Why EVERYONE Plays: Aatrox | League of Legends

Despite his very debated and controversial rework, Aatrox has become one of the most well known champions in top lane. Today we're gonna discuss Why EVERYONE Plays Aatrox!
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#Aatrox #LoL #WhyEveryonePlays

[@chrs-wltrs]

Part of it is also that anti-healing was nerfed, so Champs like Warwick, Aatrox, and Mordekaiser have been thriving

[@quickredf0x143]

Honestly, sometimes it feels like you're better off building an extra damage item and hoping to kill them before they can reach you.

[@jvmango3057]

hmm idk aatrox's healing was cut down as well since the durability patch and then got 2 nerfs on his passive and R healing i think his hydra and eclipse just synergizes really well with him

[@foodiefriendsclub4493]

@@jvmango3057 all healing has been cut down. but Rengar and Aatrox's healing, however, are exception. After durability patch consider the enemy bought anti-heal item, Aatrox will always heal more than before durability patch. Or if enemy did not bought a single anti-heal item, Aatrox rank 3 E and passive (maybe a recent nerf from 100% to 80% will be lower after the durability patch) will always out heal pre-durability patch. another small factor is with durability patch, it means the champion has more tankyness in a fight. For Aatrox, the longer he can survive the fight with his built in tankyness, the more he can heals since he is not about killing the enemy faster in the shortest amount of time but to deal the largest amount of damage with his sustain throughout the fight (+ more HP to suck from enemy with passive due to durability patch, but this might be a little exagerated ) So no, in my book its just a big buff to Aatrox during durability patch.

[@Omnifarious42]

Mord doesn't even have that much healing when compared to Warwick and the war crime that is Aatrox.

[@AnonymerNutzer-ci3rt]

I have been maining Aatrox since his VGU. The thing that always draws me back to Aatrox, is his cool theme, his fun gameplay and the fact, that he fulfills his powerfantasy perfectly.

[@irkcoyunda7660]

bro exactly

[@kylefraser2841]

Thats how I feel about jhin. Everything about his design fits his theme perfectly.

[@watersheep6590]

The way I feel about Kayn as well.

[@drfirenugz2641]

He's also disturbingly overturned so I'm sure you win more with him

[@alexcat6685]

Well all I say he's missing is his character design, its the only thing competely disconnected from his lore, voicelines, and even gameplan. He's resembles the sterotype he originally was, a Demon muscle guy with cool blood powers thats it. Not the abused Ascended infect with something, that keeps the threat of Chaining to get him to consume, leading to him wanting to kill himself. Also his W feels absolutely useless, enemies have higher ways of just ingoring it completely, especially if they have movement abilities, the thing the remedies it is his dash which is his main way of being unpredictable. I feel it should work similar as CC that helps keep the targets in check, like speedy opponents. I had the idea of it being a simple Slash forward that an AOE closer to Aattrox until evutinally lading in a Triangle, dealing Physical damage, slowing and crippling all targets hit.

[@nicopelolais70]

Got 4 minutes left of the video, but I still haven't heard that everyone plays him because he's just really fucking cool.

[@eryklipinski3742]

100% of my reason to play him. Literally downloaded LoR just bc he was added to it

[@TheClanBlade]

As an Aatrox main myself I will say that the problem this season, and this may sound a bit biased, is that the champ didn't becpme broken until his items did. Eclipse and Jak'Sho are the only mythics you'll see on him even though they're designed for Assasins and Tanks respectively. And Eclipse provides damage but lacks CDR and Jak'Sho provides tankiness but lacks damage. Goredrinker does both perfectly with tankiness, CDR, damage and some healing but the item has been nerfed so much with healing reduced as well as the removed of the missing HP into AD passive gone as well. And his win and pickrate didn't start going up until Gore was so nerfed that people began abusing other mythics on him, don't believe me; If you go to LoL graphs, statistically Goredrinker has the 2nd lowest winrate of any mythic only ahead of Everfrost.. If Riot wants Aatrox to stop becoming a menace they need to incentivize people picking a BRUISER mythic and not one not desinged for him.

[@adamnagel7436]

He was broken way before the preseason.

[@st2whocares988]

yeah pretty much, but his E also need a nerf, like the healing he get from E is so strong,

[@luizotavio44]

yeah goredrinker is treated as the best possible item for aatrox that will ever exist but after being nerfed so hard people HAD to build something else for him

[@aidanthomas250]

Bulsh8t

[@sasatofe7707]

i don't forget the funny hydra item amping what aatrox can already do healing alot and everyone rushes this item and it has no negtives to rush for it similar to BTROK

[@jeremyguzman7936]

Aatrox its the Ahri of top lane, blind pickable everygame, incredibly consistent, sustain, every matchup feels like skill matchup where the better player always win, both are insanely safe and both are at its strongest in the mid game

[@diskoebalo]

i pick illaoi everytime and kill him 10 times in lane

[@eriquano9474]

@@diskoebalo illaoi players when someone dodges their e

[@u9477]

@@diskoebalo illaoi lane is easy you just dodge illaoi e and lane is won

[@RastakhanFromdeOtherSide]

@@diskoebalo its skill matchup anyway

[@davailama1808]

Maybe in gold yes atrox can be a good blind pick Only good ones are tanks cause you can never be useless

[@Venmerr]

Its weird to see Aatrox become so popular. Been playing him for two years and now I see other people pick and ban him, which kinda sucks cuz I never had to worry about that before.

[@isaaclopezruiz9597]

Well that happened when a couple of items turned a champion with a skillfull and interesting ability set to a statchecker that heals and gets a lot of damage by default.

[@BlackJackHD13]

Same, it happened to almost all my mains, them being Aatrox, Bard, Fiddlesticks, Jhin and ASol. Only aSol remains

[@dawidlol1337]

Happens to op champs, at least you get to play more champs and actually improve at the game instead of your champ which helps in the long run

[@uncannybook581]

when I started, NO ONE PLAYED HIM, it was just after the rework and his pick rate was like 1%, so funny how its changed

[@justinwebb2773]

@@isaaclopezruiz9597 hes far from a stat checker even with good items

[@lukasminkevicius8519]

to all non-toplaners, aatrox became the monster he is after the durability patch since the bonus survivabilty meant he could build more damage (lethality) instead of resists or hp. durability patch made him a tanky killing machine. prior if you tried the builds that people do now you would need to play nigh-perfectly and if you fucked up, you were waiting for the next game

[@muncher1753]

The durability update didn’t help him initially. It forced a meta where Aatrox didn’t have enough damage to heal with Gore DD Grudge (Gore is bad). Naayil started promoting the Eclipse BC grudge build. Riot further nerfed healing on Aatrox and gave him More HP per level. This HP per level coupled with better Sweetspot damage and New Eclipse Build made him Forgiving and Overpowered. Before Eclipse and HP buff he was Feast or Famine. Now he is Consistent and Lower Skill. His playstyle changed imo. The Jak’sho build only has the Raw AD from Ravenous as it’s legs. Kill Ravenous and the build is meme. Then if they Kill Eclipse, Aatrox falls into obscurity (although before worlds Chinese Players still went Gore). At worlds it was Eclipse DD. But yeahhh you are still correct. Durability update and the Extra HP Buff allowed him this full damage Build. It kind of forced it onto him.

[@socomical607]

@@muncher1753 Sounds about right.

[@WintersEnvy]

durability patch(and 12.11) also nerfed his biggest counters into oblivion, anti-heal lost about 20% effectivness

[@tface8366]

I get the same vibe I get with Mordekaiser with Aatrox especially after their reworks, they became these "Raid Bosses" that once they get fed early to mid game, just ff ain't no way you stopping those two from killing your team with just a Soraka or Sona at their side in a skirmish

[@jadonfernandes716]

Unless if your bot lane feeds . Which happens almost once in three games

[@Al-tanin]

Morde, like Nasus, doesn't really scale that well into late game, where most AA based champions begin destroying him. His strongest moment is actually Mid game.

[@Al-tanin]

Among the toplaners that destroy him late game: Volibear, Olaf, Aatrox, Nasus, Yone, Kayle, Fiora, Jax, Tryndamere, Vayne

[@valeriociarla1817]

@@jadonfernandes716 1 out of three games? My bot feeds like 9 out of 10 times

[@jadonfernandes716]

@@valeriociarla1817 I didn't want to offend the ADC players

[@MarianaBello-fq3hx]

I play aatrox because he is probaly top 5 champs in terms of amount of voicelines. I love hearing my champions talking more than 2 lines.

[@eryklipinski3742]

Not even considering the quality of his voicelinds

[@thedudewithoutprofilepic5292]

aatrox just shit talk on every champ, and i love it

[@ViktorLoR_Mainu]

ok.

[@warcheddar4163]

@@ViktorLoR_Mainu RAMMUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@dizzyheads]

It's too bad people apparently hated this and ended up making Riot dial it back

[@A.Weirdo.I.Guess000]

Fun fact:Currently Aatrox is dominating all 3 riot games, (LOL, Wild Rift, and LOR)

[@harrysliyoko8809]

Truly the WORLD ENDER .

[@GenjiGencyandOverwatch]

He's really domination Wild Rift as well? Well if that's true then I'm glad to hear that even thoe that means he will get nerfed probably in first patch this year in all 3 games

[@A.Weirdo.I.Guess000]

@@GenjiGencyandOverwatch Aatrox already got nerfed several times after his release in wild rift, and soon he qill get his nerf on LOR too

[@BlakeandMarjie]

Aatrox is banned every game in high elo on Wild Rift on par with Yone and if these two champs aren’t ban they are insta picked and almost always ez dubs because BROKEN , BROKEN AF FAM

[@boreldur]

"Why everyone bans Aatrox"

[@crashka5860]

The statement about “honourable” picks hit close to home for me as lately I’ve been facing a very large amount of ranged top laners who hurt themselves by losing cs to poke me. It’s not hard to win against but it’s not fun at all

[@olafthemoose9413]

D shield second wind bing chilling

[@mignob]

reddit

[@Omnifarious42]

As if Aatrox can't freely harass... Especially since he gets the benefit of not drawing minion aggro...

[@reolsimple7036]

@@Omnifarious42ranged top player spotted

[@cactusboi9597]

"No one has a bad opinion about aatrox" naah what fantasy land are you living in because aatrox gotta be one of the most hated life steal champs out there 💀

[@diagonal3715]

yone irelia yasuo cammille warwick vladimir and others have way much more healing lol

[@MrKillerbee124]

as an aatrox main, I feel both honored and targeted by this, Vars

[@iceswollow_come9274]

same

[@delvinrequena8014]

True

[@BMO20]

fax

[@Local_commentor]

Stop the cap 🧢

[@bearpowder8807]

the only problem i have with aatrox is his healing and 1v2 potential with r is kind of insane. omnivamp or damage nerf should be given

[@angpham941]

Lets be real. Everyone plays him because he's broken for nearly a full year now

[@angpham941]

More precisely since the grievous wounds nerf

[@tedestrada57]

I've been playing the old Aatrox along with Zed and Thresh since their respective releases, and he is by far my lowest winrate among them yet the most satisfying in terms of power fantasy. His Skirmisher feast-famine being worse than Master Yi definitely cemented him as one of the least viable picks, but when Rageblade became his staple and he can be picked in Jungle and Top, I just couldn't lay down this Darkin sword. Now, he's entirely different but arguably for the better. His no-cost, hard-to-land ability combos and drain-tanking passive makes him a really fair champion, though not the most balanced because as a Juggernaut, he needs it or he's not going to function well. As of late I think I agree with Naayil now that he's better off building Divine Sunderer/Eclipse/Jak'Sho and Ravenous Hydra than Goredrinker+Sterak though.

[@FiggitClips]

Check out more insane clips on THIS channel ! Click for funny league moment and news thank you !

[@bellliii1878]

i used to agree with the whole "GIGA CHAD DARIUS AND MORDE MAINS " and " weak ranged top losers " but honestly the more I've played I realised I would rather face teemo or akshan than face most bruisers. bruisers just feel kinda boring to face. at least when I'm against a ranged match up and I die or get a kill I feel it was a because of their or my own misplay, with bruisers I just feel like they stat check me most times with no counter play if I make the slightest mistake. idk tho I know this opinion is unpopular

[@araigomi_nxs]

legends of runeterra and wildrift releases definitely helped aatrox gain popularity too, aatrox being popular is a double edged sword, its a redemption arc for most aatrox players while also making him unplayable most of the time

[@mariowiiluigi1919]

Oh damn, 3 videos on 3 different channels? Sure this is the christmas season Thanks for the videos!

[@TheChristmasWarrior]

The consistency of Aatrox can be applied to many other popular champs tbh, for example yone can play good neutral and most matchups in mid are winnable

[@Dingdong2730]

Not really, Yone has some of the same issues of double scaling, with attack speed gaving him more haste(thereby more cc and durability), but its not the same point as Aatrox where every point of AD not only gets amplified in ult but also in healing, thereby indirect durability. Yone’s lane isn’t nearly as safe either, from my perspective its a very easy champ to kill and bully.

[@user-om5ue4id7q]

@@Dingdong2730 I like that the aatrox counter now also have double scaling which is ksante, although ksante's scaling is much more overloaded than what aatrox had since ksante directly increases dmg with armor/mr and also the hp to omnivamp which is ridiculous

[@Omnifarious42]

@@Dingdong2730 Kassante also loses out on those stats plus cuts his own life in half with his ult... Aatrox has none of those downsides...

[@kenmei1604]

Great episode about great champion. Can't find anything to hate about him. Satisfying gameplay, cool(even if a bit edgy) design etc. Also very fitting for a vid about "Raid boss" of the game to have BGM of litteral Raid Boss. Binah theme is just to good and fits Aatrox so much.

[@emilburatovic409]

I'm a support player, mainly playing Pyke, Rakan and Renata. However when I saw Kingen play Aatrox throughout Worlds, I was like: "Yooooo, I want to play like that", and then I went top for the first time where I was greeted by a lovely Irelia who proceeded to sink my teeth in, but hey, you live you learn :D

[@heavyadrelingblogs5630]

I love how this champ is still not nerfed after 4 years of being meta and winning worlds against t1 but sion got nerfed after 2 weeks of inting silvers

[@TheSuperskadoosh]

ok your wrong here he has been bad and nerfed mutiple times in the last few seasons its only this season after the durability update that he has been good/ovetuned and not seen a substantial nerf. honestly overpowerd atm with hydra jak'sho atm

[@miguelMickSummer]

It's only been meta this season lmao

[@New.lol1]

@@TheSuperskadoosh OMG i though i already answer to this guy but no, WE just like both gnar

[@New.lol1]

Meta during 1 season= meta during 4 years Ok ok

[@Venmerr]

@@TheSuperskadooshA little misleading in that Aatrox has only been nerfed after the durability update the last time he was nerfed was in 9.12 ie. season 9. I disagree with Heavy though. while Aatrox has been good for the past 2 years, he was never top tier until the item rework because he finally had items that enhanced his playstyle (goredrinker) or fixed an issue he had (eclipse, black cleaver).

[@BriTanuki]

Really enjoyed the choice of music this episode, great work as per usual.

[@BigMuskachini]

because hes safe, forgiving, can spam endlessly in lane because he has no mana, and currently he happens to also be broken. Not sure why they made infinite sustain champs that have no mana but no going back now

[@gabrielpanagsagan9741]

Aatrox is only good when he has gold

[@adamramos4063]

@@gabrielpanagsagan9741 That could be said for any carry champion. It doesn't make them balanced. I don't think Aatrox is the most broken top laner now though, but he's not too far off.

[@grimwill7686]

It may be manaless sustain but at least it requires interaction with an enemy champion, Aatrox doesn't heal off of minion waves unless he has an item providing omnivamp. Unless you count his passive, which let's be fair the healing off of minions it provides is terrible.

[@diagonal3715]

Aatrox cant spam cuz if he spam, then he get punished. Aatrox not forgiving cuz if u mis ur Q u are dead. Just get out from bronze lol

[@senbonkzakura7991]

Aint no way aatrox is a forgiving champ , if you ever get slightly behind you can never win a 1v1 anymore

[@jackofromsouth]

Aatrox is really fun to play and highly rewarding once you master it, but the issue nowadays is that you don't need to space yourself, the healing and damage on Passive and non-sweetspot Q is absurd

[@khaledyasser8293]

Aatrox is easily one of my most hated top laners, though I love to play him. It's not ok for a juggernaut to have higher range than caitlyn, a free ghost, and a free dash over the wall. His playstyle is no different from a comet malphit spamming Q and running until you drop to lethal then he one shots you while you're CCed the entire time.

[@tencive5749]

His range is so insane that he destroys ranged top laners more easily than he can deal with mellee tops lol

[@rotonek2887]

Someoje is hurt by a non-viable malphit build lol

[@Ynwell_theslaaneshi]

I mean, the whole thing of aatrox is knowing where and when to use your q. All his casts can be seen a second before he hits, it makes him pretty predictable, and it basically becomes a “who’s more predictable?” Game, where if you always do a thing, he will catch on and punish this predictable behaviour, it’s on your fault not to react soon enough to his q. Moreover, he only has one q where it’s the furthest away, and it hits on a line. It would be like complaining nidalee has a higher range than caitlyn because of her spear, well yes, but no. You can dodge all of aatrox’s q, unlike malphite’s. There’s a reason why they’re all strong : they’re predictable and harder to hit to stun. If you rush him before he’s able to to hit any of qs, he’ll have a bad start and will have to whiff two in order to hopefully hit you with the third, while you can safely damage him. And let’s not forget he loses a lot of you build anti heal.

[@tencive5749]

@@Ynwell_theslaaneshi anti heal is a bit of a joke rn but yea

[@seogoratjk]

​@@tencive5749 Anti heal is not a joke vs Aatrox If you buy any upgraded anti heal you deal essentially 40% more damage vs him in a fight since he isn't made to tank damage but to drain it. Tanking all 3 sweet spots and expecting antiheal to save you is silly.

[@ahmad-rw6lv]

you forgot the nerfs to healing reduction when they moved from 40/60% to 25/40% meanwhile his E healing got 2% reduced healing i guess

[@hagalathekido]

his ult got some diced off as well, certainly not the 33% anti heal got removed but 2% is an understatement

[@ahmad-rw6lv]

@@hagalathekido his omnivamp from E was 30% then 26% then 24% (1/6 reduced) His R healing was 60% then 55% then 45%(1/4 reduced) This is regarding max rank on both of them as early levels didn't get changes that much And remember that healing reduction went from 60% to 40% which is 33% reduction at all stages not just the early ones

[@PlanetSparkler]

I think it is also relevant to mention that he is a melee champion that doesnt get bullied by range tops as easily as other melees. His q1+e has incredible engage range and w requires a dash to escape out of. If the range top laner wastes their high early game cooldown dash abilities on dodging his Qs, they are setup for aatrox to full combo with the w pull.

[@drrrivevibes]

After playing Mordekaiser for a couple weeks straight, I think the whole counterpick shindig is part of why he is so strong. With his W sustain, enormous Q range (that allows him to poke under tower as a melee champ) and the insane utility in his build paths, he is another juggernaut that will almost never lose lane if you play smartly.

[@Mathghamhan]

Can confirm he’s the champ I refuse to play. I liked the original. As Swain main from Season 1, it’s the other main rework/overhaul that should have been a separate champion.

[@IronKurone]

Yeah, I've been playing seen s3, old Aatrox is my favorite. I really don't know why I hate playing him after the rework so much lol. And tbh, I don't play any of the reworked champs after 2017, even tho I play all the broken ass newer champ.

[@johnnymac6242]

Aatrox rework was a big reason I quit, mostly because they deleted Aatrox and then Yorick and released 2 new champions instead of actually reqorking them. Its actually insane he is still Meta. I would have thought he would have been gutted

[@gabrielpanagsagan9741]

The rework is the only reason why I started Aatrox from the get go

[@Martin-yh7vi]

lmao let it go 🤣 or not but it's kinda funny how seemingly bitter you are after all these years.

[@johnnymac6242]

@@Martin-yh7vi cause riot when through a huge period of "reworking" champions by deleting them, and theb shortly after that Rito went woke for the gay crowd and ruined the community. Now the only people who play LoL are trannies, manchildren, and losers

[@ghostblade1042]

He is what i called a fighting game character, skill floor is high but once u learn or master them there is so much potential. All you use is ur skills, no mana or bs resource. I love him because he feels like a fighting gam character that can be play alone plus he is a GIGACHAD demon. People who insult him are only cowards with fear in their heart. I only play league because of AATROX. the most fun hero for me.

[@orixthesourguy]

Hey Vars, mind if you talk about ,, Multiple cast ultimates "... you know the ideea of having more than one ultimate/single use without having a reset mechanic.

[@rawen160]

Like Riven? It's the same case as recastable abilities, you need to balance it with drawbacks. Her ult is powerfull if you engage engage, but useless if you don't/get kited. That includes the wave, which deals high dmg only to low hp targets.

[@orixthesourguy]

@@rawen160 kindaa but i am talking more about champs with more than one ult: Wukong being able to knock up twice Kha'zix being able to use invisibility twice ( 3 times evolved) Tf: First cast: reveal the enemy Second: Teleports where he wants Corki( even though is just another simple ability,not an ult) If we compare those with Darius, who needs to kill the target to cast his ult again, they can use the second ult with no condition

[@TheDjpwn3]

Shoutout to the weird but loveable bromance between Aatrox mains and Morde mains

[@TerraGreatestLoveMachine]

Aatrox before nerf: Passive heal+ apply grievous wound Q damage on minion Double E + increase AD after E R increase AD + heal+ revived Went from 400 AD full build to 1000 AD just from press R and E Now he just heal.

[@TeaTimeWithU]

Unrelated comment but DAMN WHAT IS THE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND, IT'S V/ CATCHY >.< Also, love ur content Vars, keep it coming :DDDD

[@DIAX9]

i'm also curious i'd like someone to tell me

[@MinhucVoPham]

It’s blue archive theme 24 endless carnival It’s a raid theme for a giant mechanical snake(kinda similar to the destroyer in terraria)

[@fuzzwobble]

7:27 Thank you Kindred, very cool

[@MatfisMatfis]

Actual TL;DR: Overtuned and top pick in the meta even before worlds started. His only nerf was to his passive which wasn't the problem. Anything that isn't a fed tank dies the moment he hits 1 (one) Q.

[@sugarybomber]

Aatrox was a respectable top laner until he started build lethality and Jake Sao now I hate his guts until they nerf him so he can build normal bruiser items once again.

[@Claxis404]

I hadn’t really thought about it, but the idea of “champs I refuse to play on principle” actually makes so much sense. I REFUSE to play the 4 horsewomen of top (irelia, Camille, riven, fiora). I have maybe 1-2 games on each of them and they were some of the freest games ever. They’re just so broken that it makes the game feel un-fun. Champs with strong early game that outscale most other champs should not be a thing.

[@Raven116]

fiora is a bit different from others, even if you are winning lane so hard your teamfight presence wont be as big as the others, fiora is good for splitting and taking 1v2s but thats it, carrying as a fiora is only possible if you are miles above enemy, others all have some kind of cc while fiora has a slow which can be easily baited, meanwhile others are able to carry much better. I agree with the part it is not fun but definitly not as strong as others

[@pootisfilms8272]

i'd swap out camille for darius tbh

[@BigMuskachini]

@@Raven116 cope fiora is easily the most broken and unfair of the 4 with the most autowin kit

[@BigMuskachini]

I have the exact same champs i refuse to play lmao, i have hated every single one of those champs since their release.

[@pootisfilms8272]

@@BigMuskachini i dont think she is autowin but she is very badly designed tbh, ridiculous laning phase allowing her to bully a lot of melee champs

[@joshwew9551]

Even in Wild Rift right now he's a menace in the Baron Lane. He has received nerfs already to his healing passive but it's still not enough. But dammit his playstyle is fun as a draintank fighter.

[@Dainurian]

Imo he's just a perfect soloq champ; there aren't many games where you feel completely useless because you picked Aatrox. He can hold his own in lane after the first few levels against almost every champion, does well in skirmishes, and can also do well in teamfights with big AoE and a resetting ult. And in terms of pro play, being a relatively safe blind who doesn't get run over even against a "counter" matchup like Fiora gives him an express ticket to a high draft presence. Aatrox is just a rock-solid champ, although I do think that he can feel extremely broken or rather mediocre depending on the state of his items because there isn't anything fancy or "different" in his kit. He has AD scaling and wants to hit you with pure physical damage, no funny max HP (outside of his passive auto) or mixed/true damage shenanigans. To do anything else, including fighting through armor, he is completely dependent on items. Honestly the fact that paying for Jak'sho, an item with HP, MR, and armor but 0 AD and 0 armor pen, is not completely troll on Aatrox, whose abilities ONLY scale with AD and ONLY deal physical damage, is absurd and shows that something about the item or the champ (or both) needs to change. It makes sense for Aatrox to build some health and resistances to let him vamp longer, but his vamp is based on damage dealt and imo needs to be tuned so that you are more heavily pushed towards building offensive items.

[@Quarataia]

You are the first content creator I saw talk about the weird pride we toplaners have when selecting their rosters.

[@johnnasullaev]

yeah aatrox is so honourable, its so exciting trying to cs just to be knocked up, lose a quarter of my health because aatrox presses q1 + e+ q2. very wholesome and gigachad. love the doran shield perma full hp strat

[@Heybayday]

I think not talking about how a lot of hos power is stored in 1 ability. I think that makes him super frustrating to play as and against, when landing or not landing his Q is all of hos power. The rest of his abilities are great at helping him hit, but especially late game and with the insane amount of mobility now days it's feels awfull to play aatrox late game.

[@darkmetamario]

As a top main myself, while Aatrox might be fair to play against, him and Darius are the only melee (cause screw ranged top laners) that gives me nightmares playing against them. Something about the pressure that he gives in game is something that only top laners mains can relate. Sure, his kit might not be overloaded, but right now, it would be foolish to undertimate the power of a skilled Aatrox. You need to really know his potential and then the player skill to know if you can even hang the early until he descales. Otherwise, you might just play a playlist of Dark Souls bosses and put your screen on gray by default because he will reckt through your team like butter.

[@captain_malaria]

Ranged top laners were way less reliable than Aatrox was for much of Season 12, screw yourself. Aatrox should not be considered a melee champion.

[@darkmetamario]

@@captain_malaria I mean, yeah, but its a little harsh to tell me to screw mysell over that statement, ranged top laners are annoying and for us at least, so is Aatrox

[@byronmann4525]

I'm an Illaoi main and I hope everyone watches this video... then plays Aatrox

[@einjharrelraca]

aatrox has the same thing yasuo and yone have, being that if they are EVER weak in the meta riot practically instantly buffs him back to top 5 status. He is one of the "Riot Approved Champions™" that the company WILL NOT ever let be bad for a full patch.

[@baptistecochennec5956]

😭😭😭He has been weak/balanced for 2 season before that and both yas and yone are in balanced state right now stop acting

[@einjharrelraca]

@@baptistecochennec5956 now tell me. when have these champions ever been weak for more than 1 patch? i never said they are weak or too strong. all i said is riot forever refuses to let these champs ever be weak. but cope harder dude.

[@baptistecochennec5956]

@@einjharrelraca 48% wr for month now I don't know how you can call that strong

[@einjharrelraca]

@@baptistecochennec5956 in what rank? XD silver 3?

[@baptistecochennec5956]

@@einjharrelraca plat+, dia+, master+and it got worse with elo... You are kinda delu bro

[@ranger3551]

May I ask why you don’t like Riven? I don’t find her annoying when playing against her and when I occasionally pick her, nobody’s talking crap about my champ even when I’m fed.

[@apollyon4529]

Must frustrating thing about him this season is watching him miss all his sweet spots and STILL chunk your hp, if your able to hit every single one then sure go raid boss 1v9 mode but wtf is the point of dodging if non sweet spots basically do the same damage

[@benjaminwilson8807]

No lie. Vars at about the 8:25 mark talks about his variance. Turns out, the difference at level 4 or one component is heavily favorable trade to outright killing you. Champ would be fine if he was actually punished for not hitting sweetspots.

[@alex2005z]

He cant if you are playing some thats strong in 1v1.

[@foxtr0t987]

"Unlike other popular champions... no one really has a bad opinion about Aatrox. He's a very fair champion..." Love the content but this is so insanely out of touch. Talk to anyone who isn't of the mindset that all juggernauts and tanks are wholesome and respectable gigachad champs, and you'll see he's up there with Fiora as one of the most despised top laners in the game. High durability, insane AoE, some of the highest built-in healing values in the game, relatively high mobility for a juggernaut, nearly impossible to counterpick with how adaptive the champ is. The champ is a monstrosity that has yet to be properly nerfed ever since the durability patch skyrocketed him to being one of the best champs in the game, and I and many others refuse to abuse him while hating playing against him.

[@shikikankillzone4239]

It's the toplane bubble circlejerk, apparently, nothing other than bruisers and tanks can be used in toplane, god forbid you if you counterpick with an assassin, mage or even marksmen. Hilarious considering they always tell others to adapt, like when Zed and Darius took over the jg and they just said "Adapt" or how only duelist marksmen could be used post S8 and in solo lanes when they counterpicked someone and they still cried about them being OP. You just gotta love it man, enchanters find a way into the meta that isn't just being a slave to the worst role to carry as? Toplaners instantly go into hyper copium mode and THE ENTIRETY OF THE SUPPORT ROLE gets nerfed because they don't wanna follow their own advice. I just can't, the fact that they still victimise themselves over nothing is just mind-boggling, and most of the times, IT'S JUST EU AND NA, you hop on KR, BR, LATAM, RUS and they all say toplane is fine

[@mehmetsahsert3284]

It's naayil man. It's absolutely naayil. I was playing aatrox even before the rework. Since the shop was updated I lost aatrox and then saw a few clips of him so came back

[@aidanthomas250]

The reason why aatrox is so consistent is because he can hit the sour spot of all his moves, then a auto attack you once and outheal any trade. Champ literally would be high tier if he had no healing in his kit. He's as overloaded as mundo is overtuned

[@Imperitors]

I play top, I hate going up against the insane top bullies like Irelia and Fiora, but despite me losing almost every single game against an Aatrox i can't hate him because of the amount of skill expression he had

[@maths6956]

Yeah he had

[@mignob]

Fiora and irelia have way more skill expression you just have to hit your skillshots on aatrox. nothing interesting there

[@Imperitors]

@@mignob yes, how could I forget getting hit by point and click abilities and auto attacks being so incredibly skillful. Anyone who understands directions can be good at Fiora, hell I have like a 70% wr on her, Irelia is just the embodiment of *insert combo that insta kills*

[@mignob]

@@Imperitors and aatrox q w q2 q3 isnt just an unskilled combo that insta kills?

[@Imperitors]

@@mignob gotta hit sweet spots at the very least.

[@Bagel12321]

With how broken aatrox was for a good majority of this year I feel like you overplayed him being a fair top lane champ

[@nopnop9077]

he's a braindead aatrox main himself, what did you expect

[@Ghosta085]

I agree aatrox isnt fair in any way shape or form. He should not be able to 1v1 you if he misses 2/3 of his sweet spot q's but he always manages to win its so stupid

[@TheClanBlade]

Finally a Vars video on my champ

[@Kurenai_Mitsuguni]

I somewhat love Aatrox since I've seen him a lot, He's commonly a Jungler but I always take him to Baron lane because he can deal alot of damage even in early stages of the game by picking his first skill

[@Zarouph]

I started playing league in S11, instantly was an Aatrox main, and it was tough to win, because ignite gutted any healing you from your e and ult, and DD was no where near as good. But then the durability update, anti heal reduction and gore nerf happened. And Aatrox became a monster, the champ I loved playing became a pick ban in draft games of all things. I really hope Riot nerfs eclipse/Jaksho on Aatrox so he can go back to building goredrinker and not being pick/ban.

[@max-potato-muncher]

What I dislike about the recent champions and changes to items is that it is super easy to lose a trade, run off and "do nothing" and then you're full hp again from ravenous or innate vamp, from just farming minions.

[@baptistecochennec5956]

I mean when you have a full item you mostly have the damage to all in kill your opponent

[@amberspectre9615]

damm... The music in the background is poppin... why is it not linked in the description? i wish to listen to it... you know... without the voiceover

[@TheUCruz]

I’ll save you 14min: Aatrox is strong right now, his items are strong, people play strong champions Happy New Years reader

[@nojaodoggo2896]

Never ask to Aatrox main what happen after 9.4 patch

[@jususi71]

When atrox doesnt even get countered by fiora u know hes overpowered, its not fun to lose the lane cos atrox is hitting u from 800 range while also beating u in melee. If ure playing vs atrox in high elo atm and ure not irelia or something like an ornn u automatically lose

[@wadapak5558]

I just play him because i like feeling like a dark souls boss. I dont know about you, but when i play champions that i click with, i can make them at least decent or viable even if they are trash. Aatrox is a prime example and although he is kinda broken, its like i can make him doubly broken because i can connect with and "feel" the gameplay if that makes sense. If i play any other champ that i dont like, but are broken, i can make that champ go 0-11 all game.

[@nathan172]

11:56 insert Dr.Livesy walk music

[@Topunito]

I feel like Aatrox has one of the best gameplay designs in the game (in my opinion) but he feels a little too powerful at the moment. His design feels incredibly complete, fair, and ridiculously fun to play, but it may not be very clear when he's so powerful.

[@hunter235100]

1:53 LMAOOOO, the damn GP Is trying to Bm and gets smacked for it

[@GankScythe]

maaaan, i feel like a fuckin hipster aatrox main, im all sad now that my sneaking suspicion that hes been getting played more is true. I remember when he was first released everyone hated him, now theyre all pretending like the love him. my boi was perfect the first time around, but i loved him through all his phases 🥲

[@vibingzilla5097]

Honestly, i play aatrox since his rework, even when his pick rate was really bad i still picked him, just because i like his character; it's fun to cause chaos while he screams in my ears every 20 seconds, you also get the feeling of being a raid boss and make vayne top players smash their keyboards.

[@alanevans5353]

12:44 "unconscious prejudice" I do believe that prejudice is VERY conscious.

[@hypers829]

There's 3 main reasons why people play him right now: 1. He's Overpowered 2. He's Overpowered 3. He's Overpowered

[@Gjozt25]

Yo, I’ve played aatrox since his first release. Before the rework. THATS the version that would be disgustingly busted in the current game. He’s always been good. Items right now are just ridiculous. Eclipse, black cleaver or gore, grudge(bad rn), or jaksho, hydra are his first two items. ALWAYS.

[@Hclody95]

tl;dr : its a stupid broken champ that they refuse to nerf

[@davronhanley8255]

Aatrox VGU actually brought me back to the game in 2020 after a 4 year break. He’s always been fun to play but now he’s actually strong. That’s why people play him.

[@FiggitClips]

Check out more insane clips on THIS channel ! Click for funny league moment and news thank you !

[@ImGlassy]

I wish all Aatrox mains a horrible 2023

[@soul_bolt]

it would be funny to see the new darkin champ have old aatrox's kit a revive on R, except the R bonus AD and healing bonus. May I ask what the song under to the vid is?

[@controversial101]

The same reason people play aatrox is the same reason I play jinx and cait they have ways protect themselves so in solo que where ur sup differs from match 2 match I can still play the game against yi, kat, zed, vi, and etc.

[@bifrostengaged1371]

Why everyone plays him: His Combos are easy to get a hang of and very simple to execute once you get the hang of him, while the changes of missing are relatively low as he slows and has pretty fast animations and big hitboxes. He Heals for triple his hp bar for every champion hit so once you took the time to learn his limits its basically a no brain champ that requires little to no hands to operate

[@muizzkazi5432]

Its weird, but people forget Aatrox too has lost liek half his kit since his VGU: passive not applying healing reduction, E omnivamp working on minions, 2 dashes on his E, the revive on his Ult.

[@raidenimpact7885]

Really miss the double dash. The rest is broken and understandably removed.

[@mysticstelios]

7:32 That kindred r xD

[@trickle1386]

This one can be short. Cause he’s broken af right now.

[@StarRider253]

12:05 is a HUUUUGE stretch, at least at the moment. His numbers are currently pretty ridiculous

[@Queen-ci1vg]

what is the background song?

[@moistfungus3780]

Well this explains why I love aatrox as much as I do. Only champion I have any significant mastery in cuz I fuck around and switch so much. Aatrox always feels good to me though.

[@willmun7741]

I play gangplank and aatrox, love to see my champs be in both the why no one plays and why everyone plays series

[@genista3604]

Bruh, u almost made me think I was already doing my dailies in blue archive with that bgm.

[@leaflotus6726]

As a rakan main, I've tried almost everything on rakan (besides mabye some support items, cause screw support) and I started watching Naayil and I was like, wait, but that's fun, strong, and I can play Aatrox similair to how I play rakan, so if I go top I go AA if mid I go rakan.

[@chiki5152]

Pantheon has been dragged down a lot by the durability update while it just made aatrox lose skill expression and made him way easier, to the point where probably only spearshot could kill aatrox consistently

[@iceblack95]

To play both Fiora an Aatrox, Fiora IS a hard counter of the pick. It is not a miss conception if the fact is true. The only way an Aatrox is able to beat a Fiora is during the first lvl (1-6) and snowballing from that point, Fiora has not enough damages, CDR and sustain to cope with Aatrox's damages and her wave clear is terrible. But you can prevent that by running runes like Grasp to help you sustain early lvl and complety beat the crap of the Aatrox once you get the Divine. Fiora has all the tools to beat Aatrox 1 v 1, High true damages, high sustain, high mobility (burst of ms and dash), the parry which counters all the spells of Aatrox and the champion completely outscales Aatrox (i mean its Fiora). The only X factor in that match-up is the player playing the champion, once Fiora messes up her parry it is over for her, but if she uses it well, it is over for the Aatrox.

[@alex2005z]

Fiora only ez wins at 2 items, and divine isnt even the way to go into aatrox. Its goredrinker into hydra. And grasp wont help you against aatrox. His neutral is to good for you to contest him at it. You go conqueror for the all in. Its a skill matchup until 2 items, aka whoever gets the first kill runs ahead

[@UmbralScythe]

I am not your enemy, i am THE enemy! Made me main him

[@dorianmcdonald1674]

Was hoping you'd hit upon the way he embodies his theme a bit more but overall a good summary 👌

[@franconunez925]

Probably my favourite champion to see, I might not play him myself because the only positioning I like to have in mind is how far is my fist from their face, I love the idea of an angel of death who heals by destroying the enemy team, but also not having a "braindead win condition" like reaching late or snowballing since even when fed, he needs to position well so his Q lands on their sweet pot. That's all I got to say, is just that I really like Aatrox.

[@gabrielbaima7891]

Playing against Aatrox is like a dance, someone does their move and the other has to respond to it accordingly.

[@alex2005z]

Welcome to skill matchups

[@FukkenGoogel]

Yep and 2 seconds later you dance again

[@protex4031]

LIL BRO UNIRONICLY SAID THAT BLACK CLEAVER IS BAD ITEM ON AATROX💀

[@mattvaughn8525]

one of the most underrated items imo. People only focus on what it does for you instead of the damage increase to your entire team vs teams stacking armor.

[@calistamueller4463]

he said black cleaver WAS a bad item on aatrox before the mythic overhaul

[@protex4031]

@@calistamueller4463 It was always good. Aatrox was just in a mediocre state because his base stats were reduced because of the Revive, now when he has actual AD Ratios/Healing from his ultimate, His 3rd Q does insane damage when you full armor strip them. Also Naayil(EUW Aatrox main) Goes BC rush into tanks like Ornn,Ksante and Maokai.

[@BMO20]

i play aatrox because hes the world ender

[@LelouSMash]

Insects the world ender has come!!!

[@CrityCrit]

So odd2 seasons ago seeing him was strange now he’s been op for 2 seasons.

[@phill9780]

I don't get it. People say he is useless, but there have been so many times where I've seen a 0/5 Aatrox 1v5 team fights. It makes no sense. He is still very unkillable for an ADC like a tank but one shots them. So he's a champ with low risk and high reward. While other champs are high risk and high reward. Yet why are those champs hated? Even the 4 horsemen of top lane, which are Riven, Irelia, Camille and Fiora are killable even as 5/0, but a 5/0 Aatrox is a 1v9 machine. So what's the issue with the 4 horsemen but not Aatrox. Aatrox is easier with the same amount of reward and maybe even higher, but the other 4 are high risk with a lower reward. Yea Fiora has Parry and Irelia has infinite dashes, but they're killable. Aatrox presses R and is unkillable. So what's worse to play against?

[@unofficialskins624]

Me listening to Vars explain neutral game for the 3206th time: 😑

[@mywifeleftmesonowimayoutub7729]

Aatrox only got OP when they buffed W by 4 sec cd and Q damage sweetspot by 10%. Revert those buffs and he will be a healthy champ.