Hi guys. I'm TopDiffed, a top laner who has been playing since S6 and I have climbed all the way to master tier in Solo Queue. I wanted to make some guides to show you tips and tricks for my favorite champions before getting into streaming. I hope my guides are helpful to let you hone your skills and give you some tips you have not seen elsewhere before. I have played a ton of Aatrox, especially post rework, and I think he is one of the strongest top laners in the game.

Pros:

Fantastic blind pick
Strong at all stages of the game
Nice powerspikes on 1, 2 and 3 items
Good side lane pressure
Solid team fighter

Cons:

High skill ceiling
Lowish mobility
Unforgiving trade patterns if messed up

Deathbringer Stance (Passive)

INNATE: Periodically, Aatrox empowers his next basic attack to gain Range icon 50 bonus range and deal bonus physical damage equal to 4% − 12% (based on level) of the target's maximum health, capped at 100 against Monster icon monsters.
Aatrox Heal power icon heals for 80% of the post-mitigation bonus damage dealt, reduced to 25% against Minion icon minions.

Whenever Aatrox hits at least one enemy Champion icon champion or large Monster icon monster with a basic attack On-hit icon on-hit or an ability, the Cooldown icon cooldown of Deathbringer Stance is reduced by 2 seconds, modified to 4 if he hits with the Sweetspot of The Darkin Blade The Darkin Blade.

Aatrox's passive is incredibly powerful. You get such an insane amount of healing off of this ability and it is what makes him have so much staying power in lane and when splitting.

The Darkin Blade

ACTIVE: Aatrox can activate The Darkin Blade three times before the ability goes on cooldown, with a 1-second static cooldown between casts. If Aatrox does not recast the ability within 4 seconds of the previous cast, it goes on cooldown.

Aatrox performs a strike with his greatsword for each of the three casts, dealing physical damage to enemies hit within an area. Enemies hit within a Sweetspot of the area take Critical strike physical icon 60% bonus damage and also Airborne icon knocked up for 0.25 seconds. Each subsequent cast increases The Darkin Blade's damage by 25%

The Q is Aatrox's bread and butter ability and what makes him so strong in lane. It also is why his skill ceiling is so high. To maximize DPS we need to hit the sweet spot on all of our Q casts when trading, this can be tricky. Keep in mind we can use Aatrox's E ability to help set up our sweet spot and we will be doing so often. Practice the E>Q animation in practice tool to get good at it.

Infernal Chains

ACTIVE: Aatrox sends a chain in the target direction that deals physical damage to the first enemy hit, doubled against Minion icon minions, and Slow icon slowing them for 1.5 seconds.

Our W allows us to stick to our target. It is best to lead with E>W from close range as it is much easier to hit this way. We can line up our sweet spot from Q with where we know they will be pulled back to with W. This combo is very strong on Aatrox.

Umbral Dash

PASSIVE: Aatrox Heal power icon heals for a portion of the non-Blaze persistent post-mitigation damage he deals against enemy champions, increased during World Ender World Ender.

ACTIVE: Aatrox Dash dashes in the target direction.

Our mobility ability. Great for dodging skillshots and setting up our W or Q sweet spots. Self-explanatory ability but very strong. Also offers us healing.

World Ender

ACTIVE: Aatrox unleashes his true form for 10 seconds, Flee icon fearing nearby enemy Minion icon minions and Monster icon monsters for 3 seconds, during which they are gradually Slow icon slowed by up to 99% over the duration. He also gains Ghost ghosting and Movement speed icon bonus movement speed that decays by 10% of the current bonus every 0.25 seconds, lasting until World Ender has ended.

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED:
60 / 80 / 100%
Whenever Aatrox scores a champion Damage rating takedown, he extends the duration by 5 seconds and becomes unleashed again.

During World Ender, Aatrox gains Attack damage icon bonus attack damage and 5% increased size, and receives increased Heal power icon self-healing from all sources

Aside from being the coolest ability name in the entire game, World Ender is extremely strong. It should be used right before an all-in or when a team fight breaks out. It gives a burst of move speed, making it easier to stick on enemies, extra healing and bonus AD. All insanely useful stats for us all-in'ing the enemy top laner.

Conqueror

This rune gives us a ton of healing and extra AD both very good stats on Aatrox. We can proc it fast with Q>auto>Q>auto>Q. Best rune for Aatrox by far.

Triumph

Extra HP, self explanatory for Aatrox. We have no mana so presence is useless and overheal just isn't that good compared to Triumph.

Legend: Alacrity

Extra attack speed to get our autos in more often, very good for Aatrox. This is stronger in lane than tenacity and my favorite to take.

Last Stand

Aatrox is very good at staying low HP in team fights and healing back up with his kit. Last Stand is the best choice for this reason, we're going to be low HP pretty often when going in.

Bone Plating

I find resolve secondary too good not to take on Aatrox. We are going to be trading A LOT in lane and bone plating reduces a lot of damage from this.

Overgrowth

Free health is great for us. Synergizes nicely with all of the healing we have in our kit!

Teleport

Teleport is the best summoner to take and get used to playing with on Aatrox and most top laners. The ability to have global map presence after 10 minutes is so useful. Look for plays bot once you have unleashed teleport, it's also nice to have late game for splitting and if you die in lane early to get back without missing much exp.


Ignite

Ignite is decent in lower elos or when you are looking to just be a massive lane bully. I take this when I smurf and I think it has its place on Aatrox. Make sure you win lane if you take ignite though, nothing more useless than a top laner who loses lane with summoner advantage!

Profane Hydra

This item is so, so good. Not only are the stats incredibly useful on Aatrox but the passive is downright broken right now for clearing waves and getting extra damage when the enemy is under 50% in your combo. It also synergizes extremely well with our ult takedown reset. Take this every game.

The primary Aatrox combos you'll want to get down are the following.

R>E>W>Q>Q>Q

This is your all-in combo when engaging. Your W tether forces them to flash out or take your first Q sweet spot (which will almost always be a death when ahead). Make sure to try to W in melee range once you've gap closed with E as it is much more of a guaranteed hit.

Your lane combo will be:

E>Q>W>Q>Q or Q>E>Q>W>Q

Basically the most important part of Aatrox is ensuring you land that first Q, once you do and receive the mini knock up, the rest of your Q's are much easier to land. Missing the first Q is rough, but both of these trading patterns are good. E>Q is a safer way to make sure your first Q connects.

Will add more details with indepth videos on my guides soon! Stay tuned