Some thoughts on improving Aatrox

IMO his big issues right now:

• Too one note on his Q being all of his damage (creates binary match ups)
• Not really much of a niche, he's just there but he's good.
• Kit isn't very synergistic because of his clunky caster nature combined with his unfitting revive ultimate, making him very reliant on his team for a supposedly and bad in SoloQ

I think what I would like to propose is something like this:

Passive grievous application scales from 40% to 80% healing reduction (Strong anti healer niche). Let its cooldown decrease with levels.

• Raise his AS.

• Reduce his Q's damage greatly but make the first two hits complete faster. Move the AD gains from his E to this spell. Deemphasizing his Q but still making it necessary to use the spell correctly to maximize your damage. This also lets him focus on using E solely for repositioning rather than using it as a cheap stat stick. Keep the delay on his third and maybe make it his primary knock up as well; turning the first two hits into mere slows would make his 3rd hit a more conscious and rewarding decision. I'm aware it's an inelegant solution considering his W already slows.

• Maybe change his E to heal for a % of his health on landed sweet spots and passive procs. Incentivizes him more into Juggernaut-like play patterns and builds.

• Change his R to the revive stacking through damage Aatrox deals. Every time he hits a champion or large monster, he adds a charge to his ultimate; basic attacks give you one, spells that land and passive procs give you more, and sweet spots give you three. Better agency is a big SoloQ buff because Aatrox has to do more than simply wait on a timer, and in return he relies less on his teammates stalling to keep him up for the revive to pop.

Making him more AA/combo based and using it more also helps shift him off his cheesy meta pseudo assassin playstyle and makes him require a little more engagement in trades and teamfights with a stronger reward for being more aggressive.

I think that this would be a good way to help make Aatrox both less bad and more functional as a champion if his damage pattern gets spread out more and he becomes more of a raid boss like his fantasy implies.