Does Aatrox suck now or am I doing it wrong?

InsaneSamurai·1/6/2015, 12:39:26 AM·2 votes·5,674 views

I hadn't played him in quite some time, probably near his release, and the other day I hopped in the jungle thinking "he's got plenty of sustain, he should be good", and oh boy. I haven't felt more worthless in a game in quite some time(compared to before, when jungling with him kinda felt like 'easy mode'). Did the change over to the new stat system and new jungle just punk him, or did he get some nerfs I never paid attention to? Or is he still plenty strong and I just inexplicably kept dying to a kayle with no damage? :D

16 Comments

Leti the Yeti1/6/2015, 1:45:10 AM5 votes

I have never been able to do good with Aatrox, and its nto like he's mechanically challenging or anything either

RiotPhreak1/6/2015, 11:51:26 PM4 votes

Jungling got a lot harder in 2015 so now it's a tricky place to navigate early on. Things to keep in mind:

Armor Seals always. Make sure you're running combat-relevant quints as well, not things like Move Speed. Start Q to make sure you start with a maxed Blood Well. Make sure to start Krugs or Gromp to get a combat-relevant buff for your first clear. I'm pretty sure every champion in the game can jungle up until their first jungle upgrade with no issues.

Medium-mobility melee champions' biggest difficulty is gauging engagements. If you're not familiar with the types of fights you can take as Aatrox, you end up Q'ing in and then just dying. On top of that, junglers get a little bit less income than laners, so you'll be on average less farmed than your opponents. So I'm not surprised that's been your initial experience.

The final thing to point out is item build. What I see being most successful is one core damage item, either just your jungle enchant, or in addition to the enchant, and then building tanky. This should keep you pretty relevant in terms of damage output, while also allowing you to sit on the front lines pretty well.

stealthfox941/6/2015, 2:59:56 AM3 votes

I've heard BORK, Hydra and then any combination of tank items works really well on Aatrox.

dinkaroo6/1/2015, 6:12:02 PM2 votes

Attack speed goes well with him because of his W. Make sure to land the lift from your Q to land your E or get a free hit for your W. He's good with chasing and closing gaps (Q and E) so make sure you're using that. I think that he's just a bit harder of a champion now, but he really can have insane power.

SFG Trefia1/6/2015, 2:16:26 AM2 votes

Aatrox is a Very strong champion but he lacks in the jungle cuz you have to choose sustain or clear i prefer him in the top lane where he has favorable matchups against most now meta tops

Poptart Evelynn1/6/2015, 2:54:33 AM2 votes

Jungle aatrox is very good atm with a tank engage top. You can run warrior with stalkers smite and the ganks are so easy.

The Annie Christ1/7/2015, 5:38:07 AM1 votes

He is better in top lane imho. Just played vs an Aatrox that was just unkillable, his passive is completely annoying, and it took us 3 or 4 to kill him late game. He heals constantly and if I remember correctly, dominated the whole game. We won though with 3 inhibs down. Sweet comeback.

Nightmist Dark6/1/2015, 12:03:04 PM1 votes

is he getting the new fear soon? "hold down to your buffs"

The Whamboozler1/6/2015, 5:50:57 AM1 votes

Aatrox has always sucked. Though I'm less talking about his power than his terrible design, bland voice over, cookie-cutter uninspired mechanics and awful art/character model. I can't imagine a champion he design team failed on more. NOTHING about that guy appeals to me at all.