Aatrox Build Guide : Dad's Guide to Aatrox [9.1] :: League of Legends Strategy Builds

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Hi! Thanks for the guide. As they are continuing to weaken Aatrox in 9.3, what changes to the items or runes should be done?

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When will you add at least a few general or most common matchups for Aatrox?

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Hello! The "HANG IN THERE, BUDDY! [GRASP OF THE UNDYING]" needs runes updates.

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the resolve runes are out dated... you need to fix this... i didnt find that chyrallsis runes..

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Greeting NEATKHAJIIT, this is great guide its really good guide i like it aatrox is my first main from mine start playing league of legends anyway only thing that i dont like in your guide is that you didnt added synergies other stuff are great and as aatrox main i would like to say this to you its great guide keep making more like this.

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Thank you! I haven't quite had the time to test all the possible synergies and matchups that could experience, but hopefully I'll have something to report soon.

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Hi bud, nice guide, any matchups you could potentially add? even if its just general tips against certain champs and how to play it. Cheers

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How would Glacial Augment Aatrox be build? Like items to utilize the rune etc.

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Not a whole lot would change. You basically just get to pick up an item other than because the rune does that for you.

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Would you buy active items to utilize Glacial Augment or would you just stick to your standard build?

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What does the premitigation-physical damage on Aatrox's E mean? Does the heal come from ability damage or auto attacks or physical damage overall? This word confuses me tbh

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"Premidigation physical damage" simply means the total physical damage you deal before factoring in armor or (though it's not relevant here) magic resist. What that means is that if you were to deal 300 damage to another champion, whether that is by an auto-attack or by your , and theoretically that enemy champion had 100% armor, you would do no damage to the enemy, but still heal 300 health. Hope that helps!

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It did, thanks for the explanation! When will you add a match-up section btw?

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I've been working on it steadily but haven't been able to make any progress lately. I've honestly been busy with school work since I'm in university now. I just wanna have a decent amount of matchups finished before I post anything.

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Personally I think grasp usually doesn't work also the dark harvest can be good but it has flaws sometimes. Overall though I think its a solid build!

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I appreciate your support! I think it's good to try new builds out and learn for yourself what kind of build you enjoy playing with. I tried to do that with guide by providing multiple solutions to the potential problems you might have playing . Please let me know if you think I can improve on anything!

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wrote:

I appreciate your support! I think it's good to try new builds out and learn for yourself what kind of build you enjoy playing with. I tried to do that with guide by providing multiple solutions to the potential problems you might have playing . Please let me know if you think I can improve on anything!

Thanks honestly I substituted the resolve against a few picks and it helped it also seems comet works the bes ton him for top lane personally

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arcane coment is probably the most potent rune you can use, but is high-risk high-reward. There's nothing innately wrong with that, but it may affect your choice.

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Very useful guide, thank you. Do you think it's normal to main jungle aatrox and what do you think about him?

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Of course! I think doesn't quite have the mobility of other junglers, but he has the lockdown potential to secure kills. I personally prefer him in lane, but he doesn't have any problem jungling.

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I'm a simple man. I see enemy taking conqueror, I thank them for the free win.

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I've been thinking about swapping out my Conqueror build for the Comet build just because of how strong it is right now. It's really all about preference, and newer players will probably have an easier time with Conqueror. But hey, at least I helped someone win!

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It's not about preference as on is simply inferior, unless you're going some kind of off meta attack-speedesque build. drops the win-rate of severely compared to both and . Which one of you take of the two would depend on the match up, but there is simply no match up where is superior. Neither statistically nor theoretically.

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I wouldn't really consider to be attack-speed oriented. The 4-second startup kinda reduces the effect of an attack speed build on anyone planning on using it. As I've said before, new is about tempo, not burst. He doesn't have the heavy burst potential, especially now that they nerfed his early game.

That being said, is great for poke but has the exact same drawbacks as , where you have to stay engaged in combat in order to keep the damage up. The only difference is that you can poke and wait out the cooldown on . doesn't really even compare just because of how slow uses abilities. I do agree, however, that reduces 's healing because you can't heal off true damage and therefore is less effective than in the long run. But to count out entirely doesn't make sense. It's just a matter of preference of sustained damage vs. lower sustained damage with slightly higher burst. There's nothing wrong with "off-meta" picks.

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Activating can only be proc'd by auto-attacks, which means that when playing properly, it would only affect your Q3. Starting your combo with an auto-attack means you won't be able to land the sweet-spots of Q1 and Q2 unless your opponent has no idea what your skills do.

wrote:

new is about tempo, not burst. He doesn't have the heavy burst potential

You can 100-0 people with a full combo after level 6 unless they're tanky or you're past the mid-game.

wrote:

It's just a matter of preference of sustained damage vs. lower sustained damage with slightly higher burst. There's nothing wrong with "off-meta" picks.

does not have sustained damage. The moment your Q goes on cooldown, if you keep on trading with the enemy top laner, you start losing the trade to laners with actual sustained damage.

is about as off-meta as AP .

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I'm not sure you even know what does. If you read the ability, you activate it by auto-attacking AFTER being in combat for 4 seconds. You don't have to initiate with an auto-attack. In fact, you can Q1, Q2, then come in close for an auto-attack, activating followed by Q3, or switch those two around. You have to spend those 4 seconds doing something. It actually works perfectly with his kit, because he starts off at a distance and works his way in.

Also, I think you confuse the terms "burst" and "damage". I never said he couldn't 100-0 people. That's one of the reasons I enjoy playing . He skillfully dances around his opponent without face-rolling like a lot of other burst champions.

Finally, certainly has sustained damage, just not in the strict manor you're used to. The character was created to be played patiently. You gain nothing by spamming your Q without properly placing the sweet-spots. isn't supposed to stand there and auto-attack his opponent. Why do you think I suggest cooldown reduction so heavily in this guide? The whole point is to use his passive frequently and reduce the cooldown by using other abilities. When I say "sustained damage", I mean he doesn't burn his entire kit in 2 seconds.

Also, "off-meta" and "bad" aren't the same thing. In case you were unsure. But thanks for checking out my guide!

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wrote:

activating followed by Q3

wrote:

Activating can only be proc'd by auto-attacks, which means that when playing properly, it would only affect your Q3.

What did I say?
Still highly inefficient to use conqueror just for that.

wrote:

When I say "sustained damage", I mean he doesn't burn his entire kit in 2 seconds.

That does not make him a sustained damage fighter. A sustained damage fighter would probably be able to get more than a 45% win-rate with . Luckily there are other runes that can take which very obviously outperform.

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I was referring more to this comment:

wrote:

Starting your combo with an auto-attack means you won't be able to land the sweet-spots of Q1 and Q2 unless your opponent has no idea what your skills do.

You won't ever START your combo with an auto-attack, because won't work. The process of activating works perfectly with 's kit, as it requires you to start from a distance and work your way in. Also outperforms late game because of the fact that you'll be able to activate the buff easily, and stay in combat longer. It's really just more reliable, but maybe not as flashy as you'd like.

You seem to have a very isolated view of what a "sustained damage" champion is. is certainly not a burst champion. He's a "sustained damage" fighter in the same way that is. Ryze uses a lot of abilities quickly, but he's keeps that up and does more damage over the long run than most burst mages.

If you wanna base your opinions on strictly win-rates, feel free to do so. But I don't see what kind of fun you'll have by playing the same thing over and over and over again. I said from the start, I'm not a pro player, nor do I claim to be one. I only just made it to Gold V this season. This guide is meant to help people have fun. Some people forget that games are supposed to be fun. I hope the best for you.

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In the life steal section you wrote about the rather poor effectiveness of BT. Have you thought about a build with attack speed to utilize BT? I know Aatrox would be far more sqishy without the tank items and the fact that there are only a few attack speed items that would fit for him, but I am still curious about your thoughts on that...

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I have thought about it, and I feel like buildimg attack speed around a single item would be risky. His passive cooldown does not decrease on auto-attack, which would make attack speed great on him. doesn't quite have the kit to allow him to utilize high attack speed.

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A very informative guide
I really like this type of thing
cheers from Brazil

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Hi, first of all thank you for the nice guide!
I wanted to try something different in the jungle and thanks to your guide I will try some games as Aatrox!
I main that role so my vision about build path is a little more jungle oriented, I mean that in the jungle I expect less income than the laners so my build have to adapts to this: you cannot always get fed on kills and that's true the higher your elo (even more for people like me who are mechanically challenged XD).
First of all I think Aatrox is a mix of farming and ganking, like a Shyvana combined with Jax, but not as good, this means that he's a jack of all trades, he can blend in almost any composition but at the same time he cannot be really impactful late game.
That said, a little bit of reasoning must be made in champion select: the enemy team has a lot of tanks?
Go for him since he cannot be outdueled by them.
The enemy team has a lot of burst and squishies?
Better play something else or go penetration Aatrox XD (not that good I think :P )
After all the introduction, I think he can do quite well with this sequence in jungle:

Summoner Spells

	If you don't take smite you're not a jungler. STOP.
	Against hard matchups in the jungle, go for this
	Against an even/easy matchup you want to be his nightmare, take and push an advantage, even more if the lanes are hard to gank.

Abilities

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Runes:

+9% attack speed +65 health
PRECISION	RESOLVE

Precision
Lethal Tempo	Gives you the AS that this build lacks. On AAtrox more AS = more damage and endurance; coupled with Frozen Heart let you land more attacks on the targets
Triumph	Standard rune to endure more pain in team fights. Combo nicely with Revitalize
Legend: Tenacity	Since CC are a pain for Aatrox, this is one of the best runes for him; also we already have Lethal Tempo for more attack speed
*OR (if no CCs on enemies side)*
Legend: Alacrity	More attack speed? Why not!
Last Stand	This was made for around 2 champs: Aatrox and Tryndamere XD

Resolve
Unflinching	Same as Legend: Tenacity
*OR (if no CCs on enemies side)*
Demolish	If you want to go for the early towers and th enemy team doesn't have much CCs
Revitalize	Not that much to say about this, your W heal better, your team mates heals you better, Triumph heals better.

Items

Progression examaple

+ > > > > > >

For shoes: get what you need from either and .

Initial Items
Hunter's Machete	Early you don't have that much AoE, so talisman is useless
Rejuvenation Bead	A somewhat healty clear give you the possibility to buy this item to rush Tiamat
Tiamat	To let you farm camps a lot faster, giving you the chance to be more present in lanes or counterjungle
Tracker's Knife	You want to countergank/counterjungle a lot, so you need to know where the enemy jungler is (remember to swap trinket to the red one); if you want to trade in the jungle you can be the ward yourself and live in the enemy jungle and take the Skirmisher's Sabre (keep the yellow trinket)
Core Items
Frozen Mallet	To make be gone not be gone XD
Tracker's Knife - Bloodrazor	At this point of the game tanks gonna be real tanks, so %hp damage kicks in nicely
Titanic Hydra	Scales well with your HP with Frozen Mallet
Gargoyle Stoneplate	Here we have something strange. You need to know your place in the team, you're the initializer! Drop in the enemy team with Q, pop your ultimate, pop this baby and let hell rain on you! Make them waste all their CCs on you! You will be tanky, with a lot of tenacity and your AS to heal you up!
Defensive Choices
Mercury's Treads	Against a team with lots of CCs
Ninja Tabi	Against a team w/o CCs and at least 1 AA champion
Warmog's Armor	More HP for more damage from Titanic Hydra and hp from Gargoyle Stoneplate
Randuin's Omen	more tankiness against heavy crit team (combo like Yasuo/Ashe and so on), also good to improve your stickiness
Thornmail	perfect against teams that rely a lot on AA
Spirit Visage	more mr and more healing
Adaptive Helm	agains AP spammer like Ryze, Cassio etc
Offensive Choices
Phantom Dancer	For splitpush and strong 1v1
Death's Dance	For more damage mitigation in team fights

Example: splitpush

Item Sequence

Example: teamfight w/o CCs

Item Sequence

Example: teamfight w/ CCs

Item Sequence

Example: teamfight heavy AD

Item Sequence

Example: teamfight heavy AP

Item Sequence

P.S. Aatrox can do a fast dragon at lvl 3, so plan your route to go from top to bottom if possible, even more if the enemy jungler started from bot side!
P.P.S. If you have an hard time ganking lanes you want to focus on farming, counterjungling and dragon/rift herald control; to do so you can do Tiamat > Bloodrazor > Frozen Mallet to help you take objectives faster and be stronger in 1v1.

I think this is everything i have to say, this looks like a one way build against any kind of team.

Sorry for the extremely long comment, I'm not an Aatrox player so I don't want to make a guide about a champion I'm not used to!

What do you think?

Regards!

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I have to say: I really like your ideas oAatrox as a strong tank. I have also thought about playing Aatrox Jungle as a tank, but the concerns I had and I still have are the lack of attack speed and lifesteal. Compared to most of my Aatrox Jungle/Top Builds yours are far more tanky. I like that :)

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Thank you! If attack speed is a concern, at level 18 with this build, with passive and lethal tempo and ultimate you get 2.67 AS, without lethal tempo 2.15, so it's not that bad! Add to this that you will have 3,2k life, 138 armor + 118 mr with only 5 items (that becomes 6.4k hp and 178 armor + 158 mr against 3+ enemies) and you become really hard to take down!
Last thing is that Aatrox benefit more from resistances than HP, for example: you have 2k life and 300 armor and 300 mr (so 8k eHP), every third attack from you heal 200, for example, giving you 800 eHP (200*4); instead, if you have 3k hp and 200 armor and mr (so 9k eHP), your third attack will heal for less eHP (200*3=600eHP). I hope I made my point clear XD

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Oh, well that makes a difference. The only problem Aatrox has is that procing the passice can take time sometimes...Lethal tempo is also just for a short duration and you need to proc the passive to get the attack speed bonus. That was my concern in detail, but I understand your point. I also think that Aatrox will have enough time to get his stacks in order to proc the passive due to the much better tankiness he will possess.

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Lethal Tempo procs from any kind of damage you deal, not only basics, so just the action of landing Q on the enemies will give you 1 stack of passive and start lethal tempo; using E right after will give a slow and another stack; activating your ultimate will give 1 stack for each enemy hit, so if you hit 3 enemies, you get the passive fully stacked. Remember that if you have 3 enemies near you, your Gargoyle will gie +40 armor/mr and, upon activation, doubles your HP! From there you soak damage and CCs for your team. Remember that with these runes and merc's threads you get 74% tenacity (if you have all your summoners on CD and used your smite on a minion/moster nearby).

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I see, but with Gargoyles Stoneplate activated, your damage will be decreased significantly, so your daamge output is weak. The tenacity is indeed very useful, but I would rather use the ultimate when the active of Stoneplate is going to end so you can deal good damage in the end after they wasted their CC and other annoying abilities on you.

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Well, I'm not an Aatrox main by a long shot, but a thing that the Stoneplate will not reduce is your healing, but since you're not a real tank you would not resist a full team burst so it's better to heal right away. Remember that his ultimate duration is 12s and Stoneplate duration is 3s, so you still have 9s of ultimate and 4,5s of letal thempo for the clean-up. Buuuut that's all theory, I've tried 2 times that build and both time were easy games, so I cannot prove it's good or not.
Worty to say is that your damage from titanic hydra will be only reduced by 20%, since if you activate the Stoneplate with 3 enemies near you, you double the hp -> double the titanic damage and then reduce it by 60% (example: AoE from titanic is 150, with Stoneplate activated it becomes 300, remove 60% and you get 120 damage from titanic and that is 80% of the damage from the item)

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I am also not an Aatrox Main on the long run, but he is one of my Top 3 when I play Jungle. I will definitley try out the build of yours.

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Thanks for your time! Report back with your impressions!

This is an example, Fiora came late but wouldn't matter since all the other lanes got crushed. Their Amumu got killed at his blue by me and was camped in the jungle.
https://imgur.com/a/j1vNL

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I will always take my time for my main champions on any lane ;)

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Guardian Angel is not a good pick on Aatrox since it will trigger before your passive and u will just fight without your passive and most likely die. But yeah it's a nice example of a tanky Aatrox. Frozen Mallet+Phage(Trinity Force/Black Cleaver) there won't be running for them anymore :D

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Yeah, you're right! Still used to the old passive :P Will remove it from the table! But in jungle I don't thik you can go phage with this build :S tiamat is too good to pass on and frozen mallet passive it's the only item that really help you sticks to target (ulti+frozen and no one can escape), so I don't think I can go trinity/BC unless I drop the Gargoyle, but without that you lose a lot of eHP, especially in fights. Will try to look at it tho, maybe as a last item :D
In the meantime i will change GA to Randuin's/Thornmail. Thanks for the advices!