I don't main Aatrox but I have been waiting for a champ in league that uses the English longsword style. At first he seems fine, but he has glaring issues.
This is going be really long, if you don't feel like reading skip to the summery, This is mainly for rioters. I hope to god the right one sees this. because I really like Aatrox as a champion.
His passive is great: percent damage, extra range, good source of presence when its up (Con: Minions trigger it/ highest CD in the known universe.)
First , when using his q the initial hit box for the Crit/lift makes it almost impossible to land on the more mobile top Laner's like Garen, Udyr, riven, Teemo. anyone with mobility really. Don't even get me started on how low the damage is when landing a q outside the critbox, Its damn near microscopic. Finaly the main point of my grip with his q is that it is literally an anti duelling skill. The claymore and English long sword are weapons that are sleek and deceptive you don't know when a strike or a fake will arise what you think is a block turned into a sharp quick cute form the double edge side. With this rework He telegraphs everything he does, not only are you made to sit in your q for half a second, but its damage doesn't matter in a duel because fast champions just stick to you for the negligible damage of your first two Q's outside the hit box, against 1v1 VS Fiora or Darius or Yasuo, you die before the 3rd q comes out because each Q has a global cast of 1 second. its just weaken's him in 1 v 1 scenarios due to his low damage outside his Critbox and mobility.
(now for the pro: It makes him incredibly snowbally in a team fight the lift can by itself make someone insta deleted, since teammates eat that stuff up. Most Importantly the possibility of high damage and all in an AOE. landing all 3 on more then 3 people in the enemy team ensures you win that team fight.)
Second, His trash W. What is it even supposed to do. with stunes like zoes and pulls like Swaines Aatrox w is straight laughable, it supposed to synergize with his Q but in truth if Fiora gets hit with W the only bad feeling she will get is the one from turning around and beating you senseless because when she walks to the side or towards you even if she realizes you hit her with it 1 second late she still escapes and then duels the hell out of you at top lane, where you will do nothing out side of the excelent passive in damage, even then it has an 18 second cool down at level 3 which literally nullifies it as a reliable source of damage and healing. (Pro: Really sneaky in a team fight good way to make one person in particular who cant run to the side or towards you get caught out.)
Third his e: 20% lifesteal Its so damn busted I could fight lose and as long as I'm not low enough to be pushed out I'm ready to fight again in a few minion hits, but the dash Jesus its bad. About to miss your Q Critbox by a little bit? correct with e so you can miss it by the same amount since it always goes its full length and doesn't cut short the exact distance you need it to. the fact it goes through walls is nice, busted but nice. Why does it have a 2 second CD though does it really tire him out that much doing a little Anime hope that goes nowhere? it would be so much more useful if you could just burn both stacks of his W to really move. (pro: the ridiculous lifesteal makes it so early game you can actually lane against Ornn and Garen. His dash is the only thing stopping his q form being utter useless garbage.)
Fourth: His Ult is pretty fun but it feels like if the enemy ignores you at less then half health and watches the bar under your HP bar long enough it is pointless, since after it expires you gain nothing form it and then one mage just burns his flash (Veigar) and then just makes you the ground you stand on the air you were breathing and the space you were taking up in general just disappear form existence since you have little to no room to build defence items since your kit doesn't reward you for building Armour or magic resistance, its all just HP , damage and lifesteal (pro: it really makes Aatrox feel like a monster, He's like your teams final boss and everyone else is a dangerous AF add.)
In summery, He's really cool as a concept. But bad duelling mechanics low range and mobility. awful conditional cc and low survivability are his downfall. hes not a tank or a duelist he isent even a juggernaut. he just feels like a Jo Shmo with a sword who occasionally turns massive and gets ignored by the enemy team because eventually he goes back to being Jo Shmo.
