NERFPLZ.LOL Weird Pick #158: Bot Lane Aurelion Sol

A galaxy sized dragon just benched your marksman, and bot lane may never look the same.

Aurelion Sol barely registers as a mid lane pick in Ranked Solo/Duo right now, and he does not show up at all in the bot lane numbers. That has not stopped a small group of ADC mains from dragging him down bot as a long range mage instead of a marksman, and with the right support next to him the pick genuinely holds up.

So how does this work anyway?

Guide to Playing Bot Lane Aurelion Sol

How to Play Bot Lane Aurelion Sol

Abilities: E, Q, W then prioritize R > Q > E > W
Summoner Spells
Starting Items
Strategy: Farm safely from max range in Ranked Solo/Duo, layer Q and W onto priority targets, and let the burn from Liandry's Torment and Blackfire Torch finish what the poke started
Core Items

Bot Lane Aurelion Sol Runes Setup

Primary: Deathfire Touch, Manaflow Band, Absolute Focus, Scorch

Secondary: Presence of Mind, Cut Down

Support Synergies

Senna

Senna pokes and scales from the exact same long range spacing Aurelion Sol wants to play from instead of forcing him into the short trades a normal support sets up, and her root gives him a real reason to commit Q onto a target.

Seraphine

Seraphine layers a shield, a slow, and repeated poke on top of Aurelion Sol's own damage from max range, and her ultimate adds a second burst of magic damage right as his burn starts ticking.

Nami

Tidal Wave buys Aurelion Sol the time he needs to stack his damage onto a target, and Nami's heal and speed buff cover the early levels where he has no defensive tools of his own.

When to Pick This

Bot lane Aurelion Sol is at his best when the enemy team is stacking health and armor instead of building around burst, since Liandry's Torment burns a percentage of max health rather than a flat number. A tank heavy enemy comp turns his itemization into one of the few real answers your team has for a wall of stats.

He is also a strong pick when your own team is already leaning entirely physical damage. Dropping a second magic damage threat into the comp keeps the enemy from itemizing around a single damage type, and Aurelion Sol can fill that role from bot lane without needing a mid or jungle pick to change.

How It Works

Long Range Poke Pressure

Aurelion Sol can land Starsurge and Celestial Expansion from well beyond normal marksman range, letting him whittle down an enemy bot lane without ever stepping into auto attack range himself.

Global Threat From Bot Lane

His ultimate crosses the entire map, so even while farming safely bot he can collapse on another lane, secure a contested objective, or clean up a fight his team started without him.

Best Late Game Scaling In The Role

Stardust stacks grow his stats every time Q lands, and a fully stacked Aurelion Sol puts out more sustained damage than most marksmen can build into by that point in the game.

Potential Pitfalls

No Escape, No Answer To Dives

Aurelion Sol has no dash on demand, no shield, and no real answer to an all in before level six. A support that trades early or a jungler that ganks bot once will often just delete him, so the lane plan has to be built entirely around not getting hit rather than winning trades.

Damage Comes Late, Not All At Once

Leaning on Liandry's Torment and Blackfire Torch means most of his damage arrives as burn over the following few seconds, not as an instant burst. An enemy who disengages the moment he lands his poke walks away from most of the fight, so he has to commit Q and W before a trade starts rather than reacting to one already underway.

Bot Lane Aurelion Sol Conclusions

Bot lane Aurelion Sol rewards patience more than almost any other weird pick. He does very little for the first several minutes of the game, but a farmed Aurelion Sol with his ultimate off cooldown can win fights his team was not even part of. The pick lives or dies on whether the support can keep him alive long enough to matter.

Suggested Tier: Tier 3