Aatrox Build Guide by

D2 75lp peak Aatrox OTP Complete guide

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Aatrox Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (3) More Aatrox Guides

Choose Champion Build:

Aatrox complete builds/runes/spells
MIDTROX (in work)
SuppTROX

Runes: Long fights

1 2 3 4

Precision

Conqueror

Triumph

Legend: Alacrity

Last Stand

Resolve

Bone Plating

Revitalize

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2 3

Flash

Teleport

Items

Read this

Early game

Hard matchup

Poke vs melee champs

Itemization

Core 14.12

Example builds

Season 14 Fighter build

Season 14 Splitpush build

Final boss((fun build)14.12 and newer)

Season 14 Damage build (off meta 14.12 and newer)

Ability Order Always

Aatrox Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Irelia

Extreme

To win against Irelia in the laning phase, you should focus on the following: Avoid fighting. Irelia when she has stacks of her passive as it gives her a significant amount of attack speed and bonus damage. Utilize your Q ability to poke her from a distance and avoid her Bladesurge (Q) resets on low health minions. Save your Infernal Chains (W) to disrupt her mobility or when you are certain to land it for a guaranteed engage. Be wary of her level spikes, particularly at level 6 with her ultimate Vanguard's Edge, which can turn duels in her favor. Look for short, favorable trades using your Deathbringer Stance passive and avoid extended fights unless you have a clear advantage. Remember, managing the wave and timing your aggression around Irelia's cooldowns and passive stacks are key to success in this matchup.

Rammus

Ideal

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Rammus

Ideal

Champion Build Guide

Hey everyone, i'm Bachira, i am D2 75 lp peak on EUNE server. I started playing Aatrox since season 11

I'll update guide every adjustment/buff or nerf Aatrox.

Don't forget to look at notes in my guide.

There are many reasons why you should start playing Aatrox, here's why:

1. High Sustain:

has excellent self-healing abilities through his passive and ultimate . This makes him a resilient champion who can sustain himself in prolonged fights and stay in the lane longer.

2. Strong Lane Presence:

With his powerful abilities and sustain, can dominate his lane, applying pressure on his opponents and potentially securing early kills and objectives.

3. Engage and Disengage Potential:

’s kit includes strong engage tools like his Q and E , which allow him to initiate fights effectively. His W can also serve as a disengage tool to peel enemies off himself or allies.

4. Team Fight Impact:

excels in team fights due to his area-of-effect damage and crowd control abilities. His ultimate significantly boosts his damage and healing, making him a formidable presence in skirmishes and large-scale battles.

5. Mechanical Depth:

offers a rewarding learning curve with his skill shots and combos. Mastering his abilities and their timings can be very satisfying, making him a great choice for players who enjoy champions with high skill ceilings.

6. Versatility:

can be played in multiple roles, primarily as a top laner but also occasionally in the mid lane, jungle or support. This versatility allows players to fit him into different team compositions and strategies.

7. Lore and Aesthetics:

has a rich lore as one of the Darkin, ancient warriors with powerful weapons. His dark and imposing design, along with his thematic abilities, appeal to players who enjoy champions with strong lore and unique aesthetics.

8. Meta Viability:

is often a viable pick in various metas, especially when bruisers and sustain champions are strong. His ability to adapt to different builds and playstyles keeps him relevant in many patches.

9. High Carry Potential:

With the right mastery and understanding, has the potential to carry games. His ability to deal substantial damage while sustaining himself makes him a threat that can turn the tide of battle.

	Provides bonus physical damage, allowing Aatrox to effectively damage armor-based opponents. In addition, the unique property of the Black Cleaver, the so-called "Armorpiercer," reduces the enemy's armor with each hit, increasing the effectiveness of the entire team in dealing physical damage.		Effectiveness and Viability: Chempunk Chainsword is considered a viable item choice for Aatrox due to its gold efficiency, early damage, and 60% grievous wounds effect. Impact on Healing Champions: It is particularly effective against healing-dependent champions, making it a valuable option in matchups against champions reliant on healing. Community Sentiment: Opinions are divided, with some players favoring it for its impact on healing champions and early damage, while others consider its effectiveness in specific matchups and team compositions.
	Provides bonuses to movement speed, which increases Aatrox's mobility. For a character that relies on getting close to enemies and fighting in close quarters, the extra movement speed is very beneficial, allowing for more effective maneuvers and getting to the target faster.		Converts some of the physical damage Aatrox takes into damage over time. This means that some of the damage dealt is converted into healing, increasing its durability in combat and allowing you to survive longer during skirmishes. Similar to Dead Man's Armor, Death Dance delays damage, allowing Aatrox to more effectively deal with his opponents' powerful blows. This is especially useful when opponents are trying to deal a lot of damage to him in a short period of time.
	Has a unique ability called "Shieldbreaker," which allows him to deal additional damage to opponents who have a shield. Since Aatrox is a character that relies on dealing physical damage over short periods of time, this ability can be especially effective against opponents with shields or shields. Eclipse provides movement speed bonuses upon hitting an enemy, increasing Aatrox's mobility. This allows him to maneuver better in combat, approach opponents more easily, and avoid danger.		Survivability: Increases health and resistances. Damage Mitigation: Provides damage reduction or a shield. Synergy with Kit: Boosts healing and effectiveness of his abilities. Crowd Control: Potentially offers crowd control effects. Mobility: Improves engage and gap-closing capabilities. Sustain: Enhances health regeneration and healing. Offensive Power: Adds attack damage or cooldown reduction. Late-Game Scaling: Ensures he remains effective throughout the game.
	Provides a substantial amount of magic resist, making Aatrox more resilient against champions who primarily deal magic damage. Additionally, the item grants bonus movement speed, enhancing Aatrox's mobility and allowing him to reposition more effectively in team fights.		Provides a substantial amount of armor, making Aatrox more resistant to physical damage. Additionally, the item grants a significant mana pool, which, while not directly contributing to Aatrox's offensive capabilities, can enhance his overall sustain in prolonged engagements. Frozen Heart has an aura that reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies. This can be highly effective against champions heavily reliant on basic attacks for damage output, such as marksmen or attack speed-focused champions. Slowing down the attack speed of these opponents can significantly decrease their damage output in team fights.
	Massive Health Boost: Greatly increases his survivability. Scaling Damage: Provides bonus damage based on maximum health. Sustain in Fights: Enhances health regeneration and sustain. Better Team Fights: Improves his effectiveness in engaging and disrupting enemies. Synergy with Kit: Boosts healing from his abilities. Burst Durability: Helps him survive initial bursts of damage. Late-Game Scaling: Ensures he remains a strong presence in the late game.		Early Game Dominance: Some players recommend building Hullbreaker as a first item on Aatrox, especially in matchups against specific champions. It is perceived as overpowered in certain scenarios, potentially leading to future adjustments. Split Pushing Impact: Hullbreaker is valued for its ability to enhance Aatrox's split pushing capabilities, allowing for increased pressure on side lanes and more effective structure takedowns. It can compensate for the lack of health from other items, potentially leading to solo game-winning situations. Matchup and Situational Considerations: There are differing opinions on the situational effectiveness of Hullbreaker, with some cautioning against its use in specific game situations. Strategic assessment and adaptability based on game dynamics are emphasized.
	Unique passive, Spellblade, provides bonus damage on Aatrox's next basic attack after using an ability. Since Aatrox relies on a combination of basic attacks and abilities, this effect synergizes well with his playstyle, enhancing his burst damage. The item offers armor and cooldown reduction, providing Aatrox with increased durability against physical damage and allowing him to use his abilities more frequently in engagements. The extra survivability can be beneficial, especially when facing attack damage-heavy opponents.Iceborn Gauntlet applies a slowing field on basic attacks, which can be valuable for both chasing down enemies and kiting in team fights. The area-of-effect slow can disrupt opponents and make it easier for Aatrox to land skill shots or stick to targets.		Increases Durability: Provides health and resistances. Scales in Fights: Grants stacking resistances during combat. Enhances Sustain: Potentially offers healing based on damage dealt and taken. Synergizes with Kit: Complements Aatrox’s healing and durability from his abilities. Boosts Team Fight Presence: Makes Aatrox a more effective frontline tank. Excels in Extended Combat: Benefits Aatrox’s strength in prolonged fights. Offers Versatility: Balances both defensive and offensive needs.
	Provides a significant amount of magic resist, making Aatrox more resistant to magic damage. Additionally, it has a unique lifeline passive called "Lifeline," which grants a shield when Aatrox takes magic damage that would reduce him below a certain health threshold. This shield can be a lifesaver in situations where Aatrox is burst down by magic damage, allowing him to survive and continue fighting. Maw of Malmortius provides spell vamp when the lifeline passive is triggered. This spell vamp can contribute to Aatrox's sustain during fights, allowing him to heal for a portion of the magic damage dealt to him.		Increased Health: Enhances Aatrox's survivability in fights. Healing Synergy: Boosts his healing from abilities, making him harder to kill. Sustain in Fights: Provides regeneration or sustain bonuses, allowing him to stay in fights longer. Damage Output: Potentially adds some offensive stats, increasing his damage. Resilience Against Burst: Helps Aatrox survive initial burst damage with additional health or shields. Team Fight Presence: Makes him a stronger frontline disruptor in team fights. Flexible Build Path: Offers versatility to adapt to various game scenarios.
	Effective Defense: Randuin's Omen is effective against physical damage and critical strikes, making it a valuable defensive option in specific matchups. Community Recommendations: Community discussions and build guides suggest using Randuin's Omen on Aatrox, particularly when facing champions reliant on critical strikes. Item Efficiency: Randuin's Omen is noted to be gold efficient, supporting its potential value in Aatrox's itemization. Limitations: Its critical strike damage reduction does not apply to ability damage, which should be considered when evaluating its effectiveness in certain situations.		Provides Aatrox with several important bonuses. First, it provides bonus health points, which increases Aatrox's durability in combat. Secondly, it provides a bonus to the damage of basic attacks, which increases its striking power. However, the most important feature of Spear of Shojin is its passive ability, known as "Awakening". This ability allows Aatrox to reduce the cooldown of his abilities after each hit with a basic attack. This allows Aatrox to use his abilities more often, which increases his combat potential and allows him to better control the fight.
	Enhances all sources of healing received, including Aatrox's own healing from his abilities. Since Aatrox relies on sustain and self-healing to stay alive in fights, the increased healing amplification makes him more durable and harder to take down. Aatrox's passive (Deathbringer Stance) and Q ability (The Darkin Blade) scale with bonus attack damage and benefit from the increased healing provided by Spirit's Visage. This synergy enhances Aatrox's ability to deal damage and survive in team fights.		Provides bonus health and attack damage, making Aatrox more durable and increasing his overall damage output. The bonus health synergizes well with Aatrox's sustain-oriented playstyle, enhancing his survivability in extended engagements. Sterak's Gage has a unique passive called "Lifeline," which grants a shield when Aatrox takes a significant amount of damage. This shield can be a lifesaver in team fights, providing a temporary buffer that allows Aatrox to absorb additional damage and stay alive longer. Sterak's Gage grants tenacity, reducing the duration of crowd control effects on Aatrox. This is particularly valuable for Aatrox, as crowd control can hinder his ability to engage, deal damage, and sustain in team fights. The tenacity helps him maintain control and presence in battles.
	Has an active ability that allows Aatrox to dash a short distance and deal damage in a cone in front of him. This provides Aatrox with additional mobility, allowing him to close the gap between him and his opponents, initiate fights, or chase down enemies more effectively. The active ability of Stridebreaker applies a slow to enemies hit, making it a useful tool for both engaging and disengaging. The slow effect can be crucial in sticking to targets, making it harder for opponents to escape Aatrox's reach.		Healing and Sustain: It provides extra healing, especially when Aatrox ults and auto-attacks multiple targets, making it effective against melee-heavy teams. Matchup Impact: It can significantly impact matchups, making it difficult for certain champions like Camille to deal with Aatrox. Viability and Build: There's a debate on whether it should be a core first item for Aatrox, with varying opinions on its effectiveness and timing in Aatrox's build. Community Sentiment: Opinions are mixed, with some players finding it strong and effective, while others have concerns about its impact on matchups and overall viability.
	Provides a combination of attack damage, attack speed, and bonus health. These stats contribute to Aatrox's overall damage output, enhance his basic attacks, and increase his survivability in fights. Trinity Force has the Sheen passive, which grants bonus damage on Aatrox's next basic attack after using an ability. Since Aatrox's kit involves a mix of abilities and basic attacks, the Sheen proc synergizes well with his playstyle, providing additional burst damage.The bonus attack speed and Sheen proc from Trinity Force can enhance Aatrox's split-pushing potential. He can take down turrets more efficiently, and the bonus health provides added durability when dueling opponents in a side lane.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Deathbringer Stance

's passive as he periodically empowers his next basic attack to gain bonus range and deal bonus damage. He also heals for a large amount of this bonus damage. However, this heal is reduced if this attack is used against minion. Whenever he hits an enemy champion or large monster with a basic attack or ability, the cooldown of this is reduced by 2 seconds and the cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds if he hits with the sweet spot of his Q.

The Darkin Blade

's Q has three different activations. This ability only goes on cooldown after the third ability has been used or after 4 seconds without it being used again. The first cast is a long straight line skill shot which deals damage. The sweet spot for this one is at the end of the ability which deals bonus damage and knocks up enemies hit. The second skill shot is more of a cone skill shot with a sweet spot at the entire edge which also deals bonus damage and knocks up enemies hit. The third ability hits in a circle with a sweet spot being in the center of the circle. The second cast the ability does 25% additional damage with the third cast does 50% additional damage.

Infernal Chains

's W is a straight line skillshot which deals damage to the first enemy hit and slows them. If this hits an enemy champion or large monster, they then become tethered to the ground for one and a half seconds. If the tether is not broken by the end of its duration, they're then pulled back to the middle and dealt damage again.

Umbral Dash

's E has a passive where he heals for damage dealt against enemy champions. The active is an autoattack reset which causes him to dash a small distance in a direction. Atrox can use this ability while using other abilities.

World Ender

's ultimate causes him to go into his true form where he fears nearby enemy minions and monsters. During this time, he gains a large amount of bonus movement speed and is ghosted.In addition, he gains bonus attack damage, increased size, and increased self healing from all sources, and whenever he scores a takedown, the duration of this ability is extended by 5 seconds.

PROS

+ Resourceless - doesn't has mana
+ Good cc chain
+ Good blind pick
+ Good teamfights (not as good as tanks but is okay)
+ Easy to play and understand his mechanics
+ Good into Ad drafts
+ Great sustain
+ Good into melee drafts
+ Best melee toplaner vs ranged champions (i think)

CONS

- Gets easily outscaled
- Item dependent
- Bad in late game
- Gets easily countered by mobile or high damage burst champs
- Slow animations

Basic combos:

(Your combos can be faster and smoother thanks to )
Q > E ,
Q > W > Q > E ,
Q > ,
Auto attack animation reset: auto attack > E
E >> W >> Q ,
Q >> E > ,

If u want more Damage per second (DPS) auto attack between abilities.

Playing Aatrox effectively involves mastering his abilities, understanding his role in different stages of the game, and making strategic decisions. Here's a brief guide on how to play Aatrox:

Early Game (Laning Phase):

Farming: Focus on last-hitting minions to accumulate gold and experience. Aatrox's Q (The Darkin Blade) can be used to farm multiple minions at once.

Harassment: Use your range advantage with Q to harass opponents in the lane. Land the outer edge of Q for optimal damage.

Sustain: Aatrox has sustain through his passive (Deathbringer Stance). Activating the passive by landing the edge of Q or using your E can help you sustain in trades.

Warding: Be mindful of enemy ganks. Place wards or use your E for vision in river and nearby bushes.

Mid Game (Roaming and Team Fights):

Split-Pushing: Aatrox can be a potent split-pusher. Use your strong dueling capabilities to pressure side lanes. Teleport can be valuable for joining team fights.

Teleport Plays: Look for opportunities to teleport to other lanes or join skirmishes. A well-timed teleport can turn the tide of a fight.

Initiation: Aatrox can initiate fights with his Q and E. Land your Qs to knock up opponents and disrupt their positioning.

Peeling: Use your W and E to peel for your carries during team fights. Aatrox can act as a frontliner, disrupting the enemy team's backline.

Late Game (Team Fights and Objectives):

Prioritize Squishy Targets: Focus on diving into the enemy backline and disrupting squishy targets. Land your Qs and use your ultimate (World Ender) for increased damage and sustain.

Coordination: Communicate with your team to coordinate engages. A well-timed initiation can lead to successful team fights.

Split-Pushing or Grouping: Assess the situation. Aatrox can excel in both split-pushing and team fighting, so adapt your strategy based on the needs of your team.

Build Adaptation: Adjust your build based on the enemy team composition. Consider items that provide survivability, damage, and utility.

General Tips:

Mastering Q: Practice landing the outer edge of your Q consistently. This maximizes damage and crowd control.

Ultimate Usage: Use your ultimate when committing to a fight or when at risk of being burst down. The bonus damage and healing can be decisive.

Ward Coverage: Maintain good vision control, especially around objectives. Aatrox benefits from knowing the enemy's movements to choose optimal engagements.

Combo Execution: Learn the timings and combos for your abilities. Combining Q, W, and E efficiently is key to maximizing Aatrox's potential.

Remember, mastering Aatrox takes practice, and adapting your playstyle to different situations is crucial for success. Pay attention to map awareness, communicate with your team, and constantly refine your mechanics to become a formidable Aatrox player.

Now, let's go through Fiora. The number one thing you can do with Aatrox into Fiora, again, you have to play defensively, you need to play back, back into the lane, and I pulled up runes here. The most important thing you can do against Fiora is Bone Plating. Fiora's Q will proc her passive, which procs Bone Plating. Her passive then will obviously do less damage, so... If Fiora Q's into you when you have bone plating up, you're already going to be taking less damage. Then if she autos you, there's a bone plating proc, and when you have bone plating up, you can respond into her. So if she Q's into you when you have bone plating and she starts trying to auto you, you can turn back and fight her knowing that, well, hey, I got bone plating, I'm going to probably win this trade. Also, by playing back behind the minion wave, that enables you to get minion aggro to hit her more often with the minions. Just try to pull back Use your Qs. Don't go for the crits early on unless she has parry. It gets complicated. It gets really complicated. I would recommend watching Naayil play against Fiora, particularly for this one, because it's hard to say specifically, like, when do you go for a Q against Fiora? When should you not? Generally speaking, save your E. Put a Q over her that's going to crit. She'll parry E away. So, like, dash out of her parry then. you won't do damage, but you'll get through her parry. And once her parry is down, you can typically do some janky stuff. You can also put a w over her. If she tries to parry the W, you dodge the parry. Then you hit it with a Q ignite that one's real important. Ignite. Ignite, ignite, ignite. You have to go ignite into fiora because that's how you're gonna deny her healing. Fiora heals a lot. Deny her healing. Try to bait her back. Use Q's Try to throw down a Q E it into her. get a poke, back off, save your Q. If you think that she's gonna go for the all-in, you can auto-Q, auto-Q. If you're not critting it, it'll be decent damage. Combined with ignite and your minions and your bone plating, you should be able to do that. Tryndamere is gonna be very similar. Oh, I should mention for Fiora, I have found both Legend Tenacity and Legend Alacrity tend to work. So just go whichever you need more. If they have a lot of stuns, go with Legend Alacrity. If they don't have stuns, or sorry, if they have a lot of stuns, go Legend Tenacity. If they don't have any stuns on their team, just go Legend of Alacrity. It helps you attack more, which is good.
It helps you animate your attacks faster, which allows you to back off. And that's important too. Recognize which side Fiora has her weak point on. If she hits a good one and she continues to chase, back off. Don't play forward into Fiora. Let her attack you. Keep backing off. Now remember, if you're backing away from her, Even if she goes for the auto attack, if you back away during the animation, she doesn't get the weak point proc if it's now at a range. So, make her try to get Q in order to get her weak point procs. If she backs away, start throwing Qs out at her, just try to get minion aggro, just play back with pump planning.
You will outscale into team fights, and you will be able to eventually poke her down once you get some points in your Q and you get that cooldown down. So, Just play back, try to you outscale at least, like, at level 7. Then, you know, at level 9, you're pretty strong. She'll obviously come back from there and I would skill you hard. But there is a point where your Q cooldown will be low enough that you can poke her down. And Just play safe. Just play back with bone plating.

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Tryndamere is gonna be basically the same thing. Legend alacrity or legend Tenacity. If their team is a lot of stuns, go legend Tenacity. If they don't legend alacrity and it doesn't really change the matchup that much.
Getting the lower uh duration on his slow can be pretty good, but it's not super important. Go Bone Plating, because trynda he's going to try to gap close into you, and you're going to use the bone plating to reduce the damage. If you can land a good, if he haphazardly ease into you and starts autoing, you can auto into a Q, into a W, then when he tries to get out of the W, you use your q2 your your horizontal Q, use that one, You knock him, he gets pulled back into your W, auto into Q3 with Ignite over him to deny his Q healing and just to get more damage. And you can actually kill him. Tryndamere's tanky, but if he's E'd into you in the middle of your minion wave or into your casters and your casters are hitting him and you have Ignite and you're hitting him with your entire Q combo, starting from level 3, you can basically drop him with that.
So level 3, 4, 5, play back with Bone Plating. Try to get Poke when you can, but to be honest... Sometimes I feel poking Tryndamere is pointless due to his healing. Just, once again, same with Fiora. You outscale, like at level 7 to 9. Then he'll start pulling it back, but at least at those levels you can typically pop his ult in one combo if you land a good combo. Save your ultimate for his ghost. That's important. If he ghosts, just immediately ult in the opposite direction. It feels bad because you're wasting your ultimate, but if you try... If you don't know... If you're not sure you can get away from his ghost, then just ult in the other direction. Or you're going to take so much damage, you're going to die.
Or you're going to be too low. Or he's going to be able to go all in. Sometimes he pops ghost, you just ult away. Your ult is movement speed. The movement speed is the first two seconds you're ulted, the majority of the movement speed. You will outrun ghost for those two seconds, so you can get away from him.

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Irelia, ban Irelia. Just ban Irelia. But if you didn't go check the threats.

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Update logs

2024/02/04 : It has been written how to win the laning phase against a champion from the Extreme and Major tiers.
2024/02/06 : New rune page added.
2024/02/10 : Added new chapter: Description of matchups.
2024/04/20 : #BuffAatrox's W
2024/05/31 : The appearance of item descriptions has been slightly improved. Wow 14.12 Fighter Aatrox is back. Updated items, runes. I'll improve appearance of the Aatrox' abilities page, Description of matchups, Pros & cons, Combos and Gameplay soon.