Aatrox is getting much more popular in Field of Justice, especially in top lane, after his “full relaunch” in patch 8.13.
Aatrox’s abilities no longer cost mana and with Guinsoo’s Rageblade equipped, Aatrox – The Darkin Blade can constantly unleash a monstrous amount of damage on his enemy.
But as everything about Aatrox in League of Legends now is so fresh and new, you might need to learn how to counter him all over again . So let this guide of EXP.GG help you with that.
I. Aatrox’s overview
1. Pros
- Can knock up his target 3 consecutive times with Q – The Darkin Blade by reactivating the ability. But remember that you can perform basic attacks in between, like with Riven’s Q
- His E – Unbral Dash enables him to heal himself with his attacks which is great in laning phase
- Can initiate and control enemy effectively with W – Infernal Chains. The ability works like LeBlanc’s E
- Aatrox’s passive – Deathbringer Stance deals damage based on target’s maximum health, causes a debuff that reduces target’s healing and shielding in a short duration. This passive should work well against champions with high health and regeneration
- World Ender, Aatrox’s ultimate, will revive him if he takes lethal damage when it’s active
2. Cons
- Aggressive playstyle, can’t go back once he’s on a momentum
- Escaping abilitiles have some down points, for example Unbral Dash can’t go over terrains that are huge in size
- Aatrox’s W can be easily counter by champions with high movement speed or geared with good escaping abilities
II. How to counter top lane Aatrox in Patch 8.13
1. Aatrox’s counter champions
Jax – Grandmaster at Arms
Jax is such a great counter to physical damage dealers and Aatrox is not an exception in this case.
Jax would not have to worry about Aatrox’s attacks once E – Counter Strike is available. Aatrox’s combos actually can be neutralized by Jax and as a result, Aatrox may have to consider carefully before attacking Jax.
Either it’s Level 1 Jax or Level 6 Jax, Aatrox is not a good match up for Jax. Even if Aatrox has “2 lives” thanks to his ultimate, the bonus armor and magic resistance Jax got from his ultimate – Grandmaster’s Might should be enough for him to stand against Aatrox in a long while.
Kỹ năng W của Aatrox sẽ không thể trói chân được Jax bởi bậc thầy quay tay có kỹ năng Q, ngay lập tức
Leap Strike (W) of Jax is exactly what the champion needs to escape from the target range of Aatrox’s Infernal Chains, being able to avoid its crowd control effect. Trinity Force is a suitable item for Jax to use with his passive which gives him up to 88% attack speed. And because of that, it’s not very wise of Aatrox to fight Jax on his own.
Malphite – Shard of the Monolith
Along with Jax, Malphite is among the best counters to Aatrox. With the high amount of armor on him, which he gets from his passive and ability , a physical damage dealer like Aatrox should not be a big deal.
To go 1 on 1 with Aatrox fearlessly, you should focus on Malphite’s durability more and get him defensive instead of offensive items.
Aatrox has good regeneration power thanks to his E so he can deal with Malphite that tends to max out Q first as the damage Malphite can deal with Q is not enough to suppress Aatrox. An easy solution for this is that you max out E first for Malphite. With E at max level, Malphite can easily clear minions waves and scare away Aatrox whenever he gets close.
To counter Aatrox’s W, be sure to get 1 point of Malphite’s Q to steal Aatrox’s movement speed to get away from the chain’s range if needed. Choosing a defensive rune path and getting 1 point of W at some point should be helpful too.
As you can see, Malphite’s high defensive stats indirectly counter Aatrox, discourage him from attacking Malphite right from laning phase. This could happen to any other top lane physical damage dealer as well.
Fiora – The Grand Duelist
It’s no surprise that the third champion in this list is another one that’s good at 1v1. And that’s top lane Fiora. Aatrox would not be afraid of champions that could not finish him off quickly. But Fiora is different, she’s one of those champions that Aatrox should be afraid of. Fiora doesn’t deal a huge amount of damage at once but she can deal damage constantly and it’s true damage.
Using Fiora to counter Aatrox is not new. In fact, Fiora with her W – Riposte can counter the old Aatrox back when he had only 1 crowd control ability. Now in patch 8.13, Aatrox is geared with even more crowd control abilities and it’s no way a bad news for Fiora as she can use Riposte more at ease.
Also, Fiora has more than 1 way to escape from Aatrox’s chain and avoid being pulled back.
Fiora can take on Aatrox at any point of the match. In laning phase, use Fiora’s Q – Lunge precisely to harass Aatrox. In 1v1 fights against Aatrox, use Fiora’s W timely to block Aatrox’s crowd control abilities and then quickly engage with R – Grand Challenge. Even if Aatrox then comes back to life, the amount of healing Fiora gets from her R is enough for her to fight another round.
2. Counter Aatrox in gameplay
- Request your jungler to gank on Aatrox in early game as he is not good at escaping and to delay his level 6 as long as possible
- If you choose a durable champion to begin with, focus even more on getting defensive items that grant you defensive stats as well as effects to slow down Aatrox like
Warden’s Mail - Pick champions that can deal burst damage or with good damage over time abilities to deal with Aatrox’s regeneration power
- Aatrox’s abilities don’t cost him mana and he has good regeneration power as you already know, deal with him wisely so that your champion would not lose health, die in vain
- Don’t pick the likes of Maokai, Vladimir, Nautilus as Aatrox deals damage based on % of health and reduces target’s all healing and shielding which would lead to bad scenarios for those mentioned champions
