Lately I do not have free time to put on the guides, so untill there will be this chapter I will not add new matchups or things like that.

I will only change something if there will be some changes about an item or the champion
(in this case Aatrox).

This time I will talk about Aatrox, the darkin blade.
If you are interested in other guides that I made, here it is the Morgana's one.

So now, lets take a look!



NOTE:
English is not my first language, so please exuse any strange sintattic form etc.

"I must destroy even hope…"- Aatrox

Once honored defenders of Shurima against the Void, Aatrox and his brethren would eventually become an even greater threat to Runeterra, and were defeated only by cunning mortal sorcery. But after centuries of imprisonment, Aatrox was the first to find freedom once more, corrupting and transforming those foolish enough to try and wield the magical weapon that contained his essence. Now with stolen flesh, he walks Runeterra in a brutal approximation of his previous form, seeking an apocalyptic and long overdue vengeance.

Aatrox is a sort of AD caster with good range ability and a lot of CC. During the laning phase he has a lot of kill pressure and a good ammount of sustain. Aatrox is pretty good at engaging, if you are at the right distance you can perma CC the opponent thanks to the tree casts of The Darkin Blade. At the same time he is also good to disengage, the Umbral Dash can used in any directions to reposition The Darkin Blade, and can also dash through walls.In teamfights, if ahead, you can probably shot the carry with a combo or at least deal a lot of damage and CCing the enemy team.

Abilities

Maxing R > Q > E > W is the best all around ability for the God Killer. The Q is a good wave-clear/harrass tool. E is good to max after Q due to the healing and the repositioning potential. Last to max is the W that is good for engages and also disengages.

PASSIVE

Deathbringer Stance:

Aatrox periodically empowers his next basic attack to gain 50 bonus range and deal 5% − 12% (based on level) of the target's maximum health as bonus physical damage on-hit healing him for the bonus physical damage dealt. Cooldown: 24-12s (BASED ON LEVEL) (-2s whenever Aatrox hits a champion or a large monster)

Q

The Darkin Blade:

Aatrox swings his greatsword in the target direction, striking enemies in a line. The Darkin Blade can then be reactivated twice within 4 seconds, with the second cast refreshing the timer. The second cast strikes enemies in a cone and the third in the target area. Each strike deals physical damage, with minions taking 50% − 0% (based on level) reduced damage. All units take 25% increased damage on the second cast and 50% on the third. Hitting enemies at the far end of the first two casts and the center of the third deals 50% bonus damage and knocks up enemies for 0.25 seconds. Cooldown: 14s/ 12s/ 10s/ 8s/ 6s Cost: - The Darkin Blade it's our bread and butter ability that can deal an heck of damage if landed in the right spots. Each cast of the The Darkin Blade has a small channel time, during which Aatrox cannot move and cast abilities, except for Umbral Dash and Flash. I max this ability FIRST for empower its damage, wave clear potential and lower its cooldown.

W

Infernal Chains:

Aatrox smashes the ground in the target direction, creating a chain that stops on the first enemy hit, dealing 30/ 40/ 50/ 60/ 70(+40% AD)physical damage, doubled against minions, and slowing them by 25% for 1.5 seconds. If Infernal Chains hits a champion, it is chained to the impact area. If the chained enemy is still in the impact area after 1.5 seconds, they are dragged to the center (airborne) and take the same damage again. Cooldown: 26s/ 23s/ 20s/ 17s/ 14s Cost: - Infernal Chains is single target ability that deal a god ammount of damage and that helps to get a kill from our combo. It is also good to last-hit a siege minion if you want to do it quickly. If an enemy champion is in range of Infernal Chains Aatrox will assume the Deathbringer Stance. I max this ability LAST for to the utility aspect.

E

Umbral Dash:

(ACTIVE) Aatrox dashes in the target direction without interrupting other spell casts, it also resets Aatrox's basic attack timer. (PASSIVE) Aatrox heals for the 20/ 22.5/ 25/ 27.5 of the non-periodic damage he deals against champions. Cooldown: 9s /8s /7s /6s /5s Cost: - Umbral Dash increases our sustain and allows us to all-in people. It can be used to pass trough walls(later I will put a map that marks where you can do that). I max this ability SECOND due to the sinergy with our kit.

R

World Ender:

After 0.25 seconds, Aatrox unleashes his true demonic form for 10 seconds, fearing nearby enemy minions for 3 seconds, and gaining 60%/ 80%/ 100% bonus movement speed, decaying over the duration. While transformed Aatrox gains increased size and 20% /25% /30% bonus attack damage, and receives increased self-healing by 50% /60% /70%. With each enemy champion takedown, World Ender is extended by 5 seconds, refreshing its effects, up to the original amount. Additionally if at least one champion has been taken down, taking lethal damage during Cooldown: 120s/ 100s/ 80s Cost: - World Ender is a really powerful ultimate that have to be used wiselly: If you jump alone into the enemy team you won't probably have enough time to kill someone. If you stay behind you will waste your ultimate. NOTES: The resource bar indicates the remaining duration of World Ender, if it turns red it means that you got a champion takedown.

Runes

Electrocute deal 30-180(+40% AD)(+25% AP) adaptive damage if we put 3 stacks on a target within 3 seconds. Stacks are generated when basic attacks or abilities hit the enemy champion. Since the combo nature of Aatrox I think that this is the best keystone of the domination tree. Hail of Blades is just useless, Predator have a too high cooldown, I think is good if you want to play as jungler. A possible choice is Dark Harvest, but I don't feel it useful as Electrocute. Sudden Impact grant 4 - 7 lethality for 5s if we dash or blink. I prefere this one, but this time all the 3 runes are more or less equally good: With Sudden Impact every time we use Umbral Dash we get lethality With Taste of Blood we heals when we damage an enemy champion With Cheap Shot we deal an ammount of true damage on slowed ( Infernal Chains) or immobilized ( The Darkin Blade) enemy champion. As I said all good, however due to the cooldown and way of usage I suggest Sudden Impact. Ghost Poro leave a Ghost Poro that grants sight for 60s after a ward expires. It also gives 1.2 bonus AD for every poro spawned and enemy spotted. I think that Ghost Poro is the best of the tree, wards it's always an important thing, and this rune help a lot. It grants the same ammount of AD as the others, but I think is easyer to fullfill. Ravenous Hunter heal for 1.5% (+ 2.5% per Bounty Hunter stack) of the damage dealt by your abilities, on-hit effects and items, up to 14% at 5 stacks. Earn a Bounty Hunter stack for champion takedowns, up to one per unique enemy champion. However healing is reduced to one third on area of effect abilities. Here, again, it's an open choice...just do not take Ingenious Hunter, we do not need it. Instead Relentless Hunter and Ultimate Hunter are pretty good: the firs if you want to roam a lot, the second if you like have a low cooldown World Ender. Side Tree Bone Plating reduces damage of the next 3 spells or attacks you receive from the same enemy champion by 30 − 60 (based on level). A good defensive rune, other people like take Second Wind, but I think that is more indicated if you want to reduce the poke. Conditioning it's just bad for us, do not take that. Revitalize grants 5% heal and shield power, and if below 40% health healings are 10% stronger. Well, perfect synergy with our kit since we heal a lot. The other runes can be good, but I do think that the bonus healing is too great to forsake. Side Tree Triumph champion takedowns restore, after 1s, 12% of missing heatlh and grant an additional 20 gold. I don't know, I really like it due to the bonus gold, but I thik that Legend: Tenacity is best used. I mean, Aatrox have a lot of sustain so add another thing that restore health is not so worth it, even becose I will use this side tree vs some easy lanes to take advantage. However choose between these two, the others I think are not useful at all. Coup de Grace deal 8% increased damage to champions below 40% maximum health. Nothing to say, we want to kill so extra damage is always welcome. However, if they have a lot of tanks, Cut Down can be appreciated. Offence: Ability Power +9 Flex: Ability Power +9 Defense: Health +15-90 This is what I will usually take, in the case I will facing an heavy AD or AP team I will change "Defense" into Armor or MagicResist.

Summoner Spells

IGNITE Ignite is a targeted summoner spell that deals true damage( ignores armor and magic resistance, as well as other form of damage reduction) over time, applies grievous wounds( reduces all healing by 40%) and revealing them for the duration. It helps with kill pressure and can make waste an enemy flash. I usually take this if I feel confident.

EXHAUST Exhaust is a targeted summoner spell that slows an enemy champion by 30% and reduces his damage by 40% for 2.5 seconds. It can be good vs any non-burst champions, and it also helps to land abilities.

CLEANSE Cleanse is a self-targeted summoner spell removes all disables (excluding suppression and airborne) and summoner spells debuffs, as well as granting 65% tenacity for 3 seconds. I usually take this if they have a lot of "point-and-click" (I'm not sure if it is ther right term) CCs, or if jungler and laner have any heavy cc (example: Ryze+ Elise).

Items

Long Sword a simple item, it gives +10 AD for the cost of 350 gold. I take this first in order to rush a Serrated Dirk or an Hexdrinker.

Doran's Shield gives +80 health, +6 flat health regeneration for 5s and make basic attacks deal an additional 5 physical damage to minions on hit. Also after taking damage from an enemy champion, gain health regeneration equal to 0 − 30 (based on current missing health) over 10 seconds. I usually take this if I am in a poke lane

Serrated Dirk is what I usually rush, it gives +25 AD, +10 lethality and a nice passive that empower the next spell, wich will deal 40 bonus physical damage to all enemies it hits, after killing any enemy. Close this little item we can start all-in people and deal a lot of damage.

Hexdrinker, in some matches is better wait our turn...in those cases I buy this item. It gives +20 AD, +35 MR and every 90s, if you would take magic damage that would reduce maximum health below 30%, you first gain a shield that absorbs 110 − 280 (based on level) magic damage for 5 seconds. Usually only this item alone is enough and you do not need to rush Maw of Malmortius.

Duskblade of Draktharr gives +55 AD, +10% CD and +21 letahlity. This is usually the first big item that I buy due to the high ammount of lethality and the blackout passive. However, if I am facing someone who roam a lot I will insead start with Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Youmuu's Ghostblade gives +55 AD, +10% CD, +18 lethality and +40 MS out-of-combact. It also provide a nice +20% MS when activated. As already said I usually take this first if vs someone who roam a lot, else I will buy this later on depends on how much I am ahead(I will maybe add a flowchart about this).

Mercury's Treads are what I take most of the time. The "tencity" part is just too good if they do not have an heavy AD composition. In that case switch to the next ones ⇓.

Ninja Tabi are really nice versus champions who rely on basic attacks such as Yasuo, Kindred, Tryndamere. Also give us a nice ammount of armor which helps when facing an heavy AD team without losing to much in damage output.

Boots of Swiftness, you like roam a lot? you like split-push? They have a balanced AD/AP team and only slows? Well, take those. I rarely buy this item, but the times I did it wasn't too bad.

Death's Dance gives +80 AD, +10 CD and heals for 15% of all damage dealt(in our case 5% for every unit that we hit). It also stores 30% of all physical and magic damage received dealing one-third of the stored damage every second as true damage. With this item we can heals and reduces the income damage a lot, a very good item. However remember to constantly hit something, if you are low life, or there is the chance tha you will probably die.

Sterak's Gage make us tankier and give us a lot of bonus AD. Having either Sterak's Gage and Maw of Malmortius will, even if they have the same passive, trigger both Sterak's Fury and Lifegrip.

Black Cleaver gives +40 AD, 20% CD and +400 health, all good stats. The interesting part however is the armor reduction that provides. If the enemy team is stacking a lot of AR or they have a lot of tanks take this.

Guardian Angel, +40 AR, +45 AD and...wait, I can't die again? What is better than require 2 times the damage needed before actually die? Very nice late-game item.

Dead Man's Plate gives +60 AR and +425 health plus a nice passive. I usually take this if they have a lot of AD.

Mercurial Scimitar, they have a lot of target CC (AKA this guy -> Malzahar) and you want also some MR? Here it is the right item.

Spirit Visage gives +10% CD, +450 health, +100% base health regenration and +55 MR plus increases effectiveness of all sources of health restoration by 30%. A really good item if you are facing a lot of AP, either the passive make us heal A LOT.

Adaptive Helm is a really useful defensive item versus AP compositions that deals damage over time like Teemo, Brand, Malzahar etc. Besides the good defensive stats it reduces all subsequent magic damage taken from a spell or effect by 20% for 4 seconds.

*Items not explained are the ones that I think could be good but I haven't tested yet.

Gameplay

We just arrived under the tower, we unlocked The Darkin Blade, and now?

In the early levels if you are facing a meele you can try to poke with The Darkin Blade and Deathbringer Stance while farming. Else, if facing a ranged opponent, just farm and wait lv2.

LEVEL-UP, congratualtions you got lv2 and Umbral Dash, now we can try to all-in our opponent. A lv2 combo (go to combo section) plus Ignite will probably kill the squishy ones and make flash/recall the others.

After Infernal Chains we can easily trade and avoid ganks, however remember that once you waste your The Darkin Blade it wll be a long while before you can do any damage again, and that provides a window for assassins to try to kill you.

Also play smart versus enemies with great all-ins and in general to people with gap-closer.

LEVEL-UP, "hello, the world ender is here". Now that we have World Ender we can easily dive low health champions and mabye also kill that jungler that is coming for the 14th time in a row. Remember that if you do not kill any ones you will not revive.

You should also keep in mind the roaming potential. Since Aatrox is strong diver, it’s possible for you to roam top or bot (preferably with your jungler) and score some kills for your other lanes as well.

And yes, one last thing, put those wards... they also give AD now...


Mid game usually starts after most people are finishing their first/second item and towers have started to fall.

Now we probably have a lot of damage, just play as first and see the enemy explode.
In team fights World Ender and try to kill the carries, and remember: no takedowns no second life. However also if you can't reach the carry you are probably good since the AoE CC that The Darking Blade deal.


Late game starts when there are around 4-5 full items on champs. Here is where teamfights start to break out all the time.

Same as MID-GAME plus you can now split-push. However if you can’t fight the enemy split-pusher, it may be better to stick with your team and look for uneven team fights.

LV-2 [STANDARD]

First land Q on the opponent, then dash forward with the second Q(first Q and then E) then the last Q and the empowered attack(that since now I will call PAA).

LV-3 [ALL-IN]

First land Q, then the W. At this point, to negate the escape from the W, use a dash Q and then "FINISH HIM" with a PAA.

Ghost Chain

Fisrt use the W plus E and then Q, this will cancel the W animation. Then walk towards him and chain the other spells.

I AM The World Ender

Use E in order to camouflage the R animation and then lock the enemy with the firstQ. At this point land the W and thanks to the bonus MS set a perfect second Q followed by a PAA and the last Q.

Let them lament my name

+ > > > > + > >


After the lost of one Umbral Dash in the kit I think this combo is only good in very late game, when you reach the 40% CDR, or when flanking the enemy team.

1)After prepared the 3rd Q, W into Flash on the enemy carry(or some outpositioned squishy target), then R and 3rd Q plus a PAA. At this point the Q should be avayable again, so Q into E in order to hit the target and, if it is not already dead, chain the other 2 Q.

2)At high CDR you can use E instead of Flash.

3)In a schermish/duel scenario you can do the same combo but without R(if not needed) and using E instead of Flash. However in this way the first Q(the second one counting the starter 3dQ) will be harder to hit.

The Wheel

More than a combo is a trick: any Q(better the 2nd or the 3rd) chained with E and Flash will travel a lot more far than people could think.

Thanks to you that read this jumble of words and that left a comment to improve this guide.

Here I'll write what I've changed in every patch so that you can go directly where the changes have been.