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Aatrox Build Guide by Sydalrg

AD Offtank [◣_◢] | Aatrox, The DarKING Blade [In-Depth S4]

AD Offtank [◣_◢] | Aatrox, The DarKING Blade [In-Depth S4]

Updated on May 19, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Sydalrg Build Guide By Sydalrg 8,637 Views 6 Comments
8,637 Views 6 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Sydalrg Aatrox Build Guide By Sydalrg Updated on May 19, 2014
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Aatrox
    Toptrox
  • LoL Champion: Aatrox
    Jungletrox [ALWAYS START RED]

Aatrox, The Darkin Blade

Introduction
// Aatrox, The Darkin Blade. Mainly played Top and occasionally seen in the Jungle. Here is my guide on how to turn The Darkin Blade into The DarKING Blade.

// SPECIAL THANKS: Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.


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Quick Summarize


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

Pros / Cons


Pros


+ His passive, Blood Well is basically a Guardian Angel
+ The Blood Thirst / Blood Price is absolutely amazing.
+ He's deceivingly strong with Blood Thirst / Blood Price
+ The passive Attack Speed from Blood Well is actually useful
+ Has an awesome skin (and even better custom ones!)
+ Low ban-rate. (Only 2.0%?!)

Cons


- Needs his items to get going.
- His two forms of CC are easy to miss ( Blades of Torment Dark Flight)
- It's hard to get used to the health costs.
- No escapes apart from his easy to counter Dark Flight
- Impossible to recover when behind.
- His low winrate.
- Kited easily
- Countered easily in toplane with Ranged
- Or Blinds. Or Poison. (Yeah you, Teemo.)
- They just had to ruin another skin with rainbows.
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Summoner Spells

Summoner Spells



Ignite: // Helps you secure kills and get early First Blood. It's known as the "First Blood Spell" for a reason. It falls of late game though, but could eliminate some ultimates such as Dr. Mundo's Maximum Dosage

Smite: // Yeah... you tried jungling without Smite on Aatrox? Let me ask you a different question. How would it feel to have your Blood Well wasted by jungle creeps?

Flash: // You need Flash for those pesky ganks or sticky situations. It allows you to get closer to champs to land your Dark Flight, or get away. Pretty self explanatory, right?


Hi there, how's it going?

Teleport: // On the occassions you feel ballsy enough, if you dont wanna lose creeps OR for those quick 'n easy ganks on those losers in botlane.


Hi there, how's it going?
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Ability Explanation

Ability Explanation



  • Blood Well: // Alright, there's a couple of diddledees about this passive. First off, Aatrox doesn't have any mana cost, he has Health cost like Dr. Mundo, Vladimir and others. However, his bar displays the value of how much his Blood Well is filled. Whenever Aatrox uses an ability, the health cost fills the Blood Well. The minimum value for Blood Well is 75. The maximum it can hold is 840.

    Blood Well serves as a Guardian Angel. Whenever Aatrox dies with Blood Well active, he goes into stasis for 3 seconds. During this time, he drains the amount of blood stored in Blood Well and replenishes his own health with it. He then leaves stasis and is ready to fight again. During the stasis, you cannot cast any abilities or use any item.

    Blood Well passively increases Aatrox's attack speed by 0.6 / 0.7 / 0.8 / 0.9 / 1.0 / 1.1 for every 2% Blood Well is filled. Meaning, with the Statikk Shiv and Blade of the Ruined King build, Aatrox can have an attack speed of 2.19 at level 18 with a filled Blood Well. And we didn't even include the Berserker Greaves in this yet which gives us an additional 0.18 with an empty Blood Well.


  • Dark Flight (Q): // You dive into every fight with this. It's basically your everything. Dark Flight is a ground targeted dash that knocks up and damages in a circular area of effect. It also knocks up enemies in a small area in the center. It's important that whenever you engage a fight on someone, you start by knocking them up with this. It's damage is mediocre so we'll max this last. It's mostly there for utility and the knock up anyway. The cost of this ability is stored in his Blood Well.

    VIDEO [by LoLHungri]
    Spoiler: Click to view

  • Blood Thirst (W): // The Off mode of Aatrox's W. Every third attack, Aatrox gains a buff that lasts until he strikes. Aatrox stabs the adversary, draining their blood. This heals Aatrox for a certain amount of health, plus 25% of his bonus Attack Damage. What's important to note is that whenever Aatrox is below 50% of his health he heals for 3 TIMES for a certain amount, plus 75% of his bonus Attack Damage! This makes him very durable in teamfights. Paired with items like a Bloodthirster or a Maw of Malmortius this could be insanely valuable. In long fights, it's recommended to utilize this as much as you can below 50% health. There is no cost to this skill. Hence, using this will not fill Blood Well.
  • Blood Price (W): // The On mode for Aatrox's W. Every third attack, Aatrox gains a buff that lasts until he strikes. Aatrox slashes the adversary, heavily damaging them at the cost of his own health. Aatrox deals a certain amount of damage plus 100% of his bonus Attack Damage at the cost of a certain amount of health plus 25% of his bonus Attack Damage. This seperates the good Aatrox from the bad. You start a fight with this to start strong, but turn to Blood Price when it looks like you're either losing, or your losing health too quickly. Paired with items like a Bloodthirster or a Maw of Malmortius this could be insanely valuable. The health used by Blood Price will be stored in your Blood Well.

    VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE
    Unlike most other on-hit physical damage, Blood Price's bonus damage does not apply life steal. This is a special case, perhaps to prevent abuse or for flavor. The triggering attack will still apply life steal. Critical strikes do not interact with the bonus damage of Blood Price. Attacks against structures will not increment the counter or consume the empowered attack.
    VIDEO [by LoLHungri]
    Spoiler: Click to view

  • Blades of Torment (E): // Aatrox's only ranged poke that also has a pretty neat slow attached to it. Blades of Torment is a tricky skill to land due to it's odd shape, seen in the video below. Blades of Torment is a pass-through skillshot that gets narrower toward the end of its path. This, along with his ultimate, are the only skills that scale with Ability Power. The amount is so small however (60% Ability Power) that it's not worth building Ability Power for. If Aatrox can't win fights with his lane opponent, this is what he should max to damage his opponent from a distance. Otherwise, this skill is maxed second. The cost of this ability is stored in Blood Well.
    VIDEO [by LoLHungri]
    Spoiler: Click to view


  • Massacre (R): // Upon activation, Aatrox raises his sword and draws in the blood of his foes, dealing 200 / 300 / 400 (+100% Ability Power) magic damage to nearby enemy champions. For the next 12 seconds, Aatrox gains 40% / 50% / 60% bonus attack speed and 175 bonus attack range (325 total range). His attacks are still considered melee. This ability is so underrated. I can't count to you the amount of kills I picked up with this. Imagine a Pantheon with around 300 health, you with less and you using Massacre and the cast alone kills him. It's a satisfying experience. Plus, combined with his Blood Thirst Aatrox can continue fighting others whilst lifestealing health at MAX ATTACK SPEED. (2.19 + 60% = 3.50. League's max is 2.50. With an empty Blood Well you would be at 2.37. That is if you took Statikk Shiv and Blade of the Ruined King.

    However, this skill is best used at the start of a fight, or halfway to turn it into Aatrox's favor. You'll see the ability combos below.

    VIDEO [by LoLHungri]
    Spoiler: Click to view
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Ability Sequences and Combos

Ability Sequence Order

WHEN YOU ARE WINNING YOUR LANE | WHEN YOU MAINLY JUNGLE
Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

> > >
This is for your standard laning / jungling routine. Massacre is self explanatory. Whenever your fighting in lane your W will surprise your opponent heavily. The higher it is, the more damage / healing it does. In the jungle it's just more useful for clearing those camps. Blades of Torment is useful for it's damage in all cases. And it's just not worth maxing your Q. Sorry, Dark Flight. While you lack damage, you utility is amazing. <3

WHEN YOU ARE LOSING YOUR LANE | WHEN YOU MAINLY GANK
Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

> > >
This is for those annoying lanes and those amazing ganks. [Massacre is self explanatory. Your Blades of Torment is your bread and butter right now. It's a ranged poke with a slow. The slow doesn't increase, but the duration does. Your laner will have a hard time dodging it if you can aim it. For the junglers, this is your bread and butter because when ganking, you have an option. Going in with you Q first and then landing your E, or landing your E first and flying in with your Q. Doing the latter with make your Q easier, but doing the first will make your E easier to land. Either way you want to buy time for your laner to come dish out some damage as well. If they have Crowd Control abilities, helping them land those with your E is vital. So landing it is priority either way. Blood Thirst / Blood Price for the sustain when in farming and Dark Flight gets it's love last again.

Ability Combos


Simple Engage: > >

Sticking to them: > >

Delayed Flight: > > > >

All In > > >

Safety Assured > > >

Risky Business > > > > >

Spoiler: Click to view
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Items [Toplane]

Items


Item Sequence

Statikk Shiv 2700
Ravenous Hydra 3300
Spirit Visage 2900
Frozen Mallet 3100
Berserker's Greaves - Furor 1550

Ah, the infamous Blade of The Ruined King. Believe it or not, I despise this item. I would much rather go for a Bloodthirster BUT! This item is almost made for Aatrox. Attack Damage is self explanatory, the attack speed allows him to proc his Blood Thirst / Blood Price, steal life, and do damage. The lifesteal makes him more durable, and the active allows him to stick to his enemy, which Aatrox has trouble with. What more do you want?

'SYDAL! Y U NO Phantom Dancer?!' Well good person, I genuinely like the movement speed and passive more. It fits Aatrox much better. It allows him to stick to his opponents more and also allows him to deal an additional 100 magic damage + critical strike damage if your attack that triggered the passive also critically struck. Much amaze!

The health regen allows Aatrox to regen in between fights, The lifesteal compliments this further. The attack damage is amazing, and it's active equals damage + an auto attack reset. It's passive allows Aatrox to farm and clear camps much faster. Note, the passive does not proc his Blood Thirst or Blood Price

Aatrox is relatively squishy, and the only thing that really counters him is magic damage. If it's attack (physical) damage, it's likely that Aatrox will win depending on foregoing events. The cooldown reduction helps immensely with his relatively long cooldowns (in this meta). The regen also helps. The passive makes Aatrox shine as it improves his lifesteal. And it also aids Blood Price making it heal you 120% as much under 50% HP!

Makes Aatrox more durable as well as giving him so more attack damage. The passive really aids him because Aatrox has trouble sticking to his enemies after fights. The passive, along with the Enchantment: Furor no one will be able to escape the DarKing Aatrox!

Berserker's Greaves give the necessary movement speed, and Enchantment: Furor will allow Aatrox to stick to his enemies which he has so much trouble with. The attack speed the boots give Aatrox will also help immensely. Need I say more that these boots are too perfect for this winged demon? If you don't like Furor, get Enchantment: Homeguard instead.
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Items [Jungle]

Items


Item Sequence

Statikk Shiv 2700
Ravenous Hydra 3300
Frozen Mallet 3100
Berserker's Greaves - Furor 1550
Feral Flare 1800

When Feral Flare got added, the meta for Attack Damage junglers changed. Suddenly, Nocturne, Udyr, Xin Zhao and Master Yi became priority pick or bans in ranked. Ranked games can be completely turned over with these champions. Why? It's all thanks to Feral Flare. It grants attack speed and attack damage. But that's not what it's for. After resching a certain amount of stacks (left unmentioned since it could easily change in the future) Wriggle's Lantern will transform into Feral Flare. Every large jungle creep killed after this will result in another stack for Feral Flare. Champion kills and assists also count as stacks. Stacks passively become added upon purchasing Hunter's Machete, but are only useful for Feral Flare. Basic attacks deal 100 (+3 per Feral stack) bonus magic damage and restore 10 (+1 per Feral stack) health. Enemy champions take 33% of the bonus magic damage. Even though this basically says "Here, go jungle 'till your broken overpowered" it doesn't mean that you should stop ganking altogether. Combine the two and master the art of jungling. Enjoy the free gold it gives along the way from large jungle creeps. The ward is sometimes useful if you wanna ward somewhere that could potentially have champions in it.

Ah, the infamous Blade of The Ruined King. Believe it or not, I despise this item. I would much rather go for a Bloodthirster BUT! This item is almost made for Aatrox. Attack Damage is self explanatory, the attack speed allows him to proc his Blood Thirst / Blood Price, steal life, and do damage. The lifesteal makes him more durable, and the active allows him to stick to his enemy, which Aatrox has trouble with. What more do you want?

'SYDAL! Y U NO Phantom Dancer?!' Well good person, I genuinely like the movement speed and passive more. It fits Aatrox much better. It allows him to stick to his opponents more and also allows him to deal an additional 100 magic damage + critical strike damage if your attack that triggered the passive also critically struck. Much amaze!

The health regen allows Aatrox to regen in between fights, The lifesteal compliments this further. The attack damage is amazing, and it's active equals damage + an auto attack reset. It's passive allows Aatrox to farm and clear camps much faster. Note, the passive does not proc his Blood Thirst or Blood Price

Makes Aatrox more durable as well as giving him so more attack damage. The passive really aids him because Aatrox has trouble sticking to his enemies after fights. The passive, along with the Enchantment: Furor no one will be able to escape the DarKing Aatrox!

Berserker's Greaves give the necessary movement speed, and Enchantment: Furor will allow Aatrox to stick to his enemies which he has so much trouble with. The attack speed the boots give Aatrox will also help immensely. Need I say more that these boots are too perfect for this winged demon? If you don't like Furor, get Enchantment: Homeguard instead.
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About the Writer / Outroduction / Questions

Outroduction / Questions


Oof! That took 4 hours in one go to write. I hope that with this guide I gave you some ideas for the beast known as Aatrox. If you have some questions I could answer, leave a comment. If you've got an account on Mobafire, please don't forget to rate. :)

Why the [◣_◢]?
Doesn't it look badass? :D
It's my emblem. It's kind of like a sticker you leave at places you were.
Plus, it kinda resembles Aatrox, don't you think? :)

Who Am I?

G'day! My name is Roy Goos, I'm known as Sydalrg on Mobafire. On League of Legends I'm known as Corazon De Leone on Europe West and I am from the Netherlands. Currently, I'm casually making my way up to Silver as I'm Bronze 1. I've previously written a guide for ADC Twisted Fate and a pretty well received ADC Jax. There's also a few other builds that I had written but those were useless and made around the time when I started playing League. This is probably my most lucrative and in-depth guide ever, and written in one go. Which was honestly kind of tiring. It only took 3 hours. :)

I'll be adding a match-ups section soon guys! Whenever I find the time that is.
Just remind me on my social media and we'll be good. :D

Outside of my gaming life I am a Electronic Dance Music (EDM) producer. This means Dubstep, House, Drum 'n Bass, Trance and all that stuff. I take pride in my work and I've released tracks under several record labels. If you wanna check out my music, feel free to click me! If you wanna play some games, add me on the game and if you just want a simple chat, don't be shy and add me on my personal facebook. I don't bite. :)

Have a good one!
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