Talk:Aatrox/@comment-27249270-20151229192708

I've been playing Aatrox since release, I'm a Gold player. Since his release, I've played him regularly, then hard maining him in S5. He used to be great top laner, and still is. However, I think his potential is really in the jungle with the introduction of Sated and the new Rageblade. Aatrox's kit allowing him ridiculous jungling uptime, and the changes to the jungle over the past year have helped him tremendously. Top lane isn't bad for him, you but can make up for some of his shortcomings in lane. His low base stats and really weird early laning can be eliminated in the jungle. While some of what I say can apply to top lane, this post will primarily deal with jungle Aatrox.

In terms of a jungle build, I believe the only two offensive items necessary are Devourer and Rageblade. Lots of people say this is overkill on Attack Speed. However with these two items, passive, and ult at level 18, with usually 15% Attack Speed from runes, you're right under 2.5 APS. The rest of the build should be full of situational defensive items. Usually Merc's and Spirit Visage do very well for MR, tenacity and bonus healing are just so strong on Aatrox. Armor items can vary, I prefer Randuin's over DMP with so many ADC's around, plus the slow lasts much much longer. The last item can be interesting, you can take Maw, Death's Dance, Mallet, Titanic, maybe some others. Those depend on personal preference/situation. It is true that devourer isn't as good at higher elos, but since the jungle changes with scuttle crab and Rift Herald, stacking it has become much easier. I have played multiple games where I have been able to Sate my devourer and have Rageblade purchased at 12-13 minutes. As soon as Aatrox purchases Devourer, he is able to solo dragon w/o ult, and proceed to solo Herald with ult. If you make your clear efficient enough, you can get this done very early. Optimal first clear route I have found is: Krugs(smite), red, scuttle(using stun passive), opposite scuttle(if you still have stun, if not go raptors), take whichever you didn't in last step, then clear blue jungle starting with gromp(smite). If you get all 6 camps and both scuttles, you'll be able to get your stalker's/skirmisher's, boots, and a pink if you got both scuttles.

People have differing opinions on Aatrox jungle and where his strengths lie. I believe this depends on both your build path as well as both team comps. I prefer more of a safe alternative when playing against comps lacking hard lockdown. You can become a literal 1v5 machine if the team has either multiple melee champions (melee = easier to get autos off), low mobility (a slowing build cripples these comps{mallet/randuins}), or low burst (won't be able to out-DPS your heal). If you're against a comp you can easily deal with, I recommend taking the safe route and farming until your spike. Let your lanes know you want to focus on objectives and vision, and actually do it. Keep wards up on buffs, then ward the hell out of their jungle and river. If your lanes don't just suck, you should be good to farm in this manner, while securing Dragons, Scuttles, and Heralds to give your team advantages.

The powerspike you get with Sated Devourer, Rageblade, and Merc Treads is unbelievable. You become a healing/DPS machine. If you took Skirmisher's you should be able to outduel just about anyone if you don't have some stupid misplay. That's not the fun part, if you teamfight, you shouldn't have issues. Initially your carries will be focused, which is a mistake for their team, because you just dove their back line and 3 shot their carries with Blood Price and Sated Procs. Your other option is to split push/invade their jungle constantly. I like to clear a wave top, clear one of their jungle camps, then repeat until I get to tower. The damage ramp on Rageblade along with the Red Buff changes make Aatrox even better at taking towers.

Here's why I believe this is the optimal jungle build. Devourer and Rageblade both provide magic damage on-hit. Aatrox's damage without these is already 60% physical and 40% magic. These make Aatrox a nearly perfect hybrid, with just slightly more physical damage. This makes him extremely hard to build against, meaning he should always have some sort of relevant, if not, excessive damage. Lots of people like BoRK on him, but since the slight nerf to the passive, it makes a Sated build suboptimal. Rageblade just outclasses BoRK in the jungle. The only times I would build BoRK is against a health tank that is not building much armor. If you have an AD team, don't get BoRK. You'll need the hybrid from Rageblade to be relevant in that situation. Ravenous vs Titanic is another topic regarding Aatrox. With Devourer, both can provide great AOE damage. However, with Rageblade you already have a Ravenous-sized AOE dealing magic instead of physical. You just don't get healed for it. I prefer Titanic if you've built 2 other HP items, usually Spirit Visage and either Randuin's or DMP. BoRK and Ravenous are better for Top Lane imo.