(Rework) Aatrox, the Darkin Blade

Now I know what you're thinking: "Who's Aatrox?" cries silently

Well, he's that character that will always be the top of the alphabetical sorting, for starters.

But aside from that, Aatrox is a durable melee duelist... and that's pretty much it. He runs at the enemy until one of them dies. I played him until my entire client-side match history was nothing but ranked Aatrox games. As much as it was fun to go off meta, it did give me a very good idea of what problems are keeping him there. So I came up with an idea of how to rework him.

Since his character in the lore is actually more of a leader, leading armies on the brink of failure to glorious victory, I decided to put a greater emphasis on play-making and initiating into his kit while still preserving his split-pushing duelist nature. With that said, let's get started.

Old Passive: Blood Well When using an ability that costs health, Aatrox stores the self-inflicted damage into the Blood Well. Upon taking fatal damage, Aatrox extracts the blood from the well and recovers it as health over a brief duration. Additionally, Aatrox gains 1% Attack Speed for every 2% blood that is in the well.

In its current state, reviving almost always feels bad. You lose a huge chunk of dps since your Blood Well empties, and it just isn't fun to lose a duel because your damage dropped off so starkly.

New Passive: Until Our Dying Breaths Aatrox's mana bar is still replace with a Blood Well that fills for (2%/6%/10%) every second he is in combat. Dealing damage with a basic attack adds an additional (1%/2%/3%). Aatrox gains 1% attack speed for every 2% that the bar is filled. Nearby allied minions gain (20%/35%/50%) of the attack speed bonus. Upon taking fatal damage, Aatrox enters stasis briefly, restoring health based on how much of his bar is filled.

This new passive more demonstrates his leadership and ability to inspire forces. You may have noticed also that there is no mention of his health costs. That's because his health costs would be separate from his passive. This overall makes Aatrox into less of a binary champion and increases his freedom to make choices in both build and play-style.

Skipping ahead a little, but I think it's most important to talk about his W skill next since it defines his kit in both the current and rework forms, but for different reasons.

Old W: Blood Thirst/ Blood Price While toggled on Aatrox deals bonus damage every third subsequent attack at the expense of his own Health. While toggle off Aatrox restores Health every third subsequent attack, increased to 300% value at below 50% health.

Ah, the current W. Sustain and burst in a nice little package. I didn't touch it too much since it's not too bad, but I did give it a little change to give it more relevance to the rest of his kit.

New W: Blood Thirst/ Blood Price (Must be leveled first) While toggled on, Aatrox deals bonus damage every third subsequent attack at the expense of his own Health and gains an additional (1%/2%/3%/4%/5%) well charge. While toggled off, Aatrox restores health every third subsequent attack and has 1% additional healing received for every (10%/8%/6%/4%/2%) health he is missing.

You may wonder, "Why does it have to be leveled first? This isn't Azir." Well, that's because his other abilities are changed based on whether he is in Blood Thirst or Blood Price mode. Blood Thirst is a "stance" that gives greater sustain and team-play, but reduced damage potential. Blood Price is the all-in "stance" where you gain a lot more damage potential, but your power is focused in a smaller area. This gives him greater depth to his kit and a lot more versatility.

Old Q: Dark Flight Aatrox takes flight and slams down at a targeted location, dealing damage and knocking up enemies at the center of impact.

Kind of boring and can be outplayed insanely easily due to its long startup. Outplay potential on skills is good, but... a skill that can be outplayed by anything is just kind of bad. I found myself getting frustrated frequently while attempting to use this ability as both escape and engage. It's okay for follow-up on another aoe stun, but... it's just okay.

New Q: Dark Flight/ Fell Swoop Dark Flight in Blood Thirst: Aatrox takes flight on first cast, gaining vision of the surrounding area. On second cast, he slams into the ground at the target location, dealing a small amount of damage and knocking enemies into the air. Can be canceled to refund 50% of the cooldown. Does not refund the health cost.

Fell Swoop in Blood Price: Aatrox's next basic attack has extended range and dashes to the target enemy, knocking them airborne and dealing additional damage. Resets autoattack timer. Has a greater range than Dark Flight.

The new Dark Flight gives a reason for the delay and gives him a fighting chance versus people who run through jungle areas. Fell Swoop is a new addition to his kit that reduces his tendency to get kited across infinity while giving him some dueling power that he sorely lacked. These two options present the Aatrox player with more meaningful decisions and play-making.

Old E: Blades of Torment Aatrox unleashes the power of his blade, dealing damage to enemies hit and slowing them.

This spell in its current form creates a strange situation where the Aatrox, a character meant to be an in-your-face duelist type, is usually spending a greater part of the game trying to line up pokes with a slow-moving projectile. It just doesn't make much sense in his kit.

New E: Bloody Swathe/ Blades of Torment Bloody Swathe in Blood Thirst: Aatrox flaps his wings outward, dealing a small amount of damage and knocking back nearby enemies.

Blades of Torment in Blood Price: For a short duration after activation, each autoattack will create two blades at Aatrox's location. When the duration ends, all blades will be fired towards Aatrox's current target, stopping at the first enemy champion hit.

Bloody Swathe is Aatrox's main play-making ability. Is someone just about to escape? Launch yourself in front of them and Bloody Swathe them into your team. Is that pesky Singed about to toss your Jinx into the enemy team for the 5th time in a row? Bat him away with Bloody Swathe and keep your carry safe. It gives him a more meaningful purpose in the team and greater synergy in his kit. Blades of Torment is still technically a "poke" ability, but it's a more unique and interesting one that fits with his kit due to it being based around your autoattacks.

Old R: Massacre Aatrox draws in the blood of his foes, damaging all nearby enemy champions around him and gaining increased Attack Speed and bonus Attack Range for a short duration. Aatrox's Blood Well fills by 20% for each enemy champion hit.

A cool ability, but one that lacks a lot in the "wow" factor. Don't get me wrong, the animations and graphics are awesome, but unless you're playing AP Aatrox (please don't), that isn't enough. This is meant to be an ability where you dive into everyone, pop it, and tear through them like the god of war that you are. But even in my best games, I never really had that moment. So let's change that.

New R: Massacre Aatrox swings his blade in a 180 degree arc in front of himself, damaging and afflicting all enemies hit with Marked for Death. When attacking an enemy that is Marked For Death, his autoattacks gain the following properties *His Attack Speed and Attack Speed Cap is doubled *He blinks to his autoattack target (with a 1 second cooldown between blinks) *He deals additional damage based on a percentage of the target's Maximum Health

Now this is an ultimate meant for leading a charge and massacring enemies. Gives Aatrox an actual presence in team-fights and really ups the wow factor. His ultimate would actually be something to "BEHOLD!"

All in all, I think this rework presents a more fully- realized Aatrox, preserving what makes him and his idea great while giving his kit greater ties to his lore and more reasons to pick him. Let me know what you think!