Hi Guys, my name is Strider and I am a Master Yi main on the NA and EUW servers. I know what you're probably thinking 'wait, you're not Hashinshin, you're just some random pretending to be him'. I understand how the title of the guide can be confusing, I put Hashinshin's name in the title because I wanted to publish a guide on how NA's super top plays the World Ender. I do watch him a lot so I hope you'll allow me to share with you what I have seen. Hashinshin can be argued as the best Aatrox player in NA as he literally spends all day every day playing this champion, I hope this guide will help you dominate the rift like he does!

PROS + Strong laning phase + Insane sustain + Doesnt use mana or energy + Good mobility with Umbral Dash + Good teamfighter + Super satisfying to play once mastered

CONS - Long cooldowns on his abilities early game - High skill ceiling - Q and W are both skillshots that take practice to learn how to place correctly - Dependent on cooldown reduction

#1. The Darkin Blade 1 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 9 #2. Umbral Dash 2 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 13 #3. World Ender 6/ 11 / 16 #4. Infernal Chains 3 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 18

> > > This is the standard skill order used by Hashinshin and all other Aatrox players. The Darkin Blade is maxed first because it is Aatrox's primary damage spell, leveling it up also reduces its cooldown which is crucial because Aatrox is an AD caster, this means the majority of his damage comes from his abilities, not his auto attacks. The more often your abilities are available the higher your dps. Umbral Dash is maxed second as its where all of Aatrox's mobility comes from, similar to The Darkin Blade, skilling this ability also reduces its cooldown. You out points in your ultimate World Ender whenever you can and Infernal Chains is maxed last as it is only a cc spell and doesn't offer much else.

SUMMONER SPELLS - FLASH: Flash is one of the most fundamental summoner spells in the entire game. There is a reason every player takes this spell no matter who they're playing as save for a few exceptions like Yuumi. The ultility provided by it and its capability to be used offensively and defensively make it an invaluable summoner spell. Hashinshin takes this in every game he plays so you should too. TELEPORT: Teleport is the best summoner spell to run as a top laner. The reason it is used so much is because the lane is so much longer, so people use it to get back to lane quickly so they wont miss out on too much minion experience and gold. If you get ganked and die it can be very helpful to be able to return to lane instantly and not have to many consequences. It is also great for providing pressure in the late game as you can be splitpushing on the other side of the mpa from everyone else and when a teamfight breaks out you can teleport in to help them. Or you can use it to backdoor the enemy team.

KEYSTONE Hash uses Conqueror in every game. Conqueror provides him with AD as he stacks it, and at max stacks, heals him for 15% of his damage dealt. This is the best rune to run on Aatrox as he is usually engaged in prolonged fights so it will help keep him alive. Unfortunately Aatrox is unable to stack Conqueror as fast as other champions but there is simply no other keystone that is viable on him. HEROISM RUNE For the Heroism rune we always take Triumph. Triumph restores 12% of your missing health one second after getting a kill. Similar to the reasons I listed above for Conqueror, the sustain this rune provides you with is insane and will definitely help you cluth out some fights. The bonus 20 gold you get on kill is helpful too to get your items faster. LEGEND RUNE Legend: Tenacity is the strongest rune here at the moment. I recommend you always take the tenacity rune because Aatrox is heavily countered by hard CC, the less time he spends cc'd the more time he can spend whacking enemies. A good alternative here is Legend: Alacrity when vs teams with little to no CC, however this will rarely be the case in season 10 so you can just stick to Legend: Tenacity.

COMBAT RUNE All three of the combat runes are viable on Aatrox, however Last Stand is the rune of choice for Hashinshin. Last Stand can be very useful when against those early game champions like Darius and Renekton he wont beat early game and the fight may come down to the wire. Last Stand can help you clutch out in those situations. MALICE RUNE Hashinshin runs Taste of Blood in most of his games. Taste of Blood helps him to survive the laning phase by healing him whenever he can poke his opponent with his initial cast of The Darkin Blade. The healing from it can also help him clutch out early game 1v1s. HUNTER RUNE Ravenous Hunter is the best rune to run here for Aatrox. The whole idea of Aatrox is that he is a drain tank, he will be able to fight you longer than anyone can fight him just because of his insane healing which no champion in the game except maybe Vladimir can match. Ravenous Hunter heals him for a portion of his damage every time he damages an enemy champion with his abilities, this will help keep him alive for longer so he can keep fighting.

Caulfield's Warhammer

Black Cleaver

Death's Dance

Caulfield's Warhammer, Black Cleaver and Death's Dance are going to be the three major items we are building every single game on Aatrox. We build Caulfield's Warhammer first because it gives us damage and that much needed cdr which is crucial for Aatrox. Since Aatrox is an ad caster champion he needs to have his abilities up frequently to deal damage. After Caulfield's Warhammer we want to rush more cdr so we build Black Cleaver next. Black Cleaver gives us another 20% cdr, damage, health as well as armor shred, this is really good for us because Hashinshin always complains about how easily Aatrox is shut down by armor. Lastly, we want to build Death's Dance this will get us to the cdr cap of 40% and makes us more tanky with some resistances. But most importantly we buy this item for the massive healing it provides. Once Aatrox has Death's Dance there is no other champion in the game that can match his level of healing, its honestly insane and what makes this champion so fun to play.

-OR-

Ninja Tabi > ARMOR I only pick up Ninja Tabi's when against an AD top and they have at least one other AD champion on their team (this will usually be the case in the form of their ADC). Ninja Tabi have this really good passive which reduces the damage from auto-attacks by 10%, and for a lot of AD top laners a good portion of their damage comes from auto-attacks making this one of the best defensive items to pick up. Consider where the enemy teams damage comes from, is it abilities or auto attacks? If auto attacks then I suggest you pick these up. Mercury's Treads > MAGIC RESIST + TENACITY I go Mercury's Treads when they have at least 3 magic damage users on their team. It can also be very useful to pick these up when you need the tenacity provided by its passive for when you're going against a heavy CC team. If you are against a team where you know you will have to build Ninja Tabi in champ select but they also have a heavy CC team, you can opt for the Legend: Tenacity rune to get around this problem.

Armor

Magic Resistance

Health

DEATH'S DANCE The reworked Death's Dance is one of the best items in the game in my opinion. It gives you a bit of everything: damage, armor, mr, cooldown reduction and healing. When going against of balanced physical and magic this is a good item to go. Since its rework I would almost say this item is core, I build it in most of my games but if you find the enemy team are kiting you well there are better options for you.

RANDUIN'S OMEN Randuin's Omen is pretty much the best armor item in the game. I always recommend buying this when the enemy team has at least two champions who build critical strike chance. Most teams will always have at least one in the form of their ADC, and if they have a Yasuo mid or Tryndamere top you need this item. I sometimes just get this if the enemy team just has Caitlyn or Jhin because their crits are huge late game.

THORNMAIL Thornmail is a great buy when you need the grievous wounds to reduce the healing on the enemy team. If they have champions like Vladimir, Aatrox, Soraka or Yuumi you cant go wrong with this buy. When super ahead I suppose you can go Mortal Reminder but in most games Thornmail will be your best bet as you want the survivability it provides.

FROZEN HEART I do not recommend buying Frozen Heart for the majority of your games, it is only useful in very specific ci***stances. The best stat Frozen Heart provides is its high armor and what does armor do? Armor directly counters lethality. I have only built this item once ever and that was when I was against a Zed mid and a Varus ADC building lethality.

GUARDIAN ANGEL Personally I do not build Guardian Angel that much but I do recognize the value the item provides. I think that Guardian Angel can be a good buy if you find you are getting focused a lot and you can trust your team to cover for you while you revive.

SPIRIT VISAGE Get Spirit Visage when against teams with at least 3 magic damage based champions. This combined with your Mercury's Treads and Death's Dance will make you near unkillable on magic resistance alone, and then your gonna have the insane bonus healing that this item provides as well.

ADAPTIVE HELM Adaptive Helm is only good into teams with mages and in particular mages with short cooldowns or with spells that deal damage over time. I'm talking about champions like Cassiopeia, Anivia and Malzahar etc. I dont find myself building this item that often but like Frozen Heart it is there for those very niche scenarios.

MERCURIAL SCIMITAR Mercurial Scimitar is a must buy against champions with hard cc that they can just point and click on you. You always want to buy the Quicksilver Sash component of this item first so you can use its active. I always recommend buying this item when against Malzahar or Mordekaiser for example.

MAW OF MALMORTIUS Maw of Malmortius is a good item to buy when vs AP assassins like LeBlanc and Ahri. Its passive is similar to that of Sterak's Gage which gives you a shield upon losing health quickly, the only difference is Maw of Malmortius gives you a magic damage shield rather than a normal shield. Maw of Malmortius also gives you a huge boost in lifesteal and spell vamp when its lifeline passive triggers, helping keep you alive.

STERAK'S GAGE Similar to Death's Dance I would almost say Sterak's Gage is core on Aatrox as well. This item is just made for funneling because when team fighting if the enemy team has any brains at all they are going to try and focus you. This means you will face a huge burst of incoming damage from them as they all unload their abilities on you. This means that you will most likely always proc the passive shield from Sterak's Gage and this will keep you alive for longer as well as giving you more tenacity so you can move better.