Characters / League of Legends: Aatrox

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Aatrox, the Darkin Blade

"Now, hear the silence of annihilation!"

Voiced by:
Ramon Tikaram (English)
Jorge García Insúa (European Spanish)
Tommy Rojas (Mexican Spanish)
Masaaki Ihara (Japanese)
Hércules Franco (Brazilian Portuguese)
Chang-Yeong Hwang (Korean)
Alexander Hoshabaev (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

“I must destroy even hope…”

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.

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Aatrox is a Juggernaut champion who relies on his strong self-sustain to keep him alive as he ruthlessly butchers one enemy after another. He does not use mana or any other resources, with his abilities only being limited by cooldowns.

• His passive, Deathbringer Stance, periodically causes Aatrox's next basic attack to deal bonus damage and heal him based on target's max health. The cooldown of this effect is reduced whenever Aatrox damages an enemy champion or monster.
• With his first ability, The Darkin Blade, Aatroxs strikes thrice with his greatsword, first slamming it down in a line, then swinging it in an arc, and finally plunging it into the ground, damaging enemies hit. Hits with the tip of the blade deal bonus damage, briefly knock up enemies and further reduce his passive's cooldown.
• With his second ability, Infernal Chains, Aatrox smashes the ground, sending out a shockwave in a chosen direction that damages and briefly slows the first enemy it hits. Enemy champions and monsters are chained to the impact point, damaging and yanking them back to it if they don't run away from the area fast enough.
• His third ability, Umbral Dash, passively heals Aatrox for a percentage of the damage he deals to enemy champions. When activated, Aatrox dashes a short distance in a chosen direction.
• His ultimate ability, World Ender, unleashes Aatrox's true demonic form, briefly forcing nearby minions and monsters to flee and, for the next few seconds, increasing his attack damage, movement speed and incoming healing. Aatrox can extend the duration of the transformation by killing or helping kill enemy champions.

Aatrox's alternate skins include Justicar Aatrox, Mecha Aatrox, Sea Hunter Aatrox, Blood Moon Aatrox, Prestige Blood Moon Aatrox, Victorious Aatrox, Odyssey Aatrox, Lunar Eclipse Aatrox, DRX Aatrox, and Prestige DRX Aatrox. Wild Rift exclusively includes Shan Hai Scrolls Aatrox.

In season 1 of Teamfight Tactics, Aatrox is a tier 3 Demon Blademaster. His ability, The Darkin Blade, has him slam his sword into the ground, dealing damage to all enemies in a circle-shaped area. In season 2 his skin was changed to Justicar Aatrox, but he otherwise remained mostly unchanged apart from his origin changing to Light and his ability being renamed The Arclight Blade. In season 4, he was rebuilt as a Tier 4 Cultist Vanguard using his Blood Moon skin; his new ability, Infernal Chains, drags two enemy champions closer to him before dealing damage to all surrounding enemies. In season 5, he returns to using his Justicar Aatrox skin as a Tier 1 Redeemed Legionnaire. His ability was changed to Deathbringer Strike, which stabs his target for a percentage of his attack damage and heals Aatrox for a flat amount of health. He was removed in season 6, returning with the same ability in season 7 using his Prestige Blood Moon Aatrox skin as a Tier 1 Shimmerscale Warrior. He was removed in the Uncharted Realms mid-set update, returning in season 8's Glitched Out!! mid-set update using his Odyssey Aatrox skin as a Tier 4 Threat. His Soul Crush ability deals magic damage to all surrounding enemies and granting Aatrox bonus percent max health for the rest of combat. His spell is then replaced with The Darkin Blade for the rest of the round, which works the same as it did in seasons 1 and 2 while also healing Aatrox for a flat amount. In season 9, he returns to using his base skin as a Tier 5 Darkin Slayer Juggernaut. His Darkin origin is a unique trait (shared with Naafiri in the Horizonbound mid-set update) that causes Aatrox to begin combat equipped with the Darkin Blade, granting him bonus health and omnivamp, which passes on to the nearest ally champion anytime its holder dies. If Aatrox is dead and the Darkin Blade remains equipped to a single holder for at least four seconds without them dying, their death will revive Aatrox in their place instead. His World Ender ability transforms Aatrox into his true form for a few seconds, causing his basic attacks to deal bonus physical damage that scales with both his attack damage and bonus attack speed in a small area. He was removed in season 10, returning to his Blood Moon Aatrox skin as a Tier 2 Ghostly Inkshadow Bruiser. His Phantom Blade ability Shreds a percentage of his target's magic resistance before striking them, dealing magic damage and healing Aatrox for a flat amount.

In Legends of Runeterra, Aatrox is a 6-mana 5/5 Runeterra Champion that Auto-Equips The Darkin Blade, which grants him Regeneration and +1/+1, and has the ability to heal your Nexus by 2 points whenever he is summoned or he Strikes. Upon being summoned, he creates World Ender in your hand (if you don't have it in hand), a 16-mana Slow Spell that reduces its cost by 1 every time an Equipped or Darkin Follower strikes; playing it not only transforms all Followers equipped with Darkin equipment into that equipment's unit form, it also levels up Aatrox into a 9/9 Champion with Overwhelm (and also levels up any other Darkin Champions created this way). He no longer generates World Ender, but instead passively reduces the cost of Darkin allies by 5. His Origin is The World Ender, which allows you to incorporate any non-Champion Darkin into your deck regardless of region, and playing or summoning 3 Darkin allows you to draw an Aatrox. His Champion Spell is Aatrox's Deathbringer Sweep (3-mana Fast spell that generates Deathbringer Slash, a 2-mana Fleeting Fast spell which generates Deathbringer's Descent, a 1-mana Fleeting Fast spell; all three of these force Aatrox and an enemy to strike each other).

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Aatrox has two main incarnations that have existed, his original version from 2013, and his Visual-Gameplay Update from 2018. Both versions will have respective folders with tropes specific to them.

General

• Art Evolution: Aatrox was originally slated for just a gameplay update in 2018 to fix his in-game kit, but at some point during development, the devs felt his then-current design wasn't working to communicate his new power and weight, leading them to go the full visual/gameplay update, with new visuals, voiceover, and artwork. Compared to before he's bulkier, has a much more pronounced head silhoutte, and has much more elegant animations.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: He has a very aggressive kit, and is in many situations better off forcing a fight with his lane opponent than just trying to poke them. This is because his lifesteal keeps him alive so long as he's able to land his hits.
• Auto-Revive: A former mainstay of his kit was a passive that allowed him to resurrect upon taking fatal damage using the blood he collected from damaging enemies. This lasted for a bit in his post-VGU design, but was continuously nerfed and eventually removed altogether by patch 9.14 since it made him all-in dives too easy for him to take, with Rioters shifting more of his focus onto Life Drain and preventing him from dying at all.
• Back from the Dead: Part of his Blood Well passive (pre-rework) and former ultimate (pre-v9.14), which gradually stores a portion of the health spent on his other abilities and revives him with the total stored amount, plus a bonus, when his HP hits zero. This ability no longer exists after it got nerfed into oblivion.
• Balance Buff: When Aatrox was first introduced in 2013, his gameplay pattern was almost exclusively based on dishing out as many basic attacks as possible, with everything else in his kit (from his lifesteal steroids, resurrection passive, and brief engage/crowd control with Dark Flight) being tools to make it more effective. However, he ended up seeing low popularity for long periods of time as this playstyle had almost zero flexibility to it, in turn making him very vulnerable to anything that could directly hamper his autos like Grievous Wounds or crowd control. This led up to his 2018 VGU — while it retains his thematic focus as a brawler who thrives in extended fights through lifesteal, a tremendous bulk of his strength was shifted to The Darkin Blade ability, a series of close-range skillshots that he must weave into his usual auto-attacks. Its precise sweet-spot mechanic is harder to land and gives opportunities for enemies to outplay him, but its crushing damage and crowd control is a very solid reward, overall opening him up to be a much more dynamic, skill-intensive Lightning Bruiser.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: The closest thing he's got to actual clothing is the armor-like plates around his body. Otherwise Darkin don't appear to have genitals (even Rhaast wears pants).
• BFS: Aatrox was bound to one, but is so far the only Darkin to have completely possessed a host body, allowing him to directly wield the blade himself. Aatrox is already a pretty big dude, and his sword is almost the length of his whole body.
• Big Red Devil: Just look at him! He's big, red, and has an incredibly demonic appearance with the horns and wings.
• Blood Knight: Aatrox's entire purpose is to live for violence, and indeed, obliterate the world. Many of his reactions to champions he's about to fight are very much along the lines of "Come and fight me!". Old Aatrox would instill that same thirst for violence in those who worshipped him.
• Blood Magic: Runeterran blood magic originates from the Darkin, and Aatrox relies a lot on lifesteal while in combat. He used to have an ability called Blood Well that let him store the blood of his enemies to revive himself with when out of health, but it was removed for being too difficult to balance.
• Characterization Marches On: Aatrox was originally a (canonically-ambiguous) Noble Demon of myth, with his shtick being that he appeared whenever armies were losing wars, fueling their bloodlust until they devolved into unstoppable barbarism, played equally as a wise Hope Bringer and a monstrous corruptor that left both glorious victory and terrible carnage in his wake. His 2018 VGU rewrote him from the ground-up, turning him into a proud Shuriman Ascended who fell after the horrors of war against the Void and subsequent imprisonment in his own blade sent him into a perpetual Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum. Nowadays, he's played as an unambiguous villain, albeit a tragic one.
• Combat Aestheticist: Played in different ways before and after his VGU.
  • On initial release, this aspect was central to his character, with him seeing war as artform that he would lead, with a much more slender and serene design to emphasize his grace in combat.
  • In his current design, while his graceful warlord concept was phased out in favor of a more straightforward maniacal Blood Knight design, his combat is still surprisingly elegant, wielding his sword with actual traditional medieval longsword stances mixed in with a ton of spinning for a graceful yet destructive combination.
• Cool Sword: The original was composed of bat-like segments that can extend and retract like a whip, and the entire thing glows a bloody red, even more so when using his ultimate. The new Aatrox trades it in for a giant pulsating greatsword. It also becomes a cool Hard Light/Hot Blade in his Mecha skin.
• Dark Is Evil: While prior to his VGU, he had shades of motivational anti-villainy that made things a little blurry between this and Dark Is Not Evil, post-VGU makes him to be a (presently) completely unambiguous monster.
• Draconic Humanoid: Giant wings, claws, spines, hints of scale...
• Glass Cannon: Zigzagged; Aatrox gains less resistances per level and his kit relies on Life Drain for survivability and snowballing in teamfights. If his healing is taken away from him (by using healing debuffs or casting Ignite on him), he's practically an easy target to crush, otherwise he's a powerful Lightning Bruiser that can survive and bring down an entire gank.
• Humongous Mecha: His Mecha Aatrox skin shows it being built with Super Galaxy Rumble in the foreground, and it is suitably large.
• I Can Still Fight!: Aatrox is very resilient in a straight-up fight due to his passive global lifesteal, and World Ender can boost it even further. As such, confident Aatrox players may choose to duke it out in a situation where anyone else would be running for their lives.
• Lightning Bruiser: Each version has their own take on this. As a diver, Aatrox could use Dark Flight to fly up and slam into enemies from afar and then hack at them to death with his enhanced attack speed, all while healing with his lifesteal passive. As a juggernaut, Umbral Dash lets Aatrox dodge enemy attacks as well as better position himself to land his very precise Q ability. Even having a dash ability is noteworthy due to juggernauts generally not having a lot of built-in maneuvariability by design. World Ender also grants him a massive movement speed boost that lets him chase down opponents.
• Living Weapon: Aatrox was originally just the sword, but unlike similar Darkin Rhaast, he successfully corrupted and took over a host body. Just to really play into the trope, the blade itself is constantly pulsing like a beating heart.
• Meaningful Name: "Atrox" is a latin word meaning fierce, savage, bloody, among other intimidating adjectives. It's also the root of the english words "atrocious" and "atrocity", which further fit the self-proclaimed God Killer.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: If his name sounding like "atrocity" doesn't give you pause, it's also a second letter-A away from the much earlier Latin "atrox," meaning such delightful things as "fierce", "savage", "cruel", and "bloody".
• Nerf Both iterations used to have a passive called Blood Well.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: If the red and black body plating wasn't enough to give it away, his eyes are also a burning red, further signaling him as a dangerous threat.
• Shark Man: Sea Hunter Aatrox resembles a hammerhead shark, with his horns mirroiring the shape of its head.
• Super Mode:
  • Massacre granted bonus attack and movement speed, greatly increasing his attack output.
  • World Ender grants Aatrox bonus damage, movement speed, bonus healing from all sources, and giant wings, the duration of which extends if Aatrox can land a kill during it.
• Turns Red: Literally when activating his ultimate in his Mecha Skin.
• Warrior Poet: Old Aatrox enjoyed battle as art and philosophy, and was very poetic about it (he even quoted Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night). This is toned down a bit in his VGU voiceover, but he still retains elements of it, primarily in his more quiet and contemplative moments.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Grievous Wounds. Similarly to Vladimir or Dr. Mundo, he's a champion completely designed around self-healing, so any source of Griveous Wounds severely impacts his performance. With the cheapness of Grievous Wounds items and the prevalence of the Ignite summoner spell, Kryptonite Is Everywhere.
  • Also, humorously enough, large minions. With the damage penalty against minions on his Q, which is, for all intents and purposes, his "real" damaging skill, and the increased resistances that large minions have, Aatrox has more difficulties dealing with a siege or a super minion than an actual champion.
• Winged Humanoid: He grows a pair of glowing, demonic wings for his ultimate. His current iteration has them resemble almost volcanic bat wings, whereas his pre-VGU appearance made them resemble a pair of tattered war banners.

Modern Aatrox (Post-VGU)

• Achilles' Heel: Aatrox's kit relies on his survivability through drain-tanking and snowballing the enemy team with well placed burst that sends them flying and heal him by percentage amount, which amplified further by his ultimate. Any form of Grievous Wounds essentially cripples his snowballing potential, because he doesn't gain much bulk and resistances per level like most juggernauts and had to rely on his healing to survive a prolonged fights.
• A Father to His Men: Legends of Runeterra reveals that most Darkin on his side see him as a respected general, and he in turn cares greatly for their wellbeing...provided of course, they are not Xolaani, whom he holds in contempt for being a Dirty Coward.
  Aatrox: (Seeing Joraal's Aegis) "I pray that time has mended you captain."

  Aatrox: (Seeing Taarosh summoned) "Taarosh, did the coward try her tricks on you?"
  Taarosh: "Yes, General, but old scars remember their lessons."

  Aatrox: (Seeing Ibaaros summoned) "I will speak for us both, old friend."
• An Arm and a Leg: Had his sword arm lopped off during his rematch with Pantheon. He replaced it with some form of primitive prosthesis.
• And I Must Scream: He's been confined to his sword for centuries, not being able to feel or see anything yet being conscious the entire time. Even after possessing a body, Aatrox still feels trapped. To him his new flesh is simply a bigger cage.
• Arch-Enemy: Despite his desire to kill anything with a pulse on Runeterra, 2 champs have claim to being his mortal enemy.
  • The first, naturally, is Pantheon. The two trading wins in their clashes, with him winning round 1 and slaying the Aspect within Pantheon. Only for the now mortal Pantheon to return and win their rematch, taking his arm off in the process. Aatrox is now out for his head.
    Aatrox: Pantheon, I see you! Like a lamprey you attach yourself to a host! I will carve you from this mortal's form, and eviscerate you both!
  • A more one-sided instance is Zoe. He bears a homicidal (even for Aatrox) rage at her, thanks to the previous Aspect Of Twilight sealing him and the other Darkin away.
  • It's eventually revealed that maybe his real arch enemy is Xolaani, the Darkin whose use of blood magic to enslave the other Darkin eventually kicked off the Darkin War.
• Ax-Crazy: Inevitable when you have someone as battle-hungry and omnicidal as he is. Most of his voice lines involved screaming death threats and contemplating causing Armageddon.
• Badass Boast: He has several spectacular ones while challenging various enemies:
  (against Ornn) "Hail, Father Ornn, god of fire and forge... (laughs) I am Aatrox, and I am The God Killer!"
  (against Sion) "Yes, Sion! I kill even that which will not die! I end all things!"
  (killing any champion) "Resurrect! Return! So I may kill you again..."
• Berserk Button:
  • Zoe. The previous Aspect of Twilight gave mortals the secret to locking him away. His lines directed at her are delivered with a frothing rage.
  Aatrox I know it was you, trickster! You gave them the tools to trap me! Come, let me kill you! A thousand times isn't enough!
  • As of Legends of Runeterra, he holds Xolaani in contempt for her cowardice even if they were summoned as allies.
  Xolaani (upon seeing an allied Aatrox summoned) "To me, Aatrox. We have a common enemy."
  Aatrox "There is no greater enemy than cowardice."
• Bodyguard Crush: Lunar Eclipse Aatrox is hopelessly infatuated with Sun Eater Kayle, serving as her loyal shadow.
  One of the few who took up the mantle of the Eclipse Knights in the days of old, Aatrox hopelessly pined for Kayle's affections… but she could only ever love the blazing sun. When she devoured it, the entity's lunar corona consumed him. He exists now as Kayle's monstrous, once-noble shadow, ever at her side.
• Bring It: Aatrox has many interactions upon first encountering many specific champions up-front, and his immediate instinct is to challenge all of them, to a point where "Come!" is something of his Catchphrase.
  (encountering Galio) "A statue!? Rock shatters as easily as bone! Come!"
• Card-Carrying Villain: With ending the world as his goal, he delves all the way into the monstrous reputation he's garnered, having no issue being called all manner of villainous terms.
  "Those who call me enemy, I welcome them."
• Combos: The Darkin Blade is a natural mix of attacks that encourage Aatrox to fight at a variety of ranges, starting from some distance and closing in with each strike. Umbral Dash can be used mid-Darkin Blade to reposition the sweetspot, which is an essential technique to hit smarter opponents.
• Darker and Edgier: When compared to before his VGU, he's both this and Lighter and Softer. On one hand, he's far more brutal and apocalyptic, and when serious, much more horrifying than the poetic serenity of his previous incarnation. However, he also has a much more pronounced sense of humor that his previous version completely lacked, giving him a slight comical edge to balance out his increased villainy.
• Deadpan Snarker: Aatrox can be very, very, sassy, especially in his taunts.
  (when player reveals mastery) "Mastery? I must congratulate you; obviously your parents never had reason to."
• Death Seeker: His true motivation; behind all his raging and screaming as the World Ender is a warrior that just wants his own suffering to end, and if the world has to die for it to happen, so be it. He even gets frustrated in-game if he wins duels, lamenting that he's still alive.
  "This is the silence I seek."
  (Angry) "Nothing can kill me!"
• Difficult, but Awesome: Pretty much all of his damage comes from landing the sweet spots of Darkin Blade, so he needs to predict enemy movements well to get his damage off, in addition to using Infernal Chains (a fairly easy to block skillshot) and his Umbral Dash to keep enemies in the right place.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Normally full of rage, it's quite a contrast that he shows compassion to his Darkin followers, having solidarity in their shared suffering being sealed away. He hopes destroying the world will end all of their suffering together.
• Evil Is Hammy: An omnicidal wacko whose quietest lines are still delivered with half his lungs.
• Evil Overlooker: Aatrox can be seen in the background of Pantheon's classic background, whom he killed the Targonian God of War, leaving behind his mortal vessel, Atreus.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Aatrox's deep, booming voice gives his loud, hammy boasts that extra bit of gravitas and suits his fearsome appearance perfectly.
• Fallen Hero: Aatrox and the Darkin were originally the Ascended of ancient Shurima and served as defenders of the world from the Void, but following the demise of the empire, they began to clash with one another, eventually becoming an even bigger threat to the mortals that the Targonians had to seal away into weapons they would become eternally trapped in. Having finally returned, Aatrox intends to exact apocalyptic levels of vengeance on the world that cast him away.
  "Once in noble battle, I screamed against the silence. I stood as light against the darkness. Now I serve a new master, oblivion..."
  "I have no goodness left, it was taken from me, stolen! I... am the nemesis of life."
• Grand Theft Me: Aatrox was originally a Darkin bound to a cursed weapon, but unlike Rhaast who has the possibility of being able to overpower and take over Kayn's body, Aatrox is much more successful at "stealing flesh" from hapless mortals and has been through several bodies over the years. Currently, Jax and Tryndamere are in his periphery of potentially worthy hosts.
• Godzilla Threshold: He hopes to become the Godzilla for the rest of the universe in order to provoke a response that can finally obliterate him
• Go Mad from the Isolation: When Aatrox is without a host, there's nothing but darkness and a sense of suffocation that is unrelenting within his blade - he feels like he is dying every second of that, and has been in that state of deathless suffocation for years at a time. If it wasn't the void which sent him on a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum, this isolation did.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: All swings of The Darkin Blade are violent swings capable of mighty damage and knockup if you land hits in the sweet spot, with his third especially severe in both departments.
• Hidden Depths: In his more serious lines, Aatrox reveals that he's very aware of what he's become. However, he believes he can't do anything about it except be the monster the world sees him as even if it means destroying everything.
• Hotter and Sexier: Blood Moon Aatrox gives him a more humanoid face, long silky hair, and a more conventionally attractive, chiseled build.
• I Am a Monster: While Aatrox is an undoubtedly destructive and unholy abomination, he has several lines reflecting on his nature, showing he's much less than happy about what he's become.
  "I am but an unholy copy of life... A mockery of its freedom... And born in the cruel betrayal of the noble ideals I would've served."
  "I touched the stars... And saw the glorious light of a thousand suns... Now, blinded by this elegance, how could my purpose be anything... but dark..."
  "They will call me villain... Come, let me earn their hatred, again and forever."
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Aatrox would gladly kill himself if it meant he would face Cessation of Existence rather than be forced back into his blade to suffer a Fate Worse than Death. Since that's beyond his power, he's aiming to take on the world; either he kills everything and thus ends his own existence as well, or someone with the power to truly obliterate him will be provoked to do so.
• Kill the God: Of all the things he plans on killing, he's really driven to kill the various gods of Runeterra, seemingly out of revenge and spite for the "false" hope they pose to mortals, being a deity cast away by mortals himself. As of Pantheon's 2019 update, Aatrox has been confirmed to have successfully killed the Targonian Aspect of War in a straight fight, so not only does he want to do this, he's capable of doing it.
  "They sing of love, hope and gods, all that makes them want to live! So I will quiet that first!"
• Large Ham: Aatrox makes his violent presence very clear with his post-VGU voiceover. A little ironic, considering that prior to his update, Aatrox was clearly furious and brutal, but smooth and serene.
• Laughably Evil: In a similar vein to Rhaast, Aatrox has his own brand of surprisingly silly and even immature humor, made even more hilarious due to being put next to his very obvious bloodlust.
  (encountering Camille) "Scissors for legs... okay... I thought I had seen stupid designs before... alright, let's go."
  (encountering Kayn and Rhaast) "Ooh, a shadow warrior! How edgy!"
  (encountering Malphite) "Where is your neck, rock thing?! Where is the neck I shall sever?!"
  (encountering Kennen) "A lightning squirrel!? (laughs uproariously) Thank you! Your death will amuse me!"
  (encountering Taric) "Hail Taric! Aspect of... get a haircut!"
  (killing Varus) "Honestly, a bow and two boys? What was your plan, Varus?"
  (joke) "So uh, I'm Aatrox. I'm a transcendental being trapped inside cutlery. What's your deal?"
• Life Drain: Aatrox's entire gimmick is the sheer amount of sustain he has in his kit to keep him alive. From his E passively giving him anywhere from 20-30% omnivamp against champions, to his passive letting him occasionally deal a severe blow that also heals him, to his ultimate giving him up to doubled self-healing, a source of Grievous Wounds or insane burst damage are a necessity when fighting a reasonably fed Aatrox. Add in some items to amplify this, and he'll sometimes come out of fights healthier than when he went in.
• Magikarp Power: Aatrox's base damage with his ability isn't that strong and relies greatly on AD scaling to deal any meaningful damage early on, and his healing passive from his Umbral Dash isn't become any meaningful until it reaches rank 3, not including the fact that how long the cooldown goes before either of them reaches rank 3. Once you hit level 10, maxes your Q and obtain your core item (preferably Goredrinker), Aatrox damage value will become stronger as he able to activate his Q more often and his healing per knockup will be strong enough to basically fend off a two-man gank should you be able to land your knockups per cast. Aatrox is also a drain tank that utilizes Life Drain as a powerful survival tool with a tradeoff of lowered resistance gains per level that makes him squishy even with proper items, but if he manages to snowball with it, he snowballs hard even to lategame, provided that he can land his Q knockups every hit.
• Monster Progenitor: As implied by the bio of Blood Moon Aatrox:
  Aatrox has been loosed upon the mortal plane. A creature born in the heart of the Blood Moon, he is the progenitor of all demons, and a malignant darkness that will consume the entire world.
• Moveset Clone: Downplayed, but Aatrox's new kit bares a striking number of parallels to Riven; both of them have Three-Strike Combo abilities that serve as their main DPS, an empowered auto attack passive, a command dash, a lockdown tool, and a Super Mode ultimate. The application of theses tools differs between them though; Riven is an aggressive Skirmisher who sticks close to enemies and can burst them down, while Aatrox is a slow and patient Juggernaut who relies on spacing and waiting to punish his enemy's missteps to land Darkin Blade. Basically if Riven is Captain Falcon, Aatrox is Ganondorf.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Hellbent on destroying all of Runeterra and beyond. Even the various Physical Gods and The Void aren't safe from his wrath. And yes, all of creation does include himself.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: Prior to his VGU, Aatrox almost always swung his sword one-handed. After the update, he's become more inclined to properly wield it double-handed like an actual longsword... until he breaks out World Ender, where he swings it one-handed again.
• Our Demons Are Different: While Darkin aren't considered to be the same thing as demons like Evelynn or Tahm Kench, their status as, effectively, fallen angels, and Aatrox's appearance make them a demonic archetype, at least.
• Percent Damage Attack: His passive causes his attacks to occasionally strike for an additional percent of the enemy's max HP, while healing him. It starts with a lengthy cooldown, but this decreases with level, and can be further reduced by hitting champions with attacks.
• Precision F-Strike: On the PBE at least, Aatrox gains this doozy of a line while taunting a Void creature:
  "Do I resemble you, abomination? Your form isn't my destiny... is it? (lengthy beat) You don't know how to talk, do you? (beat) Shit..."
• Power Gives You Wings: A side effect of his ultimate.
• Red Baron: You can't get more metal than "The World Ender".
• Retcon: His current, post-VGU character is significantly different from when he was originally launched in 2013, where he was less of an Omnicidal Maniac and more of an anti-villainously inspiring but bloodthirst-inducing leader of losing armies, with the Darkin mythos (including the fact that Aatrox is the literal Darkin Blade) being far less defined. With his VGU, his character was significantly reworked, and the backstories of both him and the Darkin were greatly expanded.
• Rotten Rock & Roll: Aatrox's post-VGU theme is incredibly booming and filled with Heavy Metal-inspired guitars and drums, which also show up in-game once he activates World Ender.
• Satanic Archetype: Aatrox's backstory — a fallen hero turned into the ultimate adversary of all life — combined with his more poetic quotes and his appearance as a giant horned monstrosity rebelling against the light cements him as this.
  "I shall not kiss the ground, nor let myself be wielded as a tool! I am damned, but I will remake this world in my dark image!"
• Sealed Evil in a Can: He was one of the first Darkin to be imprisoned in their weapons. While all Darkin weapons can overpower normal humans to serve as their new hosts, Aatrox is much better at it on account the original technique used to seal him being imperfect early on.
• Springtime for Hitler: Make no mistake: despite Aatrox carving a bloody swath through everyone and everything he finds, up to and including Rage Against the Heavens, he would welcome his utter obliteration in combat, and he'll keep on killing until he finds someone strong enough to do that.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: He's concluded that his only chance of escape is the death of the entire world, and he is entirely willing to kill it himself if necessary.
• Super Mob Boss: Odyssey Aatrox reimagines him as a galactic crime lord. He's seeking to cure himself of the deformities caused by Ora abuse.
• Three-Strike Combo: Darkin Blade can be recast for a total of three seperate strikes. First is a basic sword slam, second is a horizontal sweep, and the third and final is a dramatic twirl leading into a slam. The bulk of Aatrox's damage will come from landing the sweet spot of all three hits.
• Tragic Villain: He was once a noble protector of Shurima before centuries of battling unspeakable horrors and being isolated inside a weapon drove him to the breaking point. His motivations are rooted in a desire to ends his own suffering, even if the world has to end with it.
• Unexplained Accent: Unique even to other Darkin, Aatrox speaks with an inexplicably thick but appropriately brutal German/Russian-inspired accent. Word of God states the accent is meant to represent an incredibly ancient civilization from before time of the game's Ascended champions.
• Video Game Dashing: Umbral Dash lets him vault over terrain and adjust his position mid-animation on his other abilites.
• Villain Respect: A twisted, half-sarcastic case regarding various god characters such as Targonian Aspects or Anivia, Ornn and Volibear of the Freljord, in that he begins by hailing them before going in with the intention of slaughtering them.
• Was Once a Man: In his extended lore, it's revealed that he was once a winged Ascended from Shurima.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Aatrox repeatedly implies that his Resurrective Immortality is not voluntary, and he repeatedly calls it a curse or a trap.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Aatrox seeks the end of everything in the vain hopes that 'everything' will include him and finally give him peace from the pain of his existence. If he was convinced his existence could be ended through easier means, he'd be going for that instead.
• Worthy Opponent: Jax. Unlike other champions he has lines for, his interaction with Jax is calling him a worthy vessel.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • Aatrox is very much up for a fight, but at times, he needs a moment to process who his opponents are.
    (encountering Maokai) "Am I challenged by a tree!? (Beat) Fine! Let me build a pyre from you!"
    (encountering Quinn) "A bird? You would challenge me with a bird?! (laughs) Come!"
    (killing Kled) "What is property!? Why did this dead hamster want me off of it!?"
  • He's also dumbfounded by Rhaast being a scythe instead of an actual weapon, and he has a few jokes towards Kayn about it.
    "A scythe? A scythe?! Are you planning on murdering fields of wheat?!"
    "I chose a sword, the noblest weapon, Rhaast. You... seriously, I don't understand, were you trapped in the gardening section?"
  • He's not exactly happy with Varus's breaking of the naming convention either.
    "We all agreed on the double 'A' thing, Varus. The double 'A' thing!"
    "Varus, 'V' 'A' 'R' 'U' 'S', your name should have an 'A' and then another 'A', Varus. There was a memo, Varus, there was a memo!"
• You Will Not Evade Me: Infernal Chains serves as his primary lockdown ability, keeping enemies right in his mid-range so that he can land Darkin Blade's sweet spot.

Old Aatrox (Pre-VGU)

This battle will be my masterpiece.

Voiced by: Erik Ireland (English)
Jorge García Insúa (European Spanish)
Emilio Sabini (Mexican Spanish
Isshin Chiba (Japanese)
Armando Tiraboschi (Brazilian Portuguese)

"I am not your enemy. I am THE enemy."

One of the ancient darkin, Aatrox was once a peerless swordmaster who reveled in the chaos of battle. Trapped within his own blade by the magic of his enemies, he waited for millenia until he found a suitable host to wield him - a mortal warrior, corrupted and transformed by the living weapon until Aatrox was reborn. Though tales of the darkin have now passed into legend, Aatrox remembers all too well the destruction of his race, and now intends to wreak vengeance until all lands in Runeterra are painted red with blood.

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Aatrox is a Diver champion capable of razing the earth and sustaining through long, chaotic fights, whose ruinous presence presents an ultimatum: flee, or die.

• His passive, Blood Well, stores a percent of his abilities' health cost as a resource. Upon dying, Aatrox will draw on Blood Well to revive himself for the amount of health stored.
• His first ability, Dark Flight, has Aatrox fly in the air and slam down onto a targeted location. Enemies in the radius of the impact are damaged, while those in the very center are knocked up
• His second ability, Blood Thirst, passively heals Aatrox for every third auto attack. When activated, he'll change the mode to Blood Price where every third attack now deals bonus damage instead of healing. His own health will drain based on a percent of the bonus damage dealt.
• His third ability, Blades of Torment, fires two waves that converge onto a targeted point, damaging and slowing enemies hit. Aatrox is refunded a portion of the health cost if the enemy struck is a champion.
• With his ultimate ability, Massacre, Aatrox unleashes the full might of his true form, damaging nearby enemies on activation, and gaining overall bonus attack and movement speed.

Aatrox's alternate skins include Justicar Aatrox, Mecha Aatrox, and Sea Hunter Aatrox.

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• Anti-Villain: Or possibly an Anti-Hero depending on the scenario: He's a Black Knight, Blood Knight, and a Noble Demon all rolled in one. Whether or not he's good or evil doesn't matter to him- all he cares about is that someone, somewhere is being murdered. He seems to lean much more towards Villain, though.
• Badass Army: Whenever he shows up in front of a losing army, he turns them into this.
• Big Damn Heroes: Of a sort, depending on how you look at him. He regularly did this throughout history, entirely on his own. It always worked. Also, since Dark Flight can bypass some terrains, Aatrox can use this to do a Big Damn Heroes through another fight as long as he's located in another side blockaded with obstacle (like Dragon/Baron Nashor's lair)
• Been There, Shaped History: On Valoran. He appears in countless folk tales, as well as in the iconography of some of the continent's leading city-states. His teaser was a collection of artifacts Ezreal had curated, from nearly every country and time period, depicting him or his sword.
• Cast from Hit Points: Along the lines of the old Mordekaiser, Aatrox uses his own health to cast his abilities instead of mana, empowering a second defensive resource.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: In his Mecha Aatrox skin, his sword changes color depending on if Blood Thirst/Blood Price is active. Green for Healing (Blood Thirst) and Orange for Damage (Blood Price).
• The Corrupter: To Tryndamere, to whom he refers as his "greatest creation". And to whoever his host body really is - "Aatrox"'s true identity was lost to the blade before recorded history.
• The Corruption: It's been hinted that his Justicar skin, as well as how the people whose side he takes see him, may be close to how Aatrox himself really used to be before his Living Weapon corrupted him.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Aatrox's kit, akin to other melee carries like Jax and Tryndamere, focused entirely on getting in range of his opponents and auto attacking them to death. There were a lot of problems with how this played out though: one is that all of his abilities are casted from his health, which is a major issue when faced with a lot of longer-ranged opponents who can deny him any chance to regain health with his Life Drain. Then another is that it resulted in very inconsistent "stat checker" scenarios where he'd either be too weak or too powerful in a fight with little in-between. His VGU was an attempt to rebuild the champ from the ground up, not only changing his archetype but also shifting his damage more to his abilities, requiring a more cautious but still incredibly damaging playstyle as a result.
• Cultured Warrior: He quotes Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
• Dare to Be Badass: Bids the dying army to keep fighting until the end. His taunts in-game are this to the enemy team.
• Determinator: Gameplay-wise, his passive and his life-restoring Blood Thirst lets him keep fighting through situations that would have long since forced other champions to turn and run - and possibly win. On a similar note, he was the one who first pushed Tryndamere into a state of such fury that he would not die. Aatrox is proud of this achievement and calls Trynd his "greatest creation."
• Dissonant Serenity: Nothing gets through Aatrox's utterly calm demeanor. He has no shouting lines at all.
• Emotion Bomb: Appears to invoke one of the anger variety in the soldiers to whom he lends aid, turning them into fearless killing machines.
• Evil Counterpart: For a given value of evil, granted (see Anti-Villain above), but to Tryndamere. Both are Blood Knights, but Trynd still seems to have some sense of honor and justice, while Aatrox just believes in war for war's sake... and would like Trynd to see it that way too. In a subtler way, he could also be seen as one to Bard. Both are enigmatic supernatural figures who weave their way in and out of history to influence it, but whereas as Bard is concerned with cosmic balance, Aatrox is concerned with spreading as much war as possible. There are other contrasts: Bard's agenda is very disconnected with humanity, while Aatrox's appeals to very visceral human instincts; and while Aatrox is noted as being an inspiring and charismatic figure, to the extent of being a Warrior Poet, Bard is the second champion in the game not to communicate in human speech at all.
• Fan of Underdog: He always fights with the losing side, turning a lost cause into a total victory.
• Friendless Background: Until the release of Tahm Kench, he was the only character in the League to have no friends at all. Only a rival, in Tryndamere.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: His lore makes him out as a warlord who appears out of nowhere and induces a frenzied bloodlust in the losing side, who then proceeds to win against all odds, while his kit is that of a generic bruiser/jungler. It has been stated by the developers that Aatrox players should see themselves as that warlord to inspire the rest of their team.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: Anyone standing exactly where he crash-lands with Dark Flight will be sent flying.
• I Can Still Fight!: Even after his Blood Well has been used, Aatrox is very resilient in a straight-up fight because his Blood Thirst healing is significantly increased when he reaches less than 50% health. As such, confident Aatrox players may choose to duke it out in a situation where anyone else would be running for their lives.
• Last of His Kind: Played with. He's one of the last five, anyway.
• Light Is Not Good: His Justicar skin. However, this is Zig-zagged since Justicar Aatrox is meant to resemble the depictions of him by the people he saved.
• Living Legend: Literally. He has been a symbol of heroics in battle for centuries.
• Magnum Opus: He refers to Tryndamere as "his greatest creation", since much of Tryndamere's constant fury is a result of Aatrox's machinations.
• '90s Anti-Hero: If he even IS a hero, he's one of the most deliberate examples in the game with how overly jagged and edgy his design is. All he lacks are pouches and a gun.
• Power Floats: A side effect of his ultimate.
• Pretty Boy: He's remarkably feminine for such a demonic being, with a slender build and a smooth face.
• Rousing Speech: Seems to be a fan of this kind of rhetoric, given how his taunts are more darkly inspiring than insulting.
  "Even those who have nothing can give their lives."
• Stance System: The basis of Blood Thirst/Blood Price: Aatrox can either fight with a lot of lifesteal on his basic attacks or trade for increased at the cost of his own health.
• Sword Beam: Blades of Torment resembles this, sending out two converging projectiles with Aatrox's sword.
• Time Abyss: Some of the artifacts depicting him are from civilizations so old as to be undocumented.
  "I am as timeless as war."
• Tranquil Fury: His voice is really level despite talking constantly much about combat, killing, and war, and encouraging participation in said combat, killing, and war. Not even the lines he has when using his ultimate are any louder.
• Unstoppable Rage: Instills this in the armies he aids.
• War Is Glorious: Pretty much sums up his character. Aatrox loves fighting for fighting's sake, and considers war, battle and bloodshed his artistic masterpieces.
• War Is Hell: What the soldiers he "inspires" realize once his influence over them washes away, [[ My God, What Have I Done? leaving them to wallow in guilt and horror at all the blood they've spilled]].
• Wicked Cultured: He'll happily was philosophical and recite plays while decimating entire armies.
• Why Won't You Die?: To properly kill him, one must deplete his health bar and the life restored to him from Blood Well after he "dies" the first time.