Aatrox has been one of the most influential top lane champions in later years. And nowadays, his lethality build is so strong that Aatrox players often stomp all matchups and end up carrying their teams in solo queue.
And so, I’ve taken up the task of explaining how lethality Aatrox works in League of Legends and what you need to know in order to take advantage of it. I’ll talk about strengths, weaknesses, runes, items, and even matchups, so everything is packed here.
But if you also want to see other lethality builds that work insanely well in solo queue, I recommend you check:
Lethality Aatrox – The Good and the Bad
Lethality Aatrox is a strong build that offers lots of damage at all stages of the game. Because of all the armor penetration, it counters both squishy champions and tanks. Lethality Aatrox can solo kill any champion in the game but it also lacks the survivability of the fighter build.
To put it simply, lethality Aatrox does much more damage than the fighter Aatrox build but it also makes him squishier.
Strengths
Aatrox’s early game is actually pretty strong. And if played correctly, he can go even against most top lane champions.
With lethality items, Aatrox’s Q, The Darkin Blade, allows him to win almost any duel. All 3 parts of the ability have high AD ratios and deal physical damage, so lethality makes each cast of Aatrox’s Q hurt a lot.
On top of this, Aatrox’s kit is packed with self-healing tools that are incredibly useful both at the start and for the rest of the game.
Note that lethality doesn’t impact Aatrox’s healing directly. However, since the lethality items grant more base AD overall and Aatrox heals more the more damage he does, we can make the argument that Aatrox heals more with this lethality build.
And lastly, lethality Aatrox can assassinate squishy enemies with a couple of Q casts and solo any tank in LoL. He has high damage to overpower most duelists in the top lane.
Weaknesses
I’m going to be honest here – lethality Aatrox is a squishier playstyle than I’d like to be. And if you aren’t careful, you can get absolutely stomped by your lane opponent. And I’ve experienced it more than enough times.
Against favorable matchups (Dr. Mundo, Akali, Sion) you can play as aggressively as you want. But when you’re up against your counters (Fiora, Wukong, Darius) you must calculate each of your moves.
For example, Fiora can stun Aatrox during the Q casts or dash away from his E. And Darius’ damage early on is insanely high so building lethality doesn’t always give you all the advantages you need.
On the other hand, Aatrox is easily countered by anti-heal items. Aatrox is a champion whose design revolves around self-healing. And without it, he can’t last long in any fight.
The good news is that the build below solves many of Aatrox’s problems and gives massive boosts to Aatrox’s strengths. And when you get used to the playstyle it offers, you can absolutely crush solo queue with it!
Lethality Aatrox – The Runes
- Conqueror
Conqueror is the go-to rune for any Aatrox build because it increases both his damage and his self-healing. It works on stacks that you build up while fighting. And when fully stacked, you get a lot of bonus damage and healing.
- Triumph
Triumph is the best rune in the second row of the Precision tree. It will heal you for a small percentage each time you score a champion takedown, allowing you to survive in close-to-death fights.
- Legend: Tenacity
Legend: Tenacity is another no-brainer choice for Aatrox. It boosts your tenacity stat and allows you to move freely during a fight. Aatrox’s damage and healing depend on his Q casts, so he needs as much tenacity to be resilient to crowd control effects.
- Last Stand
With Last Stand, you get increased damage when you’re on low health. This rune has a crazy synergy with Aatrox because when your HP drops, you start to deal more damage and thus you’ll heal more.
- Bone Plating
We mainly take Bone Plating for protection during the laning phase. It reduces the damage taken when enemies first hit you and has a relatively short cooldown. So, Bone Plating is essential against ranged top laners and counter picks for Aatrox.
- Revitalize
The last rune, Revitalize, is there to boost your healing even more. Its effect is stronger when you drop below 40% HP, so it synergizes very well with Last Stand.
For bonuses, it’s almost always recommended to go for one attack speed rune, one attack damage rune, and one armor rune (go for the magic resist one against AP top laners).
Read Also: Lethality Varus Poke Build Guide
Lethality Aatrox – The Items
- Plated Steelcaps
Plated Steelcaps are the most recommended boots for Aatrox in the top lane. They grant bonus armor and block a bit of the damage your enemies do with auto-attacks. But if you’re up against AP top laners, you want to switch up these boots for Mercury’s Treads.
- Eclipse
Eclipse is your main lethality mythic item for Aatrox. It grants everything you need, including attack damage, lethality, omnivamp, and even a shield when you first strike an enemy champion. It’s perfect for dueling and scaling for the late game since it also boosts your armor penetration the more items you get.
- The Collector
The Collector is one of the most broken items in League of Legends. Besides the bonus lethality, attack damage, and critical strike, it executes enemies when you damage them below 5% HP. In other words, it allows you to collect a lot more kills in each game.
- Black Cleaver
Black Cleaver is a must-have item on Aatrox regardless of which build you’re going for. It makes him tankier thanks to the bonus health but it also reduces the armor of Aatrox’s target when he damages them.
- Death’s Dance
Death’s Dance is the best defensive item you can get on Aatrox. It doesn’t grant lethality but it increases your AD, armor, and ability haste. On top of this, it allows you to take a portion of the enemy’s damage over 3 seconds and not instantly, making you a lot tankier.
- Lord Dominik’s Regard
If you’re up against a tanky team comp and you don’t need any more defensive items, Lord Dominik’s Regard is the recommended choice. It buffs your armor penetration and significantly increases your damage.
However, if you feel like you need more survivability, items like Ravenous Hydra, Maw of Malmortius, and Edge of Night are at your disposal. Build them accordingly!
Skill Order and Summoner’s Spells
The way you max out your abilities on lethality Aatrox is standard. You always want to go for Q first, then for E second, and W third. This is because we need more damage early on and more healing once the mid game kicks in.
As for Summoner’s Spells, Flash + Teleport is the recommended combination for top lane. But if you’re looking to be aggressive early on, Flash + Ignite might be a superior choice for you.
Read Also: Lethality Ashe Build Guide
Conclusion
Aatrox doesn’t really need 6 lethality items in order to break the open and carry his team. In reality, Aatrox is super strong with only 2 lethality items and a combination of fighter and tank items.
However, the tankier the enemy team gets, the more lethality items you need to purchase. But in any case, Aatrox’s damage and healing will be insanely high as long as you follow the rune page and the item build shown above.
Good luck!
