Aurora’s Performance as a New Release

Aurora is not performing all that bad for a new release. As with any champ on release, we’re not expecting them to be overly impressive on the analytical side of things. Something that we did expect and that is being confirmed by the data so far is that Aurora does have a pretty tough time against more bursty mobile champs.

Aurora’s Weaknesses Against Mobile Champions

Aurora is a shorter-ranged mage and doesn’t have any sort of hard CC that she can use to lock down enemies pre-six. Even though her E does provide a slow, it only lasts for one second, and if the enemy has multiple mobility spells, that slow is really not going to matter. This makes it very easy for these more mobile champs like Ahri, Fizz, and Katarina to jump right onto her, and there’s not much Aurora can do.

Challenges in Specific Matchups

Aurora‘s W is a dash, but it’s on a 22-second cooldown at rank one, which gives the enemy a huge window to try and jump onto you while it’s down. This makes the Irelia matchup especially difficult because Irelia can just dash forward to bait out your W and then Q back to minions to get the reset. After that, you’ll be forced to play super safe for 20 seconds while Irelia gets to do whatever she wants.

Issues Against Long-Range Mages

If you do end up moving up, Irelia will just kill you. A longer-range mage like Lux can be quite difficult to play against as well because Aurora‘s shorter range and lack of reliable CC make it hard to deal with such opponents.

Dealing with Long-Range Mages

If Lux spaces correctly, it’s almost impossible to land any damage on her in lane. You can definitely outplay mages a lot easier than melee assassins, though. A lot of the time, you’ll want to use your W more aggressively to make up for this range difference. Just sitting back with Aurora against longer range matchups is not going to bode well for you as you’ll probably just end up getting poked out.

Using W Proactively

You have to be using W proactively. For example, if Lux throws out E, instead of running backward trying to dodge it, you can just look to W forward to dodge the damage. Then you should be in range to land your Q and E at this point to get a winning tradeoff.

Aurora’s Team Fighting Potential

It’s really in team fighting where Aurora can absolutely take over games. As long as you’re able to get past the early game without giving up much, it’s pretty easy to be impactful later on.

Aurora’s Tier List Placement

For a more in-depth look at Aurora, check out our Aurora starter guide. As for Aurora‘s Tier List placement, she’s going to be slotted into the A tier, as the champ does have a lot of potential if you can pilot her well. Now, let’s jump into the Mid Lane Tier List.

Mid Patch Adjustments

We have a few additional adjustments to discuss for mid patch. The OP tier will not be changing as there’s no reason for us to remove Vex or Neeko. Even though Riot had the Aurelion Sol changes listed as adjustments in the patch notes, he’s seen a nice win rate boost this patch from 50% up to around 52%, which is quite significant and warrants a push up into the Mid Lane S tier.

Aurelion Sol’s Performance Across Different ELOs

Our pre-patch theory is playing out because the amount of win rate that Aurelion Sol has gained this patch varies depending on the ELO. For platinum and below, we’re seeing around a 2% spike, but for diamond and above, it’s less than 1%. This is because of the Q change where Riot increased the mana cost on the initial use of Sol’s Q, making tapping Q for kiting and procing Rylai’s more punishing. High ELO players were the ones that really took advantage of this tap Q, whereas in the lower ranks it wasn’t as prevalent, which is why we’re seeing this difference in win rate.

Impact on the Tier List

We care more about how strong champs are for diamond and below when making our Tier List. So even though Aurelion Sol has not gained as much strength for diamond and above, we’re still moving him into the S tier.

Zed’s Adjustment

Another adjustment to the Tier List consists of Zed moving up one extra tier as we’re giving him a push from A into S.

Impactful Buffs and Adjustments

Buffs have turned out a little bit more impactful than we had expected, so adjusting him into the S tier is what we see fit. Zed is now back to being one of the higher priority solo Q picks, but good luck locking him in this patch as his ban rate has spiked to almost 30%.

Tristana’s Decline

One last adjustment we’re making for mid patch is moving Tristana even further down. When making the pre-patch Tier List, we were not aware that Riot was also nerfing Tristana‘s Q attack speed. Because of that change going live, she’s lost a lot more power than originally expected. Tristana’s win rate has plummeted around 5%, so she’s no longer a viable solo Q champ and will be placed in the C tier.

Tristana’s ADC Role

It’s not just Tristana midlane that has fallen off super hard due to the nerfs, as the changes have equally killed Tristana in the ADC role. Tristana is now the unanimous worst ADC for solo Q, which is saying something when we’ve got picks like Kalista, Corki, and Aphelios who are in pretty terrible spots as well. We wouldn’t be surprised if Riot circles back for patch 14.15 and reverts one of the nerfs, but for the time being, definitely stay far away from Tristana for solo Q as she’s dropping down into the C tier.

ADC Tier List Overview

If we look at the ADC Tier List, the premier champions in the role have not been dethroned for a while now. Jinx and Kai’Sa continue to dominate as two of the strongest solo Q carries. Jhin, Ashe, and Miss Fortune follow right behind them as very strong S tier picks. Ezreal is a really great S tier champ as well right now.

Aelio and Corki’s Performance

Aelio was one of the other ADCs buffed for this patch, but the changes have not moved the needle enough to drag him out of the C tier. Corki was nerfed as well, so he’s really not worth playing in bot lane anymore. Even though shortly after his mini rework he was quite popular in the bot lane, he now has less than a 0.5% play rate in the role.

Removing Corki from the Tier List

Our general rule of thumb is that when a champ drops below a 0.5% play rate, they get removed from the Tier List. So unless something changes for Corki in the coming patch, we’ll probably just be removing him entirely in our next update.

Milio’s Adjustments in Patch 14.14

The only support who was adjusted for Patch 14.14 was Milio, and the changes have actually played out in his favor slightly. Usually, when Riot issues these adjustments where they shift power around in a champion’s kit, the champ ends up losing or gaining a significant amount of power. However, the Milio adjustments have been extremely neutral power-wise.

Effects of Milio’s Q Range Increase

The Q range being increased is actually pretty insane as you have the ability to poke a little easier in lane and peel off dive champs better in fights. You’re definitely rewarded more for using his Q effectively.

Milio’s Adjustments and Current State

Now, being able to play a good Milio is more rewarding due to these adjustments, as more of his power budget has been shifted over to Q. Overall, Milio remains in a good spot for solo Q after these changes, as you can find him in the support A tier.

Impact of Warmog’s Nerf on the Meta

The big change that was supposed to have a significant impact on the meta was the nerf to Warmog’s. However, with the patch live for a few days, it looks like the nerf has been rather tame. Melee supports are still rushing Warmog’s to great success, showing how impactful the movement speed from the item really is.

Continued Strength of Warmog’s Armor

Even though you won’t have access to the movement speed as early in the game as before, eventually getting that 15% bonus movement speed is so valuable for solo Q. Being so tanky with Warmog’s makes it the perfect melee support item, so Riot will have to nerf it even more if they want it removed from the meta.

Leona’s Tier Adjustment

As a result of Warmog’s not losing very much strength, we are moving Leona back up into the OP tier for mid patch, as her win rate has not even budged due to the nerf. Even though it looked like there was potential for the support role to see a shakeup due to the Warmog’s nerf, that hasn’t been the case, and the meta remains the same as it was in patch 14.13.

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