Can we talk about this? -Aatrox

, What can I say about this champion, other than that he is a very broken champion at the moment and has been since his conception, and I do not mean that in the "omg he's so OP way" he is terrible, first he was the most feast or famine champion in the game. then his mini rework, he doesn't fall behind as hard but can't get ahead as easily, and can almost never carry, he's essentially been castrated. Since they announced he would be receiving a full gameplay update we have heard little, for those paying attention we know that according to reav3 as of last month they are "still very much in ideation" So I kind of want to just get this out there and get people, especially aatrox mains, to comment on what we as players want to see out of aatrox, throw out ideas, hopefully, even if it's the tiniest bit help riot along with suggestions for aatrox that they may not have thought of. I have a few of my own, but I'll get into that in a bit first, let's cover what aatrox's theme is, both what we expect from him lore-wise and gameplay-wise.

Lore wise Aatrox has been depicted as one of the mysterious Darkin, a group of parasitic sentient weapons, bent on destruction, he appears in times of war, coming to the side of those who are doomed to lose, turning the tide of battle, he is an avatar of war.

Gameplay wise aatrox has been trying to do a variety of things with some success, and a lot of failure, he's an auto attack reliant drain tank, a diver, and an initiator, and I personally would like to see him stick to that.

Now I think aatrox's biggest issue lies in his passive, the revival mechanic which most of his diving and initiating tactics are based, is inherently flawed, and not at all integral to his identity, even prior to the mini rework it rarely went off at a desirable time past the laning phase, and even during it, it wasn't always beneficial, especially given a lack of escapes. post rework it made his peak power points, when the bloodwell is full, more easily manageable for the enemy laner, and harder to maintain for aatrox, made the revival even less reliable, and effectively robbing aatrox of a passive for 70% of the game, as past the laning phase aatrox will often die long before it gets off.

now for those interested here's what I would like to see his kit become with numbers adjustable for balance as I am no expert at this, they're all partial reworks rather than full replacements, there's a tldr at the end.

Passive- Bloodwell. Each activated ability fills the Bloodwell by 20%, increasing aatrox's attack speed by 20/25/30/35 % attack speed. at 100% Aatrox becomes "hellbent".

HELLBENT: Aatrox gains 25% increased base AD and 40% bonus attack speed and is granted a stack of "Bloodwell empowerment", this stacks lasts 3 minutes, and stacks up to 3 times, each stack empowers his next ability used while Hellbent, each ability can only be empowered once while Hellbent, If Aatrox consumes a stack While Hellbent, all stacks will be consumed when Hellbent ends, If Hellbent ends while he has 3 stacks of "Bloodwell Empowerment" they are removed. All stacks are removed on death.

Q- Dark Flight, Basically the same as it is now but without the large issues it currently has, an escape/chase mechanic added in, and the empowered passive. so keep it's cooldown at 13-14 seconds at all ranks to counterbalance the changes but, "can't stop won't stop" Aatrox is uninterruptible during dark flight. "get the reset!" Dark flight's cooldown is refunded on champion kill or assist. Bloodwell Empowered Q- the knockup radius is increased by 25-30%.

W- Blood thirst / Blood price, rework to a passive/active system with a cooldown rather than a simple toggle, such as PASSIVE: Blood thirst- every third hit against non-structures, Aatrox heals himself for 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+ 6.5% missing health) this healing is increased by 50% while under 30% maximum health.

Active- CD 6 seconds all ranks, Aatrox wounds himself for 10% of his current health and increases the damage of his next auto attack by (half?) the same amount as true damage. Bloodwell Empowered effect: Stuns enemy hit for 1 second.

E- Blade of torment (rework) Aatrox thrust his blade forward extending it's reach, (range 1000) damage is increased from old version but dealing less damage to each consecutive enemy hit, down to 50% (100/75/50%) and slowing them for 2 seconds. Bloodwell Empowered effect: blade of torment wraps around the first enemy champion hit pulling them towards aatrox by 500 units over .5 seconds.

R- Turn the Tide ACTIVE: Aatrox draws in the blood of his foes, dealing magic damage to nearby enemy champions and filling 20% of his Blood Well.png Blood Well for each enemy champion hit. Magic damage: 200 / 275 / 350 (+ 75% AD) Additionally, Aatrox gains bonus attack speed and increases his attack range to 375 for 12 seconds.Attack speed: 40 / 50 / 60%. Empowered Effect: Aatrox's terrifies his enemies Fearing all enemies hit for 1 second.

Tldr: His revival is gone, his passive now gives AS as he fills it again rather than just while full, and gives him stacks he can use while it's full, holding on to them while it's not, and losing them if unused for too long, the stacks buff his abilities with more CC, and are as follows Q increased knockup radius, W a 1 sec on hit stun, E a pull based on range, and R is a 1 sec aoe fear. His Q is now uninterruptible and resets on kill or assist, but has a static CD, His W passively heals him and Actively damages himself to deal true damage on next AA based on that self damage and is on a 6 sec cd, his E does more base damage but less damage to each consecutive enemy hit, and his R Has AD scaling.

Example Counters to this kit would likely be or just any tank with would stand a good chance.