Aatrox Rework: The Drain Diver
Passive, Blood Well: Aatrox gains a secondary health bar, these hit points are stacked ''under'' the regular hit points, and will only deplete after regular hit points reach zero. These hit points scale with level only, and will increase by 50% for every nearby visible champions. When Aatrox's regular hit points reach zero, he begins to tap into his Blood Well and enters a Battle Trance.
-Battle Trance: Lifesteal against minions and neutral monsters is disabled, but Aatrox now gains benefits from both Blood Thirst and Blood Price. His Blood Well slowly drains at an increasing pace. He can shrug off death for as long as his Blood Well isn't empty, and any overhealing will refill his regular health bar. If he kills a champion, or leaves combat for at least five seconds, his Blood Well deplete rate will reset, or stop if he had overhealing, allowing him to live. If his Blood Well reaches zero, he dies.
Q, Dark Flight: Aatrox flies above target area, pausing for a slight moment before crashing down under him, dealing damage and knocking up enemies at the center.
W, Blood Thirst/Blood Price:
-Blood Thirst: While toggled on, every third attack will drain the blood of his enemies, healing Aatrox for an amount, against champions, healing is increased by 2% for every 1% health the enemy currently has.
-Blood Price: While toggled on, every third attack will deal bonus physical damage, against champions, damage is increased by 2% for every 1% health the enemy is missing.
E, Blades of Torment: Aatrox unleashes two converging energy waves in the target direction, dealing damage and also applies either Blood Thirst and/or Blood Price to enemy champions and epic monsters hit. Minions and neutral monsters will take increased damage from Blades of Torment.
R, Massacre: Aatrox gains massive attack speed and attack range, and all his health is converted into his Blood Well, triggering Battle Trance. While Massacre lasts, every third hit will now also apply Blood Price and Blood Thirst to nearby enemies, although Aatrox will only gain half the health from additionnal Blood Thirst. Massacre lasts 15 seconds, increased by 5 seconds for every kills or assists. Once the duration has ended, or after an Ace, his health will be converted back. Aatrox might still die after Massacre if he doesn't have enough health to overheal his Blood Well. Scoring an Ace will instantly heal Aatrox back to full.
Goals of the rework: Transform Aatrox into a diving champ, that thrives in battle.
Pros:
-Allows Aatrox to survive longer when diving -Increase Aatrox strength when in the thick of battle, when surrounded by multiple enemies -Dark Flight is more reliable since the dash happens on the take off -Allowing Aatrox's E to benefit from his W opens up opportunity for Aatrox to survive in unfavorable matchups -He becomes a relentless fightning machine when he is allowed to teamfight -He deals more damage to low-health champions
Cons:
-Aatrox lost a lot of his base power, and also a lot of dueling potential -He can be countered hard if he can be disengaged from reliably -His passive allows him to survive when fighting against champions, but if he is disengaged from while his Battle Trance is active, he will probably die since he can't heal back -His self healing will be reduced by a lot when fighting low-health champions, so it is easier to burst him down at that point. -If he is disengaged from after using Massacre, he will probably die.
Gameplay:
-Aatrox will seek for opportunity to dive into the enemy team. -When the fight is fresh, he will heal a lot from Blood Thirst against high-health champions, allowing him to survive while his teammates catch up to him. -As the fight goes on, it might be beneficial to toggle Blood Price for increased damage against low-life target -Knowing when to use Blood Price or Blood Thirst effectively will be optimal when teamfighting. -If he enters Battle Trance, he must commit to fighting, otherwise he'll just deplete his Blood Well and die as he can't heal from minions anymore. -Aatrox must be wary of enemies' disengage tools when using Massacre, if he is disengaged from after using it, he will bleed out from his depleting Blood Well -Even when him or his team is falling behind, Aatrox can still possibly turn teamfights into his team's favor, probably sacrificing himself in the process. His Blood Well provides a lot of health to survive through, but unless he's fed enough, it will be very hard to fill it back and survive. -In laning phase, Aatrox will try to survive and look for opporunities to land his E or third hit on the enemy laner for either sustain or extra damage. -Aatrox and his team should try their best to force teamfights, possibly around an objective, which is when he will shine the best. -Aatrox's team should do their best at baiting disengage tools from the enemies, as those are Aatrox's biggest bane.
So this is my take on a potential Aatrox rework. I always felt like this champion had a lot of potential for both his theme and gameplay, i tried to come up with something that would fit his lore as a demon that thrives in battle. Although such a rework would leave him somewhat weak as a duelist by losing a lot of his passive damage and attack speed, an upgraded E should help him survive laning phase, until he can become the beast that he always should have been in teamfights, as a diver.
I also thought about snowball issues, i think his passive would help him when falling behind, and when fed, he can easily be denied from a proper fight, which is where most of where his new strenght would stem from
Although i doubt my ideas will ever reach Riot, i would still like to hear about you guys, what you think of my idea, potential design flaws, balance issues, etc.