A Huge Nerf to Aatrox

Supes·Mar 8, 2017·64 votes·7,514 views

Hey there,

My name is Supes and I'm a devoted jungler with rank 7 on . I don't post here much, so I wanted to clarify that this isn't an "I HATE CHANGE" post. Rather, it's just the thoughts of one confused Aatrox player who believes the changes will hurt him overall. Simply put: I'm seeking .

Firstly, I want to make it clear that I AM aware that these changes are only to hold us over until a larger rework can be done. That said, I can't find anything positive to say about these changes other than the fact that you can now build tanky and still hit things very fast. These changes seem to focus far too much on helping a behind Aatrox (sort of -- I'll get to that later) while substantially nerfing an even/ahead Aatrox.

Here's Riot's goal in a nutshell (from what I can gather): They want to allow Aatrox to build tanky -- primarily to help when he's behind -- so they're adding a flat 20% of passive bar building to each of his abilities. This puts less reliance on stacking attack speed items to fill his passive bar with W, and puts more of the focus into using his other abilities. Or so you'd think.

Great. Fast passive bar building -- that's excellent! Wait, you mean to tell me that he doesn't gain a certain % of attack speed for every 1% of his bar filled anymore..? That he only gains an AD and AS buff once the bar is filled to 100%? Sorry, what? So, not only did you remove the triple healing when he's below 50%, but you've made it so his passive bar means absolutely NOTHING unless it's full? Well, this seemingly causes a few gameplay related problems:

a) His bar still takes a long time to fill, especially on revival. Think about it... -> Proc revive. -> Use Q to gain 20% bar. -> Use E to reach 40% bar. -> Attack 3 times with damage W to reach 60% bar. -> Previous step for 80%. -> Previous step for 100%. Seeing as his Q and E both have substantial cooldowns, he'll rely a lot on that W to fill his bar anyway. And it won't be fast -- especially early. Thing is, most times he'll be dead before he even reaches 60%. Oh, and don't forget: He NO LONGER gains more AS the more his bar is filled. Only once it's filled to 100%.

b) Now he has to manage his bar below 100% while doing jungle camps. As long as his passive bar doesn't have a cooldown, this shouldn't be a huge cause for concern as you can just spam everything on each camp and continuously maintain it. However, he'll have to regulate it if he suspects he'll get counter-jungled, or if he's planning on doing the countering. Meaning he won't be getting the AS buff while clearing camps. He now has a very pre-determined and readable playstyle, and is now a situationally weak duelist.

c) One of Aatrox's weakest points is blowing ulti -> proccing revive passive -> reviving and being completely useless until you die again immediately. On live, he currently loses all of his bar when he revives. This leaves him with pathetic attack speed and the inability to do a whole lot of follow-up. That said, you STILL have triple healing on W seeing as you're below 50% HP.

With the pending changes, he'll revive again with 0% of his bar, but this time he won't have a triple heal to rely on for keeping him safe. You say he'll be tankier now with his new item path, but that's not at all what Aatrox is at his core. He's a sustain tank. Forcing him to build tank items to utilize his new changes seems rather counterintuitive, no?

I think better changes to hold us over until a rework could be as such:

The triple heal from W while under 50% is no longer active when his passive is on cooldown.
Give him 50% bar filled on revival.

What this does, is it still gives him the ability to DO something once he revives. He has some of that bonus attack speed to work with, but it's not an overpowered addition because since his revive is on cooldown he won't be benefiting from the triple heal of W. It keeps him from being overbearingly powerful when ahead, but also useful when he's behind and when he revives. It also fits quite well into the fantasy of his kit. The triple heal on W while under 50% HP is very strong and very unique, but if you don't manage it properly while Aatrox's passive is READIED, then you'll be punished for it once his passive goes on COOLDOWN.

TL;DR -- Removing AS per 1% of his bar filled and the triple heal on W while under 50% HP IS not the answer.

Edit:

It's worse than I thought...

Aatrox CANNOT prevent his passive bar from depleting against minions/monsters... only champions.

Jungle Aatrox is doomed. Don't bother.

69 Comments

FailogMar 8, 201717 votes

Well said. Another great analysis that Riot in their arrogance will ignore.

GULAG 4 UMar 8, 201712 votes

Meanwhile the rioter that made the changes tweets about them being solid.

Fcking jungle aatrox is solid, LUL.

FailogMar 8, 20172 votes

Who was it?

GULAG 4 UMar 8, 20171 votes

Rick something.

The changes aren't that bad, but riot legit went full pussy. Like they just halfassed it and went full afraid. They could have pumped a lot more shit into the kit, but they didn't...?

ShadowwalkerMar 8, 201713 votes

and of course riot will ignore the people who know what they are talking about. The balance guy said Aatrox changes are "solid" where is the feedback aspect in designing? ricklesabrandon?

Vega EclipseMar 8, 20173 votes

{quoted}

and of course riot will ignore the people who know what they are talking about. The balance guy said Aatrox changes are "solid" where is the feedback aspect in designing? ricklesabrandon?

Balance? Riot? Antonymes. They simply LOVE to change shit around for the sake of change. I played Aatrox yesterday and he was okay-ish. I just bought him so.... Now it's useless. You have to deal FIFTEEN AAs with W OR as the OP said, 9 AAs with QE for having a 3 second window of 0.20 AS and a chance at revival. Complete bullshit. Fuck you, Riot and whoever loves to fuck around with the champions patch by patch. Why don't you keep things nice and balanced? Of course not, because every punk that fucks around with the so-called balance will lose his job and they won't have shiny new lines written when they release new patches. Oh, and another thing: FUCK RIOT'S META! They denied their asses off that they don't sweep champions as being OP or weak in one patch or another. You mean to say that MILLIONS of players who say that a champion is either overgeared or overpowered are complete stupid? Hundreds of thousands of matches and different playstyles and skill against Riot's 4 WORDS: WE. DON'T. DO. IT. Again: Fuck you, Riot Games for breaking shit around just to come high and mighty that you "fixed" them 2 patches later.

SirLapseMar 8, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Balance? Riot? Antonymes. They simply LOVE to change shit around for the sake of change. I played Aatrox yesterday and he was okay-ish. I just bought him so.... Now it's useless. You have to deal FIFTEEN AAs with W OR as the OP said, 9 AAs with QE for having a 3 second window of 0.20 AS and a chance at revival. Complete bullshit. Fuck you, Riot and whoever loves to fuck around with the champions patch by patch. Why don't you keep things nice and balanced? Of course not, because every punk that fucks around with the so-called balance will lose his job and they won't have shiny new lines written when they release new patches. Oh, and another thing: FUCK RIOT'S META! They denied their asses off that they don't sweep champions as being OP or weak in one patch or another. You mean to say that MILLIONS of players who say that a champion is either overgeared or overpowered are complete stupid? Hundreds of thousands of matches and different playstyles and skill against Riot's 4 WORDS: WE. DON'T. DO. IT. Again: Fuck you, Riot Games for breaking shit around just to come high and mighty that you "fixed" them 2 patches later.

First of all, it's a 4 second window that refreshes as long as you're in combat. It's misleading to say to people it's a 3 second window only. You can also activate your E multiple times in lane to be able to utilize it, since hitting minions will keep your Blood Well up. The assumption is that with Aatrox's low CD ult, he'll be able to use that to pump up his Blood Well in emergencies. This patch isn't getting rid of his main weaknesses (which anyone with a brain can argue is his interruptible Q), but it's meant to make him less feast or famine. Feel free to complain about Aatrox jungle, since that took a heavy hit on attack speed and people didn't really hesitate to take him jungle if they were to use him at all.

Secondly, the majority of league players don't play for balance; it's not their job and therefore they don't have to care about anyone other than themselves. If every player had their way, League of Legends would be a different game for every person. One group of people's opinion might be entirely based on how unfun something is to play against rather than if it's balanced in actual gameplay or not (Teemo being one of the best examples).

Lastly, salting at a company and not maintaining your cool prevents any form of dialogue, meaning you would be in no mind to make positive changes. Perhaps you could've suggested making the Blood Well filling faster via maximum capacity decrease. Perhaps you could've suggested making his Q generate more if it hits something. Regardless of what you could've done, you instead lashed out and ended up doing nothing but make an angry post that nobody against your opinion (god help if people have differing opinions) would be able to communicate with easily.

It's very easy to say you hate something and yell about it, but it's hard in comparison to be able to talk about solutions and actually finding out what all of the problems are to said solutions.

Vega EclipseMar 8, 20172 votes

Solutions for what? You think a Rioter will come here and say something? Or take at least ONE of these people advices? Please...I haven't played hundreds of matches and lurked posts on these forums to still believe their bullshit. People are too soft when Riot is fucking around like this for far too long.

FailogMar 8, 20174 votes

"First of all, it's a 4 second window that refreshes as long as you're in combat. It's misleading to say to people it's a 3 second window only."

Dude, have you even tried it? It drains way to fast. Basically you miss combat for 1 second and get stunned, its gone and you die with no passive. It take way too long to fill up.

The other guy is right to salt Riot. They don't listen. So whats the point in being polite. After 2 years of input from Aatrox mains they literally ignored all of it.

SirLapseMar 9, 20171 votes

{quoted}

"First of all, it's a 4 second window that refreshes as long as you're in combat. It's misleading to say to people it's a 3 second window only."

Dude, have you even tried it? It drains way to fast. Basically you miss combat for 1 second and get stunned, its gone and you die with no passive. It take way too long to fill up.

The other guy is right to salt Riot. They don't listen. So whats the point in being polite. After 2 years of input from Aatrox mains they literally ignored all of it.

Because talking to someone while being absolutely pissed and cursing while trying to say an opinion isn't how civilized people actually go through a discussion. In fact, that makes it more prone for people to not listen to you at all. Do you listen to someone cursing you out and have a higher chance of agreeing with their opinion? $500 says if it's not agreeing with your opinion, you're way more likely to not even try to agree with them.

It drains quickly when the opponent disables you, but that's already something you'd need to account for before you blow your stuff in the first place. They're not just gonna save their stuff forever because your gauge is almost full, they're bound to use it once you get on them. I don't see the issue when that knowledge is involved unless you're saying that dodging skillshots isn't something Aatrox should be doing.

FailogMar 9, 20172 votes

When you get disabled with the old Aatrox you will often have most or some bloodwell left and still have some bonus Attack speed and revive. Now if you get stunned, the damage will keep Blood Rush around for another second, then it will start to drain, giving you maybe 2 seconds to reengage? You will often not be able to

SirLapseMar 10, 20171 votes

{quoted}

When you get disabled with the old Aatrox you will often have most or some bloodwell left and still have some bonus Attack speed and revive. Now if you get stunned, the damage will keep Blood Rush around for another second, then it will start to drain, giving you maybe 2 seconds to reengage? You will often not be able to

It refreshes if they decide to hit you at all right after res, or you have an item like Sunfire and someone is around you. This was something the old Aatrox never had. Smite works, your E works, the opponent hitting you works. It's not 2 seconds, it's entirely based on your revive HP and that was the same thing with old Aatrox.

Way more synergy with tank items than the old Aatrox for sure. And building them will naturally make you harder to kill even if you will not be solo carrying (which the old Aatrox when ahead is capable of doing).

FailogMar 10, 20172 votes

Way more synergy? In what way? ANY champion can build tanky items. But other than trying to get that measily bonus lifesteal from missing health, there is nothing else in his kit that works with building tanky. You could build tanky olaf and enjoy built in resistances and true damage. Aatrox has less of an identity now and his problems are now made worse.

A CONFUSED KIDMar 8, 20171 votes

The problem with his passive is he has too slow of attack speed early now since its down most of the time. I think to help lane he should have higher base attack speed or allow the passive attack speed to affect him early based on percent again. the changes kill jungle aatrox though

Sun Wu RyuumokuMar 8, 20171 votes

and of course riot will ignore the people who know what they are talking about.

bronze, silver of this board ??

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20176 votes

The problem is that Aatrox is still very much of a Stat stick champion, and as such, to try to enforce his Drain Tank nature at present while buffing his survivability, would probably lead to problems. Most Divers Riot makes are normally pushed to buying defensive items, as it helps them stay alive. I imagine long ago, when Aatrox was made, they imagined Aatrox as being able to stay squishy but Lifesteal his way through fights, but that just lead to problems that I'm sure you're aware of (Build damage, get blown up, then blown up again after passive) or to build somewhat tankier, but not do enough damage.

Pretty much, without a full rework, Aatrox won't be able to healthily stick with his Drain Tank nature, until he becomes less of a stat stick. Like you said, this is a bandage, but it's a bandage that works for the time being, considerably so, since he can now build slightly tankier and still be relevant.

dimiondoMar 8, 20177 votes

Its a bandage that doesn't work at all. He feels horrible to play now, its clunky it feels weak, it is weak. At least old aatrox felt smooth to play and he felt like he could do something, this new piece of shit can only do something every 5 min when you get its stupid passive off.

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20172 votes

I honestly don't think you're using the word clunky correctly. No part of his kit got changed in such a way, like Victor perhaps, that changed how the mechanics worked. Literally the biggest change was only to his BloodPool if we can call that a mechanic, but it's really only numbers otherwise.

dimiondoMar 8, 20176 votes

Clunky means solid, heavy, and old-fashioned which very much describes how aatrox plays now. His hits feel very heavy and slow. The biggest change happen'd to his W and his passive. Okay if you didn't play aatrox much you prob don't know what i mean.

Aatrox was a very fluid champion, he had very fast autos that allowed you to reposition while fighting. Everything felt like it had a tempo to it, you could attack swap stances move to the side a bit attack etc. The only exception to this was his q but that was mainly used to initiate so it didn't matter to much. Playing Aatrox felt very much like a dance you had to know where to put yourself and what stance you should be in (his w) to get the most effectiveness out of him. He regularly traded in lane and looked for opportunities to jump his opponent to gain advantage.

Now Aatrox no longer feels like that. He feels like a bolder. He takes a ton of time to get going, hits slow generally and when he does get going the enemy can simply move out of his path. They destroyed the stance switching, they destroyed his fluidity and they absolutely ruined his laning phase. His attacks when he doesn't have his passive up feel like they take 10 years to hit so you can't really trade well anymore.

Now i don't want a argument whether he is better or not i don't really care. But they changed what was fun about him, his fast attack speed and managing your health to make some of the most exciting moments i have experienced in league. Now he just feels like a regular bruiser he runs up to someone puts his w on damage and just attacks but he does it really slow and really isn't that good at it making him feel clunky. But maybe that's just me.

Asayake 5150glowMar 8, 20173 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dr Mercy,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=8vdlnIqA,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2017-03-08T02:15:48.071+0000)

The problem is that Aatrox is still very much of a Stat stick champion, and as such, to try to enforce his Drain Tank nature at present while buffing his survivability, would probably lead to problems. Most Divers Riot makes are normally pushed to buying defensive items, as it helps them stay alive. I imagine long ago, when Aatrox was made, they imagined Aatrox as being able to stay squishy but Lifesteal his way through fights, but that just lead to problems that I'm sure you're aware of (Build damage, get blown up, then blown up again after passive) or to build somewhat tankier, but not do enough damage.

Pretty much, without a full rework, Aatrox won't be able to healthily stick with his Drain Tank nature, until he becomes less of a stat stick. Like you said, this is a bandage, but it's a bandage that works for the time being, considerably so, since he can now build slightly tankier and still be relevant.

Warwick Double standard much?

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20171 votes

Hey look, a person with innate sustain in their kit, who also builds Tankier, instead of going full squishy, who is actually relevant to the game in terms of balance.

You can't just claim Warwick is a double standard, when Warwick was made and designed with Todays design ideas in mind. Aatrox was made during a time when they thought that a Squishy LifeStealing Fighter could work. Surprise, it didn't, and he's sat in the dumpster for who knows how long.

Past designs that are no longer used, are not considered contradictory to newer design philosophies. That's like comparing Todays Watermelons, compared to how they used to look before we selectively bred them to be better.

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/watermelon-1.jpg

A painting found in the 17th century what Watermelons looked like a long time ago. To say that those two can be compared in terms of each other, outside the fact they are watermelons, when they are entirely different otherwise is stupid. You can't compare something relatively old to something new, when said old hasn't ever been healthy.

Asayake 5150glowMar 8, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dr Mercy,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=8vdlnIqA,comment-id=000300010000,timestamp=2017-03-08T22:46:05.258+0000)

Hey look, a person with innate sustain in their kit, who also builds Tankier, instead of going full squishy, who is actually relevant to the game in terms of balance.

You can't just claim Warwick is a double standard, when Warwick was made and designed with Todays design ideas in mind. Aatrox was made during a time when they thought that a Squishy LifeStealing Fighter could work. Surprise, it didn't, and he's sat in the dumpster for who knows how long.

Past designs that are no longer used, are not considered contradictory to newer design philosophies. That's like comparing Todays Watermelons, compared to how they used to look before we selectively bred them to be better.

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/watermelon-1.jpg

A painting found in the 17th century what Watermelons looked like a long time ago. To say that those two can be compared in terms of each other, outside the fact they are watermelons, when they are entirely different otherwise is stupid. You can't compare something relatively old to something new, when said old hasn't ever been healthy.

Need I tell you that WW gets innate tank stats (damage reduction on E), more reliable CC (E), and on demand heals (Q)?

The thing is, WW can build tankier. Aatrox... can't. Not if he wants to do damage. WW, however, has plenty of base damage and flat stat boosts.

Basically, Warwick is Aatrox redesigned, except not squishy, with mobility, and better scalings.

Even if Aatrox had good offensive numbers (but was still squishy), he'd still be shit in this meta due to being oneshot by everything.

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20171 votes

It's almost like one got an entire rework or something, while the other is old, and only got a minor one...

Asayake 5150glowMar 8, 20172 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dr Mercy,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=8vdlnIqA,comment-id=00030001000000000000,timestamp=2017-03-08T22:57:04.056+0000)

It's almost like one got an entire rework or something, while the other is old, and only got a minor one...

Yeah, well sad how they literally could've used a nearly identical rework for Aatrox and kept the theme of a lifestealing fighter.

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20171 votes

That makes absolutely no sense. He still has the theme of Lifestealing fighter, he's just severely under powered at the moment. The point of the changes were to put him into the position to be buffed, not just to buff him.

fuffychanMar 8, 20176 votes

I personally dont care about Atrox and think hes stupid, but Im tired of Riot nerfing things that dont need nerfs when theres blatantly OP champs in the game and Riot does nothing.

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20171 votes

The changes were made to put Aatrox in a position where he can be buffed, elsewise he'd have just been buffed instead. It needs Follow up work, the kind that every mini-rework has gotten.

ToastersaotMar 8, 20175 votes

I know this doesn't relate that much to the thread's problems, but do you think item 3053 would be good on Aatrox ? His passive gives him 25% Base AD (I think) and his Q scales off of total AD now. I have never played Aatrox, but for some reason the idea popped into my mind.

Sun Wu RyuumokuMar 8, 20172 votes

Yeah its good, Aatrox has already a Sterack passive in his kit, so its great on him.

AnagsMar 9, 20171 votes

It's not bad. Problem is that his W, E, and R don't scale off of base AD. So it really only helps auto attacks and his Q which isn't really used as a damage staple.

Feels like they wanted tank Aatrox to be viable without doing damage and allow Aatrox to build bonus damage to have a viable damage build with scaling abilities. But neither one really works. Right now he needs some number increases or a lot lower cooldowns on his abilities. Maybe a little of both.

Troll for TrumpMar 8, 20174 votes

It kinda looks like they're making him be one of the "moments of power" champs, where they make them crappy or ridiculous.

Feels Vladimir man

LordBrascaMar 8, 20174 votes

Just played a game as aatrox jungle.

Honestly the changes to his passive feels sooooooooooooooooooo bad. One of the best things of aatrox was his passive, and now it works only if completely filled... which means 5 spells... but wait there is more! That max pool lasts for few seconds... honestly in early game where you are squishy as fk that feels extremely bad.

Still have to see how it goes top.

ConalllMar 8, 20173 votes

Not quite on the sustain part of it. Don't forget, the base healing has been buffed (if only a touch), and it now heals for 5% of his missing health. That will help a great deal when low. The rest I would agree, if the attack speed buff has indeed been moved to the full blood well only. Part of his power was the increased attack speed as his well filled. I'm not sure the 4 second buff is enough to counter the loss of that increasing power. About all I can offer is maybe it will be easier to fill his bar than the numbers suggest. It's not much, but it's something.

dimiondoMar 8, 20174 votes

Its weaker overall, it takes 3000 hp to even out with 150 extra ad on the old one. Better yet the new passive is a nerf because they reduced the attack speed that he gains overall

NewGuy101Mar 8, 20173 votes

here's a link to a bunch of math comparing 7.4 Aatrox to 7.5 Aatrox https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/5y3dgq/74_vs_75_aatrox_changes_with_math_inside/

TLDR, Aatrox does less DPS but more healing across the board. also, item 3053 just became a really good item for him.

Rockm SockmMar 8, 20172 votes

{quoted}

here's a link to a bunch of math comparing 7.4 Aatrox to 7.5 Aatrox https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/5y3dgq/74_vs_75_aatrox_changes_with_math_inside/

TLDR, Aatrox does less DPS but more healing across the board. also, just became a really good item for him.

Healing is only up above 50 percent health and was massively nerfed below it.

Check the other threads from actual Aatrox mains.

TCMPeanutButterMar 8, 20172 votes

honestly i think best changes would be keep new abilities give back old passive. This new one just leaves u in a spot where if ur enemy has a brain and they dash away when its full (which every damn champion has now) they can just wait for it to drain and then engage on u again. You might say but if they disengage then u can back safely right? Well yes but since it takes forever to stack a passive that drains twice as fast ur an easy dive if u aren't at full :/

BerryliciousMar 8, 20172 votes

I really like Aatrox and I was excited when I saw that he got "buffed" so first thing I do is play him and I think I won't touch him again until they change this crap. His passive is completely useless now. The cd on his abilites is way too long to actually build up bloodwell. So you have to wait until like mid/late game until cd is finally low enough and then you pretty much always have to use w to build it with. Great, now I can FINALLY get bloodwell full but unless I build tank it's useless because I revive and dead with one hit again because the health I came back with is way too low. Can we please have the "old" Aatrox back, he was much better than whatever this is supposed to be.

ModAcademy KaynMar 8, 20171 votes

This wasn't mean to be a freaking buff. It's a Mini-rework that was meant to put Aatrox in a position to be able to be buffed. If it was meant to be a buff, he'd have gotten Buffs, not a mini-rework. He's going to get Follow up work, I'm massively sure of it.

Rockm SockmMar 8, 20172 votes

When it requires 4 warmogs to match his old healing total....something is wrong.

They didn't even touch his low base damage and stats.

We have a melee carry that didn't scale and turned him into a melee carry that isn't good at any point.

What they want to do is there but maybe it's a numbers thing.

The fact his Q is still horrible with thisu bs coming from Galio is a insult.

To those who have no clue about Aatrox, he is even more feast or famine now.

MuseCubMar 8, 20172 votes

hardest passive to trigger in the game and it doesn't even feel like its worth it

ProfirixMar 8, 20172 votes

A very well spoken argument. Every game thus far I've had an Aatrox in he has fed massively lul. Either way he will need serious tweaks to even make him playable now.

EROTIC RAID BOSSMar 8, 20171 votes

I'm sure they've tested the changes a decent amount, might wanna see how it feels in practice

dimiondoMar 8, 20173 votes

Have seen it in practice, its garbage. They can literally walk or dash away from you when you build up the passive so you end up doing jack. Soon as its down they annihilate you.

GayFluffyUnicornMar 8, 20171 votes

Well they also tested release diana. Or darius. Ryze. Etc.etc.

noxus is opMar 8, 20173 votes

Im just gona put it out there that release jugg darius was sht then buffed darius was op asf. just gonna put that right.... here.

A CONFUSED KIDMar 8, 20171 votes

His changes are fine, except he has insanely slow attack speed now. He can't jungle, and landing is hard for him because he can only sit back with e. The changes also only support a tank aatrox, so you lose a lot of flexibility there was before hand.

SupesMar 8, 20173 votes

No offense, but you say the changes are fine and then list a ton of reasons as to why it destroys his game health. Aatrox wasn't a weak champ before these changes, nor was he overpowered. He was just perhaps the most feast or famine champion on the entire roster. Rarely do you see an Aatrox just coast through a game. He's either way ahead and an undeniable problem, or so behind that he identifies more as a mobile ward.

He didn't necessarily need a buff, and he didn't need a nerf. He just needed a shift in his kit that made him feel viable and consistent. What they've done is shift what you might be able to call his "strong aspects", but they've shifted it nowhere. The pro side to Aatrox's cons have been lost to the void and he's left with his weaknesses and very poor excuses for "fixes" when he's falling behind.

They've shifted him moreso into top lane only. They've shifted him into only being viable when building semi-tanky. They've shifted him into more of a skirmisher than a duelist. They've seemingly torn away his identity for the sake of game health which just doesn't show through the numbers.