Could Aatrox get some love?

Chespin2013·May 21, 2015·23 votes·2,046 views

Right now Aatrox is in a bad spot right now. Could we maybe buff his base stats a little because they are pretty weak when you compare them to a lot of other bruisers. Also his ult just doesn't feel fitting to him as a champion the increased melee range on him is nice and all but I feel maybe give his ult like a aura to him and his team like increased damage or resistance when near a certain distance of Aatrox, can also be good since in his lore when his presence is there on the battlefield he buffs his allies aswell so just some food for thought. Doesn't have to be a big changes or anything but with how things are going maybe we can go by baby steps with him. I really want to see Aatrox as a champion improved.

24 Comments

48983507DEL1May 21, 201511 votes

Aatrox needs more than just a stat buff; he needs a total rework. Mainly just in his overall design. He's not allowed to build HP because his abilities cost %HP, and he can't build flat damage because his scalings are garbage. He also has next to no ties with his lore, being a figure who's very appearance inspires those around him to turn the tide of battle. The aura on his ultimate would be terrific, and maybe a change to his costs to make them flat HP that increases a bit while ranking damage. I used to think buffing his damage stats would do, but I think reworking his abilties would work a lot better, maybe making his E's cooldown be reduced by auto attacking and his Q getting a reduced cooldown based on how many champs he hits.

In summary, I think good changes to Aatrox would include:

Flat HP Costs, increasing with ranks so they aren't meaningless later on
Some sort of aura either in his ult or his passive
Increased utility on his abilties, such as E getting reduced CD based on auto-attacking or Q getting reduced CD for hitting multiple champions.

That's just an opinion, I don't expect all of these to be implemented, but I just want him to be looked into.

Zone of EndlessMay 21, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Aatrox needs more than just a stat buff; he needs a total rework. Mainly just in his overall design. He's not allowed to build HP because his abilities cost %HP, and he can't build flat damage because his scalings are garbage. He also has next to no ties with his lore, being a figure who's very appearance inspires those around him to turn the tide of battle. The aura on his ultimate would be terrific, and maybe a change to his costs to make them flat HP that increases a bit while ranking damage. I used to think buffing his damage stats would do, but I think reworking his abilties would work a lot better, maybe making his E's cooldown be reduced by auto attacking and his Q getting a reduced cooldown based on how many champs he hits.

In summary, I think good changes to Aatrox would include:

Flat HP Costs, increasing with ranks so they aren't meaningless later on

Some sort of aura either in his ult or his passive

Increased utility on his abilties, such as E getting reduced CD based on auto-attacking or Q getting reduced CD for hitting multiple champions.

That's just an opinion, I don't expect all of these to be implemented, but I just want him to be looked into.

To be fair Zac also has %HP cost and that guy builds tanky. I believe he has the same problem as Irelia in that both of their W provide sustain in lane which Riot can't really touch because it'll either be too strong or too weak.

Give him slightly better base stat in the early game would probably help him immensely

His ult could also heal him for half of the damage it dealt. So if he hit multiple enemy he would get a huge heal to let him stay in the fight longer. Or it could increases the maximum capacity of his passive for the duration, gaining more if it hit multiple enemy champions.

Baron of BreadMay 21, 20151 votes

The big difference for why Zac builds tank and Aatrox doesn't is the way the way that they get their health back. Zac's abilities cost %current hp, but drop the bloblets that he can pick up to heal for %max hp. When he builds tons of HP his abilities actually heal him if he can pick up the bloblets. For Aatrox he can get health back on every third auto, but that scales off of his AD (and AS indirectly). So basically Zac heals with tank stats, but Aatrox will just be losing health if he doesn't have a lot of AS/AD/Lifesteal.

THE VlLLAlNMay 21, 20152 votes

{quoted}

To be fair Zac also has %HP cost and that guy builds tanky. I believe he has the same problem as Irelia in that both of their W provide sustain in lane which Riot can't really touch because it'll either be too strong or too weak.

Give him slightly better base stat in the early game would probably help him immensely

His ult could also heal him for half of the damage it dealt. So if he hit multiple enemy he would get a huge heal to let him stay in the fight longer. Or it could increases the maximum capacity of his passive for the duration, gaining more if it hit multiple enemy champions.

Thing is though, Zac's blobs heal him for a percentage as well. Aatrox doesn't.

EffectFXMay 21, 20151 votes

Couple of notes. You actually need to build HP on Aatrox, not only is he a melee bruiser who needs defenses but having more HP provides synergy with the his (W) triple heal below 50% HP.

You need flat AD because while his scaling isn't great, he is auto attack based.

Aatrox's major problem is that when he is very feast or famine, when ahead, he's great. But when he's behind he's terrible. Most of that is because of how squishy he is without items or his passive in the early game. His passive drain rate just makes it even harder on him when he's behind.

CubedJusticeMay 22, 20152 votes

I would like to see percentage HP costs where the damage scales with the cost. You'd have to decide between resistances and health. I think it would be really cool.

OyddAWqJ5rMay 22, 20151 votes

I agree with the first point you made (but not the other 2) and a few others:

Every time Blood Price is used on an enemy champion Aatrox's basic spell cooldowns are reduced by x amount.
W healing % max health while still having its current AD ratio. Because building health should be more meaningful on him than it currently is.
Q knocking up all enemies not just the ones in the middle. The enemies on the sides instead receive a 1/4 of the knock-up duration (0.25 seconds).
E dealing a constant small amount of % max health damage throughout all ranks with reduced base damage per rank. This way maxing it last is an option instead of W -> E -> Q you now have a choice between E and Q. It's also less strong vs squishies as a poke out move but will actually have an effect on tanks. If you level this ability though it will now be strictly for the slow duration.
Passive revive NOT emptying the Blood Well on passive trigger. Instead, he will only lose a % of it based on level, the red being replaced by white. This allows him to keep SOME attack speed upon revive. Probably 50/60/70/80/90/100% of it at levels 1/4/7/10/13/16 (same as when the attack speed increases).
Blood Well constantly empties itself at a rate of 0.5% per second while in combat. When out of combat this increases to 2% per second. Additionally, while using an ability of which's health cost puts the Blood Well over the threshold it will instead only cost the amount the Blood Well needs to be full.
Blood Price bonus damage applying Lifesteal. Currently it is the only bonus physical damage attack modifier that does NOT proc lifesteal.

Win1OcentMay 21, 20154 votes

Who is Aatrox?

Ace Access May 21, 20151 votes

Aatrox "I am Aatrox, the Darkin Blade who ends to dies easily"

MephistophilisMay 21, 20154 votes

Yeah he needs a rework, he can surely find a better place and a strong identity. He's a champion that I like really much and I would love to see him worked into.

Hèntaî May 21, 20153 votes

Elise needs some too ;-;

TerragosMay 21, 20152 votes

I like where Aatrox is at, he is the only jungles I play and so far I'm 7-5 in Rabked when I get stuck in jungle. He is really strong right now, they recently added some nice changed to him in like 5.6 anyway. I love his ult, one of my favorite in the game.

AkesgerothMay 21, 20152 votes

OP: jungle as him, you'll see how strong he is. Start with W and max it first.

ADDENDUM: I am not saying he doesn't need buffs. I'm saying that right now, you should avoid laning as him and that he actually works fairly well in the jungle.

NeoScoutMay 22, 20151 votes

can attest to this

NeoScoutMay 22, 20152 votes

build him ad and reck faces, dont' build him tank

Extreme TrollerMay 22, 20151 votes

wow seriously ? anyone that build him tank is a pure moron lol, i dont think a moron has enough capacity to come to this forum.

Schlachsahne76May 21, 20151 votes

Love playing Aatrox too, but you need to play your lane so safe because almost every other top laner can 1v1 you. Thats very annoying in my opinion. Except his w damage in the early game he isnt that strong. I hope he will get some small buffs soon :( I win with him, yes but i feel like its much easier and safer to pick another Top laner like Sion, Garen or Riven.

Aboylova92May 21, 20151 votes

He needs a rework. His passive for one needs to go. It makes his stats way too poor. Then they need to define what he is. He's this in-between, kind of a fighter, kind of an initiator, kind of a carry champion. At the end of the day, he's just a, meh champion, which is disappointing as I like him. Similar to what they did with Gragas, they need to define what direction they want to take him. Whatever they end up doing though, his base stats need to be raised, as they're just bad, and it really comes down to his passive that's holding him back.

It Hertz When IPMay 21, 20151 votes

Aatrox has one of the most interesting (to me) thematic design that I've seen... just wish that his kit would even vaguely reflect that.

ActualPainMay 22, 20151 votes

I think an awesome way to rework him which is in line with his lore is to make him into a sort of Aura-Support-Fighter, with one, maybe two abilities similar to Sona's (AoE buff/debuff in a radius around him). Change his ability costs and scaling so that there's actually a gold efficient build path for him.

This type of rework could make him ultra viable in an assortment of roles including support. For example: (keep in mind the numbers are pretty much just place holders)

Passive: Blood Well - Keep the attack speed buffer for missing HP, perhaps keep the second life passive as well but I think it is less in line with the rest of my proposed kit. I'm not sure what to replace it with though. Q: Dark Flight - this is one of Aatrox's stronger abilities, I think this one could be kept for initiation/peel of sorts W: Blood Sacrifice/Blood Blessing - Passive: for every 10% missing HP Aatrox has, he grants nearby allies 3/6/9/12/15 (+X% bonus armor & MR) armor and magic resistance (including himself). Active: Aatrox consumes his current Blood Well to replenish his HP by 20/40/60/80/100 (+1 for every point of "HP" in his well) and slows and/or damages enemies in a radius around him. The armor and magic resist aura is not applied while the active is on cooldown. E: Blades of Torment - Aatrox slashes in a cone in front of him, dealing damage and applying grievous wounds to enemies hit. Allies within the AoE cone gain 5/8/12/16/20% decaying movement speed for 2 seconds. R: Massacre - I think his ult is an extremely strong combat buff, I don't have a proposed replacement but I think it could work well unchanged.

I Main SwainMay 22, 20151 votes

can we please make his w no longer slow his auto animation speed? and it's a huge animation slow too, especially if you have max atk speed

Shield VillainMay 22, 20151 votes

Aatrox could use all the help he needs. His scalings are shit, his abilities are meh, his ult is only really good for seizing towers. And I say this as someone who's consistently mained Aatrox.