As an Aatrox main, I'm trying to find ways to convince myself into liking this rework, but I can't.

>Disclaimer: This post is going to be ranty and yes, I've played games both live pre and post hotfix/rework as well as PBE.

I knew this rework was poised to make him a juggernaut, I knew that with their description that he was going to have one of the biggest GUs ever and yet, I still clung onto the hope that Riot could deliver the dream for a true greatsword-wielding, maniac of a Darkin.

Unfortunately, I don't think Riot hit their mark at all. I also feel, as an Aatrox main, completely betrayed with how they handled his kit. It feels incomplete, clunky beyond comprehension and, irredeemably sloppy. I KNOW that the devs behind this had difficulty finding a direction for Aatrox, but was this really the answer that they came to? This abomination of a rework?

Not only have you destroyed 90% of what I knew and came to love as my champion, alienating me and my fellow mains, but you've also succeeded into making him so insufferably not Aatrox that it infuriates me. This kit was clearly not aimed to please previous Aatrox players and mains.

Here's a list of what some Aatrox mains loved in the champion before he became what he is now.

1. His simplicity, because not every champion needs to be unnecessarily complicated or have annoying mechanics to manage
2. His ability to adapt and play from behind. Contrary to popular and ignorant belief, Aatrox was one of the few true 'jack of all trades' champions, most likely due to his nature as a 'Stat-check' champion.
3. His promotion of smart, aggressive playstyles and tactics. You didn't pick Aatrox to merely scale, you picked him because you wanted to really fuck shit up. It didn't matter who you played against, there was always a chance, no matter how slim, that Aatrox could turn lanes around with proper management of his abilities and passive power spikes.
4. His ability to 1v1 and 1v2. Similarly to the point previously mentioned, his aggressive playstyle forced him into difficult situations, however, with a proper understanding of your champion and theirs, it was possible to turn ganks into favourable double kills.
5. His use of auto attacks and ability to choose weapon stances. I understand that at certain points this ability was problematic, but it can't have been that bad because how much of an impact has this champion really had on the differing metas? Typically, he would ride the beneficial metas at a sleeper tier 2 with the current meta being an outlier, allowing him to come up to tier 1 with the nerfs to marksmans and tanks which kept him down.
6. His reliable HEALING factor (which understandably is a point of contention)
7. His revive (which is another point of contention with most Aatrox mains agreeing that'd it be better to just scrap it for straight up, better defensive stats/steroids).
8. His ult transformation and extension of attack range. It was a neat little mechanic that helped Aatrox get around being super kited whilest not necessarily making him ADC in melee form.

Out of that entire list, Riot chose to take 3 points. With his healing factor and his revive being two of the most criticised components of his kit since his release. If I'm going to be honest, those two were probably my least needed components of his kit with the healing being much more valuable than the passive but alas, here we are.

Let's talk about the current Aatrox.

First of all, I'm just going to be brutally honest and say this - New Aatrox is FUNDAMENTALLY flawed. Despite Riot stating they've figured out what direction to take him, I'm not seeing it at all.

WHAT DOES THIS CHAMPION WANT TO DO? HIS THEME AND GAMEPLAY ARE IN DIRECT CONFLICT WITH WHAT THEY WANT TO DO.

You're telling me this enraged, vengeful, fallen god-warrior seeks the oblivion of everyone and everything YET CANNOT SEEM TO HOLD HIS OWN AGAINST ANYONE IN LANE OR BETTER YET, TEAMFIGHT? What a bunch of crap.

The biggest sin that Riot has done to this rework, is put all their eggs in one basket and not even deliver on that. 90% of Aatrox's damage resides in his Q ability and thus, if this ability doesn't deliver, his entire kit doesn't deliver. They've funneled so much 'power' into this ability that every single ability after it seems like an afterthought. Don't get me wrong, he has potential, but seriously, if EVERY SINGLE ability needs work than there's a serious underlying issue with the care and development of a rework.

I'll just list it as I see it.

Stats: Mostly okay after the hotfix but 60 AD feels fucking dreadful, going to have to relearn last hitting with this potato AD value.

Passive: Long as fuck cooldown with a cooldown resetting mechanic that promotes spamming abilities that have long cooldowns as well. Harder to use to initiate a fight, mostly used for hitting minions or ending a combo.

Q - Self-roots you, slow, telegraphed, is inconsistent with its fighting range, long cooldown, has 1-second fucking delay per cast and the biggest joke of them all, has some of the most laughable base damages of any main ability I've seen outside of its 3rd cast. What the fuck were you guys thinking when you made this ability? You've put so many weaknesses on this ability that there's no possible way for it to ever be good like this.

W - Not a bad ability but has very limited application as it is severely cock-blocked by minion collision, forcing players to use this at point blank range to guarantee the slow (not the pullback) or gamble at a distance. Oh, it also has a decently long cooldown 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14.

E - This ability feels like the epitome of tacked on. Tacked on healing, tacked on AD steroid, tacked on 'mobility' but in reality, it's just a glorified positioning 0.2 casted hextech flash used to reposition your Q because god knows, that shit isn't going to land without this. Also, long as fuck cooldown after charges used.

R - Probably the most anticipated ability alongside Aatrox's Q and the 2nd biggest disappointment. While I appreciate the return of the transformation ult, what does it actually accomplish? The revive could have been replaced with any other defensive steroid to make it actually more threatening and useful in a fight and the movement speed buff is a joke because WHAT JUGGERNAUT SEEKS TO RUN AWAY FROM A FIGHT, ESPECIALLY WITH A REVIVE PROMOTING HIM TO DIE IN BATTLE? While the AD buff is nice, it feels totally uninspired and like many others have said, lazy. His ult could have done so much more... empower his abilities, shorten his c/ds, increase his aoe range, make him a much more mobile fighter but no, it's just another steroid buff.

I think I could keep going on but I realise I'm just getting burnt out at this point. I'll take a break from him and hopefully, Aatrox gets an improvement somewhere down the line. I'd like to acknowledge and appreciate the visual changes, teaser trailers and work done on his lore (especially twilight of the gods) but man, his gameplay has severely let me down.

Good luck fixing this champion devs and good luck to me in finding and fixing all my grammatical errors lol.

P.S Thanks for taking your time in reading and commenting guys, I do really appreciate it. I'm too tired to actually reply to everyone but I do read all the comments.