Why is Aatrox unpopular?
I played him for the first time today and thought he was a lot of fun, so what's going on?
89 Comments
The core issue is this: Aatrox is about as feast or famine as it gets. I fell in love with Aatrox as well back when I was just learning the game, and he felt good to my pre-30 self. However, as I've come to experience more of the game, I realize that his kit is just too binary. If you get ahead, you destroy people. If you fall behind even the slightest, you're pretty much useless no matter what you build. I've tried all kinds of Aatrox builds. Full tank, full damage, mostly tank, mostly damage...the crux of it is, they all work if you're ahead...or don't if you get behind.
I played an Aatrox game this weekend and I absolutely demolished my lane opponent. By the end of the game I was 18/5/16, but we still lost because, while Aatrox has carry potential, his kit often feels as though it's "win more". You duel people forever, but as soon as you get CC'ed you're done for. Your only escape is your initiation tool, and even that can be interrupted by a knockup or a stun before you reach your target. If your team is useless and not following up on your engages then Aatrox can't do jack.
To top this off, Aatrox's only damage late game comes from his autos. It gets to the point where casting a spell mid-fight does nothing but harm you. Look at Xin Zhao or Master Yi for example. Their skills flow very seamlessly with their auto attacks, allowing them to use their utility and not sacrifice any damage. Aatrox cannot do this. Once you get into a fight, you ult and hope that you have enough damage and sustain to live long enough to win.
To sum it up, I think what Aatrox really needs is something that both makes him less feast-famine, and also allows him to do more than just auto attack people until they die. If Riot can do this, Aatrox will be in a much healthier spot and won't be considered a joke anymore.
I actually know why...
See, unlike EVERY OTHER MELEE top laner at the moment, Aatrox can't just build almost 4K HP and still do damage. Aatrox has to make a sacrifice, building damage so he can get that life steal and trade in duels, but he isn't capable of fulfilling the role that every melee Top laner can, which is... build 3800 HP, work as a front line and also be a high source of damage.
Aatrox isn't popular because he's probably the ONLY top lane melee champion that is actually balanced. He has clear strengths and weaknesses, and when he builds the damage his kit requires, he's sacrificing tank stats. And if he builds tank, he doesn't have the damage his kit requires to be effective.
But that's why I like really good Aatrox players. They have these damage builds that make them super strong on reasonable levels of HP, they split push and can duel wonderfully. Yeah, he can work.
I actually have been picking him up this season more, and I have discovered a nice trick to get out a cheesy blow without setting you back on hp. http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/c/cc/Grasp_of_the_Undying_mastery_2016.png/revision/latest?cb=20151103095059 ^ This glorious mastery makes him a lot better top lane if you ask me, more so than fervor. My reasoning is because it procs on Blood price's hit, meaning you do enhanced damage and heal, back a decent bit of hp, (cost is 15 / 23.75 / 32.5 / 41.25 / 50 (+ 25% bonus AD) ) and you heal for 3% of your MAX HP, which is VERY nice early game, and mixed with your own innate sustain, pairs very well.
I have evolved my gameplay to rush 
FIRST.
Then build an entire 
, sounds weird but 
isn't something i pick up unless there is too much tank on there team, and DD is so powerful when you mix it with 
as long as you can output damage, you will win...
( =heals for 15% of the damage dealt + = Dealing physical damage heals for 15% of the damage dealt ) IDK if it is addative or multiplicative, but 2 15% sustains based on output damage is crazy, and late game find myself not needing to switch from blood price as you have so many things to heal it back.
http://imgur.com/75qgDSO Small example of effectivness, however there still is experimenting :)
Take a second to compare him to his champion counterparts-other sustain heavy melee carries-and you can immediately see why he is unpopular. Tryndamere is the perfect example of doing everything Aatrox can do, but being more reliable and better at it. Aatrox is in desperate need of strategic diversity. He needs a reason to pick him over any other champion, then his popularity and power will go up.
because his abilities cost him health, and his starting stats are dogshit.
hes a weak version of Master yi who is hella lot easier to blow up.
because hes garbage
He is very difficult to play, which makes him appear weaker then simmilar champions.
H is less about mechanics than about decision making. Knowing when to go in and when not. He has large windows of weakness with somewhat short windows of strength.
Also his best builds are as diverse as they are non obvious. A lot people try building him with lifesteal, but melee carries are very feast or famine.
For me he works best with building no lifesteal, but AD/HP and AD/MR. Sadly there is no AD/Armor items so this build struggles in the current meta.
I think his state will change a lot with the new Warlords. Why building lifesteal on him is difficult due to the items available it is good having it.
Kill Aatrox to proc his passive
Wait for his revive
Walk away counting your gold
Idk man every game I have seen him played lately he smashes (thanks to sated usually )
The problem is that he has low base stats so needs to build tank, but is almost completely autoattacks so needs to build damage (and loses damage when CC'd). He also has a confused identity as he is some mashup of a melee ADC, drain tank, and dive fighter. But Riot can't buff him because he is extremely frustrating to deal with as his kit makes him a very annoying lane opponent (imagine Nasus if he could actually kill you early game). He needs a rework.
There's no reason to really play Aatrox because the whole engage sustain play style is done better by xin and his base stats are horrible
I love this champion but... he needs an update or a buff because any other top laner is stronger late game
Because everything he does other top laners and junglers do better
He sucks. That's pretty much it.
Because his splash makes him look like an emo 
He's shit.
Here's another terrible question: what's ap aatrox like?
Whatever he can do in the game, there's another champ that can do it better.
Drain tanking lane bully/team fight diver? Scaling Bruiser-carry? Duelist? Try 
. And it's not just these 4, there are many other fighters who are just superior at doing the same thing he does. He has minor poke, unreliable engage, ok sustain (it's only worth noticing in the early lane phase or first jungle clears), and mediocre team fighting.
He is all about early game, but got nerfed because he was too much of a bully. His late game is atrocious because he has poor scalings and can't effectively build in a way to stay relevant; if he builds tank, people ignore him; if he builds damage, he blows up; if he builds a mix, he can't play effectively in any aspect because he deals irrelevant damage and is still squishy. He may be fun, but he is still a let down in every respect.
Riot was smart enough to recognize that large amounts of self-healing is stupid in terms of game health and that you can't have a balanced champion with too much of it.
So they centered Aatrox's kit around self-healing because fuck you apparently.
Playing Aatrox is just a slog. You either outsustain your lane opponent, get fed, and then split-push to victory, or you get all-in'd by someone who understands how useless you are without a ton of gold and you lose the game.
I'm a jungle main, and gave Aatrox a spin a while ago. I like his kit, but he just doesn't hold up. As other people have mentioned, it has to do with base stats and the fact that there are other champions who have similar kits, who are simply better.
My guess would be that the issue is Aatrox is one of those champions walking on a tight rope between overpowered and crippled. It is difficult to give him some sort of buff without accidentally making him overpowered, as Riot has done with many champions. For example, buffing his attack speed or base attack damage could make W out of control. Buffing base health could make his passive out of control. Change his Q so that it can't be interrupted, or like most gap closers, is interrupted after it lands? You might end up with one of the most broken gankers in the game.
Honestly, he's pretty hard to play. The hardest thing about Aatrox is knowing exactly just how durable you are. Because of how your W sustain works, your health below 50% is effectively worth far more than your health above 50% so long as you don't have your bloodwell popped or die. Finding the balance of when to commit to fights and abuse that sustain without dying takes a fair bit of practice. His Q is also unreliable and missing it tends to be very punishing. But he definitely has potential if those 2 things are taken care of.
ok personally i think it has to do with when he first came out his kit felt very clunky sure he had his strength's but his dash in particular received quite a bit of criticism its not like yasuo who has a very smooth and fluent kit that meshes almost perfectly together with everything.
that combined with nerfs to basically everything made him very unpopular.
sure lot of the new items could work very well on him but thats just it other champs are better with them.
i have no idea what his ult does, even if someone tells i forget, and what is his second bar again?
Weak late game :d