Aatrox

Master Tier Champion Guide

Identity

Aatrox is a lane dominant, AD caster who excels at flanking and diving the enemy backline. You should play Aatrox if you want a champion who can carry games through aggressive, high-risk, high-reward team fighting. His kit is designed around landing powerful, skillshot-based attacks that deal massive area-of-effect damage while healing him in the process. Mastering Aatrox requires a deep understanding of his ability ranges and timings, as well as the patience to wait for the perfect moment to engage.

Core Strengths and Role

Strengths

Flanker and Backline Threat: Aatrox's main identity is that of a flanker whose primary goal is blowing up the enemy backline. His lethality builds enhance his threat on squishy targets.
Reset Potential: Especially when building Duskblade, Aatrox thrives on getting resets, which grant him invulnerability and untargetability for 1.5 seconds, allowing for crucial repositioning during team fights.
Extreme Combat Power at Spikes: While weak early, Aatrox starts to come online around Level 5, Level 7, and upon completing his first item (Dirk/Duskblade), which allows him to dominate lanes and counter matchups that failed to shut him down early.

Weaknesses

Vulnerable Early Game: Aatrox is highly susceptible to being punished in the early levels, especially against champions with strong all-ins or ranged poke.
Reliance on Skillshots: His entire kit is based on landing skillshots, making him less reliable when behind or against highly mobile opponents.
Grievous Wounds: Aatrox's healing is central to his survivability, making him particularly vulnerable to anti-healing items and abilities.

Laning Phase Strategy (Levels 1-9)

Starting Items

Doran's Blade: Better for all-ins due to AD, Omnivamp, and HP, and scales better as it offers pure stats. Recommended in melee matchups with low poke (e.g., Akali, Camille).

Doran's Shield: Stronger for laning due to unmatched health regeneration. Must be purchased in hard matchups or against poke champions (e.g., Fiora, Kennen, Quinn).

Handling Counter-Matchups (Ignite/All-in)

Against ignite all-in champions (Rengar, Riven, Jax, Camille), the strategy is modified:
Accept Early Death/Risk: If you die early to an ignite champion, it is not a huge deal as long as you have good wave control.
The Freeze Punishment: The goal is to immediately TP back and freeze the wave outside your tower. By freezing, Aatrox stops the opponent from basing and spending their kill gold, which alleviates pressure from the entire team. Even if the trade is only 'even,' it is fine because Aatrox is under his tower, preventing the enemy from leaving.

Survival and Stability (Levels 1-3)

Extreme Weakness: Aatrox is extremely weak Level 1 to 3 and does not win many matchups hard. His counter picks rely on shutting him down during this vulnerable period.
Goal: The ideal approach is to let the enemy push the wave while Aatrox focuses on staying high HP and getting as much CS as possible.
Wave Control (The Push/Stack): The player should aim to crash the third (cannon) wave, not the second wave. Stacking the third wave prevents the enemy from freezing the wave outside their tower (as the cannon damage is too high for them to tank).

Trading and Hitting Spikes (Levels 4-7)

Power Spike: Aatrox becomes strong around Level 4 and 5, allowing him to start taking trades. His strongest point in lane is around Level 7 (with two points in Q and Serrated Dirk completed).
Punish on CS: When trading, always use Q to poke the enemy as they go for CS or walk toward a last hit, as it makes the Q harder to dodge.
Wave Bounce Back and Freeze: After crashing the big third wave, Aatrox should let the wave slowly push back toward him. The ideal moment to strike is when the wave has bounced back and Aatrox can freeze it outside his tower.
Base Timer Management: Utilize specific base timings, such as when the enemy casters are outside the tower but the melee minions are still alive, allowing Aatrox to base, TP back, and lose only one or two minions.

Mid/Late Game Macro and Teamfighting

Macro Play: Controlling the Side Lane and Objectives

Pinning the Opponent

After winning lane and breaking the Tier 1 tower, Aatrox must not alleviate pressure on his lane opponent. Do not immediately run bot to gank, as Aatrox’s engage is weak (only QE) and easily respected.

Creating Pressure

Aatrox should run back to the lane he just broke, pin the opponent under the top Tier 2 tower, and then 'fog' (pressure/hide) between the side lane and mid lane, while fully controlling the enemy top jungle.

Objective Timing (The 30-Second Rule)

Aatrox should time his bases to arrive at the neutral objective (Dragon/Baron) 30 seconds or more in advance. This is critical because Aatrox is most impactful from a flank or the side. Arriving early allows him to sweep vision, get into a good flank position, and pressure the enemy into fighting or giving up the objective. If Aatrox TPs in late, his team may already be dead, and he is forced to play 'front to back,' which is less effective.

Post-Base Deployment

When deploying out of base, especially after Baron, Aatrox should assess the map. If he is the strongest unit and needs to control an area, he should go there. For example, if top is already pushed and pressing, Aatrox might deploy bot to pressure the remaining towers, maintaining control over two lanes simultaneously.

Teamfight Execution

Flank or Side Engage

Aatrox should always look to start the fight from a flank position or the side. This traps the enemy team between Aatrox and his allies.

Patience with E

Players should have high discipline on their E and avoid blowing it instantly in a team fight. If Aatrox instantly Q-E's the first person he sees, he loses his gap closer for follow-up and becomes extremely squishy and vulnerable. Walk the distance first to preserve E for Q2 or Q3.

Playing Around Duskblade

Use the invulnerability timer from Duskblade resets to reposition for the next big Q hit without being CC'd or damaged.

Target Selection

While Aatrox is designed to kill the backline, if the enemy front line consists of squishy burst champions (like Camille or Kha'Zix), playing front-to-back and hitting the closest target can be highly effective due to his high damage output.

Combos and Mechanics

Auto Attack Reset

Auto

Best used for last-hitting under the tower or when fighting an enemy diving Aatrox while his Q is on cooldown.

Q-Flash

Can be used with all three Q stages to close distance and surprise opponents. Getting a Q2 or Q3 Flash off in a team fight can be a difference maker.

W-E Combo

Allows Aatrox to extend the range of his W. Very useful for chasing and kiting back.

QE-Flash

Allows Aatrox to reach enemies from a very long distance. Practice this range extensively, as it is often surprising to enemies.

Kiting/Disengage

Best used for kiting backward when a melee champion (like Jax) has gap-closed onto Aatrox, allowing him to hit the Sweet Spot of Q while disengaging and keeping them trapped in W.

Main Trading Combo

Auto

It is crucial to start Q1 without using E so that E is available for the W-E-Q sequence. If both Sweet Spots are hit, the W pull is nearly guaranteed, allowing for an auto-attack and Q3 during the pull.

Advanced Mechanics

Abilities

The QE Hold: When using Q, hold the E dash for the 'last possible frame' to react to the enemy's dodge. When enemies see Aatrox jump up for Q, they will look to dodge, and holding E allows the player to react to their movement.
Q Cancellation: Aatrox's Q can cancel most gap closers.

W Pull In: Even if an enemy leaves the W square at the very last second, they will still be pulled in (even if they flash out).

Wall Jumps (E): Despite being a short dash, E can clear many thick walls across the map, including the big Raptor wall near mid-lane, the Top Lane outer tower wall, the Tier 2 Top wall, and both Red Buff walls. The hardest jump is clearing the Baron pit wall.

Item Synergies

Duskblade Usage

After securing a kill and proc-ing Duskblade, do not instantly Auto-Attack or use a spell. Instead, use the 1.5 seconds of untargetability and invulnerability to reposition safely before using the next high-damage spell (like Q3).