Useless and unplayable Aatrox - part 9999482999

As an Aatrox main, after seeing the http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/ipPjj72h-aatroxs-primary-problems-him-having-so-much-untapped-potential thread, i've decided to continue, more as a gameplay point of view. I'm not your "lore" guy, so i will not focus on lore as much as the above thread.

Instead, my target are people who gave up on him, after playing 5 games, and come back opening a thread and saying "Aatrox is useless". First of all, he is nowhere as useless as some of you may think. Second, he is absolutely not, in a weak state. Third, he is not perfect. But which champion is in a perfect state ? And what makes a champion perfect ? _ Here is my story : Started LoL in Oct 2014. Played as one-trick pony Aatrox since then. Reached Plat I in Oct 2015. Top and Jungle.400+ games Now i've started playing on a 2nd account, gone from placements - Silver IV > into Gold IV relatively fast, considering i only play 2-3 games / day. I'm having a 70% winrate with him, 2.63 KDA, while trying some experimental builds in ranked with him, in 56 games._

What made me play Aatrox :

1). No ban/pick contest. Open 24/24. 2). Versatile - can play him both in Jungle and Top lane 3).You always have to give 101% with Aatrox, and always be better than your opponent. This is why i like Aatrox. There is no free-win lane.There is no "just play def" in him. 4). Badass looking 5). Mecha Aatrox skin

What are the causes that makes people think Aatrox is useless / where does his weaknesses come from:

1).Build path / Build in general. In almost every boring guide, you will always get recommended the same build in 99.99% of cases. People are absolutely unaware of the versatility he offers in term of build paths. There are lots of items to choose from, from very generally items like Ravenous Hydra to a more niche like Trinity Force (yes, TF works wonders on him) 2).Different laning playstyles. You must adapt your playstyle do different champions/ scenarios. Unlike high mechanical skilled champions, like Riven for example, or rotative spells champions like Ryze, his kit is pretty simple; What makes the difference between a good/bad Aatrox are little details.When to push / when to freeze lane. When to poke without pushing waves.Sure, it applies to the whole champ pool. But you have to be extremely good with Aatrox around this in order to win/dominate your lane. 3).Team composition You are not Malphite. Don't expect to do well with or against any team composition. There are some matches where you don't belong. Hence why, this is the reason why after 5 games some people will say Aatrox is useless. Because they pick him into a Jax/Gragas/Annie/Morgana/Vayne team comp. 4). Hard when behind... Yes, he is not Garen or Darius who can one shot your carries by pressing one button with one item.But this is one of the important things you need to learn with him. How to manage a game when you are getting behind.I've got games where i was like 0/5/0 in min 10, getting jumped by enemy players before reaching the turret. You have to accept there is nothing more you can do... and hope for some free kills by your opponents or your team will carry your ass. You may say this is his biggest weakness. Useless when behind.While this is true to a degree;I'd look at this issue from another persperctive. I don't hate champions who are useless when behind. I hate champions that are godlike, even when behind (looking at you ). Aatrox is NOT a safe pick. He says that himself : "Fight and be remembered or die and be forgotten"

**If you check every stats possible, you will see Aatrox seems to be in a balanced state (~52% winrate). There is nowhere near useless/unplayable level in SoloQ.**Not even in high-ELO.

As for playing against Aatrox : This is what makes me think there is something that can be adjusted / reworked in his kit. I remind you, this is not happening everytime. But when it happens, it creates a lot of frustration for the opponent. I'm talking about the "feast/famine". Lots of champions in this game suffer of this syndrome, but Aatrox is on top of that list. Once you're ahead, in the right circumstances, oh boy..... And i'm not talking about 100% hp fights 1v2... i'm talking about those 1v2 with 20% hp scenarios. There is nothing more frustrating than an unpleasant surprise in this game. When you go from "OK, easy kill" to "WTFHSFHREPORTHACK". Or wasting your whole damn mana pool against a smart Aatrox, only later to find out you're going to be manaless and he is at 90% hp back, while pushing all the minions back into your tower. Still, **this happens rarely **unlike other champions. And you still have lots of counters for it (Exectioner's Calling- hello !? - ignite / cc / burst etc.)