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Aurelion Sol Counters: Who Beats Aurelion Sol

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Aurelion Sol counters are assassins who interrupt Breath of Light, reach him before Stardust piles up, and punish the long cooldown on Astral Flight. He’s a 550-range scaling mage: every damaging ability collects Stardust, and Stardust permanently grows his breath, his flight range, his black hole and his star.

Five picks follow, each compared against his patch 26.21 ability text. Nothing here leans on win rates.

Aurelion Sol counters: Aurelion Sol, The Star Forger, splash art

Why is Aurelion Sol hard to counter?

  • Cosmic Creator (passive): damaging abilities break enemies into Stardust, which permanently improves each of his abilities.
  • Breath of Light (Q): a channeled dragon breath that damages the first enemy hit and splashes reduced damage nearby, with bonus damage for each second aimed at one target. Cooldown 3.
  • Astral Flight (W): he flies over terrain and can cast while flying; Breath of Light loses its cooldown and channel cap in the air. Cooldown 22/20/18/16/14.
  • Singularity (E): a black hole that damages, pulls enemies toward its center and executes those below a Health threshold. Cooldown 12.
  • Falling Star / The Skies Descend (R): a star that damages and stuns; with enough Stardust it becomes a larger knock-up with a slowing shockwave. Cooldown 120/110/100.

Time is on his side. Every champion he breathes on, every minion that dies inside Singularity and every star that connects adds Stardust, and Stardust never goes away. A dragon with a late-game lead has a longer flight, a wider black hole and a higher execute threshold than the one you laned against at minute five. So the answer is the obvious one: don’t let him get there. Breath of Light is a channel, which means interrupts cut it short, and Astral Flight’s 22 second cooldown at rank 1 is a window where he’s a slow mage with a 550 range and no way out.

Which champions are the best Aurelion Sol counters?

Kassadin

Null Sphere (Q) interrupts channels, and Breath of Light is a channel. That one line makes the matchup. Void Stone (passive) reduces the magic damage he takes, and the orb’s leftover energy forms a shield against magic damage, so a breath that does land hits a smaller target than it should. Force Pulse (E) charges from spells cast nearby (Aurelion Sol’s Q every 3 seconds counts), and Riftwalk (R) teleports Kassadin onto him, with repeated Riftwalks dealing extra damage. Thing is, both of them scale, so Kassadin has to keep the pressure on rather than wait.

Zed

Death Mark (R) makes Zed untargetable while he dashes to a champion, and after 3 seconds it repeats a portion of the damage he dealt. A mage with no shield and no dash outside Astral Flight is the target this was built for. Living Shadow (W) lets him swap places with a shadow to close the gap or leave Singularity’s pull, Razor Shuriken (Q) is thrown by Zed and his shadows at once, and Shadow Slash (E) slows anyone hit by a shadow’s slash. Contempt for the Weak (passive) adds magic damage on basic attacks against low-Health targets. Honestly, the dragon’s best answer is to hold Falling Star for the moment Zed lands.

Fizz

Playful / Trickster (E) makes Fizz untargetable, which is how he dodges Falling Star’s stun and steps out of Singularity’s pull. Urchin Strike (Q) dashes through the target, and Nimble Fighter (passive) takes a flat amount off every source of damage, so the splash from Breath of Light hurts less than it should (small numbers, but Q ticks are small numbers too). Seastone Trident (W) leaves a bleed that ticks for several seconds after he’s already gone, and Chum the Waters (R) is a fish that sticks to a champion, slows them, and brings a shark up from under their feet. Aurelion Sol’s one defensive tool is to fly away, and a slowed, knocked-up dragon doesn’t fly far.

Talon

Assassin’s Path (E) vaults over terrain, so the walls Aurelion Sol flies over don’t separate the two for long. Noxian Diplomacy (Q) leaps at a target outside melee range and deals critical damage inside it, and Rake (W) damages on the way out and again on the way back, slowing on the return. Blade’s End (passive) stacks Wounds up to 3 times with spells and then bleeds the target for heavy damage on a basic attack. Three spells, one hit, and a mage with no Health items is in trouble. Shadow Assault (R) makes him Invisible with bonus Move Speed, useful for leaving before Falling Star comes down. Can the dragon kite him? Only with Astral Flight up, and that’s one cast every 22 seconds early.

Sylas

Hijack (R) steals the enemy’s ultimate, and Falling Star is a stun on a cast he can aim. Kingslayer (W) lunges at a champion and heals Sylas against enemy champions, which offsets the chip from Breath of Light. Abscond / Abduct (E) dashes, then recasts to pull Sylas to an enemy he hooks, so a dragon in the air can be chained and dragged back toward a melee fight he doesn’t want. Petricite Burst (passive) adds area magic damage on a basic attack after each spell. For what it’s worth, a stolen The Skies Descend is a knock-up with a slowing shockwave in Sylas’s hands.

How do you play the lane against Aurelion Sol?

  • Interrupt the breath. Breath of Light is a channel, and its bonus damage builds per second aimed at one target, so cutting it early removes most of the damage.
  • Count his Stardust. Every champion hit and every death inside Singularity adds to it permanently, so early trades you lose are trades you keep losing.
  • Trade when Astral Flight is down. Rank 1 puts it on a 22 second cooldown, and a grounded dragon has nothing else to run with.
  • Leave the black hole. Singularity executes targets below a Health threshold at its center, and the threshold grows with Stardust.
  • Watch the sky after a kill. Astral Flight’s cooldown drops when an enemy champion he recently damaged dies, so a kill for his team brings the flight back early.

Which items counter Aurelion Sol?

Spell shields, Magic Resist, and something for the stun. Banshee’s Veil blocks the next enemy ability, which is the right answer to Falling Star, and Edge of Night does the same for assassins who build Lethality. Mercury’s Treads carry 30% Tenacity and 20 Magic Resist, so the star’s stun ends sooner. Against the breath, which is sustained damage rather than one burst, Kaenic Rookern’s 80 Magic Resist and Force of Nature’s stacking Steadfast both fit (Steadfast wants repeated magic hits, and the breath provides them). Each one’s stats and price sit in our LoL items database.

When is Aurelion Sol at his weakest?

Before Stardust. His abilities grow with it, so the early game is the only time Singularity is small, Astral Flight is short and the execute threshold is low. That’s when Talon and Zed should force fights.

And when he’s grounded. Astral Flight is his only movement, and once it’s used he has 550 range, a 3 second breath and a black hole. Fizz or Kassadin arriving in that window find a mage who can’t leave. Does the ultimate save him? Falling Star stuns, sure, but on a 120 second cooldown at rank 1 it’s not a tool he gets to use often.

Not sure what a mid laner is supposed to do all game? Our guide to LoL roles explains it. The rest of our champion pages are collected in the guides index, his cosmetics live on the Aurelion Sol skins page, and the one-lane version of him gets its own Aurelion Sol ARAM guide. Put simply, Aurelion Sol counters interrupt the breath and win before the Stardust does.

FAQ

Who counters Aurelion Sol the most?

Assassins who interrupt or dodge his kit and reach him early: Kassadin, Zed, Fizz, Talon and Sylas.

Can you interrupt Aurelion Sol’s Q?

Yes. Breath of Light is a channel, so any interrupt, such as Kassadin’s Null Sphere, cuts it short.

What does Stardust do for Aurelion Sol?

Stardust permanently improves his abilities: more breath damage, longer Astral Flight range, a bigger Singularity with a higher execute threshold, and a wider star.

What is Astral Flight’s cooldown?

Astral Flight has a cooldown of 22/20/18/16/14 seconds, reduced whenever an enemy champion he recently damaged dies.

How were these counters chosen?

Each pick had to interrupt Breath of Light, dodge Falling Star, or reach him during Astral Flight’s cooldown, judged from his patch 26.21 ability text. No win-rate data was used.