This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.
We recommend you take a look at this author's other builds.
- Lasoor's Guide to Yorick Shepherd of Souls - Season 9
- Lasoor's Pentakill Master Yi Top Lane Guide - Season 9
- Lasoor's True to Warwick Guide Season 9
This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Choose Champion Build:
- Aatrox Jungle - S7
- Aatrox Top - S7
Recommended Items
Spells:
Smite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Deathbringer Stance (PASSIVE)
Aatrox Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Ezreal
Extremely easy for an Ezreal player to kite you to point where you can't even touch him. You need your team to help you.
Introduction | Runes | Items |
Why Play Aatrox | Masteries | Gameplay |
Summoner Spells | Abilities | Conclusion |
Hello guys my Summoner name is Lasoor. I have been playing on the NA server since Season 5. I'm not much of a ranked game player but based on how well I do in normals against Silver and Bronze players I'd say I have the skill of low Gold. Personally I feel my game knowledge is my strong point.
I tried out Aatrox so I could try and get Mastery 7 as a joke among my friends because so many people claim Aatrox is a trash champion that isn't worth playing. I am currently Mastery 6 on Aatrox but plan on getting Mastery 7 soon. My average letter grade for my games is between A and S so I feel I do pretty good with him. Because of that I would like to share my insight on how to play him because I noticed there aren't any up to date guides on him on mobafire. I can't promise my guide is perfect or optimal, but it works for me so I think it is worth reading if you are interested in playing Aatrox. I have consistently kept around a 70% win rate on Aatrox. My overwhelming average skill level in Aatrox ranked games is Platinum according to Triumph.gg
Please let me know in the comments below if you in any way found my guide useful. Also let me know if you disagree on anything I said or if you noticed an error somewhere in my guide whether a factual or grammatical error so that I may fix it.
I think a fair question to ask is why even bother playing Aatrox? Everyone claims he is trash, he has low win rates, and he has low play rates. Hell you may be reading this and already know the issues with him. However, I am here to tell you how to play him despite his short comings and why it works.
There are 3 great reasons on why he is worth playing that I can think of.
Reason 1: Very few players, especially in lower elo, even know what he does. When I was grinding games for mastery points I came across ALOT of players who would risk everything to kill me just to end up dying either because I outplayed them or because my passive kicked in and allowed me to live. They didn't realize I had a passive that revives me, stronger sustain the lower health I am, and an ultimate ability that does instant AoE damage as well as gives me more attack range and attack speed.
Reason 2: Aatrox is one of the strongest 1v1 duelists out there and can also split push better than champions like Tryndamere. Now hear me out before you have your doubts. Lets look at Tryndamere specifically because he is a popular split pushing champion. He has an ult that prevents him from dying so that he can kill people even under tower. He has high built in crit damage. He has no mana. He can just spin away from you if you try to kill him. He can slow you if you try to run from him. Basically any duel where it is just 2 champions slapping each other will be won by Tryndamere. Now lets look at Aatrox.
Aatrox's Blood Well gives him increased attack speed the more he fills it up and if he takes fatal damage he revives, healing based on how much blood he has stored up. His Dark Flight allows him to easily engage for a kill or retreat when engaged which is great for when split pushing because it gives him a guaranteed escape. This also knocks players up if he lands on them, something Tryndamere doesn't have. His Blood Thirst / Blood Price allows him to either heal on every third attack or deal massive damage on every third attack. Which is his built in sustain or damage ability. Tryndamere's natural sustain requires him to spend his Fury. Aatrox's Blades of Torment allows him to slow multiple people and damage multiple people just by hitting them with it. Great for going for a kill or escaping. Lastly his ultimate Massacre gives him a massive buff of attack speed and also some more attack range. This is what lets him slaughter towers and inhibitors rapidly.
If Tryndamere is split pushing all Aatrox has to do is go up to him and kill him. That easy. There isn't a single thing a Tryndamere can do to win that fight without being so insanely ahead, assuming you build Aatrox like me. The reason I say this is because Tryndamere can't out sustain you even with his ultimate ability. Aatrox just wins, it's not hard. And even if he is behind he can normally just outplay Tryndamere by knocking him up with Dark Flight. I have never lost a 1v1 against any Tryndamere as Aatrox. The only time I've come close I still had my passive up and just was worried he might get away, but I still won it. Aatrox was built to be an amazing dueling champion and he still is. He is stronger at doing what Tryndamere does both in split pushing and team fighting. So I argue that if Tryndamere is worth playing then so is Aatrox. Obviously a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but normally people who do don't have much to back up what they say.
Reason 3: Aatrox is a counter pick to Yasuo, Sion, Tryndamere, and Darius in top lane. Definitely others too but those are the major ones I can think of.
Pros:
+ No mana
+ Built in sustain
+ Great mobility
+ Strong split pusher
+ Strong duelist
+ Early dragon
+ Strong early ganks
+ Built in revive
+ High burst
Cons:
- Weak to CC
- Weak to burst
- Weak team fighter
- Easily kited
- Mechanics
You get this on Aatrox as an extra escape if needed. There is no reason not to get this on Aatrox. Almost every champion gets Flash because it is the most useful summoner spell. It can be used for chasing and escaping. Just because you have Dark Flight doesn't mean you don't take this. Someone can stun you to cancel Dark Flight or if you use Dark Flight to engage you might need to use Flash to escape.
You never get this on Aatrox. He makes better use of Flash than Ghost. He isn't a chasing champion. Sometimes you might feel it is better running Ghost top lane because it helps you out run people who try to gank you. However, in my experience the only time someone could successfully gank me was when they CC bombed me and completely blocked my path. Ghost would help you far less than Dark Flight + Flash + Blades of Torment escape combo.
Just take red smite instead if you're jungling because you need Flash. It is much stronger anyway. If you're top then you have to take Teleport with Flash. You never want to take Ignite instead because you don't need Ignite. You have two CC abilities and an ultimate that does AoE damage + extends your range. If that isn't enough for you to secure most of your kills then you shouldn't be playing Aatrox. He takes skill. He also doesn't need Ignite to win fights because he is a strong duelist.
If you are playing Aatrox top then you need this. This is not just for staying in your lane to kill CS or defend turret. This is also for global map control. It allows you to help teammates regardless of where you are which is important because majority of fights will be either bot lane or mid lane unless enemy team just for some reason decides to focus top lane. That almost never happens. This is also useful for split pushing.
Aatrox makes most use out of Greater Mark of Attack Damage. Reason is because he has Attack Speed from his passive early game and later gets it from his item build and ultimate. What he needs early game is damage to help him win trades and last hit in top lane. In jungle it helps him clear his jungle camps and pull off successful ganks. Some attack speed in runes is good, but we cover that with the Quintessence.
This is pretty standard on most champions. You want the armor to help you stay in lane if you are playing top as well as win trades thanks to you taking less damage. In jungle this will help you clear camps without losing too much health and when you go to gank for your team you will be at less risk of dying. The value of armor is pretty straight forward. The reason I don't recommend health is you don't really get much health out of it and in my opinion Armor is just better early game than Health on most champions.
You can also get scaling magic resist, but I like these because I focus my runes on my early game stats so I can snowball easier into late game. The reason for it is pretty standard. Gives you some protection against enemy magic damage. Magic Resist Glyphs are the most efficient Glyphs to get.
We get these because they are more efficient than damage Quintessences and because we want some extra attack speed early game. Especially if we're top lane because it helps us stay alive when fighting the enemy champion.
I will keep this section short because there are only a few masteries worth discussing. All the others are mostly based on my personal game play preference so you can feel free to tweak those how you want. However, I do have them set in a way that keeps Aatrox's gameplay in mind. So best not change them until you play him a bit more.
It's optimal to go 18 points in Ferocity so you can get Fervor of Battle . This keystone works great with your ultimate and the attack speed you build. It allows you to deal massive damage to your target enemy very quickly. I have tested Warlord's Bloodlust and found two reasons you shouldn't take it. First reason is because you will deal a lot less damage while using your healing ability. Second reason is because your healing ability basically does the same effect so this isn't really efficient to take. An Aatrox who has Fervor of Battle will beat an Aatrox who has Warlord's Bloodlust . The goal when building Aatrox is to be the best duelist you can.
The reason I go with Battle Trance over Double Edged Sword is because I see Aatrox as an extended fight champion so he will almost always make use of Battle Trance . I'd rather not have him deal even more damage to himself than he already does so Double Edged Sword just feels too self harming. Especially when you're using your basic attack damage ability because that also inflicts damage on to yourself. However if you want to take Double Edged Sword go ahead, it's partly a preference thing.
The reason we put 12 into Utility is because Aatrox needs defensive stats to survive team fights and also needs to take Runic Armor for the increased healing ability.
This is the framework of Aatrox's build. Basically Aatrox has abilities that cost his health to use them. When he uses them it adds to his Blood Well. Aatrox is more emo than Amumu. As he fills his Blood Well he gains more attack speed and if he takes fatal damage while his passive is up then he is temporarily invincible while he restores health equal to his Blood Well plus 10.5+(15.75 x level) health. So there's some math to it too. During this time I've noticed some healing abilities work on you such as Soraka's ultimate. When you are jungling as Aatrox the reason you start with Dark Flight is so you can use it while you are in the fountain repeatedly for about 1 minute to fill up your Blood Well. Then you go to your first jungle camp and wait there, still using Dark Flight to keep it full. This will let you have a full Blood Well when you start on your jungle camps which means more attack speed, which means greater sustain and faster clear. |
This is your gap closer and knock up. If you have a Yasuo on your team he will love you, for reasons. Anyway, you take this first if you are jungling to fill up your Blood Well. Explained more in the Blood Well section. This is mostly for either running from the enemy, travelling, filling your Blood Well, knocking up an enemy in a fight, or gap closing to kill someone. When you are jungling and want to gank you save this for when the enemy runs or uses Flash so you can follow up with them and hopefully kill them. |
Every third hit this ability will either heal you or deal bonus damage to an enemy depending on which you have toggled on. Basically if you leave it toggled off you will have your sustain ability that heals you. When you toggle it on you can deal more damage every third hit at cost of your health. A lot of people are confused on when to use which one. Generally the rule is if you can out sustain the enemy while using the damage one then you use the damage one to kill them faster. If you can't then you use the healing one so you won't die. If an enemy is running you use the damage one to kill them quickly so that every hit counts. If you are below half health you almost always use the healing one because you get more healing ability when below half health. Honestly though there isn't a set rule on when to use which one, it is mostly about how you feel about it in each situation. The more you play Aatrox the more you understand how to use this ability. I tend to switch between healing and damaging a lot in fights and sometimes even when I am almost dead I use the damage one to kill my enemy before he can kill me resulting in a won fight. So it's up to you how you use it. If you need more damage or more health in the specific situation is the question you ask yourself when toggling this on or off. |
You use this for slowing enemies, poking enemies, and sometimes last hitting escaping enemies. When you are ganking a lane you want to walk in and hit them with the slow so you can start auto attacking them. If the target escapes you follow up with Dark Flight. |
This is what makes Aatrox a feared duelist champion. Once you turn it on smart people run. You can win almost any 1v1 because of this ability and it is also the reason we bring
Fervor of Battle
on Aatrox. This massively increases his attack speed, gives him more attack range, and does instant AoE damage that scales 100% off his AP. Some people build AP on Aatrox so they can jump in middle of 5 enemies and get a penta, but it is hard to pull off AP builds with him. Generally we focus on the buff it gives you for auto attacking. Best time to use this is either when in danger of dying or when trying to kill an enemy quickly so he can't escape. I've had times where the enemy would chase me for so long that I'd just get mad, turn this on, and kill them all. This is the ability that makes Aatrox worth playing. |
UNIQUE Passive: Chilling Smite: Smite can be cast on enemy champions, dealing 28-164 true damage and stealing 20% of the target's movement speed for 2 seconds. You get this when you want to stick on to your enemy for a kill. I personally prefer this over Tracker's Knife and Skirmisher's Sabre because I hate when the enemy gets away from me, but it's really up to you. When it comes to your jungle item it is mostly preference, however in some cases it is important to take one over the other. Like for instance if your team isn't warding you should take Tracker's Knife so you can get vision. In that case you'd also want to buy control wards. Reason to get this: Allows you to stick on to your enemy target. Main Item |
UNIQUE Passive: Warding (Minor): Consumes a charge to place a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 150 seconds. Holds up to 2 charges which refill upon visiting the shop. This one is simple, it allows you to ward more. Get this if you need more vision on the map. If you're getting this you should probably also get control wards so you can get even more vision. Personally I don't like this on Aatrox because he isn't meant to be a supportive jungler. He is a fighter and every ability you can get to help you in your fights matters. Warding is everyone's job, but jungler has needs of its own. Still, if your team isn't warding enough then grab this to help make up for it. Reason to get this: Team needs more vision |
50% Attack Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Basic attacks deal 4% of the target's maximum Health as bonus physical damage (maximum 75 damage vs minions and monsters). This is crucial on Aatrox because early game he NEEDS attack speed items to quickly kill enemies and heal himself. He has high damage built into his kit already so rushing damage isn't optimal. He needs attack speed so he can keep himself from dying and kill enemies quickly. Reason to get this: A core item on Aatrox that gives you much needed attack speed early on Main Item |
400 Health, 15 Health Multiplier. UNIQUE Passive: Immolate: While in combat, deals 7 (+2 per champion level) magic damage a second to nearby enemies. This passive deals +100% damage against monsters. This is not a valid item on Aatrox. He doesn't gain much from the defensive abilities early game and actually loses out on the attack speed he could be building. He needs attack speed early game for sustain and damaging. He is useless without it. He can build defensive items later in the game, but this isn't one of them. Reason to get this: Never get this, it is not an item for Aatrox |
60 Attack Damage, 10% Cooldown Reduction. I tried this on Aatrox and he is far weaker if he builds this. He needs attack speed for sustain and ends up doing more damage with attack speed than he does without it. So rushing attack speed is optimal, damage comes after. Reason to get this: Never get this on Aatrox |
25 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Tenacity: The duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, silences, blinds and immobilizes are reduced by 30%. The reason you get this isn't Magic Resist, at least for Aatrox. But Magic Resist is always useful, even if they don't build AP most champions have some abilities that do magic damage. The reason you want this though is for the Tenacity. Tenacity is very hard to get and this is one of the few ways to get it. This will reduce CC on you by 30%, this is extremely important considering your biggest weakness is CC. As long as you are hitting people you are normally able help your team win a fight. The less time you spend CC'd the less likely you will be burst down. You need to hit people constantly to be useful as anything other than cannon fodder. Reason to get this: Enemy has CC, you need boots, and you have gold. Main Item |
30 Armor. UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Blocks 12% of the damage from basic attacks. Only time you'd get this is if enemy has no CC and does damage mostly with basic attacks. So basically you should probably never get this item. Tenacity is too valuable to give up just so you can block 12% of basic attacks and get 30 more armor. Like what is Riot even thinking... They need to buff this if they want people to pick it. I used to get it all the time on most fighter champions before I realized the real reason to get Mercury's Treads was for the Tenacity. Reason to get this: A miracle happened, enemy has no CC and only does damage with basic attacks |
35% Attack Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed. To be honest this is a great item to consider on Aatrox because he makes great use of attack speed however it might also be over kill. You also will want the Tenacity over this so you probably shouldn't build this. I haven't actually tested this though, so go ahead and try it if you want. Reason to get: Want to be super sayan when you use ultimate and CC isn't an issue |
UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement: +55 Movement Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Slow Resist: Movement slowing effects are reduced by 25%. In my opinion this item just isn't gold efficient when compared to Mercury's Treads however if you feel it works for you then knock yourself out. Helps you stick to enemies, but normally that isn't your goal. Once an enemy gets away from you as Aatrox you tend to just back off because kills aren't your goal. You don't need kills to be strong. You don't really need much at all to be strong, you just are. As long as you got your ultimate up you can kill things and take objectives. Reason to get this: You want to be Sanic |
25 Attack Damage, 40% Attack Speed, 10% Life Steal. UNIQUE Passive: Deals 8% of the target's current Health in bonus physical damage (max 60 damage vs. monsters and minions) on hit. UNIQUE Active: Deals 10% of target champion's maximum Health as physical damage (min. 100), heals for the same amount, and steals 25% of the target's Movement Speed for 3 seconds (90 second cooldown). This item is one of the most used items on Aatrox. This increases your sustain both by giving you attack speed and life steal. This gives you an active ability that slows a target enemy so you can stick to him. And this also helps you quickly kill enemies by dealing 8% of target's health in bonus physical damage on hit. This gives you a large power spike. Reason to get: This is a core item on Aatrox that gives him a little of everything he needs early on Main Item |
35 Attack Damage, 450 Health, 100% Base Health Regeneration. UNIQUE Passive: Cleave: Basic attacks deal 5 (+1% of your maximum Health) to your primary target and 40 (+2.5% of your maximum Health) as physical damage to enemies in a cone on-hit (your primary target does not take this damage). UNIQUE Active: Crescent: Cleave's damage to all targets is increased to 40 (+10% of your maximum Health) as bonus physical damage in a larger cone for your next basic attack (20 second cooldown). This item helps you when you need to build more tanky but still want to deal damage. It also helps you split push faster and gives you more AoE in team fights. It's a great choice on Aatrox when you aren't ahead because it keeps you from falling behind. Reason to get: Building defensively but still want more damage or want to split push |
30 Attack Damage, 700 Health. UNIQUE Passive: Icy: Your basic attacks slow your target's Movement Speed by 40% (30% for ranged attacks) for 1.5 seconds. If you are having trouble sticking on to your enemies to kill them then you can get this. It gives you more defensive stats and also slows enemies on hit. It's a very good third item on Aatrox. Reason to get: Want to stick on to enemies Main Item |
75 Attack Damage, 10% Cooldown Reduction. UNIQUE Passive: Dealing physical damage heals for 15% of the damage dealt (33% effectiveness for multi-target effects). UNIQUE PASSIVE: 15% of the damage you take is instead turned into a bleed for 5 seconds. This item is amazing on Aatrox because it not only gives him 15% life steal on both his basic attacks and his Dark Flight ability, but also makes killing him a lot more difficult with the bleed passive. Basically 15% of damage you receive is instead dealt to you over time which allows you to stay alive a lot easier. This is basically 30% bonus sustain in a fight if you think about it, plus the 10% CDR and 75 AD. Reason to get: Need an offensive item, want a lot of added sustain Main Item |
65 Attack Damage, 10% Life Steal, 35 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Active: Remove all crowd control debuffs from your champion and grants 50% movement speed for 1 second (90 second cooldown). This is good because it gives you more life steal, AD, MR, and also gives you an active that removes CC from your champion and gives you 50% bonus movement speed for 1 second. This is great because 2 of Aatrox's weaknesses are CC and not being able to stick on to an enemy. Reason to get: Having trouble dealing with enemy CC |
25 Attack Damage, 40% Attack Speed, 20% Cooldown Reduction, 250 Health, 250 Mana, 5% Movement Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Rage: basic attacks grant 20 movement speed for 2 seconds on hit. Minion, monster, and champion kills grant 60 (half for ranged champions) movement speed for 2 seconds UNIQUE Passive: Spellblade: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 200% of your base Attack Damage. 1.5 second cooldown. Does not stack with Sheen or Lich Bane. This item is really good for Aatrox if you are a top laner. Reason is because it gives you a little of everything you need early on to effectively dominate the game as a top laner. It gives you a lot of attack speed, CDR, and then some Health. It also gives you a lot of bonus movement speed to help you stick to your enemy and has a passive that gives you a massive burst of damage after you use an ability and then basic attack. The only issue with this is the 250 Mana because you don't have mana, but that is so minor that I wouldn't say it is reason enough to not get this. Reason to get: Are playing Aatrox top and feel a need for a versatile item that helps you stick on to enemies and deal burst damage. Main Item |
50 Attack Damage, 20% Cooldown Reduction, 300 Health. UNIQUE Passive: Dealing physical damage to an enemy champion reduces their armor by 5% for 6 seconds. This effect stacks up to 6 times for a maximum of 30% armor reduction. UNIQUE Passive: Rage: Dealing physical damage grants 20 movement speed for 2 seconds. Killing any unit or receiving an assist on a champion that has any amount of Black Cleaver armor shred grants 60 movement speed for 2 seconds instead. This item is mostly for if you are playing Top lane because it helps you fight the enemy top laner. It will give you AD, CDR, Health, Movement Speed, and also lets you reduce the enemy's armor. The purpose of this item is for when you are fighting a lot of tanks. If enemy has 2 or more very hard to kill tanks then you should consider this item. I'd build it after Blade of the Ruined King. Reason to get: Are playing Aatrox top and dealing with tank meta |
60 Armor, 500 Health. Passive: Reduces the damage you take from critical strikes by 10%. UNIQUE Passive: Cold Steel: If you are hit by a basic attack, you slow the attacker's Attack Speed by 15% for 1 second. UNIQUE Active: Slows the Movement Speed of nearby enemy units by 35% for 4 seconds (500 range). 60 second cooldown. This will keep you from being bursted down by enemy AD carries and crit builds. It also has an active that slows the movement speed of nearby enemies for 4 seconds which is very useful in team fights so your team can follow up with what you do. This is one of the optimal defensive choices for Aatrox. Reason to get: Want defensive item and dealing with enemy AD carries or crit builds Main Item |
10% Cooldown Reduction, 400 Health, 75% Base Health Regeneration, 75% Base Mana Regeneration. UNIQUE Passive: +10% bonus healing and shielding power. UNIQUE Active: Target an area within 5500 range. After 2.5 second, call down a beam of light to heal allies for 150 - 490 (based on target's level), deals 10% of maximum health true damage to enemy champions and 250 true damage to minions (120 second cooldown). Can be used while dead. This effect is halved if the target has been affected by another Redemption recently. This item is more of an experimental option. In theory it is great for a specific strategy. It will give you CDR, health, health regeneration, bonus healing, and most importantly you can heal all allies in a target location even if you're dead while damaging all enemies. The main issue is the mana regeneration is gold inefficient because you don't have mana, but that's minor. The strategy I had in mind with this item is for when you are healing off your passive. You place this down to increase your healing, heal any allies around you, damage enemies, and even repel enemies from your location. That way they can't instantly kill you when you are back up. This also will go great with Spirit Visage because you will have a lot of bonus healing ability. Reason to get this: Experimenting with a healing ability on your location while reviving off your Blood Well that also helps repel enemies around your location. |
60 Armor, 45 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Passive: Revives your Champion upon death, restoring the greater of 700 Health or 30% maximum Health and 30% of your Mana. This effect can only occur once every 5 minutes. Almost everyone gets this on Aatrox so they can have 3 lives basically. I disagree with it though. The way I look at it is your passive revives you, so that means any revival effect is now less valuable on you because you already have one. The only time I'd consider this item is if I was carrying my team and my death could cost us the game. Way I look at it is I'd much rather have a stronger defensive item or offensive item that offers me more useful stats and abilities because I already possess the ability to revive. Because you can revive with your passive that means this is just worth less on you, not more. Reason to get: You are carrying your team and your death could cost you the game. |
Jungle:
You start with your Dark Flight ability and begin using it to fill your Blood Well in the fountain so you get your health back. Be sure to ping the jungle camp you're starting on so your team knows where to leash. Once your Blood Well is full then head to your first jungle camp and continue using Dark Flight to keep it full until the first buff spawns. You can start either blue buff or red buff, however red buff is preferred because it does more for you. It is best to start on whichever buff is bot side so you get a stronger leash, don't delay your top laner, and are less likely to have your buff stolen.
While you are clearing your jungle you should be using your Blood Price ability while above half health to kill creatures faster. You use your Blood Thirst ability while at half health to keep yourself alive. If you are worried the enemy jungler might invade you then just always use Blood Thirst and be sure to ward around where you're farming so you can be ready if the enemy does come. You can win most 1v1 fights early game if you're ready.
Once you clear one jungle side you have the choice to either gank a lane or go to the next side and farm more. You should try to gank a lane at level 3 if the enemy laner is pushing and doesn't have much gap closing to get away. Even if all you do is get them to use Flash you will be helping your laner and that would also allow you to gank them easier in the future.
After you clear both bot and top sides of your jungle then decide either to gank a lane or recall. Once you recall you'll want to rush your first jungle item and then do dragon. You can do dragon at level 4 after your first back, but to be safe you could get level 5 first so you are stronger if the enemy tries to stop you. Make sure you keep your Blood Well full while doing dragon so you have more attack speed. All you have to do is basic attack it with Blood Thirst and you will succeed. Save your Dark Flight as an escape in case the enemy jungler catches you.
In order to successfully gank a lane you walk in from side of enemy or from behind enemy and land your Blades of Torment to slow the enemy. This should allow both you and your ally to begin hitting him. You use your Dark Flight to follow up the enemy's Flash or to knock him up and prevent him from escaping if your ally has strong enough burst damage.
Top:
You start Blood Thirst / Blood Price then get Dark Flight second. Your goal in lane is to out trade your opponent by hitting him every time he tries to cs. Don't fight him all in unless he makes a mistake, until level 6. That way you don't risk losing lane needlessly. Also be sure not to push too far or else you may be ganked. Be sure to save Dark Flight as an escape in case you get ganked.
Your priority in top lane is to out CS the enemy, not get kills. You will eventually be able to get kills if the enemy pushes aggressively, but that is not your goal as Aatrox. As long as you out CS your enemy you will win lane and be able to beat your enemy 1v1. You need to be sure to have your jungler get you the Rift Herald as well to give you a damage boost all game that will also help you split push. Only time you should leave your lane is if your team badly needs your help. Otherwise early game you stay in lane and farm, keep your opponent low health so he falls behind. Don't go back for items before your opponent unless you fear you can be killed quickly at your current health.
Notice: I personally don't recommend playing Aatrox top in Ranked unless it is a counter pick to a champion like Darius. Reason being he is much better as a jungler because he can provide global map pressure early game and get his team way ahead.
If you are ahead in the mid game then your focus should be team fighting and split pushing. You can easily push lanes solo to take down enemy towers and if you are ahead you will be very useful to your team in team fights.
While you are behind you should be focusing on farming as well as split pushing. Split pushing will allow you to help your team take objectives and you can do it regardless of how behind you are. Normally if your enemy is fed you should be trying to get to around 200 CS as fast as possible so you can get the items needed to fight back. If you're behind you should build defensive items and while you're ahead you should rush Death's Dance after you finish your core items so that you can deal more damage while also being able to more easily sustain in a fight.
Don't forget to constantly secure objectives like Dragon, Rift Herald, and Baron as soon as they spawn. Doing that has been the cause of my high success as Aatrox in ranked. If you are behind then convincing your team to do an early baron while enemy is distracted and unaware could give your team the boost you need to get back in the game. I have turned many games around by doing that. Sometimes you might have teammates who refuse to help you secure objectives. You can solo Rift Herald and Dragons easily, but when it comes to baron you will want at least 2 other teammates if you're doing it early. And make sure you tank it best you can. Your ultimate is always useful for objective securing too, as it both increases your DPS and sustain.
If you are ahead your goal should be ending the game quickly. Viciously push objectives and punish enemies who try to get easy kills on your team. If you fail to end the game quickly you will begin to lose your value in team fights as the enemy gets more of their late game items. This is mostly an issue only when the enemy has a lot of CC champions and tanks. If you fail to end early enough then you will have to start split pushing hard during late game and relentlessly. While split pushing be sure to ward around you and save your Dark Flight as an escape if the enemy comes.
Chances are if you make it to late game as Aatrox then the game is either close or you are losing. To increase your chances of winning you need to focus down 1 lane at a time. You either take down the top inhibitor or the bottom inhibitor first then you can more easily do the opposite one because the enemy now has to constantly defend a lane. Pay attention to where the enemy is and try to avoid them so you can take down towers for free. Get every baron as soon as possible and use it to push lanes. While you have a baron buff you generally will want to stay by your team so you don't get caught out and lose it. That way you can also help your team win team fights. Team fighting as Aatrox only works this late in game if you are carrying your team or if your team is competent. If your team isn't competent then you need to focus on the objectives not on team death match. It is important to understand though that if your team is going to lose towers as a result of you not being there then you are at fault. So you must either help defend or take more enemy towers than you lose. Also be sure to keep in mind the importance of inhibitor and nexus turrets. If the enemy gets baron then you must defend until it goes away.
The reason you focus on split pushing is because you are efficient at pushing waves/towers, have great escape, and are one of the strongest 1v1 champions in the game. Which means your enemy will either have to out push you or try and stop you. And to stop you it will usually take 2 or more people which means you have now helped your team by distracting the enemy. Be sure to communicate what you're doing with your team so they can take full advantage of it.
In the late game you will usually want to have a lot of defensive items. The reason for this is because later on without defensive items you can easily be bursted down to point of being useless. Obviously what you build also depends on the enemy team comp and your team comp.
There are two ways to help your team in a team fight. There is the risky way that is entirely reliant on your team following up with what you do and there is the safe way which forces your team to rely on you to follow up with them.
Risky way: While your team is near you and you feel you can win the team fight you will spam ping that you are going in then dive in on enemy trying to knock as many enemies up as possible and focusing on their carries first. You will ult right away and try to deal as much damage as possible but also try to live as long as possible. You will only do this if you have your passive up. Your goal here is to use up all the enemy's CC and damaging abilities so your team can hopefully clean up. Once your passive kicks in your enemy will have to switch focus to your team. Once you are back up you then have a choice based on how the fight is going to either continue helping and then clean up the fight for a win or to back out of the fight the best you can. The issue with doing this is you are entirely reliant on your team listening to you and trusting you. If they don't follow up with what you do as soon as you do it then you will likely just die and accomplish nothing. Also if you have your team do the fight and then your team loses after following up with you they will lose trust in your ability to engage the fight. So don't do this again after failing it once.
Safe way: The safe way is to wait for either the enemy to engage or your team to engage. If your team engages you must utilize Dark Flight to knock up as many enemies as possible and then stick on to the enemy carries and kill them as fast as possible with your ultimate. The idea behind this is to keep the enemy focus off of you so that you can kill the enemies quickly and easily. If the enemy doesn't focus you down you can rake up kills fast. If they do focus you down you will have to realize when to disengage a lost fight. If the enemy engages you must judge the situation based on how much damage they deal, who they engaged on, how many allies are left alive, and if your team is running. Based on that you decide whether to help your team fight or run. Aatrox is one of the strongest champions in the game DPS wise, but his biggest weakness is CC and burst. Which makes team fighting especially difficult for him.
That's it for my guide to Aatrox the Darkin Blade. I personally think Aatrox is worth trying out because he is a lot of fun.
If you liked anything about my guide or even had any questions about it please leave a comment. Feedback is always appreciated. If you liked this guide you might also like my Warwick guide which has the same layout. Warwick is my favorite champion and has similar sustain game play as Aatrox. You can read it by clicking here
Also let me know in the comments if you like the art images I added. Was trying something new. I don't take credit for making any of them by the way.
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.