I agree that he does need some love, riot needs to find out what role he is, he was spawned in the age of split pushing, and sustained top lane, essentually the island age of league, and from this he has many things in his kit that work separately but fail cohesively.
His Q for 1 is a large cost of 10% current hp for a jump that CAN be a knockup, and CAN be stopped MID CAST, this has always grinded my gears, if I am paying 1/10 my life, I better damn well get there, I always wanted the Q to be immune to cc but not to damage, securing that you will go to the location.
W is his bread and butter but also the reason he cannot be that strong, his 3 hit heal is very powerful and up there with some of the best sustains in the game, however the fact that is his specialty is why I feel it can never be changed, His second W is a cool mechanic, with a TRADEOFF (god forbid ANY champ has to make a tradeoff with abilities now adays), Aatrox is a shining example of what should be standard, deal more damage = take damage from it. Which i really think riot needs to implement more risk/reward abilities like aatrox's W
His E i really always wished that it gave bonus damage if you hit the tip of it, like
kinda (as much as i hate him), the idea of 2 damaging points meeting and not doing double or just higher damage has always confused me.
And his Ult, although his best and staple powerhouse ability, It just enhances what he already has and needs, Range is amazing, Attack speed that his passive already gives, and magic damage.
I never understood why he is a mixed champion, having very good 60% ratio ad/ap on his E and 1/1 ap ratio on ult, when his kit just feels like it should be more physical damage...
I personally feel his revive passive is kinda useless past early game, I never find it useful in a teamfight, you always get left behind to die...
And the stacking AS is nice, but forced and gates him pretty hard if he can't stack it safely.
IDK riot needs to identify Aatrox, because he sits in the dark a lot, and it sucks because aatrox's lore is one of those ones that is so vague and mysterious and awesome how he changed history practically for being there. And his kit doesn't reflect his ability to rally allies and instead just attack and kill things...