Aatrox Jungle Build Path Help

Vicarious117··1 votes·864 views

Ok so I have a question concerning item paths for jungle Aatrox. Basically he rarely performs well in comparison to the other fighter type champions when you build either warrior or devourer's, being just too darn squishy without enough damage from either (since one lacks attack speed and the other lacks AD :P), but he performs well early and scales better into mid-late when using cinderhulk (juggernaut was actually slightly better for him early, for obvious reasons, but cinderhulk is still a great item anyway).

So my question is this, right after cinderhulk is finished do you think it would be more effective to rush say a BotRK since he's got a bit of tankiness already from his jungle item and blade just goes so darn well with his kit offensively and even a bit defensively, or should you just keep building tank items like Randuin's and S Visage to combo with the 25% health bonus on cinderhulk and to become even tankier stats wise but forgoing the early damage and dueling potential? Not that he isn't always a decent if not great dueler, but he's just a thousand times better at it with BotRK lol

The other option is to finish cinderhulk then rush a warmog's, cause those two items together are ridiculous, then afterwards get the BotRK followed by Randuin's and Visage (or items of those kinds) as last items? I just don't think Aatrox has enough base tank stats to go the pure health tank path is all, but if someone knows more and apparently he is then I'm all ears!

Also no I won't consider going back to trying to use warriors or devourers, after months of trying all the items out on him (minus magus ofc), I can say without a doubt that I do not like either on him in the jungle. Build more bursty with just AD is good for some early game pressure but without tank stats or attack speed you fall off extremely hard in the mid game, and devourers only having attack speed pretty much just ruins your early game in every way possible.

But yeah, any advice on itemization for Aatrox jungle, as a tank, would be appreciated, thnx in advance :)

5 Comments

WukongMain1 votes

i think it depends on what you plan on doing,if you're ganking a ton, id get blade 100% after cinderhulk. BotRK Active is too damn good for ganks lol.

snoozer51 votes

I think that cinder hulk is out of the qustion, you'll definetly need devour, like this whole champ is based around attack speed for sustain... therefore your build should look something like this: item 3930 item 3111 item 3153 item 3065 item 3742 item 3074 oritem 3156 oritem 3033 (depends on the situation)

Vicarious1171 votes

Out of the question? I've dominated many games with Cinderhulk Aatrox, like Cinderhulk into Titanic then straight tank in fact! His ult is an attack speed steroid so building it through items isn't as necessary as many people think, and honestly sustain with attack speed on someone as horribly squishy as Aatrox is flat out awful in this meta if you don't get hella fed early and finish before you fall off hard.

Yeah devourer on him is pretty good as well, especially once sated, but this meta calls for more early game action from junglers and when building devourer you just simply don't do that. With cinderhulk you can duel insanely well because of your W, and when maxing that W you still do crap loads of burst damage when ganking, which btw are very strong so going devourer and just farming is a waste of his great initiation abilities.

Speaking of which that's part of his issue, half his abilities seem to tailor to attack speed melee carry but his other half are made specifically for an engaging tank. So Aatrox can pick and choose which route to take because he can effectively do both (albeit to a lesser degree then a more well designed champ of either of those roles), and with the way this current meta has shaped up you're MUCH better off going engage tank Aatrox with a lot of early game presence then a sub par attack speed sustain fighter that requires 3-4 items to be even slightly relevant.

So yeah this is a very old post of mine, 10 months ago, before the new juggernaut items, and honestly by now I've found what I think is the most effective tank Aatrox jungle build: item 1413 item 3748 item 3143 item 3065 and a final item like item 3053 / item 3026 / item 3812 . Titanic empowers his auto attacks and scales very well with Cinderhulk, making you an insane damage threat at just 2 items in because of your ult, while still being very tanky, SVisage for obvious reasons, and Randuin's cause it's more useful for a tank who doesn't need the speed boost from Dead Man's to catch someone and will spend more time taking auto attacks since you want to just sit on people, again with a kit already great at catching them. Sterak's makes focusing him down ridiculously difficult and very dangerous since the AD boost when it activates, or GA so you must be killed THREE times before the enemy back line is free from you, or Death's Dance because it helps with your sustain as well as essentially reducing all damage you take by 15% because you'll be sustaining faster then that bleed can damage you. Attack speed Aatrox may have been the original idea, and it is still better in top lane, but as a jungler having a strong early game presence and reliable late game dueling power and engage is just so much better.

snoozer51 votes

but i guess if u really want to play him with cinderhullk..it's up to u

snoozer51 votes

I'm just saying, it's better to run devour with THIS champion

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