NOTE: Hello guys, I want to say something. First of all, I never thought I would reach the first place here ever but you actually considered it worthy of being the first guide. Thank you for doing that, for making one of my dreams come true.
Second of all, I was really baffled when I logged in and had like 5-6 friend requests(all because of the guide). I was really happy so I talked and offered tips to the guys that added me, thank you for making me feeling that happiness.
Hello, my name is TurBooo0 and in S3, I was plat. I have been playing for two years now. To be honest, I didn't learn anything in my first year but my second year was more than perfect: I got this account from unranked to platinum and my EUNE account, sUkUrIbEy from bronze to gold 2.
My main roles are top and jungle(I'm slightly better at top lane)and to be honest, playing these two roles got me from Gold V to Plat V in just two days(no joking). Before my huge two day games marathon I had 5-6 games with Aatrox but now I have ~92 games with him which is quite a lot.
If you'd like to play just add me(only EUW meaning add TurBooo0) and ask me if I want to play. I will usually say yes. Coming to Aatrox, why do I play him after the Patch 3.13 nerfs?
Well, I always played him because of the huge amount of damage he can deal at level 2-3 and the only thing that affected his early game a little bit is the Blood Well attack speed reduction.
Aatrox is a great top laner, he beats a lot of people and won't get beaten horribly by his counters due to his great sustain(thank you Blood Thirst). He is pretty fun and easy to play, so why won't you try him out?

Pros +High damage +High sustain +Ranged harras/farming tool +A lot of free stats(can be called artificial gold too) +One of the best early first blooders Cons -You have to know how to play well -Can get baited -Usually gets camped -No items - lower damage than a support

Aatrox is a champion that is really strong and has a low skill cap. He is a good pick in most cases(no real counters if played well). During laning phase, he has a HUGE sustain and something quite some top laners lack: ranged harras(which may a lot of times win your lane). He can bring whatever the team needs to the table: he can be a tank, he can be a damage dealer, he can be something like Jax, sticking to MvPs. The only bad thing is that you NEED to know the basics really well so you get gold(if you don't, buy wards) and you have to remember that you are a champion too(else you will get too confident and will end up dying.

Q U I N T S

greater quintessence of armor penetration Greater Quintessence of Life Steal - I really like these quints on Aatrox because his abilities cost health and this only boosts Blood Thirst's heal. Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - Really strong quints too but to be honest, taking Greater Quintessence of Life Steal is only my personal preference.

Q U I N T S

S E A L S

Greater Seal of Armor - Most top laners are AD, everybody deals AD so why won't you take armor to reduce it? To be honest, these are the only viable seals at the moment.

S E A L S

G L Y P H S

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - In my opinion, the best glyphs to take when you go top. Yes, you won't always lane against an AP champion but consider the fact that there are a lot of AD champions who deal physical damage with their abilities Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - Pretty decent too but as I explained earlier, Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is just better.

G L Y P H S

M A R K S

greater mark of armor penetration Greater Mark of Attack Damage - Like the quints and masteries, these help me deal a lot of damage really early. If with the high amount of damage these runes give me a kill, then my lane is already won. greater mark of armor penetration - I would never take them but if you would like to... To be honest I only put these so you would have an alternative.

M A R K S

Blood Well

Aatrox passively increases his attack speed by 0.6 / 0.7 / 0.8 / 0.9 / 1 / 1.1% for every 2% in the Blood Well.
Upon taking fatal damage, Blood Well activates and places Aatrox in stasis for up to 3 seconds. Over the stasis duration the Blood Well is emptied and Aatrox restores health equal to its contents plus 10.5 + (15.75 × level). Aatrox can cancel the stasis early after 1 second by moving, but this also ends the health regeneration.

STATIC COOLDOWN: 225

Blood Well is in my opinion, a really strong, useful passive. The Guardian Angel part has so many uses that I can't write all of them in one page. The attack speed part is really useful too since it makes Blood Thirst / Blood Price much more useful and makes pushing towers a child's play.

Dark Flight

Aatrox takes flight and slams down at a targeted area, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies upon landing. Enemies in the center of the area are also knocked up for 1 second.

RANGE: 650
COOLDOWN: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12
COST: 10% CURRENT HEALTH
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 60% bonus AD)

Dark Flight is a very useful ability. Why? Because it is Aatrox's initiating tool(can hurt a lot when knocking up 3 people at once then following up with Massacre), it is his disengaging tool(can jump most walls with it and even if not, it's range is pretty huge) and if you manage to knock up someone, you can literally follow up with whatever ability you want(thus making it really great for getting an early first blood).

Blood Thirst

Aatrox heals himself on every third attack. If Aatrox is below 50% health he will heal for three times as much.

COOLDOWN: 0.5
HEAL: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+25% bonus AD)
ENHANCED HEAL: 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 (+75% bonus AD)

Blood Thirst is a great sustain tool that may more or less help you stay in lane forever. At early levels, combined with the lifesteal quints, the health it gives you back is really amazing(boosted even further if you start with Doran's Blade or Elixir of Fortitude) and people tend to underestimate how much health you can get back when you are low.

Blood Price

Aatrox deals bonus physical damage on every third attack at the cost of health.

COOLDOWN: 0.5
BONUS PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+100% bonus AD)
HEAL COST ON THIRD ATTACK: 15 / 23.75 / 32.5 / 41.25 / 50 (+25% bonus AD)

Blood Price is such a strong ability. If Blood Thirst makes Aatrox a "not so much damage but a lot of survivability" this is "bashing brains in a matter of seconds but not so much as much survivability". I recommend you don't switch to this stance if you aren't experienced enough as it may do more bad. This can be used to harras(use the third attack on your enemy for a LOT of damage), to deal as much damage as possible in team fights, to clear waves faster but it doesn't apply on turrets.

Blades Of Torment

Aatrox unleashes and sends forward the power of his blade, dealing magic damage to enemies in a line and slowing them by 40% for a few seconds

RANGE: 1000
COOLDOWN: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8
COST: 5% CURRENT HEALTH
MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 (+ 60% AP) (+ 60% bonus AD)
SLOW DURATION: 1.75 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 2.75

Blades of Torment is, in my opinion, Aatrox's strongest ability(that's why I max it first). Why? First of all, it is only natural to build armor against Aatrox(in lane) but Blades of Torment deals magic damage so no matter how much armor they build, this will still hurt them(eating a lot of Blades of Torments will actually get him pretty low so he will be a diveable target). Second of all, this is A RANGED poking ability. There are so many champions that can't respond to this( Jax, Garen, Riven but she can just jump to you).

Massacre

Aatrox draws in the blood of his foes, dealing magic damage to nearby enemy champions.
For the next 12 seconds, Aatrox gains bonus attack speed and 175 bonus attack range (325 total range). His attacks are still considered melee.

COOLDOWN: 100 / 85 / 70
COST: NO COST
MAGIC DAMAGE: 200 / 300 / 400 (+ 100% AP)
ATTACK SPEED: 40 / 50 / 60%

Massacre is a really nice ability, that really fits Aatrox. This can be used to finish escaping targets(200+ magic damage is always welcome) but it shines the most in duels / team fights: In duels, not only does it damage your enemy but it gives you a huge attack speed steroid which will only boost your Blood Thirst / Blood Price heal / damage. In team fights Dark Flight into Massacre can blow up the enemy team and makes following up 10 times easier for your team

Flash is at the moment the msot used summoner spell. Why? Because it offers so much: you can escape with it, you can initiate with it( Flash into Dark Flight into Massacre), you can make those fancy Flash jukes if you want to. The only bad thing is that it has a high CD. Ignite is my favourite summoner spell when I go top lane since it makes my killing potential much higher. It is better on Aatrox because you will WANT to go for that early first blood and why won't you take some extra damage for free?

Again Flash since it is like a must have on most champions at the moment and Teleport since it, like Flash has multiple uses: ganking( Teleport to the ward behind the enemy team), you can go much faster to your lane and lose little CS which may effectively win you your lane and split pushing, say you are pushing a lane and the enemy intiated, then you Teleport there and kill them all.

As mentioned before, Flash is a great option, but why Exhaust? Personally I don't really like it but it may help you in trades just as much as Ignite: if you lane against a Tryndamere/ Jax this may be your best friend but it usually is outclassed by Ignite. If you like it, know that it is viable.

Two escaping tools are just great but I'd say one is enough. If this setup helps you however, feel free to take it.

You can use Ghost instead of Flash but keep a couple things in mind:

• Ghost indeed has a lower cooldown than Flash which may come in handy.
• Ghost is a less effective escape than [[flash] since a slow, stun or snare will make it useless
• Ghost is a better escape than Flash only if you run in a straight line

Aatrox is a very flexible champion meaning that he can fit a lot of team compositions:
- AoE teams(say you have Orianna and Miss Fortune your Dark Flight + Massacre into a Command: Shockwave and the Bullet Time in the back would be devastating)
- He can be a beefy frontline-tank
- He can be something like Master Yi meaning a melee ADC(works better in mid game)
- If behind, he can peel for the ADC
As you can see, Aatrox can fill A LOT of roles, there are little team comps he doesn't fit in(if I think of it, he fits in every team comp).






Aatrox is what you would call a lane bully. Try and shut down your enemy as hard as possible. Don't let him farm, don't let him get close to his minions. This applies if you aren't laning against a counter.
If you are against a counter, play passive, wait for your enemy to push then farm at your tower, if he freezes stay close enough to get the experience.
At level 1 put a point in Blood Thirst / Blood Price. After hitting something twice, go and use your Blood Price hit on the enemy. Here is an example if you didn't understand. This will deal a lot of damage. Try to keep AA'ing minions so you get the empowered attack. Yes, this will result in you pushing the lane but it will result in you getting level 2 first too. Once you are level two, get the empowered Blood Price hit and then knock the enemy up with your Dark Flight, use your empowered attack and then keep hitting him. As a side note, try to stay in front of him so you can land more auto attacks and even if he Flashes the gap between you and him won't be large. This way, you will, most of the times, get first blood.
After getting first blood, you should snowball. What does that mean? Press on your advantage. An extra 400 gold will be enough for an extra Long Sword. That Long Sword will make you stronger than your enemy, so then abuse him: don't let him farm, if you want, keep him at his tower and so on...
When coming to diving, Aatrox is a really strong diver due to his passive(here is an example) but there are a couple rules you should keep in mind:
1. You need to have at least 4-5 minions at the enemy turret so once you get in your passive it will have what to switch damage to.
2. You need to be sure you can pick up the kill(by playing a lot you will realise when it is possible).
3. You should have more than half your health.
4. If you can't kill your enemy with a Dark Flight+ Blood Price, then his CC must be down or non-existent.





Split pushing is what you should do in mid game. Why? Because, yes, you are strong once you get Ravenous Hydra but you don't have any real defense. You can join teamfights however if you are millennia ahead since you would be able to kill the enemy ADC.
You should stay top and keep splitpushing at least until you get both Randuin's Omen and Spirit Visage. Use Massacre to take down turrets faster and use Ravenous Hydra's active to push down waves faster. Be sure however to ward properly so you won't get caught since that is the last thing you'd like to happen.





As I mentioned, in mid game you shouldn't join them necesarilly but in late game you should be there for your team.
What is your role? More simple than you thought: Keep as many MVPS on you so that your team can clean up. You can try to kill the enemy carry if he doesn't have any escape mechanisms( Varus, Jinx) but you will usually just try to make them hit you. Keep hitting them back so you heal with Blood Thirst. They will have to kill you twice so that's just better, jump them and make them keep them busy while your team is destroying the others. I will actually film some teamfights just so you get an idea.





How is a game won?
A game is won by taking objectives, structures and smart plays.
Where are the kills?
Kills are good only in one way: they open up objectives and structures. For instance, if one of the enemies is caught out of position and killed, this frees up Baron Nashor. Smart plays may free it up too: let's say two enemies are split pushing bot, then Baron Nashor is free to take or even pushing top lane may work.
One easier and faster way to win is actually getting a huge advantage in the beggining of the game(which is quite easy with Aatrox) and then pressing that advantage to the point where the game is just perfect for you.

Cho'Gath Medium

Cho'Gath is a strong champion against Aatrox due to his high sustain and naturally building tanky but however early in the game he won't be much trouble so getting a first blood or at least an advantage is quite easy. Note that he can't last hit well under the tower so if you push, he will surely miss quite some caster minions. At level 6, you both will get a really strong ultimate but you can still beat him if you played well until that point. I recommend you start with Doran's Blade or Elixir of Fortitude so you get an early first blood but don't underestimate his damage.

Darius is quite hard to lane against because of a few reasons: first of all, if you try to go for an early first blood, it may backfire horribly so try to be a little safe. Second of all, he kinda outdamages you but if you play it cool and heal off of minions you will get past 6 in a good shape. After 6 however, Darius will get his ultimate rising his kill potential to the skies. If you manage to poke him down with Blades of Torment however he will be an easy potato. Don't get cocky and you are fine.

Darius Skill

Fiora Medium

She is rather easy to beat but I put her on medium because you have to watch out for one thing: Riposte. It's active can **** up your Blood Price. When I reach level two, I rewind what happened until that point in my head: did she start with W? No? Free kill. Yes? Did she use it? Yes? I can kill her. No? I will bait it. Once her Riposte is down she is pretty vulnerable. Here is a good example( Riposte's cooldown is 10 at rank 1 and decreases by 1 each time she puts a point in it and after this first blood I managed to carry my godawful team, so yes, carrying in soloq ALONE is possible). I saw her use it before so then I started counting in my head. When I was at 8 I jumped her. You will see she has it at the end but that's no problem for me. It's passive is another annoying thing. Why? Because of the artificial gold it offers to her. Do you have a Long Sword and she doesn't? Riposte makes up for it.

Well, Gangplank isn't actually that hard of a match-up. First of all, he uses mana so you already have an advantage. Second of all, one Parrrley is healed by a Blood Thirst AA so you won't necesarilly get poked down. You can try and AA him when Blood Price is up at level 1 then try to get a first blood with Dark Flight to Blood Price's empowered AA cause he won't necesarilly start with tanky items(I have seen people start with Long Sword, Boots). At level 6, your ultimate is stronger in a 1 v 1 duel so you should be able to beat him. Be careful however that he may use Cannon Barrage in different parts of the map thus giving him and his team an advantage. One thing I really like to do to counter this is pinning him down, making him reach level 6 too late to actually be useful. In order to do this, do your best freezing the lane in the middle of it or near your tower but not in range of it.

Gangplank Easy

Garen Skill

Garen is really tanky even at the beggining of the game and his passive gives him great sustain. However if played correctly, you won't lose top but nor will you win it with a 10/0 score unless you can get an early first blood(which I find impossible). Before 6, you are kinda equal so avoid trading, but if you have to, go for it. One thing to remember is that he has no ranged harras so he has no response to your Blades of Torment. If you manage to get him low enough, he will stay away from you thus activating his passive and getting him to full health in no time. Good thing you have Blood Thirst to. At level 6, you both will be kinda strong but one thing I find amusing is that he has to have twice your AD to get you to less than half so you get killed by Demacian Justice. Why? Because you will keep healing with Blood Thirst. So if you want to win, play it a little a little bit aggressive but don't go overboard.

Here is a prime example on how to beat Irelia(a good example on showing Aatrox's early game damage too). Pre-6, if you get a kill, you literally won the lane(in this case after this, I went 7/1/1 with 180-200 minions while she was 1/7 with 70 minions). If you don't get a kill that early however, you can still win by constantly poking with Blades of Torment. After level 6, look at one thing: did she get her Sheen? If yes, be careful, she can deliver a lot of damage, if not, she is killable.

Irelia Medium

Jax Hard

Jax trully is your counter. He can stop all your AA damage with Counter Strike and then he can screw you even more with Empower. You can't run because he has a Leap Strike. There is one thing though, only good Jax players can beat an Aatrox because against Aatrox, you need to be very aggressive. The ones who pick just to counter you will get stomped. Assuming you are against a good Jax there are two tips I can give you, he has no ranged harras so hitting him with Blades of Torment may get him a little bit lower. Don't jump in unless he used his Counter Strike to farm(which is a questionable move). If his Counter Strike is down you can possibly beat him(it has a long CD, like 11 seconds).

In my opinion an easy match-up but a lot of people find this difficult because Jayce has the range advantage. There are a few ways you can deal with his range advantage: 1. Eat his poke and heal with Blood Thirst and when he is too near punish him with Dark Flight. 2. Make him use his abilities as much as possible so he is forced to switch to Mercury Hammer in order to hit something to get mana back. One annoying thing about this guy is that you can't get a level 2 first blood as he will do whatever is neccesary to keep a safe distance but if he comes nearby just go for it. At level 6, you will get a huge boost while he won't get anything. If you can't handle this alone, don't worry, 1 gank is enough for you to win the lane.

Jayce Medium

Kennen Skill

Before level 6, you actually have a chance to beat him since if you stay between your and his minions, farming without getting knocked up by Dark Flight would be pretty hard for him. You can try and eat his poke and heal with Blood Thirst but that won't hold you forever. If you didn't get a kill and you are 6, chances are you will lose your lane but don't focus on that, focus on farming and possibly killing Kennen. Don't, however, underestimate his huge amounts of damage.

This guy is really strong early due to his Unseen Threat and Taste Their Fear. These two will easily outdamage your Blood Price. If you manage to get to level 2 before him and with quite some health(more than three quarters) try and go for an early first blood. After level 6, he will be quite annoying as he will get Void Assault but still nothing you can't handle. Try and force him out of lane or try to poke him with Blades of Torment. But can't he respond with Void Spike? Thing is, your Blades of Torment doesn't stop at the first target it hits while Void Spike does so minion blocking is a viable choice for you.

Kha'Zix Medium

Lee Sin Easy

Before 6, just dodge Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike and you should be fine. If you dodge it in a trade, you win the trade so look forward to that. Try to harras him as much as possible with Blood Price but be careful, Tempest / Cripple will get you low if you keep eating those but to be honest, it is not a huge problem, just heal with Blood Thirst. After 6, he has a huge burst but again, just try to dodge Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike and you should be fine. If you manage to survive his burst, consider him dead since you deal huge amounts of damage. Lee Sin is just inferior to Aatrox(more damage in early game, high sustain, maybe a smaller burst).

"WHAT? MALPHITE COUNTERS Aatrox 100%!" Not true. Aatrox is really good against Malphite due to the fact that Malphite won't be the tank that can take blows from Aatrox 24/7 with his beggining item. So you mean...? Yes, you need an early first blood/mininon advantage/any kind of gold advantage. If you get it, you should delay his tank items a lot and when he completed them you should have enough items not to feel it that much. After level 6, both Unstoppable Force and Massacre are really strong but in my opinion, Massacre is much much better in a duel so you shouldn't hide from a trade. There are two things to keep in mind: always try to hit him with something(most likely Blades of Torment) so his Granite Shield won't get back up and no matter how much armor he stacks, Blades of Torment will deal a lot of damage.

Malphite Medium

Nasus Insane

Want to win against Nasus? You can't. You actually can but only for a small part of the game. You can get an early first blood and try to deny him as many Siphoning Strike stacks as possible by freezing the lane somewhere near the middle of the lane. You can out trade him before 6 anyways. After 6, his Fury of the Sands will give him what people pay 1000 gold to achieve and besides, Siphoning Strike gives him artifical gold too so no matter how well you do, you will get beaten at some point(he will build armor items anyways). Just try and get towers as fast as possible so the game will end fast so Nasus won't get farmed.

All about experience and skill. His Cull the Meek and Ruthless Predator predator make up for your Blood Thirst and Blades of Torment, his Slice and Dice make up for your Dark Flight so yeah.. it is pretty hard to win if the enemy is skilled. Before 6, you may have your chance but try harrasing him with Blades of Torment and when you are sure you can pick up a kill just Dark Flight into Blood Thirst and Blades of Torment(basic combo) but beware of his empowered Ruthless Predator. After 6, both of you get a huge steroid but if it were for you to ask me, his is somehow better due to it giving him DIRECT damage and a lot of health and fury regeneration which will make all of his skills really powerful but still, if you poke him down low enough, you can win.

Renekton Skill

Riven Medium

After the recent nerfs, she isn't WHAT she used to be. She is now winnable against: You can trade with her, you have the sustain, wait for her Valor shield to go down then bash her brains, keep spamming Blades of Torment as she doesn't have a reply for it(other than trying to close the gap really fast). At level 6, I'd say the ults are nearly equal yet hers may be more useful some times. If you are ahead, there is no need to be scared but if you are equal play it passive and wait for something to happen.

Sooo this was my guide. I hope you will enjoy it and come with improvements rather than idiotic and moronic comments. I'd like to thank jhoijhoi for the line dividers she created.