Aatrox is mechanically flawed....

Düff McWhalen·Dec 2, 2019·4 votes·2,856 views

...and is the definition of what people mean when they say something "feels clunky". Everything he does is so slow and telegraphed, his damage is terrible early despite being billed as an early game champion that falls off, he's countered full stop by /, which are both insanely gold efficient, and his only viable keystone is Conq which he can't even stack quick enough to make use of.

Please please PLEASE stop picking this champion, especially in ranked. He's a trap and freelo for the enemy team. You'd be better off picking Yuumi top lane.

7 Comments

WTBeGirl100EUhrDec 2, 20195 votes

So random fact but Aatrox isn't countered by bramble vest so much because he doesn't AA that much in his combo. I'm also pretty sure that Grievous Wounds applies after he receives the heal from Deathbringer Stance.

Ignoring the mention of executioners, everything else in this post is just objectively wrong. His early damage is very high, Executioners is by no means gold efficient (800g for 15 AD is not efficient - all of the value is in GW). Aatrox does stack Conq quickly enough to make use of it because, surprise, as a drain tank he's about sustained fights and doesn't need to stack it instantly.

Aatrox's abiities are slow but in being slow they create zone control. He has the tools with his W and E to basically guarantee that the majority of his Qs land if his opponent does not use a dash or blink.

He is still strong in the right hands but is actually pretty difficult to play well and with how his pick rate skyrocketed going into the patch because of how good people were saying the new Conqueror was going to be on him (some dissonance from this post) and his winrate stayed stable (although low) it is likely his winrate should climb over the next few days as his pick rate drops.

Tokishi7Dec 2, 20193 votes

{quoted}

So random fact but Aatrox isn't countered by bramble vest so much because he doesn't AA that much in his combo. I'm also pretty sure that Grievous Wounds applies after he receives the heal from Deathbringer Stance.

Ignoring the mention of executioners, everything else in this post is just objectively wrong. His early damage is very high, Executioners is by no means gold efficient (800g for 15 AD is not efficient - all of the value is in GW). Aatrox does stack Conq quickly enough to make use of it because, surprise, as a drain tank he's about sustained fights and doesn't need to stack it instantly.

Aatrox's abiities are slow but in being slow they create zone control. He has the tools with his W and E to basically guarantee that the majority of his Qs land if his opponent does not use a dash or blink.

He is still strong in the right hands but is actually pretty difficult to play well and with how his pick rate skyrocketed going into the patch because of how good people were saying the new Conqueror was going to be on him (some dissonance from this post) and his winrate stayed stable (although low) it is likely his winrate should climb over the next few days as his pick rate drops.

I agree with you moreso. I'm a top main and one of my biggest problem champs is aatrox. In the hands of a good player, he's an insane champ with his pre 6 being just as scary. Like honestly, he buys a kindle gem and tower dives me it feels like lol. Even with grevious on him, usually he's healing so much still it isn't that problematic unless he's group fighting.

RagnaveilDec 2, 20191 votes

His winrate will continue to tank sadly. Long as that passive heals him for 25% on minions, he loses to anything. Long as he doesnt have pen somewhere in his kit, tanks and armor will just shaft his damage as if the minigame zones haven't already. Jag designed the funeral, the balance team created the coffin.

R0ses R RedDec 2, 20194 votes

I won't deny that Aatrox is currently kneecapped, but his damage is not at all terrible. If you land 1 Q, you should be able to land every other Q too. Beyond the damage, Aatrox's trading pattern is somewhat akin to Renekton's. If either hits you, odds are you won't be able to respond. W and E makes landing Q feasible.

Imo, Aatrox's mechanical design is very good in regards to 1v1 BUT broken in regards to Teamfights. If his AoE Q is good enough to smash tanks, bruisers, and juggernuts in the top lane, it's certainly good enough to simultaneously delete MULTIPLE squishes during teamfights.

ImTheJuggernautyDec 2, 20192 votes

[{quoted}](name=R0ses R Red,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ah41taEc,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2019-12-02T07:23:34.827+0000)

I won't deny that Aatrox is currently kneecapped, but his damage is not at all terrible. If you land 1 Q, you should be able to land every other Q too. Beyond the damage, Aatrox's trading pattern is somewhat akin to Renekton's. If either hits you, odds are you won't be able to respond. W and E makes landing Q feasible.

Imo, Aatrox's mechanical design is very good in regards to 1v1 BUT broken in regards to Teamfights. If his AoE Q is good enough to smash tanks, bruisers, and juggernuts in the top lane, it's certainly good enough to simultaneously delete MULTIPLE squishes during teamfights.

Agreed, in fact, it wasn't until after his numerous nerfs that I've been able to reasonably duel aatrox as Darius. Before, I could dodge Q1 and Q2, have GW on something like executioners, have some hp and some armor, and he'd still melt and explode me. He was basically uncounterplayable for anyone not named irelia or fiora or (possibly) urgot during laning phase.

Imagine then, just how devastating he was if he landed the full combo. Now at least, if I manage to outplay him, I have a good chance of being rewarded. Before, if I outplayed him, HE GOT REWARDED. And if he didn't crush me, he'd just lay the trap and run until my bleed stacks went away, then come back and sustain back up on waves. He was essentially near impossible to punish for mistakes, bad trades, etc. Even now, his ult is entirely broken. I actually preferred when he had the revive, because now, he just goes into super sayan mode with INSANE MS BUFF and ZERO COOLDOWNS on Q along with INSANE HEALING BUFF, which means that essentially, you can't chase him if he's at a disadvantage. Literally, I've popped ghost as darius and aatrox would run away even though his dash and W trap were on cooldown. If he isn't at a disadvantage, he just proceeds to smash your face him with almost zero thought, because he knows that if he misses a Q or two or three, he'll have it back up instantly anyway, and his healing is so jacked that he can outsustain any damage besides fiora, vayne (who he oneshots anyway with a single rotation or less) yi, or insane focus fire from the enemy team. And...there is no escape. You can't even kite him in his ult form if you name is vayne, and that says a lot by itself. I've seen a fed vayne ult, tumble, AA 2 or 3 teams, then knock aatrox into a wall, continue to AA, then try to kite back, and during that time Aatrox just pops ult and proceeds to run her down like a dog, and smash her in 2-3 hits with his insane mobility and range (for a melee champ) and aoe CC.

Now, I have no love or sympathy for vayne, absolute disgusting champ, but still, aatrox shouldn't be smashing duelists, juggernauts, tanks, and hyperscaling mobile kite adcs like vayne all at the same time.

One time, I caught aatrox out in a dragon pit, and my jungler xin (and neither of us were fed, but we were doing ok, aatrox was slightly ahead at this point, but not "snowballed) and he proceeded to smash us both in about 3-4 seconds and left with 75% or more hp, even though as darius I had a solid build of hp, armor, and damage. That's pretty insane that by popping ult he basically becomes unfightable in any sense of the word. I'd much rather try fighting an illaoi in the middle of her ult. At least I know I can counter it by running away, even if it means I take a bunch of damage and have to back to fountain.

MrEndsDec 2, 20191 votes

"Please please PLEASE stop picking this champion, especially in ranked. He's a trap and freelo for the enemy team. You'd be better off picking Yuumi top lane."

^ I'm kind of offended... (,_,)

my winrate on Aatrox in ranked is above 55%, tyvm! (I have over 200 Aatrox games in ranked) also his jg is underrated he has insane sustain and clear speed