If you remember back in 2018 when Aatrox was reworked, this character truly became a “monster” in the Top Lane. With high damage, strong crowd control, and above all, terrifying healing, Aatrox was like an unstoppable warrior in the Top Lane. He was also one of the champions that helped “Top God” TheShy rise to the world champion title in 2018.
Such a glorious past, but now Aatrox has nearly become completely “useless” in the professional League of Legends environment. For instance, in the LPL Spring 2022 tournament, Aatrox was selected only 8 times, banned once, and had a mere pick/ban rate of 3%. In fact, during the LCK Spring 2022 tournament, Aatrox never appeared at all, whether in bans or picks.
So why is Aatrox becoming so “useless” right now? Despite this champion being buffed continuously over the past few years? According to a very “quirky” Top Laner, Bwipo of Team Liquid, the introduction of the Galeforce and other mobility items has completely ruined Aatrox.
TL Bwipo: “Talking about Aatrox? What do you want to know? The only time this champion isn’t useless is when mobility items like Galeforce haven’t shown up. Those types of items have completely destroyed Aatrox. He can’t do anything if the opponent has too many escape tools to avoid his W. That’s right, if his W can’t catch the opponent, Aatrox is just a super ‘trash’ champion.”
Imagine if Aatrox’s W becomes useless, can he hit the opponent with Q? Therefore, at this point, Aatrox is generally a poor champion just waiting for teammates to carry. Even when being carried, he contributes too little to the team’s gameplay.”
If you’ve noticed, since Riot Games changed the Teleport spell to only be usable on minions, wards… after the 14th minute, Aatrox has weakened significantly. Previously, this champion could use this summoner spell early and effectively attack low-health, immobile targets like Marksmen or Mages in the early game.
However, with this intervention ability being nullified, when Aatrox attacks, the opponents already have defensive items, such as Galeforce with Marksmen or Crown of the Shattered Queen with Mages. As a result, no matter how well he farms and how strong he is, Aatrox struggles to deal effective damage in team fights and becomes relatively “useless,” easily taken down. We hope that in the future, Riot will find a way to bring this Darkin back into the meta because after all, he is still a character with great potential to “carry the team.”