Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol

First game I played with Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol, my jungler pinged my skin three times in fountain. Not sure if it’s just me but there’s something about this model that makes people stop and look. The eastern dragon aesthetic fits Aurelion Sol so naturally it feels like Riot designed the champion around this concept and not the other way around.

How Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol actually plays

The VFX overhaul here is solid for an Epic tier skin. Q feels weightier with the storm cloud buildup, and the stun impact has this crackling lightning effect that reads clean in teamfights. Been running this in Diamond for a while now and the visual clarity on W is noticeably better than base. The orbiting stars become these swirling storm orbs with electric trails.

E travel animation got the full treatment. Aurelion Sol soars through the Rift with storm clouds trailing behind him, lightning arcing off his body. Looks sick when you’re roaming from mid to bot lane. The R knockback sends out a visible shockwave of wind and electricity that actually helps your backline see the peel happening. Good stuff.

Recall animation goes hard. Aurelion Sol summons a massive storm vortex and rides the lightning upward. Banger recall honestly. Voice lines stay base, no new VO, which is expected at 1350 RP. The base voice is strong enough that it doesnt bother me. Neil Kaplan’s performance carries regardless of the skin.

The Dragonmancers line and release context

Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol dropped October 1, 2020. Right in the middle of season 10. The Dragonmancers skinline was one of Riot’s better thematic launches that year, and Aurelion Sol was the headliner for obvious reasons. A cosmic dragon becoming a storm dragon. The concept sells itself.

Zuoan Dong and Kudos Productions handled the splash art. They captured this massive scale energy where Aurelion Sol looks like he’s about to level an entire mountain range. The color palette leans into deep blues, electric whites, and storm grays. Portfolio-worthy piece for sure.

9 chromas total. Obsidian turns the whole thing dark and menacing, which honestly might be the cleanest version. Tanzanite pushes into this deep purple that reads like a cosmic storm rather than an earthly one. Emberclaw flips the palette to dark crimson and I’ve seen maybe 4 of these in my games all season (random aside: Emberclaw with the dark red lightning effects looks like a completely different skin). The rest fill out the usual spread but those three stand out.

Dragonmancers as a line kept growing after this release. Kinda feels like Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol set the standard that later entries had to match. The eastern mythology angle gives Riot more creative room than the typical sci-fi or horror themes.

Is Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol worth 1350 RP?

Real verdict: if you play Aurelion Sol at all, this is the skin. Full stop. 1350 RP feels fair for what you get. New VFX across the board, a recall that actually impresses, and a thematic direction that makes more sense than half his other options. Played maybe 200 games with this one and I keep coming back to it over Mecha and Ashen Lord.

The Aurelion Sol rework changed how some abilities look with this skin, and I think the updated kit actually benefits Storm Dragon more than base. The new Q and W interactions with the storm VFX hit different post-rework. Last weekend around midnight I was spamming ranked and the E execute felt so satisfying with the lightning burst.

Could be wrong here but I think this is the best Aurelion Sol skin if you can only own one. Mecha has its fans and Inkshadow brought competition, but Storm Dragon nails the fantasy of what Aurelion Sol should look like when he’s not in his default cosmic form. Still in the shop, 1350 RP, grab it if you main the star forger. Skip it if you’re just picking him into specific comps for lane prio though. Not worth the investment for a pocket pick.