Talk:Aatrox/@comment-KBKvothe-20130522025223/@comment-KBKvothe-20130522034159

Because the majority of Aatrox's damage is is auto-attack based and because he is melee, It is difficult to get off his combo's without being cc'd into the ground or just plain kited. To address this you can do one of two things. You can build him as a fighter for lower but more consistent damage, or if you still want to go the route of having extreme damage you build for burst and abuse your passive and a GA in order to take out the most people possible.

For most champion's Sword of the Divine is a bad item, or just not usable, but for Aatrox, his W makes great use of it allowing for quick burst after he has cc'd a target with his Q, killing almost any character that isn't a tank. It makes him into more of a assassin, which is the most successful way an melee AD carry seems to be able to be played.

From playtesting, it appears that the damage added from his W toggle actually does crit, and I was able to reach a 1690 crit without any other crit items like a infinity's edge. The build I had used was: CDR boots, BotRK, Frozen Mallet, SotD, BT, and Zephyr. If I were to try a SotD build again I'd build much differently, probably something along the lines of: Merc's or Ionian, BT, IE, SotD, GA, and either a Warmog's, Spirit Visage, or Zephyr.

TL;DR: Aatrox's W is amplified by crit  and building a SotD deals massive damage. Try building him either as sustained fighter or a burst assassin. If you are jungling definately go sustained mid or top could go either way.