When an ancient demon of war arrives to start a never-ending bloodbath, you better start running—or at least kiting, as the case may be in League of Legends. Aatrox is a new melee bruiser champion that relies on hefty lifesteal and some light CC to murder his targets.

Via PCgamesn Dell

If you want to see exactly how Aatrox fuels the bloodshed, look at his official profile.

The TLDR version: big wings, big sword, wants to fight forever, even after he’s dead.

Thirsty for blood

At his most base elements, Aatrox is a champion that wants to fight everyone all the time. Two of his abilities are built for teamfights, and the other two are built for sustainably dueling in lane.

That combination makes him ideal for a top-lane bruiser champion, allowing you to stay in the lane and push the wave, punish any aggression and escape any ganks with minimal consequences.

The core of that sustainability is his Blood Thirst ability (W), which heals him every third auto-attack. The heal amount is pretty small (20 to 40 + 25% AD), but the trick is that it heals fir triple the amount when Aatrox is below half health. That’s amazing for keeping himself in survivable health territory, especially if he’s getting bullied in the lane.

His other defining ability is his Dark Flight ability (Q), which sends him leaping to a target location, over walls, characters, and shrubberies. When he lands, he knocks up all enemies near his impact location.

Leaps, in general, are a great tool for sneaking through jungles, escaping dangerous situations, and getting the ambush on unsuspecting foes. But Aatrox’s leap takes it one step further with its AoE knock up (stun), which makes it amazing in teamfights. The first time I leaped onto the entire enemy team, and two of them died before they hit the ground (courtesy of my skilled AD carry partner), I was sold. It’s fun to use, it’s diverse in its applications, and it’s hilarious to watch people rage about it in chat afterwards.

Get that Caps Lock button ready, Katarina. Here comes the rage!

Death resistance

Aatrox excels in 1v1 duels, reminding me a bit of Irelia, Jax, and Olaf—right when the opponent thinks they have you cornered, you’re actually at your strongest and poised for a counterattack.

This will be especially true right after the champion releases, before players get accustomed to just how resilient this guy is. If you want to really take advantage of this aspect, you have to play him on day one.

Did the enemy bait you into a trap? It’s cool, just leap over the wall and escape. Did the enemy catch you off guard and get you below half health before the fight started? Don’t panic, just swap on Blood Thirst’s heals and use your leap to knock them up to get some free hits in.

Did the enemy just kill you? That’s not a big deal either! Just wait for your passive ability (which stores up health every time you use an ability, all of which cost health to cast) to heal you back up to half health over the course of three seconds.

One of the best parts of that passive is that you’re completely immune to all enemy actions during those three seconds. If the enemy team is hell-bent on killing you first in a teamfight, it’s essentially a free Kayle ultimate. It’s a great ultimate that not only comes in handy while trying to survive out in the world alone, but ensures survivability in teamfights. Just the fact that it exists is enough to dissuade some people from attacking you (“We’ll just have to kill him again!”), and all melee AD champions have ever wanted is to be left alone--while they murder the entire enemy team.