Hi everybody, in this guide I will try to explain why Aatrox is a BEAST in mid (as an Assassin) and how to play him. I hope this guide help everyone and remember to give a LIKE if you have enjoy it !!!

Pros : -High sustain -Early damage -Good CC -Revive Passive -High snowball

Cons : -Health-cost abilities -Item-Dependent -Easy to kill on early game

As you see Aatrox has more pros than cons so we can say that is a better than average champion.

For runes I go in marks and quins attack damage. In the mid lane practically all the ap champs wont go for armor early. In glyphs I go with magic resist because you will be facing a lot of ap carrys. In seals I go for armor to avoid the early poke that can do some ranged champs to you.

Other options would be armor penetration or attack speed on marks and quins (which are also good) but I think that in the mid lane Aatrox benefits more from the attack damage because later on you will get a lot of armor penetration with the Last Whisper and the Black Cleaver. I see the attack speed more viable versus champions that normally do "long" trades ( Riven, Vladimir, Lee Sin ...)

The last option that I am testing is go with ap glyphs but I think is only viable versus ad assassins like Talon, Zed ... Or you can use it versus ap champs but I think that It would be extremely dangerous for your lane phase (because they are ranged and you aren't)

In the mid lane you will be facing a lot of ranged champs; that's why I lv up Blades of Torment first (to get far minions, poke hard when maxed and better slow for chasing and escaping). Then lv up Blood Thirst to better sustain and damage and for last Dark Flight.

Warming : don't use Dark Flight on the lane pase if you don't know where their jungler is, because is your only escape and cost a lot of health on the early phases of the game.

For the starting items i go for sight ward, Health Potion (you will only need 2) and Boots because Aatrox really benefits from the movement speed for putting consistent damage on the enemy (and is nice for chasing and escaping).

Now You have seen the build You will be thinking why I don't take the Blade of the Ruined King as my first item, well, that's simple, I don't take it because the special part of Aatrox in the mid lane is that his incredible sustain will make the other ap champs to go back early than you (they only have Health Potion), and you will have to punish them with something ... loosing farm.

Is for that fact that I take the Ravenous Hydra before anything else, with this and your maxed Blades of Torment you will push misión wawes EXTREMELY quick. Apart from that the Ravenous Hydra gives Aatrox life regeneration (if you are being poke down heavily and you can touch minions this will really help you) and life steal. And the active is AWESOME on Aatrox because resets your autoattack. The other items are simple to explain, the Last Whisper to make a lot of damage with your third attack with Blood Price, the Mercury's Treads for escapes (can be change for Berserker's Greaves or Mobility Boots)

Finally the Black Cleaver will give you even more damage with each third attack, the Blade of the Ruined King more life steal & attack speed and the Warmog's Armor will help you to survive and less health cost of abilities.

This part is very simple, take Flash or Ghost for escaping/chasing (on the mid lane i think is better Flash, but if you want to roam a lot take Ghost) and Ignite (recomended for doing your job in teamfights and securing kils in the lane phase) or Teleport (if you are versus a twisted fate or a mid laner also with tp). WARNING : you can use your flash during Dark Flight but it will be a complete fail because you wont move from the landing spot.

Some people take Barrier instead of Ignite for the teamfights but I think that igite usually helps more because with your passive up they usually stop paying attention to you when you are reviving.

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The champions that synergies with Aatrox are the ones with a good amount of CC, examples of that would be Jarvan IV, Leona, Zyra or even Sona and yes, i know that 3 of them are supports but this type of character is who ussually gives the most CC. Other good picks (but not as good as the others) would be Varus, Kennen and Sejuani: a adc, a top and a jungler. Aatrox benefits a lot from a good CC initiation because he can do Dark Flight and Massacre into their ap/ad carry and destroy him very quickly.
So a very good team for Aatrox would be: Jarvan IV top lane, Sejuani as jungler, Varus adc, Zyra support and Aatrox mid lane.

For the other part the best champion to counter Aatrox is Jax (if you jump, He will jump ; if you attack he will activate Counter Strike, his ult Master-At-Arms counters your ult very hard ...) In conclusion is VERY VERY difficult win a fight versus a Jax (the good thing is that you hardly ever face jax in the mid lane). Other counters are Teemo, Quinn (with their blinding abilties), Riven (she will play very agressive and wont let you touch the minions), Diana (she can trade very very quickly and wont let you do all your combo)... So a good team against aatrox would be : Riven top lane, Jax jungler, Diana mid, Quinn adc and Teemo support .

On the early phases of the game play passive until level 2, when you reach it start to poke with Blades of Torment. If your going for a kill push the lane a little to reach the lv 2 before that your enemy. With this you can win trades with Blades of Torment, Blood Price and the minions (you ussually will have more minions than him). Try to do as many trades as you can, because you can recover that life with Blood Thirst and your enemy without Health Potion no (if is an ap champ). When you get about 1300 gold go back and buy some components of the Tiamat. Once you get this item you will push extremely quick so try to kill your enemy or trade with him to force him to go back, after this try to roam for some kills. Aatrox has a good amount of CC so try to land Dark Flight and Blades of Torment. In this point you should have the Ravenous Hydra, so push your lane and make the plays happend !!

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In the mid game try to get drake or push towers in group, if all has being as expected the enemy first mid tower will be with moreless half hp. In this phase of the game start warding buffs, drake and baron. Well now its time to explain which is your job in teamfights. First group up and comunicate to know which is your objective (cut someone out of position, get towers, get drake, get baron, do split push ...), when you this try to do it slowly, each one has a function : the adc and apc poke, the tank to stay in front on your team, and you, as an assassin, will try to stay around (without get caught) and try to get one of the enemy carrys or do Dark Flight into someone out of position, I repeat someone OUT of position that means that he doesn't has a lot of protection. If you see a good oportunitie to initiate (if you can catch with Dark Flight one carry or minimum 3 people), if you cant dont initiate. Try to pay attention to your initiator (usually the jungler or your top laner) and follow up. If they initiate you try to survive or turn around and use Dark Flight and Massacre into all of his team.

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In the late-game (and in teamfights) your job will be to get the most fed person in the enemy team (AP or AD Carry). A general rule is that Dark Flight is very nice to initiate but DON'T do this if your passive is on cooldown. If you initiate without Blood Well you will be a free kill. Try to split push (first comunicate with your team and say what are you doing), ward baron or regroup with your team. A good tip to know when you win a teamfight is that is better to get 1 or 2 inhibitors than the baron because with the lanes pushing if the enemy goes for baron after respawn they will lose towers, so they will have to push the lane/s before going baron, enough time for you to do baron.

TIP: Aatrox can do backdoors pretty easily ;)
TIP 2: As a mid laner in early game ward only your lane where you think you need it. In mid game ward the blue buffs and if isnt warded the drake (better with pink). In late-game ward baron and some of the spots that you think that you need it.

This are some matches that I played before using Aatrox on the mid lane.



This video is in spanish but you will also see the power of aatrox on the mid lane.

Click here

Put music and mute the video and you will find yourselves amazed but tha power of AATROX, THE DARKIN BLADE !!!

LIKE if you have enjoy it !!!