With Aatrox, you should prioritize your abilities in the order R>Q>E>W when leveling. For land dominance, we need damage to build up pressure on the enemy and push the Minionwave at the same time. The Q skill is ideal for this job, as it offers 3 knock-ups as well as a lot of area damage. That’s why you should definitely take it at level 1 and maximize it first. It is important that you get used to the different hitboxes of the 3 Q activations and learn to hit your opponents as often as possible with the “sweet spots” so that they take the extra damage and are thrown up.

At level 2, we level up the E skill, as this gives us life steal and mobility in the form of a dash. Combining Q with E also allows us to reposition the Q’s hit area during cast time, making it easier to hit the Q’s knock-ups.

Level 3 is followed by the E ability, which gives us a double CC in the form of a slow and a subsequent knockback if the opponent does not run out of the marked area. We maximize this ability last, as the duration of the CC does not change and the other abilities give us more damage. Our full combo from level 3 looks like this: we want to throw the opponent up with our first Q so that we can land the W safely. We then throw him up again with our second Q so that the W can be pulled back safely. We can then follow up with our third and strongest Q, which is then easy to hit with the W’s knockback.

As usual, the ultimate ability is leveled at levels 6, 11 and 16. Activating it significantly increases Aatrox’s movement speed, damage potential and sustain. So you’ll want to use it whenever you go all-in or engage in a team fight.