Only took me two evenings of trying to get him on the PBE, but finally got my chance. (if you have a friend that can duo with you that will improve your odds of getting him as for the moment he is a priority pick).

The new Aatrox feels really really weird. Kind of like they kludged elements of Riven, Lucian / Graves, Viktor, and Swain together into one champion.

On the face he now can knock you up three times and has an odd vacuum effect vs one target, so he has some utility... Read More

Time for my yearly Aatrox trials. Quick impressions.

Accessing Hellbent is super important. Starting out that is accessed through the third proc of Blood Price.

Runes:

9 Attack Speed Marks
9 Armor Seals
5 sMR or MR + 4 Attack Speed Glyphs
3 Attack Speed Quints

Masteries:

I've been running 18-0-12 with Fervor of Battle the keystone of choice. You could alternatively run 18-12-0. And some people seem to like Grasp of the Undying so 12-0-18 is another possibility though the later seems to be more lanecentric.

Skill Order

They fixed the healing on his W... Read More

So I think I found a build on Aatrox that I like. If you think you are going to be team fighting early then get Guinsoo's Rageblade after your jungle item + Enchantment: Devourer. If you are still going to be ganking individual champions then get Death's Dance after Devourer. The thing about Guinsoo’s is that you have to stack it before it is doing AoE splash damage. Death’s Dance makes Dark Flight and the bonus damage from Blood Price heal you so you can pretty much leave [[Blood... Read More

Ability Analysis

Dark Flight

Cooldown decreases by 1 per rank

Physical damage goes up by 45 each rank + 60% bonus AD

Health cost is fixed at 10% of current health (which goes into your Blood Well)

Blood Thirst / Blood Price

Cooldown is miniscule at 0.5s and it doesn't decrease per rank

Blood Thirst

Healing on 3rd Auto goes up by 5 + 25% of Bonus AD each rank (Healing is tripled if Aatrox is below 50% health)

Blood Price

Health cost goes up by 8.75 + 25% Bonus AD per rank (which goes into your blood well)

Bonus physical damage goes... Read More

When I first started paying attention to LCS, Aatrox had recently come out and he was doing work in Top lane and the jungle. Apparently too much work, because the post release nerfs Riot inflicted on him basically deleted him from the competitive scene as fast as he arrived.

I've toyed withe everyone's favorite Darkin Blade off and on, most recently at the beginning of Season 5 because of the difficulty of the Jungle at the start of the season for champions that lacked sustain. Aatrox seemed a natural fit, but my affair didn't last long as there were things like Warwick that... Read More