Talk:Aatrox/@comment-9775822-20150320142156/@comment-26251927-20150328025059

1.) NEVER START W. Starting W is very bad, as it deprives you of the ability to start anything level 1. You're basically leaving yourself to the whims of your opponent until level 2. Starting Q or E is infinitely better, as it allows you the ability to set the tempo for the lane. However, I wouldn't recommend starting Q unless you're confident in your Aatrox play.

2.) A good deal of playing Aatrox is knowing your matchups. For example, a lot of people who don't play a lick of Aatrox will tell you that trynd coutners Aatrox. However, the truth of the matter is that the matchup is decided at level 1. If Aatrox either pokes trynd down a good deal with E or lands the knock up with Q, Aatrox wins the lane until fairly late in the game. If that doesn't happen, trynd wins. This is just one example of how important it is to know the matchups on Aatrox.

3.) As far as runes and masteries are concerned, 21/9/0 is ideal, but it's important to get spell and blade weaving. For runes, I've personally been using AD reds and Quintessence, a mix of HP per level and armor yellows, and CDR blues recently, but it's mostly experimental. Usually you'd run MR blues and possibly a life steal or movement speed quintessence.

4.) Item builds on Aatrox are fairly malleable. What I've been having success with recently is hydra > tank item > 2nd damage item > full tank. However, if you're going against a team that's going to have a lot of HP or you're more interested in playing defensive, BOTRK > tank item > 2nd damage item > full tank is fine, but offers less carry potential, I find. Another thing to note is for the 2nd damage item, I usually build Maw, as it gives nice defensive stats, a good amount of AD, and the shield.

5.) I'm a firm believer in maxing E first. I find it to be a more reliable source of damage and since it does magic damage, it won't be affected by armor your lane opponent will be building. Further, maxing W, if feel, forces you to all in to do damage, even in situations where that would compromise your lane. E also allows offers you better wave clear for when you're getting pushed in. It also offers a lot more utility as the slow duration goes up with levels.

6.) W is an easy ability to use, but a hard one to master. A very important thing to learn on Aatrox is when to have W in a certain mode. When in doubt, however, stick with Blood Thirst. It's better to miss out on a kill, than kill yourself from the self inflicted Blood Price damage.

7.) If you're having an undue amount of trouble team fighting, then don't. Aatrox is a fairly good split pusher. As you gain more experience with him, then you learn his limits and can better judge when to team fight and when to split.

8.) Aatrox's Q is a very important ability to get the hang of. Knowing it's range and when you'll knock someone up can be the difference between a kill and a death. It's also paramount to know when to hold it and when to use it, as it's your primary escape tool; however this part is more down to general game sense.

9.) In my experience, Aatrox is very much a 'man mode' champion. If you want to do well on him, you need to be aggressive. However, this isn't to say you should blindly Q in and start fighting, refer back to point 2. There are some matchups where you need to play like a pansy, primarily vs. pantheon, but generally controlled aggression is the key.

10.) I generally find taking ignite to be far superior to taking tp on Aatrox. It gives him an edge when dueling that I find very important and typically, tp is only used for getting back to lane faster in solo que. My thought process here is "if I put my lane opponent behind, then he won't be able to do anything useful with his TP anyway". Also, Aatrox can interrupt tp. IMO, as long as you're mindful about pinging MIA, then ignite is great.

Let me know if any of these tips where helpful.