Can some one remind Riot balancing team that they have a champion called Aatrox?

LegendmakerGX·Sep 29, 2016·41 votes·2,536 views

This champion seriously needs a buff or a mini rework, I really don't get why Darius of all top got a rework before Aatrox when he was still find and in meta.

The Rioters who worked on Aatrox design him horribly that it he so plain and nothing special at all. ESPECIALLY his summoner ability. Chances of that summoner ability being even useful after season 4 is nothing now that he should had actually got Sion old ult. That ability gives him a 20% chance of escaping and if you say life steal then don't forget he gets health ever 3RD hit. Totally good Idea that he comes back with little HP but immobile in those 3 sec where enemy can just circle his useless body and kill him.Worst ability ever.

62 Comments

Sahn UzalSep 29, 201614 votes

He'll get his rework in the Divers update. There's a decently high chance Divers will be the next update after assassins ^^

RalanrSep 29, 20162 votes

All this talk of divers makes me worried that tanks are not next.

Sahn UzalSep 29, 20162 votes

a decently high chance

Im personally hoping for a vanguards update :P

TurquoiseYoshiSep 29, 20165 votes

I don't think they will be. Since the subclass introduction, I think that they'll focus on subclasses rather than full classes. The MYMU focused on battle mages almost completely, at least for the major changes. The Assassin rework is focusing on, obviously, assassins, which is actually a subclass of Slayer. So the next one will almost definitely be a subclass.

The tank subclasses are: Vanguards and Wardens. Wardens are in a good spot, nobody has a super outdated kit or is absolute trash despite buffs. The exception is Galio, and he's got a full rework coming. Vanguards are a bit worse, but still good. The only real problems I see are weird similarities in Sej and Amumu. Everyone else is pretty solid on their own, except maybe Skarner.

Now, when you look at Divers (a subclass of Fighters), everyone is old. Many of these champs were made in the very early days of League, and haven't been updated in a worthwhile way since. When you look at champs that may need reworks... there are a few. Aatrox and Eve (although maybe not with the stealth update?) are the obvious ones. They may need bigger work than this can provide them. I could see an Irelia/Xin/Panth trio of updates to make them more different and balanced. I've seen constant complaints over the years about Hecarim, Lee Sin, and Renekton being strong at different times.

RalanrSep 29, 20166 votes

Sorry, when I say tanks I mean the vanguard update.

AbyssphereSep 29, 20161 votes

It's not really true that the mage update was particularly focused on battle mages, let alone to the point of near-exclusivity. The big 6 (7) was Vladimir, Malzahar, Zyra, Vel'Koz, Brand and Cassiopeia, with Annie making 7. You've got 3 battle mages (Vlad, Malz, Cass), 2 burst mages (Brand and Annie, though Riot say Brand is also kind of a battle mage), an artillery mage (Vel) and a disruptor (Zyra) there. The smaller updates went all over the place too, you had every type of mage in there that isn't a support. The mage update had no real defining trait outside of all of the worked on champions being rather immobile and as a result, a general tank update wouldn't be out of line.

That said, Ralanr is right that it's just a vanguard update. Who needs it more between vanguards or divers is a matter of opinion. I agree that divers need it more personally but Riot may not. Interesting thing about the divers is that them having some of the champions most in need of changes is arguably a point against them having a class update. Riot want to give full VGUs to people like Irelia, Pantheon, Evelynn and probably Aatrox, so a class update for this group will miss a lot of people.

Blue Moon WolfSep 29, 20161 votes

It's just speculation atm since Divers were considered with Assassins as to who would go after Immobile Mages. We won't know for sure till Riot officially announces it (which could be months after the Assassin update hits live). Either way, both of them should be worked on this coming year, rest assured. If it doesn't happen for mid season, then it will be before the end of the year at least. I doubt they even have given much thought as to what classes they will work on after those two (though I feel like skirmishers would be one since a LOT of them have been the brunt of much hate, like Fiora Riven MasterYi Yasuo ).

TyroneWatermelonSep 30, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=Tidal Tyrant,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=djguRdBb,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-09-29T09:24:46.770+0000)

He'll get his rework in the Divers update. There's a decently high chance Divers will be the next update after assassins ^^

Just 4 years after his release

DunkinNoobsSep 29, 20164 votes

Meddler has already mentioned that he'll receive some buffs early in preseason. No idea why they're waiting that long but it's still something.

xScarfySep 29, 20161 votes

He will not just receive buffs, Aatrox is up for a rework when they take a look at divers (Aatrox, Irelia, Xin,...). So he will be part of a class update like the mage update or the upcoming assassin update. And its very likely that the diver update will be the next after the assassin update (either them or a tank-subclass).

DunkinNoobsSep 29, 20161 votes

{quoted}

He will not just receive buffs, Aatrox is up for a rework when they take a look at divers (Aatrox, Irelia, Xin,...). So he will be part of a class update like the mage update or the upcoming assassin update. And its very likely that the diver update will be the next after the assassin update (either them or a tank-subclass).

He posted on reddit a while back that they would look to give him a bit of help before then, during early preseason.

xScarfySep 29, 20161 votes

Oh ok, didn't knew about this.

OleandervineSep 29, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Meddler has already mentioned that he'll receive some buffs early in preseason. No idea why they're waiting that long but it's still something.

They're in the middle of Worlds. They are deliberately leaving very large scale balance work out of the patches because most of their energy is devoted to making sure the game is as balanced as possible for eSports. They choose to do this so that largely experimental Balance changes don't send eSports into a volatile mess of OP champions and to prevent single champion domination. coughKalistacough

GayFluffyUnicornSep 29, 20161 votes

BEtter leave experimental balance changes and volatile messes of OP champions to the millions of players working hard and sacrificing time to rank up, unpaid.

ProfDrDeathSep 29, 20161 votes

Actually, Riot's balance team is now more focused towards the coming preseason - the World's patch is already live (6.18, actually) and thus balancing for World's is no longer the team's focus.

ABSINTHEgedSep 29, 20164 votes

Wait.

...RIot has a balance team?

MelledoneusSep 30, 20161 votes

Yeah, they're behind the file cabinets.

barbarianskullSep 29, 20163 votes

What's an aatrox? Oh wait he is that flying caster minion right?

Warlord ZudaneSep 29, 20162 votes

Thinking aloud here: But I wonder how beneficial it would be to add a passive that Aatrox would be immune to Grievous Wounds? Or make it effect him less either as a flat % or scaling by level.

It might not be huge, but then at least his lifesteal base wouldn't be taken away from him.

DunkinNoobsSep 29, 20161 votes

Maybe only during his ult. That sounds reasonable.

ModWulf HelhammerSep 29, 20164 votes

Something like that is precisely why Aatrox is nerfed right now. The concept of a drain tank is inherently unhealthy for the game

FailogSep 29, 20162 votes

Oh yeah, and ADCs like graves that are are better junglers than actual junglers is healthy? Or how about high reward low risk champs who burst you down with very little counter play? There is so much unhealthy and annoying bs. A drain tank that is auto attack based no matter how strong can always be handled with the appropriate use of CC. Its not nearly as unhealthy for the game as you might think. OH, and tank darius? Who does massive damage, not auto attack based, and is hard to kill once he has a few items? Yeah thats healthy right? What a joke. Go back and report to your employer Riot that we aren't buying these likes that shills like you put out on the boards.

ModWulf HelhammerSep 29, 20161 votes

First: Graves is longer really a traditional ADC. He's a ranged bruiser. And isn't a drain tank.

Second: Darius is handled by kiting, and is not a drain tank. He's a juggernaut (and I would advice you look up what that means in LoL)

Third: a drain tank cannot work because in order to function properly, they need to do enough damage to not only sustain themselves from your damage, but also to start fighting back. This leads to them being either massive overpowered in order to function, or underpowered such that they can't actually do their job.

Fourth and finally, saying I work for Riot when I understand something nearly everyone else gets? Real nice Ad Hominem (and even if I did, what would be inherently wrong with working for Riot?)

AirKingNeoSep 29, 20161 votes

Isn't a drain tank

Yes he is.

Tychusfindlay919Sep 29, 20162 votes

To suggest that old darius was fine is moronic. He was god awfully worthless except for being an incredibly fucking obnoxious lane bully to everything that crossed his path.

Captain AishiSep 29, 20161 votes

old darius had his niche as a lane bully that became a really powerful splitpusher and duelist, or could be an anti-dive peeler for poke comps, new darius' design is incredibly unhealthy and in a much worse spot that the old darius was due to that

SpecterVonBarenSep 29, 20161 votes

Yes, and that was better than what he is now which is a overbearing lane bully that scales into a nigh unkillable monster. At least before the rework he fell off as the game went on, now he's till toxic against melee champs AND gets to scale.

LeonLyeSep 29, 20161 votes

[deleted]

LegendmakerGXSep 29, 20164 votes

His ult is pure crap if you ask me sure the 200 damage is nice but the attack speed and range boost is pathetic. XIN zhao can practically do everything aatrox can.

Dextix LTSep 29, 20162 votes

XIN zhao can do everything aatrox can, better.

Fixed it for you.

AirKingNeoSep 29, 20161 votes

The range boost is amazing. Have you even played 100+ games on Aatrox?

MelledoneusSep 30, 20161 votes

Sure, but his ult would be better on literally every other melee because the rest of his kit is garbage.

AirKingNeoOct 1, 20161 votes

Not at all. His Dark Flight would be great if it had 5% HP cost and no delay. His W is fine, just add in % armor pen on his third hit (both modes). His E needs a stronger slow. His passive needs to give 40% AS total instead of 30-50% based on level.

MelledoneusOct 1, 20161 votes

So you're saying his kit sucks, which is basically what I've been saying.

AbyssphereSep 29, 20161 votes

Not saying his ult is good or anything but that kinda makes sense given it's also a range steroid and a vague nuke, plus it has an indirect attack speed steroid in filling his blood well.

Qiy4naSep 29, 20161 votes

Kalista We...I must remember

ShadòwSep 29, 20161 votes

Totally good Idea that he comes back with little HP but immobile in those 3 sec where enemy can just circle his useless body and kill him.Worst ability ever.

That's basically the passive of item 3026 .

So you are basically saying that item 3026 is an useless item too.

This passive is definitely NOT useless, but the reason why you can't just straight buff him.

Lord GalvatronSep 29, 20161 votes

What's a Aatrox? Is it a new item being released with the upcoming assassin update?

LatetotheRaceSep 29, 20161 votes

Just imagine Katarina wielding two aatroxs in both hands.

Weasel KenseiSep 29, 20161 votes

Urgot first, then we can talk.

Prince SatanSep 29, 20161 votes

I have been having some fun and success playing him AP Mid. The E max is nice and the Ultimate does a lot of damage. Some of you should try it.

Solari FortuneSep 29, 20161 votes

They got work planned for Aatrox when they get to the Diver's class update

GigaPubeSep 29, 20161 votes

you have no idea what you're talking about. the only merit to this post is that you bring up a non-meta champion that everyone can sob over not seeing in pro play or high elo games. riot cant do everything at once believe it or not. they reworked poppy and warwick rightfully before anyone because they deserved it over all other champs. now they're doing warwick for a specific single champion hard rework which is also the correct choice above all others. divers like aatrox, vi, xin zhao and other dash-in brawling fighters are getting changed after the assassin rework though

Ozlo ZozoSep 30, 20161 votes

If you don't like Aatrox there are about 120 some other champs to choose from.

Sorakas PantheonSep 30, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ozlo Zozo,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=djguRdBb,comment-id=0015,timestamp=2016-09-30T00:28:51.484+0000)

If you don't like Aatrox there are about 120 some other champs to choose from.

131 other champions to choose from

Gosh DarnSep 30, 20161 votes

Honestly I think Aatrox is the most neglected champion in the entire game. At least Urgot and Yorick have/had defining niches. Aatrox is just a shitty "duelist" AA oriented fighter who will always be outclassed by Fiora, Olaf, Jax, Master Yi, and more.

PiVoRxSep 30, 20161 votes

Aatrox appeared in worlds video, what was kinda hilarious..

LegendmakerGXSep 30, 20161 votes

YO I thought it was only me who realized that too. I saw him I was like wtf? No one had ever even played him in a tournament before so why was he in the video.

AbandonOct 1, 20161 votes

Not just this years but he also made a brief appearance in champ select for Imagine Dragon's PV 'Warriors'. Has Riot been hinting about doing something to Aatrox all along?

AbandonOct 1, 20161 votes

Just brace yourself for when they turn Aatrox into a disgusting piece of o/p trash. I'm crossing my fingers that all goes well and he sits at a balanced state, with a core identity in and around his kit but at the same time, i'm not gonna hold my breath on it.