It is extremely frustrating to see what Aatrox has become compared to what he was.

I know, there are quite some threads expressing dissatisfaction with the VGU that Aatrox has received, but as a player who mained him since he came out and has a second account called "Aatrox is death" in which only a certain champion is played, I have to voice my concerns. There are a couple of aspects I would like to focus on, which are the core aspects that might have driven us Aatrox players into playing him despite anything, basically what makes Aatrox well, Aatrox.

Gameplay:

-His kit feels completely unlike previously. His core gameplay was based around two major factors: lifesteal sustain and empowered autoattacks. Aatrox was a champion that was based around hitting the opponent hard and fast, and triggering his passive to hit harder and faster and when health started to be lower, using the w to sustain yourself drain tank style to last longer in battle than your mediocre tank stats would have hinted that you could. Now while I understand that the sustain part of his kit was problematic in itself and extremely hard to keep in check, his autoattack focused nature was a different beast altogether. Shifting the focus away from this basic attack nature to a caster similar to riven completely changes how the champion feels to play, it is an entire different champion altogether.

Lore:

-Aatrox was an entity simlar to a dark god that could manipulate entire nations into massacres while they believed to be doing the right thing as they bloodlusted for death in the heat of battle. It is something that was not previously explored, the duality of paying whatever price necessary for power in a battle or for survival as a nation. Us Aatrox players admired his influence over the populus and questioned wether he did good or evil, being able to analyze from the perspective of whoever he had rallied with, their enemies or observers. His Justicar skin showed how he was viewed when he appeared by his allies. He has lost this identity now in favor of a much more diluted powerful warrior, which is something much harder to look up to coming from his previous self.

Identity:

-This one is arguably the one that hurts the most. Aatrox never lost his calm. Aatrox always had complete control over the situation and his emotions. He never displayed arrogance or lose his temper. We loved Aatrox for his character, which also was extremely unique in the league roster. He was a cold manipulator even when thirsting for blood and causing the greatest of massacres. Now he has grown arrogant. I canot express how painful the change in character is for someone who grew to love his previous self. "I know what lurks in the hearts of men". He was the one in complete control before, now he is just there trying to find arrogant retorts.

Thank you for reading. This is just my opinion as an Aatrox player and while I understand the need for a rework, I do not understand the need to make a completely new character. I will try him out once he comes out but it will probably feel like a new chamion completely.Maybe a good champion, maybe a fun champion, but this reworked champion is definitely not Aatrox.