How to Counter Aatrox

How to Counter Aatrox

Aatrox is a strong Top laner in League of Legends. He has strong all-in, great sustain and damage thanks to his Passive and Q. If Aatrox gets an early lead, he can be incredibly hard to play against and can quickly take over the lane.

In this Mobalytics guide, we will break down 5 tips and 5 champions that you should pick into Aatrox. As Aatrox is sometimes a flex pick, we’ve gone ahead and listed some champions that can also be flexed against him. Pick one of these 5 champions into him next time you see Aatrox locked in by the enemy.

If you’re interested in learning how to play as Aatrox, check out Aatrox’s Champion Page. You’ll find their latest builds, runes, combos and much much more. Sign up to Mobalytics for more tips to improve your climb!

• Get anti-healing items
• Use your range advantage
• Play around his E
• Watch your positioning
• How to dodge his Q
• 5 Champions That Counter Aatrox
  1. Yorick
  2. Heimerdinger
  3. Fiora
  4. Kled
  5. Illaoi

Get anti-healing items

Aatrox has built-in sustain and will buy items that enhance his healing. Because he will have a lot of sustain in the laning phase and throughout the game, it is vital that you invest in healing reduction to make killing him easier.

For AD champions, getting an Executioner’s Calling will help you in the lane. For AP champions, an Oblivion Orb will also stem his healing too. You don’t have to buy and upgrade these items right away, but getting one of them early in the laning phase will be incredibly helpful.

Use your range advantage

If you have the luxury of picking a ranged champion into Aatrox, you need to abuse him as much as possible. If you can, try to harass him with autos whenever he walks up to last hit minions. If he steps too far forward, you should also try to harass him for mispositioning or overextending.

If you can get him low, it will be near impossible for Aatrox to ever play aggressive or look for kills purely because he runs the risk of being killed and having the exchange turned against him. Furthermore, the Aatrox will have to give up CS for XP or take a considerable beating if he wants to secure the farm. Gaining a farm and CS lead in this way will help you get your items first too.

Play around his E

Aatrox’s E is his only real movement tool. While he does have other tools in his kit that can help him, his E is his most reliable and successful ability to protect him. If he ever uses this ability to either last hit with (his E is an auto-attack reset) or uses it for any other reason, you should try to abuse the cooldown.

Aatrox’s E has a very long cooldown, especially during the laning phase. This leaves him vulnerable to attack and all-in. I recommend trying to bait this ability out and then trying to play aggressive and abuse its cooldown.

Watch your positioning

While Aatrox’s E may be his primary repositioning tool, his W is effective for starting skirmishes. If you get hit by this ability, most Aatrox players will try to play aggressive and look for a favourable trade.

One way of countering his W is by always watching your positioning. Aatrox’s W cannot go through minions, so you must stand behind minions. Ensure that there is always at least one of them in between you and him.

If he can land his W on you, your main course of action is to run out of its range. You should not run forwards or backwards but to the side instead. Running to the side is the best option because the sides are closer, and you can escape the pull quickly.

How to dodge his Q

There are three different Q’s for Aatrox, and repositioning around them is crucial if you want to dodge them. Each has a sweet spot that deals lots of damage and knock-ups the target. Avoiding this sweet spot will be very important.

• For his first Q, the sweet spot is at the farthest edge in the middle. You should dodge this ability by moving to the side.
• His second Q’s sweet spot is at the far edges (farthest away from him). To make dodging this ability easier, run towards him slightly.
• For his final Q, he slams down at a centred target location. The centre is the sweet spot. To dodge this, back of and out of range.

His Q’s can be pretty easy to dodge, but his E can allow him to reposition while using each of them, which can be hard to dodge. If you’re not in a position to move forward and trade with him, then it’s best just to disengage rather than move forward or closer to him when he activates his Q.

5 Champions That Counter Aatrox

The best champions that counter Aatrox are Yorick, Heimerdinger, Fiora, Kled and Illaoi. You can find all the matchup tips we use in this guide on the Mobalytics App. For plus members, you can get specific matchup tips for the champion you’re playing versus the enemy laner at your fingertips while you load into the game. We have tens of thousands of different, highly specific matchups curated by our challenger level players to help you lane against the enemy champion.

1. Aatrox vs Yorick

Aatrox wants to get ahead early, but Yorick wants to scale. You can force the Aatrox to overextend, or play over aggressive and then turn around the exchange. Whenever his dash is down, it may be a good time to use your cell on him to trap him inside.

4 tips to counter Aatrox as Yorick

• Aatrox’s primary source of damage comes from hitting the sweet spot on his Q’s. Try your best to dodge these attacks while trading against him.
• Standing behind your allied minions will make it impossible for Aatrox to hit you with his W, making it harder for Aatrox to all-in you. Always stand behind a minion to reduce his all in potential.
• If you are hit by Aatrox’s W, always try to escape out of one of the sides rather than by running away as the distance to travel is far shorter and will allow you to escape fast enough not to get pulled in by the chain.
• Aatrox’s E has a reasonably high cooldown in the early game. If he uses it during the laning phase, take it as an opportunity to engage with your W as he will have no way to escape from the wall.

2. Aatrox vs Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger has the range advantage and can bully him down consistently with his towers and auto-attacks. Wait for the Aatrox to overextend or play aggressive, and then shut him down with your E and turrets.

4 tips to counter Aatrox as Heimerdinger

• It would be best if you tried to zone Aatrox off the minion wave for as long as possible with your Q and W. At no point should he be allowed to farm freely.
• Your E and W will come in very handy during the laning phase. It will allow you to CC Aatrox and burst him down. Bonus points if you manage to catch him near your turrets.
• Once you get your Ultimate, you should have an easy time killing Aatrox. This is solely because the added effects of your Ultimate can allow you to turn any situation around.
• Keep the wave in the middle of the lane, and ensure that you use the lane brushes to go for regular short burst trades on Aatrox. Watch out for the enemy Jungler ganking you, though, and waltz into the zone near your turrets to save yourself.

3. Aatrox vs Fiora

Fiora is one of the strongest duelists in the game. Not only can she block a lot of his abilities with her W, but she can use it to heavily turn around an exchange. She may want to rush a defensive item first, but after that, she will heavily win against him.

4 tips to counter Aatrox as Fiora

• Watch out for his Passive Deathbringer Stance; it has a long cooldown but can cause a lot of damage. Ideally, try to trade around this ability.
• Be careful when your Riposte, as when it is on cooldown, it leaves you open for Aatrox to hit his W and his Q.
• Play around Aatrox Q cooldown. It has a long cooldown in the early game so punish him when he doesn’t have it up. You can also use your Q Lunge to dodge the Aatrox’s Q weak points, denying him the bonus damage.
• Save your W for when Aatrox uses his 3rd Q as it does the most damage out of the 3 charges.

4. Aatrox vs Kled

Kled is great in all-ins, and he has excellent turnaround potential. If Aatrox ever engages, he can turn around the exchange with ease. In the early game, if Kled lands his Q, he can all-in the Aatrox.

4 tips to counter Aatrox as Kled

• Do your best to freeze the wave on your side of the lane as long as possible. This will make it risky for Aatrox to go for any extended trades with you.
• The primary damage source of Aatrox comes from his empowered auto attacks and Q. Look to trade after you dodge his Q sweet spots and after he uses his Passive to last hit with.
• When you hit the enemy with your E, you will be behind the target. Use this to dodge Aatrox’s Q sweet spots and to trade with him. Do not do this on the last Q, though, as you may put yourself in a prime position to land his final sweet spot.
• Try to harass him as much as possible when he uses his Q. It has a very long cooldown early game and is his primary source of damage.

5. Aatrox vs Illaoi

Illaoi is a safe pick into Aatrox in the early game. Once she has some levels behind her, she will be able to easily outtrade the Aatrox and win all-ins. Post 6, her kill pressure increases heavily. Until that stage, she may want to freeze on her side of the map so he doesn’t run her down.

4 tips to counter Aatrox as Illaoi

• You can use your W to close the distance between you and Aatrox when he attempts the first two casts of his Q. Use this to avoid the sweet spot and trade with him.
• Do your best to freeze the wave on your side of the lane as long as possible. This will make it risky for Aatrox to go for any extended trades with you.
• Aatrox has a lot of self-healing. If you fall behind in the early game, you can buy an executioner’s calling to help with your all in.
• Try not to use your E until after Aatrox casts his Umbral Dash since he can easily dodge with it.

Conclusion

Aatrox is a tough matchup for many. His early game damage and pressure can be hard to handle. Pick one of these 5 champions next time you face him to make laning against him much easier.

For more tips and tricks for Aatrox, check out Aatrox’s champion page on Mobalytics!

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