These are my 2 cents on the Aatrox

I would like to see Riot work on a complete ability kit rework for . It would not need to change every single aspect of his kit. Just change the advantages and disadvantages that Aatrox receives relative to ability use.

An ability kit rework for Aatrox should also actually reflect ALL of his persona's characteristics and attributes portrayed in his lore. So far we get two aspects of his persona in Aatrox's current gameplay kit:

• We get hemokinesis/vampirism.
• And a pseudo representation of flourishing in battle (this is closely tied to the above point).

To expand upon the second point, all that Aatrox benefits from being in battle (or in combat) is nothing, unless he autoattacks in which he receives health and (maybe one could argue) attackspeed, from using abilities - not that he needs to be in combat to gain increased Attack Speed. All quotes are from Aatrox's lore (wiki).

" Aatrox's seemingly living blade drinks in their blood, empowering him and fueling his brutal, elegant campaign of slaughter. "

So he just gets health and attackspeed from battle. You could say movementspeed items like Black Cleaver and Guinsoo's Rage buff helps but those are not part of his ability kit.

Aatrox really needs something more than health and attack speed from combat.

To return to my main points, we need to see - translated into gameplay:

• His manipulation of allies' morale.

" Just when all hope seemed lost, Aatrox appeared among the ranks of the Protectorate. With but a few words, he urged the soldiers to fight to the last before throwing himself into battle. His presence inspired the desperate warriors. At first, they could only watch in awe as this unknown hero cleaved through their enemies... "

" Soon, the warriors found themselves imbued with a potent thirst for battle. They followed Aatrox into the fray, each fighting with the furious strength of ten until they had won a most unlikely victory. "

And as an added bonus:

" Aatrox's presence has changed the course of some of the most important wars in history. "

Aatrox needs to impact his allies, be it minions or champions in a way that is portrayed in the lore.

Lastly, one of the best ways that Aatrox's Q could improve when it comes to it being incredibly telegraphed from the moment you press the key is to either:

• Remove the ability indicator entirely. or
• Delay the ability indicator well after the beginning of Dark Flight's animation.

The second point working on the same principles as Thresh's Death Sentence (Q) where you won't know where the hook will throw towards until later into the ability.