Not ONLY does the Aatrox Victorious Skin look bad but....

Kiwi Lemonade·10/25/2019, 5:07:11 AM·62 votes·16,042 views

I don't think he deserves even gameplay wise either.

Why is he getting it? He has nerfed so much that by the time world's began he was not picked barely ever. Have you seen him in group stages doing well? No he was 33% win rate.

He didn't shake the meta up nor was he a "surprise" to anyone. since every rework you do is absurdly overpowered at their conception which was around the start of worlds; and by the end of it has been nerfed to oblivion. He fits no bill that previous victorious skins typically fill.

Some Victorious skins make sense, Graves, Maokai, Sivir all made their mark on their seasons. Aatrox? Honestly I forgot he existed... pretty much same as pre-rework Aatrox, that honestly at this point I prefer his old version, was fun to play.

Off the top of my head a pick that didn't seem as obvious, hasn't been picked in worlds very often before, and is doing quite well in Nautilus. In fact he hasn't been buffed since 9.8, meaning his success right now is because of the need for him in the meta not because you absurdly buffed him right before worlds. Plus he doesn't have a skin that looks EXACTLY like the Victorious skin theme already and lacks any really good skin and ahem doesn't already have like, a prestige skin already...

Or I don't know, Gragas? 66% win rate in worlds with a 29% play rate, with a nerf in 9.11 and last real buff not since patch 8.7. Not only that, when a Gragas does do well, its usually because of an amazing ultimate that is actually really hype in a worlds scene.

But no. Aatrox "victorious skin". Something tells me that in the final worlds match Aatrox won't even be played. But I am willing to bet we'll see a Gragas or Nautilus, played by the best of the best with some actual hype plays.

So while everyone rightfully is bagging the design of Victorious Aatrox, even if it did look absolutely amazing I do not think Aatrox is a good pick at all for the Victorious skin line, and honestly I'm a bit appalled that you'd waste it like this. Especially when skins like Victorious Elise, Sivir, Maokai, and Graves actually look really nice and I enjoy playing them even if they aren't my favorite champs.

33 Comments

GreenKnight10/25/2019, 6:28:00 AM19 votes

Riot wants to assure us that his rework was worth the money they wasted on him.

Too bad it doesn't fucking work at all.

Koiyaki10/25/2019, 7:49:56 AM16 votes

they choose the victorious skin around spring/summer ish. aka when he was still pick/ban worthy. he had a huge presence for more than half the season...thats why he was giutted.

so its a feeld bad now, but thats just how the cookie crumbles.

MrEnds10/25/2019, 12:06:35 PM12 votes

"Some Victorious skins make sense, Graves, Maokai, Sivir all made their mark on their seasons. Aatrox?"

aatrox was dominating pro play for a very long time i think he definitely made his mark.

also you reallllly hate aatrox, dont you?

The Volcano10/25/2019, 5:40:51 AM6 votes

They pick it sometime in spring and he was performing well around that time.

GelsominoKiller10/25/2019, 3:21:22 PM5 votes

Aatrox still is, by far, the champion with highest presence in proplay in all competitions, except for the latest nerfs that removed him from the scene.

Even now, he is literally the only choice that makes sense, almost obligated.

Worst JG Wins10/25/2019, 9:05:59 PM5 votes

Wait there are people that don't see how insanely OP Aatrox is?

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

LightswornLance10/25/2019, 6:41:02 AM4 votes

The thing is they didnt JUST now start designing it. They likely chose Aatrox and had the design in place weeks or even a month before worlds first game was played. Had Aatrox not been nerfed he would be played alot in worlds I can guarantee you.

Daddy Ants10/25/2019, 10:29:13 AM3 votes

The only thing Aatrox did was make S8 worlds less entertaining than watching paint dry.

Every single game was Aatrox vs Urgot.

FSRER10/25/2019, 6:22:27 PM3 votes

Would it be that hard to ask Aatrox mains or the playerbase to choose his victorious skin design, like they did with the Illaoi skin (that nobody remembers anyways)?

Baby Ghoul10/25/2019, 11:22:14 PM3 votes

I do understand their reasoning why he was picked. I don't think they could ever troll us harder than Victorioius Mao'kai.

Victorious skins are picked very early in the season, and around that time Aatrox was all that anyone was talking about. Riot thinks it's because people loved him, but really it was because we hated how broken his new design was. Aatrox fans weren't happy, especially now that he's joined the list of champions that are too broken to be viable for solo queue, and the rest of us certainly weren't happy that we were getting stuck with another 'must first pick or ban' champion that Riot loves to release.

Picking Aatrox was a slap in the face to us all and proves that they don't pay attention to what we say.

That's why I'm annoyed with. I've been getting Gold since season 5 for rewards. The reason I did that was because I looked at the Victorious skins for Elise and Morgana and really loved them. Lately their Victorious skins have been crap in comparison to those, so I don't know why I bother anymore. I pretty much expect all the Victorious skins to be pretty meh now, but I wonder how such an obvious mistake got past several stages of people. That skin objectively looks like Justicar Aatrox, and that's a big oof on the part of the design team.

Gentleman Yasuo10/26/2019, 5:18:10 AM2 votes

Victorious Akali would of been cool.

Timesz10/25/2019, 7:29:58 PM2 votes

In the Ask Riot for Victorious Skins, rule 5 states that if they have any major balance changes they wouldn't be eligible.

On May 1st, 2019 patch 9.9 was released with a bunch of changes, and was immediately hotfixed, and continues to be a balancing hassle to this day. Quick notes:

  1. P: No longer reduces healing/shielding by 40%, 25% healing off minions rather than 100%*, now reduces Q's CD on auto and tipping.
  2. E: Single charge, removed AD steroid, longer CD*, more sustain.
  3. R: Removed revive*, amps self heal only*, reworked in 9.9, Duration changes, Bonus AD changes

* From later (Except E, the Longer CD was from end of 2018).

I have no opinions on Victorious that haven't already been voiced, but I believe he was the wrong choice. He was highly volatile in the summer split because he was a super safe top-laner that had great sustain, a get-out-gank free card via revive before and post 9.9 and easily proc'd the over-tuned Conqueror's rune. He was THE champion to be abused by pros and in soloQ. I can't think or remember a time Aatrox during the pro scene actually did something cool or defining because he's just become Renekton. You've seen one Aatrox, you've seen them all.

They always preach that W/L and P/B don't mean anything for balance unless it's severe so it's shameful that the Victorious this year was defined solely on the fact he was P/B'd for the entire summer split because he was toxic to fight against.

The most I've seen a Aatrox do this summer split is kill deny, out-sustain, and run away like a coward for 3 seconds while he revives.

Tim From Work10/26/2019, 1:01:15 AM2 votes

Honestly you’re delusional if you think Aatrox wasn’t an important pick leading to worlds and they choose the skin well before worlds because they have to develop it

Wild Geese10/26/2019, 4:44:07 AM2 votes

I know he was doing well in the spring, but why didn't Riot know this was 100% due to his numbers being absolutely broken and not his ability to make big plays, play skill, or do anything actually interesting? They must had known because they gutted him soon after that time. He was only allowed to exist because of his numbers, the exact thing his rework was supposed to change about him.

Should be renamed from Victorious Aatrox to Failure Boris.

Metallikaiser10/25/2019, 9:04:14 PM1 votes

Ah, so the same questions asked over Graves in Season 8 despite the answer being clearly highlighted since. They already settle on the skin long before worlds starts, its based primarily on spring where he was undeniably the dominant toplaner, and in fact I would be hard pressed to think of a toplaner that was as present as him, he seems like the obvious choice if they wanted to do a toplaner, now that said, I can agree that it perhaps shouldn't have been a toplaner.

Thank you for atleast admitting to some bias born of being an Aatrox rework hater though.

Meme God Shrek10/26/2019, 12:27:12 AM1 votes

I think the new Aatrox would be fine if they just went back to how he was a dozen or so patches ago and lowered some numbers.

Previously his passive reduced healing and shields instead of being a discount GotU, he had 2 charges on his dash and it briefly gave him bonus AD. And of course his ultimate gave him a revive on take down rather than just being "gain AD, lifesteal and MS" like a knock off Riven ult.

What we have now is a stripped down, bland bundle of stats that heals when it does literally anything. Riot chose to take the lazy way out instead of keeping the Aatrox rework actually interesting and needing to use more than 2 brain cells to make it balanced.

Ahri Baka10/25/2019, 8:11:14 PM1 votes

Well that's what you think , I'd assume you are someone who didn't play the game much. In my experience Aatrox is one of the champions I faced the most even with the nerfs, He is by all means far from being forgotten, Hell I still even see him sometimes going 1v5 and winning in streams and daily highlights , Hashinshin still plays him a lot.

So yes, Aatrox is one of the champions that deserved the Victorious skin , even more than Orianna in season 8 , like who the hell even remembers Orianna in season 8? She is the champion that you could say that you forgot she exists.

Retry10/25/2019, 9:40:19 PM1 votes

I think it looks nice : )

BigfootNamedYeti10/25/2019, 10:02:48 PM1 votes

I may be one trick, but Leona deserved it. Or Brain or Thresh. Give it to a damn support.__