Please give Aatrox some QoL buffs before his rework.

Namely Dark Flight (Q), simultaneously the most important and frustrating tool in Aatrox's kit - ask any dedicated Aatrox player and they'll tell you that most of the functionality issues start/end with Q's reliability. The wind-up as he ascends can be easily disrupted, is basically a 0.5 second snare if you think about it, and Aatrox has to pay 10% (100 HP per 1000) of his HP to use it. It's also a relatively slow gapcloser, given the wind-up, so it's not difficult for opponents to react if they're not preoccupied. Furthermore, the epicenter for the knockup is horrifically small and most of the time it feels like a tedious skillshot rather than a proper engage tool; the epicenter radius isn't even half of the total effective radius. Aatrox has to heavily depend on landing properly RIGHT ON TOP OF HIS TARGET, otherwise the case/gank/engage immediately ends, then his passive pops and he gets vaporized. As a result, the QoL buffs should be aimed at improving Q's RELIABILITY, so here are a couple of my suggestions:

> Epicenter Radius: 75 -> 125

Rather simple buff here to make the ability more reliable. Champions are far more mobile now than they were in Season 3/4, even when comparing them to Season 5 from this current season.

> Dark Flight (Q) can no longer be interrupted during the initial wind-up before dashing towards the target location

This buff is heavier and will raise a few eyebrows, but I feel that with the ever increasing amount of champions with knockups and displacers (8 since Aatrox's release have knockups/knockbacks), Aatrox needs a substantial life line to perform one of his most pivotal functions. Throw in the fact that the wind-up portion delays his engage/escape and it's easy to see where the difficulty lies.

These are just a couple of suggestions too - there are many more out there and I know a lot of passionate players who aren't simply passing him off as rework fodder feel the same.

We know Aatrox is in a very bad spot. He's not even meme material, unlike , and most people have nothing interesting to discuss about him other than "GIVE HIM REWORK". As someone who has played a LOT of him these past two months, I find his aspects and kit exceptionally interesting, more so than other champions who dominate the meta for top laners and junglers. His kit requires some mind games with your opponent, being low enough to out-sustain them (with Blood Thirst) in a close duel, then taking them down with Blood Price as they are on their last limbs. His ganks are actually quite solid, so long as you can land the atrocity known as Dark Flight, and his E is a decent ability to continue a gank even if your Q misses. He has good clears, safe early clear due to his passive and dangerous Level 2, and can tower dive as well as J4/Vi.

Even still, he has some serious issues and everyone exclaims he needs a rework, which he definitely does. But when will that be? Assassins are next, then it's theorized to be tanks or divers. Aatrox is far closer to a diver than a tank, and he's a very poor tank (for those who are stubborn) given his extremely below average base stats on top of being horribly outdated when factoring in others of his class throughout these past couple of seasons. Sure, he's seen 3 QoL changes since he was nerfed in Season 3, but he has seen an abysmal level of care compared to many other top laners. At least Yorick and Urgot have been confirmed for large scale reworks - all Riot has said is that Aatrox MIGHT be in the group of champions called Divers IF they do a class update for them.

So please Riot, giving him some QoL buffs to his Q will really help out those of us who actually enjoy playing him, without turning him into an unstoppable monster (who is still hardcountered by ) that all top laners will apparently fear. It's truly annoying that people will automatically jump in and exclaim Aatrox is completely unbuffable - the game has changed to the point that Aatrox feels unkempt, immobile, and rusty.