@Riot Spent a few days collaborating with Aatrox Mains Reddit on Aatrox's status, here's the output.

tl;dr: Short-term, Aatrox really needs base stat improvements (HP, hp/lvl, attack range), Q cast time/range improvements, and the #1 complaint (by far) was the %bonus AD scaling on Blood Price's health cost. Also came up with multiple ideas for W, passive, and giving Aatrox more reward for landing a good ultimate, though those are probably only good for rework research.

Hello people and Rioters, my name is Essence Thief. Over the past two days I've been talking to the Aatrox Mains Reddit about Aatrox's current status and how it could be improved to a better status. As it stands right now, Aatrox is in a very awkward state of being goodish if mastered, but absolutely abysmal otherwise. In this post I'll be going over what we came up with to try and give Aatrox some love (not trying to get these changes in for worlds, just for preseason). And for the sake of not making things a complete bore, I'll be giving my reasoning in the form of patch notes. Without further ado, lets begin:

Aatrox: Changelog V.3

  **Base Stats:**

~Base HP increased to 558 from 538 ~HP per level increased to 92 from 85 ~Attack Range increased to 175 from 150

<< Other possible base stat ideas include increasing Base AD from 60 to 62 and increasing Base AR from 24.4 to 26.4. I personally think that out of these five at least three should be added, probably the HP ones since Aatrox is incredibly HP-reliant and the attack range since that gives him a slight edge over some other fighters. (Ex. Fiora, Pantheon). The reason for wanting better base stats for Aatrox is quite simple:

_As it stands with Aatrox's kit, he should have the power to be able to sustain and duel his opponents to a good degree. Right now he isn't quite hitting the mark due to how quickly he burns out in both sustained and burst trades. Giving him some more HP and attack range to work with would make things a whole lot smoother for the Darkin's murder spree. _

(In other words, he simply doesn't have the bulk to be doing his damage at the moment without being decimated due to his HP costs. If there's one place that should probably be buffed, it should be his main fuel source.)

  **Dark Flight (Q)**:

~Cast time improved ~Range increased to 700 from 650 ~Becoming airborne/having passive proc'd during the cast will no longer cause Dark Flight to fail.

<< Other **possible **changes include improving epicenter range, Allowing Q to be cast while Aatrox is airborne (Credit to Earthlord Jazz and TheI3igDaddy for this idea) ,and changing Q cooldown to 14 at all ranks from 16/15/14/13/12 since most Aatrox's max it last. Reasoning for this change:

_With the amount of mobility added to the game since his release, your everyday Darkin isn't quite able to pilot himself through ganks and teamfights. Giving him some more flight in his sails and more opportunity to take a risk should make his divebombing all the more enjoyable. _

  **Massacre (R):**

~Now cleanses all CC off Aatrox upon cast. ~Fears all nearby minions upon cast.

Reasoning: _It's an awful moment when Aatrox gets that glorious initiation for a fight only for the Massacre to get cut off with a single bullet. Giving Aatrox a better shot to start the chaos while also making it all the more of a Deadly Flourish should make the slaughter all the more effective. _

This concludes the changelog of changes that would probably be most beneficial to Aatrox in the short term. HOWEVER, the Aatrox mains reddit made something very clear: The bonus AD scaling on Blood Price (W)'s health cost is extremely bad at the moment. From what I've been told it's extremely problematic: Most other fighters are able to build brusier and still be able to do consistent damage (Think Jax, Darius, Fiora here), but with Aatrox building HP + AD actually HURTS him instead of making him bulkier. While I think this was intended, I do believe that it's not required to be as extreme as it currently is. *After a lot of discussion, here are some ideas the reddit came up with for W changes:

~Lowering the Bonus AD ratio (This would subsequently hurt Aatrox's damage, but the idea is that Aatrox would be able to do more sustained damage and be slightly better with less AD, and hence buffing his brusier potential.)

~Changing the W cost from Bonus AD to a % of his current health. I did some math here which I'll put at the end of this post, but tl;dr is that having 3% or 5% (With 10/20/30/40/50 base cost for cleaner numbers/better early) current HP scaling will require 60-70% and 40-50% HP to grant a lower cost, respectively.

~Changing the W heal ratio on Blood Thirst to % Max HP. (I found that 3% gives a decent increase without being too extreme (unless tripled of course), but it does create issues with Aatrox being too good when building tank, so I understand if this one isn't viable.)

Overall I believe Aatrox W needs major changes, but from what I can tell that's probably a long-term issue. We also had a lot of other ideas as well, varying from passive to ult. These included but are not limited to: ~Making passive scale off max HP ~Synergizing passive/ult a lot better ~Granting more reward for landing a good ult/initiation (i.e Attack damage boost, increased damage, movement speed boost, etc.) << This is the big one. ~Allowing W stacks /passive attack speed to fall off 3 seconds after reviving from passive ~Changing E into a more dash-oriented ability Of course, these changes would have to be done in a rework, but I thought it would still be helpful to inform you guys of all of the potential possibilities for an Aatrox rework.

To summarize the changelog above contains the changes me and the Aatrox mains community believe that should be given to Aatrox in the short term to improve his status right now, while the longer term are for rework research for you guys. Aatrox needs changes, it's a fact, and the Changelog shows the reasonable changes that Aatrox mains truly want, excluding W changes which they want with a passion. (Seriously these guys are livid about that health cost) Please don't let all of this work go to waste, I believe some of these short term ideas are fair and can be added at least during preseason. (Also as a foreward, I will be doing this same project with multiple other champions and their respective reddit community, so watch out!)