Aatrox Jungle Wild Rift Guide

Overview

Aatrox in the jungle is a drain-tank brawler who brings a lane bully's all-in to the whole map. Everything runs through The Darkin Blade: three swings, each with a sweet spot that knocks up and hits harder, plus a passive that turns one auto into a big chunk of health. His clear is quick once you learn to overlap the sweeps, and his ganks usually end in kills, because a clean combo with World Ender up heals back everything the enemy deals. His plan is to win the long fight. He is not a power-farmer and not a one-shot assassin. He walks into skirmishes over scuttle or dragon, lands a sweet spot, and outlasts everyone while his health keeps climbing. Once his ultimate is up, ganks turn into kills far more often, and the longer a fight runs the better it gets for him. The downside is real. All his damage is skillshots, so a missed sweet spot is a wasted gank, and once his dash is spent, one stun chain can kill him before any healing matters. Anti-heal ruins his plan, and he loses pure duels to scaled carries late. His power is front-loaded, so take your fights while your combo still threatens to kill and close the game before the enemy carries finish scaling.

Build Snapshot

Rune Setup

Summoner Spells

Aatrox Jungle Counters

Who counters Aatrox Jungle in Wild Rift (WR)? These champions beat Aatrox in the jungle matchup, with how each one wins. Learn to play around them or ban them in ranked.

• Olaf: Olaf's ultimate removes every slow and your pull, and his true damage cuts through your tankiness in a straight duel. Once your dash is spent, he simply runs you down.
• Zed: Zed dodges your sweet spots with his shadow and bursts you before World Ender healing adds up. A drain bruiser only wins long fights, and he never gives you one.
• Lillia: Lillia never stands still long enough for a sweet spot to land, kiting you while her burn stacks from range. Her sleep sets up burst you cannot heal through, and you cannot catch her alone.

Champions Aatrox Is Strong Against

Aatrox's best matchups in Wild Rift. Aatrox holds an edge against these picks in the jungle role, so look to press the advantage and contest objectives.

• Warwick: He wants the same extended brawl you do, but your World Ender healing out-paces his drain, and a sweet spot knocks him out of his ultimate suppression.
• Kha'Zix: Kha'Zix needs to burst an isolated target, and you survive his opening leap. Once it fails to kill, your sweet spots and World Ender healing win the long fight his squishy frame cannot take.
• Nocturne: Nocturne dives in to out-duel you, but your knockups break his rhythm and World Ender healing out-paces his lifesteal. Only his fear really threatens you, and his spell shield eats just one ability.

Early Game

Your first clear is steady, not fast. Start on a camp where you can hit all three Q sweeps, and let the passive auto reset between casts to speed things up. Run the whole rotation, then take scuttle, because that is what puts you on level five with World Ender ready. From there the loop is simple: your camps are respawning, so spend that time on a lane. The clean version is E in to land a sweet spot on a fleeing target, Q the slam where they have to stand, then finish with the empowered auto. Clear again when the camps are back, then look for the next lane while they respawn. Contest scuttle when a lane can back you up, and skip it against junglers who win the straight fight, since your early duel is decent but loses to the strongest early duelists. Hold E to dodge their key spell instead of using it to engage, and ward behind you, because a slow brawler without his dash is easy to collapse on.

Mid Game

Around six minutes you are level eight and both dragon and Rift Herald are up. World Ender makes you one of the better objective contesters in the game, so if your team is winning the early fights, take one: every sweep that hits two enemies heals you twice, and the pit is exactly where they have to stand. If the game is even, trade one objective for the other instead of forcing a fight you do not clearly win, and take Herald, since it converts straight into a tower without asking your team to hold a five on five. Play for dragon instead when your team fights well enough to want soul later. Between objectives keep the loop going: clear your camps, gank while they respawn, and invade the slow farmers when you know where their jungler is. Takedowns extend your ultimate, so commit when a kill is on and ride the extra time into the next fight.

Late Game

Late game you are a durable teamfighter, not a side laner. Do not split push, because you lose the clean duel to anyone who scaled. Group, look for flanks through fog, and pop World Ender as the fight starts rather than walking in with it already running. Save your W for a carry instead of pulling a tank, since it is your one real pick tool and it is wasted on the front line. Watch for enemy anti-heal on the scoreboard, because once their carry finishes it you can no longer face-tank and have to fight around their cooldowns instead of through them. At Baron and the late dragons, you are the front line that keeps the fight going long enough for your team to finish it.

Teamfights

Flank if you can, and time your engage with your team's, since a sweet spot knockup is worth much more when someone follows up on it. Use World Ender right as the fight commits, then swing where your Q hits two or three enemies, because every extra body means more healing and the fight tilts your way the longer it runs. Use E, or even Flash mid-cast, to land a sweet spot on their carry: the knockup chains into your team's lockdown and the bonus damage is what actually kills. If their front line blocks the backline, do not force it. Sweep the tanks, heal off them, and let your passive punish their health stacking. One takedown extends your ultimate, and an extended World Ender usually decides the rest of the fight.