If you are in Bronze - Gold I strongly recommend Aatrox, almost no one plays him nowadays and because of that it gives you the element of surprise. You can easily get 1-2 dragons early game and a majority of the time get 5th dragon by 29:40 because of dragon control.
I recently got to Platinum using this method.
Phife1 votesTFW you realize dragon isn't worth shit.
HOLYPEPSI1 votesPretty sure a 6% AD/AP damage increase is worth quite a bit dude. idk what rank you are in, but thats pretty major.
Phife1 votesLmaooo thats the first drag... you have to do 4 more drags for it to mean anything. both teams usually have the 6% buff so it evens out.
LordGeovanni1 votesthat would only be because you fuked up and let them get a dragon and you still cant get the 5 drag buff until you get the first one so the first one remains important
MrPerson101 votesTFW 6% is a big enough boost to make a difference in the early levels and gives you a clear advantage of dragon control in the future.
ContentNotFound1 votesYea I agree with Mrperson10 the first two dragons mean alot. Because at this point you're forcing the enemy team to start contesting. Hopefully you're ahead if so you can either force a teamfight which you'll most likely win or just take the 3rd dragon without fighting. Either way you are in control of the game and can dictate the out come from that point. https://youtu.be/VqwQqwC740s
MrPerson101 votesAs a note, you don't need the LS quints as it doesn't help him sustain at all with his built in w mechanic, or AS marks either (if anything, it's more efficient to take AD marks and AS quints) - even less so if you get a hard leash @ red. I've been using full AD quints/marks and still doing this very effectively, ending dragon with 50% of my health, full blood well and a health pot running making for a faster dragon and still holding ability to gank bot lane (should be on par with their levels or very slightly behind)
Kats Pajamas1 votesAs a note, you don't need the LS quints as it doesn't help him sustain at all with his built in w mechanic, or AS marks either (if anything, it's more efficient to take AD marks and AS quints) - even less so if you get a hard leash @ red. I've been using full AD quints/marks and still doing this very effectively, ending dragon with 50% of my health, full blood well and a health pot running making for a faster dragon and still holding ability to gank bot lane (should be on par with their levels or very slightly behind)
Eh...I really just hope, that you aren't taking 9/21. It makes no sense to not play aatrox 21/9. LS quints are amazing on Aatrox, and that damage added from runes is insignificant to the scale of late game.
Efficiency =/= good always. Synergy is important.
Dear OP: Don't be ignorant, the enemy team will see the dragon animation on your lane teammates, and count 5 minutes from then, not caring how you killed the dragon at all.
I've literally seen over 10 Aatrox do this, my roommate mains Aatrox, and I can tell you your biggest mistake right now: The second dragon is literally worth jackshit,(Infact, 6%AD/AP isn't great, but it's ok. I play Katarina) and the pressure you create from taking the first one so early, will cause the enemies to engage it. (your support NEEDS to ward it)
If a SINGLE teammate dies, defending the second dragon, they fucked the whole game. If you cannot secure the second dragon, you just need to let it go. They are behind in dragons, and the second, third and fourth buffs won't make ANY difference on the outcome of the game at that point. Just let them have it and 'catch up' or whatever.
Aatrox have two distinct problems IMO, they lack presence when they do this, and have to catch up, and 'imaginary dragon gank worth' is not = to gank. Sometimes they WILL be ganked before you have any successful impact on other objectives.
The second problem, is Aatrox, with his solo dragon-ness, and GA, seems to think it's his fucking job to jump into dragon pit 1v5 and smite the second dragon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ
Props if you get it, but remember what I said about a, SINGLE, teammate? At the very least, don't be that guy.
MrPerson101 votesI'm not OP, nor did I make the video. I play Aatrox 9/21 with AD marks/quints, Armor seals, 7x scaling MR glyphs, 2x flat MR glyphs. His mastery page for him is just trash for an AA based champion that needs the early advantage or he falls off.
Runes are always relatively irrelevent to the late-game, they're more for the early game than anything, giving you the early boosts you need to take less damage from the jungle or dominate our lane early.
As for dragon, he respawns every 6 minutes, not 5 and the second buff is what you want to be contesting - agreed. 3rd and 4th mean a lot less to contest than 1/2/5.
Though you also make it seem as though 4v5 defenses are impossible. They're very much possible with the right ulti and CC rotation and vision, just far from ideal.
If you dive into 5th dragon 1v5 to contest it and smite kill it, congratulations - you've stalled your enemy's lead and they may not be able to push down another objective as rapidly.
As for LS, his sustain mechanic amplifies when he drops below 50% health, by a large amount at that -which I guarantee you will while doing drag, effectively making LS quints fairly irrelevent and highly redundant as soon as you buy 
- you're better off with straight AD or AS quints
Kats Pajamas1 votesI'm not OP, nor did I make the video. I play Aatrox 9/21 with AD marks/quints, Armor seals, 7x scaling MR glyphs, 2x flat MR glyphs. His mastery page for him is just trash for an AA based champion that needs the early advantage or he falls off.
Runes are always relatively irrelevent to the late-game, they're more for the early game than anything, giving you the early boosts you need to take less damage from the jungle or dominate our lane early.
As for dragon, he respawns every 6 minutes, not 5 and the second buff is what you want to be contesting - agreed. 3rd and 4th mean a lot less to contest than 1/2/5.
Though you also make it seem as though 4v5 defenses are impossible. They're very much possible with the right ulti and CC rotation and vision, just far from ideal.
If you dive into 5th dragon 1v5 to contest it and smite kill it, congratulations - you've stalled your enemy's lead and they may not be able to push down another objective as rapidly.
As for LS, his sustain mechanic amplifies when he drops below 50% health, by a large amount at that -which I guarantee you will while doing drag, effectively making LS quints fairly irrelevent and highly redundant as soon as you buy
Ls quits synergy is just underrated. I agree 1v5 5th dragon is worth, I disagree that 2nd isn't dog poop.
MrPerson101 votesSecond dragon is all about towers, it's arguably the most important.
LordGeovanni1 votesit is a tower defense game but many people dont recouldnize this and only focus on champion kills
HOLYPEPSI1 votesPlease don't call the runes trash when you're not understanding what they are for. Unless you want to have a below average clear time then u follow that rune page.
MrPerson101 votesPlease read again, I didn't call the runes trash. Said the mastery page is trash.
My clear time is, last I ran aatrox (5.4) without doing lvl 2 dragon, rotating towards top with duo buffs + wolves cleared + rift scuttler - come out of the jungle with a mere 3:40 progressed in the game using flat AD quints and marks with scaling MR and flat armor.
Clear time is on-par with some of the faster clears. Thanks, though.
Kats Pajamas1 votesPlease read again, I didn't call the runes trash. Said the mastery page is trash.
My clear time is, last I ran aatrox (5.4) without doing lvl 2 dragon, rotating towards top with duo buffs + wolves cleared + rift scuttler - come out of the jungle with a mere 3:40 progressed in the game using flat AD quints and marks with scaling MR and flat armor.
Clear time is on-par with some of the faster clears. Thanks, though.
All runes are pretty subjective. I just wrote him a book explaining those masters suck tho.
Second dragon sucks. Only if you have low AD and no range, do you need it for towers.
You fight towers for like 10 seconds each, but I will agree a bonus is a bonus. As long as NO ONE dies getting it, I'm kool with wasting time getting it/preventing enemies from getting it
MrPerson101 votesIt's a bonus, one of two - being 2/5 - that should always be contested for the reason that it gives you (at least) 6 minutes of superior objective control (by numbers only, not your team's ability to take control of that)
Kats Pajamas1 votesIt's a bonus, one of two - being 2/5 - that should always be contested for the reason that it gives you (at least) 6 minutes of superior objective control (by numbers only, not your team's ability to take control of that)
If you have a JG trying to catch up, you don't have overextended lanes hitting the tower. I really just don't see it unless you're already ahead, and have already won.
MrPerson101 votesIf your jungle is that far behind and your team doesn't have at least one of the lanes pushed (bot or mid) then you can bet your bottom dollar you're not doing dragon, all you can do is hope you're in position when the enemy goes for it.
Assume you get second dragon, that's an open gank to bottom lane if they've extended too hard, making for an easy 3v2 double kill + tower.
Alternatively you could rotate up to mid, take that tower.
It's quite rare that after the second dragon you're not going to be immediately pressuring a tower.
HOLYPEPSI1 votesOne, you don't need anyone to defend dragon when this is free. Two, 9/21 is much better than 21/9, Aatrox is not a carry jungler he is a Attack speed DPS tank, the damage you get from 21/9 is not worth missing out on the Second Wind passive from the defensive mastery. Three, this has been working very effectively in Gold & Platinum.
Also in bronze,Silver and Gold they don't even take dragon timers a majority of the time and 2nd dragon happens at 8:20 which is enemy junglers 2nd buff rotation.
Kats Pajamas1 votesOne, you don't need anyone to defend dragon when this is free. Two, 9/21 is much better than 21/9, Aatrox is not a carry jungler he is a Attack speed DPS tank, the damage you get from 21/9 is not worth missing out on the Second Wind passive from the defensive mastery. Three, this has been working very effectively in Gold & Platinum.
Also in bronze,Silver and Gold they don't even take dragon timers a majority of the time and 2nd dragon happens at 8:20 which is enemy junglers 2nd buff rotation.
2 things:
you don't need 21 def masters for second wind, and aatrox doesn't benefit from anything below it. You only need like 17. Second wind is also a trash master if you even CONSIDER that you might buy a because it is more %, and ALWAYS on. Again, in your video, Aatrox didn't even utilize the second wind against the dragon. You're overrating it a ton, because it's a great master for JG that lack sustain, and you're throwing it on AA. It's extremely high risk. It's literally the master that allows Vayne to level 1 the dragon. AA just flat out doesn't need it.
%AD on Aa, = More damage, more heal and more attack speed. 9 AD masters is not correct. 13/17 is infinitely better, but still no %AD(unless you skip dangerous game, not a terrible idea for aatrox, you could get 1 point of %AD and also second wind. %AD also falls lower at 2 points, so 1 point is most efficient)
Also, it might 'work' in plat, but that doesn't mean it's even remotely as good a strategy as it is in bronze.
Unless they are the worst plat players, after you kill the first dragon, the Top laner will see that the enemy has gained a dragon, and check the time. By 5 minutes, he will probably wander down there, and ping the shit out of it. You don't need a 'dragon timer' to be ready for the second dragon. You literally just need to not be an idiot, and be able to also add 5, to whatever time you see the enemy gain the animation. (So if it's 4:00, you add 5, and without any timer, you now know it will spawn at 9 minutes!) If you assume the JG is just as retarded, and doesn't know, within seconds, that you have gained the dragon, and change his JG path, then you're making bad assumptions based on low level play.
Your suggestion, that they will just disregard the second dragon is just wrongish.
My roommate is an Aatrox main, he has been doing this from the VERY beginning of the changes to dragon.
He ran second wind for 3 days, before never doing it, ever, again.
He favors Armor pens, and AD. He takes the minimum attack speed to actually kill it.
Aatrox is an assassin, and a shitty tank. 90% of his peel comes from his GA passive, and it is just as viable for peel, in his assassin build.
There is literally 0 reason to build him tank, if Katarina can still get a pentakill in the time he takes to just stand back up. He needs his own kills, and that requires damage.
chingchong691 votesOne, you don't need anyone to defend dragon when this is free. Two, 9/21 is much better than 21/9, Aatrox is not a carry jungler he is a Attack speed DPS tank, the damage you get from 21/9 is not worth missing out on the Second Wind passive from the defensive mastery. Three, this has been working very effectively in Gold & Platinum.
Also in bronze,Silver and Gold they don't even take dragon timers a majority of the time and 2nd dragon happens at 8:20 which is enemy junglers 2nd buff rotation.
Kats Pajamas1 votesSecond Wind with ANY champion(Like Vayne level 1, or Katarina) can solo the dragon early with potions. You literally say it's required, and then it never even procs in the video.(You must reach 24% hp for it to proc, you would notice your regeneration increasing up from 10.0)
I would run 21/9... Protip: The potions are what rape the dragon, not second wind(but this is why second wind on almost any champion can kill it). With armor, 5 potions, and any master or runes build, you can solo the dragon at level 1 with Aatrox. (You can hit the scuttle crab to gain bloodwell also, as much as you want), but we know he can be level 2 before it even spawns, so:
For the beginning, you should take your Q(jump) to raise your bloodwell to max before spawns, kill red with leash, learn w, jump the wall, and kill dragon. You don't have to recall after it's dead, I normally clear some camps after, then go get my upgraded jg tool as a whole item.
Kats Pajamas1 votesKilling it at level 1 is a neat trick, but for most people, this is steps into realizing, that over 10 champs can kill it at level 1 solo, and EVERYCHAMP IN THE GAME, can kill it at level 3.
Then they normally realize that only the first dragon is even worth the trouble shortly after.
HOLYPEPSI1 votesOkay since people don't understand I'll try to explain it for you. Full damage Aatrox sucks, if you even attempt to go full DPS on aatrox you are going to get destroyed. 21/9 is bad because you don't need the extra attack damage since he is an attack speed champion.
9/21 uses his 2nd life as a way to stall and make force the enemy to focus you rather than the ADC or APC. That is why you build Devourer & Blade Of Ruined King because of the damage per hit, You also have Visage & Randiuns + GA to be a 3 life tank for your team.
So number 1. Second Wind isn't needed for dragon but its needed for late game team fights, your job is to go in a focus their back line while ur carries kill anyone they can. Second Wind + Visage + W = an Insane amount of healing and blade of ruined king gives you % damage per hit.
Number 2 (Runes) Damage Marks are a must for a decent clear time Seals are standard Armor needed for defense Magic res is not needed because your getting visage for your 2nd item and u need 10% attack speed for dragon + just overall clear time. Lifesteal Quins are nice for late game fights much better than 10 extra attack damage.
Number 3 This works at Platinum Elo which is at the top 10% Of players in ranked So this will help the other 90% of players who want to play Aatrox effectively. I know for a fact this wouldn't work in Diamond but I damn sure know it works in Bronze, Silver and Gold very well.
MrPerson101 votesConsidering I've been playing in Platinum I for quite a while now and for a time in Season 4 in lower Diamond, I highly disagree. I started out Aatrox jungle as 9/21, quickly switched over to 21/9, found MASSIVE improvement.
Take it from someone above you, change your masteries to 21/9 (this optimizes your early game power), you'll be building to suit a tanky duelist role - you'll see improvement.
Kats Pajamas1 votesConsidering I've been playing in Platinum I for quite a while now and for a time in Season 4 in lower Diamond, I highly disagree. I started out Aatrox jungle as 9/21, quickly switched over to 21/9, found MASSIVE improvement.
Take it from someone above you, change your masteries to 21/9 (this optimizes your early game power), you'll be building to suit a tanky duelist role - you'll see improvement.
Basically items can create a better tank than the def tree ever could for AA. There's no reason not to run 21/9, even with full tank items.
MrPerson101 votesPrecisely what I'm saying. As Aatrox, you're itemizing as an off-tank duelist with your core rotating around your W sustain with 
. In most scenarios, to be useful, you're going to want an early advantage in kills while jungling with the Darkin Blade which will allow you to scale a little faster into your mid-game powerspike, allowing some more pressure.
Consider the fact that by late-game, you're nearly useless as far as a true tank or DPS goes.
Kats Pajamas1 votesPrecisely what I'm saying. As Aatrox, you're itemizing as an off-tank duelist with your core rotating around your W sustain with
Consider the fact that by late-game, you're nearly useless as far as a true tank or DPS goes.
Yes. You're a good jg aatrox.
If you're doing all those jobs, you can't go wrong. The best part about Aatrox is when he does poorly. In fact, there is little difference between the peel a 0/5 and 5/0 aatrox provide for teamfights. So positioning becomes ever more important, if you can't just wave your gold around. If you focus your objectives and positioning enough, score doesn't even matter.
MrPerson102 votesThanks, I don't jungle as a main but do jungle when I have to - and he's my go-to jungle because I love his kit and have ever since I picked him up as my 4th champion ever after Morgana, Kayle and Katarina.
What I really favored about him is you can fill multiple roles by your itemization. You are capable of putting out a shitton of damage with a small pool of items even in the midgame like 
or you can itemize as a total tank with 
and proceed with a 100% tanky route
cacarott1 votesI don't like devourer at all on him due to the poor health per level scaling, also the fact that I play him using only auto attack speed runes (making his early game W dmg and sustain pretty useful)
KittyKatK4t1 votesWarrior works well too if you're going to make any fairly early impact on the game.
cacarott1 votesYea but with the devourer patch (sated) I only go sated, because it procs W every second (not third) aa. So it is broken as fuck on him imo and I'm loving it
KittyKatK4t2 votesYea but with the devourer patch (sated) I only go sated, because it procs W every second (not third) aa. So it is broken as fuck on him imo and I'm loving it
with the new buff to devourer being sated, yes, it's an ideal pickup for someone so heavily AA reliant
Kats Pajamas1 votesConsidering I've been playing in Platinum I for quite a while now and for a time in Season 4 in lower Diamond, I highly disagree. I started out Aatrox jungle as 9/21, quickly switched over to 21/9, found MASSIVE improvement.
Take it from someone above you, change your masteries to 21/9 (this optimizes your early game power), you'll be building to suit a tanky duelist role - you'll see improvement.
Shout out to the intermediate 13/17 step.
MrPerson101 votesWas honestly never a fan of 13/17/0 as I find it works in a very small set of cases and is usually less efficient than another path (usually 13/17/0 I find is even trumped by using the utility tree)
Kats Pajamas1 votesthe amount that second wind heals is based off your damage. Not Attack Speed. You're only going to get 1 heal before you lose the buff. Even the Rageblade lategame with +20Spd +10LS is a better strategy, because the buff stays on you with a timer, not just you lose it above 50%, the moment it activates below 50%.
9/21 sucks 13/17 is 'something' and 21/9 with a visage optimal.
The defense tree, in general, is just useless for aatrox. Perseverance and Recovery hurt his w. Bladed armor doesn't affect the dragon(you took bladed armor probably assuming it did) Tenacity is better on an item SV>Second Wind.
And for some reason, you take 2 MR over swiftness. It blows my mind you think this is better than Oppression also(Reduce targets damage by 3% when slowed), on a character THAT HAS A SLOW. Hell, care to explain why you didn't take another legendary guardian point and took this instead? Completely pointless.
Increase your max HP by 3% only makes it harder to heal up full, because the 50% line is now higher and to top it all off, you don't have any AD to increase the heal value. SV is one of the few items that helps AA get full life(main reason you buy it) with minimal lifesteal, and secondwind can't achieve this either, because it deactivates at 26% hp.
The Offence side gives: Atk Speed Atk DMG +3% DMG +5% AD
Note: AD increases Aatrox heal, and causes his W to sacrifice more life, converting into more bloodwell, meaning that AD Adds attack speed also.
Full damage Aatrox with a single armor item, tanks better than full tank aatrox.
If you ever run Aatrox with Def masters, You don't want recovery and Bladed Armor. You want block, and enchanted armor. You don't want Juggernaut, when Oppression is better. You want swiftness duh, this is the main reason ANYONE runs def tree. You don't want any MR, you should be itemizing this, 3.5 MR is useless when the average item adds like 30-50 MR Spirit Visage adds MR You would want every single point of Legendary Guardian...even if it results in 22 def points... You would want Reinforced Armor, because critical damage dealers are who you should be dueling And you would take Tenacity, because you already fucked yourself going defense, so why the fuck not.
The masters you are running him on ARE indeed trash. Just run full utility and buy a SV and I promise you won't even tell the difference in tank OR damage.
If all you did alone, was read my posts carefully, and copy my suggestion about taking jump first, and not fight the dragon with less than full bloodwell, that's 15% attack speed you're also completely ignoring. Rito even gave a free bloodwell generator crab right next to the damn thing. There is 0 excuse to fight it below full bloodwell.
Extreme Troller1 votesimo aatrox need a slight nerf.
