Upvote if you want Aatrox to get some Riot luvin!!!!

For those who are unaware, there are some issues with aatrox...

BEFORE all the contrarians jump and talk about how aatrox is still viable, let me say that yes, aatrox is still viable. You can play him well, and win games. You can do that with urgot too. Doesn't mean they both don't need some hardass Riot luv.

I play aatrox frequently (consider him my second main, after ww), not because I think he's good, but because I think he's freaking awesome. Somehow two paragraphs of Riot lore and some sick splash art created the coolest incarnation of the "God of War" archetype, ever, imho. I get off on Aatrox's dark voice murmuring things like "Violence is elegance" and "Let fear become fury!" in my ear. Maybe I should see someone about that, but in the meantime...in the meantime not only does Aatrox underperform in almost every role it is conceivable to assign to his kit, but he doesn't come close to fulfilling his lore potential.

The problem with aatrox is that his kit tries to do to many things, but doesn't excel at any of them. He's built with the same tools as a melee ad carry (with a 3 hit passive and built in attack speed steroid, as well as some tools to stick to his target), as a drain tank (with incredible sustain from 3-hit gimmick+AS steroid), and as a diver (with a knockup dash, and adequate burst damage from toggled W+Ult+E+and potentially BotRK Active/Smite/Crit, and a free GA passive if he doesn't make it out of the fight).

However.... Try to play him as a melee ad carry ? Tough, every other melee AD carry out there does it several times better (Yasuo? Yi? Jax? Tryndamere? Yup.) Try to play him as a drain tank? Warwick and Olaf do it much better, along with any fed melee AD carry Try to play him as a diver? Once again, every other diver out there does it better (more burst, among other things). Try to play him as a raging badass god of war? You're getting somewhere; no other champion does that better.

It's like the league champion food chain. Aatrox isn't "bad", but because he's an awkward jack of three-trades he doesn't fit a niche in the meta-system and is out-competed by champions that do. Not having a strong first or second item spike contributes to the problem.

IMO, there are no straight buffs (to base stats, Q, or E) that would solve the underlying problem; that aatrox tries to do too many things at once without excelling at any of them. Straight stat buffing him would just make him better at "not excelling" (which he DOES do passably), but also has the potential to push him over the edge of healthy gameplay as a melee AD carry with INSANE sustain. Personally I don't want another champ who's win condition is making it within auto attack range, so thus gets consigned to being kited to death or split pushing the whole game (Tryndamere, I'm looking at you!).

I think the way to go is for Riot to take some time to tweak his kit so that he better fulfills his lore potential as a leader of armies, inspirer of violence.

His Q for example: When it hits an enemy champion, all nearby allies get a speed buff towards that enemy (Aatrox is leading the charge into the fray!) and Aatrox gets a DR% or bonus MR+ARM for the speed buff duration (like rengar's old W roar, so he can survive the enemy burst a little longer so his teammates can catch up).

Other ideas include:

Blood Well: Retain passive attack speed when he resurrects from blood well for a couple seconds, so that when he revives he's less of a sitting duck

His E...personally I don't like his E. Its slow af and has an awkward hit box. I think it could be replaced with a different type of damage/slow (if he REALLY needs it that bad) and a mark, so that allies get a bonus when attacking his marked target(s). Maybe even a challenge, like a taunt or something (if he can inspire his allies to violence, why not his enemies too?).

His Ult: For such a big sword, it does a lot of single target damage. Maybe when in his Ult form Aatrox could deal AoE damage in the area in front of him when he attacks, to make him a better team-fighter rather than a single target duelist/assassin.

Most importantly though.... Upvote if you want Aatrox to get some Riot luvin!!!! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]