This guide is now outdated, since Patch 8.14 changed the way Hunter's Machete & Hunter's Talisman work, making it so that "If you have the highest minion kill score on your team, lane minion kills will grant 10 less gold. This penalty is removed upon completion of an enchantment on a Skirmisher's Sabre or Stalker's Blade item Stalker's Blade."

So you could still pull off the funnel strategy especially with the ADC's Mid, but you would have to recall for an upgrade Jungle item earlier.

So do NOT consider this guide do-able currently, but rather a relic of the past.

Welcome to my Smite Aatrox Mid Guide, this guide was written for free with the purpose of educating those obviously interested in the champion. If you would like to support me or thank me for the guide I stream on Twitch.tv/SawyerNelson I always welcome new viewers, you can also donate to me on Paypal which is appreciated but never expected.

Thank you for reading and enhancing your League of Legends Gameplay

Recently a strategy has developed in High Elo that allows you to acquire tons of farm on a handful of Mid Lane champions (Aatrox, Talon, Ekko, Yasuo, Karthus) by running Smite.

This Strategy allows these champions to become very Accelerated in both Gold & XP as very early stages of the game, almost like a solo gold funnel.

When you run Smite it allows you to build jungle items When you clear a jungle camp and have either Hunter's Talisman or Hunter's Machete you will get more EXP from that camp, the items also help you with the clear, dealing damage to the Jungle camp, and healing you.

This is what allows for a unique opening to the match. Aatrox Mid w/ Smite + Hunter's Talisman can start the crimson raptor camp without taking any damage, gets level 2,and only misses potenitally 3 melee minions.

See crimson raptor clear here: @1:33 Play Video
You cast Q The Darkin Blade and auto attack each individual small raptor in between The Darkin Blade cast so that they all exactly die to the full combo & damage burn from Hunter's Talisman.

This is the same play for the other Smite Mid Laners as to, you can also start the wolf camp, but it is much further from the Mid Lane and takes longer to clear.

Challenger players wouldn't be playing this way if that was it's only benefit, the gift keeps on giving, Aatrox great control over the minion wave in almost any matchup The Darkin Blade spam quickly clears the minion wave with little effort or risk. Then you are free to move to your crimson raptor or the enemies crimson raptor , clear them and be back in Mid Lane before the minion wave hits.

Farming camps along with the minion wave Mid will quickly accelerate your Gold and Experience, giving you lots of statistical advantage over the opposition.


As far as Pathing goes it changes depending on:

• The control you can get over the minion wave
• How fast you can push the minion wave
• The enemy Jungler's Pathing
• Your Jungler's pathing

The easiest rule to follow when trying to play this style is to look for a Jungle camp to farm, after you have farmed the Mid Lane wave.

If you can't farm any Jungle camps, than you just default back to being a Mid Laner, still getting Gold and XP from the minion wave, the Jungle camps you can aquire are the icing on top.

Play Video
Watching the first 10 minutes of this video will give you a good idea of how the Pathing should look for Aatrox /w Smite Mid.


Basic Path will be:

Raptors > Mid Lane > 2 Minion wave > check & take enemy Raptors OR do a Scuttle Crab OR stay Mid and get no camps > 3/4 Minion Waves > Recall > Reset to the Mid Lane > Clear your Raptors > Go Mid > Clear 2 Minion waves > contest a Scuttle Crab OR idle Mid to get the push on the next Minion wave to setup for > Take enemy Raptors < Repeat

When you are moving into the enemy be cautious, walking in blind is fine so long that you leave yourself a way out.

After Clearing the Mid lane wave you will often be pathing towards the enemy crimson raptor camp, if you move through the river you will be able to move through the fog of war putting you out of mid for most players. If you move right past the enemy tower than they will see you pathing into their jungle towards their raptors, quite the give away. So choose your approach wisely.

AKA unless you are ahead and look for a fight, push out the minion wave then path through the Mid lane side bushes, through the river, and then towards the enemy raptor camp when trying to take it.

Watch the enemy laners as you move to take an enemy camp, especially if you walk right past the enemy Mid laner. Their movements will telegraph their ally's movements as well, if the enemy Mid laner is giving up the Minion wave you have pushed into him to come disrupt you at the enemy crimson raptor camp than their is a good chance that the enemy jungler is also around as well.


When taking the other camps, they are obviously further away from the Mid lane, and should be taken as a prize for winning a fight after you roamed to a side lane, or if you successfully invade / killed the enemy jungler, or potentially just to counter jungle the enemy jungler as they showed on the opposite side of the map.

So say after killing the enemy Bot lane, taking gromp on your way out doesn't take much time, but say walking all the way to the enemy GREATER MURK WOLF would take a good amount of time, and if you have a minion wave crashing into your tower Mid, than it's likely not worth it.

Having all these things in mind while playing will allow you to make better and smarter decisions on the fly for simple things such as when to and when not to go for this or that jungle camp.

• Arcane Comet Easily proc's from Aatrox's 1st hit from The Darkin Blade, adds a good amount of burst and damage, and scales well with AD
• Nullifying Orb Blocks some Damage for free, you can run [nimbus cloak] if you want to, but having this free magic damage shield shuts down most AP Mid lane matchups even harder.
• Transcendence Free 10% CDR and bonus AD for over CDR @ Level 10, with this play style you will hit level 10 around 10-11 minutes into the game, and allows you to snowball the Mid game even harder with Q The Darkin Blade spam.
• Scorch Free extra damage, adds to poke and over all damage.
• Sudden Impact Aatrox dash with grant you bonus AD + Armor Pen, is too strong, and too easy.
• Ravenous Hunter Healing on abilities + on hit effects aka Deathbringer Stance is again, like too strong, and has way too much synergy with Aatrox's kit so exploit it!