Here's a radical suggestion: Why not SWAP the entire kits of Xin Zhao and Aatrox?
Old Aatrox wasn't good for balance. That's just the way it is. That's why he needed a rework. So calling for a revert isn't going to happen... But it is a little strange they opted to make him entirely ability focused when before he was an auto-attacker. . .
So what if they completely swapped the current kits of Xin Zhao and Aatrox, since Xin was always the balanced version of Aatrox's major mechanics? Hear me out:
#The similarities between old Aatrox and the current Xin Zhao are astonishing
Both were auto-attack based divers, so there's no conflict of class or playstyle there. And even among all auto-based fighters, their kits were the most similar Here's a chart showing each aspect they shared, along with the ability that aspect was on:
|----------------------------------------------
(old) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 
(current) |
|-
|------------------------AS Steroid: Passive and R| E |
|---------------------------Knock-up: Q| Q |
|----------------3rd-hit damage: W| Passive |
|-----------------------3rd-hit heal: W| Passive |
| Dash with AoE damage: Q| E |
|---Piercing, ranged slow: E | W |
Aatrox's passive and Xin's ultimate served essentially the same purpose-- keeping them alive longer to continue auto attacking.
But it goes even further than that. The active abilities were similar or identical in most of their numbers as well: Aatrox's dash, his Q, had a 13-11s cooldown and 650 range . Xin Zhao's E has a 12s static cooldown and the same 650 range. And their slows were 900 and 1000 range, with 1.5 and 2s durations on a 50% slow, and identical cooldowns. It actually seems like a lot of the balancing done for old Aatrox used Xin Zhao as the reference, then later Xin Zhao's new W used Aatrox's E as reference.
But even with all these similarities, Xin Zhao always thrived when auto-attackers were powerful while picking Aatrox was scraping the bottom of the barrel. The way Aatrox's W worked for most of his existence made it so he always either had enough sustain for the heal to matter and not enough damage, or enough damage but not enough sustain to pay for the cost. And we saw how this culminated in a completely broken ability when Conqueror was added on top of the somewhat-recent removal of that cost-- he became a high-priority pick even in pros and performed far too well for the simplicity of his playstyle.
Xin Zhao, on the other hand, with a kit nearly identical in so many ways, has always been fairly balanced. Even at times when he was considered overpowered, he didn't perform too much better than every other auto-based fighter. When he was overpowered, it was more the fault of item changes for the class making everyone overpowered than the champion himself (such as the Sated Devourer era).
#The most obvious disparity: where they were played Obviously, Aatrox was mainly played at top lane and Xin Zhao is primarily a jungler. And I think I've figured out why this is the case. It's not because Aatrox was better at top lane than Xin Zhao would be, but rather that despite having such a similar kit, Aatrox couldn't perform anywhere near as well in the jungle. The fact Aatrox's W was a toggle meant you had to choose between a fast clear that killed yourself or a healthy clear that took way too long. Xin Zhao, on the other hand, gets both the damage and the heal simultaneously. He far outclassed Aatrox's clear no matter what W Aatrox chose to use. So because he couldn't be anywhere near as efficient a jungler as his similar counterpart, Aatrox was forced to top. Which wasn't entirely a bad thing. Aatrox players learned to use his revive for cheesy dives, something Xin Zhao couldn't do. And the fact his dash isn't targeted means that where Xin's E makes him better able to perform ganks, Aatrox was better able to escape then-- albeit his W's poor functionality means he had to do that instead of using what should've been enough sustain to turn around such fights.
So while he wouldn't be played at top any more (since he'd just go jungle like Xin does), he'd see more success overall, the same way Xin for the majority of Aatrox's lifespan saw more success. Xin Zhao in his current state is essentially what a reworked, auto-based Aatrox would've looked like if we didn't already have Xin Zhao.
#(My favorite part) Ability visuals and how we explain them It's a happy coincidence that the new Aatrox works the way he does. Did anyone else think, "why does his sword have a sweet spot? That's not how swords work." Well, you know what does have a sweet spot at the end of the weapon that would logically deal more damage than the area closer to the weilder? A SPEAR. So many aspects of Xin are so perfect for this kit, I'm actually giddy typing them out. For the Q, the animation could go:
- 1st cast- something similar to the downward slam Xin currently does on crits
- 2nd cast- a sweep like he does for his W, albeit wider and further out
- 3rd cast- leaps into the air like Aatrox does currently, and stabs downward with his spear, creating a shockwave--- Since Xin is J4's teacher we could even say that Xin Zhao's use of this particular move is what inspired J4 to make it his ultimate, as an homage to his master.
For the W, it could be a callback to Xin Zhao's days in Noxus, where he was chained and forced to fight in the arena. Of course, it and his Q's hitboxes would have to be a color other than red, and a basic iron chain color would fit perfectly. And it fits well with his one-on-one mentality, forcing the opponent to stand and fight him.
The E's dash is fine, and in fact Xin's personality trait of generally focusing on one opponent at a time meshes much better with only healing against champions than Aatrox's maximum-destruction personality.
The way the ultimate functions now is actually perfect, too. Since Aatrox doesn't go into stasis to revive, just hobbles around for a bit, we don't need to say that it's a revive. Remove the flying, and it can be called something like Demacian Might (a play on Darius's Noxian Might), and he'll build up a resource bar of Justice that glows yellow when it's ready to grant him the maximum heal and restore his strength (technically a "revival" but not from death, just from being downed)
As for the passive, there are several different stances that can be taken with a spear to show he's going to use it. And being stabbed with anything works for what the passive does.
For Aatrox becoming Xin though, there's a lot less explanation needed. He'd simply do everything Xin does, but with his sword. They could use his current passive's mid-combat animation for the third hit. A short sweep and stab work perfectly fine with a sword of that size.
The biggest issue comes with the ultimate, but it also presents the biggest opportunity for keeping him on-model. For the initial knockback, the animation would be him opening up his wings and lifting into the air, and for the duration ranged attacks from too far away are blocked by air pressure of his wings (as an explanation, though the animation would just be him flying).
I really do think this would be a perfect fix, and if you read the final subheading I think you'll agree the animation changes would work perfectly for both champions. I don't think it'd ever happen, but it'd be a neat way to sate the people still begging for an Aatrox revert, while opening up the gates to make changes to the new kit that don't need to coincide with the demonic theme-- 'cause he'd be Xin Zhao, not Aatrox.
