 Whenever Aatrox uses an ability that costs health, he stores 100% of the health cost into his Blood Well. The maximum amount of health the Blood Well can store is equal to 30 + (45 × level). If Aatrox has not dealt or received damage in the last 5 seconds, his Blood Well will deplete at a rate of 2% per second.

 Upon taking fatal damage, Blood Well activates and places Aatrox in stasis for 3 seconds. Over the stasis duration the Blood Well is emptied and Aatrox restores health equal to its contents plus 10.5 + (15.75 × level). Blood Well’s activation has a static cooldown and is unaffected by cooldown reduction.

 Also, Aatrox passively increases his attack speed by 1% for every 2% in the Blood Well.

The champion’s passive allows him to cheat death once every 225 seconds and come back with a vicious vengeance. One thing to keep in mind with his passive is that you will come back to life with more health if you have more of the blood well filled up. You can see how much you have stored by simply looking underneath your health bar. The passive definitely helps when it comes to tower dives by enemy champions and even comes in handy during high stakes team fights. The cooldown means that you will not be abusing the ability, so be very wary when it is down since you will really need to keep an eye on your health levels. Especially since you use health as an ability resource.

Q: Dark Flight
 RANGE: 650, COOLDOWN: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12, COST: 10% of current health

ACTIVE: Aatrox takes flight and slams down at a targeted area, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies upon landing. Enemies in the centre of the area are also knocked up for 1 second.

 PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 60% bonus AD)

Aatrox’s Q is the crowd control king of his ability set. With Dark Flight you will be able to initiate from jungling as well as help out in ganking situations in top or mid lane. Although it has a good AD ratio, this ability does not seem to do as much damage when it hits late game in comparison to early and mid play. This isn’t a problem however as late game you will be using this more for the knock up or for a getaway tactic rather than a damage dealer. The range can take a little getting used to but the ability as a whole is very solid.

W: Blood Thirst/Blood Price
 COOLDOWN: 0.5

TOGGLE OFF: Aatrox heals himself on every third attack. If Aatrox is below 50% health he will heal for three times as much.

 HEAL: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+25% bonus AD)
 ENHANCED HEAL: 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 (+75% bonus AD)

TOGGLE ON: Aatrox deals bonus physical damage on every third attack at the cost of health.

 BONUS PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+100% bonus AD)
 HEALTH COST ON THIRD ATTACK: 15 / 23.75 / 32.5 / 41.25 / 50 (+25% bonus AD)

The W of this champion’s ability set makes Aatrox a true formidable force. With the passive on Blood Thirst you will be gaining health as your main source of non item sustain. This ability is useful for jungling and farming but can also be handy in fights where you need to out sustain your opponent rather than out damage. The other side of it however, Blood Price, is the ability that can truly cripple opponents. From taking down carries with ease to knocking out tanks like they were nothing, as long as you have attack speed to back this ability up you can deal some serious damage.

E: Blades of Torment
 RANGE: 1000, COOLDOWN: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8, COST: 5% of current health

ACTIVE: Aatrox unleashes and sends forward the power of his blade, dealing magic damage to enemies in a line and slowing them by 40% for a few seconds.

 MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255 (+ 60% AP) (+ 60% bonus AD)
 SLOW DURATION: 1.75 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 2.75

Blades of Torment is the first move you should definitely focus on Aatrox due to its damage potential and slow infliction. Keep in mind as well that this, alongside Aatrox’s ultimate, have AP Ratio’s. This means that Aatrox can be built hybrid if you wish to in order to maximise on damage. Regardless of how you build however, this will be the move you will use the most as it is needed in champion chases as well as those match ups where you can hit all enemy champions in a line with this one move.

R: Massacre
 COOLDOWN: 100 / 85 / 70, COST: No cost

ACTIVE: Aatrox draws in the blood of his foes, dealing magic damage to nearby enemy champions.
For the next 12 seconds, Aatrox gains bonus attack speed and 175 bonus attack range (325 total range). His attacks are still considered melee.

 MAGIC DAMAGE: 200 / 300 / 400(+ 100% AP)
 ATTACK SPEED: 40 / 50 / 60%

Finally we have Aatrox’s ultimate that is a no cost AoE (Area of Effect) ability that allows him to become a real bruiser. You do not use this ability in the middle or end of a fight in order to score a kill, like other ultimates. Instead you are better off casting this early on in the fights in order to gain your bonus speed and range so that you can use your W more efficiently. Like his Q, this can be a slightly awkward ability to use at first. After a while of playing as Aatrox you will master using this ability at the right time, which will give you all the damage output or sustain that you will need in fights.

The champion plays out really well in lane and some may say too well. Aatrox players will constantly be playing aggressively in lane in order to get you out of position and for him to kill you, even if it costs him his Blood Well. You may experience that after Aatrox’s passive triggers, you need to play completely differently in battle. Apart from going head first into a fight guns blazing, you need to focus on doing damage that will out sustain your opponent. This is when Blood Thirst will be more efficient than Blood Price.