Analysis on Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatrox

Let's be real here, barely anyone in this game knows how to play this guy. People say "He isn't viable, his skills channel too long, he takes too much damage, his e and w are crap!" aaaaand.... their kind of right. However, I know a little bit on how to play him way better, what can I say, I am full of freaking ideas! https://i.imgflip.com/2lqdjr.jpg Seriously, he has been already reworked after years... since a few months ago... and now people don't care about him much anymore, because now he looks like something straight from devil may cry (featuring dante from devil may cry) but they should, he can be actually pretty good if you know how to time and predict things right.

Moveset: Starting off is with his passive, deathbringer stance, which enhances the range and damages of your next basic attack and applies reduced healing and shielding, which can be very good, but it would be better if the passive didn't take SO LONG TO COOLDOWN!? I mean, it's my perspective but whatever riot... His q is the darkin blade, which is his main source of damage, and can be a huge threat to the enemy top laner early game. Each cast of his q up to three times has different animations + hitboxes, there is a sweet spot on each cast that does extra damage and a knockup. The first cast is similar to a kayn w, the knockup zone being the tip, the second cast being similar to camille's sweeping attack, with the zone being the outer edge, and the final cast being similar to aatrox's old q, with the knockup zone being in the center, his damage also magnifies with the ability each cast for each of those three casts, you need to time everything just right to deal a lot of damage, and is the main think you should always max first. Aatrox's w is a portable thresh q, he makes a fissure skillshot damaging the first enemy hit. If it hits an enemy champion, it damages them and makes a zone around them, if they do not leave it after a few seconds, they are pulled back to the center, taking damage yet again. His w can personally be used for moving your opponent into position for a sweet spot on your q, as it is quite effective in that aspect. His e is umbral dash, passively he gains healing for all damage he does, actively, he dashes a very... very... VERY short distance (that somehow can go through walls) and temporarily enhances his damage. His e dash sucks, I am going to point that out, instead of engage or escape, what you want to do with it is repositioning yourself to lock the sweet spot of your q onto the enemy champion or team, also making you deal more damage due to the attack damage increase with the e dash, thank god riot made him allowed to use this while casting his q. His ultimate is devil trigg- WORLD ENDER. He grows wings and becomes a big boi, in big boi mode he gains extra movement speed and attack damage, also gaining a blood well. If he dies while in this mode, he revives with a percentage of health based off how filled his blood well is, which can be very helpful against champions like tryndamere, zillean, olaf, any champion who just won't die? Also, he can walk while reviving... what the heck.

Playing Aatrox: Aatrox actually does take a lot of skill for sounding as simple as that, you need a lot of predicting and reflexive counters, mainly with your q and e. For fighting an enemy champion, always use your q and land your sweet spots if possible, if you think it will miss the sweet spot, ALWAYS try using your e to reposition yourself to land it, better to get extra damage than none. His w is mostly used to keep the enemy champion from escaping, it actually works effectively on champions who are slow or don't have a dash or blink. Finally his ultimate, most people tend to use it to think he can be a god at everything in team fights, but that does not work that well at all... Instead, use your ultimate to make sure you can stay alive for a comeback against the enemy champion, or for a towerdive if the enemy champion is low, since his w and his q has fairly decent range for towerdiving, even if you die under turret but revive because of your ult, you can walk out of its range while reviving, he is a literal godly towerdiver.

Leveling and builds: Aatrox's Q is something you should ALWAYS max first, it actually does a fair amount of damage, especially in the sweet spot. Max your w next due to having a little more damage but not a lot? Then your e last since the increase of lifesteal you get for upgrading it is very small, and levelling it doesn't increase the damage increase from your e active, I wish it did. For builds, think of it, if Aatrox takes so much damage, even as tank, then why not this. Give Aatrox these following items: , , , , , . Let me discuss why, first off, bork not only gives him more lifesteal but by the fact he can deal enemy hp scaling extra damage also helps, especially with his passive, you still need to be a little tanky, even in team fights, so sterak's and gargoyle are the way to go, besides, when you ult it makes you ULTRA BIG BOI. You also need black cleaver for more damage and health, and of course you need boots, then death's dance to hold aatrox in team fights for quite well as long as you keep hammering hard. Other reasons for this build? I don't know, more hp, damage, cdr, it all helps with aatrox. Hp works very well for him since his ult does max hp scaled healing (based off blood well), cdr so you can non stop spam his q, and ad because... you get the idea, and black cleaver and bork for a lot of close up melee damage.