Thoughts and Discussion: A Darkin General
Can we all agree that Aatrox is kind of a huge mess right now?
~ I want to see Aatrox's living sword to feel like it is actually alive in his gameplay. Right now the only thing about him having a sword that is alive is his ultimate, but it feels more like a steroid than something that is a part of his identity. ~ ~ Do note, this would probably still mean having a melee champion that gains so much range that he feels like a short ranged champion a lot of the time, and that is at least unique for a melee champion. I am thinking his living sword should be his passive slot and his abilities play around this aspect.
~ Put the flight into Dark Flight. Aatrox has wings, so let's implement them to his gameplay, because right now Q feels like a weaker (as it should) Malphite ultimate. ~ ~ I am thinking we should remove the dash element to the ability and make it a two cast ability. First cast causes him to enter flight, gaining bonus movement speed and fly over terrain and enemies for x seconds; second cast will end his flight by causing him to slam down with his sword to deal damage and knock-up enemies below him (pretty similar to how it is now). This would also offer Aatrox very unique ganking routes when played in the jungle.
~ I personally think having Aatrox as a support would be super cool and bad ass having a dark lord type of character and darkin as a support! This fits his lore very well with him leading an army and helping them win the battle, but he does have internal dark motives for this as well which is he wants to stir up blood thirst within those that he helps causing them to desire for more battles and create an all out war! So Aatrox is more of a commander/tactician/master mind behind the operation so it makes sense for him to be more of a support (jungler is usually supporty as well) since this fits support perfectly; make him play in the role that is the master mind for ultimate victory! He wants others to fulfill his need for blood shed as well.
~ Have every ability feel like an active and create some kind of fun element for the player to use. This means remove the toggle W completely for something different, even if it is just a short ranged line skill shot that has a combination of the two toggles. The only thing I like about his current W is the decision making aspect, but there is a much better way to do this even if it involves a Nami heal-like effect where you choose between double nuke or double heal (not saying exact clone of Nami's heal, just using one example where it is a simple ability to use with a decision making process behind it).
~ I do like his sword skill shot (Blades of Torment (E)), and something like this would be cool, it just needs to feel more threatening for hitting a target at the tip of it or something. ~ ~ Perhaps something along the lines of it has three energy ways instead of two, the outside waves start even further out with the third being just a straight line skill shot, each energy wave deals low magic damage and slows with being able to take damage by all three waves and a stacking slow. If they get struck by all three waves, so the very tip of the skill shot where they all converge to one point, they will of course be damaged by all three waves and are stunned instead of slowed. ~ ~ An alternate idea is connecting W+E directly together (which forces minimum 1 point into W to place points into E) where W is a line skill shot and E has a passive that creates an after image for a brief second or two which allows E to be cast. Casting E will cause Aatrox to blink to a (very short range) static location to the right or left (pending on which side the mouse cursor was on) to unleash a "free" (automatic targeting) W cast (so reward for being in your face aggressive) and unleashing two converging energy waves a much greater distance than the physical attacks (energy waves should be magic damage, being hit by a physical sword is physical damage). Each wave deals magic damage and slows, if both waves hit the same target at the same time then they stun it instead of slow it rewarding Aatrox for hitting targets at the point of the sword skill shot; landing a slow or stun will set up Aatrox to help him get off his knock-up from his Q.
~ I like Massacre (R) where it is fitting for an ultimate name, how it feels to use, and fitting for his theme. What I do not like is that it does not deliver at all of what it promises it should do with its name and feeling of power it grants when you press R. I want an ability where when you run into the middle of the enemy team and press R then blood should be shed and an all out war should occur! I am thinking have it deal % current health with some kind of unique utility effect that forces struck enemies to attack OR cannot escape / run away at all until the debuff duration has finished; % current health magic damage to emphasize the ability is to be used at the start of the fight, not at the end.
~ Also, I don't want Aatrox to feel like his core identity is basic attacker, I want him to be more about ability use and his sword comes in play from his core abilities. This may include giving him a low base attack speed and low base attack damage if need be and tune him to deal damage from base damages on his abilities. If we end up going with support/jungle aspect, because this would make him super unique in these positions (especially as support), base values would end up being the emphasis anyways since these positions get very limited amounts of gold most games.
Example kit below, feedback and your own ideas are welcomed and encouraged!
Base Basic Attack Range: 150 units Blood Well: 100 Maximum Blood
Living Sword (Passive): Aatrox's abilities that cost health stores 20 Blood in his Blood Well for 2.5 seconds, this duration refreshes whenever he takes or deals damage, and then decaying at 20 Blood per 0.5 second.
Aatrox gains up to 250 bonus range to his basic attacks and Blood Strike based on how much Blood he currently has. Aatrox's attacks are still melee even at maximum Blood.
At 100 Blood, Aatrox's next ability cost heals him instead of damaging him, this can occur once every 20(-1 per level) seconds. Current health ability costs heal Aatrox based on his missing health.
Dark Flight (Q): After Cooldown: 14/12/10/8/6 seconds; Cost: 10% current health 1st Cast: Aatrox takes flight for the next 4 seconds, gaining 25/30/35/40/45% bonus movement speed and able to fly over terrain and units.
2nd Cast: Aatrox slams down with his sword, ending his flight while knocking up enemies for 0.5 - 1.5 seconds and dealing 40/60/80/100/120(+100%AD) physical damage to enemies within a greater area.
Knock-up duration is based on how much Blood Aatrox currently has.
Blood Strike (W): Cooldown: 2/1.75/1.5/1.25/1 second; Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 health; Range: 300+ / 600 units Aatrox stabs his sword in the target direction, dealing 50/70/90/110/130(+25%AP) true damage, double damage against monsters, and healing nearby allies for 20/25/30/35/40(+2%health)(+30%AP) health.
Every enemy champion struck heals Aatrox for 20/25/30/35/40(+1%health)(+15%AP) health each, struck large and epic monsters for 75/90/105/120/135 health.
Blades of Torment (E): Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds; Cost: 30 + 5% current health; Range: 150 / 1000 units Passive: Casting Blood Strike leaves behind an after image for the next 1.5 seconds, only one in play at a time, allowing Blades of Torment to be cast.
Active: Aatrox can instantly teleport to a static location based on the after image in play, automatically casting Blood Strike for free and unleashing two energy waves that converge to a point, dealing 40/60/80/100/120(+20%AD)(+30%AP) magic damage and slowing by 35/40/45/50/55% for 1.75 seconds. If the same target gets struck by both energy waves at the same time then they are dealt 80/120/160/200/240(+40%AD)(+60%AP) magic damage and stunned for 1.75 seconds.
Massacre (R): Cooldown: 140/110/80 seconds; Cost: 100 Blood; Range: 600 units Aatrox sacrifices his entire Blood Well to draw in the blood of his foes, restoring 20 Blood for every enemy champion struck. All enemies struck are damaged for 18/21/24%(+4% per 100AP) of their current health as magic damage and causes them to be unable to move away from Aatrox by any means for the next 2/2.5/3 seconds, Aatrox can still move away from struck enemies however.