| Aatrox | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General Information | |
| Title | The Darkin Blade |
| Pronouns | He/Him |
| Release Date | June 13th, 2013 |
| Cost | 4800  880  |
| Primary | Fighter |
| Secondary | Tank |
| Statistics | |
HP | 650 (+ 114) |
HPR | 3 (+ 0.5) |
MS | 345 |
AD | 60 (+ 5) |
AS | 0.651 (+ 2.5%) |
RNG | 175 |
AR | 38 (+ 4.8) |
MR | 32 (+ 2.05) |
| Developer Info | |
| DDragon Key | Aatrox |
| Integer Key | 266 |
| External Links | |
| Universe | universe.leagueoflegends.com |
| Game Info Wiki | wiki.leagueoflegends.com |
Aatrox is a champion in League of Legends.
Lore[]
- For outdated and now non-canon lore entries, click here.
- Biography
- Story
| Once honored defenders of Shurima against the Void, Aatrox and his brethren would eventually become an even greater threat to Runeterra, and were defeated only by cunning mortal sorcery. But after centuries of imprisonment, Aatrox was the first to find freedom once more, corrupting and transforming those foolish enough to try and wield the magical weapon that contained his essence. Now, with stolen flesh, he walks Runeterra in a brutal approximation of his previous form, seeking an apocalyptic and long overdue vengeance.
Whether mistaken for a demon or god, many tales have been told of the Darkin Blade... but few know his real name, or the story of his fall. In ancient times, long before desert sands swallowed the empire, a mighty champion of Shurima was brought before the Sun Disc to become the avatar for a now forgotten celestial ideal. Remade as one of the Ascended, his wings were the golden light of dawn, and his armor sparkled like a constellation of hope from beyond the great veil. Aatrox was his name. He was at the vanguard of every noble conflict. So true and just was his conduct that other god-warriors would always gather at his side, and ten thousand mortals of Shurima marched behind him. When Setaka, the Ascended warrior-queen, called for his help against the rebellion of Icathia, Aatrox answered without hesitation. But no one predicted the extent of the horrors that the rebels would unleash—the Void quickly overwhelmed its Icathian masters, and began the grinding annihilation of all life it encountered. After many years of desperate battle, Aatrox and his brethren finally halted the Void’s perverse advance, and seared the largest rifts shut. But the surviving Ascended, the self-described Sunborn, had been forever changed by what they had encountered. Though Shurima had triumphed, they all had lost something in their victory... even noble Aatrox. And in time, Shurima fell, as all empires must. Without any monarch to defend, or the existential threat of the Void to test them, Aatrox and the Sunborn began to clash with one another, and eventually this became a war for the ruins of their world. Mortals fleeing the conflict came to know them instead by a new and scornful name: the darkin. Fearing that these fallen Ascended were as dangerous to Runeterra’s survival as the Void incursions had been, the Targonians intervened. It is said that the Aspect of Twilight gave mortals the knowledge to trap the darkin, and the newly reborn Aspect of War united many in fighting back against them. Never fearing any foe, Aatrox and his armies were ready, and he realized only too late that they had been deceived. A force greater than a thousand dead suns pulled him inside the sword he had carried into battle countless times, and forever bound his immortal essence to it. The weapon was a prison, sealing his consciousness in suffocating, eternal darkness, robbing him even of the ability to die. For centuries, he strained against this hellish confinement... until some nameless mortal was foolish enough to try and wield the blade once more. Aatrox seized upon this opportunity, forcing his will and an imitation of his original form onto his bearer, though the process quickly drained all life from the new body. In the years that followed, Aatrox groomed many more hosts—men and women of exceptional vitality or fortitude. Though his grasp of such magics had been limited in life, he learned to take control of a mortal in the span of single breath, and in battle he discovered he could feast on his victims to build himself ever larger and stronger. Aatrox traveled the land, searching desperately, endlessly, for a way return to his previous Ascended form… but the riddle of the blade proved unsolvable, and in time he realized he would never be free of it. The flesh he stole and crudely shaped began to feel like a mockery of his former glory—a cage only slightly larger than the sword. Despair and loathing grew in his heart. The heavenly powers that Aatrox had once embodied had been wiped from the world, and all memory. Raging against this injustice, he arrived at a solution that could only be born of a prisoner’s desperation. If he could not destroy the blade or free himself, then he would embrace oblivion instead. Now, Aatrox marches toward this merciless goal, bringing war and death wherever he goes. He clings to a blind hope: if he can drive all of creation into a final, apocalyptic battle—where everything, everything else is destroyed—then maybe he and the blade will also cease to exist. | |
| "I must destroy even hope…"
- |
| THE CAGE
Darkness. The breath I cannot take plagues me. It is an emptiness in my lungs and throat. As if I had stopped mid-breath, and then held my lungs cruelly waiting. My mouth open, throat hollow, unable to pull in air. My chest, the horrible tension on my thorax. My limbs and muscles refuse to move. I cannot breath. I am choking. The pressure builds. The stillness spreads to my chest and limbs. I want to scream, to tear at my face, to wail—but I am trapped. I cannot move. I cannot move. Darkness. I must remember. I must remem— The battle. I lost control. It was foolish. The mortals formed in ranks against me. I crashed into them. Drank from them. The temptation was too great. As I reaped, I reforged their flesh into a better approximation of my true shape. Desperately, I consumed more and more, hoping for the briefest echo of what I once was. Instead, like a fire, I burned too quickly, destroying even my host’s form. Darkness. It was raining when we fought. What if the mud and filth cover me? What if I’m hidden for thousands of years? Trapped in this prison. The horror of that idea feeds my panic. The battle is ending. I can feel it. I must will my form upright. I must… I must... I have no arms or legs. The darkness binds me, like a cocoon. No. I will myself upright. But I can’t know if it is working. I cannot know anything but the darkness. Please. Let some mortal find me. Please. I beg the darkness endlessly, but the humiliation of my plea is answered only with silence. But then… I feel a mortal nearby. I have no eyes, no ears, but I can feel his approach. He is fleeing from adversaries. He must try to defend himself. He must grasp me. Can he see me? He could run past me. I would be left here. I feel his hand grip this form and… and his consciousness opens to me! I burrow into him, pulling him down. I am like a drowning man thrown into the sea by a shipwreck, dragging myself to the surface by clawing past my fellows. “What’s happening?!” the mortal screams. But he is silenced by the darkness—the endless darkness I have just escaped. And I have eyes. I can see the falling rain. The muck. The blood of this slaughtering field. In front of me stand two weary knights with spears. I cut them apart, and drink in their forms, recrafting this body to my needs. They are weak. I must move quickly. I must find a better wielder. A better host. Around me are only the dead and dying. I hear their souls retreating from this world. The fighting has not ended. It’s moved inside the city walls. I force my new shape—limping, crawling—toward the sounds of battle. Toward a better host. I roar. But not in triumph. Never in triumph. I will drink from that city, but I will achieve only a grotesque mockery of my former glory. I was shaped by the stars, and the purity of my aspect. I was light and reason given shape. I defended this world in the greatest battles ever known. Now, blood and ichor drips from this stolen flesh as it decays. The muscles and bones struggle, tear, and protest the abomination I have become. I take a breath. “No, Aatrox,” I say, my voice wet and echoing off the dead that surround me. “We will go onward... and onward… and onward…” Until the final oblivion comes. |
Abilities[]
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The Darkin Blade. Multi hits only reduce the cooldown once.
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Patch History[]
Q Sweetspot bonus damage increased.
We’re still keeping an eye on the changes to the fighter item system, but it’s clear that Aatrox drew the short sword. This buff should hit the sweet spot.
Q - The Darkin Blade
Patch 11.2
E’s self-healing now increases during R. R self-healing decreased.
Champions like Aatrox and Olaf are able to reach a scary state with massive burst healing from items (Goredrinker and Ravenous Hydra) and runes (Conqueror and Ravenous Hunter). The moments where they feel untouchable aren’t healthy, so we’re shifting their healing to be sourced more from their kit rather than from systems.
E - Umbral Dash
R - World Ender
Patch 11.1
Champion Base Stat Cleanup
We've cleaned up some champions' base stats over the years and are rounding out the remaining 99 champions.
Patch 10.20
R self-healing increased later.
Aatrox wants to step into his full potential as the unkillable DPS monster, so we’re helping him harness his darkin power by curbing some of his mid- to late-game falloff. Hopefully now this warrior demon won’t fall flat in late game teamfights.
R - World Ender
| SELF-HEALING : | [50/60/70%] | |
| ⇒ | 50/75/100% |
Patch 10.17
R Bonus damage ratio increased later.
Aatrox is on the fringes of pro play, hanging on for dear life. Since he’s restrained in that MMR, he has room for us to push him into a much better state for all players.
R - World Ender
| BONUS DAMAGE RATIO : | [0.2/0.25/0.3 ] | |
| ⇒ | 0.2/0.3/0.4 | attack damage |
R - World Ender
Passive - Deathbringer Stance
/ E - Umbral Dash
Malphite with Granite Shield. Patch 9.19
Q minion damage reduction increased.
We overnerfed Aatrox in 9.18 and are giving back some of the waveclear he lost.
Q - The Darkin Blade
Patch 9.18
Passive now heals for less against minions. Q damage to minions reduced and flattened.
Aatrox is still highly valued in pro play, so we're taking another swing at him. We're nerfing his sustain and waveclear at the late laning phase points (around level 7-11) to hit his flexibility in lane matchups and his ability to flex into multiple roles.
Passive - Deathbringer Stance
| HEAL : | Heals for | [bonus physical damage dealt to anything] | |
| ⇒ | 25% of the damage dealt when stabbing a minion | (healing vs. other targets unchanged) |
Q - The Darkin Blade
| DAMAGE TO MINIONS : | [50-100% (levels 1-18)] | |
| ⇒ | 40% at all levels |
Patch 9.14
Base health regen growth increased. R no longer revives Aatrox; amplified self-healing increased; cooldown decreased.
Despite the adjustments we've made over the past couple of patches, Aatrox has remained a stalwart presence in pro play. We're making him less reliable as a blind pick with the removal of revives from his ultimate.
Base Stats
R - World Ender
| AMPLIFIED SELF-HEALING : | [40/55/70%] | |
| ⇒ | 50/60/70% |
| COOLDOWN : | [140/120/100] | |
| ⇒ | 120/100/80 |
Patch 9.12
Passive cooldown now scales based on level. R healing bonus now only applies to self-healing.
We're following-up with the changes we made to Aatrox in 9.9 since right now he heals way too often in lane (via his passive) and heals way too much late-game (from book cats and star goats).
Passive - Deathbringer Stance
R - World Ender
| PASSIVE DAMAGE AND HEALING : | [5-10%] | |
| ⇒ | 5-12% | (based on level) of the target's maximum health |
Q - The Darkin Blade
| FIRST SWING AD RATIO : | [55/60/65/70/75%] | |
| ⇒ | 60/65/70/75/80% |
Patch 9.9
Passive attack now also heals Aatrox and mutilation removed. Q cooldown adjusted and damage increased. W slow flattened and cooldown increased. E heal trigger adjusted. Revive no longer a baseline effect on R. Takedowns now extend R and enable revive, movement speed adjusted, increases healing. LOTS of tuning… Just read the full changelist for this one.
Where do we even begin? Since his rework, Aatrox has settled into a diving, one-shot playstyle that’s protected by the guaranteed safety of a revive. Rather than number tuning to make the revive less powerful, we’re making mechanics changes across the board to even the scales between reliable power that's valued in pro and power that's more fitting of Aatrox’s fantasy. Most notably, the revive on his ultimate is much less reliable, freeing up a lot of room to give him buffs (which make up the majority of the other changes here). Overall, this patch pushes Aatrox toward a more bruisery, drain-tanky playstyle and his list of strengths will include more than one, all-in dive combo, accentuating his thematic as a life-draining war machine.
Base Stats
Passive - Deathbringer Stance
| BONUS DAMAGE : | [8-16%] | |
| ⇒ | 5-10% | (lvl 1-18) of the target's maximum health |
Q - The Darkin Blade
| COOLDOWN : | [16/15/14/13/12] | |
| ⇒ | 14/12/10/8/6 |
| DAMAGE : | [10/25/40/55/70] | |
| ⇒ | 10/30/50/70/90 |
W - Infernal Chains
| SLOW : | [15/20/25/30/35%] | |
| ⇒ | 25% at all ranks |
| COOLDOWN : | [18/17/16/15/14] | |
| ⇒ | 26/23/20/17/14 |
E - Umbral Dash
R - World Ender
| MOVEMENT SPEED : | [120/180/240 flat for 1 second on cast and while out of combat during World Ender] | |
| ⇒ | 60/80/100% decaying over World Ender's duration |
| COOLDOWN : | [160/140/120] | |
| ⇒ | 140/120/100 |
| HEAL DURING REVIVE : | [10-50% Aatrox's maximum health (based on Blood Well)] | |
| ⇒ | 30% Aatrox's maximum health |
Patch 9.6
Aatrox now pulls targets even when they're untargetable. Passive no longer cancels when reviving.
Bugfixin'.
General
W - Infernal Chains
R - World Ender
Patch 9.3
Health regen increased. Aatrox no longer heals off damage to non-champions. E no longer stores charges but cools down faster than it previously charged.
Where last patch focused on dropping Aatrox's raw power, this patch focuses on exposing more weaknesses for the Darkin Blade. We're trading his ability to sustain off minions for higher baseline regen so he can't fall back as effectively on passive farming to recover from enemy aggression. Removing Umbral Dash's second charge makes Aatrox's skill check for landing all three Q hits steeper and means if enemies can bait his dash, he won't have a second one to use as an escape.
Base Stats
E - Umbral Dash
| COOLDOWN : | [3/2.5/2/1.5/1] | |
| ⇒ | 9/8/7/6/5 seconds, now reduced by cooldown reduction (CDR previously affected charge rate rather than cooldown) |
Patch 9.2
Q damage ratio decreased. E recharge time increased.
True to his nature as an unkillable ancient terror, Aatrox survived the nerfs we threw at him during preseason and is still savaging both pro and regular play. This patch, we're dropping his damage across the board (higher E cooldown means less reliability on Q) but are especially focusing on his early game.
Q - The Darkin Blade
| RATIO : | [0.64/0.68/0.72/0.76/0.80] | |
| ⇒ | 0.55/0.60/0.65/0.70/0.75 | total attack damage |
| FULL COMBO RATIO : | [3.6/3.825/4.05/4.275/4.5] | |
| ⇒ | 3.09/3.38/3.66/3.94/4.22 | total attack damage (numbers rounded because they're gross) |
E - Umbral Dash
| RECHARGE TIME : | [24/20/16/12/8] | |
| ⇒ | 26/22/18/14/10 | seconds |
Patch 8.24
Q no longer deals bonus damage to monsters.
This mechanic was originally added to let players explore the possibility of jungle Aatrox, which never really took off. Mid Aatrox is now using it in tandem with Smite to create a lead his opponents have no real way to punish, so we're removing it as an unintended lane strength.
Q - The Darkin Blade
v8.23
R duration decreased; now always grants max heal if Blood Well is over 80% filled.
Aatrox won't have as long to wreak havoc with the promise of revival during World Ender, but he'll max out the revive heal sooner. A few clarity improvements will help enemies make the best choice when deciding when and if to kill him the first time or wait out the clock to deny the revive.
R - World Ender
v8.18
E passive healing increased at later ranks. R bonus attack damage increased at later ranks.
Our last set of Aatrox changes brought his lane bullying under control, giving us room to improve his scaling into later phases of the game.
E - Umbral Dash
| PASSIVE HEALING VS CHAMPIONS : | [20/21.25/22.5/23.75/25%] | |
| ⇒ | 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% |
R - World Ender
| BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE : | [20/22.5/25%] | |
| ⇒ | 20/25/30% |
v8.16
E passive healing against non-champions decreased. Charges granted on learning E decreased. R cooldown increased at early ranks.
We've mostly gotten Aatrox's power level to a good place, but we still need to trim a bit of his laning strength to prevent him from being so much of a bully.
E - Umbral Dash
R - World Ender
| COOLDOWN : | [140/130/120] | |
| ⇒ | 160/140/120 | seconds |
v8.14
Base health decreased. Q base damage decreased. E recharge rate decreased early, increased later. R bonus attack damage increased. Q timer freezes while reviving.
Now that Aatrox players have gotten some games under their belt and mastered his pretty unique spells, it turns out he's pretty strong, especially in lane. We're pulling some of his early game power in exchange for some more late-game consistency.
General
Base Stats
Q - The Darkin Blade
| BASE DAMAGE : | [20/35/50/65/80] | |
| ⇒ | 10/25/40/55/70 |
| DAMAGE TO MINIONS : | [65-100%] | |
| ⇒ | 50-100% | (at levels 1-18) of base damage |
E - Umbral Dash
| RECHARGE RATE : | [20/18/16/14/12] | |
| ⇒ | 24/20/16/12/8 | seconds |
R - World Ender
Mid-Patch 8.13 Updates
These changes went live partway through 8.13.
Base health increased. Q damage increased. E healing increased. E distance increased. E now resets attack timer. R cooldown decreased at early ranks.
Aatrox has released weaker than we'd like, so we're adding power into his baseline damage and durability and making some quality of life changes to his E.
Base Stats
Q - The Darkin Blade
| Q1 DAMAGE : | [15/30/45/60/75] | |
| ⇒ | 20/35/50/65/80 |
E - Umbral Dash
| PASSIVE HEALING : | [15/16.25/17.5/18.75/20%] | |
| ⇒ | 20/21.25/22.5/23.75/25% |
| COOLDOWN : | [160/140/120 seconds] | |
| ⇒ | 140/130/120 seconds |
Aatrox, the Darkin Blade will bring ruin upon us this patch! Prepare for obliteration with these links:
Base stats
Q - Dark Flight
| BASE DAMAGE : | [10/35/60/95/120] | |
| ⇒ | 20/50/80/110/140 |
E - Blades of Torment
| BASE DAMAGE : | [75/115/155/195/235] | |
| ⇒ | 80/120/160/200/240 |
W - Blood Price
E - Blades of Torment
| BASE DAMAGE : | [70/110/150/190/230] | |
| ⇒ | 75/115/155/195/235 |
v7.19
Now unstoppable during Q’s descent. R bonus attack range increased.
Aatrox is struggling to impose himself in teamfights these days. We're focusing on improving his access to priority targets: Dark Flight is now a more reliable tool for diving the backline, while Massacre’s increased additional attack range will boost his reach as he’s wailing on his foes.
Q - Dark Flight
R - Massacre
v7.16
W third-hit effects no longer proc against wards.
Changing Blood Thirst / Blood Price to be consistent with the on-hit context above, though Aatrox comes with a few extra considerations. The Darkin Blade benefitted from his on-hit bonuses proccing on wards: Thirst is a heal and Price stacks the Blood Well. We discussed special-casing Aatrox to let W continue proccing on wards, but came up against another issue. We removed the ability to lifesteal off wards during preseason, and Blood Thirst’s heal is inconsistent with that change. This shifted the scales back toward standardizing W’s interaction with wards. While the loss of situational utility stings, it shouldn’t critically impact Aatrox’s strength since he can’t control when he has an enemy ward to attack.
W - Blood Thirst / Blood Price
v7.8
Hellbent attack speed up and now refreshes on monsters. W missing health heal up.
Despite some love in patch 7.6, Aatrox is still struggling with consistency (especially in the jungle). His new passive is much more difficult to access in the jungle than the old one, so we’re tuning that. As well, we’re adding some power back into his self-healing to help him feel safer staying in fights.
Passive - Blood Well
W - Blood Thirst
v7.6
After reviving, Aatrox now keeps his primed Blood Price/Thirst hits and gets full Blood Well.
Between the depth of Aatrox’s changes last patch and the buffs we shipped shortly thereafter, the dust has yet to settle. We’re holding off on targeted balance follow-up until his performance has stabilized, but in the interim, we’re delivering some quality of life changes that should make the revive experience feel more consistent. Also... is it Darkin here or were Aatrox’s tooltips just hard to read? Turns out, a bit of the latter, so we’re doing some cleanup work.
Passive - Blood Well
These changes are already live; we’re just putting them here as a reminder.
- Base stats
- HEALTH : [537.8] ⇒ 580
Q - Dark Flight- COOLDOWN : [16/15/14/13/12] ⇒ 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds
- W - Blood Price
- BASE DAMAGE : [30/60/90/120/150] ⇒ 45/80/115/150/185
v7.5
Health costs reduced. Blood Well now gives a large buff when filled.
It’s been awhile since we’ve given the Darkin Blade a patch note (to say the least), and we owe Aatrox players an apology for that. We know it doesn’t feel good to hear that your champion is a “game health issue”, and it’s even more demoralizing when we don’t do anything to solve that.
When we have talked about Aatrox, we’ve typically focused on his self-heal based gameplay, and how difficult it is to maintain. Tackling a project that large is something more appropriate for a full VGU or a champion class update, but that focus has led us to neglect Aatrox for far too long. Aatrox has other problems besides the dicey-ness of self-healing, and we’re taking this time to tackle some of those problems. Hopefully, we’ll come out the other side more comfortable giving Aatrox balance tweaks in the future.
As it stands, Aatrox is always perched on a fine line between smashing everything and not having any options at all. His abilities cost health, which makes fighting from behind even harder. And since his healing scales with his damage, building tanky not only hurts his kill potential, but also doesn’t make him that much harder to kill (because he sacrifices healing potential in the process). We want to give Aatrox more to do in the games he’s not running away with. That means making it more rewarding for him to invest some gold in durability, as well as making it less punishing for him to use his abilities.
PS - turns out a certain Glorious Executioner has an ability called Blood Rush. We’ll be fixing the mix-up next patch.
Passive - Blood Well
Q - Dark Flight
W - Blood Thirst
W - Blood Price
E - Blades of Torment
v5.11
Blood Well's cooldown lowered at later levels.
- "Aatrox is a champion that seeks to constantly all-in and punish poor positioning by diving head-first into battle, but this has always been at odds with Blood Well's monstrous cooldown. No longer! You should expect Aatrox's early dives to stay as tame as they've ever been, but now his team doesn't have to wait an eternity for him to be ready to throw-down in a late-stage moshpit (what else are you picking an ancient blood-god for, anyway?)."
- Passive - Blood Well
- COOLDOWN :
225 seconds at all levels⇒ 225/200/175/150 (at levels 1/6/11/16)
- COOLDOWN :
v5.6
Massacre fills Aatrox's Blood Well.
- "Often times Aatrox would find himself wanting to use Dark Flight for a massive knockup into the enemy team, only realizing he didn't have much to be doing once he was in. Whether you're diving the backlines or just brawling the old-fashioned way, Massacre makes sure you've got enough fire in your veins when you decide to dive-kick your way into combat. "
- R - Massacre
- [NEW] DRINK THEIR BLOOD : Now grants 20% of Maximum Blood Well for each enemy hit
- W - Blood Thirst
- BUGFIX: Fixed a bug where the stance effect would sometimes trigger every 2 attacks instead of 3
v3.13
Summary: Blood Well’s passive attack speed bonus now scales with character level (lower at earlier levels, higher at max level). Blades of Torment’s damage has been reduced (equal at lower levels, lower at max levels).
Context: Any champion can be frustrating to play against when they’re capable of building very tanky while still outputting considerable DPS, so we're lowering some of Aatrox’s innate damage. With this change, Aatrox must build items for damage and won’t be able to simultaneously tank and smash face as easily.
- Blood Well
- Passive Attack Speed changed to 30/35/40/45/50/55% (upgrades every 3 champion levels) (from 50% flat)
- Blades of Torment
- Damage reduced to 75/110/145/180/215 (from 75/120/165/210/255)
v3.08
Aatrox released.
Articles[]
- 2013
- June 14th, Pros weigh in on Aatrox from LoL Esports
Additional Content[]
Champion Information[]
- Aatrox's Champion Page
- Universe of League of Legends Page
- Champion Update: Aatrox, the Darkin Blade
- Aatrox, the Darkin Blade Revealed
Related Lore[]
Other
Other[]
Champion Spotlight
Champion Trailer
Login Screen
Teaser
- Aatrox: World Ender
- Champion Roadmap: April 2018
- Champion Roadmap: January 2018
- Champion Roadmap: October 2017
Others
- Aatrox Lead Designer Interview | EU LCS Ready Check
- We're the team that updated Aatrox. Ask us anything!
- 2013 Aatrox team AMA