Hewwo owo~ I'm Mohong and this my in-depth guide to Aatrox, the Darkin Blade. He's my favorite champion in the game and I love everything about him from his lore to his gameplay. He's a staple pick in the top lane and saw a ton of competitive play following his rework. If you love the drain tanking raid boss playstyle, Aatrox is definitely the champion for you.

-Carry potential
-Very fun
-Solid laning phase
-Manaless
-Strong teamfighting
-1v2 potential
-High skill ceiling
-Dopamine rush from ult resets
-No "true" counterpicks (maybe Fiora)

-Useless if behind
-Somewhat difficult to learn
-Feast or famine
-Poor tower taking ability
-Gets outdueled midgame
-Falls off late game
-Weak against armor
-Gets crippled by grievous wounds
-Very telegraphed abilities
-Item dependant

Really the only viable keystone on Aatrox as the adaptive force and healing synergizes pretty well with your ult. The reason why you take this tree at all is because Precision has by far the best runes for bruisers. All the other keystones and trees are either mediocre or don't work at all.






There is absolutely no reason to not go Triumph as you stack a ton of hp and your ult will increase the healing you get as well. The extra gold also allows you to snowball your lead.







From here you can choose between Legend: Tenacity and Legend: Alacrity. Obviously you want to take tenacity if their team has a lot of cc but you can get away with going alacrity if they have targeted cc that they shouldn't be using on you or if you're confident you can dodge it.





Because Aatrox stacks a ton of hp and his playstyle results in him taking and healing a ton of damage, he spends a lot of time in Last Stand's health range. Coup de Grace is okay, but Last Stand is more reliable and more consistent






This is essential to get Aatrox through the early levels and allows him to take favorable trades. Trade this rune for Second Wind if they have poke ( Malphite, Teemo, etc.) Something you can do in a very easy matchup vs a tank like Sion or Cho'Gath is go Conditioning and build Serylda's Grudge second. The bonus resistances help make up for your squishy build.





Revitalize is the main reason why you take Resolve in the first place. The healing amp, increased if you're low hp, synergizes so well with your kit that it's easily the best secondary rune on Aatrox. You used to go Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter but now that it's been heavily nerfed revitalize is a much better option.



As for your mini-runes I prefer to go with the bonus attack speed, but all three option in the first row are viable. For the second and third rows I always go adaptive force and armor/magic resist depending on my matchup.

This item is what makes Aatrox, well, Aatrox. It gives you everything you'd ever want: hp, cdr, and ad. Its active combined with World Ender's healing amp will unironically heal you to full if used on multiple people. Try to use it once you've taken a good chunk of damage to replenish your heal and keep you in the fight. Don't be afraid to Flash + Goredrinker into the enemy team if you see an opportunity.




Another phenomenal item for Aatrox. Not only do you get a good chunk of health and ad, but you get a massive shield that prevents you from being bursted down and allows you the opportunity to keep healing. Should almost always be built as your second item, unless you're already building Serylda's Grudge. We'll explain more in the next section.




This item should only be built in 2 situations.
1. You're super ahead, in which case build this second
2. They have multiple armor stackers. In this case, it's your choice whether to build this second or third after Sterak's Gage
NEVER BUILD THIS IF YOU'RE BEHIND
This gives you the armor pen you're desperately lacking and the slow allows you to chain your q's better.


Build this if they have a ton of ad burst/already finished your core items. The bleed passive allows you to keep fighting and rewards you for scoring a takedown.








Aatrox's best item vs ap. Increases your total healing and the shield from Sterak's Gage








Good late game item. Sell for Gargoyle Stoneplate if the active is down Allows you to dive their backline and revive if you get bursted down.








Pretty good buy for anti-burst. I usually don't build this item since it doesn't give hp. Basically the warmog's for tanks. Use this when you're low or know you're about to take a ton of damage.







Really the only time you'll be building this item is if you're behind. I prefer this to Executioner's Calling because it makes me a lot more tanky and I can instantly inflict 60% Grievous Wounds to multiple people with my q's.







ONLY BUILD IT THEY'RE ALL RANGED/SLIPPERY
You'll be sacrificing a ton of sustain for a small gap closer and a slow. I personally rarely build this item, even if they're all ranged but I've seen people make it work. You'll want to stridebreaker right before Q1 or Q2 so you won't have to use your e. Go adaptive or cdr minirunes if you're building this.





A solid anti-tank item if you're behind or you have a full ad comp that needs to shred their armor. Pretty mediocre compared to Serylda's Grudge but this is up to playstyle.






Boots are pretty self explanatory. Go Mercury's Treads if they have a lot of ap/cc and Plated Steelcaps if they have a lot of ad/auto attacking champions.

Your early levels (1-3) are pretty weak due to your long cooldowns so keep your distance while poking with your q. Something important to note is to ALWAYS HOLD Q3. Unlike Riven's q, Broken Wings, which starts an internal timer on its first cast, Aatrox's q, The Darkin Blade, starts a timer on each recast. This means that if you use Q3, it will go on full cooldown but if you hold onto Q2 or Q3 and let the recast timer run out, the cooldown will be shorter. Not only this, but holding Q3 makes it so that your opponent can't engage onto you, otherwise you'll Q3 them. While e'ing your Q3 in may be tempting, you'll be in the enemy's face with no q, and no escape tool.

Throughout the laning phase you want to be chunking the enemy with your basic combo (which we'll go over later) while healing yourself. Rinse and repeat until the enemy is in kill range then go in with your ult. Look for opportunities to roam/tp to other lanes to pick up some kills.

By mid game your team will start contesting objectives, which you'll want to show up for. This video by ProGuides is a fantastic resource to learn the basics of split pushing. Although you're a team fighting oriented champion, split pushing is essential to ensure you have the resources you need and are always overleveled compared to the rest of the game.

You fall off late game, so you want to group with your team to end the game or get baron/soul as soon as possible. Don't forget to pick up waves in the sidelanes whenever possible.

For this section, I'll be using timestamps from Lol Dobby's video on Aatrox so follow along if you want a visual.

Play Video
3:36 Basic Combo - Q W QE AA Q AA
This is your ideal full combo, with your q2 guaranteeing your w pullback into q3
I say ideal because it requires you to with your q1 without e, which won't always happen. You can use your q1 with e and try to walk up to q2 them after hitting your w but it's very hard to pull off if they just walk away. Your best bet to hit q1 without e is to use it while they're csing or while you're out of vision.

4:10 E W Q1 Q2
Another lane combo that's less common because you'll be missing out on your q3 damage. If you land even one knockup after your w, they'll be pulled in, ensuring your next q will land. If your e is up after your q2, you can choose to e your q3 in

0:24 Q2 trick
Your q2 has a longer range if used diagonally, meaning you can guess what side of your w they'll dodge to and knock them up if you don't have e.

0:53 E auto reset
Your e is an auto attack reset, meaning you can AA E AA. Put your cursor right next to you character model to min range your e. You'll be using this in lane to poke, maximize dps while waiting for your q to come back up, and cs.

2:10 Q flash
Flash towards the end of your q animation to finish enemies off, engage a teamfight, or nuke the enemy team.

2:30 Q E flash
Combo your q, e, and flash for a surprisingly long engage. You can also use this to redirect your q to surprise enemies.

3:05 Q Goredrinker AA
Because your goredrinker is independent from your autos, it doesn't matter if you goredrinker AA or AA goredrinker. For me, goredrinker AA is smoother and looks better.

4:31 Utilizing walls
Aatrox's e allows him to travel over semi-thick walls but most importantly it allows him to extend his q range. In this clip, Aatrox extends his q range with the wall, allowing him to finish Lucian off.

• In teamfights, only ult if you're sure you can get a reset or it's a life or death situation. Aatrox is pretty weak without his ult so use it wisely. It has a pretty short cooldown mid-late game so make sure you ult every fight.
  
• NEVER STOP FIGHTING It's not over until your screen turns gray. You'll surprise yourself by how much you heal and the enemy won't expect it either. KEEP FIGHTING
  
• Against more experienced players, they'll actually dodge into you to avoid your q's. The way to counter this is the simply not e with your q. Use the landing phase to learn your enemies' tendencies and play mind games with them.
  
• As an early-mid game champion, it's important to push your lead as much as possible. Assuming you've won the laning phase, make sure to take the enemy's jungle and your own jungle if your jungler is on the opposite side of the map. Not only will you ensure you're overleveled, but you'll be denying the enemy camps by stealing them.
  
• You'll discover that Aatrox doesn't really have a ton of combos. It's more about adapting to the situation and using your spells accordingly.
  
• Remember to weave in auto attacks, especially your empowered ones, during your combo. By mid-late game you only want to proc your empowered ones as you need to get your damage out otherwise you'll get bursted down.
  
• If you don't have e to land your q, utilize your ult's movement speed.
  
• Against champions with dashes, hold onto your e during the laning phase because if they dash into you as you e forward, you'll be in their face with no way to peel them off.
  
• During teamfights always go for your next reset target. You should ignore their frontline and use your cc to lock down their carries and kill them.
  
• Aatrox will feel pretty weak when you're first learning him as your healing revolves around how much damage you do but don't be discouraged and keep playing him.

Blood Moon/Prestige

• Very clean animations and sound effects with the best ult sound out of his skins. The in-game model is kinda weird, but other than that S tier skin

Odyssey

• S tier because of the animations and beautiful chromas. For whatever reason, Aatrox speaks microwave in this skin and his ult sounds like someone's blowing in your ear. If that's not too distracting for you this is a very good skin.

Mecha

• Q animations are pay to win, especially q1, and has a pretty good ult sound. The chromas are nice. Strong pick for the A tier.

Justicar

• Weird voice filter, okay q animations, okay ult sound. Not bad, but slightly better than base Aatrox

Base

• It's ya boi, base Aatrox. Not much else to say.

Victorious

• Budget Justicar skin. The animations aren't that bad but it's basically a reskinned Justicar. B tier for lack of creativity.

Sea Hunter

• The only skin worse than base Aatrox. The model is bad. Bad sea creature.

Your worst nightmare and my personal permaban. There's no winning against her if she has any idea what she's doing. She has the mobility to dodge your q's, and even if you do hit them, she can parry it and stun you for 2 seconds. You lose the early game and get outscaled. If by some act of God you're stuck in this matchup, bait out her parry by q'ing her then quickly e'ing out of her parry. This is always worth it for you as her parry has a longer cooldown and costs mana.


Another horrible horrible matchup. Her constant q dashing makes it impossible to pin her down and her ability to jump onto you multiple times in melee range messes with your ability to space her. You can't poke her out since she heals too much from minions. Always dodge her e with your e. If you ever get hit by it you're dead. If you have to fight her, try to pull her away from the minions so she can't stack her passive. Early bramble vest is a good option.


Not as bad as Fiora and Irelia, but still pretty bad. Her constant poking and zoning forces you to drop cs or else she chunks you every time you walk up. You lose the laning phase and get outscaled. You don't even win at level 6 because her ult invis makes it hard to hit your q's and she can always condemn you out of q3. Bait her spells and call your jungler over. Stridebreaker is a good option.



A very popular matchup and is slightly Camille sided. Her ability to jump onto you and her oppressive early levels makes trading with her very difficult. You want to dodge her e with your e so she doesn't get the attack speed. If you can do this she'll be mispositioned with no escape move and you can just beat her with your combo. Some Camilles will hold the recast on their e for a moment so watch out for that. Stay away from walls. Hold your q3 if she has ult because she'll always dodge it with ult and then your q will go on full cooldown


I haven't played this matchup too much, but Gwen's e allows her to stay in your no-no zone and cuts your balls off. Because you're a mid range mage, good Gwens will use her Hallowed Mist right outside your q range so she can hit you but you can't hit her. She stacks an insane amount of armor with her w and Zhonya's Hourglass that not only will you not do damage to her, but she'll just heal it back up with Riftmaker.


Another tough matchup just because of how much armor she builds and how much she heals. Save your e for her Test of Spirit. If she ever lands this you get chunked for half your health. The way to beat Illaoi when she ults is to... walk away. Wait for her ult to run out and then reengage.




This matchup isn't that bad, but he outscales you heavily so it's up to you to stomp lane and put him out of the game. Because your passive auto isn't unstoppable, a common trick is to fake proc your auto on him and cancel it right before it lands to bait out Counter Strike. If he chooses to jump onto you, w him as he does it. If he stops to auto you, he'll get pulled in. If he walks away, he loses out on dps and gives you the option to trade back. Idealy you q3 as he stuns you so you get some dps out while cc'd.


My personal counterpick to Aatrox. He has the stickiness to dodge Aatrox's q's and is tanky enough that he requires several rotations to kill. Especially with Kled armor stacking, he's impossible to kill but can also kill you. The key to this matchup is to poke him out with your q's early game and dodge his Jousting and/or q with your e. Note that Kled can't control when his w will proc, meaning if you see him use it on minions, you can engage on him. What most Kleds will do is they won't level Violent Tendencies until they actually hit a q, meaning they have the agency in the early game. Kled's q also applies 60% grievous wounds.


You'll see this matchup from time to time. His Iron Will gives him so much sustain and since he's stronger than you early, he has the ability to auto the wave. You win at level 6, but if he's smart he'll just Safeguard out then reengage once your ult is down. By midgame he'll probably have death's dance and/or plated steelcaps and you'll never be able to kill him.



One of the few tanks that can actually outtrade you in lane. It's imperative to stay away from his Volcanic Rupture pillar as getting knocked up guarantees both parts of Bellows Breath. If he has Future's Market and starts a cloth armor, he can do the Bramble Vest Any % Speedrun after the first wave. Black Cleaver is a solid option if you have ad champs on your team that get cucked by Ornn's armor stacking.


HOLD YOUR E. As with most mobility matchups, you can never e into them, especially Riven. If you gapclose into her and she gapcloses into you, you're going to take a really bad trade. The way to win this matchup is to poke her out and mindgame her with your e. This matchup is Riven sided, but you still have a chance to do well. Don't underestimate her level 6 as 70% hp is in kill range for her. Ideally, you cancel one of her dashes with q2 in your w, but that won't always happen.


This matchup is extremely problematic due to his Stone Skin giving him a stupid amount of armor and health regen. With just plated steelcaps and his passive he mitigates a ton of your damage while having kill pressure. Something to note is that even if he uses Warrior Trickster after getting hit by your w, he is revealed and can be pulled in if he stays long enough. You can actually heal off his clone and his real body so aim to hit at least one of them. At level 6 he can kill you, especially if he brought Ignite.


Give up early cs to preserve hp then go in at level 3/4. If you cancel his e with your q2 you'll chunk him super hard. If you're both at the same hp, you have the agency to engage on him. You can win at level 6. Hold onto your e until you see him dash It's okay to miss a few q's as he's super squishy and doesn't build armor. Stridebreaker makes this matchup unplayable for him.



100% a skill matchup. You have the ability to poke him out of lane and can heal through his damage if you land your spells. Because Darius brings ghost, wave managmenet is crucial. If you kill him even once in lane, you can make him miss a ton of xp and cs, setting him super far behing. You do outscale him. Make sure to dodge his outer Decimate as it does a ton more damage and heals him. If you can, wait out his bleed before going in as his entire kit revolves around him hitting 5 stacks.


Has low mobility and low resistances, meaning you do big damage to him. His q + grasp poke can be problematic early, so utilize bushes and dshield + second wind. Remember your Umbral Dash is an auto reset, so you can auto-short e-auto to destroy barrels. He can't Remove Scurvy anything in your kit as everything is a knockup/displacement. He will outscale you.



If the Jayce is bad you'll be able to stomp this lane but if he's any type of competent it's going to be a lot tougher. Statistically, this matchup is in Aatrox's favor though. He should always Thundering Blow you out of your q3, which is fine because you can still chunk him pretty hard with q1 and q2. He does a lot more damage than you'd think. Dodge his q with your e whenever possible. You hard win at level 6.



The most important aspect of this lane is to hold the wave and slow push it as much as possible. You don't want to shove every wave under turret as he can just farm it for free. Walk behind his minion wave and zone him with your q's. They won't draw minion aggro as they're non-targeted spells. After crashing a huge wave under turret, you can look to dive if you're level 6 and he's still 5. If you're past level 6 you can try to bait his ult out if you have a large enough wave and dive him after it runs out. The reason why this matchup is even is if you die even once in lane to a gank, it's over. There is nothing you can do to come back.


Usually runs Ignite as his Grand Starfall gives him pretty good map pressure so watch out. He does win the early game but gets hard outscaled by you so just bide your time. If he jumps on you, w him and make him choose between hitting you and moving out of your w. His e is kind of annoying, but it slows him so just keep walking forward while dodging the damage. Once his w and e are down you should just be able to kill/chunk him super hard. Cancel his ult if possible and Teleport with him if necessary.


Notoriously a skill matchup as both sides have a clear win condition. Aatrox needs to beat up Mord in the early game before he can buy tabi + seeker's + bramble. The most important tip in this matchup is DO NOT ULT BEFORE HIM. Mord's Realm of Death steals 10% of your core stats, meaning if you ult before him and increase your ad, you're left with a lower total ad than if you had ulted after him. The nash equilibrium is that neither player will ult in which case you should win through good trades. His Obliterate has too quick of an animation to dodge, but you should be able to react to his Death's Grasp with your e.


Kind of a toxic matchup as his Mega Adhesive prevents you from using your e. You win every fight, assuming you land all of your spells. What most singeds will do is Fling you out of your q3. There's a lot of skill expression in this matchup as landing all your spells will allow you to demolish lane while missing them makes you look like an idiot.



From my experience this lane has never been really difficult. His poke can be pretty annoying but all it takes is one combo to put him into kill range. He can't really stack armor or rush Oblivion Orb so you have the advantage until he gets his items. Buy an Oracle's Lens to see his traps. You will win at level 6, assuming he doesn't have Ignite.



Something to note is Trundle's Subjugate only steals armor and mr, meaning it doesn't matter if you ult before or after he does. Ideally you kite away from him during the length of his ultimate (8 seconds), and reengage afterward. His Frozen Domain and Pillar of Ice] have long cds early so fight when they're down. You won't be able to sidelane against him without healing reduction so pick up a Thornmail or Chempunk Chainsword.


Do not underestimate his level 1-2. The entire matchup can be summarized as: if you dodge his e with yours, you win. Poke him out early while preparing to dodge his e. His Fear Beyond Death is pretty annoying as it shuts down a lot of your drain tanking but you do outscale him.




Very snowbally matchup. Volibear's strength lies in extended fights where he can get multiple rotations of his Frenzied Maul. Take short trades with him and kite away if he tries running at you. Make sure to dodge his Sky Splitter as it does a lot of damage.




You'll be stronger than him early game, and can outtrade him before he gets enough attack speed. Yone's standard trade pattern is to get q3, use Soul Unbound and q3 into you, Spirit Cleave, and just start autoing you. If you try to trade back, he'll just return to his e. The key to outplaying his one sided trading pattern is to dodge his q3 with your e. The width is pretty wide, but it's doable. There's no winning against this guy once he builds Immortal Shieldbow so look to solo kill him or get a large cs lead before then.


You have complete control over the early game as you're a lot stronger and can zone him from the wave. You can win at 6, but his Eulogy of the Isles is extremely problematic. By mid-late game you'll do no damage to him and can't match him in a sidelane so look to get a large lead early. He has very poor lane sustain, so any poke you do to him is permanent. Use your Umbral Dash auto reset to kill his Mist Walkers and dodge his Mourning Mist as it does max hp damage.


Her ability to kite and poke make this lane pretty annoying, but all it takes is one combo to put her in kill range. Her Blinding Assault will make it difficult to hit your q's as she won't be in melee range against you. I usually like to wait it out while trying to reposition to where you think she's going to be. By level 3, you should look to do your standard combo on her, as she doesn't have a formal "dash". Even if she Vaults into you, she'll still get pulled back into your w, especially if you q2 e'd forward. You'll win an all in at level 6.


He's stronger than you if he's allowed to Spinning Slash in and auto you to death. You have good mid ranged poke and disengage so use that to your advantage. His e has a fairly long animation, especially if he's using it at full length, so hang onto your q2 and use it while e'ing backwards if you see him e onto you. If you time it right you can cancel his spin and get a good chunk of damage. You can still heal off him in his Undying Rage so don't stop fighting until you're dead.


She's super squishy so if you ever land a combo on her she gets hard chunked out. She doesn't really have the damage to burst you, but can deny you healing by dodging your skillshots. Your q outranges hers, so trade back every time she walks up.




Very squishy and immobile early game, so you should be able to beat him up. Stand in your minion wave trade onto him every time he uses Infected Bonesaw on a minion. The only time you should be tanking cleavers is to prevent him from getting a cannon minion. You can pick up some grievous wounds, but I personally don't do this as it'll just require a few more rotations to kill him.



His lack of mobility allows you to make sure he never gets onto you. Use your long ranged poke to interrupt his Perseverance. You don't really win an all in against him, especially if he has Demacian Justice. Look to chunk him with your q's and force him to back or get dove. If he somehow manages to get onto you, the best thing to do is to accept the damage you'll be taking and keep trading back into him. All of his spells have very long cooldowns so trade back into him rather than just running away. You'll get some hp back rather than just giving up a trade.


Even though he builds pretty tanky, he's still squishy while in mini-gnar. As compensation, he has the ability to kite melee champs and Hop out of danger. The only downside to this matchup is that his Hop is a shorter cooldown than your Infernal Chains, meaning trading spell for spell isn't worth it. You best bet is to either bait it out with your q's, or hope to cancel it with your q2 into q3. If you can do either of these things, you'll have a window to beat him up/set him up for a gank. DO NOT FALL FOR THE LEVEL 6 MEGA-GNAR. He does way more damage than you'd think and you don't have enough tenacity to fight back.


His Barrel Roll poke is pretty annoying but he has a ton of mana issues before he buys Lost Chapter. He can't really kill you after 6, even if he gets a full combo off. His Happy Hour gives him a ton of sustain in lane, but you can just heal off of your trades. He'll look to do short trades and run away with Phase Rush to make it difficult to hit your q's. Doran's Shield and Second Wind are strong options.



He doesn't have a dash, but his Lightning Rush makes him difficult to pin down. As for his kill potential, he can really only poke you down in lane. At level 6, his Slicing Maelstrom is devastating, but you'll have a few moments to use spells before you get stunned. Aim to counterattack with q as you get stunned to knock him up and heal. After he uses his full combo, he'll be out of energy and can only stand there and auto you. Pick up an early Mercury's Treads if they have other ap threats.


The traditional autofilled pick against Aatrox. He'll spam Seismic Shard and try to poke you out with Arcane Comet. His armor stacking is particularly annoying, as it limits the damage you deal as well as how much you heal. Black Cleaver is a fantastic buy, especially if you have multiple ad champs on your team. He has to walk into your q range to poke you, so make sure he's eating a full combo every time he walks up. He can't really one shot you at level 6 unless he has his jungler.


Like with Malphite, Maokai aims to stack armor and tank more damage in teamfights. Black Cleaver is super good if you have multiple ad champs on your team. Hold onto q3 as he'll just use Twisted Advance and dodge the damage. Other than that, it's a pretty easy lane so feel free to take Conditioning.




She's basically unkillable, but she can't kill you either. As with most tanks, buy Black Cleaver and get good trades in early. By 1 item she already outscales you so it's on you to build up a lead. Her Steadfast Presence prevents you from using your e. Stay away from walls as it doubles her Heroic Charge damage and stuns you.



Bone Plating is a must. His trading pattern is to Slice and Dice into you, stun you with Ruthless Predator, Cull the Meek, and Slice and Dice out. The key to winning this matchup is to hold onto your e and pull the wave in front of your turret. Move past his minions and threaten a combo if he walks up. Renekton likes to utilize minions for healing and to get the recast on his Slice and Dice. You outscale him so bide your time.


He has an expremely oppressive laning phase against immobile melee champs whom he can force to eat his entire Flamespitter. In addition, his Equilizer gives him a huge presence in teamfights. His weaknesses include a lack of mobility and being very squishy. Take advantage of his cooldowns and chunk him with your combo every time he walks up.



Like Garen, Sett has low mobility and long cooldowns. Make sure to q e backwards if he tries running at you but don't extend the trades as his Pit Grit does a ton of damage. By level 6, you should win an all in unless he insec's you into his turret. Poke him down and space him properly. Don't q3 e into him




Although he has several gap closers, he's very squishy early game, so take advantage of this and beat him up. Giving him your World Ender is pretty troublesome, as the healing amp helps him out greatly. Try to hold your e until you see him use his mobility spells. He has high cooldowns and mana costs, making it hard for him to shove waves in for a good reset. He outscales you so watch out.



Low mobility, low resistances, and low damage. You'll be able to do your full combo basically every time he tries to fight you. Dodge his Nevermove to deny him the root and stack of Ravenous Flock. You'll win an all in at 6. This matchup is pretty easy and you also outscale him.




The only time he can cheese a kill onto you is pre-6. He has a crazy amount of base armor and damage on his q so stand in your minion wave. Is is immobile, so qe backwards if he tries running at you. What most Tahm Kench's will do is rush Bramble Vest. The way to play around this is to simply not auto him during your combo. Only auto him at the very end of your combo to get maximum healing. Post 6 he can't really kill you. Build Black Cleaver


You'll have to give up some cs early but after level 3 you can start chunking him every time he walks up. Don't let him red Transfusion you. Most vlads will Sanguine Pool your q3 so hold it and let your q come back off cooldown. Even if he pools your Infernal Chains, it's still worth it because pool has a longer cooldown than your combo and it costs him health to do so. Note that your Infernal Chains will still pull him back, even if he pulls after it hits him.


You don't see a lot of Warwick top, and the only people who play this are onetricks. DO NOT FALL FOR HIS LOW HP BAIT. What most Warwicks will do is use the damage reduction on his Primal Howl to bait you in and heal with his Eternal Hunger and Jaws of the Beast. He usually stacks armor, so you won't be able to hurt him after 2-3 items. Look to be more useful in teamfights.



His laning phase is a lot weaker compared to yours and his mobility has to be used to either run into you or into your minion wave. You'll never be able to fight him after 2 items, but you'll be able to beat him up early. Hold onto your e in case he tries dashing to your minions but other than that just combo him every time he walks up.



Very squishy and immobile early game. He can one shot you at level 6. All of his spells are very one dimensional and his Rupture is fairly easy to dodge, especially with your e. He starts to outscale you after one item and he'll be super annoying in teamfights as he'll constantly cc you while being unkillable. Luckily for you, you can abuse his weak laning phase by slow pushing waves and denying him farm.



He has very little damage early and has high health costs. He'll basically be a punching bag for you to beat up and heal off of for the entire laning phase and he can never kill you, especially after 6. He can get pretty annoying with how much armor and hp he stacks but for the most part you're safe in this matchup. He has pretty good gank setup so make sure you look out for him randomly Elastic Slingshoting into you.



She's terribly weak early and doesn't have a way to dodge your combo. Note that you won't heal off damage during her Divine Judgment. You should be able to win this matchup basically every time, even if you're evenly matched. She does outscale you, but that's well past midgame.




High mana costs, low damage. Beat him up and force him to root you with Rune Prison to get away. He's easy to dive and his only mobility is Phase Rush. Ryze doesn't usually stop to buy healing reduction so you'll have a field day beating him up all throughout the midgame. There's not too much to say about this matchup, play it like you would any immobile mage.



He can get some good trades into you, but he will never be able to kill you past 6. Do your best to space him and dodge his Shadow Dash with your e. He'll be left in your face, without any escape and will be forced to eat your entire combo. Avoid wasting autos on him while he has Spirit's Refuge as they'll just get blocked. If he rushes bramble vest, remember to avoid autoing him during your combo. Build Black Cleaver.


One of Sion's worst matchups. He'll basically never get to fully charge his q and you get to slowly chip at him until you force him out of lane. Either break his Soul Furnace shield or get out of range within 3 seconds as it does max health damage. Respect his Glory in Death, as it does way more damage than you'd ever imagine, and he'll have the ability to stick onto you during it if he runs Glacial Augment

Thank you so so much if you made it this far into the guide. I spent a good amount of time on this and hope I could help anyone who loves the champion as much as I do.

That's it from me, have a fantastic day