Devourer, 
, Runic Armor, and new Warlord's were all pretty nice additions for him.
offensive or 
defensive are also pretty good items.
He may not be perfectly viable yet, as his biggest flaw is that his build is still kinda expensive. But 
isn't all that bad as of 6.4.
Dreadlocks19 votesHis kit is fine, his numbers are bad. He is forced to basically build full damage to scale into late game, but because he is a melee he has to build defensive items if he doesn't want to get bursted. Ultimately leading him to only being decent at split pushing. RIP
Beuhlakor10 votesHis kit is not "fine".
His kits is obnoxious as hell because of how overloaded it is. Revive, multiple in-built AS steroids, heavy sustain, ranged magic burst (that fall off hard lategame but is very good in early and midgame) and AD sustained damages and an AOE knock-up.
Not only is his kit not coherent at all (building items on Aatrox has always been a pain in the ass because of how little flexibility you have) but because it is overloaded as hell, all his abilities are average or else he would be broken OP both in toplane and in jungle.
And btw, Aatrox has never been bad. He has been "average" for a very long time but that's it.
Dreadlocks7 votesCompared to other champions in this game, i don't see how its kit is different in terms of being "overloaded" Compared to someone like Olaf, they have similar tools except Olaf can be immune to CC and passively has armor/mr on ult. Aatrox gets a revive. I'm not going to compare him to every bruiser in the game, im simply stating that they do have similar qualities and Olaf is an old champion.
Beuhlakor6 votesBy overloaded, I mean that Aatrox has everything a melee would want on paper :
_ hard to dive / can dive because of his passive.
_ AA-based champion that has 2 AS steroids.
_ hybrid damages making building against him a bit of a pain in the ass in lane and midgame.
_ burst and DPS.
_ sustain.
_ a ranged slow
_ a gap-closer with a knock-up.
Now we all know that he is far from being broken or even strong because his scaling is quite low and his base stats are terrible of course, but you get the idea.
If you want another overloaded kit on paper, take a good look at 
:
_ a gap-closer with a reset on it.
_ easy last-hiting.
_ hybrid damages (true damages, magic damages, physical damages).
_ sustain.
_ passive tenacity.
_ a slow/stun.
Irelia's kit is just as overloaded as Aatrox's. She is not broken too. But what I want to emphasize is that their kits are both so overloaded that except QoL buffs (like Aatrox's W toggle even while being CC etc), you can't really buff them in a way or another unless making them massively OP.
For example, Aatrox's is quite susceptible to kiting. If Riot decided to make his Q non interruptable, it would be a massive buff because it would be far easier for Aatrox's to stick to a target and therefore, to perma-sustain on it with AA and being really really really annoying to take down in every single fight. It's just an example of how a "small buff" can make a champion with an overloaded kit incredibly stronger indirectly.
Dragonlord71374 votesif they just fixed a even a few bugs on 's Q it would be a huge buff. If you take damage or get slowed during the flight you will occasionally stop, do no damage and possibly not be able to move. I've only witnessed most these bugs second hand but they are funny.
Dreadlocks6 votesI get you are naming everything that Aatrox has in his kit... but i could do that for almost any champion to make them sound overloaded..
ForeverLaxx4 votesI really don't think you know what an "overloaded" kit is.
BoilTheOil1 votesho you wanna know over loaded here it is 
he is a tank assassin adc bruiser burst damage champion
Spacesuit Spiff1 votesHe has some abilities that are really strong on paper but they dont work together, so he gets kept weak. He'll probably be kept like this until a rework, and im ok with that bc hes a bit of a failed experiment kitwise
Cosmic Warper1 votes[{quoted}](name=Red Rengo,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UBp1LVEm,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-03-05T19:11:00.927+0000)
His kit is fine, his numbers are bad. He is forced to basically build full damage to scale into late game, but because he is a melee he has to build defensive items if he doesn't want to get bursted. Ultimately leading him to only being decent at split pushing. RIP
I honestly think his kit isn't fine and is left intentionally weak so that he isn't an obnoxious drain tank. His kit has extreme similarities to other melee carries and not enough to really differentiate himself other than maybe his Q and passive.
Dreadlocks1 votesBut if his numbers were tweaked then he would be fine. His kit is unique and personally i have a lot of fun playing him.. He's just like you said weaker than many other melee carries who can do his job better.
Guy Fox Teemo1 votesIdk, I generally go my "Tank Trox" build.
+ Grasp of Undying (Helps with duels)
And do really well, going full damage , generally doesn't work out in the end, since you get CC"d so fast, and bursted to quickly to get your damage and heals off.
HandheldBrandon1 votesI find this really ironic because this is what people want to happen to Fiora.
Granted Fiora's Kit is uber more powerful but this is generally what people want to happen to her and Yi.
TendajiX1 votesAatrox's kit is bad because it lacks specialization. He's good at everything, but not great at anything in particular. Riot intends to make some changes to him eventually to give you a reason to pick him in a specific situation over someone else.
Lugg7 votesAatrox isn't near as bad as people say he is. I see mains on him carry all the time.
It seems anymore that if a champion isn't OP they are garbage.
charcharmunro8 votesWell, I think it's because of just how feast or famine he is. Either he just carries the whole damn team, or... Doesn't really do much.
Lugg2 votesHe is a little on the binary side, but that's ok. He isn't nearly as bad as some of the other champions that are binary.
Anidan2 votesThat's how it is on any game that people try to min-max their effectiveness. Fighting games, racing games, RPGs, RTS, etc.,
Sounds like a case of if you're not the best then you're the worst. Min-maxing is the beginning of stagnation (in games), in my experience because everyone likes winning so they're going to use the best statistical advantage they can get, even if it means doing the same thing 100 times in a row, against other people who are also doing the same thing 100 times in a row for the same reason despite the fact we're not professional players so that shouldn't matter as much to us.
Lugg1 votesI was guilty of that too. I'm pretty competitive but I am learning to just play champs I like. It doesn't matter if they are on the UP side, if you are good with them, you will win most games. Plus I like the challenge of winning with a disadvantage.
iainB855 votesHe's still an extremely binary and boring to play champ IMO.
INoble KnightI4 votesEvery Aatrox I see builds AS Life Steal and it takes at least 3 people focusing him to actually kill him. He's broken in the sense that if he gets a little strong he becomes unstoppable real fast because you simply can not kill him without heavy focus
Azteryz2 votesi wish the new warlords bloodlust worked on his w
EcchiOtakuTM2 votesAll aatrox should get is:
Q-Change the trajectory so it's all one smooth movement(Will still be a dash just quicker) (QoL)
W- When toggled on aatrox additionally deals half of what lifesteal heals as damage in an AoE around himself.
E- Changed to physical damage.
morris12 votesAll at once would be a significant buff, though you do have a point with the clunkiness of his Q and E and his dependance of Blood Thirst over Price.
EcchiOtakuTM1 votesYea but while it might be a good maybe even significant buff, I still would like them to try it out on PBE at least cause Q and E are just QoL changes mostly while the buff to W being on would change aatrox's build a lot.
LilxPaprika1 votes
is good on him too. with it you don't even need lifesteal items imo, warlords is good enough.
but its hard to argue against devourer.
Dragonlord71371 votesI just want then to fix a few more bugs with his Q. there are times when you get knocked up and can no longer move or get knocked back INTO turrets and terrain then have to jiggle out slowly, also certain slows and interrupts have really weird effects like preventing him from moving and doing damage during his Q or locking his visual in the air. He was even disabled for a while after someone recorded the bug where you fly off the map.
PolarTroop1 votesI have always liked 's design and enjoyed his play style. Some one recommended a tank build, and I was amazed. , , , 
, not even fair if they can kill you, your passive saves you.
Hard4Hamsters1 votesI really don't think that is a very good item. It's a lot better than it was initially, but I don't really see any champs make great use out of it. It seems good on paper, but Aatrox has pretty poor scaling and would want significant auto-attack modifiers for his damage rather than high AD and CDR that would benefit a Caster-type AD. The only real reason to get this item would be for the passive, and not the one that gives healing on physical damage either, given that nearly half of his damage in a game is magic damage. He likes the reduction in burst damage with the 'bleeding' passive and can make significant use out of the healing passive, but not until he has other items such as Hydra or BoRK in his inventory already.
I really wish Death's Dance felt stronger than it currently does, but I don't see a reason in buying it over Hydra, BoRK, or even Rageblade as a first item. By the time you would want to get Death's Dance, you would probably want more defensive based items like Hexdrinker, Sterak's, Spirit Visage, or Deadman's Plate to deal with burst damage as they give more effective HP and passives that synergize well with him.
ForeverLaxx1 votesThis might be a symptom of the surrounding bruiser items creating a stronger overall build that Death's Dance doesn't fit in to. I've appreciated the burst reduction of Death's Dance more than once on Quinn, letting me survive nukes, kill the offender, then lifesteal off minions to survive the DoT portion of the passive.
Unfortunately, as stated, the bruiser itemization is pushing this one out of the light. Maw is better against magic burst and Steraks is better against general burst. DD works better for skirmishers and extended fights, of which League doesn't have much of outside of the lane.
YOLO420SWAGSCOPE1 votes
Penta Penguin1 votesDD on Illaoi, is doing it wrong supremely, all of her damage is AOE, you'll benefit more from the AD+HP items since your tentacles will heal %Max HP
TacB VIPEREYE1 votesAatrox has been strong for a while now, He used to be my "safe top laner" Get a BOTRK and hydra build tank and delete carries and clutch 1v3's. He's powerful in the right hands.
Boulderox1 votesThis, was called and is showing https://youtu.be/77-_X8j2eFw
sp4411 votesI get the feeling that one day, without warning, Aatrox is going to become a fucking nightmare that completely dominates every game and is a pick/ban at LCS.
Quepha1 votesYou don't seem to realize that when he becomes viable again he will become oppressive at the same time and Riot will have to nerf him.
Troll for Trump1 votesMake his R great again!
It never was THAT good, didn't really fit his thematic. The range and attack speed are insane, but it just feels like a Renekton/Nasus ult instead of him going into some sort of blood frenzy
EndlessCycle1 votesHis health costs just feel too high whereas someone like Mundo doesn't even pay attention to his health costs after like level 5.
GorillaBearz1 votes"Aatrox is actually slowly improving." Meanwhile his win rates have slowly been dropping the past few patches. However I definitely agree with you, just seems weird that his win rates are lower then before
Frius1 votesnever count on item changes to make char op count as champ without items or standard dont expect a perfect item.
Hayaishi21 votesRage blade is busted on him. You dont even need lifesteal with visage.
Ludovico1 votesI really like Aatrox, but that Q animation is simply too much -.- . What good is a engage/disengage when it is THAT unreliable? It just feels frustrating as the Aatrox player...
FantasySniper1 votesEhh.
is awesome for him, but to really contribute, he's forced to build super-hybrid-exploit-tank that 
and even 
do better at anyways.
