Patch 13.14 introduced a number of changes for League of Legends champions. Some of them, despite being minor, returned champions to their former glory, including one of the best top laners currently, Aatrox.
The Darkin Blade is back to dominating the top lane in the meta. At the time of writing, Aatrox is the most popular top laner among Platinum+ players with a 15.5 percent pick rate, according to U.GG. On top of that, he is boasting a 52.50 percent win rate, the second-highest in that rank just behind Cassiopeia (who has only a 0.6 percent pick rate).
This is the same in Emerald+ and Diamond+ ranks, meaning that Aatrox might be back for good after having a lackluster first half of the year, where he was hardly a decent pick.
Nevertheless, it’s a bit surprising Aatrox is back in the meta in such a dominating fashion. In Patch 13.14, Riot Games focused on his Q damage. More specifically, they improved the damage of the first cast and elevated the minion damage modifier on the whole ability. We believe these tweaks allowed Aatrox to have more favorable skirmishes in the early game while also enabling him to split push more efficiently.
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This news should make pro top laners excited since Aatrox has really fallen off in 2023. At Worlds 2022 main event, he was the only top laner to record a 100 percent pick and ban rate, according to Oracle’s Elixir. This year, though, he’s doing horribly in the competitive scene. He has been played only once in the 2023 LCK Summer Split.
Unfortunately for Aatrox mains, the champion is expected to be nerfed in Patch 13.15.
Published: Jul 25, 2023 05:32 am