to be a medium-difficulty champion, yet she has a higher difficulty than they expected. Moreover, Riot doesn’t want Aurora to be another pro-play-only champion. So they have made these aforementioned changes for these two problems.
Firstly, they moved the passive movement speed to her W. Main reason for that was her passive movement speed was very inconsistent and at very low value. Due to this, it was changed.
As for her Q, firstly, it automatically recasts after the duration runs out. It was supposed to launch this way, however, it didn’t as the designers thought that was how players would use it by default. But as Riot watched more lower-skill players, they usually forgot to use that ability. Therefore, they brought back the original design.
Now here’s one of the biggest changes, W does not reset on cooldown. This is her biggest skill skew mechanics, and Riot wanted to tone it down. But now, due to player feedback, they are considering putting the W reset back, however, it is not confirmed.
As for her E, Riot increased her range as they removed her passive movement speed.
As for her ultimate, here’s another huge change, instead of trapping enemies, it only slows them in the ultimate, But now the duration has been increased. The reason for this change was that a smaller duration made playing with her ult very bad in most circumstances. But with this change, Riot can increase the duration again and the players can express their skills more freely.
Release Date
These Aurora changes are coming out on patch 14.23, scheduled for Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
