Before we get into this, we have to say one thing. League of Legends fans care about their game probably more, or at least just as much, as the most dedicated fans for any other game or series. That being said, it isn’t surprising that heated debates can spring up after big changes, updates, or new features.
Still, though, the reactions to the Aatrox update are some of the worst we’ve seen in a long, long time. Who knew that players cared so much about one of the worst-received champions in the game’s history up until a month ago?
Related: Aatrox receives buffs via hotfix hours after his release.
If you’ve perused the League Reddit community today, you’ve almost definitely seen the posts. One post defending the large-scale Aatrox update and another post condemning it were two of the top posts almost all day long. Racking up over 3,000 upvotes each, the posts are filled to the brim with arguing fans, some a little more zealous than others, shouting back and forth about the good and bad of the rework.
On one hand, you have players arguing that the old Aatrox was so fundamentally broken that there’s no way the new update could be worse to play, even if the old Aatrox was a little more popular at the end of his life cycle. And the others simply say that the new update feels clunkier, unrhythmic, and not satisfying to play.
The truth of the matter is that it’s a little bit of both.
The old Aatrox was fundamentally broken, there’s no denying that fact. He was a stat check champion, completely reliant on the power of his basic attacks. If his attack speed, AD, and item set were strong, he was strong. If his stats were weaker, and no great basic attack items existed in the meta, he was irrelevant. That’s way too binary of a fate for any champion, even the simplest of them.
But, truth be told, the new Aatrox is pretty clunky. We played him a few times on the PBE, and now that he’s out in all his Darkin glory, we’ve had time to play him even more both on Summoner’s Rift and the Howling Abyss. The rhythm of his kit feels very strange, and having to take pauses in between casts of his Q (which also holds him in place), slows his gameplay down to the point that it feels less destructive and more.. well, slow.
The dash adds a bit of freedom in movement to his Q, but it feels odd, too. When you use it, it feels a bit like a less smooth version of Lucian using his dash mid-ult. But while Lucian’s looks and feels super fluid and smooth, Aatrox’s feels snubbed and incomplete. In other words, rather than feeling like you control the battlefield with it, it feels a little desperate.
Thematically speaking, his Q is very strange, too. He’s supposed to be this big, hulking demon that smashes through enemies with expert precision, but the mini-knockups on his Q feel a little pathetic, and the fact that you need the opponent to stay at range for maximum effect cripples him against anyone that can get close to him. That means that even though he’s supposed to be this master-at-arms, any duelist or skirmisher can best him in close quarters combat—Camille, Fiora, Yasuo, Riven, Pantheon, Xin Zhao, and many more.
While we agree the update was needed, it does feel like it’s in sore need of some spit and polish, and we hope Riot will take another look at it, even if the design team ultimately decides not to do anything as follow-up work in the end.
