Aatrox, The Missed Potential
I feel bad for Aatrox, I really do. I've thought he was a cool champ for quite some time, until I decided purchase him somewhat recently. I was wholly disappointed after playing him. I got to mastery rank 4 before I just gave up on him entirely. Aatrox has many flaws without offering much in return. He is marketed as a melee carry, someone to rival the likes of Master Yi, Tryndamere, and Jax, but he gets outperformed by all of them. So I'll summarize him up what I think of him, and you guys can tell me whether I'm full of shit, or if he needs a buff, or maybe just a whole rework.
Lore: Aatrox in his lore is said to turn the tide of losing wars merely by his presence. He promotes a bloodlust in his allies that causes them to fight much stronger than they ever could without him, before diving into the fray and hacking away. In game, he certainly has a habit of spouting off words of inspiration when he isn't reminding you "War is Hell", and he certainly does dive into the fray and happy slap things with his sword. That's where the similarities end, as none of his kit references his ability to bestow bloodlust. This is the kind of thing I'd like to see in an Aatrox rework should they pursue that route, maybe having him focus more on a tanking role.
In-Game: Aatrox's passive is bloodwell, it takes damage that Aatrox inflicts upon himself and stores it in the well. It is a back up reservoir of health, should he go down. After a somewhat lengthy animation when he gets killed, he heals up for all health in his bloodwell and continues fighting. The bloodwell also has the bonus effect of giving him 1 percent bonus attack speed for every 2 percent in the well, capping at a bonus 50 percent. So, when Aatrox goes down and gets back up, he's fighting at a disadvantage, no longer having his extra attack speed to aid him which kind of cripples the passive's usefulness overall. This passive has led to Aatrox being "over-balanced" he has cripplingly low tank stats in the early game to compensate for his second life, his lack of defenses is slightly remedied mid game, but he has to itemize tank stats to over come his issues, lest he be completely useless.
Aatrox's Q is Dark Flight: He leaps into the air and then crashes down at a target location, doing minor damage and knocking up the opponent should they find themselves in the middle of impact. That's about it. He can be CC'd during the leap, canceling his path, and he can clear walls using his jump. It suffers from being an incredibly telegraphed attack, as long as you can see the giant demon leaping into the air, you can safely clear his impact zone by walking left or right. The damage is very small even if you don't completely clear it, and Aatrox makes himself vulnerable by doing this. It lacks the effectiveness of the gapclosers possessed by other melee carries. Namely Yi, Jax, Xin Zhao, and Irelia: who have point and click gap closers and Fiora, whose is on a very short cooldown comparatively.
Aatrox's W is Blood Price/Blood Thrist: Every third autoattack, Aatrox will either do a large amount of bonus damage at the cost of his own health, or heal himself. Both scale off of AD, and the heal is improved if Aatrox's health falls below 40%. So, other than being another three-hit proc skill, something should stand out about this skill. That something being the similarity to Xin Zhao's W. The problem with this is that Xin never has to pick between doing damage and healing, his third auto does both. In Aatrox's favour, he sacrifices the simplicity of both doing extra damage and healing by having more potent versions of both at the price of having to pick between the two of them. This skill is honestly one I really like, and my favourite part about Aatrox.
Aatrox's E is Blades of Torment: Aatrox shoots two blades from his wings that move forward until they converge on one point. Doing magic damage that scales AP and AD and slows. This skill is...really bland. The damage is alright, range is alright, and the slow is alright. It does help Aatrox successfully land his Q, but not too much. The more the game goes on the more negligible the damage becomes and it lacks the potency of Tryndamere, Irelia, Xin and Jax's CC.
Aatrox's ult is Massacre: He pulls in blood from those around them (which doesn't heal him) dealing magic damage that scales with AP and fills his bloodwell by 20 percent for every enemy champ hit. He spends then spends the rest of his time partaking in a worse version of Master Yi's Highlander. Gaining attack speed and attack range for the duration. The damage done by the initial blood drain is fairly impressive, but the extra attack speed and range don't stand out nearly as much.
His entire kit focuses so much on autoattacking, his Q and E lack damage so that he may close the gap just to swing his sword more. Unlike Xin and Irelia, he has to pick between doing more damage or healing with his W and doesn't match up to either in terms of tankiness. His biggest problem is how much he is outclassed by other champions. Any job he could hope to fill could be better filled, making him at best sloppy seconds if all other melee carries are banned. If you want a more damaging carry: Jax, Yi, and Tryndamere will be better. If you want a more tanky melee carry, Irelia and Xin would be happy to take his place.
But this is where I want your opinion: Do you think he's fine as is and I'm actually an idiot? If you think he is underpowered, which would you prefer: A buff to the various aspects of his kit? Or maybe a complete rework of the champion?
