Aatrox Build Guide by Hefestus

// Hey guys, Hefestus here presenting one of my first guides here in Mobafire, featuring Aatrox, the Darkin Blade. I bought this champion instantly after he came out and i tryed him out right away, either at top and at jungle, and ended up achieving effective results while playing him. I then started to work on a build and figured that Atack Speed, Survivability and Lifesteal would fit very well with Aatrox and I started trying to create a build that would implement this stats and that would fit him. I ended up with this build, but I leave plenty of options for you guys to choose, because we all know that if you're an even slightly decent player you have conscience that your build depends on you team and the enemy team. So, I hope you enjoyed this guide, I tryed doing the best I can and I'm pretty please with it. Without further ado, Aatrox ladies and gentlemen! // SPECIAL THANKS: Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

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Pros + Insane Damage Troughout the Whole Game + Built-in Sustain/Life Steal with Blood Thirst + Blood Well allows you to revive and can be pretty useful when enemies when dueling, enemies tower dive you, etc. + Dark Flight is a really good ability for ganking + No mana + Massacre is a great steroid and augments autoattack range

Cons - Dark Flightand Blades of Torment Can be Pretty Hard to Hit Sometimes - Doesn't Excell in the Jungle - "Weaker version of Tryndamere" - Stonewall008 (Refering to Jungle Aatrox) - Relatively High Cooldowns on Dark Flight and Blades of Torment - Blood Well Decays Over Time When Out of Battle

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// I usually run 21/9/0 masteries when playing Aatrox either jungle or top. You could also try 9/21/0 masteries if you choose to invest more in survivability and tankiness than on overall damage, that is also viable. In the Offense Tree, I take as much points as I can to increase my maximum damage outcome, whilst spending some points on AD, AS and Armor Pen, and i also spen 3 points on Sorcery because Blades of Torment and Dark Flight's cooldown is fairly high. In the Defense Tree I spend points in HP, Armor and Magic Resist, to increase survivability.

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• greater mark of armor penetration: // I take this because it's what pays off more in terms of damage outcome. Of course, you could also choose to take Greater Mark of Attack Damage, taking this would statiscally grant you a little bit of avantage over greater mark of armor penetration at level 1, but for most of the rest of the game, armor penetration will pay off more.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: // Pretty standard seals. These are mandatory for Aatrox both in the jungle and in the top lane to help reduce a bit the damage you take from all physical sources (jungle creeps, minions and champions)
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: // I take these over Greater Glyph of Magic Resist because they give you a much bigger advantage late game, and that's a pretty important phase for Aatrox
  
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: // One of these is enough to grant you a small advantage in terms of mobility over your lane opponent or in the jungle. If you don't like taking this or find it unecessary you can take 3 Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: // Very important to add to your armor pen marks. These will give you a nice damage increase at low levels that will pay off very well on Aatrox.

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Flash: // Most standard summoner spell in the game. It's just your best option either in the lane or in th jungle. It's very useful as an excape tool or gap closer. I find this to be mandatory on Aatrox.

Ignite: // I like this spell very much, I find it extremelly useful to finish of enemies and also to counter champions like Dr. Mundo with regenerating skills. Of course, this is only viable if you're laning, it's completely useless when jungling really.

Smite: // Obviously like with every viable champion, you absolutely must take this when jungling, and I mean ABSOLUTELY. You won't be able to jungle without this. And obviously, never take this when laning.

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Blood Well
// Revives Aatrox depending on how full blood well's bar is
//Similar passive to Zac's or Anivia's, basically a built in Guardian Angel. It's quite useful even if most of the time it won't heal that much, but you'll still be a pain in the rear (if you catch my drift, Videogamedunkey ©) to your enemies. Has a pretty long cooldown, and decays when your not in battle but overall it's a pretty nice passive and can decide duels and towerdives in your favor. Additionaly it passively increases your attack speed depending on how much it's in the blood well, resulting in a 50% attack speed increase when it is full (OP?)
Dark Flight
// Leaps to a target area, dealing damage and knocking up enemies in the center of the impact
// Really good utility skill, can work as an awesome engaging abilty, gap closer or excape and is also an amazinf gank tool, combining a gap closer with CC. It can be pretty tricky to land tough, because before leaping, Aatrox first flies straight up in the air, making the total time it takes to land unpredictable at first but you'll start getting used to hit. This skill is also really useful in lane and combined with the rest of your skillset and spells allows you to quickly burst down most of your possible lane opponents.
Blood Thirst
// Active when "W" is not toggled on. Every third autoattack, heals Aatrox for a certain amount, that amount is bigger if Aatrox is lower than 50% HP.
// This is your sustain and your main skill, specially when jungling. The amount you'll heal when you get some items will be very high and this skill will work very well with atack speed and AD. I keep this skill active most of the time, both in lane and in jungle, in order to sustain yourself.
Blood Price
// Active when "W" is toggled on. You deal additional damage every third attack but consumes an amount of your own health every third attack also
// This skill will do insane damage throughout the game but you must be careful because the health cost is pretty high and without noticing you can drop your own HP down pretty quickly. be careful when you activate it, most of the time you will want to activate it when you want to burst someone down.
Blades of Torment
// Skillshot that damages enemies in a line and slows them
// Pretty useful skill and that will scale decently with your AD. The most interesting part is the slow that will help you stick to enemies or excape from them. It can also be quite hard to hit because it travels really slowly but as they say, practice brings perfection.
Massacre
// Deals damage to nearby enemies and grants Aatrox attack speed and additional range
// Amazing steroid and damage source. The damage you get from activating it is pretty good even tough it scales with AP only, but the steroid is the main part of this skill. The attack speed you get is crazy and the range is also pretty useful. You should pop this in a teamfight or to drop someone quickly.

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// At level 1 I put a point in Blood Thirst / Blood Price so i can sustain myself with Blood Thirst either in the jungle or in the top lane. At level 2 I put a point in Blades of Torment because the initial damage is good and is great as a farming and harass skill. Then at level 3, I put a point in Dark Flight so i can engage/gank and hopefully get some kills or assists. Your main priority from then on should be maxing Blood Thirst / Blood Price first (after ult of course) because it's your main damage and sustain skill. After that I prefer maxing Blades of Torment because the duration of the slow scales with level, but it is also viable to max Dark Flight second.

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// These or Ninja Tabi depending on the enemy team. I find these to be the best boots on Aatrox because they help you take more damage and synergize well with this build and his kit overall. Try finishing Blade of the Ruined King first if you can tough.

// Simply a great item! Grants you everything you need: AD, Attack Speed and Lifesteal. Awesome active if used in the right time. Get this as soon as you can, start by getting an early Bilgewater Cutlass and then complete it.

//Really nice item for Aatrox, this wil grant you some nice early HP and Cooldown Reduction boost, and also will increase the health you get from your lifesteal.

// Another excellent item on Aatrox. This will give you a lot of damage and some lifesteal, but the passive... OH THE PASSIVEE!!! Poping your ult in a team fight with this item is just insane, splash damage everywhere and keep spamming the active and they'll drop dead in no time.

// Now is where you start getting your seriously defensive items that will make you unstopable. With this item you'll be able to tank a lot more, and the passive and active are really awesome also.

// Another defensive item. It will also give you some damage but the health and the passive are the most interesting and useful part. WIth it's passive you'll be able to stick to enemies easily.

// I choose to take this when jungling, but it's perfectably suited for laning also. This will grant you a nice physical damage increase and a lot of armor penetratiom and all for a pretty affordable price when jungling. I prefer to buy this late game but it doesn't have to necessarily be your last item.

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// Laning: Laning with Aatrox is pretty simple. Focus only on farmig until about level 3 or 4, enemie may try to harass you but you should be fine as long as you keep Blood Thirst active. You can also harass and farm with Blades of Torment but be careful due to the HP cost. Once you get a point Dark Flight (level 3) you can try to fully engage on your opponent. Be sure to activate your Blood Price and hit minions twice before you engage (this way your very first attack on your opponent will deal the extra damage right away), then focus on getting the knock-up on your enemy from Dark Flight, couple of autoattacks with Blood Price, Blades of Torment, a couple more autoattacks, and an ocasional Ignite if they get really low. Try scoring some kills and setting an advantage, but focus on farming, because your build is not that cheap... This should be enough to dominate in lane. // Teamfights: After lane phase is concluded, try to not separate yourself from the team so you won't miss the teamfights or get dunked by the ennemy team. Your role in teammate should be of a normal bruiser. If you're certain your team will follow you can engage with Dark Flight(it can knock up more than one enemy). Activating your ult in a teamfight is also really affective, as it does area damage on activation, and the attack speed you get from it combined with the passive from Ravenous Hydra should be enough to melt your opponents in a teamfight.

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// Jungle Route: Usually you want to start by doing the Elder Lizard camp first (Red Buff) because it will serve you more than Blue, since you have no mana. Be sure to ask for a leash from your teammates. Finish off Red, and look at enemie/ally placement in the map, if you see a good oportunity try ganking that lane (preferably mid or top lane), if not go kill the wraith camp and check again for ganking oportunities. If you are yet to find a lane vulnerable to a gank, kill wolves, finish off the Ancient Golem (Blue Buff) and try counterjungling until you see an oppurtonity to gank a lane. // Ganking: Try to find a lane where enemies are out of position (pushing to much) or with low HP, make sure it's not warded or that you find a way to gank quickly or without being spotted. Your main focus when should be to hit Dark Flight, if you suceed, the enemie will be knocked up and it will be easy for you and you ally/allies to kill him. After Dark Flight try hitting Blades of Torment so the enemy will be slowed and hit a couple of autoattacks with Blood Price to take out a good chunk of the enemies HP.

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// That's all folks! Thank you for viewing this guide, hopefully you tried this build and hopefully you achieved pleasant results as I have. If you liked the guide I would very much appreciate an upvote and please don't downvote unless it's extremely necessary, and I'd appreciate feedback please. If this guide gets a good response I'll keep updating it, future section are: more in-depth junle, combos, videos/gameplay, fan scores, other builds and many more! // SPECIAL THANKS: Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

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19-06-2013: Published Guide 19-06-2013: Updated Masteries, Items and Item section, added Change Log. (thanks XeresAce) 19-96-2013: Added Wit's End to alternative items