Aatrox Build Guide by GizmoGear

Introduction

Thanks to Searz for the awesome guide format! You can find it here.

Hi I am Darkin Messiah. I am currently a Aatrox main with 150+ games with over a 55% win rate in platinum elo. I am here to help you learn about my favorite champion and learn how to play him. If you wish you can add me on the NA server and ask me any questions you have on Aatrox. I will duo with anyone plat or higher (maybe gold 1 if I think your good.)

http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/36738670
http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=darkin+messiah

Legend

Pros / Cons

Masteries

Masteries

1/5

4/5

3/5

1/1

1/1

3/5

1/1

2/1

1/

3/

1/

2/5

2/1

1/1

3/5

1/1

Runes

Main rune set

Greater Mark of Attack Damage AD Marks, since he scales off AD and he is a auto reliant champion needing AD to back up his damage. Greater Seal of Armor I take Armor Seals due to Aatrox's very weak base stats. If I were going vs a full AP team then I would switch these with Scaling HP

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist Scaling MR Glyphs helps him out for those mid/late game mages. If you are going against a AP top then take Flat MR Glyphs Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed AS Quints because Aatrox is a auto reliant champion and AS works well with his W.

Spells

Flash Flash is a must on Aatrox as it gives him a blink to initiate or to escape. Teleport Teleport is a must on Top Laners now as it helps them have a impact during Early/Mid game as they can gank or counter gank. It helps you keep up in CS or to teleport to a objective to defend it.

_____ Ignite Ignite is a nice spell if you want to have kill pressure in lane or if your against someone who likes to heal. Teleport is still better, but it all comes down to preference.

Skill Sequence

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

Unique Skills+Tips

Blood Well

This is Aatrox's passive. It is what gives him 30%/35%/40%/45%/50%/55% attack speed. It also revives him for the 35% of the current blood well. Thanks to Riot showing love on this champion its cooldown is 225/220/175/150 seconds at levels 1/6/11/16.

Tips and tricks:

• This passive is a built in Guardian Angel that you can use to bait enemies, tower dive, or even recover from a mistake. I find myself getting many kills against stupid people trying to tower dive me when I have my passive up and/ or if they are hiding under tower at 100 hp thinking that if I tower dive them the turret will save them.
  
  
• Try to keep your blood well full as it restores your HP when you die (if it is up). It also gives you free attack speed.

Dark Flight

This is your gap closer. It can be used to initiate knocking everyone in the middle circle for 1 second, or as a escape if you get caught out/ganked.

Tips and tricks:

• At level 2 you should go in with a 3rd strike Blood Price and your Q, then auto attacking and igniting for first blood or to blow their summoners.
  
  
• Use the carefully as it has mediocre range and can be interrupted by displacements.

Blood Thrist

Blood Thirst/Blood Price

Blood Thirst is your main way to stay sustain in lane. Every 3rd hit it will proc giving you HP, BUT will receive 3x the HP if you are below 50% HP.
Blood Price is your main damage tool. Every 3rd strike you will do bonus AD on your auto attack at the cost of your HP.

Tips and tricks:

• Blood Thirst Can be used to bait enemies into skirmishes as you will heal the damage they have thrown at you. It can also be used to bait enemies if they tower dive you or if you are put in a 2v1 situation.
  
  
• Blood Price This ability HITS LIKE A TRUCK early game. You can use this to trade very well when you all in or to poke someone when they go up for a CS. Try to stay in Blood Price until you have 60%-50% of your HP left. Then switch to Blood Thirst for the increase heal.

Blades of Torment

This is your early game poke. It deals magic damage so when people build armor vs you it will still do damage, and it slows for 40% for 1.75 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 2.75 seconds. The damage on this skill is only good when built full ad because of Riots over nerf because he was being seen competitive.

Tips and tricks:

• If you land Blades of Torment, you can easily follow up with a Q,W combo due to the slow. It makes landing the Q a lot easier and due to the "fear factor" of being slowed, people will run away as you harass them. (The "fear factor" is when a enemy is to scared to attack for some unknown reason or they are being to cautious of what could happen since they are slowed. I will see me winning trades due to the "Fear Factor" because people let me harass them for free as they run.)
  
  
• The skill shot gets skinnier the longer it goes making it hard to hit. It is easier to hit up close so use it when they try to go for a CS.

Massacre

This is a stale ultimate in my opinion due to it only being a steroid. Aatrox gains 40%/50%/60% attack speed and his auto attack range increases to 325 for 12 seconds. With recent buffs hitting a enemy with Massacre will fill your blood well for 20% (100% maximum)

Tips and tricks:

• You will get a amazing spike level 6 due to this ability's base 200/300/400 magic damage and the increase attack speed & range. A "All In Kill Combo" should be Q-R-W-Auto-E-Auto-Auto-Ignite(if you take ignite).
  
  
• Use it wisely because if you ult as soon as you pop your passive the 12 second duration still goes so that will waste 3 seconds of your ult duration.

CORE ITEMS + WHY STATIKK SHIV

Ravenous Hydra This item gives AMAZING Attack Damage and Lifesteal! It will help you wave clear and in team fights it will help you do damage due to you having mostly single target damage. I would take this item 100% of the time. The HPregen really helps Aatrox as well because Aatrox has poor HPregen. Statikk Shiv HEAR ME OUT, I do agree that Aatrox does not need to be going a full glass cannon crit build, but he is auto reliant and this gives him a very nice spike in DPS. Lets go over what it offers. * Movement Speed: This is very much needed on Aatrox due to being kited fairly easily. * Attack Speed: He REVOLVES around Attack Speed and this has very nice AS considering it has low cost and the build path is easy. * Crit: Aatrox is AUTO ATTACK RELIANT! I think it is fine to have a little crit on this guy since he cant really utilizes Triforce like Irelia,Jax, and Trundle. Also this really increases his DPS. The 20% Crit Chance is fine and probably the most you will need since he can auto attack very fast. * The Passive: This helps Aatrox deal mix damage and as well as wave clear extremely fast making him a exceptional split pusher. * Its Cheap: Aatrox's items cost a lot of money and having a cheap cost efficient item that can serve well into full build and selling it for a Phantom Dancer.

Spirit Visage Spirit Visage is Aatrox most cost efficient defensive item! Aatrox can make use of everything this item gives and the 20% increase healing WORKS WITH BLOOD PRICE AND BLOOD WELL! I would not get this ONLY if they had a full AD team Randuin's Omen This item helps Aatrox deal with those pesky ADCs and any other AD champion. The active is very nice as it can help slow enemies for you to keep attacking since you can be kited. This item works well with you Q since you can do a Q+Randuin's Omen combo.

Other Viable Items

Maw of Malmortius This is a replacement item for Statikk Shiv if you are going against AP. The LifeLine passive sheild is very nice as it can bait fights and the UNIQUE passive where you get 1 AD for every 2% of your HP missing (Cap:35 AD) is also amazing on Aatrox healing him more on his Blood Thrist and making him dangerous at low HP. Guardian Angel This item combine with your passive gives you 3 lives! Ever since the 5.11 patch where your passive GA cooldown was lowered to 225/200/175/150 second cooldown. This basically GARENtees you to have 2 lives 85% of the time! This will pop before your Blood Well passive does.

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Warmog's Armor This item offers a lot of health and HPregen which is what Aatrox really needs badly! Combine this with Spirit Visage & Hydra and you will have amazing HPregen and it will make up for your health cost. Thornmail This item is the bane of all the Tryndaqueers, Samurais, and xfioramaster18's out there! With great power...Comes complete ownage. This item should be built if you ever face Tryndamere, Fiora, Yasuo, Master Yi, or a fed heavily auto reliant adc. (maybe even a full AD Rengar.)

Choosing between Statikk, Zephyr, or Maw

Statikk Shiv I get statikk shiv most of the time because it helps Aatrox's split pushing, dueling, and teamfighting. Statikk will also make it easier to keep your advantage in the game unlike Zephyr and Maw.


Zephyr The next best thing if you don't want statikk shiv. Its all about preference. Zephyr gives good CD,AS,AD,MS, and Tenacity which is all pretty good for Aatrox, but I feel that statikk helps you keep your lead a lot better than zephyr. Also Statikk beats Zephyr in the split pushing, teamfighting (due to the statikk's passive), and dueling because 25 AD will not compare to doing 200 magic damage and then doing a crit for 450 damage multiple times. Over all Zephyr is the pick I go if I am behind, I want tabi's, and I want the CD to spam my E.

Maw of Malmortius The only real thing to say on this item is the fact that you will get it vs AP teams or AP laner. Most things are explained about this item in other Viable Items.

Laning Phase

Aatrox should be a passive laner until level 2-3 where he will be playing aggressively if he had the lead. He should keep trying to trade with the other top laner anytime you can and restore any health that is missing if they tried to trade with you. Your goal is to snowball as fast and hard as you can.

If you are behind you should poke with E, last hit, farm under tower, and recover any missing hp. Ask for ganks because Aatrox's CC is very effective in setting up ganks for your jungler.

After Laning Phase

You could go 2 paths. Split-push, or Team-fighter.

Split-push: Your goal is to quickly clear waves and push your minions to the enemy towers and to take them! It sounds simple but what your really doing is that your forcing the other team to send 1 or 2 people to stop you or they lose a tower. Aatrox excels in dueling and can even handle himself in 2v1 situations if handled properly. Make sure you ward so you know when to get out or try to hide in a nearby bush and jump on them to kill them.

Team-Fight: Your goal is to either dive in the back lines and knock up the ADC and Mid Lane Mage and try to kill them, just make sure they put their focus on you. If they do focus you, then do not worry because your passive will revive you and if you just took the 2 carries out of the fight your team SHOULD OF already be winning the fight and should be coming to help you escape. If you did not kill the carries then you team will help you chase them down.

Split-pushing in detail.

You need to split push if the enemy top laner is a heavy team fighter, you lost lane and are worthless, you need objectives and your fed enough to duel anyone they send at you, or you need to end the game early.

The point of split-pushing when they got a heavy team fight oriented champion(Maokia) is because you need to keep him top lane so he can't be useful to his team as your team can go for objectives in 4v4s or 3v4s depending if they send 2 people top for you. If they send 2 people top for you ping your teammates to take the closest objective or to start a fight and kill the other 3 enemy champions. IF everything goes right then the 2nd person top will have to defend mid lane as your team will either push a 1-4-0, 1-3-1, or a 1-2-2 lane (Top-Mid-Bot).

Make sure you ward all entry points and their top side jungle!This will help you see if you are being ganked and if you need to retreat or get the jump on them and kill them. Warding will not only help you but it will help your team making them know that their top side jungle is warded limiting the possible areas for where the enemy team is and where they can ward.

Things to come

-Jungle guide when the new stated devourer comes out