Aatrox idea found on reddit (by Terkmc)
I was searching for a post that would confirm an Aatrox rework. I love the concept behind him, but it feels like his kit does not allow him to fulfill it. I found the ideas Terkmc had on this champ identity were well tought and the shape he gave to the abilities could get Aatrox closer to what his lore is about. So I'm posting it here, hoping it is not the wrong forum to do so. Maybe the team that will get to do his rework has already other ideas about him, but even so i feel like this is a nice piece of work by someone who would love to see this champ at his best like i do.
I'll paste the text of his reddit post for more immediate acces:
Aatrox has potential, his lore and thematic stick together, a god of War that inspire allies to fight for the sake of fighting and turn battle around. In execution however, he was a pretty big let down. Generic bruiser kit, only self steroid in stark contrast with his background and crappy base stat. Let's try that again, and bring a true God of War, a commander of armies and an artist of violence
Aatrox pre-existing identity:
Metric ton of sustain High damage for a bruiser Vampiry Auto attack focused Dive potential Aggressive, damage focused style
Rework value:
Allied inspiration More commander, frontline-ish Try to balance sustain Eternal warrior Less generic Less steroid-focused Fight changer Focus more on his cooler concept Elegance and brutality mixed together He has wings, fucking use them
Stat changes:
Base Hp up to 550 HP growth up to 90 AD growth up to 4
Abilities:
[P] Eternal Warrior CD: 200/180/160/120 Range: 500
When Aatrox dies, he remains on the battlefield in stasis. Aatrox absorb 20% of all damage dealt in the area. After 5 seconds, he is resurrected with his health equal to the amount absorbed, and any excess forming a shield that decay over 5 second. Resurrection also grant him [40-200] AD and his allies half of that for 5 seconds
This a more battle-focused revive and tried to tackle the more counter-intuitive nature of his old revive, in that he spend the majority of his power to revive, meaning he revives being half useless. Instead, his new passive follows his thematic of war, both damage of his own team and his enemy fuels him. The heal, shield and AD also allows for a comeback mechanic, encouraging his teammate to fight even harder once Aatrox dies, as when he returns he will turn the tide of battle.
**[Q] Dark Flight Range: 650-850 Cost: 10% Current Health CD: 12 **
Aatrox take flight, breaking all hard cc and releasing a 200-radius shock wave that knock enemy back to its edge. Aatrox then stay in the air for up to 1 second, during which he can't move or attack and the range of his reactivation increase over the duration. Aatrox can reactivate the ability to dive toward a target enemy (does not track location) dealing 70/115/160/205/250 (+ 60% bonus AD) physical damage in a 250-radius. Enemy in a smaller, 75-radius is knocked up for 1 second and dealt extra 40% bonus AD as physical damage .
I actually really like Aatrox Q idea, a dive bomb ability is really cool and fits the whole war god, diving into battle theme. However, as it stand its kinda lack-luster, the thematic only hurt him (longer cast time and dont even dodge thing). So i took that idea and ran with it. Taking off with wings, for a being of his size, takes a lot of force and there are bound for to be a lot of air being blown about. That's when I noticed Dragon flying has a knock-back. Now this is really cool, it gives the awesome look of a being of power (the force of him flapping his wing is enough to knock you back), and also fits with his theme and added a little layer of depth with the flight mechanic. In his lore Aatrox turns around loosing battle, and the knock back mechanic can serve that function. Did your team got Amumu or Sejuani ulted and getting collapsed upon? Take flight, push the enemy back to give your team some breathing room, survey the battlefield from a vantage point before choosing the perfect moment to dive, counter-initiating and turning the tide of battle
[W] Blood Thirst/Blood Price CD: 0.5 Blood Price cost: 25% damage dealt
Blood Thirst: Every third attack heal Aatrox for 10% (+1% per 25 bonus AD) missing health Blood Price: Every third attack deals 60/95/130/165/200 (+ 100% bonus AD) bonus physical damage and gain (+12/14/16/18/20)% attack speed for 3 second, stacking up to 5 times
_The good old toggle with a twist. % missing health to curb his sustain in lane a bit while still retaining the "Why wont you die already feel. His Blood Price got a buff, as I removed his steroid from elsewhere in the kit, I gave it back in the form of a mounting attack speed buff, fitting of Aatrox's long fight advantage and a smooth transition, fighting on BP at the start of the fight to build up damage and attack speed, and when at low health switch to BT for really fast heal thanks to the attack speed _
**[E] Blade of Torment Range: 200/1000 Cost: 10% current health CD: 12/11/10/9/8 **
Aatrox stab an enemy and have the blade extend pass that enemy, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+ 50% AD) physical damage to all enemy hit. The blade then retract after a short delay, dealing 50% damage again to all enemy, pulling them back slightly and slowing them by 30% and crippling them for 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 second
Like I said, Aatrox has some really cool but under-used theme. A living, extendable, multi-bladed sword is one of them. Also generic magic projectile thingy is super boring. He's the fucking god of war, he doesn't need pew pew poke. Magic make Khorne angry >:[ Anyway, sure, it still kind of a poke spell, but less so with its health cost. Using an extendable sword is cool, but using its jagged blade to rip the flesh off your enemy with a pull is even cooler. His new E is basically a semi engage spell, to help with his problem with kiting and to give him more all-in power. The pull and slow fit thematically with pulling a curved blade, and the cripple is an interesting effect to have, kinda like hamstringing people with the jagged edge, preventing kiting and encouraging man-fight, Aatrox's favorite
[R] Massacre CD: 100/80/60
Aatrox float slightly off the ground and move in the targeted direction at 80% speed for 4/5/6 second, becoming immune to cc, moving through terrain and auto attacking everything in front of him. Aatrox attack gain 325 range, 6/8/10% enemy max health as physical on hit and damage all enemy in a 180 arc in front of him, applying on hit effect but cannot crit. Aatrox also gain 50% life steal for the duration and heal nearby allied champion for half of all healing he received. Aatrox can't stop or use ability/item/summoner spell during the ult
Ah, Massacre, such a cool name for such a lack luster steroid :( Fuck it, we will make it an actual Massacre now. New Massacre is old Massacre on steroid, dealing a ton of damage with longer range auto attack and making Aatrox looks baller as hell. However, it is no longer a steroid, as I've said before, two steroid makes a kit bland and dilute both steroid. Instead Aatrox new ult is a zone/damaging tool, an unholy combination of old Sion ult and Equalizer. With its cc immunity and direction-ed targeting, Aatrox cuts a bloody path in the direction of his choosing. This serves two purpose. One, if the enemy doesn't move out of the way, they get cut down, plain and simple. Two, it splits the enemy team, either through killing everything on the way, literal bloody path, or they move the hell out of the way of the rampaging war god. This ult has many uses. Enemy collapsing on your team? Massacre to save yourself, heal your team and force the enemy off your team. You dive to deep? Massacre out of the enemy team, shrugging off their attempt to stop you, healing yourself and opening a path out of and into the enemy team. Enemy carry is open? Massacre toward them to force them to move the hell away. Aoe lock down on your team?? Massacare to literally massacre the enemy team with massive damage Also if its too confusing of a description, look up Leroic's March of the Black King from Hots (most accurate, just replace it with a lot more auto attacks) or Valkyr Hysteria from Warframe to get the general feel of it.
