Aatrox is a controversial champion. He has seen play in LCS sometimes, but he's generally deemed as a mediocre champion by the community. He's actually not bad, but not among the best junglers/laners either. He doesn't really bring much to the table that others wouldn't do better. He's someone I'd like to see have his potential unlocked and unleashed - because he certainly has quite a lot of that.

Current Aatrox has decent damage, but has to build very tanky after lane phase just in order to survive. He has problems killing people later in the game unless fed, because his steroids and 'burst' doesn't scale all that well. One of the biggest problems is how irrelevant he becomes when behind. He's designed to be some form of melee carry without the tools to succeed in that, hence he's played as a bruiser that does many things okay-ish, but thrives in nothing. HE DOES NOT FEEL UNIQUE ENOUGH. HE DOES NOT FILL THE THEME HE WAS SET IN.


Aatrox is the manifestation of war and carnage, batthing in battle and blood. He has a friggin' living sword and is covered in blood vains all over, glowing in red while using Massacre. He has fun when fighting, which should show through his gameplay.

Aatrox should be this clear damage threat if his blood well is up, so that the team has to take him down to his passive or otherwise. His current damage scaling is pretty sub-par, while he has little innate tankiness to compensate. It doesn't fit his theme either. He SHOULD be somewhere between Trundle and Master Yi in terms of damage potential while being somewhat tankier than the latter.

There are multiple QoL-changes and small buffs that could be implemented to accomplish a healthy viability increase for Aatrox. His kit's basic setting offers a good place to build up from.

For example; He should get more rewards for staying in combat for a longer period of time, where his damage starts ramping up, like Darius reaching that Master Yi-ish level of danger via auto-attacks (rough comparison, but you get the point). He should have more clear options aside switching between stances of Blood Thirst / Blood Price. Possible changes:

Blood Well Change the functionality of Blood Well in a way that doesn't make Aatrox useless as soon as his passive gets proc'ed. This could be a few seconds of tanky statistics after reviving. This prevents him from being made totally irrelevant when behind and having his passive revive and AS bonus blown fast. One can choose to act as a tank or DPS in fights, selecting when and how to go in. Alternatively / Additionally, enemies staying close to Aatrox while his passive regenerates grants him extra regen / steals a small portion of their % health and adds it to Aatrox. This would give his passive more strategical possibilities that could be used in small skirmishes or when engaging a teamfight.

Blades of Torment Add a small passive to Blades of Torment that rewards melee trading and longer all-ins. This could be a growing AoE damage aura or a stacking % magic damage per hit proc, either one could add small amounts to the Blood Well. 'Torment' status effect similar-ish to sunfire. Doesn't necessarily have to be damage-type of an effect. Alternatively, basic attacks apply 'Torment' debuff to enemies that stacks. Attack speed slow perhaps? Damage multiplier? Blood Well increase? Active part dealing more damage based on those stacks perhaps? Do I want the slow now, or risk for the heavier damage later? Choice between sticking to a target or ramping up some damage. Link the passive to his Blood Thirst / Blood Lust in a way that ramps up the heal / damage over time. Tradeoff: reduce the damage at early ranks.

Dark Flight Dark Flight could have a slightly higher damage scaling in the bullseye area of the spell that knocks up (it's not like you're going to hit 5 people with the knockup anyways). Nothing big here. As tradeoff, reduce the outer circle damage?

Massacre Possibly granting bonuses upon killing an enemy champion (could be anything really). It'd increase range of the AoE of aforementioned Blade of Torment -aura on top of the AA-range. Or apply the debuff stacks to enemies adjacent to the target of your basic attacks. I think an effect similar to Hydra would be fitting for the name and functionality of the skill, but it might be too similar to Kayle in that case. Would help him in teamfighting, in this case, the AoE % of his AD dealt around would be linked to his Blood Well amount? As tradeoff, reduce the duration by few seconds.

The current problem is, he is played as a bruiser, yet his kit is more toned towards a melee carry, but his scalings don't make it possible for him to be one. His kit doesn't define his role enough. I'd love to see SOMETHING being done about it, something that would not only increase his skill ceiling and fun factor, but also make him stand out in his own way. 

These changes are ways to undermine his role as a deadly duelist/fighter, while giving him more viability in teamfights. He should be a flexible bruiser that ramps up damage the longer a fight goes on, while having tools to survive long enough to be an asset to his team.