Boards›Concepts & Creations

[Rework Concept] Aatrox, the Darkin Blade

LuaDotExe·1/16/2018, 11:13:51 PM·7 votes·1,493 views

"An Aatrox rework? Really? That's an overplayed rework concept." Well, yeah. I was out of ideas for new Champions, for the time being, so I tried my hand at a rework, instead. I had played Aatrox, and over the time I've played him (probably no longer visible in my match history), I figured out a couple things:

  • Aatrox offers nothing to a team fight. Despite his fantasy as this otherworldly entity who swoops in to turn the tide of battle, he's not very useful in team fights. He offers damage and can tank if you build tank-y, sure, but he has no real reliable form of crowd control, which is pretty big in a team fight, as is AoE damage.

  • Crowd control ruins Aatrox's day. This is less relevant in a 1v1 situation, but in a team fight, where you can get crowd controlled for a long time, a damage-build Aatrox will get crushed, since he can't restore health via auto attacks after he's been crowd controlled, and whereas tank-y does exist, full-tank is not the bruiser play-style that had been intended, and said full-tank build does not exactly scream "massacre."

  • Aatrox is prone to getting popped. Whereas burst is his weakness, it gets to the point where anybody with high burst potential eliminates him before he can do anything. He should thrive in longer battles, but he shouldn't be useless in the shorter ones.

  • Aatrox's Q is abysmally poor in design. Thematically, it's pretty cool; you rise up into the air, and slam down. However, the hit-box, as many discover, is super easy to dodge, and the ability takes so long and is so telegraphed you might as well be screaming "hey hit me with your crowd control." Often-times, I found myself getting CC'd and just having it not happen. Whereas it's an interesting catch tool and engage tool, it's overshadowed in those regards as well. The change to Aatrox's Q, where one half of it cannot be interrupted, however, has helped a lot.

  • Once again conflicting with his thematic, Aatrox's kit doesn't scream "leading my team into battle." In-game, he is, ironically, a duelist, and thrives in 1v1 situations where he can out-heal their damage.

  • Aatrox's late game has... a lot to be desired. This ties into most of the other things, too, and particularly the point about team fights. While he can 1v1 late-game, he doesn't offer the team much outside of the ol' run-down-Turrets-top-and-draw-pressure strategy. As of recent, I had found myself having the most success by never leaving top lane, which isn't exactly something that should be encouraged.

  • Aatrox's ultimate, while good, doesn't feel very good. The damage is negligible (unless you're AP; RIP my fun. AP Aatrox is love, AP Aatrox is life), and the buff you get, while good, doesn't feel wonderful-- after all, it's just that, a self-buff spell.

  • Aatrox is heavily feast-or-famine. To those unfamiliar with this coined term, it means that when they get ahead, they're incredibly oppressive, but when they're behind, they're abysmally useless. Offering high-damage when ahead and incredible healing abilities, Riot got around this a bit by making his heal scale with missing health instead of attack damage.

  • Aatrox also doesn't have much to do when not in the midst of a battle. Throwing an E occasionally is fine, but it doesn't have very much range, and is more of something to help you either farm safer or get closer to people via the slow.

That being said, here were my goals:

  • Make Aatrox useful in a team fight situation. This will most likely be via a new, more reliable form of crowd control, as well as a new way to get past the challenges he faces against burst-y champions and champions with high crowd-control.

  • Make Aatrox seem more like a leader, or one who will turn the tides of battle, most likely via some form of healing his team or buffing his team.

  • Give Aatrox an ultimate that feels good. This will likely tie into his theme of being the "hero" that arrives at the last second.

  • Give Aatrox some way to remain useful in a fight, even when behind.

  • Keep Aatrox from snowballing too hard.

  • Help Aatrox stay alive when being shut down from burst and crowd control, but not to the point where it's impossible to kill him.

  • Help Aatrox scale harder, although this can be accomplished by making him more useful in team fights.

  • Aatrox's ultimate shouldn't scale with AP anymore, since AP Aatrox isn't something they seem to want. Not necessarily that big of a deal, but it's a thing.

So, without further ado, here we go!

Aatrox The Darkin Blade Fighter

[P] Blood Well: Upon casting an ability or whenever Blood Thirst/Blood Price activates, Aatrox fills his Blood Well by 25%. Aatrox’s Blood Well rapidly decays by 25% every second while out of combat. Upon filling his Blood Well to 100%, Aatrox becomes Hellbent, causing the Blood Well to rapidly decays over 3 seconds, increasing Aatrox’s attack range to 375 and granting him 25% increased base attack damage until his Blood Well empties. Dealing or taking damage from an enemy champion or large monster during this time causes his Blood Well to refresh, completely refilling. Every 180/150/120 seconds, if Aatrox dies while Hellbent, he becomes untargetable and immune to damage for 3 seconds, restoring health equal to 40% of his maximum health over the duration and instantly refilling his Blood Well upon revival.

[Q] Wings of Torment: Cooldown: 13 second cooldown Aatrox unleashes a blast of dark energy from his wings in the target direction, dealing 50/75/100/125/150(+40% AD) physical damage to enemies struck, marking enemy champions hit as Tormented. Aatrox may recast this ability for free after 1.5 seconds, dealing 60/95/120/155/190(+70% AD) physical damage. If it strikes a Tormented enemy, they are stunned for 1 second.

[W] Blood Thirst/Blood Price: Cooldown: 0.5 seconds Passively, every third attack, Aatrox gains 20/25/30/35/40% increased attack speed for 3 seconds. Additionally, whenever this triggers, Aatrox may toggle this ability to choose between one of two additional effects:

Blood Thirst: Aatrox restores 30/45/60/75/90(+5% missing HP) health on every third attack.

Blood Price: Aatrox deals 50/85/120/155/190(+50% bonus AD) additional physical damage on every third attack.

[E] Dark Flight: Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12 second cooldown Aatrox takes flight briefly, soon landing at the target location and dealing 60/90/120/150/180(+70% AD) physical damage to enemies in a radius of 300 units around his impact location, slowing enemies struck by 30/32.5/35/37.5/40% for 2 seconds.

[R] Angel of Death: Cooldown: 180/150/120 second cooldown Aatrox channels for 2 seconds, before flying towards the target enemy champion within 3000 units. Upon landing, Aatrox deals 200/250/300(+40% AD) physical damage to enemies within 550 units of him, granting him and his allies within this area 30% increased movement speed and causing them to restore health equal to 20/25/30% of all damage they deal for 4 seconds. Aatrox also gains a rapidly decaying shield equal to 20% of his maximum health plus 5% for every enemy champion caught, which lasts for up to 1.5 seconds. If they are beneath 40% health, Aatrox may instead choose to fly to an ally, reducing his channel time to 1 second. Aatrox's Blood Well is filled by 25% for every enemy damaged by this ability.

14 Comments

Captain Zyrin1/17/2018, 1:09:08 AM1 votes

His ult really brings out the Team fighting boost

PokladnicaZla1/17/2018, 8:41:14 AM1 votes

Seems kinda broken tbh

FlameHalbrdOkido1/18/2018, 6:08:01 AM1 votes

Hey this is a good concept I'll be back later but I like to post this collection of ideas put together by myself other people and Aatrox mains, I think u may find it useful.

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/U6PpUy4F-aatroxs-potential-thematically-and-mechanically

FlameHalbrdOkido1/18/2018, 2:44:42 PM1 votes

do u think he could use some Tenacity in his kit?

Aatrox also doesn't have much to do when not in the midst of a battle. Throwing an E occasionally is fine, but it doesn't have very much range, and is more of something to help you either farm safer or get closer to people via the slow.

isnt that the point tho? Its probably better if it massively slowed and grounded enemies for like 3 sec.

hey no more knock up on Dark Flight?

R the you Ult you gave him is pretty much just another version of Galio, Rek'Sai, or Nocturn in that that you pick a target at a range fly to them and deal dmg, knowing that it feels boring and lackluster, like i know u can do better and be more creative. The only difference is the added on FX, the bigger issue is that it just feels like a stronger version of Dark Flight, not to say that Dark Flight needs 3000 range and a 550 unit radius, but isnt R just doing a better job of what E should already be doing. Instead of making R a better version of E perhaps you should buff E.

But I did just have a great idea, how do you feel about this?

Aatrox channels for x seconds, before throwing the sword towards the target enemy champion within 3000 units. Upon landing, the sword deals 200/250/300(+40% AD) physical damage to enemies within a 550 unit radius, granting him and his allies within this area 30% increased movement speed and causing them to restore health equal to 20/25/30% of all damage they deal for 4 seconds. Aatrox also gains a rapidly decaying shield equal to 20% of his maximum health plus 5% for every enemy champion caught, which lasts for up to 1.5 seconds. If they are beneath 40% health, Aatrox may instead choose to throw the sword to an ally, reducing his channel time to x second. Aatrox's Blood Well is filled by 25% for every enemy damaged by this ability.

With this is mind you could edit E so that if it is targeting his sword it will gain increased range.

Anyways this ability does a lot and that may be needed...but still it does ALOT!

1.) Aatrox flies towards the target enemy champion within 3000 units. 2.) Upon landing, Aatrox deals AoE dmg 3.) grants himself and allies in the AoE 30% increased movement speed 4.) grants them lifesteal 4 seconds 5.) grants him a rapidly decaying shield equal to 20% of his maximum health plus 5% for every enemy champion caught, lasting up to 1.5 seconds. 6.) Aatrox's Blood Well is filled by 25% for every enemy damaged by this ability.

and semi separately

7.) If an ally is beneath 40% health, Aatrox may instead choose to fly to them, reducing his channel time to 1 second.

this might be what riot calls an overloaded ability, some thing that can seem unfair. TBH i don't think it really needs the MS buff or the dash. If you don't mind could you take a look at my passive suggestions and my ult suggestions on the link above. I think that they are well developed and could help u with this kit please tell me what you think.

BlooDKaizer5/24/2018, 10:11:13 PM1 votes

And this should be a good kit? a good aatrox rework? every ability seems near the same, this is the biggest rework how riot confirmed happening to a champ what they ever did? irelia and swain hafe better and more kreative reworks and are not the BIGGEST reworks of all time....aatrox should feel like a CHAOS BRINGING SWORD MASTER who feast on the blood of the fallen ones and not like a flying Galio 2.0 i mean pls....if u give the players a galio 2.0 that would be a little sad and redicolous for the biggest rework of all time. Give him more lifesteal make him illusive make the gameplay based on his sword, like knocking up and down people with his sword stunn them than dash thrue like a Monster and finish them off with a big blow from his ultimate that it feels u like playing an hack and slash game when u play aatrox and not like a flying Galio 2.0, pls do something good with him :) there must comme more than this for a BIGGEST REWORK WHAT RIOT EVER DONE.