Aurora has just been officially announced as the next big hero for League of Legends. As an AP carry that focuses on confusing enemies and quickly roaming the map for skirmishes, she looks like an absolutely powerful hero. I got to try out the hero myself earlier this month, and I can safely say that she’s going to be a strong hero.
I’ll break down all of the abilities below, including what they actually do and interesting tidbits! Afterwards, I’ll give my overall impressions and notes on her strengths in laning, opponents she excels against, and her weaknesses!
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First is her passive skill: Soul ProtectionSouls are passively attracted to Aurora, providing bonus movement speed. But how do you get these souls? When Aurora deals 3 damage to an enemy with her spells and attacks (who doesn’t love a passive with 3 attacks), she will perform an exorcism, dealing a percentage of the enemy’s maximum health as magic damage and releasing a soul. This soul will grant her the power to heal her every second and turn on her Soul Mode. Soul Mode provides extra movement for a few seconds.
As a result, the Triple Hit passive has always been a strong skill in lane, allowing for a short burst of damage. On top of that, she also gains increased movement speed after these short trades and for the rest of the game, which helps make her a strong hero in trades. Trigger this skill enough times and you’ll be able to quickly leave the lane after a push and roam to the enemy jungle, other lanes, or primary objectives before your opponent does.
It’s worth noting that her auto attack range is pretty long! Since this can help trigger her passive, I feel like she’d be a pretty scary top laner. Combine this with her ability to kite with other abilities (which we’ll get to later), and it might be worth pouring on tanks and fighters without sticking to Aurora.
Her Q is pretty cool too. Double Spell is a fireable skill that deals magic damage and marks enemies hit. When recasting, marked enemies will take magic damage that increases as the enemy’s health decreases. This can also pass through minions, so this is your go-to pressure tool and wave clear spell. Since the recast deals more damage based on the health decrease, it’s best used as a finisher, especially if you can use it to trigger her passive.
While playing this hero, I was surprised at how long this mark lasts on enemies! You can use it as the first and third attack of your passive skill, and then auto-attack to quickly and easily make swaps. However, given how long this mark stays active, you can also stick to recasting after long swaps to really maximize the lost health. It has a wide range and hits harder than expected, so in capable hands, this can be very difficult to deal with.
Her W – Through the Veil – Particularly interesting. When cast, Aurora becomes cloaked and enters Spirit Mode (increased movement speed). Note that since this is a cloaking state, you can cast skills while hidden without exposing yourself, making it a great ambush tool in addition to being a great chase and escape spell. Not only that, but if you kill an enemy while Through the Veil is active, its cooldown refreshes, making her a difficult target to target in long teamfights.
Here’s a fun tidbit of information though. Her jump can go over walls. This means you can use it to jump over walls in the middle of the river, dragon walls, and more. The distance isn’t very far, so you’ll have to be close to the barrier to jump, but it’s certainly possible and not too difficult. Again, great for invading the enemy jungle or roaming around to help your jungler during the laning phase.
Aurora’s E is very interesting! weird Is a rectangular area spell that Aurora casts in front of her that deals magic damage and slows enemies hit. After casting this spell, Aurora will also jump back a short distance, putting some space between her and the enemy. You can also use it to jump over the small wall in the middle of the river, but it’s a lot tighter than her W. This is a great kiting tool during the laning phase and a great way to get rid of those pesky top laners and junglers.
Now, if all of this sounds exciting, her ultimate goal is just plain crazy. Between Worlds is a castable ultimate that deals magic damage to a large area and slows enemies hit. While the ultimate is active, Aurora enters a fortified mental state that greatly increases the usual bonuses. What’s especially cool is the wall that surrounds this ultimate area.
If an enemy hits these, they’ll be pushed back to the center and slowed down. However, if Aurora hits a wall, she’ll appear at the other end of the Ultimate area. So if you run through the northern end of the Ultimate area, you’ll instantly appear at the southern end. This works around walls, heroes… everything. It’s a really fun way to fight and allows you to bypass enemy heroes.
All of this combined makes Aurora pretty scary! In mid lane, she’ll fill the same role as Katarina, looking to roam around the map to get ahead and snowball into a bit of a threat. In top lane, she’s a lane bully. Able to hold you down, push the lane in, and then buy yourself some time to get off your island and wreak havoc elsewhere. She’s hard to pin down, an evasive specialist, and a true carry champion for those who enjoy twisting the minds of the enemy team. Shaco players, LeBlanc players, and Neeko players are going to have a lot of fun here.
The development team told reporters during this preview event that they are paying special attention to the auto-attack consumption top lane of this hero, aiming to make this type of build less viable than your tried-and-true AP build. However, since this three-hit passive and auto attacks can trigger it, I personally think that the Lich Buster build may be feasible? Worth keeping an eye on.
As for what you can do to beat her, she’s very fragile. Therefore, stopping her early and taking advantage of your lead will be crucial. Heroes like Camille or Fiora who can close the distance and break through her kite will do well here, and items like Rylai’s Ice Scepter will be a godsend for AP heroes. If you can keep your eyes on her, there’s not much she can do.
But all in all, she’s a really fun, really tricky hero to play, and well worth a try if you like quickly dodging trades and roaming around the map. Maybe don’t lock her in on your first ranked match, though, eh? There are a few tricks you’ll need to learn before you can really get the most out of her.
